Day 1 - Orientation



     

DAY 1!

  

HOT!

DINNER!

Good Friday, Everyone!  It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so what do three pictures say? They say it's been a full, first day of orientation at IHOPKC!

I was awake very early, and re-read my first day instructions several times to make sure I knew where I was supposed to be and at what time. It took awhile, but I finally convinced myself that yes, I was to report to IHOPU at 9 AM, and after my driving adventures yesterday I was sure that I knew how to get there. To be on the safe side, and not being familiar with the commuter traffic on this side of KC, I left the house at 8:30.  The four mile drive took me.......five minutes!  Needless to say I needn't have worried about being on time.

Orientation today was for two groups, the Simeons as we are affectionately known on campus, and the Intro to IHOP interns. Our Simeon group consists of twelve people, and it appears from a quick visual around the room that the Intro group has approximately forty interns. The Simeons include a couple from Australia who are the only internationals in our group. The Intro students have a much larger percentage of internationals, with students from Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Nigeria, even a couple from Iran! A statistic we were given is that now the overall student population at IHOPKC, both university and interns, averages 40% international.

Our core leader is a gentleman named Rick Bass. He is a retired physician from Texas, and he really does say "Y'all".  I, on the other hand, was teased early on because I say 'pahk', and 'watah', and 'cah'!

I don't know why it is a surprise to me, but Rick and all the staff we have met so far walk out their lives according to the first great commandment, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.' It is so apparent that they love Jesus with all their hearts, and they are at IHOPKC to give the interns every opportunity, along with the tools, to help us grow into that same relationship.

We have a full, full, full, full, full schedule every day of the week except Mondays, which is our day off. There had been a hint of the schedule in my acceptance papers, but to actually see the schedule in print was another story altogether. I won't give every detail now, but instead share each day's schedule of classes and activities as they come up. We also have homework during the week which must be turned in on Fridays, not to be graded, but to confirm that we did it.

A really neat thing is that the Simeons will be working with the Intro students, who are mostly twenty-something in age. We all will be part of life group teams that meet on Wednesday evenings. The time will consist of fellowship and a meal at an Intro core leader's home, where we as Simeons will develop a mentoring relationship with the Intro interns. Really cool!

Another aspect of the internships is that students also do works of service at IHOPKC, which has several campuses. Assignments could be ushering at church services and conferences, or working with the kids at the Children's Equipping Center, driving one of the shuttle buses from the Global Prayer Room facility to the Forerunner Christian Fellowship Center where the weekend church services are held, or maybe directing traffic in the parking lot. Those assignments will be given out next week.

So far, on most days it seems we have a pretty long break mid-day for lunch, so today I joined the other Simeon ladies at a place called Unforked. Part of our orientation packet included a list of restaurants in the area preferred by staff members, so that there is no guessing as to where the good eateries are and what places to avoid. Unforked really lived up to our expectations, and they served Harney & Sons (Millerton, NY) iced tea! 

Anywho, I rode out with Simeons Geri and Doris, and it was awesome to hear how God worked to bring each of them to IHOPKC at this particular time in their lives. Doris is from Sacramento, and Geri is from North Dakota, but except for location our stories were amazingly similar. Both ladies shared, and I had to concur, that when God led them to make the decision to come to KC, doors swung open in such a way that there was no other explanation than that it was God's time for them to be here. That truth was made clear to us earlier in the day by the internship director, who assured us that our being at IHOPKC was not a random thing. Yay God! 

Weekend church services take place on Friday and Saturday evenings, with two services on Sunday morning.  Our regular schedule as Simeons requires us to attend the Friday night service,   with Saturday's service being optional, and then one service on Sunday. Intern attendance is taken at the services, at our classes, and in the prayer room. This weekend, though, we were given a pass for tonight and tomorrow night which is a good thing. By the time we finished at 4:45 this afternoon we were pretty much drained, but in a good way. To a person, at least the Simeons, we all agreed that what we wanted to do was just get home and wind down!

It was acknowledged to us by Corey Stark, the overall director of all the internships, including Simeon Company and Intro to IHOP, that interns always come with an expectation of what the Lord will do in our lives while we are at IHOPKC. Corey suggested that, within a day or two, those expectations will go away and be replaced instead with what God has for us in Him during this season in our lives. Day 1- Orientation, was just a taste of that reality. Let the adventure begin!

With Affection and His Love,

Kathy