Wow, I can't believe it's already the end of the year. It seems like I just moved to Tallahassee and got started with my internship. We were pretty busy the last few weeks leading up to finals week for our students.
Our Nicaragua mission team had a yard sale, so Friday (4/15), we spent the afternoon at the location setting up and pricing items. We also spend some time collecting items people wanted to donate. We were blessed that a family volunteered their house as well as items they had been collecting for a sale. They were so gracious and helped us not only set up for the yard sale, but also helped us during the sale, rearranging tables as items were sold. Saturday started off very early; we arrived at the house at 6am to finish setting up and hoped to start at 7am, but because of a thunderstorm that was moving through, we had to wait a little while. When the rain finally stopped, we were able to uncover our tables and make our first sale of the day. We had a successful yard sale, raising just over $600 for our trip! We also had a local Starbucks donate a small French Press and a pound of coffee that we were able to raffle off. I had the privilege of delivering it to the winner; she was so excited to have won.
Last Monday kicked off the week with a dinner with my Small Group Bible Study girls. We went to Riverside Cafe in St. Marks, about 30 minutes outside of Tallahassee. The restaurant was right on the water and had open sides. It made for an interesting dinner because of some of the bugs that decided to join us, but we had a great time talking and laughing.
Tuesday, I had a meeting with the Nicaragua mission team. We leave in a few weeks and have started meeting so that we are all on the same page. After the meeting, I went home and grabbed some dinner before going to watch the Chi Alpha intramural softball game. Our team was playing in the semi-finals, but unfortunately lost. The teams were pretty evenly matched, but our team was short one girl and had to take an out every time that position came up to bat. The other team had one power hitter and as a result, he scored the winning runs. After the game was over, the XA team invited the other team to pray with them. I heard several people from other teams commenting on how great that was.
Wednesday night, we had a prayer and commissioning night for our student leaders. We spent time praying for our seniors who are graduating, leaders who are returning in the fall, students who are coming on the leadership team in the fall, for the interns as they take the next step, and for our staff members. It was a great time of prayer with our students, encouraging and building them up.
Thursday was our last Chi Alpha Live of the semester. At FSU, the last XA Live has traditionally been a talent show. This year, we had a total of 17 acts! The staff worked Thursday morning to prepare our "talent" and presented it that night. For a video of us, click here (for those who have not heard of Rebecca Black and her infamous "Friday" video, click here. This is where the inspiration came for our video, "Thursday"). The graduating seniors also did a parody of the staff, which was pretty funny. After the talent show was over, we headed to Rita's Italian Ice for a fundraiser for the Nicaragua Team. We had a great time hanging out and eating cold Italian ice.
Friday night, we had a Good Friday Worship Night. The Mosaic Church band prepared nearly two hours of worship songs and the interns were available for prayer. It was an amazing experience to watch about 20+ college students worship and seek after God. The presence of God was definitely in the room. After we finished, a group went to Applebees for 1/2 off appetizers and to spend some time together.
Saturday was our end of the year picnic at the FSU Reservation (aka the Rez). We played volleyball, some students went out on canoes and sailboats, swam, and had a Full-Contact Easter Egg Hunt. The idea behind the egg hunt was not only to find the eggs, but to steal them away from others, using any means necessary. I saw several students tackled by one person while another came and took their bag of eggs. The students had a blast and those observing had a lot of laughs. We also enjoyed cupcakes with homemade icing (courtesy of Carmen :)), ice cream, and watermelon. It was a chance to relax and hang out before the craziness of finals began for the students.
Sunday was Easter and a great, but very busy day. We had two services at Mosaic, 9am and 11am, with breakfast between and lunch afterward. A group of 5 of us were asked to prepare breakfast, so we got to the parsonage at 9 and began cooking sausage, gravy, scrambled eggs, and biscuits. We hit a few minor snags (like the eggs wouldn't cook fast enough in the oven), but overall, it went great. After helping to clean up, I went downstairs to the sanctuary for the 11am service. We had a great service; two of our Chi Alpha students were baptized! After the service was over, we enjoyed lunch together and one of the staff members took group and family pictures.
This week is finals week for our students. Our sanctuary has been converted in to "Mosaic Finals Cafe" where students can come study, enjoy free coffee and wireless internet, and spend some time together before spreading out for the summer. I had never heard a student say they enjoyed finals week until I came here. I looked at them funny and asked why; they explained to me that it was the Mosaic Cafe that made the week fun, not the final exams. It also amazed me how much work they are able to get done while socializing.
The rest of the internship is looking pretty busy as well. In about 2 weeks, I will be leaving with a team from FSU XA on a mission trip to Nicaragua. We will be ministering to a Chi Alpha group there, helping out on their campus. After I get back, all of the interns have to present a 20 minute sermon as part of our internship preparation. I also have an on-line class to finish and some support raising preparation to do for the summer. I'm glad that it's going to be busy though, I don't really enjoy being bored. :)
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