The Social Side of Adjusting to the Twin Cities

God is so good. For most of us this is obvious, but the reason I bring it up has to do with thanking him for the ability to adjust quickly to new people and places. See, St. Paul is the sixth city I've lived in since I graduated college four and a half years ago and only two and a half weeks into the move, I am content with where I am at in life. Every weekend I have had plenty of fun things to do. Between Anne Braum, my coworker Katy, the Cathedral Young Adults, the Frassati Society, and my Emmanuel Community brothers and sisters, I have plenty of people to grow in friendship and brotherhood with and to do things with. I have two great roommates, Jessie who was my roomie for WYD and Lena the talkative cat. The ministry involves a variety of work and it's just so nice to devote my day to ministry again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I thought about it on my drive to MN. But, just because I'm having a great time doesn't mean I'm planning a permanent move. I still love Denver. It's just good to be happy with where God calls you to be.

Just to give you an idea of the fun things that have happened out here to help the adjustment... Every week I join the four other Emmanuel community members for a night of faithsharing, what we call "household." We usually have dinner, praise, share on the Scriptures and life, and laugh a lot. They are a great group of people and I feel so blessed to be near community members again. There is Fr. Joseph, the only EC priest in the U.S., Anne and Thibaut Solage, who moved here from France five months ago for work, and Marie-Alix, who just finished the Emmanuel School of Mission and is teaching French at a local Catholic college for a year. Two weekends ago, for our monthly community day, we went tubing with the Solage's four kids and then devoted the afternoon and evening to fellowship and mission brainstorming. The day after, with Marie-Alix and her friend, I went ice skating on a frozen pond. That is still exciting for a Cali girl who loves to skate. This Saturday I joined the Solages and their children, Malilde, Gabriel, Jade, and Gregorie, for a day on the ski slopes and a night spent at their house. What a generous family! Then after Mass yesterday, I went over to Katy's discernment house for an afternoon of baking yeast bread by hand (our first time ever) and an evening with dinner and a Holy Hour. It was a full weekend, that is sure.

Well, that's all for now. I'll add a second social life post next weekend. Peace!