A is for Attic

I am currently leading two Bible studies: one for freshmen and one for upperclassmen. My upperclassmen study meets Thursday evenings in Lee Hall, one the main campus buildings. This past Thursday, one of the women who comes noticed that the elevator had a level "A", and decided that we all should go with her to see what level A was all about.

We thought it might have stood for Atrium, and were expecting large conference rooms and other administrative offices. But the elevator doors opened onto a small room with a few dust-covered boxes. There was also a ladder that led up to either the roof or an electrical box. One of the women, Mary, climbed up the ladder and tried to open the door, but couldn't get it opened. Although, in hindsight, that might have been a good thing.

We thought it the space was pretty cool, and took a few minutes to look around, explore everything in our small surroundings. We had finished looking around when we realized the elevator call button wasn't working. We could push the button, but the light wouldn't go on. And then we realized you needed a key to call the elevator. But we weren't panicking because there was still a door, which we could tell led to the stairwell. Except that door was also locked. We were legitimately trapped in the attic of Lee Hall. 

Thankfully, we did have cell reception! So Tracy, another member of the study, called her boyfriend to please come to Lee Hall and take the elevator to A but told him to not get off the elevator! Once we all knew we were only stuck for a few minutes more, we broke down and started laughing hysterically. Who gets trapped in an attic of an academic building?!? The look on Tracy's boyfriend's face when the elevator doors opened was priceless.

And now we know what the A stands for.

Flat Tire

I walked out of the CCM today, and found that my car had a flat tire. It had been going a little flat a few weeks ago, but a teammate used his bike pump to fill it up, and there didn't seem to be too many problems after that. Until now; when it was very noticeably flat. I even tried to drive on it, to see if I could make it over to the shop, but as soon as I started backing out of my parking spot, I knew there was no way I would make it with my tire in the shape that it was.

Before leaving for Virginia, my dad, with great foresight, taught me how to put on the spare tire. Fortunately for me, however, another teammate was around who actually knew what he was doing! (I probably could have gotten the tire off eventually, but Rob was able to do in easily half the time it would have taken me.) Unfortunately for Rob, however, the tire was stuck to the car, like really stuck. It was not coming off! He tried, and then a student tried, we sprayed WD-40 on it, but it just wouldn't budge.

So we left the flat tire on, and just filled it up with air so that I could bring it in. We found a bike pump in the shed, my teammate filled it up again, and I drove it over to Sears. Which is where I am now, catching up on some work and waiting for them to return my car! So far, it's been a great opportunity to practice patience...

Meet the Team at Mary Washington!

The University of Mary Washington has four full-time missionaries: Anthony, Rob, Susie, and me. Anthony is our Team Director, which means he is in charge of setting our schedules, and helping the rest of to be the best and most effective missionaries that we can be. Anthony, Rob, and I are all from the Midwest-- Anthony is from South Dakota, and Rob's from North Dakota. Susie is from Fairfax, VA, which is right outside Washington, DC, about an hour north of Fredericksburg.

I absolutely love my team. We have so much fun working together, that most of the time it doesn't feel like work! For example, on the first day of class, we went out on to campus to hand out flyers. I don't remember who, but one of the guys came up with the idea to dress up as a gorilla and the other decided to dress up as a banana. I also don't remember when we started to take that idea seriously...

The team, with Fr. Edlefsen, right before heading out onto campus. From left to right: me, Father Edlefsen, Rob dressed as a gorilla, Anthony dressed as a banana, and Susie.

The new students got a huge kick out of it, and many of them took a picture with the monkey and banana. It was also effective for getting new faces into the CCM (the Catholic Campus Ministry). Father absolutely loved that we were willing to do the ridiculous, but I think some of the returning students were wondering what they were in for this year!

New Student Night

Last week Friday was New Student Night at the Mary Washington CCM (Catholic Campus Ministry). It was similar to a mini-retreat for new students, especially for new freshmen. We had quite the turnout-- almost 40 new students! It was great to see some familiar faces and meet new students.

The night had some ice-breakers, a talk by Fr. Edlefsen who is the campus chaplain, quiet time for prayer and reflection, and lots of fun and games! It was a great way for the new students to meet some of their classmates, and become more familiar with the CCM building.

I spoke at New Student Night, encouraging the students to become involved with the CCM, and sharing the importance of having good friends who share your values.

Here is one of the small groups for the night. Students gathered in small groups to reflect on the talks given by the campus chaplain and others in the CCM.

P.S. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures above, but the room both photos are in is the room we have Sunday Mass in! I'm standing in the top photo next to the lecturn podium, and the alter is pushed against the wall to the right of that. There are Stations of the Cross on the wall, and we pull in folding chairs for seats. The CCM isn't big, but they definitely make do with what they have!

Jogging

Before moving to Virginia, I had decided I wanted to try to go running more regularly. When I first arrived, however, I went into a little bit of "climate-shock." Every time I stepped out of our air conditioned apartment, I immediately felt short of breath. I was confronted by this weird, thick, heavy air that seemed to make it impossible to breath fully. And then I came down with a cold and/or allergies that put my nose out of commission for a good week. So my whole ambitious plan of jogging on a schedule totally flew out the window.

When I did recover from my cold, I was warned to have a little more care around people than I might be used to in Wisconsin. Unlike Wisconsin, there seems to be a lack of friendliness between strangers in Virginia. When jogging or biking at the UW, it's routine to smile, wave, and give a nice "Hey there!" or "Good morning!" to any fellow exercisers you might meet. Here, unfortunately, this behavior is definitely not encouraged. In fact, I was told to not smile or wave with random passers-by while jogging because it might give the wrong impression, and it just isn't something people do.

Fredericksburg does have a very low crime rate, so I'm not particularly worried when I go out jogging. And one of the students and I have teamed up and becoming jogging buddies! We both seem to lack the self-motivation needed to get up early and go running by ourselves, so we are going to keep each other company! She's familiar with the campus and its surrounding neighborhood, which is a huge help for me, since I don't have a great sense of direction.

One of the ways we work with students as missionaries is called "incarnational evangelization." Essentially, it's the idea that as we share everyday life with students, we can build up a relationship and encourage them in their walk of faith. Jenniffer, my jogging buddy, is a super-solid Catholic who is already involved at the Catholic Student Center at Mary Washington. By jogging with her, we can get to know each other, discuss different things that are happening in life, and learn from each other. I appreciate her help to me, by giving me motivation to wake up and get out of bed to go running in the morning, and I hope I can reciprocate and show my gratitude in the weeks and months to come!