Assignment!

Hello Everyone!

I apologize for leaving you in suspense. I am so pleased to announce I have been assigned to the Allegheny Synod in central Pennsylvania. This is the area in which I did internship and I loved it so much. The synod goes from the Somerset area up through State College. It is beautiful and is surrounded to the Appalachian "mountains". Sorry for the parenthesis, but being an Alaskan it is hard to call those things mountains!

What will happen now is I will begin recieve a profile on a congregation. We will then begin the interviewing process which includes preaching at the congregation. A voting process then takes place and if all goes well, I will accept the call! If this does not occur, the process begins all over again with another congregation.

In regards to my ordination, this is all dependent upon the call process. The one thing I can promise is it will not happen before graduation in May. I know many of you who hope to come out are eager to find out when this will be. Unfortunately, in most cases there is not much notice as to when or where this will take place. If you are looking to attend, please let me know and I will notify you as soon as I can.

Thank you for all your notes of prayer, encouragement, and even concern when you didn't hear anything! I was assigned to the region on Wednesday and didn't hear from the Bishop about the synod till this afternoon. This is all so exciting though a little overwhelming.

Please continue to keep me in your prayers throughout this process, especially that the Holy Spirit will guide me to wherever I am called.

Laura

My personal blog: http://laurathevicar.blogspot.com/

Colbert, New York, and the Call Process!

Yesterday my two friends and I went to see the Stephen Colbert portrait hanging between the bathrooms of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. For those who do not watch the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, it is a political satire type news show (I would highly recommend it). On the show, he attempted to have his portrait displayed in the American History Museum only to be rejected and sent to the Portrait Gallery. As they have a good sense of humor, the obliged and placed it between the bathrooms and above two drinking fountains. It is only there until March 2nd so we made sure to make it over before it was removed. I have to say, it seems they are getting many more visitors, though they are all found surrounding the restroom entrance!

School is still going well and I am continuing with my goal to stay motivated through the semester (see previous blog post). I am entering week three and am still enjoying my classes! Right now I am busy working on the research project for my Theology of Cancer course. I have decided to journey up to New York City in March to visit with a chaplain at Memorial Sloan Kettering, one of the top cancer research hospitals in the world. Some of the families from the website I run have children who are being treated there and I am currently setting up some meetings with them. The project I am doing is to study how family dynamics are effected when a child is undergoing treatment for cancer. It is my hope that this project will be a helpful resource to myself and other pastors when congregation members are facing similar situations.

Some other exciting news is in a mere 10 days the regional assignment process will be complete and I will know which part of the country I will be serving in! I am becoming very excited and feel open to just about anywhere I may end up. My heart still longs to remain in Pennsylvania, but I know that God's plans are always so much better than my own. Please continue to pray for me and all the other ELCA 1st call pastors over the next couple of weeks.

So, that is about it for now. Thank you again for all your prayers and support. I promise to send out an update ASAP when I hear about the regional assignment. When you have a moment, please don't hesitate to send me a quick update about how you are doing. I really do love hearing from all of you!

Laura (and of course Mel and Katy!)
http://laurathevicar.blogspot.com/

Please don't forget to visit the website I run, Asher and Jacob's Friends. There are many who could really use your prayers.

3 months, 5 days...

Three months and five days to go. Is that possible?

It is hard to believe in less than 100 days I will be done with my formal education. After twenty some-odd years, I will no longer be in school. Unbelievable!

The semester started last week and already the nostalgia is setting in. As much as I am excited to be graduating, a part of me is already longing for more time. I really do love school and it is hard to imagine what life will be like outside of it. It will be so strange to not go to bed at night thinking about all of the readings I didn't get done that day, along with that feeling of dread over sitting for two 3 1/2 hour classes the next day. As much as I can't stand that feeling, I think part of me will actually miss it!

My goal for this semester is to try and enjoy myself as much as possible. It seems every semester I start out with that newly sharpened pencil, crisp paper feel and by the end of the second week am grudgingly dragging myself to class. I don't want this semester to be like that. It is my hope and prayer that I will move past the longing to finish and will live in the moment, learning as much as I can and enjoying the freedom that comes with student life vs work life.

Speaking of which, I had better get going so I am not late for class...