Singles Fall Retreat

So last weekend I had the great opportunity of going on a singles retreat with Twin Oaks and several other presbyterian churches. It was a wonderful weekend. First of all, we went to Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood, which obviously made it extra special because I worked there this past summer. I got to see a whole lot of people that I miss from this summer and got to remember the great things about camp. Second of all, it was absolutely awesome to get together with fellow Christians and worship God. I loved being able to fellowship with some people that I haven't seen for a long time and learn from great teaching. The people I was with were very nice and I enjoyed getting to meet so many new people. One of the last things I enjoyed was getting to see God's beautiful creation. The tree were so beautiful with all their different colors and the lake was so peaceful and quiet. Overall, I had a wonderful weekend, God taught me a whole lot and I was refreshed with fellow believers. Here are just a few pictures:


Beautiful trees on the way to the chapel

The chapel

The path from Trout Lodge to Camp Lakewood with the tennis courts in the background

The bench near the Waterwheel Country Store that I would always call my parents from during the summer, because that is the only place I could get good reception.

Trout Lodge's pontoon boat at their waterfront

Donating Blood

I think one of the wonderful opportunities college students have is to donate blood. Each year at my school we have 3-4 blood drives. We usually will have 1-2 in the Fall and 2-3 in the Spring. I think blood donation is such a great way to give to our community. They are in need of so much blood everywhere these days because many blood banks are drying up. So yesterday I donated blood through the Community Blood Center. This is obviously not a super fun thing to go through, but I think it is necessary. I have plenty of good blood that I might as well share with people who are in desparate need for blood. I am glad that as a college student I have this opportunity to save someone's life in a very tangible way.

My Adorable Niece Lilli!

So I have decided to post some pictures of my niece Lilli. She is now almost 15 months old and is the cutest thing. She is running around and talking up a storm. She is absolutely adorable. Enjoy!


Lilli and her favorite doggie


Lilli exploring her new house


Lilli in her new home, Seattle


Lilli playing with Granddaddy's BIrthday card with a doggie on it


Lilli showing off to her family


Lilli just being adorable


Trying to get tired Lilli to look at the camera for one last picture

First Ever Speeding Ticket!

Well, last night I was driving home from the BSU and I accidently got a speeding ticket. The speed limit was 25 and I was going 37. It was because I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me. As I was driving I saw the cop sitting on a side street ahead and slowed down, but he had already clocked me by that time. He pulled out behind me and once I turned on the street to go to my house, he pulled me over. I know that for most people this is really not that big of a deal, but for me it kind of is because nothing like this has ever happened before. I am definitely embarrassed and mad at myself that I did this. Oh well, I guess things like this happen to a lot of people. I have definitely learned my lesson and will be much more careful about my speed the next time I drive. One life lesson learned.

Weekends

Unlike usual, i have had social things to do on a lot of the weekends this semester. This has been so exciting to me, especially since I don't usually have anything to do and I sit at my house all weekend and just watch TV. Two weekends ago, I went on a float trip with the BSU. We floated down the Niangua River which is near Lebannon, MO. It was a whole lot of fun, even though the water itself was freezing. I got to meet a lot of new people and remember a lot of great things from this summer at camp.

Last weekend, I went to a conference called Getaway, again with the BSU! It was a lot of fun as well and I learned a whole lot. I was also definitely challenged that I need to be spreading the great news of the gospel to the lost and dying world around me which is my campus. I learned several staggering facts:One is that college students are the second most unreached people group in the United States when it comes to knowing about Christ. The second is that about 70% of the teenagers that were very involved in their church youth group in High School (just like I was) will drop out of church and/or any religious affiliation within one year of going to college. Wow! This is so sad. God definitely put it on my heart to reach out to my college campus.

This weekend I am going home to see my family. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece are coming into town from Seattle for a wedding. I am so excited to see them and my niece. Even though they have only been gone about a month and a half, I'm sure she has changed so much. I will try to put up some pictures of her later from over the weekend.

My next big weekend adventure will be the weekend of October 31st - November 2nd. I will be going down to the retreat Center that is hooked up with the camp I work at in the summer for a singles retreat with my home church. I wouldn't usually do something like this because there is going to be some much driving involved and it is kind of expensive, but it is the perfect excuse for me to go back down to camp and I am still quite emotionally attached to this place. I am so excited about this. It will be a great opportunity to meet some new people, just hang out, and relive some of my great memories from camp!

Even though this schedule is kind of crazy, I am so excited that I have things to do on the weekends instead of staying home and not doing anything exciting.

Church Update and Reality Check

So since I had Monday off, I was able to go to church twice on Sunday. It seems to me that my church is doing well. My dad told me that almost 35% of the people at church had never had any other pastor other than the pastor at my church. This is very encouraging because it means that about 1/3 of the members of our church are new Christians or have just recently started coming to our church. This is extremely exciting. Also my church is very close to finally finding a permanent Youth Pastor to replace the one that left shortly after the split. This is just another sign that my church is slowly recovering from what happened almost two years ago. Even though there all of these wonderful things going on, there is still a lot of really hard feelings between the people that stayed and the people that left. I continue to hear stories of people still being very unhappy with several of the people that left. Also it continues to be quite weird for me to return to my church just because so much has changed and so many people have left. I have to just keep reminding myself that it is never going to be the same at the church I grew up in, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. I obviously still have some healing to do from what happened, but seeing these different things has been so encouraging.

The next part of this post is the Reality Check part. There is a boy that is my age who has been going to my church for 5 or 6 years and has been struggling with cancer the whole time. I found out this weekend that he was extremely close to death and was in hospice care in his home. This reminds me how short life is. He is only 21 years old and is dying of cancer. It is so sad, but he has been inspiring to me and so many other people because his faith in Jesus Christ. He has definitely showed people around him how to trust in Christ and His plan even when it is so hard to do so.

Labor Day Weekend

I am back to school after an absolutely wonderful three day weekend. I came home on Friday afternoon and then returned to school early this morning. Other than the extremely difficult and stressful drive home, the weekend was amazing. Right after I got home, I went to a birthday party for my sister-in-law at her step mom's house. This was a lot of fun because I got to spend time with family. Then on Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to go Kayaking with my brother and sister-in-law at a lake right close to their apartment. This was so much fun. My brother and I explored the lake and got to spend a lot of time together. Then on Sunday I got to go to church. This was so refreshing and enjoyable. Lastly on Monday, I spent the day helping my parents around the house, shopping, and spending time with family. On Monday night I went to a BBQ with college and young adults from my church. This was also a lot of fun. Overall this weekend was a lot of fun and very relaxing. I am so glad I got to go home because I will not get another break till Thanksgiving.

One thing that happened this weekend while I was home is that I was able to talk to my other brother and sister-in-law with Skype. This was fun because I also got to see and "talk" to my niece Lilli. While I was talking to them, I found out that they are expecting another girl! I have known for quite a while that she is pregnant, but I didn't know what they were having. Her due date is February 1st. It is so exciting that Lilli is going to have a little sister. I am so excited for them!