DAY TWO! (Monday)

We hit the ground running at like 7:30am or so. I think I might be able to survive 9 weeks of these early days off of Froot Loops and pleasant smiles at breakfast. We had a morning devotional and a talk on the holiness of work. We discussed this as most of us prepare for a McDonald's job that work is the design of God and that God does cary about making burgers as providing needs for people. Their discussion actually really motivated me to feel like I am supposed to be working at a McDonald's this summer. I really, really did not want to originally and was seeking out cute little French bakeries and cushy gelato shops and what not, but I am now really looking forward to glorifying God in a personally humbling place. As a personal mission statement to how I plan to worship God in my job, I hope to have integrity and to be unafraid of not being good at it or not having it all. I have to remember to compliment others and delight in seeing God's image in everyone (co-workers, bosses, and not just my project co-workers), and I must persevere and pray through all issues, taking an attitude of a learner and a listener.

We also spent the time learning more about ourselves through use of the Myers-Briggs scores and several other tests. My spiritual temperament is contemplative and nature-related, which very much suit me. I took a spiritual test concerning my spiritual gifts, and found I scored highest on discernment and exhortation. I personally laughed at the discernment idea (tests the message and action of others for the protection and well-being of the body), mostly because I feel as though I am horrible at that in myself and in discerning God's will. But I love exhortation! I scored lowest in faith and evangelism, but those will definitely grow over this summer. And I scored as an INFJ, which spelt me out pretty well. INFJs make up a really small portion of the population, and so my feeling outcast and/or unique is because it is how God has woven me. I am protective of myself, I am private and typically difficult to understand; I am genuinely warm, very sensitive to conflict, and have strong value systems; they have very high expectations of themselves. Overall, this is the last paragraph of the page we received "The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement."

We had lunch with our bible study. My group is really nice, and I feel really safe surrounded by these girls. Our leaders are wonderful Godly women, too, and I am really excited to spend the next four or so weeks with them under their wing. We talked about how to resolve conflict afterwards, and I am SO happy to have learned that. I am excited to take that new knowledge with me to work through anything at the Brook Street House this fall. And afterwards we had a wonderful homemade dinner of fried chicken and sweet tea (#thankGodforMrsYvette).