Everybody Starts Somewhere

For my second podcast, I invited my freshman year roommate Holly DeSerano and a friend from class Olivia Schmidt to have a chat with me. We talked about everything from how we each began our faith journeys, how those changed by moving to college, what we think of Prairie Lakes, and more.

Holly explained how she grew up with faith, saying, "I grew up with the regular Christian rules. You went to church and you went to youth group, and that's kinda how it was."

Olivia said that she went to a traditional Lutheran church in her hometown, and added, "I really like my church and the chorus that my grandma sings in."

I wondered what it was like for Holly meeting me three years ago knowing I had almost know experience with church.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react at first," Holly said, "I didn't want to push my faith on you at all, but it was great when you showed interest in it."

So of course, Holly used to go to UNI with me, but after our freshman year she transferred to Luther College. I wanted to know how this had an affect on her faith journey.

She said, "Honestly, it's gotten a little bit tougher since moving to Luther. Obviously, its a Lutheran school, and there's no Prairie Lakes campus here, so it's on me to be involved in my faith."

Olivia recently checked out Prairie Lakes for the first time when she was invited, and I asked how she felt about it.

"I enjoyed it a lot," Olivia said, "but I really like the traditional Lutheran church I have at home."

It was cool to see the varying perspectives on a non-traditional church like Prairie Lakes. For me personally, I love how it functions. The worship through music is very important to me because I love music. I have also visited the campus in Grinnell, Iowa where they watch the services on a big screen. I think that may have been too non-traditional for me, because I definitely like the in-person experience in Cedar Falls better.

We also got the chance to share stories that we remember where faith had a big impact on us. For Holly, she felt God working in her life when it came to the decision of transferring colleges. Though we became good friends over the course of the year, at the time Holly struggled with feeling like UNI wasn't the right fit for her.

"Luther wasn't even a thought in my mind," she said, "because I knew my ex-boyfriend from high school went there, and we'd had a bad breakup. I kept praying on it though, and one day Luther popped into my mind. It was the first time I really had to let go and put my full faith in God that it was the right move for me."

Holly said that it was the best decision of her life.

For Olivia, things are a bit more recent and fresh in her mind. Recently, her boyfriend had a good friend pass away due to a motorcycle accident. She's been feeling close to God as she consoles him.

"I just had to tell him that now his friend is looking over him in heaven, and he can pray to Jesus and pray to his friend."

A time that sticks out to me when I felt God's presence happened a few years ago. I was working as a server and a guy came in to eat who happened to be my math tutor. I knew nothing about him other than that so I chatted to him a little about school while I was serving him. Outside of work, my life at the time was crumbling and I felt like I had non one on my side and everything was falling apart.

Before he left, he stopped me and said, "Before I go, I just wanted to know if there is anything I can pray for you for."

At that moment, I felt a wave of emotion and reassurance wash over me with everything going on, it was amazing to know that I wasn't really alone.

We spent some more time swapping stories and getting to know a little bit more about each other's faith journeys. It was a good opportunity to see different perspectives from Prairie Lakes and learn more about Holly and Olivia's lives faith-wise growing up. Everybody starts somewhere, and we all bring something to the table. No matter where you are at, you can always take steps to learn and grow more.

If you want to listen to my full podcast with Olivia and Holly, check it out below.