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sweet pea.

14 Oct
Harry is the usher extraordinaire at Grace. Nearly every Sunday and for almost all funerals, Harry can be found in the back of the church, greeting, handing out bulletins, and no doubt giving people a hard time.
One Tuesday afternoon, Harry was working at the Dawson area food shelf, which happens to be housed in the room across the hall from my office. I stopped in to chat with Harry as he sat at the desk, listening to the radio, available for any community members who would stop.
We talked for a few minutes and then he said to me,
“What’s your name again?”
“Lindsay.”
“Oh,” he replied. “I won’t remember that. I’ll call you sweet pea.”
And it has stuck ever since. How he can remember sweet pea and not Lindsay I do not know. When my family visited a few weeks ago, he was sure to introduce himself and enlighten them as to my new nickname. Yesterday, Pastor Lori called Harry to find a good time to come visit him and his wife at home. He told Lori, “Make sure you bring sweet pea.”
So today, as Pastor Lori and I walked into Harry’s home, we were greeted as he said, “Oh, good. You brought sweet pea.” As long as it’s coming from Harry, I think it has grown on me. I can be his sweet pea for the next year.
Another Harry conversation:
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Nope. No boyfriend.”
“Oh.” (pause) “So that’s why you’re so happy.”
Ha.

in approx. six weeks –

6 Oct
I will be home! I’ve just been given the clearance from my supervisor/lead pastor that I can indeed go home for Thanksgiving. Of course at that point in the year, I probably need to add ‘weather pending’ to that sentence but it is still a wonderful thought to entertain.
You know what this means, Connor Robert Reilly … fourth annual Thanksgiving Day Bake-Off. Bring it.

A weekend of –

13 Sep
– Vegetable races?  For fun.  I went to the Lac Qui Parle County fair just up the road in Madison, MN and planned my visit specifically for this event.  

Gardeners brought in their produce and kids of all ages picked their vegetable of choice, grabbed a wheel kit, and using toothpicks, flowers, and any vegetable available, created their mode of transportation.  They then raced their vegetable down a track to compete for the longest run.  

Some of the veggie mobiles were quite plain, built for distance with proper weight distribution and the like, while others were quite creative works of art or a way of cheering on a certain football player.

As a spectator, this girl was my favorite to watch.  So darn cute and so darn ready to race her eggplant!

– The installation of me.  I was officially installed as the intern pastor at Grace Lutheran Church this morning during the service.  Then following the service, the congregation and I played a game show to better get to know Pastor Lindsay.  They learned that I have have no tattoos and believe in extraterrestrial beings only on rare occasions.  People seem to love the fact that I drink coffee and I’m a “good Lutheran” because of it.  For my love of coffee, they gave me a gift of a coffee mug and coffee.  The mug reads: Coffee.  Chocolate.  Men.  Some things are just better rich.  True?
– I made applesauce and dare I say, it’s not only edible but tastes pretty good.  I remember my Grandma Vera, a grandma of so many treats and homemade deliciousness, used to make applesauce all the time,
sometimes with lots of cinnamon and red hot candies.  I made a very simple recipe and can foresee myself making more as the season of fall and apples aplenty surround us.  
– I was invited over to the interim pastor’s house to have lunch with her and her family.  It was wonderful to eat somewhere other than my apartment and with other people.  The food of choice was pizza and the preferred television station was the one with the Vikings.  (I am in MN after all but still so strange to see Farve wearing purple!)  Lori and her family live on a farm so I was also privy to see the baby calves.  For cute.  I left with the invitation to come back anytime, perhaps specifically at 5:30 pm to help milk!  I’ve never actually milked cows before so I’m game to learn.  Milking cows – another skill to add to my internship final evaluation!

Week One: Check.

7 Sep
I have officially been in Dawson for one week, though technically I write this post from Watertown, SD. It’s Labor Day, the offices are closed, and I could think of nothing to do within the limits of Dawson or my apartment and thus I traveled to Watertown, one of the largest cities nearby. (Nearby = one hour.) I also do not have internet currently in my apartment and so I drove seeking wireless to connect with the world outside of myself. Well, and not to mention, I had never been to South Dakota before! (Below is proof – proof that I had just taken a shower, it was windy, my sunglasses are large, and I was going to South Dakota!)
The past week went well and didn’t seem as overwhelming as it could have easily been. I followed Lori, the interim pastor, around as she did visits, led worship services at the care center/assisted living facility in town, attended staff meetings, and met lots of people who’s names I now have forgotten. The pastor of the church, Kendall, is on sabbatical for the months of September and October, which puts me in an interesting position, spending the first two months of my internship with the interim pastor (who happens to be the intern pastor from last year). Confused? Me too.
I participated in leading small parts of the worship service yesterday. I was a bit nervous, not necessarily for speaking in front of the congregation but I hate those pocket mics that you have to switch on and off. I always think I’ll mess that up but not yesterday. Phew. I will be leading worship in some sense every Sunday; I will either but leading the service or preaching. Never both off the bat but always one or the other. After church I drank some coffee with some sweet old ladies who invited me to join their table and was introduced to more people I can’t quite remember.
After church, I came home to my apartment and then shrugged my shoulders, wondering what the heck I would do with the day. I was bored out of my mind. No internet. No sewing machine as of yet. Totally unpacked and unloaded. I took a two hour nap … watched That 70s Show … read a bit … and that pretty much sums it up. Yesterday I think I came to the realization that this will be a very lonely year for me though I know that busy-ness at church will help a lot when I don’t have time to feel alone.
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