New beginnings

This fall brought many new things my way: a new living situation, a new student leadership team, a new regional staff team configuration, and a new supervisor. The transitions have not all been smooth, but as I reflect on this fall I am grateful for each of these things. Here are a few thoughts about each of these items.

Living Situation: Thank you to all of you who have been praying for housing. Amber, a good friend and former student leader, and I found an apartment at Mount Pleasant and Davisville. We’ve enjoyed settling in to this neighbourhood, getting to meet people in the community and hosting friends and family. I can’t offer hospitality from my home to the students as I once did, but its led me to find creative solutions. I also now have a 25 minute commute, but its led to some great conversations with students while transiting together!

Student Leadership Team: I said goodbye to my staff partner Dan and some of my key student leaders in April as they headed toward new roles and endeavors. I was left with a brand new team who were very new to leadership. The learning curve has been steep, but the fresh perspectives and new ideas and connections to previously unreached communities on campus like residence, grad students and South Asians has led to some exciting moments!

New Regional Staff Team: I have a brand new configuration of IV staff in my region that I meet with weekly. I study scripture, get trained and pray and vision with IV staff from U of T St. George and U of T Mississauga. The team is led my dear friend who’s now ministering in Toronto, Fi. It’s been really fun getting to know this configuration, and I find myself having more fun, laughing more and genuinely eager to see my colleagues. I’ve been blessed as they have been great listening posts, encouraged me to strive for more and prayed for courage and comfort during some rough patches this semester.

New Supervisor: As I begin my sixth year on staff with IV Canada, I have my 5th new supervisor. It’s been a blessing and a curse to have had so many supervisors, I’ve been to exposed to many varied leadership and supervision styles but I’ve also not had time to fully implement some of the suggestions for improvement before I start again with a new supervisor. But, I’m really enjoying not starting from scratch with my current supervisor. We’ve been trained by similar people, been to Bangladesh twice together, and genuinely enjoy each other! I’ve also been challenged and encouraged in new ways, and feel I’ve already grown as a staff in the few months since having Fi as my supervisor. I look forward to what the next semester will bring.