So I haven't posted in a really, really longtime and I'm very sorry! There are two reasons why it has been so long. The first is that there has been so much going on that it would be waaaay too much to put in one post. The second reason is that some weeks, there wasn't enough to post. But since I have four weeks to catch up on, here are some of the highlights and things that I have been doing...
WEEK SIX
This was the week after the mission trip to New York and was relatively slow and I don't remember much about it. A lot of this week entailed preparing for VBS during Week Seven. So I spent most of my days hanging airplanes and decorating class rooms and a multitude of other activities. The best part of this week was that, my roommate for the next two years, David Halstead, came to visit and I got some quality chill time/ roommate warm-up time with him.
WEEK SEVEN
This week was strictly 100% Sky VBS! I was the site leader for All-Star Games so I led the kids in games each day. As a result of VBS, five children received jesus CHrist as their personal Lord and Savior and we raised enough money to send 200+ mosquito nets to Mali, Africa to protect against mosquito bites and malaria and allow families to sleep in peace.
VBS was the morning but the afternoons were just as busy! I was blessed with the opportunity to write a devotional for Foundation Camp 2012 which was a few weeks away. If you aren't familiar with camp devotionals it is typically a Scripture verse, some notes on it and life application, some reflection questions, and a sample prayer. It was my first time writing one and I really enjoyed it. There wasn't a camp theme to work from so I chose
Ephesians 6:12 and titled the devotional, "Battlefield."
WEEK EIGHT
Week 8 was basically an in between week and a time to get ready for youth camp during Week 9. I got the opportunity to go home on Tuesday and spent the Fourth of July at home and came up to Harrisonburg Thursday morning. I got to spend some quality time with the family including the beautiful Gabrielle Gardner and the back-from-the-mission field Taylor Bess which was pretty sweet and Hand-and-Foot filled ;)
WEEK NINE
FOUNDATION CAMP 2012!!! For those that do not know, Pastor John Welborn was in full-time evangelism for nine years before coming to Calvary Cross-link and part of that including starting a youth camp called, "Foundation Camp". I rode down with CCL's youth. We took about twenty people altogether (five leaders and fifteen or so youth). I wasn't really sure what my role that week would be (whether I would be working more with Pastor John or our Youth Leader Danielle). I quickly found my role to being more of a youth leader and it was awesome getting to grow together with them that week and build some solid relationships that I know will be long-lasting.
I shared a room with two of my friends from the NYC trip, John and Brian and it was awesome getting to hang out with them again. I also got to hear more about John's testimony and it is super similar to mine in a lot of ways!
It was a tremendous blessing to me to sit during the "quiet time" and watch teens and adults expressions alike as they read over the devotional that I had prepared for the week. (There were 125 plus people working through it.) What came out of the devotional was a lot of what had been on my heart recently and also some things that I had learned during Small Group. (Insert Broheim shout-out!)
Also we took five teens down on scholarship with us to camp with money the youth group had raised doing fundraising and as a super encouraging result, all five of those youth received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior or re-committed their lives to Him.
The Calvary Cross-link Impact Student Ministry is about to be the catalyst for the explosive growth and fire for the Lord that is going to happen in this place in the near future and I am excited to see God at work!
WEEK TEN
The week after camp meant something bittersweet... only three more weeks of my internship. Bitter because I have honestly loved every minute of it and learning a ton not just from Pastor John but everyone else I have worked with as well. The sweet part is that I am getting closer and closer to a new semester, moving into THE TAVERN, and my friends moving back. I have made a lot of new friends throughout the summer and spent time with people I typically would have been unable to but it does get lonely sometimes haha.
Luckily, I am jam-packed with activities for the next three weeks to keep me occupied!
Weeks 10 & 11 we are hosting a group called Baptist Builders who is doing work on Phase Two of our building project. They are a group of mostly retired/ older people who travel church to church and provide free labor in exchange, we have to feed and house them. It is a really solid ministry and I have loved working with and talking with them so far and will be sad when they leave. They will hopefully be back in the future however to help with more construction! :)
Last week, I also got to hang out with two of my bros, Shadi and Josh Tuesday and I got to attend my first ever midnight movie premiere on Thursday, "The Dark Knight Rises" with the guy across the hall from me in Cornerstone, Adam, and two of his friends. It was a lot of fun and a solid end to the trilogy and even though I got home at 3:30 a.m. and had to get up at 6:00 a.m. for Chick-fil-a Men's Accountability group, it was totally worth it!
((Sidenote: The tragedy of the events in Colorado resonated a lot with me since I was at a midnight showing as well. I saw this really great post about it that I would like you all to read; "
Blog Post about Shooting from Person There"))
I finished the week out with Chick-fil-a for dinner on Friday and Saturday, getting a job at the Family Christian bookstore for the Fall, attending worship at Calvary Cross-link Sunday morning, Costco samples and food court with my C-stone housemate David, visitation with the newly-ordained 'Right Reverend (Terry) Ross', Town Hall Meeting and Ice Cream Social, and going to sleep when I got home! :)
