Last Day of Orientation

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can

and wisdom to know the difference.

This week has been incredible. Everyone here is amazing. I've made some incredible friends, not all of whom I will be serving with next year, and you can check out links to some of their blogs to the right. This is the first year they have had a combined orientation for the national and international sites, so I've met people who will be serving all over the place--Hollywood, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Cincinnati, Tucson, Alaska, Guatemala, Peru, India, Kenya, and of course, Northern Ireland.

Much of the time here has been dedicated to ways we can take care of ourselves in the dark times of the coming year, which is why I opened this post with the Serenity Prayer. I've also been thinking a lot this week about the Prayer of Saint Francis:

"Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy;

"Oh Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console

to be understood as to understand

to be loved as to love

for it is in giving that we receive

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life"

On a lighter note, worship here has been incredible, and in the hope of bringing you into that, here are some videos.

From Thursday Night

The Call to Worship: "N Nung Yah Dah"

Post-Worship Jam Session