Busy, busy, busy

One thing Drew and I decided when we got married was that wherever we are, we want to jump in and be used to the fullest. In Chattanooga, we knew we would only be there for a short time, but we tried to use our time wisely and get involved as much as possible. The same has applied here. Granted, our schools keep us busy, not only with work, but perhaps more importantly, with relationships. We are thrilled to be able to go to ballet recitals, birthday parties, or just visit families or spend time with co-workers. We have also been able spent a little time with Drew's classmates from his program here.

Outside of our schools, we have spent a lot of time in our neighborhood developing relationships with the kids, our neighbors, the lady who walks her cows by our house, and mostly from our Church. Our Church is composed of people purely from our neighborhood. So, we see them a lot. The pastor was overjoyed when we started going to this Church because it is such a young Church with many youth and women and children. She was excited because we are the only married couple in the Church and she had prayed for this example for the rest of the Church. We have been excited to help out, and have spent a lot of time talking through ideas and possibilities for the Church.

Last night, our Church held its annual Church election of leaders. Our Church has many who are regular attenders, but only about 15-20 members. From this small group, we were to choose about 8 leaders. Last night, Drew was elected Deacon (there is only one in our Church). He will basically be the Pastor's right hand man. He will go visiting, preach/teach when needed, and fill in for anything else that might be a need. I was elected Community Service Director (yes, yes, I know....). I will be in charge of organizing events where we help not only those in our Church with some service projects, but also reach out to the community. This includes starting a women's co-op, finding the needs in our Church (for example, a house that needs some work, a single mom who needs help with something, etc.), and who knows what else will also come up. In addition to these two positions, we have been approached and asked to be counselors for the youth. This means simply that we will always be available for the youth to talk to us or ask us questions if they have any.

Drew and I came home last night and realized that our plates are full! We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are excited to see what the next year holds. One thing I am excited about is deepening many of the relationships we have begun. Living in another culture can be difficult sometimes because relationships can hit a brick wall after a point, and it is hard to have much depth. You might click with one or two people, but many relationships seem to remain very shallow, and "surfacy." I guess in the back of their mind, they know we aren't planning on being here for the rest of our lives, at this point. Not to mention our lives and experiences have been completely different than theirs, even as we live in the same neighborhood. But now we have the opportunity to be a part of their lives on a daily basis, not only on Sundays. And, we realize we are not doing this alone. We have our housemates to help us (a new addition as of January, Katie!), the pastor is behind us, and there are other friends who are already helping us in these areas. Not to mention we really feel like God has blessed us with these responsibilities.

Its going to be a lot of work, but we are so excited to be able to jump in and do everything we can to build up this community. We are also excited to share these stories and experiences with you!