Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

Today I went and spoke at my old high school. For my current rotation, we have to do these community projects which are supposed to involved some sort of quasi-research or community education or outreach. So I did mine about cervical cancer and HPV. (HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.) I went and spoke to a health class about cervical cancer, what it is, and what causes it. And we talked about HPV. I was kind of nervous. High school students can be sort of scary. Especially when they are all looking at you. It was really wierd going back into my high school. The building is essentially exactly the same as it was: old, with old, frayed carpet, dingy walls, and various posters up about school activities and colleges. The kids looked young, except a lot of the girls had on more make up than I did. It has been 8 years since I graduated, and thinking about how my life was then, I am really glad not to be there anymore. I had good friends, but I have grown so m...

This morning I completed my preaching circuit. I preached at Eastbridge Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant. I thinks things went pretty well. They have two services, so I got to deliver my sermon twice. The first service was like a warmup. It was at 8:15 and there were about 20 people there. The second service was at 10:30 and had around 200. It was the first time I have preached using a mic, it through me off a little bit. I'm not used to hearing myself quite so well. It felt weird to not have to speak loudly to the people in the back. I think my least favorite part of preaching is the part where you walk to the back of the sanctuary afterwards, and shake hands as everyone goes out. Its just wierd. Lots of people smile and say "thank you," to which I smile and say "you're welcome." Which is wierd, because it makes me feel like I've just put on some kind of performance, on done a bit of charity work, and I now deserve great thanks. Other p...

It used to be, back in olden days, that you would have circuit riding preachers. They would ride their horse around to all the country churches and preach in each town. I was on the circuit this morning. Aubrey and I rode our horses (civic) up to Andrews, SC, and I preached at the small PCA church. The pastor was out of town for the day and had gotten ahold of my name. It was fun. There were only about 30 people in the church. We went early for Sunday School with about 11 others. Then we had the service. I preached from Hosea 2, a passage we have recently gone through in Bible Study. Then we got taken out to lunch by one of the elders and his wife. They were very nice. It took a little under an hour and a half to get home. Now Aubrey has just left to drive back up to Seneca for the week. This makes me very sad. We had a great weekend together, and got to go on a date last night to the Outback, one of our favorite places. Then we went and hung out at the bookstore for a co...

I am quite proud of my husband. In addition to apparently being good at breaking into places, he has also gotten himself 2 preaching gigs in the next 2 weeks. (Possibly "gig" isn't quite the right word?) One is at a church up in Andrews, SC (In between Charleston and Myrtle Beach) and the other is at a church over in Mt. Pleasant. So I will get to hear him preach twice in the next 2 weeks! Yay! And it also will mean sleeping in my own bed over the next 2 weekends. I'm excited about that, too. :)