The Haunting

Riding a bike, plunging a toilet, and knowing how to make ricotta cheese are all skills that a person wants to keep handy for future situations.  Other pieces of knowledge come back when put into certain situations, and then others I wish to never recount or think about ever again, and yet they keep haunting me.
Starting this week I have found begun to find my feet in each of my placements.  Thursdays and Fridays I will be working at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  It is essentially a recycled hardware store where individuals can donate used home items like toilets and fans.  I will be acting as the marketing intern for the store and implementing the ideas of the larger Habitat for Humanity mission into the store.  My first assignment is to work on World Habitat for Humanity Day, which is on Oct. 7th mark your calendar!  Headquarters wants all the stores to decorate doors and put them on display to promote the mission of Habitat for Humanity.  Those skills I mentioned earlier manifested in this project.  Suddenly I had to make a boring wooden door something to look at, but how to do it?  AH HA, high school stage crew come back to me please.  For one set my job was to make a bunch of ply wood look as if it were a true hard wood floor.  Thank you Mr. Kuhar for teaching me your brilliant technique of making nothing into something by simply using a paint brush and paint.  Before, the door looked like an unfinished door with no panels or wood detail.  After, the looks wood paneled with exquisite details, okay not exactly, but it looks better than before.  This was one of those skills I was glad to recall.  The next situation, not as happy to put these skills to the test, but I am still thankful to have them.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays I will be working in my parish placement.  The church is a small church with a congregation with about 100 people for all three services offered.  It is located south of Omaha.  And because it is a small parish my position there will essentially be to act as the shadow of the rector.  I will be going on pastoral visits, preaching, teaching adult christian education classes, sitting in on financial meetings and vestry meetings, and working with the youth group, and attending some Sunday school classes.  I am looking forward to all of it, except for one teeny tiny item on the odds and ends list.  The list is what I should try to get around to if I have a rainy day, and on it I could use one of those haunting skills that is trying to creep up on me.  The objective on the list is to make a database!  Thank you Dr. Lynn, I would have been lost without your wisdom or without my friend Julia's brilliance in Access.  I thought by simply avoiding the corporate office I would avoid the dreaded database forever.  Alas, to no avail.  I am going to try and create a database for the parish which will enable them to keep track and look up baptisms, confirmations, funerals, and more.  It is much needed for their parish, and I do have this little database creating skill.
I am ashamed to admit that I take for granite these little skills.  I am blessed to have any sort of knowledge or education at all.  Individuals all over the world are deprived of this opportunity simply because of where they live or because they can not afford a uniform for school.  I am lucky for all that I have and the for everyone who has ever taught me anything in or outside of a classroom.  I will use what I can, to serve as many as I can, even if that means I may have to create a database or two.

The Sorting Hat

There I sat, with a GIANT talking sorting hat atop of my head, waiting to hear which house I belonged to for my few years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  In the depths of my stomach, there was a knot forming.  No, not an actual knot, a nervous knot, and no, I am not going to Hogwarts Wizarding School.  Although, what was true was the anxiousness, much like Harry Potter's, in finding out where I would be placed during my time in Omaha.  In the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or watch it in the movie, there is a scene where Harry has a large talking hat on his head.  This hat, the sorting hat, ultimately decides which House each Hogwart student will spend their time at school.  Running through Harry's mind were questions like "Which placements are right for me?  Will they like me?  Do they want me there?  What am I doing here?"   Young Harry sits in front of the entire dinning hall, and the sorting hat begins to speak to him about his qualities and which house ( Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.) he will exceed and benefit from most.  After major contemplation, the sorting hat shouts, "Gryffindor!"  And the crowd goes wild, and Harry rushes off to meet his friends.
Okay, I know it's a stretch, but that's pretty close to how it happened.  All week the interns were on a retreat contemplating our qualities, spirituality,and futures, so when it came time to learn which placements were ours, I felt very much like a young wizard waiting to be sorted.  The only true major difference between these two placement situations, was that our program director wasn't simply a sorting hat.  Our director spent a lot praying and discerning where each of us should be placed.  Plus the parishes, the non-profits, and the interns all gave a lot of input as to where we would fit best.
So where was I sorted?  Church of the Holy Spirit and Habit for Humanity!  HOT DOG, this is going to be a brilliant nine months!  These were the placements I thought would truly challenge and expose me to what my future could look like.  In Church of the Holy Spirit, I will act as the shadow of the rector, literally.  And at Habitat for Humanity, I will act as a marketing intern of sorts.  Following the decision, hands were placed on my head for a final blessing and the commissioning was over.  Now it is in full force my new adventure of discernment, prayer, and community.  The outcome is unknown, but the sorting hat wasn't wrong about Harry's placement.

My Stick Figure Timeline

The piece of artwork above was inspired by my life and its relationship to the church.  It begins when I was simply a wee tot in the pew and ends in the present time at The Resurrection House in Omaha.  While you continue to fawn over my brilliantly drawn stick figures, I realized that in certain instances in my church life, others saw something in me that I did not see in myself.  Which relates to exactly what the interns are contemplating this week at Resurrection House.  
Why are you here?  It was one of the first of many questions we are discussing at our retreat this week.  There is a lot to process and contemplate with each question, as well as, questioning the meaning of our actions.  But that's the name of the game, and what is ultimately guiding me to make my next major life decision.  
One of the first questions asked was "What is a leader?"  My response to this was an individual with a vision and the dedication to see it (the vision) through.  A person who is open to change, but is able to still make the vision a reality.  A person to encourage/inspire others to support the vision.  An individual who trusts and believes in other people to support their vision.  As I came up with that answer, I thought to myself NAILED IT, thinking what else could I possibly include?  And after listening to the other responses a lot!  But what I really never saw coming was the director's comment.  He complemented all the interns on the definitions we came up with, but he said that none of us really answered the question.  Are you kidding me?  He explained that we all answered the question what is a good leader, not what is simply a leader.  Alright, explain please.  Our directors response was a leader is someone with authenticity of passion.  Someone who is a leader does not always have a vision or need to be the one coming up with ideas.  A leader guides, but sometimes shoves individuals in the right direction.  A leader must be able to lead a group of people and be authentic about it.
Being authentic about my beliefs is not always easy, especially when people around me do not believe the same thing.  A GOOD leader has the dedication to overcome the barriers of disbelief by staying authentic and believing in what is authentic to them.  A GOOD leader will do something regardless of whether it goes against the current trend, will not make them famous, and will not make them money.  Because they have an authentic belief, they will strive to stay true to their belief.  There is not a magic key to how to be the best leader possible, but I know from now on I will always include in my definition of a leader authenticity.

Omaha, A Wild Kingdom

Like Pioneers conquering the wild frontier, exploring Omaha the last few days has been quite the experience.  Friday was the first day without anything on the schedule, so we took a little road trip.  Our first destination was the Holy Family Shrine located in the middle of cornfields, literally!  The chapel structure was made of wood and steel with walls of glass.  Although these are simplistic materials, they were constructed together in a very modern design.  Walking into the chapel just made me relax and smile.  No matter what direction I turned, the beauty of land emanated back through the chapel walls.  The chapel purposely does not have a congregation because it is meant to be used by all, especially those traveling to reflect, be inspired, and find comfort. It does on occasion host baptisms, weddings, and other special services.

Later Friday, we walked to Iowa and back!  Perhaps I am not sharing the full story here, but we did walk to Iowa.  There is a walking suspension bridge, that we drove to, the allows individuals to walk across the two states.  It is suspended over the Missouri river, which is the actual boundary line.  I was expecting border patrol or a huge sign welcoming us to Iowa, but alas, there was simply a line to jump over.

       
On Saturday, we were back on schedule with a rather important trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  It is know world wide, and offers so much to do that it can't truly be done in one day.  We traversed the park starting with the Desert Dome, not a favorite of mine, due to the amount of snakes, but still a great place to start.  Leaving the desert, we walked into the Monkey House, where a gorilla ran full force into the window at us, simply for it's enjoyment seeing us flinch.  It worked we flinched.  Out of the jungle, and into an INDOOR swamp, where crocs and gators reside.  On to more exhibits, we saw lions, tigers, and bears, not in that order, but I couldn't help but use that line.  We rested for a bit of lunch, we headed off next to the aquarium to see the feeding of the sharks.  We finally ended our Zoo trip with sea lion training.  I also made friends with a goat, but the relationship didn't last very long after he began eating my shirt, how forward!

The city is pretty easy to maneuver, so each destination has been easy to get to, but the definition of close in Omaha, is a completely different story.  Unfortunately, walking and public transportation are not the best in this city, therefore we have to drive everywhere.  For me close used to mean five to ten minutes away, here close is more like 20 minutes away.  It is simply an observation, no judgement, but unlike the pioneers, I have a car.  So after a long day's trek, I can still feel my feet.
      

Iron Chef and the Secret Ingredient is . . .

Welcome to Kitchen Stadium, Omaha style.  With an oven, stove, knives, and a lot of Holy Spirit anything can be done.  Two lasagnas, two salads, rosemary/garlic focaccia, COW bars (chocolate, oatmeal, walnut cookies), and ice cream made for quite a feast.  We practically made everything from scratch except for the cheeses, ice cream, beer, and wine, but if we could have we would have!  The lasagna noodles were even made from scratch.  

As a part of the program, the interns host a dinner and a blessing of the house.  We had a budget of $100, but had no idea of the amount of people attending, so we planned for about 21 or 22.  We decided on an Italian theme, which lead us to make one meat lasagna, one zucchini lasagna, a watermelon and feta salad, a spring mix salad with home grown garden vegetables, focaccia bread, and for dessert COW bars plus ice cream.  Because it isn't a good Iron Chef episode unless someone using the ice cream machine.  Plus, I will admit COW bars are not Italian, but one batch makes a lot of cookies.

So here is the play by play: the night before, we began the focaccia bread, allowing it the time to develop flavor and structure.  The day of, we made the marinara sauce.  Since one lasagna had meat and the other did not, we separated the sauce in to two batches and added ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash, and Worcestershire sauce to one pot of the sauce.  Both lasagnas were layered with mozzarella, ricotta, and parmesan cheese.  While allowing the sauce to simmer, we made the noodles.  Simply combining flour, egg, water, olive oil, and salt together and kneading it for 10 minutes, letting it rest for 30 minutes, and viola pasta ready for boiling water.  The focaccia bread went into the oven first, followed by the lasagnas, then the cookies.  We assembled the salads and HOT DOG!  Time is up.   

It was brilliant, like a puzzle coming together from three different directions.  We worked together against the clock, and truly made dinner together.  We conversed over our lives and futures, then we laughed over making the food, then I would become super nerdy when trying to explain certain details of making the food (I can't help it), and they put up with me, but it was a great community building experience.  Making dinner will not be that extravagant every night, but as long as there is conversation and food, there will never be a problem.  And in the words of my uncle, "A LA CUISINE!"

My Strange Love

I am officially in Omaha, Nebraska.  I am living with two other individuals, who are participating in the same discernment process as me.  We will be living simply as well as in an intentional community together, which means we basically share everything.  We each have our own room, but the bathroom and the food stipend are shared.  In regards to food, we will grocery shop and cook together, and this is truly brilliant.    

Confession, I have a problem.  I love grocery stores, there it is.  Truly, I could spend hours perusing the aisles, particularly of Whole Foods.  Weird, I know, but love makes you do strange things.  What is strange about loving grocery stores?  I love Whole Foods so much that I worked there this summer as a barista at the coffee bar in the specialty foods department.  The department consists of coffee, cheese, wine, and beer so why wouldn't you want to work there.  So where did we go grocery shopping first, WHOLE FOODS of course!  It is different.  This Whole Foods has a WINE AND CHEESE BAR!!!  Maybe some change is good.

Buildings and ideas can be replicated, but the people and relationships you make in an establishment can never be replaced.  The Whole Foods family that I had this summer, embraced my goofiness and my strange love of grocery stores, and each person I worked with is truly one of a kind.  It is a different community that I am proud to be a part of.  I miss them dearly and I can't thank them enough.  My Whole Foods family is always in my thoughts and prayers.  

The communities that accept all, support each other, and have open communication within the community that grow, achieve their goals, and change the world in their own way.  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Whether it be at Whole Foods or in Omaha, it is this community that enables the individual to grow and succeed.