Week 22 – “Quiet as a Sunday morning, change without any warning…”

There’s been plenty to do around here this week as I settle into my new routine of being at AnHouse two days a week and ASF three days.  The house is still pretty quiet, but in a week or two, things should be quite busy! Both parts of my job are going well, although, I’m really excited for the students’ return and the beginning of Bible Studies at the University of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. I love the discussions we have!
The biggest challenge recently has been the heat! While most of my loved ones are snowbound, I’m sleeping in front of a fan.
As AnSoc at UCT gets ready for orientation week, the officer board is putting together a newsletter to give out to students with jokes, games, and articles from the students and chaplain.  This year, I get to include an article, too! For most of you who know me, this is stuff you already know, but here is is nonetheless!

When you follow God’s call, you never know where it will lead you. By trying to keep a listening ear, I have found myself the most wonderful and unexpected places over the course of my life. Most recently, that call has led me here to Cape Town, South Africa, where I am about halfway through my one-year term volunteering with Ansoc at the University of Cape Town and the Anglican Students’ Federation. I also hope for the opportunity to spend time with some of this province’s other AnSocs.
    I am a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church, which is the USA’s branch of the Anglican Communion. I grew up in Watchung, New Jersey, on the northeast coast of the United States about an hour outside of New York City. After graduating from the University of Delaware last spring, I began my participation in a program called the Young Adult Service Corps, which is run by the Episcopal Church. The Young Adult Service Corps, or YASC, sends out young adult missionaries from the United States to places all over the world to spend a year serving as volunteers and hopefully, strengthening relationships between branches of the Anglican Communion. My Young Adult Service Corps mission placement has brought me here to work with campus ministry once again in Cape Town, South Africa!
    While I was at university, I served as President of my campus ministry and of the geographic region of the Episcopal Church known as Province 3. In addition, I had the pleasure of being involved with our national leadership and conference planning team, the Episcopal Student Leadership Team. I was blessed to have had the opportunity to experience campus ministry from so many angles.
    My campus ministry served as my home away from home, where I grew up and grew into (and continue to grow into) God’s call for me. There’s an old saying: “God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called.” Through my experiences in campus ministry, I went from a quiet girl in the background to a young woman who knows how and when to use her voice. The possibilities are endless. Where will your journey with AnSoc take you?