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This week. Wow did it ever fly by. It seems the more we go along, the faster things go by. Having a ton of work doesn't help either I suppose. Since I am writing this late, it is now reading break, and mine and Phil's friend Adrian is here. Should be a great week, and I look forward to what is going to happen. This trip that I am going to be taking to New York has been on my mind a lot lately. We had the opportunity to meet with a couple that we are going to be working with while we are down there, and hear from them about their experiences and what we are going to be doing. It was awesome to hear what they had to say to us, and get an idea of some of the things we will be encountering. To be honest, quite a bit of what I heard scares me. We are going to be in Brooklyn, and doing some things I never thought I would be doing. I think I am going to learn alot through this trip. Things have been much the same as far as youth group and church goes. I am really coming to appreciate Friday nights, when I get to hang out with the kids. To be honest, in the past there have been times I wondered wether it was even worth going, but there have been many things that have convinced me otherwise and I am glad God has placed me at St. Johns. Thanks to all of you for your support, it is so appreciated.

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A photo that I took while on the Mount Washington trip. A bit of an experiment in photoshop as well.


Another week of class, flown by. Old Testament literature was the topic this time, and I really was not sure what to expect. As someone who really has not spent much time in the Bible until this year, this course was a real eye-opener to me, and I learned much from the great teaching of Don Taylor, as well as the readings we were doing. He has such a passion for teaching, and he made the class enjoyable and interesting. I will definitely be delving into my Old Testament more often! As well, we as a class made a video about 27 mins, long that was depicting the Old Testament. It was super fun, and it was cool to work on something as a whole group. Youth group has been good recently. Just on friday, we had a board games night, and made a big ice cream sundae. I am definitely feeling like the kids are connecting well, but the church seems to be doing not as good. I was not at the last service, but from what I heard from the people who did go was not positive at all. The message was an annual report, made by the minister who is filling in while the church finds a new one. There are many issues this church is struggling through as of now, and they are really in need of some solid guidance. As well, if you could be in prayer for our missions trips that are coming up. One group is going to Vancouver, one to India, and the group i am in, New York.

thinking. alot.

Hmm, where to start? This week has been a challenging one. I think I have thought about more things this week than I have in a long time, and its wearing me out. Maybe sometime soon I will share more on that. We spent some time in Vancouver on the weekend, at a thing called Missions Fest. There are many seminars, booths of different organizations, and talks. The whole weekend I found to be ok, but one thing really stood out to me. On one of the nights, a man named Tony Campolo was speaking. He delivered a very convicting and challenging talk, and I sat in attention for the whole thing. He spoke on many things, and many things spoke to me. One in particular is the question "Are you just giving 1/10th of what you have to God?" That spoke directly to me, and one of his points was asking how we could sing the song "I surrender all." He sang the lyrics like this: "1/10th to Jesus I surrender, 1/10th to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In his presence daily live. I surrender 1/10th, I surrender 1/10th; 1/10th to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender 1/10th". Wow. That hit me where it counted, and I got this sick feeling in my gut. I had to step back and take a look at myself. I have told myself I am giving myself fully to God, in all aspects of life, but am I really? No, I am not. I want to change, so help me God to do so.