It's About That Time

Hi friends!

Well, it is about that time again. Time to write to you and fill you in on my life as of the last month. It has been a good month. I have been keeping busy as usual. The birthday parties still haven't ended - one more tonight, another one next week and then one or two more later in November! It is fun to gather with friends and celebrate them.

Classes are going well. I finally feel somewhat caught up this week. Last week was Fall Break and I was able to catch up on homework as well as relax a lot and spend time with friends. We went to the South Carolina State Fair which was a convenient 10 or 15 minutes from campus. This is only the second state fair I have ever been to and it was lots of fun. We ate good food (I got cotton candy - yea!) and we got to go to the Casting Crowns concert that night. It was held in the grandstands at the fair and was amazing. I felt more like I was in a church service than a concert. It was encouraging and the music was great!

What else have I been up to? We had something called Formal Open Dorms a couple of weeks ago. That was fun. We all get together and decorate the guys dorms. Their sister floors come over and they really go all out. This years theme was "classic board games". The grad/seminary students did Risk - the game of world domination! Some of the other floors were Life, Mousetrap and Clue. For our hall we decorated each room as a different continent. We decorated the hall as if they were walking through the ocean. Then we had actors in each room who were dressed up as people from that continent. As teams came in, they actually played the game in each room. I was the actor in the North America room and was a soldier! Yes, I was all decked out in camo and got to yell at people as they came in. It was a lot of fun! Our hall didn't win, but we declared ourselves third place winners!

Besides that I have been registering for classes for next semester and planning for my trip to North Africa this summer. This week we are doing round one of applications. Please be in prayer with me for these next couple of weeks. They will be a crucial time in developing our team and determining who will be a part of it or not. None of us are "in" for sure yet and are all seeking the Lord and His will for each of our lives and the team.

I pray you are all doing well. I would love to hear from you - what have you been up to lately? Until next time...

In the Trenches

Here is my long overdue update. Sorry I have not written in a while. Life has been busy for me as I'm sure it has been for you. First of all, I want to thank you for your e-mails. I have heard from many of you and it has been such an encouragement! I am sorry I have not been able to personally respond yet.

Things are going well here. I have a ridiculous amount of school work to do and I often feel as if I am barely keeping my head above water. It is such good stuff though. It makes me want to do my homework and I wish that there were more hours in the day! The picture above is of our back porch where I spend many hours doing homework! What a beautiful place God has given me to learn about Him in. I have been learning so much about who I am in Christ and my relationship with the Lord. I agree with Erik (if you get the Wahlen's update) that I have learned more this past month than I have in the past year. It is amazing the things that God is teaching me. It is hard and it is good. I have had many walks with God in the past month! I find that as I am doing homework sometimes I need to just get up, go on a walk with God and talk about it for a while. Then I can come back and continue reading or whatever I had been working on.

Life outside of homework is good as well. I am making some really good friends and that is such a blessing and answer to prayer. The girls I live with are wonderful and I have great neighbors! We have been having lots of birthday parties lately and that is fun. We have another one this weekend! I am so grateful that we are not allowed to do any homework on Sunday's. They have become very special days of rest for me and I have come to see how much I need them. In the future I am going to be very intentional about keeping a Sabbath (be it Sunday or some other day) as I have seen the importance of it. We hear over and over how what we do flows out of who we are. I am learning how to focus on being and it is wonderful!

Another exciting thing in my life is that I am planning on going to North Africa this summer. I am super excited about this and I'm sure you will be hearing a lot more about that in future blogs!

Please continue to pray for me, that I would have deep relationships even though I am only here a short time. Also keep my studies in prayer. I have a lot of homework and it is hard to balance the discipline of study with the rest I need with time with my friends. I have a large amount of work due for my on-line class next week - please pray that I would get it all done! Thank you for your prayers. I covet them and would not be doing as well as I am here without them. Thank you!

God at Work

Hello friends,

I have completed 1 1/2 weeks of class. Should I be celebrating or locking myself in my room and doing homework? My concept of time is a little off right now. In one way the time here has gone by so fast. One day passes, quickly followed by the next. However, it also feels as if I have been living in South Carolina for years! I know that my time here will pass very quickly and I am trying to remember to treasure my moments here.

I love my classes. It is amazing to be sitting in class focusing on my spiritual development as well as learning concepts that will be so useful in my future, as well as now. I am learning about prayer and discipleship, folk religion and animism which is so prevalent both overseas and here in America, Muslim women and creative access methods. I am learning disciplines that will be crucial for the rest of my life. I am learning how to be and how to have everything that I do flow out of who I am in Christ. It is an amazing time in my life and I am so grateful to God for bringing me here.

I just spent an hour at lunch with a girl talking about how God has worked in our lives, how He is constantly molding us and changing us, about His heart for the world and how He allows us to glimpse different aspects of it and begin to understand how much He loves all people. It is these little gifts that I treasure, new friends and deep conversations. God has blessed me with new friends, even though I don't have much time to spend with them, I know that they are there for me when I need them and that I have a support system here as well as all of you back home.

I am taking 15 credits this semester (and next) which is bordering on insanity, however I am ahead in all of my classes and am amazed at how God has blessed me with the ability to do the work that is required and learn so much from it. Thank you for praying, as I know without a doubt that this is a direct answer to prayer.

I miss you all so much. Know that I am well and that when I see you again, I will not be the same person as when I last saw you. I pray that you are different too, as you continue to grow in Christ and be molded into the man or woman He has created you to be.

The picture above is of one of my many new green little friends. This poor little fellow got trapped inside of our screened in porch long enough for me to take his picture. They are such funny little creatures! I thank God for the little things that He gives to make me smile each day, like cute little critters (and keeping the spiders out) :-)