I started the month by attending the Presbytery of the James' Women's Retreat at Camp Hanover. Our theme was "water," which was timely with the hurricanes having just hit NC, FL, and TN.
I've dreamt of a "potato party" for a long time and decided that my birthday would be a great time to bring my dream to life! John and Cate, two seminary friends, have birthdays within days of mine so I threw a "potato party potluck" birthday party for us. We invited everyone on the Richmond campus. We had potatoes galore and played an epic, 12 person game of Skip Bo! What a joy it is to celebrate birthdays with seminary friends.
We traveled to Hartsville, SC during Reading Week for the wedding of Cate, a seminary friend.
Then we drove to Mt. Pleasant, SC to see the George-Edwards family for more Reading Week fun. We celebrated Charles' birthday there and went to a middle school orchestra concert, which was impressive!
It was during a run with Charles in Mt. Pleasant that I got an email notification and decided to open it as we ran--- I received the news that I passed the Theology Ordination Exam! I was shocked and thrilled. That day I began the preparation for my final assessment with Grace Presbytery, which is November 14th.
To close out Reading Week, we drove back to Richmond. Then we went to MD for the day to support my sister-in-law in her Senior Day for marching band.
After Reading Week I got back to the grind of school, internship, and I continued my final assessment preparation. Over the weekend we went to a Telugu Indian Food Festival that our seminary friends hosted. The event raised funds for their new Telugu ministry that's forming with the support of a Richmond church.
After the food festival, we went to campus for Fall Festival, which was hosted by Richmond Student Government Association (RSGA). I am the Final Level Representative this year so I stayed for most of the event and helped clean up.
Last Sunday I preached at Gregory Memorial Presbyterian Church, which is about 40 minutes away from campus. Charles and I came home, we ate lunch, I took a nap, I edited my sermon, and then I headed to my internship site where I preached for their Sunday Vespers service. It's a privilege to have the opportunity to preach and to flex that sermon-preparation muscle, which needs to be flexed (I spend HOURS on sermon preparation and it can feel really hard!).
This week I'm spending the bulk of my time working on final assessment preparation. For my final assessment with Grace Presbytery, I do the following: write an exegetical paper based on the week's lectionary text, write a sermon based on the exegetical paper, preach the sermon to the Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM), complete my Personal Discernment Profile (PDP) which is like a job application that I'll put online for church calls and it includes 5 essay questions, complete a basic form, write a 3000 word Statement of Faith, and write an original Prayers of the People.
Outside of preparation for the final assessment, I'm also spending time preparing for Union Presbyterian Seminary's Board of Trustees meeting, which is 3 days of next week. I am the Richmond Student Representative on the Board. Yesterday I co-hosted a listening session for students online and today I'm hosting a listening session for students in-person after our Wednesday Chapel service on campus.
Thanks for the continued love, prayers, support, and encouragement. I'll be in Denton twice in November (for my final assessment and then for Thanksgiving) so I hope to see you when I'm there. Unfortunately I won't be there for a Sunday service because of flight costs and having a Monday morning class. But I'll be at Super Wednesday on the 13th so hopefully I'll catch up with many St. Andrew folks then.
Blessings,
Caitlin
