Wednesday, July 15, 2015

this is the day - the last day!


Whelp, this is the day (pun intended). Not only is it the first update to my blog in about 4 months (oops), it’s also my very last day of missionary service! I thought it would be appropriate to post a little update on my life since it’s been so long. By-the-month highlights - here we go:

March
  • March Madness at the Seminar Program: hosted 9 groups from Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
  • Bucket showers for lent: experienced a deep appreciation for water as a resource and gift from God, and remembered my baptism pretty much every day as I poured water over my head.
April
  • Visited home for a few days and hosted my family in DC for a few days.
  • Finished physical therapy with great improvements in strength in mobility associated with my spinal arthritis.
May
  • Married off one housemate and welcomed a new housemate into our home.
  • Experienced US-2 End-Terms, the final formal gathering of our missionary class.
  • Summer season at the Seminar Program begins with 4 seminar groups.
June
  • Began co-leading a Bible study and fellowship small group with The District Church, studying the book of Ecclesiastes.
  • Spoke at Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference on my call to mission, my work, and Generation Transformation programs.
  • Facilitated a workshop and screened a film, both on human trafficking, at the Youth2015 conference in Orlando, FL.
  • Hosted 5 more seminar groups.
  • Had the first ever “Find-a-Dave-a-Job-a-Thon,” where my generous friends volunteered to gather at my house to look up jobs they thought I would be good at, and then explain to me why I should apply. Discernment is best done in community. I highly recommend this for anyone engaged in a job search.
July
  • For the first time in 3 years, rode a century (100 mile bike ride) with my roommate, fulfilling one of my little known DC goals of biking to the beach and back.
  • Celebrated Independence Day with my roommates and friends here in DC.
  • Hosted my last seminar group.
  • Had the honor of witnessing a good friend be baptized.

What’s next? My first item of business is a bike ride across Iowa called RAGBRAI (Registers Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). This is simply a huge bike tour I’m doing for fun with 3 friends from DC and about 15,000 new friends I’ll meet there on the journey. The ride will take 7 days and cover 585 miles.

After that, I’ll continue the job search, focusing here in DC for the near term, but expanding beyond as needed. As always, if you know of something at the intersection of engineering, education, and ministry which provides ample time for working with people or hands-on work, please let me know!

I have so many more things I would like to share, but this is all for now. Blessings friends!

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So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 NLT