onto the next chapter

Family and friends,

After four days of traveling, I've finally made it back home to Indiana, thus putting an end to my "life in California." I want to just thank you all for your support this summer. Thank you for taking time to read my posts, leaving me facebook messages, calling to check in with me, or praying for me. It was surely a blessing to feel like I was still able to have those connections with home and all of you who I care greatly about.

For those friends I made out in California, I want to thank you for making my experience what it was. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your friendship. It's kind of a scary thing traveling 2,000 miles away from home and not knowing anyone, but you all were an answer to my prayers for connection. Thank you for how you just took me in, inviting me to lunches and out to do things. Thank you to everyone I met through the internship, fellow interns and staff members, and thank you to my small group, and anyone else I met outside of those groups... I learned much from each of you, was challenged by the example of your lives, and was blessed by your kind hearts.

Also, a special thank you to my best friend Jana, who flew out to California last week to be able to help me with the drive back home. I can't tell you how excited I was to pick her up from the airport last Wednesday! I stopped at a Starbucks beforehand, practically bouncing with excitement, and told the barista all about my eagerness to pick up my friend whom I hadn't seen in months and all that was ahead for us in the coming week. Sometimes when I'm excited I get carried away when anyone asks "How are you tonight?" Sorry, barista. So I grabbed my homemade "Welcome to Cali Jana" sign, and was on my way. We had quite the ecstatic reunion at the John Wayne Airport that night. We then spent the weekend doing some final California favorites - eating all of the bests (In-N-Out, sushi, ect. Side note:: I made Jana try sushi and it did not go over well), laying out at Laguna, going up in a hot air balloon, spending a day with Shamu at Sea World, driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, and getting stuck in traffic for an hour. We started our drive home on Monday, and got home this evening (Thursday). It was a long trip, but we had some fun with it and as we always do, enjoyed our time together.

I've added the photos from our weekend together to my facebook album. Check out all the fun we had from Laguna Beach to Sea World! But here's a sneak peak....



When I got home I was greeted by balloons and a welcome home sign at the end of the drive. It was the best! Then Michael ran out to give me a hug. (Don't ever let him try to tell you he didn't miss me haha.) It was great to get to see my parents, brother, and grandpa tonight. It's also great to be in my home again... there's just something about home that puts your soul at rest. As I'm sitting in my room, I look around and am just delighted that everything I see is mine.. everything from all my art projects hanging on the walls to the Justin Bieber poster tapped up on my closet just sings "Lindsay," and after living in a hotel and a stranger's house for three months, that's a comforting sound to have surround me. I love that there are people in the next room, and that I don't have to talk to myself anymore. I love that there is actually food in the fridge here, and I love it even more that the selection of food currently includes 4 kinds of desserts. I love that I can go to bed without having to lock the doors. I love that right now my hands smell like my dog and that I can hear crickets chirping outside my window. This is home.

My prayer is that I will be a good steward of this experience I've been given... that I'll allow it to shape me, that I can carry all that I've learned into whatever lies ahead for me, and pour back into others what's been poured into my life through my time in California.

I'm eagerly awaiting to see the rest of my family and friends, hopefully in the next couple weeks. I can't wait to catch up with all of you!

blessings.

on a lighter note..

For those Bachelorette followers out there, let's do a little survey::

1. Who's Ashley gonna pick next week, Ben or JP?
2. Who would you pick for yourself? haha





Leave me some comments! :)

inspire confidence

If you remember from earlier this summer, I told you about how for one of our intern meetings we had a pastor on staff speak to us about our “SHAPE” (Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences). The idea behind this is that by better understanding your SHAPE, you’ll be more equipped to embrace your unique purpose and ministry in your life. By talking through four different aspects: 1. What you love to do 2. Who you love impacting 3. What needs you love meeting 4. And in what setting you love meeting those needs, the SHAPE instructor could then narrow it down to two words that spoke the theme of our SHAPE. After our intern meeting, we were all invited to send him an email requesting our own individual SHAPE sessions. Naturally, I was all for taking anyone’s offer of helping me find some clarity and direction in my life, so I jumped on the opportunity.

Prior to going into my meeting, I had promised you devout blog followers that I would share with you my “two words” after I learned them. It’s actually been about three weeks since I had my SHAPE session, but the reason I’m just now sharing with you about it is because I needed some time to process it on my own so that I could evaluate it’s validity and think through it’s applications. And I’ll be honest, for awhile I really fought against my “two words” and struggled to see how they could possibly fit me. If you haven’t guessed already (based on the title of this post) my two words were “inspire confidence.” But let’s back up first, and I’ll get to that in a little bit.

The first question we talked through was “What do I love to do?” Easy enough question, right? Immediately my mind went to things that would be ‘highlight of the month’ material.. things like traveling or going to a concert (Did I mention how jealous I am that I’m not going to the NKOTBSB concert with Laura and Jana tomorrow?). But the pastor challenged me, explaining that something I “love” should be something I can do every day for the rest of my life and not tire of it. Alright, a little trickier. “Well, I love when I can have a good conversation with someone. I love being active.. whether it’s playing a sport, or trying out a dance class, or just going for a walk outside. I love reading. I love writing. I love trying to be creative.”

Next question, “Who do you love impacting?” Initial thought—I’m not too convinced I impact anyone.. and if I do, I don’t go out of my way to do it. My answer to this question used to be children. I used to really feel like I had a heart for kids, but I’m not so sure anymore. So I answered this the same way some of you might, “Well, I guess I like to think I make an impact on my friends.. on the people I’m closest to and spend the most time with.” In response to this, I was prompted to evaluate the kind of people I have for friends.. and what it is about them that I’m drawn to.

Third question, “What needs do you love meeting?” This was another tricky one. Do I actually meet anyone’s needs? I guess, if anything, I like to meet relational needs. I enjoy listening to people. I find it comes naturally for me to empathize. I get excited when I can have a good conversation with someone where we’re both vulnerable and real with each other and talk about our weaknesses and discuss the challenges and gray areas of life, and dream together about the future. I love those conversations. I love having someone’s trust enough for them to come to me for that.

Final question, “In what setting do you like to meet those needs?” This one was easy. There’s nothing better for me than one-on-one, or occasionally a small group. I don’t do large groups and I hate being the center of attention haha.

We also talked through some things regarding my personality and the driving forces in my life. If you know me well then you probably won’t be surprised that the two major themes that arose were 1. That I hate confrontation with everything that I am. 2. I have this really annoying desire to try to please everyone that drives everything I do.

Alright, so that leads us to “Inspire Confidence.” If you’re like me, you’re thinking “Yeah, where’d that come from?” The reason I struggled against those words so much is because confidence is something I’ve never felt like I’ve had even in myself, so how could I possibly help others with that? But as the pastor pointed out, he thought the opposite was true… He thought because confidence was what I desired more than anything, that it was something I placed a high value on and wanted to help others with as well. He said that he could have chosen the words “inspire growth” instead, but from all that I told him he felt like the underlying objective of growth for me was confidence.

For the past three weeks, I’ve kept those words in my mind and tried to open myself to them and see if there is any truth that perhaps my ministry is rooted in inspiring confidence in others. I thought back to the relational needs that I said I love meeting and wondered what it is I hope to offer someone through those conversations. I realized the most encouraging thing for me is when I can validate someone’s feelings or walk beside them through their doubts and questions, just meeting people where they are, and often where I am too, and working through those questions together and dreaming together. Some of the best compliments I’ve ever received have been in response to posts I’ve shared, whether on one of my blogs or personal facebook messages. These compliments have less to do with my less than brilliant thoughts or writing ability and more to do with the connection the reader is able to make with my words and how that in turn can validate what they’re going through and hopefully inspire and encourage them as well.

There’s a lot of problems in our world. There are starving children. There are people with curable diseases that simply can’t afford or don’t have access to the right treatments. There’s war. There’s injustice. There’s broken families. There’s broken hearts. But of all that’s gone wrong in our fallen world, one tragedy has recently been especially dear to my heart. This is something I’ve shared with very few people in my life, but that tragedy is the sex slavery that still persists around our world today. I’ve learned more about it in the last four years while being at Huntington from different chapel speakers we’ve had come in that sparked my interest in the cause. Sex slavery can look a couple different ways. Some women are truly slaves to others, they can’t get out of it. Others may be in it by choice, maybe for fear that they can’t make a living any other way, but even then they are slaves to the lies the Devil and the world has told them.

I’ve been reading a book recently called Redeeming Love. It is a fictional story but it is based on the Biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. For those who may not be familiar, Gomer was a prostitute and God told Hosea to marry her. Gomer kept being unfaithful and running away from Hosea, but he patiently kept pursuing her and faithfully extending his love to her. God used their relationship as a metaphor for his relationship with the people of Israel and his undying love for them, even when they weren’t faithful to Him. The book I’m reading has really made this story come alive for me, and has given me a fresh look on what God’s love for me is like even when I run from him and fail to see the value He sees in me.

Nothing breaks my heart more than someone who can’t see their own value through the eyes of a God who loves them dearly. It makes me sick to think of women.. even young girls.. who have never known anything different. They’ve been brought up to believe their only value is in their body and how it can be misused. For the past couple years I’ve had the privilege of supporting a ministry that is taking young women in Ethiopia out of that lifestyle, and training them with skills such as sewing, so that they can provide for themselves and relearn their worth. I’m drawn to that kind of healing. I’m drawn to inspiring that confidence. How effective am I? Not as effective as I desire to be, but I guess when I think about it in these ways that really is where my heart is at.

Where’s your heart? What’s your SHAPE? How might God want to use your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences for furthering His Kingdom?

get your joy!

Click here to catch Kay's weekly study on choosing joy. Tonight at 7 pm (10 pm back home!)

longest post ever...

Friends and family,

I’ve written many posts lately updating you on all of the adventures, new experiences, and even mundane activities of my day-to day life, but it’s been awhile since I’ve shared much on the condition of my heart and how I see the Lord moving in my life. I wanted to take some time tonight to reflect on these matters, and invite you into my thoughts.

At the start of this summer, I was living in this ‘everything is awesome’ kind of a life high. Though speckled with moments of fear, doubt, and insecurity, I was feeling on top of the world. My relationship with God was alive and vibrant and every day was a new adventure.

This week, for no particular reason, I finally came down off of that ‘high’. At work I felt bored, unchallenged, and unimportant. I felt disappointed and neglected in my relationships. I felt discouraged as I started thinking and planning for the nearing end of my summer and start of the rest of my life. I felt restless and discontented in my dreams for more... for better relationships, for my constant desire of new adventures, and yet accepting the need for stability in my next move.

I like to think of myself as being fairly introspective, so it didn’t take very long for me to realize something was off with my thoughts and my heart this week. I soon realized that my heart was so focused on what’s down the road for me, and on the discrepancies between what I wanted to be happening, and what was actually occurring, that I had lost sight of the blessing of this season of my life and the confidence of what I’m here for.

Since this realization, while the discouragement has persisted, I’ve also been encouraged in several ways. On Wednesday I was having a particularly hard day. Again, I’m not really sure why. I think my discouragement showed due to my boredom at work, but I think it was rooted much deeper than that. On my lunch break I decided to log onto facebook to go send a message to a high school friend who I hadn’t talked to all summer. When I clicked on the box to write my message, it brought up all of our past messages we have exchanged. Apparently we don’t talk much on facebook because one of the most recent messages I had from her came up on my screen and it was from January 2009. That was during a particularly hard time in my life when I was sorting out a lot of questions, and I’m sure this was a message she had sent to encourage me. It was St. Theresa’s prayer, and it says this::

“May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities born of faith. May you use the gifts you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to dance, sing, praise, and love. It is there for each and every one of us.”

I had to smile when I stumbled back across that prayer on Wednesday and thank God for using my friend’s encouragement from two and a half years ago to speak truth into my life again.

Last night I was encouraged again, this time through Pastor Rick. For the month of July, Crave is holding our Thursday evening services outside under the stars. I was delighted when I showed up to learn that Pastor Rick would be speaking to us. He shared with us his vision for the new generation of Saddleback. I won’t go into detail on all that was included in this vision, but I just want to say that he has got to be one of the most inspirational people to listen to and to be around. After he finished speaking and we transitioned into singing, he came down off the stage and walked around the 500+ college students that stood on the lawn and probably got around to hugging about half of us. I so admire that. I admire his love for the church, for each individual in the Body of Christ.

From the words he spoke to us that night, what I took away was his final request in his closing prayer… “Lord, fill them with your vision for their future.” Wow. Wouldn’t that be nice? In the midst of me trying to sort out all of my dreams for myself.. all of the experiences I long to have, all of the character traits I think I need to develop, all of the jobs I could do, and ideas of the person I should be… What a revelation to actually ask the Creator of my soul and of this world to fill me with his vision for me, to place me where He wants to use me.

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I realize and I apologize that this is an especially long post (even for me!), but I want to share one more piece of encouragement I stumbled upon tonight. For my birthday this past year, my wonderful roommate Erica gave me one of her favorite books. It’s one I have now read through several times, written by a young lady who quickly won her place in my heart as one of my favorite authors. I turned to one of my favorite chapters again tonight, in hopes of finding encouragement. The chapter is written on what it’s like to be 25. I realize that’s still two and a half years off for me, but I find much of it is already relevant. So here’s a little something, a word to the wise by Shauna Niequist, written especially for my 20-something friends…

“Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal. Ask yourself some good questions like, Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep with me for this leg of the journey? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?

These years will pass much more quickly than you think they will. You will go to lots of weddings, and my advice, of course, is to dance your pants off at every single one. I hope you go to very few funerals. You’ll watch TV and run on the treadmill and go on dates, some of them great and some of them terrible. Time will pass, and all of a sudden, things will begin to feel a little more serious. You won’t be old, of course. But you will want to have some things figured out, and the most important things only get figured out if you dive into them now.

For a while in my early twenties I felt like I woke up a different person every day, and was constantly confused about which one, if any, was the real me. I feel more and more like myself with each passing year, for better and for worse, and you’ll find that, too. Every year, you will trade a little of your perfect skin and your ability to look great without exercising for wisdom and peace and groundedness, and every year the trade will be worth it. I promise.

Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with people you love, and with other people who believe that God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t spend time with people who make you feel like less than you are. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.”



Thanks for those of you who stuck with me and actually read all of this!! You’re my favorite. Extra blessings to you haha

Hope you’re all doing well! Love you.

just a reminder...

Don't forget to tune into Kay Warren's Choose Joy study tonight at 7 pm (10 pm back home) !

"Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life; the quiet confidence that ultimately everthing is going to be all right; and the determined choice to praise God in all things."

Watch online here

Family Visit: Day 2-5

Hello everyone!

Well, I had good intentions of keeping daily updates while my family was out visiting, but that didn't work out haha. We stayed pretty busy during their short visit! I'll give you a semi-quick recap though.

Friday:: We went up to Burbank to tour the Warner Brothers Studio. I thought this would be fun, but I ended up enjoying it even more than I expected. We got to see the outdoor city sets where they film different movies and shows. We also got to see a car and costume museum that have been used in their productions. I learned a lot and it was really exciting for me to interact with the place that has produced some of my favorite tv shows.


After our studio tour, we went to Universal City Walk to have a late lunch and some great seafood! We then went on out to Venice Beach to experience all kinds of crazy. Haha, there's definitely some interesting people there. I enjoyed the experience, but I'm not sure my parents would say the same.

Saturday:: We originally wanted to do Disneyland, but I was told to avoid going on weekends so we decided to do Knotts Berry Farm instead, in hopes that the lines wouldn't be as bad. Michael and I still spent a good portion of the day waiting in lines, but we made it fun and had a good time doing the rides. We were also able to catch a couple shows while we were there. One was an ice skating/dancing show, the other was on Native American culture.. both right up my alley haha.


Sunday:: On Sunday morning we went to the early Saddleback service, so my parents and Michael were able to hear a Pastor Rick sermon which was very good as usual. After church we drove down to San Diego to visit cousin Jennifer. She took us to a beach where Michael and I tried surfing for the first time. I can't say I was very good, but I sure had fun trying! I came away with a few bruises on my arms and legs, but it was worth it. Jennifer then took us out to see the Sunset Cliffs and it was right around sunset so that was very beautiful. We then went to Rubio's and had some fish tacos. YUM! Finally we were able to go visit my grandma's cousin, Lawson and his wife, Bonnie. We stayed and visited with them for a couple hours. It was neat hearing some of their life story.




Monday:: The family had to be at the airport at 2:30 this afternoon, so we spent the morning getting things packed and getting my car in for an oil change. We wanted one last good meal together so we stopped at the Irvine Spectrum shopping center on the way to the airport and had a nice lunch at Dave and Busters. I'm guessing they're about ready to get on their second flight back to Indianapolis right now, then they'll have to drive back home late tonight. Again, please pray for safe travels back home for them.

It was so great having them out for a week... getting that refreshing taste of home, and also getting to share my world out here with them. I can't believe I'm down to only 5 weeks left here. I know the time is going to pass all too quickly...

There's been a lot of photos added to my album, so check them out!

Family Visit - Day 1

For those whom it may concern, my family made it out here safely with only one minor setback! After they had an hour delay in Phoenix, I picked up my parents and brother from the airport around 10:30 last night. They were all pretty exhausted (since it was really 1:30 am for them and they had been traveling all day) so we just crashed pretty soon.

Today I had to go into work for half a day to get the bulletin finished, but then we got to spend the rest of the day together. I took them on a tour of Saddleback and we ate lunch at the Refinery there on the church campus. Our next priority was to buy some more fans for the house! Some people just aren't as tough as the rest of us and can't take the heat - haha. We invested in 3 additional fans, so that's been nice finally getting some air circulating through this place.

This evening I took us for a drive along the Pacific Coast Highway.. starting at Laguna and working our way up to Newport Beach. We then went to Sky High Sports, which if you remember is the trampoline gym.


I knew Michael would enjoy it so I wanted to let him experience that. We spent a good hour playing dodgeball, doing flips into a foam pit, and just jumping around. I've got to say... you get a pretty good workout just playing there for an hour!!


After that it was time for dinner and naturally there was only one sensible choice... In-N-Out!!!


Check out more photos from our day here

overdue updates

Disappointed you can't attend Kay Warren's Choose Joy series?

Well, now you can! Watch it live here.
Series starts tonight at 7 pm pacific time (10pm back home)

Thought I'd share in case anyone is interested!

........................................................................................................

In other news::

I forgot to mention I'm all settled into my new house now. It's been great having space to move around. I'm proud to say I've actually been utilizing the kitchen and preparing meals for myself (shocker, I know). Another great thing about being at the house is having access to the pool right outside my door. I've definitely gotten more tan in the past 3 days than I had the previous 6 weeks combined. My only complaint is that the air conditioning apparently decided to stop working right before I moved in, so it gets pretty warm in here during the day, but then cools down enough for me to be comfortable at night with the windows open.

How was everyone's holiday weekend?? I hope you got to enjoy some family and/or friend time, some sunshine, and maybe a hotdog or two! I don't even want to know how many hours I spent in the sun this weekend. On Sunday, eight of us from my small group Bible study spent the afternoon at Wild Rivers Waterpark. One of the guys in the group is an employee there so he was able to get us all in for free! We had a great time riding all the slides, but I think the lazy river was probably our favorite. I felt like a kid again haha. For the 4th I was able to do a little house hopping between different people in my small group. My day started with a pancake breakfast and watching the Lake Forest parade, included some more of that valuable pool time, and ended with dinner at another friend's house. I'm sorry to confess I skipped out on fireworks this year. I'm sure they were probably phenomenal but I was just too exhausted!


Please pray for safe travels for my parents and Michael as they fly out to visit me tomorrow evening. I'm so excited to have them come stay with me through the weekend! We're still trying to make some decisions about what kind of entertainment we want to try to fit into their visit, but I'm sure we'll have a great time together no matter what we decide on. Local friends - If you have any 'must see/must do' suggestions I would love to hear them!

Blessings.

Fish Fest

A week ago from tonight I had a really fun evening with some of my friends that I've been meaning to tell you about. We went to a Christian music festival called Fish Fest hosted by one of the local radio stations. We got to see a couple of my favorite Christian bands and I was also introduced to some new musicians.

Here's a list of everyone we were able to see:
-Tenth Avenue North
-David Crowder Band
-Third Day
-Jake Hamilton
-John Mark McMillan
-Mercy Me

And as if that weren't great enough, we actually scored some VIP tickets which meant a few fun bonuses::
-Autograph session from chosen band
-Backstage pass for chosen band
-free unlimited chick-fil-a!

yes, we were overjoyed by this haha



Some photos from the evening have been added to my facebook album. More to come!

Stars and Stripes

Thursdays are always our deadline day for getting the bulletin finished and sent to the print shop. I thought I would share the finished product from this week with you, because it's a fun 4th of July theme and I did all the art work! If you want to see a larger version, double click on the photo. I had fun with it :)

weekly highlights

Hello family and friends,

I gotta say, this past week has been pretty fun. Here’s some quick highlights:

οοο On Saturday I rode down to the San Diego area with Matt, Kelli, and Jorge where we were able to go to a Switchfoot concert on the beach. It was fun getting to take a little road trip with them, spend the day on the beach, and enjoy some good music.

οοο Tuesday was a bit of a crazy day. It started with me getting kicked out of my hotel room, frantically trying to gather everything I own and thrown into my car in an hour, all the while on the phone making calls trying to figure out where I might be staying that night (haha) and ended with a peaceful drive down to Laguna Beach. There was a little bit of a situation in regards to my transition period from living at the hotel to when I can move into the sublet next Monday. My friends here were so thoughtful and generous though and went out of their way to make sure I would be taken care of for these few transition days. I’m currently staying with my friend Kelli. Her family was so kind to take me in and it’s been wonderful getting some home cooked meals! Tuesday evening Kelli and I took a drive down to Laguna and got out and walked along the beach. I’ve started a photo album on facebook with pictures from this summer, which you can find here:
California Summer



οοο Another highlight of my week (and every week) has just been getting to go out for lunch with the other interns. It always seems to be a different group of us (just depending on who’s around the office each day), but it’s always the best part of my work day!

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Here's a list of things I'm excited about::

1. I get to see part of my family in 2 weeks! My parents and brother are taking a vacation to come stay with me for a few days so that will be lots of fun.

2. My dearest friend Jana has her flight booked for the end of the summer when she'll be coming out in order to be my road trip companion for the journey back home. (I'm sure I'll have bittersweet feelings toward that.)
------------------------------

Okay, apparently I've only got two things on the list for now haha.


Well, tonight we’re heading to Crave and then who knows what the rest of the week will bring! Hope you all are doing well.

Love & blessings,
-Lindsay

modeling debut

As promised, here it is folks - the curriculum cover for Kay's Bible study aka my modeling debut haha



"Joy and sorrow are two parallel tracks that are always present throughout our lives, it is never all joy or all sorrow" - Kay Warren

Happy Fathers Day! ♥

oh, just another week :)

Hello family and friends!

Hope you all are doing well! Everything here with me has been going smoothly.. Every day is a gift.

I went through a bit of a funk earlier this week, just kind of being bored with work and a bit of a longing to be home.. not that I was feeling discontent with life here, but just feeling that I was missing out on some good things back home as well.

Yesterday I came out of that funk though - haha. It was a busy day at work, with deadlines to finish the weekend bulletins and get those sent to the print shop, as well as a few other random jobs I've been working on finishing up. One thing I'm working on right now is a banner for the community PEACE ministry. >Here's a fun fact for you:: Guess who I've gotten to work with on this project? Matt Bruce, husband of my former Huntington University resident hall director! It's a small world I tell ya.< PEACE is one of the larger ministries here at Saddleback. "PEACE" stands for: P.romote reconciliate, E.quip servant leaders, A.ssist the poor, C.are for the sick, E.ducate the next generation. Their ministry is all about assisting and providing solutions for the global giants found in our world (Spiritual Emptiness - Self-Serving Leadership - Extreme Poverty - Pandemic Disease - Illiteracy). I've really enjoyed getting to learn about different ministries while serving at Saddleback. It's been neat to not only get experience in my field of work but also to get this insider's look at so many other areas of service.

Every week I've been getting to know more people and make more friends, so that's been a great blessing. A few highlights from my week - On Sunday, my friend Michelle (an intern) and I were able to go to the morning service together and grab lunch and hang out at the room a little afterwards so that was great. That evening I went to my small group and then I went with Kelli and a few others to an evening service at a church in Costa Mesa called Rock Harbor (about a half hour from here). It was a neat service that appealed to a younger (20s/30s) demographic. On Monday I got to go out for lunch with a new friend, Lisa. She and I met through our staff group that meets once a week. Lisa works for Crave (the college ministry) and she's just great :) On Wednesday evening I got to go hang out at "The Ranch" with some of the interns that live there. "The Ranch" (Rancho Capistrano) is a Saddleback Regional campus but they also have housing for some interns in separate programs as well. (Laura - The Ranch reminds me of Escuela El Sembrador where we stayed in Honduras! So I like that about it) I think it's really pretty out there.. (as if everything in this area isn't - haha.)


So yeah, on Wednesday night I went out to the ranch to help my new friend Justin design a flyer for their 'Night of Worship' event that is coming up. We're pretty proud of our work...


Tonight I've got plans to go see a movie with Kelli, Matt, and Jorge (and whoever else may come.) Then the rest of this weekend I plan to work on the Huntington University Volleyball media guide that I'm designing for their upcoming season. (Well, okay mostly I'm just updating the one I had made for my senior project last year.) Next week I've been given a design job I'm looking forward to. I get to design the background or the "skin" for the bulletin that will be used forth of July weekend. I'm thinkin something Patriotic haha. It'll be a fun creative project.

Love you all. Have a great weekend!

Oh! P.S. Happy birthday to (Aunt) Melissa and (Cousin) Evan today!! Yay birthdays!

independently dependent on God

Family & Friends... hello!
How are you all?

Before I say anything else, happy belated birthday to the coolest guy I know!


I've been been wanting to update you all for a couple days now, but I've been keeping busy and haven't gotten around to it until tonight. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. :)

Well, nothing too extraordinary has happened in the past week, but every day brings something new! Sunday night I was able to try out a small group through the church of college students. A group of about 25 met at our leader's house. The group is going through a Bible study on the gifts of the Holy Spirit - wisdom, understanding, discernment, knowledge, speaking in tongues, interpretation, and prophesy... (there's some I forgot I'm sure.) So we had a really interesting discussion on a couple of those. I was able to make some connections with a few of the girls in the group that night, and then some of us were able to hang out the following two nights. Monday night we went to a community pool, and last night we went to this place called Sky High Sports, which is a gym with different areas each with trampoline floors and walls. In one area you could play dodgeball, another area you could do flips into a pile of foam, in another area they had a trampoline aerobics class going on, and in the last area it was just a free jump around zone. It was so fun, but my body is so sore from it today!


Do we have anywhere like this in Indiana? If so, you should probably look into going. I kept thinking of some of my younger cousins while I was there, and could see them having a blast in a place like that!


I decided Wednesdays are my favorite days because we have our intern meetings in the morning, and then since everyone is around there's always someone to go to lunch with. Now I'm not just saying this to be nice... but all the other interns are so great! I enjoy them more every day I'm around them. Today was also special for me because I had the opportunity to share with everyone at the beginning of our intern meeting. Kyle had asked several weeks ago if I would share a little about how God worked everything out for me to have the opportunity to serve at Saddleback this summer, and I was glad to do it. Some of the other interns will have an opportunity to share their stories in the following weeks I believe, so I look forward to hearing from them as well.

In preparation for any kind of public speaking, no matter how casual, I always like to write out what I want to say to kind of organize my thoughts. As I was writing out my story last night, I was reflecting on what God taught me through that season of uncertainty this past spring while I was waiting for answers and plans to come together. I wanted to share with you some of what God taught me during those months and what He continues to show me every day, so allow me to skip ahead through my story (which most of you are already familiar with) and fast forward to my implications.

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If I can encourage you with anything from my story it would just be to not back down out of seemingly impossible circumstances, but to allow God to journey through your desires with you. And I don’t mean to say that if God’s on your side then you’ll always get your way. We all know that's not true. I mean for years I've been dreaming of adventuring out on my own and learning how to be independently dependent on God, and yet every summer up until now I’ve ended up working on the family farm back home -haha. But as I held onto this desire, I just told God “Hey, maybe now isn’t the right time, but when it is can you please address this desire and maybe use it for your glory somehow? Or if not just rid me of this desire altogether.”

The other thing I learned from going through this time was the value of having prayer partners in your life. I’ve always felt blessed to have parents who have prayed over my life, but when it came down to such a specific thing and when I felt like my voice wasn’t enough, it really gave me strength to know I had them backing me in prayer when it became too frustrating to even pray for myself.

After getting plans secured and coming out here and everything, there’s definitely even been days where I’ve doubted that this is where I’m supposed to be. There are days I feel so burdened with guilt, questioning why I let my parents make such an investment in supporting me for yet another 3 months, as if 22 years hasn’t made a big enough dent in their pockets. But God is so faithful in giving me reassurance. On the road trip out here it was often through a song that would come up on my ipod, usually something with lyrics about packing up and moving to California - haha. But He would use those songs to remind me of my desire and assure me that he started this in my heart a long time ago and it was part of his plan. Other times it’s through one of my new friends stopping by the office to talk to me or giving me a hug, and by those gestures giving me assurance that even if I travel over 2000 miles away from everyone I know and all that is comfortable, He will still put people in my every day life to love me and to make me feel comfortable and part of a family. Learning how to be independently dependent on God… that’s how I looked at my calling for this summer and our Lord has been shaping me so much through that.
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After I shared at the start of our meeting, the chief of staff spoke to us and he made the point, in reference to my story, that so often God doesn't use our successes to teach us, but instead uses our failures, and periods of waiting, and times of no clear answers to shape our character. And ultimately God is much more concerned towards our character development than our circumstances.

New photos!

Thought I'd send some photos your way today :)

Well... Here's where I've been living::





Pretty nice... everything I need and more in the kitchen area, good size bathroom and closet, and a nice desk to work on.


And here's a glimpse of the beautiful Saddleback campus::
My Saddleback Facebook Album

let the modeling career begin

Well, I've decided to drop everything and become a model.

Just kidding :) But I did get a unique opportunity at work today to do a little modeling. The graphic team is working on some designs to go along with a month long Bible study with Kay Warren (Rick's wife) that will go through the month of July at the church. The series is called 'Choose Joy'. So today they brought in two photographers and Gabby (our other graphic intern), Julie (our senior designer working on the 'Choose Joy' designs), and myself were taken to a site off campus to shoot some photos. They wanted two models to have options to choose from so Gabby and I alternated posing for them. We went to a railroad and had to balance on the rail walking away from the camera, carrying a bag, as if we were walking into the unknown future of our life journey if you will. This was actually pretty challenging and I've decided I need to start doing some yoga to work on my balance. I'm actually uncertain as to what these photos are being used for, but I get the impression it's for the cover design of a book that will be used for the group study. That'd be really neat to say I was on the cover of a book! haha but I can't promise that. The photographers joked with Gabby and I at the end of our photo shoot, "Well, I bet you didn't know this was part of your job description when you signed up."

This reminds me.....
Back in my high school volleyball days I would always bang up my legs, earning some impressive battle wounds one way or another doing a conditioning drill. I think one time I slipped while jumping on a box, massively scrapping my shin, and another time I probably just tripped over something and came away with some ugly bruises. Each time Fin (our volleyball coach) would joke "There goes your leg modeling career Bowman." Well good news everyone, my leg modeling career may stand a chance afterall!

This gives you an idea of what the cover will look like. But imagine the photo used here to have either Gabby or I standing on one of the side rails. Oh, and without the big "art is FPO" printed in the middle. This is merely a style sheet for now, not a finished design. Looks good, huh? Julie is great.

I was able to meet Katrina tonight, the lady whom I will be subletting from later this summer. I met her at her home, where I will be temporarily living in about a month. She introduced me to some neighbors and showed me around her place. She was so nice and all of the neighbors/friends I met were equally as kind and welcoming. Her one neighbor and friend who was over has a daughter, Terry, that I was also able to meet who is 19. Katrina had Terry and I exchange numbers, so hopefully we'll be able to spend some time together once I move in. When I told Terry I had graduated with a graphic design degree, she exclaimed "Oh, you are my new best friend! You have no idea!" Turns out she is doing a marketing internship and is expected to be able to meet some of their design needs as well so she's been taking a couple design classes and looking to get some extra instruction. I look forward to being able to connect more with her later this summer.

Well, I think I'm going to head to the (later time) Crave service now, since I missed the first service tonight.
I've been thinking about all of you back home a lot and I pray you're all doing well.
And thanks to my new friends who have discovered my blog and stopped by. You're great people.

Love and Blessings.

want some wheatgrass?

Hello family and friends!

Well, I hear you all (in Indiana at least) had a hotter day yesterday than we did! I think the weather has been one of my favorite things about being out here. It's been consistently perfect... none of those Indiana "high of 100, low of 50, chance of rain, chance of snow, good luck figuring out how to dress for the day" kind of forecasts. Actually it was funny because on Sunday it was a little more chilly here than usual. I of course didn't think anything of it and went to church wearing a sundress, but was totally comfortable. When I got there I had at least 3 people make comments to me along the lines of "Aww.. you must have forgotten your sweater today..." or "Aren't you freezing???"

The past couple nights I've been able to spend with Kelli and the gang. Last night we went over to one of the guys' house. His name is Brad and he was an intern last summer with them and they all go to APU together. So it was us three, Matt (another intern) and then two of their other friends. We made chocolate covered gummy bears (which taste better than you'd imagine), played some board games and card games, and enjoyed some hot tub and pool time. They like to play all of these trivia and word games which I always lose at and they make me feel very uneducated, but maybe I'll come back smarter! haha

Today at the office is was just one meeting after the next! We had our intern meeting in the morning. For our intern meetings we have a speaker come in to share with us. Today they brought in a pastor from the church. He talked with us and did some exercises to kind of give clarity to who we are as individuals in Christ and figuring out where our strengths and passions meet. There were four questions that he walked us through. 1)What do I love doing? 2)Who do I love impacting? 3)What needs do I love meeting? 4)How do I love impacting them? We had two volunteers that he talked through the questions with and then together they choose two words that more or less give clarity to their calling. He described the words as being a short phrase to where they should ignite your soul enough to get a conversation going with someone and allow for you to paint a picture of what God is doing through your life. To give an example, my friend Kelli was one of the volunteers who went today and her two words were "Restore connections." The other guy who went came out with the phrase "Inspire hope." I thought it was a great reflective exercise and our speaker invited us all to send him an email if we wanted to meet him later and go through it ourselves. I may just do that. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know what my two words are :)

My next meeting today was a lunch date with Kelli. It was nice being able to get to talk to her one-on-one. She's just great :)

Third meeting was staff meeting. We were assigned to new staff groups today which are just groups of about 6 to 8 people with staff and interns from all different departments within the church. Today our group leader read through a devotional on leadership and then we went around and shared praises and prayer requests. Side note: people keep asking me where I'm staying. When I tell them I'm living in a hotel they get really sad for me and all start questioning why the church wasn't able to provide me some form of housing. Great question haha. But I assure them all that it's not bad.

My final meeting of the day was interesting.. haha. A guy from the web department stopped into our office area and announced for all of us to go to the creative room because "It's time to have some fun." I had no idea what to expect... I thought maybe it was someone's birthday and we were going to have cupcakes? Wrong. They had these tiny little cups filled with wheatgrass, and also cups filled with apple juice. There were probably 20 of us in there and they made us all go around the table and take a drink of the wheatgrass and then follow it up with a drink of the apple juice.

...It tastes just as bad as it looks. But, they were right.. it was fun :)

beach day

We all had today off of work for Memorial Day, so my friend Kelli asked if I wanted to join her and some others to spend the afternoon at the beach. I forget the name of the beach we went to, but it was pretty small and just beautiful. We had to walk down probably 100 steps from the street to get down to the beach area. It had all of these huge rocks right along the shore so the waves would crash over them and make these large sprays. It was so pretty. Sorry, I didn't have my camera on me or I would have taken pictures for you! The four of us spent the day just soaking in the sun and it was wonderful.

Then we went back to Kelli's house, were joined by a few more intern friends, and her parents had made us a wonderful meal. We had the best mini hamburgers, corn on the cob, and macaroni. It was so great to have a home cooked meal! Kelli and I both got a little too much sun today, so her mom sent me home with some lotion for my burn. Oh, what would we do without mothers? haha :)

We then spent the rest of the evening hanging out... enjoying the hot tub, watching a movie, and playing a trivia board game. I enjoy spending time with this group a lot, and it was nice to be around people again after a long weekend of lots of Lindsay alone time (which was also pretty nice).

I'm excited to go back to work tomorrow and hoping I'll be able to be more productive for them this week now that I have a feel for what they're having me do. I still have much to learn and adjust to, but it'll be good.

love.

Pastor Rick & PBS

Yesterday was an exciting day at the office. I got to meet Pastor Rick Warren and I may or may not be on tv in the near future!

I had just been doing my regular jobs in the office and someone came by and asked if I was an intern and if I was available to sit in on a meeting. I went to the conference room and some other interns were there, most of which I hadn't met yet. Then we were told that the tv network PBS is doing a Religion and Ethics Newsweekly segment where they were interviewing Pastor Rick about raising up the next generation of leaders in a church. Then they wanted to get some footage of him speaking to a group of us young people. So watch for me on tv!! haha :)

But more importantly, I just thought it was really nice that he took the time to come speak with us. He probably talked with us for a good hour, even after the camera crew had left. He talked to us about how he will be retiring in 8 years and how it has been his focus for his last decade in his position to be training and equipping new leaders. Then the camera crew left and he said, "Alright, now I can talk to you about what I really want... and that is In and Out Burger." haha, funny man.

At work I've been getting some slightly more exciting jobs.. mostly working on sections of the bulletin. Although there is talk of a t-shirt design for an event in the near future. That'd be fun. The event is for a fun walk/run that aligns with a year long initiative they have here called "The Daniel Plan" which is a focus on health and taking care of our bodies. If you'd like to learn more about it you can read more here: http://www.saddleback.com/thedanielplan/dpsimplified/

I'm still enjoying getting to know all of these new people. It's been a great challenge for me every day to push myself to try new things and talk to new people and get involved however I can. I've been enjoying lunch times and meetings with the other interns. A couple nights ago my hotel friend (Alex) and I walked down the street to eat Sushi. It was nice getting to talk with him for a couple hours and now having a friendly face around here to say hi to. Last night I checked out the college age service called Crave. Our intern guy, Kyle, had suggested I check it out if I was looking to get connected to some people my age, and then he set me up with another girl who is an intern I hadn't met yet so I was able to meet her there and have someone to sit with and introduce me to some more people. I enjoyed it. They said they'll be starting new small groups for the summer in a week or two, so I'll probably try to sign up for one of those. Today I'm waiting to hear from my friend Kelli about potentially going to the beach with some of them.

My room now smells like vanilla paradise and I fixed the dvd problem (bad outlet) so all is well in hotel world again.

P.S. I've had Chick-fil-A a total of 3 times in the past week. That's 3 times as much as I had previously had it in the past 22 years of my life. These people are obsessed...

Love.

Settling In

hello family and friends!

I've had several people request for me to keep them posted on how life is going for me out here in California this summer, so I thought it would be helpful to just start a blog that I can update whenever I get the chance and you can read when you get time.

Well, if you've been following Laura's blog then you've already read all about our adventures on the road trip out west. It was a long trip for sure, but we made it fun and I'll never forget the memories we made. (Okay, that's not true. I have a terrible memory so I probably won't remember much come the end of the summer.) Laura, thank you so much for taking a week off from your life to make the trip with me. Grant, thank you for letting me borrow your wife. Laura flew back home yesterday evening. And since I haven't heard otherwise I'm going to assume she made it back safe and sound (just with a few flight delays).

Friday
On Friday I had my first day at Saddleback Church. There were 14 interns there for our orientation which went from 10am-3pm. I hear there are supposed to be 25 interns coming total, so I guess not everyone was able to make it on Friday. For orientation we basically just talked through the work environment and values of the church and also expectations for our internship program. We were given a tour of the church campus, introduced to about everyone in the office, and taken out for lunch.

Everyone I've met, both the other interns and church employees, are all super nice. I've really enjoyed the interactions I've had with my fellow interns and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better and hopefully making some great friends this summer.

I want to write a post later this week to give you a better idea of some of my impressions of Saddleback, but a few quick observations I made on Friday is this: the people are passionate about two things...1) Azusa Pacific University (apparently it's the best school ever, so good decision Ryan) 2) Chick-fil-A

Monday
On Monday I had my first real day of work. I got introduced to how the Graphic department at Saddleback works. Basically, every department in the church is considered a client so when they need something created they submit a job request to the graphic department. A lot of common requests would be like newsletters, posters, postcards, or brochures for different ministries and events held by the church.

My supervisor's name is Max. I haven't had too much interaction with him yet. He's a nice man, but they keep him busy! His main role is art director so he's involved more in meetings and assigning jobs. There are 3 other graphic designers on staff. I have been getting the majority of my introductory instruction from a young man named Dan. He's been a good teacher. There are also several different volunteers that will stop in the office to work on different things during the day. Right now, they mostly have me working on pre press jobs. This means that I am in charge of taking the artwork that has already been created and formatting it in a way where it is ready to be sent to the print shop. This is both good and bad. It's good because I realize this process is important to know how to do, and by having a better understanding will help me learn how to design in a smarter way when it comes to how I format and set my colors, ect. It's bad because it's not exactly fun, haha. I don't get to be creative with this.

*Friend update: I was invited over to one of the intern's house (Kelli) to watch the Bachelorette Monday evening with a couple other interns. The three of them had all interned last summer together and were already friends. It was so sweet of her to invite me into their group and I let her know how much I appreciated it. After the show, we all enjoyed some time in her hot tub!

Tuesday
Today I was given my first jobs to do. They were all pre press jobs as I was talking about earlier. We added a new intern today and she's in my department! Yay! Her name is Gabby. Dan gave Gabby and I a tour of the print shop which is located just down the street from Saddleback. It's actually owned by the church though and used only for Saddleback print jobs. There are more than you would probably think!! Today, I alone sent off 3 separate orders for a total of 1270 prints!

Max talked with Gabby and I at the end of the day and told us our primary responsibility for this summer is to be the bulletin girls. Gabby is from Mexico and fluent in Spanish and English so she is in charge of the Spanish bulletin that will be used for a couple different Saddleback regional locations, while I will be doing the Lake Forest bulletins. The team was really excited to get Gabby because they've been in need of someone who can serve as a translator for the bulletin information, so that will be a big help for them.

Something that's kind of discouraging is that I don't get the impression I'll be doing as much creative work as I would have liked. All of the ministries are already so branded in their identity that I'll mostly just be updating previously created templates, even when it comes to the bulletin. I understand that's all part of effective visual communication how you need to maintain a consistent image, but as a designer that can become limiting for your creativity.

*Living update: I finally got all of my clothes put away and my suite organized! The room has had a weird smell ever since I made coffee yesterday morning (and not a good coffee smell either) so I think tomorrow I'll go buy an air freshener. I did my laundry tonight so I have a fresh wardrobe to pull from now. Yay for no longer living out of a suitcase!! I stocked my fridge and cabinets with some groceries. I need a serious break from fast food, so tonight I cooked myself some vegetables and I'm feelin pretty good about that haha. I haven't been able to get my dvd player to work yet, but it's good because I need to be reading anyways. As interns we were given copies of The Purpose Driven Life (autographed) and The Purpose Driven Church that we will be discussing as a group over the summer.

*Friend update: I made a friend while in the laundry room downstairs! Haha. He's a law student from LA that is staying here for a few months to escape distractions while he studies to take the bar exam. Whoever told me people in California were mean, lied! Everyone here has been so friendly to me!


Final thoughts
As I was leaving work on Monday I stopped to talk to Kyle, our intern supervisor. He was asking me to remind him of my living arrangements for the summer. Then we were talking about how my sister had left that day and I was all alone now. And he said to me "Wow, you must really love Jesus."

I was a little surprised by that response. I guess if anything I look at my decision to move here for a summer as more a testimony of my trust in Jesus to take care of me. But it is my desire that my time spent out here will bring people to see just that in me, that "wow, she really loves Jesus." I think that's awesome.

I feel so blessed to be here. Thank you family for your support... financial, emotional, and prayer support. I'm excited for all this summer may hold for me. I'm excited to get job experience and grow as a designer, to serve the church, to make new friends, and to see what God does in my heart and life in the next few months.


Love you all.