I arrived in Raleigh on Monday September 5, and met my host family, Bo and Judy Batchelder. I was pretty nervous about living with a host family before I got here, but I immediately felt very welcome when I met the Batchelders. They have made me feel at home, and I have really enjoyed getting to know them more. The next day I met Ashley and all of the other fellows at the church. This was a little awkward at first because none of us knew each other, but I think we started to gel as a group pretty quickly at the first retreat at Ashley’s lake house. I really enjoyed this retreat, as it was so much fun to start getting to know everyone while also being able to do lake activities. After this retreat we were introduced to a lot of the other people at I the church including the fellows class from last year. I think it is very cool that the entire fellows class from last year is still in Raleigh, and is still very involved with the church. They have definitely made the transition easier for our class by inviting us to activities and being around if we have any questions or need any advice. After the welcome dinner, we all started work. I have been working at Redeeming Development Group, which is a real estate development/ construction company here in Raleigh. I have really enjoyed my first few weeks working at RDG, I have no experience in construction, so I have been doing a lot of cool tasks that are very new to me. I think this nine month internship will be a great opportunity for me to learn many new things, and hopefully to develop professionally. Another aspect of the program that I have found interesting has been the different classes that we all take together. These classes are on many different topics that I think will help us all learn about the lord and about ourselves. The parts of the program that I have found to be the most rewarding so far have been working with neighbor to neighbor and with the student ministry at Apostles. Neighbor to neighbor is a program where we help tutor and mentor local kids who have fallen behind in either their reading or math classes. I think it is an awesome program, and I am excited to work with my student over these next nine months. I have also really enjoyed helping with student ministry at the church, especially the Fall retreat we went on last week. In conclusion, I have really enjoyed my first month in the fellows program, and I am looking forward to the next eight months.