5 Things I Learned in My First Week

1. Be flexible. God's work doesn't always go exactly how you were planning or hoping. You have to be flexible and willing to work around stuff that comes up and changes your plans.
2. Let God steer. Because everything doesn't go exactly how you were planning, you need to remember that God is in charge not you. You need to remember that even if something doesn't turn out how you imagined, it turned out how God had planed it to.
3. Be optimistic in everything you do. Remember that God has a plan for you and everything he made. As Jeremiah 29:11 states "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God knows what is best so be optimistic and know he is taking care of you. He has a plan for you.
4. Give freely. As I was helping Curt, our project manager, store extra drywall that a citizen was donating to our cause, a gentleman asked if we had any extra bleach. Curt instantly gave the bleach to the man and later explained to me that we should give any materials to people who ask for them. At the same time we were being blessed by receiving drywall we helped a neighbor by giving him bleach. It reminded me of Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you." As Christians, we are to give freely to others whether it is through material possessions or our time.
5. Never forget to take time for God. Even though this first week at the Flood Recovery Office was extremely busy we still took time for devotions. We always kept God as the focus and never forgot to halt our busy lives to praise him.

My first week as a flood intern

Tuesday started my first day of work after college graduation. All of the interns met at the Flood Recovery Office to get acquainted with the work we will be doing all summer. We learned some basics about the flood and where we are now in the recovery process. After lunch Melisa sent us on a great scavenger hunt to find places we will be frequenting throughout the summer. This was excellent for me since I'm not from Cedar Rapids and have no idea where any roads are or where they go. I was able to get a basic idea of the layout of the city on our adventures. Amanda and I are the two PR interns for the summer. This week we mostly worked on putting together a video about the disasters that hit Iowa last summer. The video will be showed at the Iowa Annual Conference next Friday. We got our house assignments for our volunteer groups next week on Thursday, so Friday morning I drove by my three houses. It's a good thing I have a GPS because I never would have found one of my houses without it. It was a great first week; I am really looking forward to working with the other interns and the rest of the flood recovery staff all summer. I can't wait to see God work in the city this summer through all of our generous volunteers. Thank you all in advance for your hard work, I look forward to meeting you and working with you. 

My First Day As An Intern

Arriving bright and early at 7:30, we were greeted by an always cheerful Melisa. We spent about two hours going through all the basic information we needed to know about our jobs and learning the names of the handful of people we would be working with daily. We learned who would be in charge of what tasks and which tasks we would work as a team to accomplish. The second half of the morning we all jumped right into the tasks that we will be doing for the summer. Shelby, a fellow PR intern, and I worked on writing the script for a video that will be shown to the Iowa Annual Conference in less than two weeks. I also called two individuals to schedule interviews to record their testimonies of the flood for the video. We ate as a group for lunch consuming the majority of three pizzas and a few breadsticks. This was our fuel for the scavenger hunt Melisa concocted for our benefit. We spent two hours driving around finding various places we will visit frequently this summer. Even though we made multiple U-turns, we all felt much more comfortable navigating the crazy, confusing Cedar Rapids roads afterward. Even though the day was tiring and packed with a plethora of new information, I left the Flood Recovery Office with a sense of excitement for what this summer has in store for me.