Wednesday

Wow, what a day.  I went to the prayer group at 7:00, which it was good to be back in.  And then I had Hebrew at 8:00 and it totally made my day!  I found out that I got 86% on the last test and that my final grade is 92.6%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)  I am SO happy!  So I get to waive the final!  Anyway, so yeah.  NO MORE HEBREW until January!!!!!!! :)

Anyway, then classes and this afternoon homework.  Then we had supper and the Daniel study tonight.  And the SALT team all got together afterwards and spent nearly 45 minutes on our knees praying for contacts and the church and what-not for the last time in the sanctuary...  It was really sad.  And then we finished by singing We Have This Hope of course.  Then I got back to my room and worked on homework.  I think I'm getting ready for bed now.  I'll do the rest in the morning...  Goodnight!

December 6

In some ways it feels like I got a lot done today, and in other ways, it certainly doesn't.  We had class all morning, and then after lunch too.  After outreach class, I ran a whole bunch of errands and got a lot done.  I decided to skip outreach today because both of the Bible studies we had canceled...  So we'll just get extra time in on Thursday...  Anyway, I was starting to get some stuff done that's due on Thursday when Katie texts me and says that LisaMarie's van died again.  They were in the middle of our territory doing outreach...  So I ran over to the Tractor Supply and bought jumper cables (funny how you never get something until you absolutely need it...) then I drove over to our territory and gave them a jump.  Then I went to Amir's room and we had prayer, then I came back to my room and continued sorting through papers for the portfolio that's due in Michelle's class...  And now I'm off to bed...  So goodnight!

December 5, 2011

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas!  In some ways, it doesn't feel like Christmas, due to the temperature and lack of snow.  But in other ways, it definitely feels very much like Christmas, because we are constantly singing Christmas songs and everything...  Anyway, it's weird.

Today went well.  The Hebrew test was horrible, but oh well.  Hopefully it doesn't effect grades too much...  Joseph said that Dr. Klingbeil was trying to punish us for something...  The rest of the day was fun.  After classes, we had a photo shoot for the SALT advertisements next year.  We went to a house and staged a whole bunch of Bible studies and door-to-door stuff and everything.  It was lots of fun.  And then I had my interview for the Bible Worker position at the East Ridge church at 5:30.  That went well...  After that, Eric, Matt, and I went through all the video footage I took over the semester because we're responsible for putting together a 5-minute video for grad.  We'll see if it actually gets done...

Anyway, I'm off to sleep.  Have a great night! :)

Sunday

So today Eric and I got up at 7:20 and ran down to the pool to go swimming.  We even convinced Ryan and Ashley to join us. :)  Anyway, it was lots of fun.  There was a hot tub and pool outside, and then a heated pool inside, so we made our rounds through all three of them.  Breakfast was at 8:30, so we had to run back up to the room by then.  And then we packed everything up, loaded them into the vehicles, and then went up to the Smoky Mountains where we went hiking for awhile.  We went to this waterfall and went down the creek for a ways.  Nobody got too wet. =P  Then we just wandered around the streets of Gatlinburg for nearly an hour before heading back towards Southern!  We got back by 5:30, then I did a little homework before openhouse at 6:00.  Kayla and Dara put me first on their list, since I had to leave, so they came, saw my room, and visited for a little while.  And then Katie came down, and I took her to all the other guys' rooms in SALT.  Then we went to Magnify's Christmas Concert.  That was really good!  Magnify is a girls quintet.  Most of the girls are students here at Southern and go to the Eastridge Church.  I know 4 out of the 5, so I guess I know most of them. =P  Hahna used to be a part of them for awhile.  Anyway, there were refreshments afterward, so we stayed and visited, and then came back to campus.  I worked on the Study Guide for awhile, and then studied for my Hebrew test in the morning.  Yes, I'm really worried about that...  But it will all be over by 9:00 in the morning...  Anyway, I'm off to bed.  So goodnight!

Sabbath!

So today was epic! But since the Internet isn't working, I'm using my iPhone to post this, do it will be shorter. :p In summery, we spend the whole day at the It Is Written Partnership meetings. They were very inspiring. And of course, our very good friend Pastor Bradshaw was there, so it had to be awesome. :) We had a whole half hour slot in the afternoon program to share testimonies and things from SALT. It was really inspiring just to hear and tell the stories over again.

It's incredible the people that are partners with them! They gave the total of the offering from today and it was $782,200. And there were only 150-200 people in attendance! Yeah, pretty impressive...

After the meeting to tonight where he gave his testimony (which went really late), we spent quite a bit of time taking pictures and visiting with Pastor Bradshaw because he had been too busy during the day with all his partners. But we had a lot of fun after the meeting. Then we came back to the condos and made cookies and played charades and stuff. And then we finally are heading to bed. So goodnight!

Happy Sabbath! :)

We are in Gatlinburg!!!!!! :)  It's so exciting and happy and wonderful.  Anyway, yeah, this morning in Hebrew we finished our reading competition, and I was one of the three winners.  So we got Swiss chocolate. :)  And then we had class from 9:00-12:00.  James Hartley was up from Wildwood and he talked about Medical Mission work.  It was incredible!  Health fairs and health as the entering wedge.  I definitely think I need to study more into some of that stuff.  It's incredible the results he's gotten from that!

At 1:30 we all met at Wright Hall and loaded the van and Expedition for Gatlinburg!  We left somewhere around 2:00 and got here around 4:30.  It was a lot of fun.  Some of us played Amen (Christian Uno =P) for a lot of the way.  And took silly pictures with LisaMarie's computer and other such nonsense.  After we got here, we got settled, looked around a little, then got supper ready and ate.  We started worship at 7:00 with singing, then Dr. Parker had us do some activities, then Michelle had a worship thought on Creationism versus evolutionism and how a lot of Christians are actually evolutionists, and then we had prayer.  I definitely need to explain that other more.  The principals of evolution are that things have to evolve, whereas when God promises us something (aka victory), we have it!  The same voice that spoke the universe into existence is still creating each of us on the inside.  And it's not a work of evolution.

Anyway, I was thinking during worship how many other groups of young people would enjoy having a 2-hour long worship.  No, we didn't get done until after 9...  But it was so wonderful!  And we spent at least 10 or 15 minutes in prayer.  And then we all sang "I Want to Go to Heaven" afterwards of course.  That's a FountainView tradition that's crept in through Sarah's influence. :)  Every time we sing it, it makes me want to go home more...

Oh yeah, I didn't say where we are staying!  We're staying in a condo!!!  Us guys have a room upstairs and the girls have one downstairs.  These are 3 bedroom apartments with everything you'd ever want!  We're eating and living in the girls' one, though, and just coming up here to sleep...  Anyway, I need to get to bed, because I'm on breakfast prep at 7 in the morning, then we rush off to the It Is Written Partnership meeting.  So goodnight! :)

Thursday

Today was so awesome!  Christmas is officially here!!! :)  We had the Christmas on the Promenade event tonight with the lighting of the Christmas tree and everything.  Oh yeah, but before that on outreach, Hahna and I were riding in my 168 horse open sleigh with Christmas music playing. :)  Yeah, I think some people think I'm crazy for still insisting to have the top down on that car, but oh well.  Hahna and I both agreed that it was far too nice a day to have the top up!  And it was still around 40 degrees! :)

Anyway, the program here at Southern was really nice.  Hot chocolate and Donut Holes and everything!  And lots of music from different people.  Anyway, it was a great evening.  I'll put pictures below. :)  Goodnight!