Jacksonville!

Ok. So here I am, in Jacksonville, Florida, working for a larger church in the town of Riverside. Apparently Jacksonville is the largest city in the world, land-wise (says a few folks I have met), and is your typical big city with a bunch of little towns in it.

Riverside Presbyterian Church is set in (historic) Five Points, which is a pretty eclectic little place that has coffee shops that have punk bands at night, local restaurants, a few chain restaurants, a Publix (yay for the return to Publix country!), and some other things that are a quick walk away. I've really missed being in a place where I can walk everywhere. This makes me unbelievably happy. I've had a lot of lunch meetings and every single one has been able to walk down to Five Points and grab a bite to eat. Given, I'll probably have eaten at every single one by the end of the summer, but it's all good, and at least I'm walking there.

So far so good down here in the 90+ weather. I'm finding myself loving the two college interns that I work with, and they fill me in on the church and the normal to-dos, because they both grew up in this church and know the happenings, the ins and outs of the trips we take, and just the all around who's who, which is completely helpful. The three of us gather (well, a lot of the time anyway) but especially Monday mornings at Starbucks in Five Points, and this morning walked to the park at the river to have a little meeting. We usually sit down with the calendar and just realize who needs to do what, what's happening this week, and who needs help from the others. It's quite a system we've got going.

I've also made some friends down here so far (including Paige and Courtney, the other interns). A friend from Louisville introduced me to his college buddy, and the first week I was here I met him, and since then have gone to the beach with he and his friends, and he came to hear me preach. So it's pretty exciting to have a friend that isn't associated really with the church..and lives at the beach!

Thus far I've had lunch meetings, gone to movies, night worship services, eaten dinners, had an "Office" party, and have been engulfed in welcome by this community. I'm not sure that I could have asked for a better experience this summer. I already realize the amount of knowledge that I have the opportunity to take from this place and these people, who I am sure I will have a hard time parting with come August.

This week is the last "down" week until we all hit the ground running just a bit more than we already are. Next week we start "Summer in the City" while simultaneously doing Vacation Bible School. At my home church we do VBS at night but here it's 9am-noon. A few years ago the church realized that the older kids were kind of bored by VBS and so started an in the city outreach/mission week where we'll hit up various places, doing community service each day while VBS happens at the church. Summer in the City is for middle school folks, and I'm pretty stoked about it! Then at the end of next week I head to San Jose, California for the PCUSA's General Assembly. Should be a good time!

On a separate note, I'm only 45 minutes from the camp I worked at last summer. Friday I went to camp to babysit the Executive director's kids, and it was a blast. It's exciting b/c I knew that if I couldn't be in Louisville or Virginia I wanted to be close to people that I felt a connection with, and this ended up being a good fit. I've been able to see some good friends from last summer multiple times, as they're not that far away. It's been good for my soul thus far.