Snowed in

Wow, so, it has been a long time since I posted anything substantial on this blog...I know that...I'm trying to decide if I should apologize for business or not. I think I'm just trying to figure out how to keep in touch with people that mean so much to me - people who I've never had to keep in touch with before because they were always just THERE. Plus, this semester is taking a lot of adjusting - just getting used to new schedules and figuring out when to do what homework and what priority to put on certain things. This probably sounds very rambly. I should stick to something more concrete...like class schedules!

M/W/F - I have
OT Survey II
1 Corinthians (which is a class I'm sort of auditing - long story)
Intro to TESOL
T/TH - I have
NT Survey
Bible Geography
Intro to Phil/Christian Worldview
T night I have
Ministry of Women

My classes are excellent, again, although this semester they are more strictly "academic" than last semester (including a lot of history and geography). It's all good, but I'm trying to adjust to the differences, which include a substantial amount more of reading. I have an hour between OT and Chapel on M/W/F, so a friend, Naomi, and I are committing to spend that hour together in the gym. She works out and I read. I should probably work out, too, but at that time of day getting my homework done is doubtless more important. I'm thankful for the arrangement, as it keeps us both accountable and keeps me from wasting that very useful hour.

Lord willing, over spring break, about a dozen of us students are planning to go to Peru to visit Micah and Amy Tuttle, who are missionaries there. There is a lot of prayer and preparation going on concerning that trip, as you can well imagine. At times it scares me and I think "WHAT am I doing?" but other times I get super excited about what the Lord is going to do with this trip. I'm learning a ton already about working with other believers and about trusting the Lord. We are waiting on His guidance and direction. We desire to be willing to accept a "no" answer if He shuts the doors for us, but we are eagerly planning and pressing ahead with plans. He will provide and He will guide us if that is His direction. Please pray with us!

In November, I started meeting with a different assembly of believers at a church called The Great Adventure Church. In some ways their methods for meeting and gathering tend to be a little "unconventional," but I decided to meet with these believers because of the overwhelming love and welcome I felt there. As I've continued there, I have felt more and more at home. I went to a women's brunch on Saturday, we went out to eat as a church on Wednesday night, and this evening one of the families from church had a birthday party for their three-year-old, Allie, and I joined them, along with a number of people from church, for the party. It reminds me so much of growing up in Florida when our family met at home with the Rigsbys and when we would have birthday parties and holidays with Grandma and Grandpa and Danny, Debbie, and A. Jen and even Nelson - and how we all just had so much fun being family in Christ. That's the same way I feel here at GAC. I appreciate that so much. I'm learning SO MUCH about what the body of Christ is supposed to look like. I am blessed so much to see a large body of believers functioning like a true family, giving to and supporting each other, taking care of each others' needs and reaching out in consistent ways to the community around them. What a blessing! I am so thankful for this local church.

Oh, I thought you might all like to know that I am now the (sort of) owner of a fish. That is, I am fish-sitting for two friends who are out of the country at the moment. My two across-the-hall mates, Lisa and Rachel, are doing their Intercultural Studies internships in Yemen and Taiwan, respectively, and I am taking care of their goldfish, Jim, for them while they are gone. I have to change his water every couple of days, and feed him twice a day and such and such. He is a cutie, I must say, but I'm hoping against hope that I won't end up killing him. I'm calling him Jimnasium for short.

It has been in the teens, both above and below zero, here in Iowa for the past two weeks. BRR!!! It keeps snowing, and I don't think the snow is going anywhere any time soon.

Soooooooo....there's a bit of the scoop of what's going on in my life. I could write a lot more, but it would probably fill a book and you are probably already bored. I am sorry I haven't done a better job keeping in touch. Thanks for all your love and prayers.

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also..."

Funny picture of the day

Back at school - and it's wonderful to be here with everyone arriving. Hugs, hellos, and smiles abounding... Classes start tomorrow - hurray!

Anyway, the funniest thing happened today. I walked into the upper commons and saw Victor and Aaron standing talking, and, so, naturally, joined them - isn't it the normal thing when you see two of your friends talking to stop and talk to them, too? So...all of a sudden I noticed that they both had green sweaters on. "Say! You're matching!" They were like, "Oh, yeah, haha" then Victor suddenly said, "So are you!" and I looked down to see my own green sweater. Then Aaron said, "We're all wearing blue jeans, too!" HAHA! That called for a picture. :D Why do people think it's embarrassing to wear matching clothes accidentally? I think it's hilarious. :D

A Sledding Adventure

Sooo, back to school in time for an adventure! :)

Having arrived at school early because I am keeping the books for the basketball team this weekend, I have been rather at loss what to do with myself during some of my days, so last night some of us that were here (couple guys, couple girls) went out to get something to eat (they're not serving meals here until tonight). When we got back, Tom and I were going upstairs when we met Danny.

Danny: Hey, do you guys want to come sledding with us?
Me: Oh, yeah!
Tom: Well, I guess.
Danny: I'm taking the Korean guys sledding. They've never been sledding here.
So, we piled into Esther A's car, which she let Danny borrow while he was here over break and she went back to Switzerland. It's a big car, made for 6 people, but I don't think the manufacturers meant for six people AND three big purple tobaggans to fit into it, which is exactly what happened, because the sleds wouldn't fit in the trunk.

Our school is situated right next to a golf course that is perfect for sledding on. The best hills are about a half mile from the school, though, and that's why we had decided to drive around to the other side of the course instead of trekking across it.
Danny: Oh, this works, if we put them like this!
Me: (gigggling) Um, yeah, I can scrunch down like this.
Tom: (grunting)
Me: Are you okay, Justin?
Justin: Yes, I'm fine.
Danny gets in the driver side, starts going: Ug, this sled is digging into my neck
Tom, Justin and I lift it up higher towards the ceiling
Me: Is that better?
Danny: Yeah!
Coming to a stop sign...
Danny: Is it clear? I can't see anything
Tom: (from the window side of the front seat) I can't see anything - the sled is in front of me
Me: (craning my neck to see around the parked SUV in front of us) Uh, yeah, I don't see anyone coming
Danny swerves around the corner
Justin: Too fast!
Danny: He doesn't like my driving.
We all laugh.
Finally, we arrive and have a blast sledding. The hills were so slick because the snow is more like ice at this point and we had a bunch of crazy rides. It was fun...several near-collisions and all. We sledded and looked at the stars. Delightful. Then the trip back.

We were more practiced this time getting into the car, so that was no problem. We drove a mile or so, then came to the stop sign of Clarke and Asbury (the school is on Asbury). There were two snowplows and a couple cars in front of us.
Danny: Uhoh, I think there's a cop car up there.
Me: It'll be okay, he won't see us
A little bit later
Danny: I think something's going on up there
Tom: (from beneath the sled) I can't see! What is it?
Danny: I think it's an accident
Me: There's a bunch of police cars!
Danny: Uhoh. I don't want them to see us. This isn't even my car.
We all sit thinking for a minute. Danny says "Uhoh" a few more times.
Danny: Tom, would you, uh, mind getting out and walking past those cops so they don't see us like this? We'll pick you up down the block.
Tom: Sure.
He gets out.
We watch this one policeman trying to direct traffic by himself, getting madder and madder at cars that wouldn't listen to his directions. Tom stopped on the sidewalk past the cars.
Danny: Daniel, would you mind going and telling Tom to keep walking? I won't be able to stop on the road and pick him up.
Daniel: Sure.
He jumps out and runs ahead to Tom.
Finally, we get to move, and drive past a very irritated policeman and a line of waiting traffic. Tom and Daniel walked the next two blocks to school while we kept driving. :)
Danny: (pulling into the school parking lot) Well, that was an adventure!

Christmas break....life is...good

Sooo...Christmas break has come...and has almost gone. I'll be going back to school on Wednesday. Ah, it's been good to be home! I've slept so much it's ridiculous! There was one night I went to bed at 7:30...and probably at least 5 nights I went to bed by 9:00. I never would have dreamed that in my life I would actually choose to go to bed that early...but I guess I'm officially a college student now. :grins:



When you move away from your family you forget that the reason you do the things you do has a lot to do with the fact that your family does them. I'm always saying or doing things at school that make people laugh, and here, I find that my family says or does the same things. So I guess I AM normal, after all.

I have a funny story to tell. My 6-year-old sister is learning to read, and she has decided she is going to read Deuteronomy. (No one told her that that's the book that most people get stuck on when they're trying to read through the Bible in a year.) So the other day she was working on a few verses. This is what she read:
36For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which did eat the fat...

It was at this point where she burst out laughing hysterically...uncontrollably...giggling contagiously. She would repeat that phrase, then burst out giggling again.

So...this proves two things. #1. KJV must not be too hard to understand if a 6-y/o can read it, and #2. Maybe it is a little outdated if it makes a 6 y/o start laughing uncontrollably.



Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas break! Happy New Year!

There's no place like home :)

Ah, I'm home again! I now know how Dorothy felt. :) I'm into the full swing of cooking, dish-washing, movie-watching, snowman-making, and enjoying relaxing, reading, praying, and SLEEPING. I had almost forgotten that there was such a thing as sleep, but 8-9 hours a night is reminding me how nice it is. :) I never thought I'd actually voluntarily go to bed at nine o'clock.

It's interesting to be home after four months away. Home will always be home, but Emmaus is really my life now...so it is different to be back. I didn't think I would miss school. The Lord is showing me how I tend to depend on the people in my life no matter where I go, and how I need to abide in Him alone. He is the only one truly worthy of all my devotion!

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:4-5

Two more lovely weeks of being with my family! There are a lot of little things I never appreciated about them until now. :) It's good to be with them again.

Study day?

This is what we do at Emmaus on snow - I mean study - days. :D

We had all day to study today before finals start tomorrow. I got lots done, but had fun, too. And the day's not over yet. :D Emmaus is the place. :)

Rita, Esther and I







Singin' carols :) Silly Esther without a coat...

Here we come a'caroling!

Tonight I went caroling door-to-door for the first time in my life, and it was marvelous! :D See, a number of us from school go out every Friday afternoon evangelizing, and some of us have taken to going back consistently to the same neighborhoods. For instance, Victor and Naomi(some of my friends) go to one neighborhood near school, and have established some contact with several couples there. Caleb (a brother from school) and I go to another street not far from here, too. Well, we started by asking if there was anything we could pray about for people, and we raked leaves for some people, and we have spent a good deal of time talking to people, and we gave out some Thanksgiving cards. We're establishing good friendships and praying for opportunities to share the gospel and maybe do some Bible studies with people. It's really so exciting! The Lord has opened many doors and answered some very specific prayers.

So today, all of us who go evangelizing decided to go caroling at these two neighborhoods. There were 6 in each group, and both groups had wonderful responses in the neighborhoods! Ours consisted of Caleb, Tom, Anna, Ben, Amanda, and I. We had the best time! Often people aren't home or don't answer their doors when Caleb and I go around, but at almost every single house someone came to the door! A couple of years ago the Lord gave me a Christmas poem, and it has the Gospel in it, and we tied copies of it to candy canes and handed them out to everyone. It was so cool. :) People remembered Caleb and I, too! We were able to ask a couple of them about their prayer requests, and chat to some, too. Praise the Lord!!! Please pray for the Wood St. neighborhood! :) Victor's group was able to share the gospel really thouroughly with one of the couples that Victor and Naomi have gotten to know over the weeks. Praise the Lord! Pray for Melvan and Jean. :)

One more week of school - finals week! I'm done with all of my projects!!!! Hooray!!!!! Can't wait to be home! :)