Back to blogging and a new semester! (This will be a repeat if you have read the newsletter-sorry!)
We started off our spring semester with a vocational retreat to Fancy Gap, VA. We stayed in a beautiful mountain house with an incredible view. It turned out to be quite the bonding experience as the pipes froze, which left us with no running water. Although it may have been a rather smelly week, it was a great time to be together- we played lots of games, shared meals, worshiped, learned and made many trips to the local Food Lion to replenish our water supply. We even picked up a broken-down motorist and brought him home. The week was full of great and unexpected things.
A big shout out to our instructor for the week, Bruce(he had an incredible Australian accent),who spent the week hanging out with us and investing in our lives. Bruce led us through multiple group sessions a day in which he taught us about the foundation of our calling and how that informs our vocation. We also each met with Bruce individually and talked about our personal strengths and our motivations for work, which was very informative. It’s just another way that I have learned more about myself this year.
We also started our new classes- New Testament, Worldview, and an inductive bible study. I’m excited about each of these because of the topics, but mostly because of the incredible people that teach them and speak wisdom into us. The associate pastor at Apostles, Eric Bolash, teaches our inductive bible study and I feel like I have already dug deeper into scripture in two classes then I thought I was able to.
The main highlight though, as always, has been being back with the fellows, my host family (quick shout out to the Boulton’s for being the best), my mentor, and people in Raleigh. There is such a special community of people here and I’m thankful to be a part of it. There’s nothing better than getting together to talk life with the guy fellows in the sauna or sharing a meal and dialoguing through questions as a fellows class at Roundtable. It has been so fun to see the growth in relationship with all of these people. In particular, it has been amazing to see the transformation within our fellows class. We were just strangers and forced friends when we met, but now they are dear friends who I genuinely care for. I’m excited to spend the next 3-4 months together.
Go Hoos- Dan
Faleigh Rellows