Well, as someone said to me at church yesterday, "it's launch week!" This afternoon I biked to Goshen (a new habit I hope to maintain this fall, commuting by bicycle) and met with the co-directors of Pathways Retreat to discuss my internship there this fall. This is not an internship to meet a requirement, it is simply to learn more about retreat ministry. I'm looking forward to a variety of experiences, from Praying the Hours to administrative tasks to yard work, and more. Something that I have come to realize during my time at seminary is the way in which retreat ministry draws from the variety of gifts I have come to recognize in myself so I'm excited to learn more as I discern if and how retreat ministry fits with my calling.
On Thursday I begin at Elkhart General. I'll be spending the majority of my time as a counselor to oncology patients, and also do some on-call chaplaincy work. No one has ever done quite what I'm doing in terms of this practicum before, so there are a lot of pioneering efforts going on on many fronts. It will be exciting to see what happens! The completion of this practicum in December will complete my M.Div. Also, in conjunction with with EGH practicum, I begin my Gestalt Pastoral Care practicum!
Finally, I continue to put in hours on the maintenance team here on campus. This feels like the summer crew experience that's never ending. Not only did a get a whole additional summer on the crew that I wasn't expecting, but I also will be staying on this fall. My current projects include striping the parking lots on campus (who knew there were so many parking spaces?!), watering, and deep cleaning recently vacated apartments. It will be a little different not working with an entire team of peers, but I also look forward to the solitary manual labour to balance out the being with people portions of my practicum.
It's going to be a busy fall but I'm very much looking forward to it!
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