Amish Adventures, Philly cheesesteaks, Patience, and the Future

In my last post, I wrote that I had made a trip out to Philadelphia, but didn't talk about it much. The night before Philly, Deirdre (my office mate) took all the interns on a journey through Amish country. It was a lot of fun driving through the countryside and seeing a lifestyle completely different than the way we live. It is pretty incredible how young the Amish kids start working around the farm. We saw boys that couldn't have been more than 10 years old steering the mules while another family member operated the hay bailing machinery attached to the mules. A couple minutes later we were driving down the road and passed a girl who was probably 11 or 12 and she was driving a mini horse and buggy with two other little girls in the buggy with her. I don't think I could drive a horse and buggy. I think the Amish children are given responsibility much younger than most kids. At one of the Amish farms, we bought whoopie pies. They are pretty incredible. It is more or less two pieces of cake with some sort of frosting in the middle. That could be a bad thing to become addicted to while out here in Lancaster. Seeing horse and buggies driving down the road on my first night in Lancaster was a pretty shocking yet incredible experience. Unfortunately, I have become numb to seeing the Amish around the area. It is just another way of life in Lancaster County.

Philadelphia is a great city, that is if you are in the right part of town. Below is a picture of the Philly group atop the Rocky steps, with the skyline in the background. I've been to Philadelphia three times now and each time I go there, we try a different philly cheesesteak joint.

It is incredible how popular these cheese steak restaurants can be. The lines can be a couple blocks long and take longer than an hour to get your food. It's a great experience but I would trade quality for quicker service. Below is Geno's Steaks, a really popular place to get steaks. Yesterday, we made a day trip to Philly and got cheese steaks at Jim's, another popular restaurant on South Street. South Street is supposed to be like Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I could never live in an area like this because it is crowded, touristy, and dirty. As I've said, there are some great places in Philly and some places that are not so great. I didn't like South Street too much and once we finished our steaks, we went straight to the car and left.


This summer has been an incredible experience on many different levels. After accepting my internship with HOPE, I began to question if this was the right direction for me to go after graduation. Now over 2 months into my stay out in Lancaster, I can say I made the right decision. It has spurred spiritual growth with me as a result of me being out of my element. Working for HOPE has developed invaluable relationships with people from all over the United States. I have been praying for increased patience and I think my patience has been challenged this summer. Graduating from Point Loma and then immediately coming out to Lancaster to volunteer during the week and then mow lawns on the weekend wouldn't have been my first choice in post college plans a couple years ago. I've always thought that after graduation, the pay checks would begin to roll in. This economic climate has redirected my journey. I am thankful for my patience being challenged. I don't think there are many people who go get a degree from a private university and then subsequently start mowing lawns for income. My prayer for this summer and my subsequent journey lies around, "Not my will, but yours be done O Lord."

Each phone call with friends and family back home, the same question is asked of me, What are you doing next? I don't have a definitive plan today, but a blurry image of what the future may hold. I have committed to volunteer with HOPE until the end of October and there isn't necessarily an open position for me at HOPE. I've asked advice from many individuals at HOPE and have struggled to make the decision to leave such a great organization where I love the work I am doing and the people I'm working with. Over and over, I have been told of how important for-profit experience can be. Just because I leave HOPE and start working in the for-profit world, doesn't mean I can't come back to work for a non-profit in the future. I am hoping to go back to San Diego in the late fall for a couple of different reasons. It is where my business network is, I have a couple great friends that are still out there, and I really enjoyed living there during college. I am taking my decisions day by day, so my plans could change next week, but today this is what the future looks like in my mind.