Everything is just so New:

This blog post is going to be a bit personal, but I wanted to give a few updates on the moving experience.  I do want this to be an encouragement for everyone who is moving in the future to remember to get involved and get connected in your new community.  It may be scary to jump right in, but I truly believe a person will become more established quicker the more involved in the community they instantly become. I also want it to be a reminder that while moving can seem like a lot of work, it is so worth it in the end.  

Moving to a new town is hard.  It isn’t just hard because of the packing boxes and the moving of the materials from one place to another.  It is hard because of paperwork and staying completely organized.  This includes changing your mail to your new address, updating your license and sometimes your plates, changing banks if you so choose, signing up for new insurances, etc.  It takes a lot of energy, and it can also be emotional.  It is a lot of the saying goodbye to the old things and the old community, cutting a bit of those ties, and starting anew in a new community.  

However, the other part of moving that is hard is finding everything so new.  When I was living in my old town, I had a job, yes, but I also had a bank account, a gym that I went to, a golf course where I had a membership, etc.  Moving to a new town means that I do have to work on finding new areas to exercise, golf, bike, run, and bank.  It is getting into a rhythm of the items that are necessary as well as the items that are for enjoyment and pleasure.  It is feeling confident in the new areas around the town.  It is the process of establishing myself in a new community besides just having it on paperwork.  I want to be plugged into a community. I want to find these new friends and new groups that I will feel welcomed into, and I want to welcome others into eventually.  

But I will also say that it is just so exciting.  I love that I have the opportunity to go to a new gym.  I love that it has so much different equipment and it has workout classes that have an awesome instructor.  That is definitely not something I had in my small town that I was living in before.  I also loved going to the new golf course.  It was fun to figure out how the layout is.  I loved my old golf course, but this one has more holes and therefore more opportunities to practice. I also reached out to some people about the opportunity for joining a community choir. I didn’t have a group like that in my old smaller community, so I am excited for the potential to get back into singing with a choir.    

I also knew that I definitely needed to find a church and a body of fellow believers to worship with.  I want to have a church that I can call home and that I can feel connected with.   I did find a church called Trinity Bible Church, and I am very excited to hear of all the new opportunities present there. I did recently go to the church’s Next Steps class where I was able to get plugged in.   I have discovered they need help with the Youth Sunday school, being plugged into a Bible Study group, and there is an opportunity to have a mentor that will meet with me one on one.  

Then there are also so many opportunities to volunteer in this community.  I have found one particular organization called House of Hope where I have gotten to go through the orientation and start some volunteering hours.  I can not wait to continue to serve the community of Waterloo and the people in it.  I am praying for more clear ways that I can be helpful and can be of service to those in that community.  

Again, I want this to be a reminder for anyone who may be leaving a community and joining a new one.  It is important to get yourself out there.  It can be easy to sit back and relax.  It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by all the newness.  However, I have found the best way to overcome that feeling of being overwhelmed is to dive deep into the community and to start to find ways to get around, serve the ones around you, and start talking to the people standing next to you.  It will still feel overwhelming at some points, but it will be so worth it in the end, if you just go right for it, right away.  

There are verses that really celebrate the new blessings that come from God.  One of those is Lamentations 3:22-23 which says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  This is a reminder that even in new places the Lord will give us new blessings and will be faithful.  Thank you all for reading about my update and I hope you will all be encouraged in any scary steps you may have to take in the future.