Week 3 Already?!

Hey everyone! I'm back with my internship update for the week...I can't believe that it's already almost mid-June and the weeks are flying by fast! 

This week has been a good week – a better week than the last few weeks, mostly because I actually did something! :) However, it has also been one of the longest weeks I've ever had - I have been staying at the church for 11 hours each night. So THIS is what it's like to be a part of the worship department...now, I feel the pain of my worship pastor and his assistant! They work hard to make things happen...it's incredible how much work behind-the scenes they do other than just leading worship on Sunday morning. Seriously, this was very eye-opening for me!

On Tuesday, we started planning Christmas services...yep, we're going to make a big deal out of it! I'm really excited to be a part of its beginning stages, but sad at the same time because I won't be home until a few days before Christmas this year (school runs late!)...but we are planning lots of videos, music, and fun into the services and we have some really cool ideas for it! Actually, my pastor and the other intern pretty much thought of everything...I just sat and wrote things down for them. As you can tell, I'm NOT at all that creative...and I can't just work in a group setting or something! 

Tuesday night, I had my first orchestra ministry meeting...it's happening! Unfortunately, only 3 people showed up, but hey, that's a start! 11 people total are signed up and I'm going to make it happen no matter what! First rehearsal will be held next Thursday so right now I'm trying to arrange the music so that with the appropriate instrumentation. Actually that's pretty much all I did Wednesday and Thursday. I got most of the strings part done...so I just have to add the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone parts in. My thinking right now is that they'll probably just double the strings part because we definitely need a fuller sound...and then I just have to add articulation and dynamic markings, which shouldn't be too bad...but then I have to practice conducting it before rehearsal so I'LL actually be ready and know how to conduct it! So, still lots to do but I'm excited to see what God's going to do with this ministry this summer! 

Thursday night was my first worship rehearsal where I actually play! Yes!!! :) I was sooo excited! I finally get to play the keys after a long time not being a part of the worship team for a few months. I’m continuing to see how much I really love doing music ministry! Ahh, excitement! 

On Friday, I did my normal Friday routines in the morning (stuffing bulletins and make sure everyone gets a copy of the "order of services" for Sunday), then met with my pastor about the paper I'm supposed to write in a couple of weeks. He'll be on vacation for the last 2 weeks in June so I figured it'd be a good time to do it now, so we can work towards something if we need to improve it. This was probably one of the best meetings I’ve ever had with him. We were able to connect and communicate with each other and I learned a lot about worship leading from him, especially the leadership and pastoral aspect of it, giving me some advice and warning me of some things I will encounter as a worship minister. He is putting a challenge for me to lead worship in the next few weeks: co-leading worship during Wednesday night service next week and doing it on my own when he's gone on vacation - then the same thing for Sunday services. I think this is best because I need to start with a smaller "audience" before diving into our huge church services...that scares me...and excited me at the same time though! So, we'll test out some songs and have me sing/lead through them Tuesday afternoon of next week just to get used to microphones and stuff (ugh, I hate how I sound through the microphone...so awkward!)...

Overall, I’m very encouraged this week, especially after my meeting...things are definitely looking up (hopefully it doesn't stop here). Thank you so much for all of your prayers...they are appreciated! I’m continuing to learn with others seeing their strengths and weaknesses as well as my own. Through this internship though, I'm able to see more of God's calling in my life and that is the best part! :)

Until next time,

Andrea