Happy July

Hello and happy July. We have now been out here in DC for over a month. We only have 4 weeks left in the program, which is kind of a scary thought. I think it will end up coming much too quickly. Work has told us that after this 4th of July week our internship will fly by. We'll just have to wait and see.

This next week will be a little bit more of a relaxed week at work. Not much will be going on. This weekend some of us decided to do a little sight seeing. I got to take a White House Tour yesterday with another intern and then joined up with some other people from teh program in the afternoon to go to the International Spy Museum. They were both pretty neat. I love seeing the history in the White House and other buildings.

This week in the program has been a pretty fun and relational one. On Tuesday and Wednesday night I played a few games with different people and had a great time just getting to them better and laughing. Work is still going well. God continues to open up neat opportunites and experiences. I have been priveleged enough to go to a few receptions and other events for different reasons. All in all, God has made it into a fun week. I have also gotten to hang out with some more people in the dorms. I am looking forward to becoming better friends with people for the rest of the summer.

One hard thing for me lately is finding time to process. I feel like I am learning a lot about myself and God, but i'm taking in a lot and it's hard to organize and grasp it all. One thing God has been revealing more to me this week through a series of thoughts and emotions is that I come to God often to talk and pray about my thoughts and other things going on, but I rarely take the time to just listen. It is much easier for me to tell God my thoughts and what is going on and pray for things in life than for me to just sit and listen and relax with God. I have found that God loves to use others to reflect to me things I need to realize and look at in my own life. This is one of those things. I have found myself listening to different people (which has been such a privelege that others would open up to me), but part of me felt at times that the listening wasn't reciprocated. God definately used this to show me that I rarely give him the time to speak or talk to me, instead I come to him with my things on my own time and then it's back to life. This is an area I would really like to grow in more and be intentional about sitting and being still in Gods presence, letting Him get a chance to talk :)

Things you can pray for this week:
• Opportunities to have conversations with people and an earnest desire to beeter understand them
• Continued processing of the lies I am believing about myself and others
• I would take time to listen more intently to God
• That I would find rest throughout the weeks so I can keep going at a good pace

That's what's new around here. Feel free to email me at s_holechek@msn.com anytime. I would love to hear from you!

Have a happy 4th of July!

Four Weeks In!

Wow, I cannot believe I have been out here in Washington D.C. for four weeks. It has been a blast so far! We have five more weeks of the program and I have seven more weeks in town for my internship. Over the past week I have been realizing more and more that the opportunities I have had and the things I have learned about myself, God, and life over this summer already has been worth it all. I feel that if nothing else happened for the rest of the summer the whole time would still be worth it for what God has already done the first month. From here it seems as though my cup just continues to overflow with more blessing. These blessings come from hard times and exciting times. I believe God will continue to reveal more throughout the summer which is so exciting. Often it is hard to find time to process everything coming at us.

As I have been praying God would reveal to me things from my past and growing up that may ave helped to form lies in my mind about who I am and what my self worth is in, God has started to really open my eyes to certain things that I have allowed to shape my view of myself and others. It is so freeing to just realize some of these lies that I believe in. When looking at different events or environments through my life, I am beginning to see and learn that I have created a lie in my mind and heart that I will never be truly wanted. Because of certain times of rejection I have told myself that people do not truly desire to have me around. This has definitely shaped my attitude toward people and has skewed my view and feelings of how others treat me. I have observed and believed ridiculous things all because of these lies in my heart that Satan has used to believe my worth is nothing.

I can not express the way it has felt to just see different things open up and see how God is helping to remove layers of lies I have carried inside for years. I have no doubt this process of realizing core lies I have believed and how God has truly created and designed me to be will be ever happening. But I just feel such safety here and an open environment to discuss and process some of these things with people out here. Because I have believed many things that may not be true about myself, it will no doubt take a long time to begin to truly see myself through God's eyes and the truth of what my worth is and who I truly am.

On another note, work is pretty cool. I feel like I am getting some chances to interact with the staff and other interns in the office. I enjoy most of the work I am doing and serving the office in whatever capacity I can. We have met a few people in the dorms, but it often seems people stick to themselves. But we have been able to play games with some of the people on our floor a couple of times.



The team and I have been getting along pretty well. It will be interesting to see these next few weeks. As many staffers say around week 4, 5, and 6 walls begin to come down and everyone in the program lets their more true side. Not every personality will mix with another. When tensions arise it is great to allow God to come in and work in each of us. We will see what happens. Right now I and many others are excited about everything God has been doing and I'm sure will continue to do.

Can you please pray for:
• God continuing to open up outside relationships and deepen those made already
• Continued processing of the lies I am believing about myself and others
• Grow my team closer over the rest of the program
• That while going through the WHO AM I study, God would reveal things I have not yet let him deal with and that I would believe he is a truly forgiving and merciful God

From the bottom of my heart, thank you once again for your investment in my summer and my life. This summer has already been life changing and helped me to learn so much about life. Thank you.

Until next time....

P.S. Oh, here is a picture of some of the students in the program on the Metro Subway we take everyday to get anywhere in the city.



(From left to right: Me, Tara, Dan, Katy, and Drew)

Digging Deep

Hello again. I have a little time today to update this blog. Things in D.C. are going really well and God is working as He always does. I think work is beginning to really drain the energy out of the participants in the program. It is becoming clear that time is becoming something to cherish and use wisely. As we continue to work and receive more responsibility it will be crucial to rely on each other and the Lord for rest and energy.

As a program, we have been learning about living as an insider where you live and work. This as I have said is one of the main themes of the program. This week we looked at our attitudes inside and how we view others has such an impact on how we treat people. The question was asked can people read your mind. Most determined yes people are able to sense your attitude towards people, which means if our attitude to someone is negative, our actions will most likely reflect that feeling.

Looking into these thoughts has worked alongside our Bible Study of “Who am I?” This week in the study it talks of being created in the likeness of God. So, as God has created us to be his glory, so have all other people. This too has been convicting. I have really been looking at myself and attitudes I have toward those who seem a little harder to like in life. God has been revealing to me this week of the way I view others and how that affects the way I act toward them and treat them. This is something I will no doubt continue to grasp and learn from God throughout the summer and beyond.

Another thing I have learned from doing the Who am I study is how I am defined as a person. I cannot allow my weaknesses OR my strengths define who I am. Also, I cannot believe the way others, including myself, define and describe me. Only God can define who I am by the way he created me.

I am feeling so privileged to be out here and be with all of these wonderful people in the program. I feel we have all gotten to know each other pretty well already. It amazes me everyday I walk around this town and see beautiful buildings of history and I get to be a part of this city for the summer. Thank you once more for helping me get here and for your prayer.

Things you can pray for:
• That God will continue to open up outside relationships and deepen existing ones
• Those feeling they don’t know why they are here or what their purpose in the program is
• Grow each of us closer to Christ and let us reflect Him to those around us
• My attitude and outlook toward others would be through the eyes of God, as beautiful and glorious creations

I hope to update once again probably next weekend. Thank you once again for everything.

One Week In...

First off, let me apologize for not updating this earlier. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get internet access here in the dorms. I am still trying to work this stuff out. Anyway, back to Washington.

I arrived on a flight from Chicago on Sunday afternoon. I met a guy from the program on the flight named Drew. We landed and headed over to the George Washington University Dorms. There are 12 students in all participating in the program. We are all on in teams of three students with one team leader. My team is Tim, Dan, and I, and our team leader Jon. Tim, Dan, and I live together in one dorm room. The rooms are fairly nice, however, I have not been able to get internet access just yet.

I started work on Wednesday the 30th. I work in one of the buildings on "The Hill." However, I had to sign a document saying I would not blog about what happens at work or anything such as that, so I will not be able to give many details about my work, but I will try to update a little as to how things are going there and what relationships are forming.

am working with another girl in the program named Katy. This has been a blessing having someone else in the program I know to work with. There are five interns total so far. We may get one more. We'll see. I work with some cool people. We have all been placed on different task teams at work, so us interns will most likely not be working too much together, but only time will tell.

The program this summer has two themes: Living as an Insider and Who Am I? We will be using Module 2 from the National Training Team of The Navigators. We will use the Who Am I study as our team Bible Study. I am just about finished with the first chapter and it is a great study which takes the reader deeper into who God is and who we are as his children.

Tonight we will be going to Grace D.C. a church here in town together as a program. After going through this first week I am very excited for the program and those in it and also for work. However, it is also going to be an extremely busy time. My team and I have already expressed the fact that one thing we really want to root ourselves in is quality time in the word every day while out here. This will become critical to keep going at full steam out here.

Here are some things you can pray for when God brings this program to mind:

• That I and everyone in the program will have consistent and quality time in with our Lord throughout the summer.
• I might root myself in the word and in prayer, as to take on the character and attitude of Christ.
• God will give me wisdom and discernment as I come against situations at work and with people I meet, as some situations I face may lead me to make some hard and difficult situations.
• God will open up opportunities to build new friendships with people at work and living in the dorms.
• That my team will grow close to each other while seeking God to build life long friendships.
• That with all the events and going-ons, I would find some time for myself to get re-energized.

These are the things I can think of right now.

Please just pray that God will use me to walk the path he has laid out before me and that I would follow Colossians 4:5.
"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity."

I would like to thank all of you who helped financially as well again. It is such an honor and privilege to serve Christ out here in D.C.

On Tuesday four of us went to check out some of the sites. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and the Holocaust Museum. I have added some of the pictures from this.

One Week and Counting...

Hello friends. My name is Stephen Holechek and I will be using this blog to update and journal about my experience in Washington D.C. this summer (2007).

The date today is Sunday, May 20, 2007. The program is one week away from today. I still have a few things to do such as pack, send out thank you notes, and wrap up loose ends here in Colorado Springs. Feel free to respond to any of these posts, I would love to hear from you!

I am excited for what God will do this summer!