About three months ago, the Effect girls had a camping overnighter. Now of course, I cannot discuss what all happened there or what all was said because, well, what happens at those types of things, STAYS there. Sorry.
However, I can fill you in on one really exciting thing that was brought up...
As a child growing up in the church, (and of course this is completely off of observation, since I cannot speak from experience) we are placed in groups of kids our own age with a leader or two that can be there to answer our questions, listen to us, care for us, and teach us about life. Going from one age group to the next, this concept doesn't really change. In middle school, the kids are placed in small groups with a small group leader or two that they can look up to and gain advice for the tough stuff in life. It continues as we head into high school. Again, we are placed in small groups with a leader that can teach us about life and help us grow in our faith and help encourage us through the ups and downs of our days, weeks, months, etc. Once high school ends, that idea of a small group and a leader ends as well. Sure, some people go off to work part/full time and are surrounded by groups of people and have a boss to look up to. Sure, some people go off to college and have their roommates and classmates around them with teachers to look up to. But somehow that is not quite the same. We, as young adult females, find ourselves struggling through this time in our life just as much as we were in junior high and high school, sometimes even to more serious extents! Who do we go to for advice and consultation now? Our closest friends can only help us so much, but in most cases, they too are going through the same issues we are. We cannot load our friends with our burdens when they have just as much to carry. That's not healthy for anybody.
So, what was our solution? Well, after a few meetings with Christy Engbrect, each of us girls (who were interested) got paired up with a mentor from the church. These ladies have quite a few years on us. Most, if not all of them, are involved at Nappanee Missionary Church in some way. And they each have lived our lives before, so they can give us the advice, perspective, guidance, encouragement, and overall friendship that we need. I'm extremely excited because tomorrow I will get to have lunch with my mentor for the first time! It will be rather interesting because she works at the church, so technically I already know who she is. But it will be intriguing to see the comparisons in our lives and the similarities for what brought us together. You see, we (Effect girls) each filled out a pretty simple, yet challenging and personal form that later got gathered and handed to Christy, where the group of ladies prayed over them for weeks until each of us had our match. I'm looking forward to having a strong Christian role model in my life that can challenge and strengthen me. It could be a possible life change...
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