When I first got my assignment to come to Okinawa, I was told that I was going to be a base chaplain. Privately, I asked God to get me assigned to a battalion of some kind, where I would be the chaplain for a specific group of marines as well as running programs and services for the Jewish community. Someone knew better.
After coming here, I knew that I was send to Orlando for the year for a reason. There were lessons there that I needed to learn so I could succeed here.
As a base chaplain at Camp Foster, I provide for the Jewish community, counsel anyone who walks into the Chapel offices and currently oversee that all the chapel facilities and schedules run smoothly. (We have 8 faith groups that use the facilities weekly. If I had to guess, I'd say that there are over 1,000 people who walk through our doors on a weekly basis. We run/host over 80 programs a month here. It's busy.)
I just started to get a sense of the rhythm and needs of the chapel. I have had the time to bond with the RPs (Religions Programs Specialists - my enlisted counterparts and the backbone of the chapel) and see where support is needed so the chapel can be even more amazing than it already is.
I can only say that God must have had a plan that I would have the time get this cornerstone experience because I am moving over to H&S Battalion (Headquarters). It is housed at the same camp where I work now but just down the hill. It's closer to the Baskin Robbins on base. The chaplain who is there is swapping offices with me. I have just started to scratch the surface of what he does. It's going to be a challenge to fill his shoes but I have faith.
And the cherry on top is that we don't have a time frame for when this swap will happen.
Semper Gumbi (always flexible).
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