Surprise Surprise

Like I said before, this job isn't what I expected at all. Yesterday I spent my entire 8 hours of work doing manual labor. Not stuff like Jon saying "Oh go do this for me" but like Jon, Brad and I moving a 500 lb stage out and around the church. To a certain degree, I expceted training on how to write a lesson, where to look for ideas... you know, stuff you'd expect a youth pastor to be doing. I'm finding out there's a lot more to being a Youth Pastor than I imagined... which is good. I like that I've been doing in the past 4 days. Yeah, I've been super busy and am tired (it would be awesome if I had my futon to sleep on), but I enjoy doing this stuff.

Lastnight I talked to my mom and faith and briefly sara. My mom was talkin away and I wasn't saying much. She said it seemed like I didn't want to talk much, and honestly I didn't. I knew all you guys missed me, but I didn't really feel like I missed you guys, and I didn't really feel like talking to you. But the fact is that I do miss you guys. I miss everyone there and everything I did there. It's great here and I'm having a great time, but I have a lot of people that I care about and miss. I'm really looking forward to coming home tomorrow. I can't wait to see you guys.

And thus it begins

Today was officially my first day as a Youth Pastor's Intern. What can I say? I didn't quite know what to expect, yet I'm still surprised at what I will be doing this summer. I don't really know how to explain what I will be learning besides this: how to be a youth pastor. There's plenty of things to do, but not an overwhelming amount. I'm pretty sure the tasks of the job istelf I can handle, its just the planning and scheduling that I will struggle with. Jon says I gotta plan things out and make a schedule. That's hard for me because I haven't really scheduled anything earlier than the day before. I'll let you know more about what I'm learning as I get settled into my job.

Outside of that, I got here okay. A few interesting things happened on the way though (ask if you wanna know, its just too long to type). I've got all settled down in my "room." It's just a little corner in their basement about 6x7. It's just perfect though; I'm more than content with it. It's strange being away from home, all my friends and family (and the lovely Megin). I kinda feel like I'm on vacation... but then again I don't. It's weird, I know. I miss you all already and I still have forgotten to let Jon know you all say hello, but I will tonite!... if i remember...

That's all for now, gotta go take a crap-o-la

Youth-Pastor-Intern Tony

Iowa

I leave for Iowa next Sunday. Ten days away. This is really sneaking up on me. I'm ready, but I'm not. I can't wait to get going and learning and growing. I feel... unprepared. I'm not quite sure what I need to do before I go there. I don't know what I need to bring there. The biggest thing is I don't have a car yet. What's worse is that I haven't really been praying about it either. I'm trusting God that He'll provide for me, but I'm over-trusting Him, like I expect Him to give me a car. God will give you what you need, but you gotta pray for it. I'm just skipping step one and expecting step two.
...just now my dad pulled into the driveway, we're about to go out and look for cars. its good, but... I have no money saved up. I dont think my dad has a few thousand to pull out right now either for a car. blah blah blah....

The Gathering

So last night we had the Gathering at H20. It was amazing. Probably the best Gathering we've had in a while. I could ramble on forever on everything that happened, but I'll just tell you what hit me the hardest, and I'll make it short.
We (youth pastors and leaders) were told to go grab students one at a time and pray for them. I prayed for a few people. Then I went back to my seat and got back to worshiping. The whole time we were praying, the band was playing a song and singing, we could pray or sing or do whatever we wanted, so I was singing. I look to my left and see this guy who's about 35 and I get the strongest feeling that I need to go pray with him. I talk myself out of it and avoid looking at him. Then about 5 minutes after I'm over it, Megin leans over and asks me "why didn't you pray with that man." Man was I crushed. I knew I was supposed to pray with that guy, and chickened out, ignored my feelings. Well after the Gathering was over Megin took him aside and prayed with him. Turns out he needed some prayer. I had a chance to pray with this guy, and God was shouting at me, telling me to pray and I didn't do it. I missed out, and I felt horrible.
Besides that, the Gathering was wicked awesome. God was totally working in everybody there. You could just feel something great was happening in that room. I never feel like I'm worshiping God, but monday night, I was totally giving all of me to Him. I held nothing back and completely gave Him what he deserved... the hard part now is continuing to do that, but I'm trying.