Orientation tidbits

We've been in orientation at Luther Sem since late afternoon on Monday.  I only met my housemates roughly 2 1/2 days ago, and I certainly don't claim to have personally met all of my fellow LVCers in other cities, and yet the conversations we all have amaze me.  A new friend of mine who's placed in Chicago and I had a rousing discussion this afternoon about our personal faith upbringings, denominations, racism, feminism, and global Christianity. My housemates and I are all being so up-front, honest, and already pretty vulnerable with each other; it's like we've known each other for years, but it's only been days. I feel so blessed to be in a safe, compassionate, respectful, and ecumenical community like LVC.  

We also had a talk on fundraising...thrilling, I know.  And to top it all off, it was right after lunch, the perfect time for my common struggle of staying awake and paying attention.  I'll be the first to admit, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake, I was nodding off and didn't catch everything. I did catch this interesting quote which talks about asking for money in a much more promising, reasonable, and different perspective.  This is a way even I can think about fundraising.

"Fundraising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission," -Henri Nouwen, The Spirituality of Fundraising.  

One more day of orientation, then it's moving day!  Things seem to be felling and getting more and more real...