oh, TC. its interesting how a mere two letters can make such a huge impact on a person's life. im thankful that i was given the opportunity to be able to be mentored by older sisters and pastors, to be able to learn important character principles, to be given the chance to actively invest in lives, to be allowed to eyewitness God's power, love, faithfulness, sovereignty, and grace. reflecting on this formative part of the past 3 years of my time here, there are 3 major thank-you points:
1) thank you, TC, for forcing me to grow up.
im super immature. but im sure that if i hadn't done TC, my character growth would have been severely stunted. as a leader, there's legit 360-degree accountability -- accountability with older mentors, with your peer accountability partner, and with the younger life group members you are stewarded to shepherd. accountability everywhere - you can't escape it. trust me. i've tried. multiple times. and then to the tenth power. there's accountability to strive for integrity and holiness. accountability for your own spirituality. i definitely have my fair share of flaws and weaknesses, and TC represented a brutal but necessary avenue for the exposure of these sins. for example, back when i was in undergrad, i was super-flaky (and its painfully embarrassing to admit that now; i cringe at the horrifying memories). as a brand new leader 3 years ago, that selfish flaw hurt a lot of my members and was a huge reality check of how messed up and sinful i was as a person. integrity, punctuality, reliability, discipline -- the spiritual aspect aside, these are all qualities and characteristics that the structure of TC has gleaned in me, and for that, im truly thankful.
2) thank you, TC, for teaching me how to love. love God and love people.
TC has been an avenue of tremendous spiritual growth for me. if i wasn't on TC, i know for sure i would not have learned to love God the way that i do now. of course, i've had my qualms with being a leader. there were definitely a fair share of "rules" and "obligations" that were set for us, and though there have been plenty of times where i've complained about these things, looking back now, i see how each of these "rules" shaped an integral part of who i am and taught me invaluable lessons. mandatory attendance for a meeting for almost every single day of the week has taught me discipline. and the meetings themselves -- the sunday services, the life groups, the thursday prayer gatherings, the friday services, and the saturday morning leaders meetings have all in themselves been so pivotal in growing me as a Christ-follower. these were the very settings where i learned to study the Word, where i discovered the intricacies of the living Word of God, where i was taught how to pray for myself and how to interceed for others, where i was challenged to practice loving people and loving God. looking back, i am truly thankful for every single meeting. i'm thankful i was "obligated" to go, because knowing my lazy flesh, if i were given the option, i'm sure my depraved self prolly wouldn't have gone to half the meetings while i was in undergrad. but through these meetings, God was able to plant the seeds of a love for Him, and in large part due to TC, now, i find myself absolutely head over heels in love with God.
3) thank you, TC, for opening the eyes of my heart to see God.
it is such a privilege, seriously such a privilege, to be able to witness the power of God in people's lives. there are no words to describe when someone who you've been crying out for decides to finally accept Christ into their lives. there are no words to describe when someone finally receives the healing and restoration to deeply seared wounds and hurts. there are no words to describe watching a group of strangers to each other and to God fall in love with one another and with one another's shared Father. there are no words to describe seeing the fruits to seeds you sow for years. no words. through TC, through this avenue to be able to invest and disciple people, you see God working. and its awesome. and then, you see what really matters. you see what life is really about. and opened eyes -- i wouldn't trade that for all the money, prestige, or security in the world.
after TC was the start of "the" weekend of mi hermanas. we've been wanting to go on a road trip, but with the craziness of all the weekends, there wasn't a free weekend for all of us before my departure date...so a day of activity had to do. per my sheepish request, we started off our day together with a worship/prayer session -- finally! i've been wanting to do this more regularly throughout the year, so i'm glad that we were all finally available for it this past saturday.
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| anna flipping through the songbook |
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| post-worship/prayer session with the full cast of characters, including red-rimmed eyes, toilet paper used to wipe our tears and snot, guitar, and songbook |
afterwards, we decided to head over to creatopia in plymouth to make pottery stuff. we were in a low-key mood.
downtown plymouth was surprisingly cute. it was quaint, old-fashioned area with various shops that were too irresistible not to venture into. which ended up working out since creatopia was booked for the whole day up until their closing...meaning we weren't even able to make pottery as we initially had wanted. so we spent our time there perusing through a handful of shops.
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| darn you, creatopia! haha |
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| anna scouring for her chocolate bunny |
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| anna posing with her chocolate bunny |
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| esther amused at anna's antics |
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| inside a kitchen store |
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| which was full of completely unnecessary tools |
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| "loitering" |
dinner was so much fun. first off, i straight-up enjoyed this new style of cuisine. basically, there's a whole bunch of vegetable and meat dishes on top of a spongy flatbread called injera, and there aren't any utensils, so the dishes are scooped up and eaten with injera too. it was a snacker's paradise. soooo good. plus the service at blue nile was top-notch. i could hardly stand though afterwards...upon returning home, all i could do was lie down. walking was literally borderline painful -- that's how full i was.
secondly, dinner was awesome b/c of the company. if some of the girls didn't have another obligation afterwards, i'm pretty sure we could have stayed another hour or so, even after being in the restaurant for nearly 2 hours already. there was so much laughter and joy over our table (or more like injera tray). we interspersed conversation with "true colors" (that game never seems to get old), and idk why, but it was so much fun. it was difficult stuffing our faces and getting our esophagi backed up in the midst of laughter.
man. i love these girls. who would have thought? two years ago, i would never have imagined myself eating ethiopian food with my hands and having a blast with these very girls. i know i say it over and over again, but its because the truth is remains ever poignant: each of these sisters is such a blessing from God. each friendship and sister is an answer to my prayers. being here in ann arbor after graduation has not been immensely difficult for me in part because of these girls. i couldn't have asked for a better sisterhood to exist amongst us. they are all each so special to me and are truly examples of God's undeserved favor in my life.
gracias, gracias, gracias, gracias, Señor, por mi hermanas.
merci, merci, merci, merci, mon Dieu, pour mes soeurs.
danke, danke, danke, danke, mein Gott, für meine Schwestern.
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| fave picture from the day |
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