Update #14: On to the OC (Orange County)

Dear friends and family,

Wow...it's been awhile. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I hope you are all doing well!

Well, I had an update written a few days ago when I was sans internet access. My computer decided to restart itself and as a result I lost the update and had not found it within me to try again, but I think it's now or never for this one!

Lots of things have happened since the last update: I finished the long term classes in April and was particularly sad to see my Theology of Karl Barth class end. Shortly after the May term classes began and I ended with Presbyterian Polity on my schedule...not planned, but just fine with me. I enjoyed it quite a bit in fact!

Graduation was right around the corner and since most of my friends were graduating it was a fun and busy time. Just a couple of days after graduation I packed up my room, smushed myself into my car and chased the sun to California. I took a more southern route this year, along I-40 and added about 6 states to my "visited" list. After the 5-day trek home I spent about a week hanging out with my mom and one of my very best friends before heading south. "Where am I now?" you may ask. Well, I am spending my summer working at First Presbyterian church (http://www.fpcsa.org) doing a church field education internship for Princeton and I have already quite fallen in love with the church and the people. They are delightful. The church itself is right downtown and has several downtown ministries and a heart for service, mission, and outreach. I will be doing a little bit of everything, or in the words of the pastor, "Go to everything!" I will be helping to lead in worship, going on youth activities and events, attending all the Bible studies I can, learning how to sew, going on site visits to nonprofits in the area, preaching three times (June 28, July 12, and August 9 if you'd like to come...I'd be more than happy to have a support group there!), and getting involved in every way possible. But I am loving it already (I started on June 7) and will be here until mid-August.

Well, I think that's enough for now, right? I hope you are all well and I would love to hear from all of you (just not all at once, eh?) Just kidding! Prayers for this summer, for making connections, and for things with Rutgers residency requirements to figure themselves out would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone! Have a blessed day!

Love,

Megan

Update #9: Please Pray for Westmont and Santa Barbara

A little late, and there will be an update to the update soon, but I figured since no one ever reads this blog anyway it doesn't matter much.
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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Dear family and friends,

I know several of you are aware of this already, but I just wanted to ask for fervent prayers as soon as possible. Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA (my alma mater and that of several PTS students) is surrounded by a 1,000+ acre wildfire tonight. It began around 6:00pm Pacific time and has already burned several homes. Westmont's campus has several spot fires on it and the prayer chapel has possibly burned as well as some other buildings.

They are keeping students safe in the gym which is fireproof and lots of Westmont community members are letting students stay in their homes who were already off campus and cannot get back. There are several Princeton students with ties to Westmont (alumni and parents). Please pray. I'm exhausted (I haven't been getting much sleep this week) but I'm too distracted and sad and worried and praying to sleep. I know if I laid down I'd fall asleep, but I'm worried now about Santa Barbara because it seems that the city is in grave danger.

From Westmont:
"Conditions on campus improved to the point where staff were able to get food from the Dining Commons and bring it to the gym, where the
community is sheltered in place.

Conditions in the area may make it possible now to leave the campus for a Red Cross shelter, but that option is still being explored. Firefighters are currently attempting to put out several fires at Clark Hall. Structures lost to or significantly damaged by fire include the Physics Building, the 'old Math" building, Bauder Hall and the Quonset Huts.

Again, we are grateful that no one has been hurt on campus, and everyone is safely in the gymnasium and in good spirits. Thank you for your prayers.

Chris Call,
Vice President for Administration"

The hidden blessing is that several of the buildings that have been destroyed/damaged were already marked for demolition as part of the growth of Westmont's Master Plan. However, very recently, part of one of the dorms has been damaged, parts of it destroyed, as well as the Resident Director's house. They've also lost lots of homes in the Montecito and Santa Barbara community....dozens probably and the fire is completely out of control..a true "wild" fire. Scary. I do know the tree canopy at Westmont is probably pretty bad. This link has pictures...all from Westmont. Better news than any other source in Santa Barbara probably comes from The Independent in case you're interested.

Thanks for your prayers, so so much.
Love,
Megan

Update #8 from Princeton Theological Seminary: "What a blessing!"

Dear family and friends,

Well, the time has come for a new school year, and with it, some wonderful additions to my update list. Before I get going here, as I've said before please feel free to let me know if you'd no longer like to receive my updates and I'll take you off...no love lost. =)

Now, to go further up and further in: there is too much to talk about already! Let's start with the end of the summer. I finished up at First Pres, Visalia at the end of August only after preaching my very first sermon ever! My text was the wedding at Cana...and amazingly enough I felt like it went very well and received a lot of great feedback. What a blessing! Leaving the kids was very difficult as I had become rather attached to them over the summer. We finished the summer off with a girl's spa night and several great weeks of youth group. Again, what a blessing they are.

Along those lines, as I spent some time reflecting on my time at home I found that while I had been apprehensive about returning to Visalia for the summer, and really had no intentions to do that, God knew what he was doing. It was great to spend some time at home with my mom. It was wonderful to reconnect to First Pres and the families there that I used to know better and to get to know some of the newer families and people in the church. It was indeed another example of God's great faithfulness!

After I finished up my job I loaded up my car, drove to Bakersfield and picked up two of my best friends from college to begin our 3,000-mile cross-country road trip! In just seven short days we arrived in Princeton, but not before seeing a friend of ours from college in Colorado, stopping at a glass marble factory and shop in the middle of Kansas, going up 637 feet in the St. Louis Arch, experiencing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and getting cheesesteaks in Philly! We got my stuff unloaded and prepared for a very busy few days before Jules and Brian left: New York City, Princeton, and church and antiquing!

Now that we're on to present day, school has officially been in session for three weeks! I love my classes this semester, it has been good to reconnect with friends, and enjoy some of my favorite east coast places. And to answer the question I'm sure you're all asking, no, the fall colors are not here...not quite yet.

Well, I believe I'll wrap up for now....this has gone on long enough. I'll write again soon more about my classes and such. I hope you are all well. Please find my address below...I love to get little notes and stuff! ;-)

Many "what a blessing!" moments I wish for you today,
Megan

10 Things...

...I did this past school year that surprised me.

1. I drove myself across the country...twice.
2. I learned that New Jersey is not all industrial and gross. There is a reason they call it the "Garden State."
3. I discovered a strange enjoyment of Malaysian food.
4. I enjoyed living in the snow. Really, it was the idea of four real seasons that made it.
5. I developed an intense and unexpected love for New York City and began acquiring "my favorite places" there.
6. I traveled...a lot. Daytona Beach, Florida; home for Thanksgiving and Christmas; Louisville, Kentucky twice in the first two months of 2008; NYC and the United Nations for four days; NYC and Boston with the girls for a week; Guatemala in April...and coming up later this month, San Jose, CA for the PC(USA) General Assembly. =)
7. I decided that Princeton is not as crazy-liberal as my previously all-West-coast mindset had told me.
8. I theologized systematically.
9. I grew to really enjoy Princeton, NJ and the east coast feel.
10. I turned down a job with money attached to it in favor of "The Great Unknown"...which will coincidentally be the topic of my next post.

I have arrived...

Greetings from New Jersey!

First things first: you're getting this e-mail because you either told me you wanted to receive my updates from graduate school, or because I thought you might want to receive my updates from graduate school. If either of these are not true, let me know and I'll take you off the list, no hard feelings. Alternatively, if you know someone I know and you think they might appreciate getting them, please feel free to forward it.

Sorry to slow you down...

After a semi-grueling 3,007 mile drive by myself across the country, I have arrived at Princeton Theological Seminary! I am very torn between excitement, fear, nervousness, and eagerness. We had the first two scheduled orientation events this evening....a worship service, which was perfect because God used it to speak so powerfully to me as I sat in the chapel for the first time as a student, and a picnic with the faculty and administration, which was yummy. I saw the other Westmont grad who is an entering student this year, had dinner with her and a couple of her friends, and then proceeded to unload my very, very, very full car into my very, very, very large room. I was fortunate enough to get into my first choice dorm, which is also the most popular and have now moved all my stuff in. It's still in a pile in the middle of the floor, but it's in. =)

My new blog can be found at MastersOfEspresso.blogspot.com. I'll hopefully be updating it frequently with the musings of what it means to be in grad school....and other stuff too!

Sorry this is short, but I am exhausted. I'll write more later...promise. In the meantime, I would appreciate prayers for adjusting to a new place, a new culture, and a new climate all away from everything that's familiar to me, as well as new friends and floormates that I want to build relationships with.

Thanks, and love you all!
Megan