Latest / The Wesley Word / HoW Ep.3 Brauer Power

Transcript

HoW Ep.3 Brauer Power · The Wesley Word

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley Word.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Bailey Meehan, and today on Humans Wesley, I'm joined by Brouwer Dowd.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Brouwer, welcome to the show.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Can you start by introducing yourself?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: So my name is Brouwer.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a sophomore parks recreation and tourism management major.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I have a concentration of community recreation and sports management.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm also double minoring in youth development and nonprofit leadership.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it sounds like a lot, but it's really not that much.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a lot of words.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm from Charleston, South Carolina, but last May, my family actually moved from Charleston to a small town called Bradley on a farm.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: So like when I go home, I go to Bradley, but I say I'm from Charleston because it like shaped me.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when you told me that, I actually had to look up where Bradley, South Carolina was, which is saying something because I've lived here my whole life.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty middle of nowhere.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: All there is is a post office.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: The closest Chick-fil-A is 30 minutes.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: So really middle of nowhere.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is so bad.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so real quick off the top of your head, what is your favorite magical or mythological creature?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh definitely a unicorn.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Big unicorn fan?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Big unicorn fan.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my favorite animal for a long time was narwhals.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because I thought they were like real enough to where they're like actually real, but close enough to unicorns that like they seem like mythical.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's your favorite tradition you have with family or friends?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would have to say it's not really a tradition anymore because we haven't done it the last two years.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: But growing up, my family always had a big party for New Year's Eve because it's my parents' anniversary.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of like me and my brother going out with our friends, they were always like, bring your friends here.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I like realized as I got older it was because they wanted to be with us on their anniversary, but still wanted us like have fun on New Year's.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely Italy.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: I want to try pasta in Italy so bad, it like pains me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to go on the Amalfi coast and just sit by the water and eat a bowl of pasta.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's your favorite class that you've taken at Clemson so far?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: I really liked last year.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: I took American Sign Language the first semester, and I just thought it was really interesting because my professor was deaf, and so that was a whole like new thing trying to learn from someone who does not like they don't speak because they're deaf.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's full immersion from the beginning.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was like jump right in, like you only sign, and it was just really interesting and cool and like kind of stuck with me because I feel like it's a good useful skill to have.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do you think the best meal you can get in a dining hall is?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely curly fries, that's gotta be on there.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it depends on the dining hall though.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are we talking Schletter, core, which one do you think is the best?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Daltha's the best, obviously, hands down.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm a big Daltha pizza girl and taco week, so love those.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: But core curly fries are top notch.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you said you're from Charleston, South Carolina?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you like the beach?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like growing up near the coast?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not I'm not a big beach fan.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, to be honest, I definitely love the mountains more.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So like I've enjoyed my time at Clemson and kind of being away from the beach, but there's definitely times I miss it and like wish when I did live there that I went to the beach more now that I can't.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have that luxury.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a big fan of seafood?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: I only like shrimp.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only seafood I eat.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you think you can get the best shrimp in Charleston?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Probably when my dad makes frogmore stew, just wherever he gets it, and then when he cooks it is the best.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you went to Wando High School, right?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sadly.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: You and and 4,000 of your closest friends?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um did you uh like going to such a large high school?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: It just made it hard to be like seen because it felt like you were just kind of like another number to them, in a way, is what it felt like.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: I also didn't spend much time at school for just all the things that happened to me in high school, but I definitely wouldn't.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can imagine that the competition to do anything is oh yeah insane.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like they recognized us at graduation.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I graduated with 900 people, and at graduation they like recognize you if you have a 4.25 or better GPA, and there was 300 of us.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, like any type of a scholarship that's like top of your class, no chance, no chance at all.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, what brought you to Clemson?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just felt the most like home here in a way.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I really didn't know where I wanted to go when my parents were like, where are you gonna apply?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I don't know.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: I just know I want to go to a bigger school than high school, so I knew I didn't want a small school because I'm like, I can't go to a college that's smaller than my high school.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted football, like I wanted a good football atmosphere, and it just kind of led me to Clemson.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, these days that's uh that's an easy pick.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: When I was growing up, that wasn't always uh the case, but well, now after this year, don't really know how much fun.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, you you think this is bad.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You ain't say nothing yet.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so what made you pick PRTM?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, so I came in as elementary education, and I always thought I was gonna be a teacher because I love kids and was like, oh, like teaching kids, job, like pretty simple.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't not like elementary ed.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: I just felt like it wasn't for me.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like I really enjoyed it, but I was like, can I really be a teacher?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then this summer I worked at a summer camp and just really found like that was the place I needed to be, and I really want to work in camps, and so I was like, this makes sense.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just off the whim in the middle of the summer switched my major and like didn't tell really anyone until I did it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: But now I'm really happy because I feel like I'm on a clearer path to like what I want to do versus something like I just could do.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So PRTM at Clemson has uh a reputation for being uh quite laid back, I would say.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you think that's true?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think no one should ever compare majors.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I definitely think like compared to like some crazy engineering class, like if you compare class to class, sure some of like my basic level classes probably aren't as hard as some chemical engineer class, but you can't really compare majors because they're all so different.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, could I do engineering?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: But do I think everyone could do PRTM?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Also, no.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's very people heavy and presentation heavy, and a lot of people don't thrive under the pressure of having to present and get it perfect versus like just doing a math problem.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I definitely as an engineer have you know struggled some of the most in non-engineering classes.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I definitely think every major kind of has its ups and downs.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you talked about working at camp.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um there are quite a few people in Wesley now that are connected to Asbury in some uh Asbury Hills camp, in some uh way, shape, or form.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you're the first one we've had on the podcast, so can you explain to everyone what Asbury Hills is?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So Asbury Hills is a summer camp in Cleveland, South Carolina.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's about 50 minutes from Clemson up in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: They are affiliated with the South Carolina United Methodist Church, and so they just have summer camp programs from rising second graders to rising 12th graders throughout the summer in different weeks.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's one that's like your normal summer camp, one that's very water-based, one where like you get to stay up really late.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So just kind of different camps for different people, and then also the whole rest of the year when it's not summer, they do retreats and so like different youth groups.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Wesley's actually going on a retreat there soon.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just different groups can go up there and just have a retreat and use the facilities and such.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is it about Asbury that you think makes it so special?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just love it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've been going since I was six, like there's not been a summer since I was six years old that I haven't been up there.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like just the family aspect of it really drives me and like pulls me in because I've always felt like I have a place to call home.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's one of their things is no matter which, if it's your first time, second time, like 10th year, like Asbury Hills can always be home for you no matter what you have going on back home.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's always a community there that loves and supports you.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what's your favorite memory or something that stands out as uh either a camper or a counselor?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite camper memory, I can't narrow it down.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: One of them is we used to do a gaga ball tournament.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know what gaga ball is?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Best game in the world.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you want to explain it to everyone who might not know what it is?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't know what gaga ball is, you're in this like pit sort of thing, and it's like dodgeball, but you have to hit the ball on the ground, and if it hits you waist below, it's not knees below, it's waist below.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: I will argue this till the day I die.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you are out, and then like the last person in wins.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, really big gaga ball fan.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really good at it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: No shame.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just am.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm trying to be humble, but like I'm really good at gaga.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And one year we did a gaga ball tournament between all the different groups that were at camp, and my group ended up winning it, and then they haven't had a gaga ball tournament since that year.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: So me and my friends like to say we're the reigning Asbury Gaga Ball tournament champions.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just a really fun night, and we it was like at midnight, so it was good vibes.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I hear you're quite the Ed Sheeran fan.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: I am.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what sparked your love for Ed Sheeran?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just got into him when he released the multiply album.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was in seventh grade, and I went and saw my cousins that summer, and he was listening to it, so then I started listening to it.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then my freshman year, when he released Divide, I was in the middle of traveling to and from Jacksonville for radiation treatments.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: And me and my mom's routine was every time we had to make that four-hour drive, she would let me play the Divide album twice, but only twice.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: We would get to listen to it all the way through twice, and then we'd have like an hour of the drive left.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: But just really it helped me get through that hard drive of like either going home for a weekend or having to go back to Jacksonville for a week to be away from my family to do treatment.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it just really sparked my love, and now I still am a giant fan.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you think the best Ed Sheeran song is?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: 100% perfect.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: It will be my wedding song.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care who I marry.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: That is like part of the deal is perfect has to be the first dance.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you got to meet him too, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I did.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: That was my make-a-wish trip was to meet him in San Diego, which was incredible.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: I still one of my favorite stories to tell people though about make-a-wish was I didn't think I earned one because one day I was just getting chemo at the hospital and the social worker was like, Do you want to talk about a make-a-wish?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I don't deserve a make-a-wish.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Yeah, you do.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I thought that was for people who are dying.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, You do have cancer, like you know that.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I know, but I'm not dying.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I like was so adamant that I wasn't dying.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: But she was like, You have a serious illness, so you still get one, so like just think about it.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I almost didn't take it because I was offended that I earned one, but then I embraced it and got to go meet him, and it was one of the best nights.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, as you've alluded to a couple times there, um, your health was a big part of your uh, I guess, teenage years.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um how did having cancer kind of affect your life as a teenager?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: It almost took it away in a sense.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: I had to grow up really quick.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was 14 when I got diagnosed, and as a 14-year-old, I never imagined my whole freshman year of high school being spent in a hospital.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so it made me have to learn how to teach myself.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was doing online school before COVID, like I was prepared to teach myself, but I still have moments where I got to be a teenager, but definitely was a lot different than other people.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I wouldn't change a thing because it made me who I am today.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had some lung problems and had to have a couple surgeries in high school, and just being in the hospital for you know a couple weeks is miserable.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's terrible.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't possibly imagine what that was like.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get tired of talking about it with everyone?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: As long as I'm just really adamant about making sure it's not my whole personality, and when people see me, they don't see cancer, they see like that I beat it, and yeah, it's a part of me, but that's not their first inkling.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I think talking about it raises awareness for it because I do a lot of work with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society to help raise awareness and try to get better treatments for childhood cancer.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like it's part of my story, like it's not something to diminish and act like it didn't happen because I wouldn't do any better.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not I like talking about it.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just such a a difficult and I would imagine depressing topic, but I think you're one of the most positive and and kind of happy people that I know.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, did that affect your your personality?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think a little bit.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think it made me for the better almost enjoy life a little more.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like when before I was diagnosed, I took a lot of things for granted.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And since then, I mean I noticed how quickly life can change.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like I went from going to school on a Tuesday, and then that next day on Wednesday, I was in the hospital being told you have cancer.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I've seen how fast life can change for people, and so I've realized every single day to try to do the most that I can and live it to the fullest, and always telling people I love them and trying to spend as much time I can with people not knowing what the future holds.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you just talked about how difficult that diagnosis was.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you met, you know, a teenage girl who had just gotten that diagnosis, what would your advice be?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: I would say to embrace the beauty behind it.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's really hard.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you get a diagnosis like cancer or something serious medical, your body's gonna change.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Things that's just bound to happen with anything.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the hardest parts for me was not thinking I was beautiful or thinking that like my self-worth was found in the way I looked because I knew I looked sick, I had no hair, like all of the above.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I would tell them to just embrace it.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I have learned that over the years, so now like I make jokes about the time I was bald and stuff like that.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I would just tell them to embrace it and just still live life, don't let it affect you having fun and finding joy.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and what helped you the most to overcome those challenges?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think humor, honestly.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just joked about it a lot, and just humor was my coping mechanism, and just found different ways to joke about the fact that I had cancer or that I was bald, and it just really helped me realize that while it was a serious situation, it didn't have to be serious all the time.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then did that um whole experience affect your faith in any way?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: It made it stronger for sure.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just remember the night I was diagnosed, I was in the car with my mom, and my mom solely listens to Christian radio stations, like that's all she ever listens to in the car.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we got in the car to drive down to the hospital when they called us and were like, You need to go, like it's serious.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this song, like Overcomer, came on the radio, and I was like crying my eyes out, being like, Okay, like I'm not gonna give up, like all of this.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like God has opened a lot of doors through this, and so I've been able to see the good that's come out of it and not feel like have the like, oh, why is this happening?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I didn't do anything to deserve this, and more of like, how is God using this and using my struggles to help other people?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, what brought you to Clemson Wesley?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Emma Rivers, I will give the credit to her.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So before I lived in Charleston, I grew up in Florence, but I'm not from Florence like people try to tell me I am.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Charleston.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: But Emma and my brother were in the same elementary school classes, like all through elementary school.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so after I posted on Instagram that I was going to Clemson, she DM'd me and was like, Hey, I'm a Freshly leader for this thing called Clemson Wesley, you should come check it out.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then I did because I was a scared freshman and was like, someone I know goes to something, I'm just gonna tag along and like try to meet people.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been coming ever since.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great sales pitch for Freshly, then.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, go to Freshly, you make friends, and it's a fun time.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: What's been your favorite thing you've gotten to do with Wesley so far?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: I would say this past fall retreat was my favorite because I heard so much about fall retreat my freshman year, and we didn't get to go.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was just really excited, and it truly is like the bonding time where you don't get sleep.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone was telling me you're not gonna sleep.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: I thought they were lying.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're not, you don't sleep.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: But it is there's something special about being in a house with everyone, kind of having the distractions away, and just getting to sit and like talk to people and get to know them more.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Fall Retreat is definitely also my favorite event we do every year.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned that we didn't get to do it last year, so your class had it pretty rough.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh graduating high school and and starting college in the height of a pandemic.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's gotta be a challenge.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just I honestly was joking about it when everything happened during my senior year because we were talking, my senior year was the first year of high school that I didn't have to go on homebound for school for something that was my fault and like medical reasons.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, wow, I'm gonna make it through a year of high school and like not have to do school from home.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be in class.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then COVID hit, and I was like, well, dang, it's not my fault, but it still happened.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it definitely was rough, but I feel like it definitely almost brought our class closer together because we are tiny in numbers with in regards to the sophomores now who come to Wesley, but we're definitely close because no one will relate to what we went through with graduating in a pandemic, starting college in a pandemic, still in a pandemic in college.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh at Wesley, you are our prayer team leader.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's been your your or what brought you to be the prayer team leader?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I joined prayer team last spring, so second semester of my freshman year, mainly as a way to get to know more people in Wesley.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I just really enjoyed it, and I've always just loved the power of prayer because I've just seen it work through my life, and so I wanted to be able to do that for the people in Wesley.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then when it came time to like apply for leadership, I just I honestly just applied to be on the team.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: But then Steve called me one day and was like, What about leading it?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, leading it, and he's like, leading it, and then now I'm leading it.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I had a very kind of similar experience when I was a freshly leader of uh sitting on a beach with Steve in the Bahamas, and he's like, So what about Freshly?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, uh, I don't think I'd be very good at that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: He said, You just gotta make them feel welcome.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like Steve knows what he's doing, and whenever Steve tells me to do something, I'm kinda just like, okay, because I'm like, Steve knows, like he knows what he's doing.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, why do you think prayer is so important for us?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: I just feel like as Christians, like that is the like biggest way to communicate with God, in my opinion.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like growing up, I was told prayer is like this formal thing, like hold your hands, bow your head, close your eyes.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: When like it does not have to be that at all.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you see me walking to campus and I'm like not talking to anyone, odds are like I'm praying and just like talking to God because I like talking to people and he's always listening, and just I feel like that's a very important step in building that personal relationship with God that we need as Christians.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, do you have any advice for us as how to pray better or how to make prayer a bigger part of our lives?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like finding what's what what works for you.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like some people love the like bow their heads, close their eyes, sort of prayer, and like if that's you, like go for it.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: For me, I do better when it's more of like a conversational.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I try to do it when I wake up and when I go to sleep, just like, hey God, I always start with a thank you, start with something that I would like him to work on or like be praying for, and then another thank you.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I try to always, instead of just praying when I need something, try to also be praying when I'm thankful for something.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not always just like asking God for things, but thanking him for things as well.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's awesome.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me, Brower.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, thanks for having me.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if anyone listening to this episode uh likes what they hear and and wants to get to know you better, how can they find you?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm honestly at the WB a lot because I don't like sitting in my apartment and they have free snacks and food and like drinks.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm there a lot, and then you can always just reach out to me if you see me at Wesley stuff.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love meeting new people and talking to people.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.