Week 1 and loving it.

What a week.

I cannot believe that just 7 days ago I was settling into my new home in Pinetop, Arizona. I thought it would take a while to get settled in, to feel right and at place here, but in truth it feels like I have been here for months. I jumped right in and already love everything about being here.

This first week was definitely tiring, but rewarding. Each day I tried my hardest to be cool even though I am "old" (a student's word for me!) and although I probably tried a little to hard (ex. "Hey dog, what's up g?") I managed to make some friends among our students and begin to connect. In addition, I have also begun to build relationships with key people around the reservation, thanks to the networking skills of my fearless leader at AYM. It will take a while to truly know this place, but this week has been a great start.

I have to say, I love spending my afternoons at the Kennel, goofing around, hanging out with students, and getting to know their names and faces. I was so pleased when we took a few of our kids to the football game their high school was playing up where I live and I heard my name called in a crowd. One of the students that hadn't come with us, but who I had recently met at the Kennel, had seen me and wanted to say hello. It was like someone had just given me a prize. I was so excited to see that God had blessed me with a little bit of favor just in my first week here. It may be small, but the fact that girls are talking to me about their high school crush, their family situation, and their volleyball team is all a great start. God is going to move mightily among this generation and on this reservation, and I am thrilled to be a part of it.

Keep me in prayer as I continue to grow in friendship with our students, and as I seek to find the balance between ministry and personal time. I will send out a newsletter soon with more information, so send me your email address if you would like to be included on that as well.

Thank you for your thoughts, your prayers, and your support. I am exactly where I need to be and I am loving every minute of working on the rez (well, except for the moment when I couldn't figure out why the cheese we use to sell cheese fries at the Kennel was still cold after an hour. Turns out I never plugged it in.) 

Comments

  1. BrittanySeptember 28, 2013 at 12:05 PM

    Thanks Meredith, for your transparency and sharing your experiences. I am so thrilled to see how God is going to be moving on the reservation...and I'm praying for transformation in the community. I'm so happy that you had a great first week. Keep it up girl!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2013 at 11:19 PM

    awww, the "little" things are huge during these moments, huh? :-) blessings, g! er, i mean, girl ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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