I spent most of today getting my utilities transferred into my name. I tried yesterday around 3:00 pm and most of the offices had closed by then, which I thought was stupid. But today, I transferred all the utilities into my name, except water. They said since I was a renter, I would have to pay a $200 deposit that doesn't get refunded until the water is shut off. However, if I was an owner, there is no deposit. Well, I asked the seller if we could just keep the water in their name and have me pay them. They were totally cool with that and once again, made my life easier.
However, my neighborhood is by far, the coolest neighborhood I've ever seen. ( For some reason, my spell checker is defaulting to british spelling, so fyi if some of my words have too many "u"s in them). There are a bunch of younger kids, around 4-7 years old on the street and they like to play in the street every night. Don't worry, it's a low/no traffic street and their parents come outside to watch them. Most of those parents are within 10 years of me, some probably 3 years older than me, so that's a great way to go meet the neighbors. I just see the kids outside and can go up and talk to the parents. There is also a church member from the wheelersburg right accross the street. I also found a family who likes to watch house and they invited me over to watch with them. I think that's so cool, especially since I don't have cable yet :-)
There are lots of cats and dogs on the street who come out and play with the kids. Don't worry, none are strays. One dog in particular, a 1 year old golden retreiver named cooper likes to come and say hello whenever I come outside. I like that, since I never had a dog growing up.
I still haven't started working yet. The three pastors and I met on monday and I thought it would be a meeting about work. Not at all. They were just tryign to help me get set up in my house and wanted to help me anyway they could. There's a lot of support here for me and they are making my transition almost painless. We had one youth event on sunday which was planned before I got here. We saw a group called "team xtreme" do all kinds of strongman feats, like bending a frying pan with their bare hands! All throughout, they gave a gospel presentation and had an altar call at the end. Every one of the kids in my youth group went down for the altar call. If any of you know me, you know that I'm not a fan of altar calls. I don't think you can find them in the Bible, so I talked to a few of the kids afterwards. It seemed like most of them didn't know what it meant to be saved, they only had the catch phrases that team xtreme had given them. Don't get me wrong, team xtreme is awesome for what they did, I just felt like they left the kids a little confused about what really happened. So, I talked to two guys about how to get saved and what it means to follow Jesus. I don't think I'll use any names, just to protect the group's privacy, but it look like I'll have to start from square one with this group. I think they know a lot about God, but don't KNOW Him. But that's what my job is: to tell people about Jesus. After talking with those two guys, I was reminded of how much I love telling people about Jesus. It had been such a long time, especially with Christian college. So, things are going well and I've already been telling people about Jesus, even before starting my job!
Oh, and I have the whole week to unpack before I start. I don't really need that much time, but I'll take it. I'm getting to know my neighbors and some of the youth already. I'll try to keep you posted. Pictures might not be for a long time. I'm thinking of getting a camera, but I still need to make a budget. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
House problems
So, let me fill you all in on my house. Currently, I'm renting it with the intention to buy when my loan finalizes. The owners are really cool about it and are doing me a great favor of letting me rent before I buy. That means that I don't have to move into an apartment for a month, then move into the house. I was stoked about that. So, after the sweet move in with help from the churches, we settled down to the business of making the house into a home. Special thanks have to go out to my mom, dad, and sister for all their help.
Mom helped me get my kitchen in order. (I moved a lot of stuff to different places after you left, mom!) Dad helped me with all the dad stuff, like leaky washser hoses and the like and sister Laura helped with pretty much everything. However, there was one huge problem with the house that my mom and sister discovered while Dad and I were out getting supplies.
My hot water smelled terrible and was pretty much black. Not good. Cold water was fine, but hot water made the whole house smell. Becuase of that, we deduced that there must be something wrong with the hot water heater. (Why not just call it a water heater?) So, we tried our best to flush out the tank by turning the heating unit off and turning the hot water on in the tub. Thus, I wasn't spending money to heat the water, just running it through the hot water tank. As of today, there is is still a smell present, but the color is normal. My first morning in the house, I took a completly cold water shower. This wasn't too bad, since I took hose showers at springhill all the time. Right now, I can use a lot of cold water mixed with just enough hot water to make a lukewarm shower. It's not the best, but it's better than it was and hasn't cost me anything (except water). So if you're praying for me, pray that my hot water won't stink anymore!
Mom helped me get my kitchen in order. (I moved a lot of stuff to different places after you left, mom!) Dad helped me with all the dad stuff, like leaky washser hoses and the like and sister Laura helped with pretty much everything. However, there was one huge problem with the house that my mom and sister discovered while Dad and I were out getting supplies.
My hot water smelled terrible and was pretty much black. Not good. Cold water was fine, but hot water made the whole house smell. Becuase of that, we deduced that there must be something wrong with the hot water heater. (Why not just call it a water heater?) So, we tried our best to flush out the tank by turning the heating unit off and turning the hot water on in the tub. Thus, I wasn't spending money to heat the water, just running it through the hot water tank. As of today, there is is still a smell present, but the color is normal. My first morning in the house, I took a completly cold water shower. This wasn't too bad, since I took hose showers at springhill all the time. Right now, I can use a lot of cold water mixed with just enough hot water to make a lukewarm shower. It's not the best, but it's better than it was and hasn't cost me anything (except water). So if you're praying for me, pray that my hot water won't stink anymore!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Moved in!
Hello everybody. This weekend has been a busy one and today is the first chance I've had to update the blog. Lemme give you an update of what has been happening. Most of last week was spent doing lazing packing. You know what I mean, when there isn't really a rush, so not alot of packing gets done. I started seriously packing on thursday. I loaded everything I could into my mom's minivan and my small toyota camry. Then on friday, I went and rented a Uhaul truck. It was 17' long and I thought that would be plenty, but it turned out to be barely big enough.
See, my parents had recently moved into a smaller house. Thus, they had alot of extra stuff that they gave to me. So, we filled up 1 uhaul truck, a minivan, and my camry. During the pack up at home, we had one person come and help us. It was a guy from my church and he was really helpful. However, it did take all day to get packed up and ready to leave. That was friday.
On saturday, we tried to leave at 8:00, but it took until 8:45 to get on the road. 4 hours later, we arrived at wheelersburg. As we pulled into the street, we saw welcome signs in the yard and over a dozen people ready to help me unpack. It was great! We completely unloaded all my stuff in 30 mins! I took some pictures of the place, but I can't get them into the computer yet. I'll keep working on that. That's all for now. I'm currently at the Wheelersburg church, since I don't have internet or cable yet. That is going to be installed on friday.
See, my parents had recently moved into a smaller house. Thus, they had alot of extra stuff that they gave to me. So, we filled up 1 uhaul truck, a minivan, and my camry. During the pack up at home, we had one person come and help us. It was a guy from my church and he was really helpful. However, it did take all day to get packed up and ready to leave. That was friday.
On saturday, we tried to leave at 8:00, but it took until 8:45 to get on the road. 4 hours later, we arrived at wheelersburg. As we pulled into the street, we saw welcome signs in the yard and over a dozen people ready to help me unpack. It was great! We completely unloaded all my stuff in 30 mins! I took some pictures of the place, but I can't get them into the computer yet. I'll keep working on that. That's all for now. I'm currently at the Wheelersburg church, since I don't have internet or cable yet. That is going to be installed on friday.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
T-minus 4 days and counting
Hello everybody, I've been getting a myriad of questions regarding my new job, so I thought I would save some time and make a blog, so that you guys can stalk me without me knowing it! I'm going to try to make a schedule where I periodically update this blog, but that won't be for a while. Anyway, here are some things I'm sure you're all dying to know.
What is the job? I will technically be labeled as a "youth director". In laymans terms, I will be a youth pastor with a twist. There are three churches in the area who will be combining their youth groups into one. They will still worship separately on sundays, but the youthgroups will be combined into one MEGA YOUTH GROUP!! Current estimatets put youth attendance in the area of 30-35 youth. ("Youth" includes middle and high school students) They have not combined yet, so my job is to make that happen, then continue to grow the youthgroup. Long term goals laid out by the churches indicate that they want to eventually purchase a building outside of the three churches where youthgroup/building ministry can happen.
Where is the job? It's in south central Ohio, in Scioto county. I'll be living in Wheelersburg, OH. The churches are located in Wheelersburg, Sciotoville, and South Webster. The Wheelersburg and Sciotoville churches are within 5 mins of each other, while South Webster is about 15 mins away. Here's a poorly edited map to show you where it is.
What denominations are the churches? All three are United Methodists. While this is a different denomination than I grew up in, I got the impression that these churches were more insterested in studying the Bible than preaching methodism.
Are you renting an apparment? Nope! I'm actually buying a house! Turns out that it's a buyers market and there are alot of things that fell into place to make this happen. I was able to apply for a loan that would pay 100% of my costs with no down-payment. If you've never bought a house, that's really good. I also was able to graduate from college debt free, thanks to my parents/grandparents. Thanks guys! That puts me in with about 4% of students who leave college without debt. That alone makes buying a house alot more feasible. I'll post more info and pictures about the house once I've moved and taken some pics.
How can I contact you? Well, I will be buying a local cell phone, so once I get that, it will be my main phone. I'll post that online later. Also, you can email me at reallytightearmuffs@comcast.net. Finally, you can message me on facebook.
When are you moving? Saturday, the 26th of September, I become an adult. I'll be packing up a Uhaul on Friday the 25th starting at noon (help would be greatly appreciated!), then my family and I will be driving over on Saturday.
So, I've never blogged before, but I assume that you guys are able to post comments on each of my entries. So, if you have any questions, let me know and I 'll try to answer them. I'll keep you posted as things progress.
What is the job? I will technically be labeled as a "youth director". In laymans terms, I will be a youth pastor with a twist. There are three churches in the area who will be combining their youth groups into one. They will still worship separately on sundays, but the youthgroups will be combined into one MEGA YOUTH GROUP!! Current estimatets put youth attendance in the area of 30-35 youth. ("Youth" includes middle and high school students) They have not combined yet, so my job is to make that happen, then continue to grow the youthgroup. Long term goals laid out by the churches indicate that they want to eventually purchase a building outside of the three churches where youthgroup/building ministry can happen.
Where is the job? It's in south central Ohio, in Scioto county. I'll be living in Wheelersburg, OH. The churches are located in Wheelersburg, Sciotoville, and South Webster. The Wheelersburg and Sciotoville churches are within 5 mins of each other, while South Webster is about 15 mins away. Here's a poorly edited map to show you where it is.
What denominations are the churches? All three are United Methodists. While this is a different denomination than I grew up in, I got the impression that these churches were more insterested in studying the Bible than preaching methodism.
Are you renting an apparment? Nope! I'm actually buying a house! Turns out that it's a buyers market and there are alot of things that fell into place to make this happen. I was able to apply for a loan that would pay 100% of my costs with no down-payment. If you've never bought a house, that's really good. I also was able to graduate from college debt free, thanks to my parents/grandparents. Thanks guys! That puts me in with about 4% of students who leave college without debt. That alone makes buying a house alot more feasible. I'll post more info and pictures about the house once I've moved and taken some pics.
How can I contact you? Well, I will be buying a local cell phone, so once I get that, it will be my main phone. I'll post that online later. Also, you can email me at reallytightearmuffs@comcast.net. Finally, you can message me on facebook.
When are you moving? Saturday, the 26th of September, I become an adult. I'll be packing up a Uhaul on Friday the 25th starting at noon (help would be greatly appreciated!), then my family and I will be driving over on Saturday.
So, I've never blogged before, but I assume that you guys are able to post comments on each of my entries. So, if you have any questions, let me know and I 'll try to answer them. I'll keep you posted as things progress.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)