Game night & one of my favorite schools

I really love the transition from Sunday evening into Mondays. Most people really hate it, but I actually relish it. The weekends here in New Haven consist of a mish-mash of different activities: Friday evenings I switch off with Kendra or Stella leading fellowship meetings at two different schools, then rejoin my friends whereever they are around town. Saturdays are a kind of a "catch-up" day - usually including errands, cleaning, or laudrey. Saturday evenings can vary from watching a play with my roommate, to going to a Yale ice hockey game (something I hope to do more of increasingly this winter).

However, Sunday evenings are a highlight, and the energy usually carries over into Mondays. I'm obsessed with my church, and have been ever since last year. Like all communities, it has had it's highs and lows, but lately the sermons have been rich and practical, and my relationships with people have become more two-sided, instead previously feeling like I always was the broken one (this is not bad, for a season, but it is a testimony to God's power that a lot has changed in my ability to "get over" certain issues and work through things towards a point of greater health. God has really used many people in this community for my healing!).

Then we transition to GAME NIGHT! At first, it was hard to relinquish my Sunday evenings especially when I'm not really much of a game person. They are one of the only quiet nights I have during the week and one of the few evenings I get to spend with my roommates. However, game night has become a fun place for us to bring our friends, eat a great meal, drink some wine (hopefully not wine cooler wine), and play games that range from Life to Mafia. A couple weeks ago, my co-worker Kendra's neighbors announced a BBQ to get to know people in their building. This quickly progressed to a Sunday night game night, which has since moved to Kendra, Mel, and Tracie's apartment. Mel is an avid cook and always whips up an amazing meal, during which I continually learn more about cooking.

Monday mornings I rise early to volunteer at Pathways, an organization that friends of mine from church started, to create dialogue between the East and West (specifically Muslims and others). It's been awesome. I get to recipt, attend lectures, and banter with the other staff members. After working out in the afternoon and usually preparing a bible study, I then ride with Kendra to a school near Hartford where we are currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark. It's the most random group of students, but perhaps the most rewarding bible study I've ever led. It reminds me in small ways of the larger group bible study I would lead at Benjemijn in South Africa where you had your "faithfuls" and then didn't know who else would show up, and it was always a treat and widely diversified group.

It's interesting how whenever I'm at Robb and Asha's apartment, I'm always inspired to write - perhaps that comes about since this was such a great place of healing for me last year. So maybe there may be more blog entries :)