Happy almost December!
I wrote my last blog on Nov 1 and ended on a cliffhanger right before Ashley’s big birthday party. So here I am giving an update because I know everyone’s been thinking about it all month. It was the party of the century! We had SO much fun!! We love Ashley!
Another fun thing was going to DC this month for The Fellows Initiative national conference. We looked really cool in our shirts (see picture) to make sure everyone knew we were the fun fellows. We had low expectations and high flexibility for the weekend and everything turned out to be awesome! Highlights: the speakers and the content, seeing one of my closest college friends Anna, wearing our shirts, the conference food, introducing my parents to the fellows, Ashley driving us everywhere in a 15 passenger van, getting to know other fellows programs (shoutout Orlando), and taking scooters around the Mall to see all the monuments. Great bonding time and we still wanted to be friends with each other after all that!
I’m having so many fun moments with fellows, deepening relationships with so many people, and learning a lot from classes and church. Some highlights were - girls night with Reagan’s homemade strawberry shortcake, playing football with the fellows on a Monday afternoon, getting pedicures after a girls brunch one Saturday, a night out on Glenwood.
But also, November has been hard with some personal, work, and host fam stuff. Which is tough for a blog post. Life is life-ing! Now it is time for me to learn how to not dwell on my particular circumstances and whether they are easy and full of obvious blessings (like beginning of fellows), and learn God is still good in whatever season! Hailey led us at roundtable a few weeks ago in a discussion on Psalm 23 (Hailey you are awesome) and one of the takeaways was that because Jesus is our Good Shepherd we can have freedom from fear. That’s been a cool idea to me in one particular circumstance going on right now. I’m grateful to feel peace from God that I don’t have to give in to fear and it’s been sweet to notice blessings from Him even during something hard!
I also have been really grateful for our community of fellows the past few weeks. I am able to be vulnerable with them because they are intentional with asking for prayer requests, checking in on me, and praying for me. And I can do the same for them! I appreciate our group & appreciate how Ashley creates space for us to reflect on our community and how we can love each other well and be intentional. The fellows are mature, wise, vulnerable, and intentional. And they are so fun. And I’m grateful for the community here outside the fellows group - specifically my buddy Tessa, mentor Elaina, and host family. Also grateful for time with family for TG!
I’m excited for December with the fellows!
Bevi Lundeen
Ashley’s party!
Fellows in DC!