church-going

Today I attended Beaver Creek Baptist Church. It's about halfway into town from where I'm living at Montezuma Well (all downhill if I take my bike, on the way there at least!). I googled churches in the area and they were the closest, so I thought I'd start with them first and then check out the other ones if I felt the need. Their website was pretty up-to-date, and they looked very active by all the activities listed.

My sister started attending a baptist church in Traverse City and she seems to be liking it, so I thought I'd try my hand at this one. I arrived a little before the service and was greeted by an elder at the door, who was curious to say that he didn't know me! As expected, I stood out a bit in the church where, my guess is, most people have been going for awhile and with a small-town population most people at least recognize each other. In some ways that makes being new easy, and in other ways that makes it difficult. But today is was mostly easy. I had multiple people introduce themselves to me, including one woman who, after hearing I was from Michigan, informed me that she was formerly a member of the RCA. I of course joined that I was CRC, and she was sure to tell me her full Dutch name when we traded names.

There was a good feeling overall in the church. The worship was good, the people seemed friendly, the pastor gave a good sermon and was not afraid to openly challenge is congregation - which I always appreciate. They are big on Bible studies there, and have at least one on every day of the week. They also have an evening service on Sundays. Since I'm big on evening services, and since I don't know for sure what days I'll have off yet, that's a great bonus right there.

I would say that I liked this church so far and plan on going back. Hopefully when we start work tomorrow we'll get our schedules figured out so I'll know what I can really plan on. Until them, I'm enjoying my Sunday off. Sara is going to teach me some hula-hoop tricks in a little bit, I'm probably going to take a nap, and then there's the evening service tonight. After that, if things go as they've been going the last couple nights, we'll probably all three sit on the couch and work on your separate crafts while we watch a movie. My roommates are really nice, interesting, and I've got a lot to learn from them! I continue to pray that God will bless my time here, but I think that the prayers for preparation of a good place for me have been answered. :)

Until next time!

~Jaclynn