I write to you from Tallahassee, Florida, where I’ve been for the past nine days. I’ve been really busy with moving in, Nav stuff, and getting together with old friends and haven’t had a chance to put up a post since getting back. So let me try to bring you up to date.
My last night in Connecticut I spent with Ashley, my sister Alison, and Sam. I had a lot of fun, but I stayed over at Ash’s place until 4 AM, which was not a bright idea seeing as how I was waking up to go to the airport a mere two and a half hours later. After two good flights I was picked up at the airport by Dave Wirgau and brought to Camp Special, where I stayed until the dorms opened.
Last Friday night was spent at the Wirgau home. Martha cooked a great dinner for all the Navs who had come back into town. It was a night of telling summer stories. I realized that night how poorly prepared I was to talk about NCP. I have the long version and longer version. I needed a medium version. What it amounted to was that I told my story once and heard three or four stories from other people. On Saturday the dorms opened. I spent the morning and earlier afternoon at the Lighthouse planning freshman week with some of the other earlier returnees. It wasn’t until Sunday that I went to my storage locker and grabbed everything I owned and brought it to Kellum 519. Aaron arrived on Sunday as well, so that night we had a whole lot of disorder in our room.
Now for those of you who are familiar with Kellum and haven’t seen my room I feel compelled to explain myself. I know you’re thinking, “But he’s a senior. Why is he living in a freshmen dorm? And the Kellum rooms are so small. How can he fit all his junk in there?” Legitimate questions. Originally I had wanted to move into McCollum with Aaron and two of my other friends, but when only Aaron and I got into McCollum last fall we chose to switch to Kellum. The Navs encourage upperclassmen to move back into freshmen dorms as a ministry. Now in regards to the space issue: my room is at the end of the hall, meaning that I have not only the size of a normal Kellum room but also the width of the hallway. So my room is about 50% bigger. Aaron and I requested this room last spring when we made the switch. It’s still a little tight, I admit, but I think it’s all I really need.
Back to freshmen week. Monday through Wednesday I would go over to the Lighthouse where Dave would encourage us from the Word, give us some instruction, and send us out to do spiritual interest surveys on campus. Instead of our usual tactic, which was to advertise what we were giving away as a result of filling out the survey, we would ask the passersby, “Do you want to grow spiritually this semester?” I was in charge of the Kellum table; we also had tables in front of Smith and Salley. This was not at all an easy task. Not only is that a somewhat uncomfortable question to ask someone, but it was stinking hot! We gave the surveys from 11 AM to 1 PM, prime sun time. Each of those days continued with ultimate frisbee on the I.M. fields, which I did not participate in. Monday and Wednesday we had survey follow-up in the evening. Andy and I were paired up. We had limited success with the people who actually filled out surveys, but did alright when it came to people we ran into while looking for those people. Tuesday night we had a free spaghetti dinner on the third floor that had a really good turnout. About twelve people from my floor came. The cool thing about this dinner was that none of the five Navs living in Kellum had to cook. Some of the alumni and those living in apartments came in to help us so we could meet the people in our dorm rather than be busy over the stove.
Thursday was a change of pace. Dave wanted us rested for Nav Night that night, so officially there was nothing on the schedule for the day (a lot of people still went to play frisbee). The first Nav Night of the semester seemed to be a hit. We had a good number of freshmen come out. The makeshift band (Aaron, James, and myself) did pretty well considering our limited time practicing together. Dave gave a good vision casting message. Overall it was a good evening. Yesterday we took a trip to St George Island. I’m not too big a beach fan but it had been a long time since I’d been. We played some volleyball, tossed the disc around, got sunburned. The usual beach routine.
I can’t say I’m unhappy this week is over. I’m exhausted! I’m taking it easy today and tomorrow so the start of school won’t be the end of me. I was going over my schedule and I think I’m going to have to start taking the bus to one of my classes, something I’ve never done. I’m not walking to the stadium in the 3 PM heat. There are some things around the room I still need to take care of, but for the most part I’m ready for the school year to begin. My last fall semester as an undergrad. I can’t believe it.
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