So if I heard it once I heard it a hundred times... "You are moving to Jersey?" Or "you ONLY have to stay 18 months"... But I packed up. Actually I packed up and moved in 3 weeks without having any clue where I was going to live when I got up to New Jersey. My friends and me drove up in a Uhaul, and checked into our hotel. My father spent all day calling places and I had just about given up. Then one last time I jumped on Craig's list, and there it was. A perfect place. It was a two bedroom, but it was right in my price range. I called the land lord and set up a meet, and a half hour later we met at the apartment and I fell in love. It was everything I ever wanted in a city apartment. There was some back and forth, and it didn't look like I was going to get it because of some paperwork, but it came through. So the next day, we were working on moving my things into my new place, and it was going very slowly. I was desperate... and then 3 men walked by and asked if I needed help. DISCLAIMER: if you move to New Jersey, DON'T allow random guys to help you move in. But in this case, God protected me AND sent me helpers when I didn't have any other options. They got all my stuff moved in and furniture put together in about an hour. I gave them each some money, and they left. What ended up happening was that I had made my first 3 friends in Jersey... Now yes they were felons living in the half way house down the street, but I knew they had my back, and that's still true 14 months later.
Next step in the awesomeness that is God, my pastor's wife from Virginia, had posted on Facebook that I needed a church home, and through the connections that they have, I was contacted by someone, who gave me the name of a church and a pastor. So the day after I moved in to my new place, I walked the half mile to this church. Streetlight Mission was not at all what I expected, and as I'm walking up to the building (very uncertainly I might add) and there stood this man. He comes up to me and says "are you looking for the church?" "Yes, I think so... I'm looking for Karen" "Yeah that's my wife!" He brings me into the church and introduces me to her. She brought me into the mission and gave me a piece of paper to write down my contact information. She walked away, and another lady walks up and asked me if I was finished and if I wanted to get started. I was very confused at this point but I said sure and followed her to another room. Patty thought I was a volunteer at the mission, so she put me to work. I realized very quickly that this wasn't church as I knew church. We laugh now at the mistake, but without that mistake I know my life wouldn't be what it is...
I so fell in love with the mission in that first Sunday that I couldn't not go back. I began to spend more and more time at the mission. The mission has become such a huge part of my life... For the first time in my life I feel alive! I feel like the purpose placed in me by God is being fulfilled. Even my friends back home in Virginia comment on the difference in me. People say they can see the difference on my face, and hear it in my voice. I am getting to spend my time with the most broken in our society, the ones that most people would rather forget, and I see their stories. I see their joys, their sorrows, and their struggles. I have even picked up a nickname from some of the ladies at our ladies nights, "smiley". This isn't just something that happens. Just like with any group, you get a nickname when they feel that you are a part of the group, when you have connected with them on some level.
A few weeks back, I went home for my grandfather's funeral. It was good to go home and see my family, because I miss them bunches, but I couldn't wait to get back HOME to Jersey. That shocks a lot of people, and in some ways it shocked me when I realized it. But as I thought about it, this is where my heart is, this is where my life is, at least for now. I believe Elizabeth is just a season in my life, but for now this is home. Yes, Virginia will always be in part home, because it's where I'm from, and it's where my family is, but I don't think that I have one place that will always feel like home. My best friend growing up always said I had a gypsy spirit, and I agree, I am planted where God has me, but I also know that He may uproot me and plant me elsewhere, and I'm okay with that.
So to finish up and answer my own question... Yes (even if only temporarily) I AM A JERSEY GIRL! <3 p="">
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