the hills

Alright, so it turns out that I was completely correct about my lack of motivation to write on this thing. Anyway, let's try again...

I am now in Beverly Hills!! My mom and I hit the road a week ago Wednesday and drove across country from Chicago to California. Along the way, we paid a visit to Coufal in Omaha, stayed in Vail, CO (which is INCREDIBLE in the summer!!), and then a night in Vegas (which, like I said during the road trip, is the best place to people watch, but not exactly my kind of town). By last Saturday, we had reached CA and settled into the place that will be my home for the next 8 weeks.

Back story for those of you who might not know what I am doing here...
Earlier this spring, I was nominated for the Lilly Fellowship, a pre-ministerial/vocational discernment fellowship that allows people interested in ministry-related fields to experience a bit of real church work before they decide if that's what they want to do with their lives. I applied and got it. After you get the fellowship, you have to find a church that will take you. I sent emails to a bunch of people asking for suggestions, and one of those emails went to Dave, my old pastor from R.F., who now pastors a church in B.H. He suggested I come here to his church, and after a bunch of prayer, I decided to come. Soooo, I am now working at a church in Beverly Hills (a little bit different than my 3rd world experience, although equally as foreign a locale).

The last week has been very busy. My mom was here until Tuesday, so we got to explore LA and the area a bit which was great. I'm obsessed with the fact that the beach is just a few minutes away and it still freaks me out that I work on Rodeo Drive. I'll admit, I watch (or at least have watched a few episodes of) the new 90210. And let me tell you, Beverly Hills is nothing like that. It is incredibly diverse. You can easily walk down Rodeo and not hear English spoken. The majority of students at B.H. High School are Iranian. In our church of 200-250 people, we have over 20 countries represented. It's a pretty cool place.

In terms of ministry, I have been busy getting involved in a bunch of parts of the church. Right now, I am doing a lot of shadowing to get a feel for aspects of ministry, which essentially means going to a bunch of meetings. New Member's Class, Staff, Deacons, Music Planning, Bible Study, etc. etc. etc. It's all kind of overwhelming, but super fun as well. I love the people with whom I work and look forward to meeting more people in the church. The church is a fascinating place because it had been near-dead, and has now been revitalized and is growing. It makes for an interesting ministry environment.

The only rough thing is meeting people my age (which I knew would be difficult). Hopefully I will make some friends soon, but until then, scrapbooking is a good alternative :) haha. I miss everyone from home, but am pretty busy most of the time, which is a good thing. I'm attending a Korean wedding this afternoon to get experience with weddings, and before then, I'm going to go hang out at Santa Monica beach (ok, not work related, but still). I'm sure I'll have more stories soon, and I'll try to be good about putting them up.

with love from cali :)