Impromptu Hikes = "Showing Me Around Town"

Tuesday was filled with lots of grandiose things. 

The day started off with my first staff meeting at 9 AM and as promised, I went in my sweats, hair wet and no make up. It was glorious. Joyce pulled out all the stops with delicious muffins, cereal and coffee  while Jenny (the Children's Pastor and my super awesome fellow housemate) provided scrumptious bagels. The meeting started and ended with prayer which I loved and was totally informal. Sure we took care of business, went through the whole entire schedule for the next year, but we also let ourselves get side tracked and Drew (my boss' boss and Senior Pastor at Compass) even contributed to it. We laughed a ton and joked around, it felt like a family. I felt comfortable to speak up and share ideas which was good but the best part was that I was listened to! Seriously, who would listen to an intern who just got here a few days ago? Hardly anyone, but that's just how neat and down-to-Earth these people are! They listen, encourage, fill any need, it's amazing and truly the way (I believe) God would like a ministry team to flow. One thing that they say around here is: "We don't take ourselves seriously but we take God very seriously." I think that that saying nails outreach ministry on the head. Why waste your time trying to be so serious all the time (I struggle with this for sure)? God created us to be ourselves the way He intended us to be! Why not take advantage of that and take His Word (the Bible) and His Purpose for you seriously? Anyways, the meeting lasted two hours but the time flew by.

After that, my afternoon was filled with unpacking more and just relaxing/hanging out. I sat with Jenny for a while and exchanged ideas with her for their mission trip to Thailand coming up in 3 weeks. About 12 people from the church are going, including Austin (the tech intern and fabulous housemate), Jenny and Drew. They will all be gone from the end of September until November! I am going to miss them a lot! Honestly, I couldn't describe how much I feel at home here. I really understand Compass' vision for reaching out to the un-churched and to people who have had bad church experiences. Also, just the way my personality is coincides easily with everyone else's here. God definitely knew what He was doing by placing me here.

Tumalo Falls

Around 4 pm, all the housemates and Matt met up at Drew's house because Drew wanted to show me around town. First stop, Tumalo Falls. Well, technically Tumalo Falls isn't in Bend but it's a really neat hike with large waterfalls. We hiked 1/4 of a mile to the top lookout point which hovers near the waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful! Then as we were hiking down, James decided that we needed to go behind the waterfall. Therefore, down a small dusty rocky path we went and soon we were running behind a waterfall getting completely soaked. I screamed like a little kid and apparently Jenny, Drew and Matt all heard me from where they were... great haha. I found it quite amusing that "showing me around town" meant impromptu hikes and outdoorsy things. I guess Corvallis is a tid bit different. It's more like "Here is the college campus, football field, etc", although Corvallis does have pretty hiking areas. I feel like I need to find a sport. Everyone does something here...

{Behind the waterfall: Me, Austin and James)

Now that I was all dusty, a little muddy and completely soaked, Drew treated us all the frozen yogurt (apparently Bend loves it's frozen yogurt shops...they have like 6 of them). It was delicious and I couldn't decide if I just wanted fruity flavors or more dessert-y so I chose both! Then we drove across town to Pilot Butte which is kind of like Bald Hill (in Corvallis) but better views. It's basically smack dab in the middle of the city where you can literally see everything! It's view is panoramic and goes all the way around so there really isn't a spot in Bend you can't see. Oh and we drove up it but apparently it's the place to go running or on a nice walk (although it's completely incline). I wasn't able to get a good picture because of the haze (there has been a lot of wildfires) but next time I go, I'll take one. 

Next stop was home where Jenny, Austin and I heated up some chicken fajitas that Joyce so lovingly made for us (they were yummy!). Then we all (Carl joined in at that point) went to O'Keanes which is an extension of Mcminnamins that is all outdoors with large fire pits. We had a blast! Then as I was driving home with Jenny, we started talking about how to outreach and how standing up on a soap box and preaching in the middle of a shopping area or scaring people into accepting Christ (by saying they're going to hell if they don't believe), isn't the right way to go about it... in fact you are more likely to turn people off from Jesus rather than teach them if you go about it that way. Jenny told me that basically I was her soul mate because of all the things we have in common. That meant a lot to me. 

When we got home all the housemates watched How I Met Your Mother on the projector and took turns cuddling with Milly (they all love her!). Honestly, I feel at home here, at ease. Doesn't it just blow your mind when it's like God had you as a puzzle piece and now you found the rest of your puzzle pieces and are whole? I feel that. He is so good, too good. Thank you God for blessing me and creating me the way I am so that I can get along like this with others and find comfort in Your Kingdom of believers. 

Having coffee with Jenny tomorrow! I am super excited :)