morgan's spring narrative

8/7/2019 Morgan's Spring Narrative

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2011 S P R I N G N A R R A T I V E FREE

Since Coming home from Christmas

break, our lives in the Albany ServiceAdventure Unit have been going full

speed. We’ve gone to see Silver Creek

Falls, offered a night of babysitting to

the congregation’s youngest members,

participated in two benefit/fundraising

dinners, seen to glorious Mount

Rainier, enjoyed a relaxing morning atthe Cougar Hot Springs, explored more

of the Oregon Coast, rocked out to

Thousand Foot Crutch, and went to

Idaho to spread the word about Service

Adventure.

Although our days and weeks are full of

activities they each give our unit timeto grow closer to each other. The

relationships I’ve formed during this

year are going to stay with me

throughout my life I’m sure. I found that

I am able to be myself around these

What We’ve Been Doing

ANDREA IN THE HOT SPRINGS HAND-BLOWN GLASS GLOBES JULIE AND OLIVER IN HOT

SPRINGS

TAKE A LOOK



PHOTOS FROM THIS YEAR



people which has given me a great

opportunity to grow into my character.

I feel more comfortable in who I am.

Seeing the sights of Oregon and

surrounding area has been one of my

favorite activities of this year. It was

something I was looking forward to

coming into this year and I haven’t been

disappointed. I figure if I’m going to be

on the other side of the country for a

year I might as well get my money’s

worth. So often I have to catch my

breath at the beauty that is God’s

creation, it’s absolutely amazing.

In early March one of my high school

friends came to visit for a long

weekend, that ended up feeling very

short. It was really great to be together

again and be able to show her what I

had been telling her for so long. We had

a very full weekend that was

jumpstarted by a fancy dinner and

movie night and was concluded with

ears ringing from the Rockin’ Worship

Roadshow.

We took a Saturday afternoon trip to

the Tulip festival with high hopes of

overflowing fields of color, however the

weather has been too cold and too wet

so there were very few flowers. We

were disappointed but we had a fun

time anyways.

We’ve done so much this year and our

last three months are already looking

very full as we anticipate the closing of

our year together, but we will continue

making memories.

What We’ve Been Doing (cont.)

WHAT WE DO!

OSU GYMNASTICS MEET

OUR FANCY DINNER

BOISE, IDAHO

VERY WIN DY

SO OFTEN I HAVE TO CATCH

MY BREATH AT THE BEAUTY

THAT IS GOD’S CREATION,

IT’S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.



“How are you and God?” Recently I

was asked this question by a good

friend of mine, and for the first time in

what seems like a lifetime I couldhonestly say that we were doing good.

Spiritual growth was at the top of my

list of priorities as I stepped into my

year of Service Adventure, second to

maybe having a blast (but who says they

can’t be the same thing?). Coming out

of High School I felt like I was stuck in a

spiritual rut - excuse the cliche - and I

didn’t know exactly how to climb out

of it. As it turned out listening was the

key.

This year our unit has participated in

Young Adults Bible Study where we’ve

been focusing on the topic of Listening

for God . Having the chance to sit down

with other people who are willing to

share that they’ve been feeling distant

from God and that they too don’t feel

like they’ve been giving God the best of

their lives has been a huge

encouragement to me. I have beenstretched to try new things, and I’ve

been blessed to see what God has to

teach me as I allow him into my daily

life and not just my Sunday life.

Part of my reasoning for doing Service

Adventure was that the thought of

college scared me and the mention of

more school work made me want to

scream. Although I still am not looking

forward to writing more papers and

studying late into the night I have been

able to see new changes in my

perspective of going to college. Being in

a smaller group this year has allowed

me to see that I don’t have to be as shy

as I normally am in group settings. I can

be that outgoing person when I set my

mind to it and don’t let anything hold

me back. When I tell myself to just go

for it I usually find myself in interesting

conversations with people I would

usually shy away from and try to fade

into the background. Stepping out andsaying a simple, “Hello,” has given me

more confidence as I think about my

situation in the coming year.

Starting in January our unit has lead a

worship service once a month at

church, we plan the songs to sing, the

prayers, who will read the scripture, and

the order of the service. It has been

very rewarding as we see our work

being paid off by a smooth running

service and compliments from various

members. It has not always been an

easy task as we plan together, we each

have our own ideas and different styles,

but I think it has taught us all a lot

about working together to get the job

done.

I have been playing guitar during the

services that we prepare and this has

given me multiple opportunities to

grow in my leadership skills. I’ve hadlittle experience leading songs in

worship and these times have

challenged me to step out of what I’m

comfortable with and allow myself to

be vulnerable, and it seems to me that

when I do this the outcome is usually

quite rewarding.

I started out the year

working at two jobs,

one at a MediationService the other at a

homeless shelter.

However, the

Mediation Service has

closed down and now

I am working full time

at the homeless

shelter. I really enjoy

working there and continue to see my

relationships with the guests grow. I am

going to miss them greatly when I leave

but I know that they will each hold apiece of my heart where ever I go. In

the past couple of weeks I have begun

doing some work in the office, which

has given me a glimpse into the

backstage work that goes on there. I

have even done an intake and

assessment for one of the guests.

Seeing this part of the shelter along

with my work beside the guests have

sparked an interest in social work,

which I have considered majoring innext year, however I am not completely

sure. My heart wants to help these

people in any way I can. When I hear

some of their stories my heart breaks.

This year has been a year of growth for

me and I feel so blessed that God put it

on my heart to take part in this

experience. I know that had I taken the

road that most of my classmates took

in going straight to college I would havemissed out on so much. I am amazed at

how much can change in one year, but

God is continually working even when

we don’t always see it, and I hope that I

will be on the look out for all that he

has to teach me in the coming months

and years.

Growing, growing, growing...



PHOTOS FROM THIS YEAR

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