wow.

It has been SO long since I last posted. Sorry to the few people out there who actually follow my blog! Life has been so crazy and honestly with everything that has been going on, I haven't really had any desire to post anything.

In a nutshell, my dad is no longer in the picture and it's been almost a month-long struggle realizing what exactly that means and getting over the initial sadness it brought me. But I know that 24/7 is the best place for me right now and that this is all happening in God's timing. I am incredibly busy every day with things that make me so happy and I don't have time to be sad about all this. And I'm finally at the place where it's not a struggle to get up in the morning and put on a happy face for the day even though I feel so sad inside. Now I'm at the point where I just pray for my dad every single day and give any hurt or pain I feel to God first thing in the morning so that I can have an amazing day.

And the days truly are amazing! The week after I last posted was our "Domestic Missions Trip" which took the place of the 3-week Mexico missions trip we were supposed to go on. It sounded like a total bummer, 1 week rather than 3 and Bradenton rather than Mexico, but it was so fun and rewarding. We helped set up for events at the church, served in other churches in our area that were desperate for help, loved on the girls at the SOLVE House, blessed people with free water at busy intersections, and so many other awesome things. The whole week really taught me how important it is to serve people right where you're at. The lost people who live next door to you need God just as much as those in third-world countries and it's about time we learned that! That being said, I am DYING to go on an overseas missions trip too.

The month-long missions trip in May has an overseas option (I don't know any of the destinations yet) but not everyone will get to go there. It all depends on how much money we raise for missions and how much tuition each of us still have to pay. I am praying that I get to go on the big missions trip, but the other options are cheaper and closer to home. Hopefully God will provide, unless it is His will that I stay closer to home.

Another major thing that has started in the last month is our Eco training workouts. We are going to "Eco-Challenge" in early December (only 1 month away!! so close!!) which is a cross between a triathalon, the Amazing Race, scripture memory tests, and a scavenger hunt. We train every Tuesday and Friday for Eco which means SUPER HARD WORKOUTS. Each workout is harder than the last, and each one is the hardest workout I've ever done. I seriously didn't think it could get any harder, but each week blows my mind! We always say, "If it was easy it wouldn't be 24/7!!" I can't wait till Eco though, it's going to be such an incredible experience and my team is so amazing that I know we're going to do GREAT.

This week is the last one before Thanksgiving break, so we're doing any catching up or finalizing that needs to be done before we're off. We're preparing for the silent missions auction on Sunday night, which is going to help raise money for our May missions trip. Every student turned in 10 items that will be auctioned off, meaning that over 300 items will be up for bidding, and everyone also had to provide a service that they would offer, so I'm going to do house cleaning! I know it may sound lame, but no one else offered it and a majority of people sitting in the audience would or already do pay big bucks for maids. And with the holiday season here, everyone is going to need a little sprucing up! Hopefully a lot of people fight over me and give a lot of money towards missions! :)

The last thing I wanted to mention today was about Venue last night!! Our Venue services get better and better each week, and last night was by far the best. Justin's message on Toxic Influences really hit home with the whole group. He started off by asking the crowd who liked the movie "The Hangover." Of course, the whole group raised their hands. So then Justin says, "Yeah, that was one h*ll of a movie, right?!" and everyone looked kind of shocked. He says, "It's interesting that you guys are offended by me using a mild curse word in church, yet you weren't offended by the 91 f-words, 50-something s-words, 20-something g-d's, countless other curse words and nudity along with everything else wrong with that movie. 91 f-words. That's one f-word per minute and most of you sat through the whole movie, have watched it several times, and even own it." He talked about how just the smallest Toxic Influences, when you're exposed to them repeatedly over time, completely destroy your life and desensitize you to the point where you don't even know what right or wrong is anymore. It's so true!! I've always felt this way and I've been made fun of my whole life for being the sheltered, immature girl, where really I'm trying to be an intelligent, mature woman of God!

Then Justin introduced our 24/7 skit "Everything" and my group and I performed the skit for the Venue crowd. It was amazing and many lives were changed by the relevance of the message and the awesome illustration that the skit makes about how the negative influences in our life draw us away from God and destroy us. My best friend came to me after, crying, saying that the skit showed exactly how she has been feeling the last month or so, and said she wants to get her life right again!! It's just amazing how God works through us and within us to bring about good things. God is good, the end. :)

Hopefully it won't be too long till I post again!

sickkkk.

I'm sick, and it totally sucks.

Tuesday was an awesome day, but I woke up with a sore throat thinking to myself, "Oh goodness, I hope I'm not getting sick." I went through the whole day feeling pretty good, and we even practiced all of the skits we learned last week!

Without any notice, Justin just said for everyone to gather in a P.O.D. (prayer over drama) circle together. We learned that every time during a missions trip or outreach that we perform our skits and dramas, we will be starting out in the P.O.D. This means that before/after/in between skits that you perform in, you pray for the people currently performing and for the crowd that is watching. We basically went through a full run of each skit and even practiced the 2 minute introduction, 2 minute transitions between skits, 5 minute testimony, and the wrap-up after the "Everything" drama that serves to explain the drama and tell people how to accept salvation. We were pretty nervous to go through it all, especially since we only learned and practiced half of the "Everything" drama. We thought Justin might skip that one, but we had to do it! The first time through it all, I didn't do any of the skits, I just did a 2 minute transition explaining Upon A Stage and introducing Catch-All. Justin and Cadre watched and gave us a pretty harsh critique after the entire set. We were a little bit discouraged because we were being "graded" so harshly even though we had only performed the skits once each and hadn't even learned all of "Everything."

The second time through, Justin said he wanted everyone to switch up their parts, so that no one would play the same part they just did. Since there are only 3 girls in 24/7 that were given the part of the main girl in "Everything" and the one who knew it best had just gone, I had to do it next. I was SO unprepared and nervous! But it actually went pretty well, thanks to the other people knowing their parts! My part basically mimics all of the others roles at some point, so I rely on their cues to figure out what I'm supposed to do, and my group did pretty good considering how little we had worked on it. Cadre said it wasn't too bad, and then told us to basically create an "all-star" cast for each skit and do the whole set a third time. This meant that they wanted the people best at each role to play those roles, even if that meant they did more than one skit. The first years picked me to do "Everything" again! This time each skit was SO good because the people who knew what they were doing were the only ones performing, and when it came time to do "Everything" I was nervous again. But that is SUCH an emotional drama and every emotion that the girl is supposed to convey comes so naturally because I'm literally putting myself in her place. It was SO much fun, and if you watched the video of it that I posted, you can see that at the end she lunges toward God time and time again only to be beaten and pushed down by the other "evil" characters. So now the entire right side of my body is covered in bruises from being slammed on to the floor repeatedly.

But I LOVE IT!!

So after another amazing night at Venue and talking to everyone in sight, my throat was killing me, and I hoped to sleep it off and wake up feeling better on Wednesday. I was so wrong. Wednesday I reported to the church at 5:30am for Scripture Memory CT, then sat through morning prayer feeling sick to my stomach. I was dismissed from work-out and told to go home and rest till 1pm. I came back at 1 and was dismissed AGAIN because of how sick I looked/acted/felt. I stayed in bed for the rest of the day and night.

So this morning I woke up feeling just as horrible as yesterday, but I have my heart set on having a good day! I did CT at 7:30 with everyone else this morning and had a good time during morning prayer. The reason we reported so late today is because Justin's wife, Stefanie, just had her baby yesterday!! Justin is a daddy! :) So we were all going to go to the hospital to see Baby Bentley after morning prayer. However, sickly people like myself don't get to see and hold newborn babies, so I am stuck hanging out and doing homework in the youth auditorium while everyone else is at the hospital meeting Bentley. :( But Bentley is gonna be around for a long time, so I'm sure I'll get to see him. In the meantime, I just want to rest up and get better!

Praying that God gives me a great day today and helps me feel better by tomorrow.

another awesome day.

Today was SO busy, but absolutely wonderful!

Adopt-a-Block gets better and better each week, and now we are building relationships with the people who keep coming to see and talk to us while we're there. Now that we're no longer strangers, they trust us with requests for specific needs!! We provided one lady who just had a baby with diapers, bottles, formula, and baby clothes, and the boys worked for another lady to get bees out of her house. These people are so nice and so grateful that each week we actually desire to come back and serve them. :)

After that the entire 24/7 group was invited to a surprise birthday party for the daughter of one of the men at Bayside that does a lot of stuff to help us out. He's there at all hours making sure the doors are unlocked for us, keeps the A/C on so we don't die of heatstroke, and does so many other things. To show our gratitude, we showed up for his daughter's 16th birthday party along with like 30 other people and we had an awesome time surprising her on her special day. And hey, we got to hang out, play sports, and have free subs and cake! Bonus!!

I also got to spend time with my family today, including my amazing sister, brother-in-law, and baby niece!! It was such a blessing to see all of them and see how big and beautiful my neice has gotten. And who doesn't love steak, mashed potatoes, and caesar salad for lunch?? I didn't get to spend much time with them, but the time I did get was definitely worth it!

I had to be at the church to help open the Cafe at 3pm as usual on Saturdays. However, I wasn't aware then that I would be working a 7 1/2 hour shift today!! It was so crazy! It started out like a normal Saturday, where I served in the Cafe for both services. Working went great and the guy who oversees everything in the Cafe, Lex, told me he wants me and one other girl to basically run the Cafe by ourselves at one point! That is such a huge compliment, especially since I've only worked in the Cafe like 3 times! He told me he sees my passion for working there and that I take initiative to do things without being asked, and it was so nice to have the work I did be recognized. I feel so special! AND earlier today he had also complimented me about how I acted at Adopt-a-Block!

Today was definitely a fun, busy, encouraging day. Can't wait for tomorrow!!

These are a few verses that relate to how I felt today. The joy I found in being recognized and encouraged for the work I did makes me want to give that feeling back to others:

^"He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you." -1 Thessalonians 5:10-12

Good night! :)

Lifehouse "Everything" Skit

Upon the Stage - Twentyfourseven

living in the presence.

If you didn't know, there are four teams within 24/7. One is made up of Cadre and the other three are groups of first years, with one Cadre "coach" for each team of first years. Each team except Cadre has a name chosen by the team coach that has a specific meaning. My team is "Coram Deo," meaning "living in the presence of God" in Latin. Boy is that an appropriate name for what we went through today.

In a nutshell, today was a total God day. His presence was unmistakable in everything we did throughout the day.

Yesterday during prayer I basically made a vow to God that I would not give up during workouts anymore. My mom told me once that the most effective diet she ever tried was one where she had to make a vow to God to stick with the plan. NO ONE wants to break a vow made to God! You might as well just pray to be struck by lightning, right? So I figured that would be a great motivator...and I was so right. Today, each time I felt like I couldn't lift any more weight, run even one more step or do one more lunge or bear crawl, I just thought to myself, "I literally can't give up. I made a vow to God that I would not give up, so I just can't." And I got through it! I felt so empowered! God gives us total access to all he has for us, yet we continue to choose not to take what He has to offer! When He offers us wisdom, we settle for what we already know. When He offers us strength, we give up when we could still push harder. When He offers love and companionship, we choose to give into false feelings of loneliness and depression. WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? Why can't we just accept what He has already offered to us?? I'm learning to trust Him and rely on him for everything I need more and more each day.

Then during morning prayer I had such a strong feeling that there was just this ridiculously thick, immoveable cement wall between God and I, blocking me from really hearing from Him. When I was praying, I felt like I was talking to a wall. When I prayed for answers, I heard nothing. I got so discouraged and prayer ended on a sad, frustrated note for me. When Pastor Alex came into the room for class, I expected to sit back and listen to a godly man for an hour and that would be it. I was wrong. Our lesson today was on reading the Bible. Pastor Alex talked about all that God has to offer us through the Word, how to read and study the Bible, and he hammered into our heads over and over the fact that if we do not get into the Word every single day, we are voluntarily separating ourselves from God. I realized that that is exactly what I have been doing. All this time I've been praying for God to really speak to me or to show me what he wants me to do in certain situations, but I'm not doing my part by reading the Bible. God speaks to us most clearly through His Word, so how do we expect to hear Him if we are not constantly reading the Bible? I feel so stupid now! But it's a good thing. :) I can't wait to read the Word more and more until I really start to hear God clearly. It'll be a process, but an amazing, life-altering one.

After a Q&A with Pastor Randy and his wife, Amy, and our lunch break, we met back in the youth auditorium for our next instructions. Class time today was cancelled so that we could work on the dramas we will be performing on outreaches and mission trips. I was a little nervous because the two skits made for the kids required LOTS of exaggerated silliness and the serious one required lots of step memorization and acting talent. We practiced the first two, which are mostly just funny skits for drawing crowds in and entertaining kids, and it was SO FUN! The first was called "If I Were Not Upon a Stage," and was a silly, fast-paced, hilarious teamwork skit. Each person had their own combo speaking/moving part, where the first person would go, then the second and first, then the third, second, and first, and so on. It is seriously the most fun thing EVER. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaATfmhwsv4) The second skit we did was a non-speaking skit called "Catch All," which starts with a line of about seven people with their backs to the crowd. The first person, or Catch All, acts out a normal routine, like yawning or pretending to wash their face, and soon the second person in line faces the crowd and acts out a super-silly "symptom" such as squawking like a chicken or sneezing uncontrollably. Once the second person bumps into the Catch All, that person is "cured' and the Catch All now acts out that symptom. The other people in line one by one act out their symptom, then give it to the Catch All, resulting in a hilarious string of symptoms that the Catch All must act out all at once. (There's not really any good videos of this one online, but it's probably easier to imagine.)

The third skit is silent, very serious and moving. Many people are familiar with the Lifehouse "Everything" skit. I've seen it done more than 15 times and when the right people do it, it is seriously more moving every time. The concept is this: a girl is living the "normal" Christian life, and has a good relationship with God. She is happy with this, but a boyfriend/lover comes in and sweeps her out of God's arms and into his own. (This skit is kind of dance-y, so there are several short dance sequences.) Next, she is grabbing greedily at money, which another character waves around her, just out of reach. Next, she is pressured into drinking by a friend, then pressured into throwing up from a pretty, popular girl. Then she is introduced to cutting herself and ultimately holds a gun to her head, ready to commit suicide. At the last possible moment, she throws the gun to the floor and jumps back toward God, who is now separated from her by all the other characters. She lunges towards Him over and over, being punched and knocked down by the evil characters, but doesn't give up until she ends up back in His arms again. I CRY EVERY TIME!!!

And the best part is: I get to be the main girl. Cadre assigned everyone their parts and they chose me to be the girl! I am excited beyond all belief to be a part of this skit, but so nervous because I've never done anything like this before. It is so awesome that each of us gets to play a part in a skit that will undoubtedly change lives all over the world. Because the concepts are acted out silently, there is no language barrier when we perform it for people who speak foreign languages. This skit contains something for every kind of person at every stage of life. WE ARE GONNA CHANGE LIVES!! I can't wait to start practicing this skit and perform it ASAP.

So yeah, that's basically my day. Totally crazy and hectic, but completely wonderful.

God is SO GOOD. :)

(I'll see if I can post videos of the "Upon a Stage" skit and the "Everything" skit so you guys can see them!)

the highlights.

Wow, haven't posted in a week! Let's see what I can highlight from the last few days:

• Friday night my team destroyed the buffet at Hungry Howies, then went on to our team coach Paul's house to hang out, play basketball, ride his motorcycle around, and listen to stand-up comedy from one of our team members. Awesome night of fun and relaxation.
• Saturday Adopt-a-Block went SO well and twice as many people showed up as last time. My 3 1/2 hour break after outreach was spent being a couch potato, taking the longest shower of my life, and spending an hour and a half on curling my hair just because I could! Church on Saturday night was awesome as usual since I get to work in the cafe for both services.
• Sunday services were great, but the day went downhill once CT started and my team was given the most pointless, frustrating yardwork around the church to work on for 4 hours. Sunday night I had dinner with my home sponsors and Mrs. Ault's parents, and we had home grown/slaughtered chicken! I'm starting to get used to the fact that we eat animals that we just fed and bonded with yesterday... :)
• Monday, my day off, was spent working with my mom and making some extra cash, training for the triathalon at the Y, and hanging out with my home sponsors.
• Tuesday was morning prayer, scripture memory test (2 of my team members failed AGAIN), outreach to USF Sarasota (I got a caricature done by an artist there for free!! It's SO cute! He even drew in my nose ring!!), and Venue at night. Each week our Venue service gets better and better, and I even got the chance to talk with someone I haven't seen since senior year! Tuesday was also the beginning of our 3-day Daniel fast, during which we were only allowed to eat fruit, veggies, and nuts. It may not sound too bad, and fruit is definitely delicious, but that diet radically confuses your body and you constantly feel like you're starving to death.
• Yesterday was day 2 of the Daniel fast, and we all felt a little weaker and more hungry than the previous day. My team started out the day walking around the church at 5:30am (shocker!) for an hour for scripture memory CT. Then during morning prayer with the regular church members I just felt uninspired and exhausted, which made me feel SUPER guilty since it's supposed to be time where you just give back to God and worship Him. I was so tired that I couldn't even let myself close my eyes because I would fall asleep, even if I was standing up! After prayer I was feeling very unhappy with myself, and Justin said he wanted to speak with the whole group. We figured he would tell us to go outside and start running our usual route (Wednesdays are always running days) but instead he told us that workout was cancelled!! We were SO excited, especially since we were so hungry and caught off guard physically because of the fast. Instead of a physical workout, Justin told us we would do a spiritual workout, which turned out to be another hour of prayer and worship. THIS time it went by so quickly, and I was completely encouraged and excited throughout the whole hour and long afterword. It was just what I needed! Then my group had our Venue Prep meeting to work out the kinks from the previous night, and we were dismissed for showers/lunch for THREE AND A HALF HOURS. It was such a ridiculously long break I didn't even know what to do with myself. I forgot what it was like to have that much free time! It was awesome, and then we met back at the church for class time and our First Wednesday duties. Overall great day! :)
• Now, if you think yesterday sounded good, today was AMAZING. We started off with CT at 6:30, and surprisingly my team and I were in great moods and were just excited to hang out together, even if it was freezing outside and we had to be there an hour before everyone else. I actually woke up smiling this morning! I figured that has to be a sign of a great day. After team devotions we started the first of the three games of Ultimate Frisbee! I was terrified of the frisbee once the games started because earlier, during CT, I got nailed in the face by a super-fast frisbee thrown by one of my teammates. It was a total accident but still horrifying and painful. I had a gusher nosebleed all through devotions! But I have to say that I'm lucky that the frisbee hit me right in the septum because it could have hit me a) on the bridge of my nose, leaving a dent or breaking my nose, b) where my nose ring is, possible ripping it out or pushing it through, or c) in the teeth, possibly knocking out teeth or ripping my gums. So those possibilities considered, it was the best possible scenario for getting nailed in the face with a frisbee. :) Ultimate Frisbee was a little confusing at first, but really fun! Then we had class with Pastor Matt, where we debated about divorce and gambling and whether they are sins or not or to what extent they are acceptable. SO INTERESTING!! I had to be on the "gambling is not a sin" side and it was actually really fun. My side won! Then we had ministry time where we help out other people in different ministries in the church. I got to serve in the Cafe and get trained for everything! I now know how to make lattes, cappuccinos, frappes, smoothies, americanos, hot teas, mistos, steamers, caramel macchiatos, and a billion other things! So exciting!! ANDDDDD the best part was that the fast ended at 5 today, and we got to drink the coffees we made during training! I seriously thought I died and went to heaven. So after all that, a personal pizza from Pizza Hut, a Dt. Dr. Pepper, and some TV time with my home sponsors, I have concluded that today completely rocked.

So now I'm going to bed, and hoping that somehow tomorrow will top today. Don't know how that's possible, but you never know!

(And I get to see my AMAZING sister and super-precious neice this weekend! I'm so pumped!!)

:D I love my life!

today was good :)

Today has just been one of those days that you look back on and you're just like, "now that was a great day!" I don't know if anything in particular made it that way, it just was.

We started off at the Lakewood Ranch fields for CT, then football. Everyone kind of gave a half-effort in the beginning, and none of us were really into it. My team lost every game today and it's really weird for us to lose anything, let alone 3 games in a row. The first two games were boring and I never even touched the ball, but after a team huddle we started encouraging each other and we were strangely excited for the total fail that our game against Cadre would be. Sure enough, we lost 104 to 26 (THAT'S how good Cadre plays) but we had so much fun. Even though it was definitely the hardest game, I made a few interceptions, pulled several flags, and dove for the ball, sometimes successfully, and was covered in grass and blood by the end of the game. The oh-so-lovely scab that covered my elbow from my wipe-out in the Cafe on Saturday tore, and I had to play the last half of the game with my arm extended so that I wouldn't get blood all over any white Cadre jerseys. It was awesome! That's the kind of game I love to play.

Then we had class with Pastor Matt which is always incredible. We debated about what a ministry leader would do if a) a student got pregnant while at a youth event/camp, b) your leadership made an inappropriate comment to you, and c) I can't remember. But the debates were great, and Pastor Matt always has so much insight into the godly way to handle things. Then we got to watch another Craig Groeschel video on the Elijah series which was actually done by a guest speaker, Chris Spradlin. It was such an awesome eye-opener to the power of prayer. He talked about the way to pray is with humility, perseverance and expectation and asked us to rate our prayer life on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm realizing more and more how much I need to improve my prayer life. God deserves it!

Then we had ministry time, where we break up into different ministries (hospitality, etc.) and help out the other people who work at the church, and I had a really good, deep conversation with a wonderful woman named Meredith. Yay for new friends!

Now I'm going on the 3rd hour of worship practice, and 3 more hours to go! Nothing like a night full of worshipping God!

I love 24/7 :)

sleepy.

The last time I posted, we were sitting in the youth auditorium waiting for the rest of our team to pass the Code test. We ended up sitting in that room for a total of 6.5 hours! It was brutal, but our team finally did pass right before 10:30pm, so we were just glad to go home.

Saturday we had Adopt-a-Block, where we went to a not-so-fortunate community and served free breakfast, offered free lawn services, evangelized, and had a donation table from which people could take a few things they needed. It was pretty great, but hopefully more people start to gather over the next few weeks.

Weekend services rocked as usual, and then I had Monday off. Luckily, I had the chance to work with my mom and make some extra cash. I also had to go around to 10 businesses and tell them about the Silent Auction we have coming up to raise money for our missions trips. That night I chilled with my home sponsors and we had a really fun time! The 5 of us somehow ended up on the living room floor doing weird yoga positions, headstands, backbends and a bunch of other crazy things for about an hour. Definitely a first for me! :) I love that they're such goofs!

Yesterday we did a full body workout at the Y. We did swimming, arm weights, abs, cycling, and cardio on the elliptical. Then instead of school outreaches to promote Venue that we usually do on Tuesdays, we got to listen to Spencer (a 3rd year) talk about relationships, and it was really inspiring! As someone who has never really had any successful romantic relationships yet, I'm always really interested about how to go about relationships in a way pleasing to God, and Spencer really enlightened us with what he said. Then we had our second ever Venue service and it was completely amazing. We still had around 150 people attend, despite the usual decline in attendance after the exciting first service. God is really moving in the lives of college students and 20-somethings!!

Because two of my teammates failed their scripture memory test on Ephesians 3:16-21, my team along with the other two teams all had to walk around the church for CT at 5:30 this morning. After morning prayer we had Running Day. Today I'm pretty sure we only ran 1.5 miles, but we did indian sprints the whole way, meaning that we run in a single file line and the very last person in line sprints to the front as the whole group runs. When they reach the front, the person who is now the last person in line sprints to the front, and so on. It was SO HARD, but everyone finished! Then Spencer and Tori (cadre girl) had us do about 30 minutes of ab workouts inspired by P90X. Now is class time, so I'm finishing up some work for my online classes and then getting ready for Epic tonight!

I have to say as a side note that I'm pretty impressed at how much information and scripture I've crammed into my brain in just 4 weeks! I not only have The Code memorized, but also Ephesians 5:15-16, Jeremiah 29:11-13, Romans 8:35-39, Ephesians 3:16-21, and Matthew 16:24-28. And it's amazing how your knowledge of scripture comes in handy on a daily basis. Now I have 5 more passages in scripture to use in conversations with others, prayer and when I'm talking to myself to push myself harder.

So all is well and tomorrow I'm excited for Pastor Matt's class, ministry time and worship practice!

Haven't posted in a while, but things have been so crazy.

Tuesday night we had our very first Venue service for college age and 20-somethings. The night was a COMPLETE SUCCESS! We had over 200 people show up, and we're hoping to have at least 150 regulars over the next few days. Everything was awesome, from the worship to Justin's amazing message to the free pizza afterward. :) I can't wait for next week's service when we start working out any little kinks that occurred on Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday my team had to serve CT by meeting an hour early to walk around. That part of the day totally sucked, but the rest of the days were really good. Wednesday we started off at the Y with swimming, elliptical, and ab workouts. Then we had Venue prep for people like me who are on the planning team, and the rest of 24/7 went to school lunches at the local high schools to promote Epic, the youth ministry. After a few hours of online classes we went to Epic, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed myself! My brain wants me to think I wont enjoy the service because it's geared toward high schoolers, but I do love the people there and the worship was phenomenal.

Thursday we met early again for CT and then had team sports day! We played football and I must say I played a million times better than last time. I scored the extra point after one of our touchdowns, caught a pass in the end zone, had an interception, knocked the ball away from a few people's hands, and pulled a bunch of flags. My team even called me MVP of the day, which made me feel SO good since I was so clueless the last time we played. Later we had debates with Pastor Matt and helped set up for weekend services. I even got to talk to my mom for a little while, so that totally made my night! After having stir-fry with my home sponsors, I wrote an essay for our class on "Under Cover" by John Bevere and hit the sheets.

Thankfully, our call time wasn't till 6:30 this morning, which was an hour later than the last two days. We met at the Y, went running and did some cardio and weightlifting. Then we had morning prayer/worship and the day completely took a turn for the better. On Fridays at morning prayer we focus on intercession, praying for the lost and people outside of our own influence. God really spoke to the whole group and we all felt so uplifted after an hour of worship. Then we had an incredible class with Pastor Alex about the meanings and applications of worship and praise, and he totally blew our minds with all the insight he has to offer. Next, Krystle Sommers (anybody know of the bad Burden of a Day? She's the lead singer's wife!) gave her completely heart wrenching, inspiring and thought-provoking testimony. All of the girls and most of the guys were moved beyond belief by her experiences and the revelations God has given her through her circumstances. If the day had totally sucked before that, her testimony still would have cause our attitudes to go through the roof (in a good way). After a few more hours of online classes, Justin announced that we would finally have our test on The Code today. This meant every word had to be correct and every punctuation mark perfect in order for us to pass. Most everyone passed by the second try, but Justin's rule was that since it's team night tonight, each team can leave only when every member has passed the test. You can have as many rewrites as you need but you can't leave until you pass with 5 mistakes or less on the entire thing. So my team, including two exceedingly forgetful members, is still sitting here. We started at 4, it is now past 8, and we will continue to sit here until both of the remaining members pass.

So at least you all know you're having a more productive night than I am. Hopefully I won't grow a beard sitting here waiting for them to finally get it right. Most guys aren't into female facial hair.

:P

the weekend.

I haven't gotten a chance to blog in the last few days, but it really was an awesome weekend!

Saturday my team, Coram Dio, reported to the church a half hour before the other teams because we were assigned to volunteer at the Homeless Breakfast out by Manatee Memorial Hospital, while the other teams did Adopt-a-Block. I was pretty nervous since I haven't had many encounters with homeless people before, but the others who had volunteered there before assured me everything would go smoothly and I would actually like it. Just in case it did get awkward, I made sure I worked the food table, handing out plates, napkins, forks, and a banana to each person. I figured it would be an easy way to greet each person and still avoid any awkward communication because they would be moving through the line. It turned out to be really fun!! Most of the people who came through the line were either surprised and grateful that the food was free or were just happy to see us! Many of them were energetic, asked us how we were, and approached us in conversation instead of the other way around. My team and the other Bayside volunteers did an awesome job walking up to people and just talking to them about simple stuff like the weather, their favorite foods, etc. and the people really responded well. Some people were overwhelmed by the kindness they saw that day, some people acted indifferent, some refused to allow us to pray for them because they don't believe in God, and some people looked and acted no different from us. It was so easy to build relationships with them and they told all of us that they couldn't wait to see us the next time we came by! I found myself thinking on the way home that I can't wait to go back, call the people I met by their names, and meet more people.

We had several hours of free time before we had to be back at the church, so what does everyone want to do? Go to the gym. It's so crazy that I actually want to work out on my days off. So my group and I went to the gym and worked out for a while, then my friend Naomi and I went to my home sponsors' to swim. Church that night went well and Pastor Randy preached an amazing service! And as an added bonus to an already great day, Justin dismissed me early so I could go out for a birthday dinner with my parents. We went to Outback and had the most delicious food I've had in a while. :)

Sunday morning I served in Hospitality for both services. I found out that once the services were over my team and another had to serve Consequence Time by doing yard work around the church. It actually wasn't bad and the weather was perfect for being outside, so besides a few problems we had with the guy directing our work, it was a good, productive few hours. Later that night I went to the Discovery Seminar, where you learn what your motivational gifts are and how they are applied to or displayed through your life. My top gifts are Perceiver, Compassion, and Administrator. The seminar was really interesting and it helped me to understand how I think and react in certain situations.

And today was pretty calm. Got up early to finish some schoolwork due by noon, went to work with my mom, was treated to an awesome lunch at Shake Pit, swam laps at the Y, and now I'm just chilling at my home sponsors'. I am SO grateful for an easy day and the opportunity to go to bed at 6pm if I want! :)

my birthday!

Yesterday was absolutely amazing!

We had just gotten home Wednesday night around 11pm and I was up late unpacking, so the birthday wishes started flowing in as soon as it was past midnight. I literally couldn't fall asleep because my phone kept vibrating with birthday wishes via text and facebook. Luckily, we didn't have to be at the church until 10am, which is our latest arrival time so far. And there was no workout, which was for the best because we were all so dead from hiking a billion miles and then being crammed in a van for an entire day. We started off the day at the church for prayer and worship. This turned out to be really amazing because it really was the first birthday I think I've ever actually taken a chunk of my day out to just thank God for giving me life. It's a sad thing to realize, but I'm still happy that I got the chance to really think about that yesterday. Everyone in 24/7 bombarded me with hugs and birthday wishes over and over again, and I felt so special! :)

When it came time for lunch break, a few Cadre girls asked me if I wanted to go to Subway with them. I was planning on eating there anyway so I agreed, but when I got there it turned out that all of Cadre was there! I was the only first-year, and I have to admit I felt pretty special to be the only newbie to be hanging out with Cadre. One of the girls, Eberly, paid for my lunch and my third-year overseer, Spencer, said I could have soda because it was my birthday, so I took advantage of that. When we were about to leave, the girls I was with wanted to go see one of the 24/7 girls, Leslie, in the hospital. She checked into the emergency room as soon as we got back home on Wednesday night and is still there today. She has a very rare muscular disease that causes her to burn more than 20 times the amount of muscle that a person would normally burn during a workout. So when the amount of muscle burned is normally in the 140's after an average person works out, Leslie's is in the 3,000's! It's so hard to see her go through this but I jumped at the opportunity to go with the Cadre girls to see her in the hospital to encourage her and see how she was doing. Her faith is so strong, she is convinced God is going to heal her from her disease in His time, but for now she's fighting it out. So please keep her in your prayers!

After visiting with Leslie, the Cadre girls and I came back to the church (I was way late but since I was with Cadre I didn't get in trouble!). For the next hour or two we were supposed to have study hall, but about ten minutes into my studying, someone rips my computer from my hands and I find myself being lifted into the air while still on my chair by a bunch of 24/7 guys. Cadre busted into the room screaming the happy birthday song at the top of their lungs and I felt like a queen being carried by her chair legs through the room! It was such a hilarious situation all we could do was just laugh. Then one of the girls presented me with a platter full of little chocolate cupcakes that we all shared. The rest of the day with 24/7 was pretty standard, but it was so awesome.

After worship practice last night, I finally got the chance to meet up with my mom, who I haven't seen since the program started, and talk with her for a little while to catch up on everything that has gone on in the last few weeks. It was SO nice to get to talk to her!!

Then I headed home to my home sponsors', which I thought meant I would just go straight to my room because everyone would be asleep, but I walked in and saw a birthday cake complete with 20 lit candles on the dining room table, and my host family sang me happy birthday!! They even gave me a present! It was a brand new, super nice Starbucks thermos and a bunch of packs of the fabulous Via instant coffee, which I LOVE. And I even got three cards from family members that I got to open. I finally hit the sheets around 11pm after getting to talk to my home sponsors for a while and just joke around and laugh.

I have to say that it was one of my best birthdays because I just felt SO loved by everyone around me for the entire day. Not once did it feel like just another day, and I'm so grateful for everyone I was able to see and talk to yesterday as well as for the 150+ facebook birthday wishes I got. :)

But today I went back to the normal routine. Workout at 6:30am at the Y, class with Pastor Jason, college course time (which I'm currently in), and tonight is Team Time. I'm excited for what my team leader has planned for us tonight!

the trip.

So this will be the very condensed version of my five day trip because it is 11:46 pm and I have been sitting in a van for the last thirteen hours and all I want to do is SLEEP.

Saturday we served in the early service, attended the late service and then met in the volunteer lounge for dinner that Cadre made us. We were told where to put our bags, where to sit on the bus, but not where we were actually going. We drove all through the night, barely sleeping on and off, and were SO ready to be done driving once we saw the signs for Tennessee and finally someone blabbed that they knew we were staying in TN. I was kind of mad that the secret had been blown, but still just excited to be done riding in the van. After a few hours of winding through the mountain roads in TN, Justin randomly turned the van into the steep driveway up to Ocoee White Water Rafting . We were all so confused at why we were at a white water rafting place at 7 am, especially since we were the only people there. No customers, no owners, no employees, nothing. We got out of the van and stood around awkwardly for a while, played a few rounds of "Thumper" and "Ninja" (essential 24/7 games), and waited for direction from Justin. He finally told us that we were in fact going rafting, not just using the parking lot, and we FLIPPED. Rafting was awesome, definitely the best of the three times I've been.

We were given the time to shower, eat lunch, and hang out a little before loading back up into the vans. After another hour or two of driving through the winding roads, Justin made another completely random stop on the side of the road, this time in the grass right next to a bridge. He just turns around and says, "Hey guys, if you want to go cliff diving get changed into your bathing suits and head up there with me in five minutes." I thought he was kidding! I had just fallen asleep and seriously thought he was joking. But a few other girls and I changed into our suits in the other van and headed up the mountain across from the bridge. I think I heard someone say the jump was over 35 feet! It was exhilarating! Most of us had never gone cliff diving before, but it was so impromptu and adventurous that we LOVED it!! I loved it so much that I jumped three times! :)

We then drove to a standard campground and set up our tents. We spent the night playing frisbee, a few more rounds of Thumper and Ninja, roasting hot dogs on the fire, and making s'mores. It was a pretty decent night, as far as camping goes. We woke up at 6:30 the next morning and were shouted at to get the campsite completely packed and cleaned up and be loaded in the vans with our hiking clothes, breakfast, lunch, and filled water bottles in ten minutes. Cadre told us that something had gone wrong with the campsite reservation and we had to be out of there immediately and find a different campsite to stay at for the next night. Discouraged, we rode up in our team sports uniforms to Mount Leconte, wondering what our agenda would be. Obviously, we wouldn't just be hiking because our motto is, "If it was easy, it wouldn't be 24/7." At the base of the mountain we were told that each team would have a cot ( two long poles supporting a long piece of mesh between them) that would hold one teammate at a time, whom we would carry up the entire mountain. Every ten minutes a different teammate would jump onto the cot and the order of teammates riding the cot that we initially picked (heaviest to lightest) had to stay the same for the duration of the hike. So for 5.1 miles, my team and I carried on our shoulders that cot holding one of our teammates. HARDEST THING I'VE EVER DONE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. We were literally crying out in pain by the second half, and even the strongest guys in my group were begging for help from any of us because they were literally too weak to continue. It was an incredible team building exercise, though! The view from the top of the mountain was gorgeous, and the entire hike back down (without the cots, thank the Lord) I couldn't stop thinking, "We carried our teammates up ALL THIS." It was incredible; the hike down seemed to last forever. Apparently it took us all of four hours to reach the top of the mountain, and I'm sure it took at least one hour to get back down.

Driving to what we assumed would be another campsite, the group was still positive but completely exhausted. Justin turned the van up into a steep driveway right off the main road, which I know from my experiences in TN that means there are houses or cabins at the top. Sure enough, we pull up alongside the most gorgeous cabin at the top of the hill, and two older 24/7 girls are standing on the balcony on the second floor. Again, WE FLIPPED. We were crying we were so happy. We had a surge of energy despite our ridiculously difficult hike just hours earlier as we ran screaming through every room of the cabin, shouting things like, "WE CAN SHOWER!", "THERE'S A GAME ROOM AND A MOVIE THEATER!", and "OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!" I don't know if I've ever been so overwhelmed with happiness in my life!!

And what's more: the fridge was filled with SODA. We've been on an all water diet (meaning no soda, juice, etc.) and at the cabin we had all the soda we could ever want and coffee for breakfast!! Emily (Justin's assistant) made us each meal, including lasagna with salad, eggs and cinnamon rolls, and tacos! We spent all our time in the cabin watching football, hanging out in one of the two hot tubs, swimming in the indoor pool, playing in the game room (equipped with air hockey, pool, Galaga, and more), and watching movies in the fully equipped movie theater with at least 15 reclining bucket seats.

Tuesday we hung around Gatlinburg for a few hours, then went back to the cabin to hang out some more. Then Justin told us we were going to have a prayer and worship night and that Cadre would be washing each of the students' feet, just as Jesus washed those of the disciples. Their act of serving us by washing our feet was so humbling and moving, something I've never experienced before. We spent hours in prayer and worship, encouraging each other, singing and journaling, and enjoying the presence of God as we worshipped him in the beautiful cabin He provided us. Lives were changed for sure!!

Then this morning we got to sleep in until 8, and began the day with a Q&A with Justin about things like the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues or prophesying, committing to one church, discernment, and a whole load of other things. Then Justin opened the living room doors as we began our morning of prayer and worship, and if we wanted, we could go out onto the balcony and worship. Some stayed inside, but I couldn't resist going out to the balcony and thanking God for providing such a beautiful cabin, with a view of the rolling hills and trees for miles and miles from where I was standing. We were so sad to have to leave that beautiful place, but excited for what God has in store for us back in Florida!

Now, after the longest drive in the world, we are back at our home sponsors, and I have an 8am wake-up tomorrow. Good night! (Or should I say, good morning!)

And by the way, happy birthday to me! :)

the expedition begins!

Today has been SO great so far! Of course, any day without a workout is a great day.

We started off at the church for morning prayer at 7am, so we got to sleep in a little. Prayer and worship rocked, and we prayed for all of the people affected by the 9/11 attacks. In rememberence of this day nine years ago, the 24/7 students and some Bayside volunteers prepared and packed lunches for about 15 fire and police stations around Manatee County to thank them for their services and to bless their day! Two of my friends and I were assigned the EMS unit off of Manatee Memorial hospital, where we brought four lunches of chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, chips, fruit salad, and water bottles to the team. After getting through several different rooms in the hospital and passing by several very confused doctors, nurses, and security guards, we found the room where the EMS was sitting. Apparently, they had no idea we were coming today, but they accepted the food and even let us bless their lunches for them! My friend Cody who was with me wanted to be in charge of the blessing so that he could sneak some prayers for protection and awareness of the Holy Spirit in there :) It went well, though, and the two members of the team that we met with seemed generally grateful and surprise that a couple of kids drove to personally deliver a homemade lunch for them and thank them for their service.

When we got back to the church, we were immediately dismissed so that we could go back to our host homes and pack for our trip tonight. My instructions were to pack the few items that were on the list we were given two days ago and be ready at the church with my 24/7 weekend clothes and my bags at 3:30. I'm assuming that we'll be serving in the church services tonight, then hitting the road! Wish me luck on my mysterious journey, keep my team and I in your prayers, and I will write again hopefully as soon as we get back! (By the way, I have no idea when that will be, so it could be days before my next post.)

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

day four (part two)

Since my last post the day has absolutely turned into the best day ever! I feel like I'll be saying that every day of this program because the way I am already seeing God moving is blowing my mind!

So to recap what went on this afternoon:

First, we had a debate with Pastor Matt Moore, who is the Fusion (middle school) pastor. What an awesome man of God he is, just as all the other pastors at Bayside are. He broke us up into four teams, each with a different side of a debate which we were to research online, look up in scripture, and use our personal views and beliefs to support. The two debates were "Why speeding is a sin/not a sin" and "Why leaders in the church should/should not be able to drink alcohol". My group was assigned "Why speeding IS a sin" which is SO CRAZY because I was literally just thinking about how I felt about it this morning as I drove to the Y! Weird coincidence or God preparing me for the day? Who knows? ;) We had a blast debating our topics and getting fired up in the moment as well as listening to the other teams trying their hardest to win the debate. At the end we mostly all agreed that both issues have certain boundaries or exceptions for different people or situations, but it was so fun having such heated debates! It was a great way to channel any frustration we've been harboring from our workouts or team times into a positive activity.

Next, we sat through a sort of orientation for A.C.M.E. (stands for "All Children May Enter") which is the children's ministry at Bayside for newborns up till 5th grade. We got to tour all of the ACME classrooms, playroom, special areas, and Pastor Jason even let us slide down the massive slides! :) We totally wished we were all back in elementary school again.

After that was when the awkwardness started. We kept being told we were going to do something at a certain time, then 5 minutes later the activity and time changed. Then 5 minutes after that the time and place changed again. We were all thinking to ourselves two questions: Why isn't anything planned for us right now? And if there aren't any plans for us now, why can't we just go home and chill with our home sponsors? But it turns out that 24/7 has more student-caused drama than I would have expected, so Justin was meeting with the student leaders while he stalled us until he was ready to talk to the whole group. So while we were stalling, Justin played us an AWESOME video sermon from Pastor Craig Groeschel called "The Making of a Man of God" about Elijah. This sermon literally rocked our worlds.

We saw yet another example today of how God works in such mysterious ways. This sermon was an impromptu, random solution to a time issue Justin had, and this was not what was planned for us today. But instead of this afternoon being a wasted hour watching a boring sermon video and discussing the message, we learned so much and were laughing so hard at Pastor Craig's ridiculous analogies and weird facial expressions. The message was about being unconditionally obedient to God's will for your life, going through isolated pain and truly hitting rock bottom, and finding out later that all of the things you've been through have led you to this right place at the right moment for a specific reason. It truly touched everyone watching it, especially two people who broke down into tears because this was the exact message they needed to hear today. God is so amazing!!

In short, the message was from 1 Kings 17 and Elijah was told by God to drop everything and move to a place called the Kerith Ravine, where he would be isolated and suffer. Elijah was nervous but immediately obeyed and though he suffered much, God provided a brook for Elijah to drink from though the land all around him had not seen water for a long time. God commanded the ravens to bring bread and meat to Elijah each morning and each night. This taught Elijah to see that though God didn't give him a year's supply of food or above and beyond what he could want, God DID provide him what he needed each day, day by day. This is how God works! Then the brook dried up and God sent Elijah to live with a widow with a son that she could barely provide for. He commanded the woman to make herself, her son, and Elijah food and promised that her flour and oil would not dry up until the rain fell again and each day she had enough to get through that day, then the next. Suddenly, her only son died and Elijah prayed to the Lord to raise the boy from the dead and He did just that. The main point of this story is that if Elijah had not been so obedient to God, he wouldn't have done all the things he did to lead him to that house where he raised that boy from the dead.

So when it says in James 1:2 "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds", do it! God builds you up, then breaks you down, and the cycle begins again. Each time through the cycle you come out stronger, more faithful, more passionate, more focused on God than you were before. And God's plan will lead you to do amazing things in your life!!

I can only hope that God will show me more and more of these revelations throughout this program and the rest of my life.

The rest of the day went quickly. We met with Justin for a while to address some issues and some changes to our daily routines that will be made permanent....AFTER OUR TRIP.

WE'RE GOING ON A TRIP!! All I know is the temperatures of where we're going so that we can dress accordingly and the items I need to bring, which include a head lamp, weightlifting gloves, a poncho, a sleeping bag, and a couple other sketchy items. We leave sometime Saturday night and I have no clue where we're going or when we'll get back! YAY FOR ADVENTURES!!

But I have to go to sleep now, I have a big weekend ahead of me!

day four.

Last night the Epic Hoedown Throwdown was so awesome! We had over 450 kids come out in their craziest redneck gear to bash an old car and tv, compete to win an iPad, root on the lawnmower racers, and listen to Charles' message. I think one of the things I love the most is not only seeing young people worshipping, but seeing the ones you don't expect worshipping with all their hearts (even in crazy clothes and makeup). I love the Epic kids so much because you look around during worship or prayer and people of different ages, cliques, backgrounds, races, etc. are all coming together for a single purpose: to praise and glorify God. Last night ROCKED!

Today was team sports day...YESSSSS! We played flag football, which I had never really learned how to play before, so it was definitely a learning experience. But after playing each of the other teams (3 games total) I started to figure out what the rules were and how to play the right way, so it was awesome. It was still definitely a workout, but a much different kind than we have been doing every day so I appreciated switching it up. And surprisingly, mostly everyone played with good integrity and sportsmanship (that's what's so nice about playing with all Christian guys and girls: everyone is accountable for their actions and is trying their hardest to play fair).

So now we're getting ready to have class with Pastor Matt Moore. Not exactly sure what to expect but I'm sure his message will be awesome!

3 words to describe me today:

SORE. SORE. SORE.

It's ridiculous just how sore your muscles can get! You have a super intense workout and expect to wake up the next morning with a few aches in pains. Now multiply that by THREE unbelievably intense workouts with no day to rest in between and you get what I'm feeling right now, which is constant aching and soreness in every muscle of my body. The only muscles that weren't hurting when I woke up this morning were my upper abs but today's workouts changed that real quick.

So going back to yesterday, a little recap of what we did was we met at the Y at 6:30 (slept in!) and the girls did laps in the pool for 30 minutes straight with minimum resting. Then we did a 30 minute version of a cycling class, then weightlifting or optional cardio for another 45 minutes. When we were done, we got on the floor in the gym and did a 7-step ab workout twice. Even though every new exercise we do is what I would consider the hardest thing I've ever done, yesterday's workouts were ideal. Super hard, but possible.

Today, on the other hand, we started the morning off with Consequence Time (CT) for people who failed the scripture memory test yesterday. This means we had to meet at the church at 5:30am, an hour before our initial call time, to walk laps around the church for an hour. It wasn't hard, it was just annoying for the people who passed the test and still had to do the CT. Since one person from each team falied, they just made everyone do it. But it was actually fun! The majority of our time was spent watching for falling stars, speaking in horrible british accents, and singing butchered versions of our favorite Disney songs. After morning prayer, we jogged a half-mile to warm up and then did more ab workouts (gag) and did the "plank" position for 2 minutes while they quizzed us on the Code. Then we ran 2 miles and were timed (double gag). I am so horrible at running, I hope we do NOT have to run tomorrow. But overall, today and yesterday's workouts weren't completely horrible! :)

Yesterday we had our leader's meeting for Venue, which is the new college and 20-somethings service that will be held weekly in the youth auditorium every Tuesday, starting September 21st. This is an extremely cool ministry where 24/7 gets to lead rather than serve, so we'll be doing all the tech/sound/lights, creative directing, planning, worship, and other things pertaining to running the service. We went out yesterday to the Sarasota campus of USF to promote the Venue by meeting kids through cornholeing, but there were literally like 7 people on campus and I think all or most of them were teachers so the whole several hours were spent cornholeing by ourselves in the boiling hot sun in dark jeans and T-shirts. But today we had our first 24/7 meeting to plan the Venue and the service is coming together so nicely! It's seriously going to be awesome! :)

So at the moment I am in Volunteer Central at Bayside during our 3 1/2 hour block of time for school. But since 3 other people and I are doing the "sinner's classes" (joke!) we are alone in this room for all that time doing schoolwork, but most of us don't have too much to do so this few hours ROCKS.

All I gotta say is: 2 leather couches, 1 VERY tired 24/7 student. I'm gonna go sleep when I finish my homework for the day so I'm out! :)

the first day

One thing I can say in total confidence about 24/7 is that they do not ease you into anything.

The morning started off with prayer and worship at 6am, which was really enjoyable and put all of us in the right mindset to do the many, MANY physically strenuous activities we did today. Morning prayer ended at 7am, and we were all sent outside to immediately start a timed mile run, so that the leaders could record our time and compare it to the times in the following months. We also were instructed to do as many push-ups as possible in two minutes, then as many sit-ups as possible in two minutes. Our numbers were recorded, and apparently, these tests will be done the first of every month to see how we improve throughout the duration of the program.

After our so-called "warmup" we did a three mile run around the church (6 laps around the entire church) as a group while doing "indian sprints". For those of you who are like me and don't know what indian sprints are, they are when the group runs in a single file line and the person in the very back sprints as fast as they can to the front of the line and the cycle continues for the entire three miles. It was KILLER, and several of us struggled pretty bad, but we all completed the run, so that's something!

Then we were given one hour to go shower and come back to the church dressed in quality but casual attire for a "class", which was basically a Q&A with Justin about anything we didn't understand in the handbook. Later, we were given another hour to get lunch and come back to the church dressed in our team sports uniforms. Little did I know that we would be doing more strenuous activities for twice as long as we just did this morning.

We did several team building exercises, some as a large group, some in our individual teams. The exercises focused on communication, though during most of our activities we weren't allowed to talk, and five push-ups were the consequence for each peep from us. (Thanks to an extremely opinionated and slightly oblivious girl in my group, the whole group did around 50 pushups in addition to the ones we did earlier this morning.) The activities also focused on strategy, teamwork, patience, careful observation, leadership and submission to leaders. But the activities we did in our individual groups were by far the best!

Each team had to complete four different exercises, each timed, and the group with the best combined time would be given some sort of advantage for an event we're doing next week. One activity was the seven of us pushing the 24/7 van a half-mile, and another was a slightly more difficult version of the "the floor is lava" game we all played when we were kids. Another one we did involved jumping, riding piggyback on a teammate, or walking on thin boards to get to checkpoints. The checkpoints were either picnic tables where all of us had to fit on half of one bench (nearly impossible!), or tiny pieces of carpet that all seven of us had to be standing on in order to move on. We did a lot of "snuggling" as we called it, which was extremely close contact and some required groping and pulling on your teammates to stay upright.

But the most amazing activity was our next-to-last one which was four tall, skinny poles arranged to make a square, with a rope tied round it about five feet off the ground. The exercise was for all seven of us to make it out of the square by exiting OVER the rope. This meant that we did a lot of throwing our teammates into the air, jumping or climbing on each other, and three-tiered piggybacks. Somehow we all did it but when there was one teammate left alone inside the square, we all wondered how he would get out. My teammate (who is about my height) literally high-jumped horizontally over the five foot above ground rope and into our arms, making us the fastest team to complete the challenge.

Our combined time was 43 minutes for all four activities, while the other teams finished in 52 and 53 minutes, meaning my team WON and gets the advantage next week!

So, now that I'm basically dead as you could imagine from what I've been through today, I'm studying up on my scripture and 24/7 Code memorization for my test tomorrow, then PASSING OUT. No idea how I'll get out of bed tomorrow when every muscle in my body aches.

And today was only the first day.

in the beginning...

I had QUITE the busy weekend!

To start off, Friday was Orientation. The parents had a Q&A with Justin while the first year students were briefed on what to expect in the coming months. We were given two 24/7 shirts and our team uniforms (24/7 shorts and a underarmor shirt in a specific color). I am on the grey team, which means that my team will be playing against the two other first year teams with red or black shirts and the "Cadre", or leaders, in white shirts when we do team sports. Is it just me or does it sound pretty awesome that within the subgroups of first year students and the Cadre, we will have our own teams for playing sports? I'm so pumped for team sports days! We were given a Student Handbook which basically covers all the rules I outlined in one of my previous entries.

One thing that I was surprised to learn from our handbook was that for every movie we watched (no rated R movies though) we are required to write a paper on the summary of the movie and three spiritual principles discussed in the movie. Guess that means I won't be watching too many movies for the next year!

Saturday was Family Fun Day at the (gorgeous!) clubhouse in Waterlefe. Since the sky decided to open up throughout the entire time frame of the party, the students, parents, and home sponsors mostly stayed inside and got to know each other while munching on Chick-fil-A. Saturday night was my last night to stay with my family before truly moving into my host home.

Then today was my sort of farewell party with my whole family, which gave me a chance to say goodbye to the people that I won't have the fortune to spend as much time with during the next several months as I am used to. The goodbye-ing was much harder than I thought it would be because my family is all so close, in our relationships and in location. I am definitely going to miss my family (immediate and extended) for the duration of 24/7 but this experience will not only teach my to be independent but also to appreciate the closeness of my family even more than I already do. But I can't wait to show my family the woman I will become because of what I will learn from 24/7!

One thing that I thought everyone reading this should know is my weekly Bible verse and monthly quote. I will be required to memorize scripture weekly and an inspirational quote on a monthly basis throughout the duration of 24/7 and I encourage everyone reading this to do it with me! You never know when a passage in the Bible will stick out to you and help you through something you're dealing with.

This week, my verses are Ephesians 5:15-16. "Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

And my monthly quote is from George Washington, focusing on our "God First" theme for the month of September: "My supreme purpose is to please God and to share the light He has given me with others."

Now it's time to turn in, as I have a 5am wake-up call! Tomorrow I will be at morning prayer at Bayside at 6am, then off to the Y to work out with the group for the very first time!!

Keep me in your prayers, everyone! :)

my host home!

I just got back from my first tour of my host home and all I can really say is YAY!

My home sponsors are so awesome and I really feel like I'll be able to fit right in there. Their family reminds me so much of my own and I am so blessed and grateful that they have chosen to open their home to me.

The coolest part about the home is that my room is really its own part of the house. I even have my own entrance! It used to be the garage so it's very spacious and has lots of floor space. And my host family has provided me with a great (big!) bed, lots of shelving and drawers, and even a huge TV with a DVD/VHS player. The only thing missing is a closet which really doesn't matter to me because I don't have much to hang up anyway. I'm pretty low maintenance so one small rack to hang a few things on is all I need. My room also has its own bathroom and is connected to the laundry room which will be so convenient for laundry days. The laundry room connects to the rest of the house so while I am in my own secluded space I am still just a few steps away from hanging with the family. :)

It's not that I didn't expect the house to be great, it's just that I have above and beyond what I could want or need there. It really is so amazing, as is the family I will be living with!! I am so excited to live there for the next 10 months.

The funny thing is that for the last week or so I have been thinking about and making lists of the stuff I'm going to want to bring with me, including storage items, bedding, my own TV, and even a few furniture pieces. But I don't even need any of that. I can move in quickly and easily and spend my extra time turning my room at my own home into less of a black hole of messes and more of a normal teenager's room for when I come back. :P

That's all for tonight but I'm so jazzed!!!

CHA-CHING!

I have the most exciting annoucement to make: (drumroll, please!)

I have now received enough donations to pay the first installment (half of the total cost) for 24/7 tuition!!! Everyone has been telling me that it takes a miracle to raise the $4,000 that is required of 24/7 students, and I have experienced one of those miracles! Former and current 24/7 students as well as the staff members have been saying that I just need to pray, pray, pray and God will somehow miraculously provide the funds needed to be a part of this amazing, life-changing program. Not that I didn't believe them, but having faith that God will provide something for you that you could never obtain on your own is tough! And I don't mean that it's tough to trust God. I mean that it is so difficult to humble yourself enough to admit that you couldn't possibly do this on your own and commit turn over your life completely into His hands and trust that He will come through for you. There's almost always that voice in the back of your mind spreading that seed of doubt, telling you that something will go wrong and He won't fully take care of you. But God amazes me daily, like he did today!

I received an exceedingly, unbelievably generous donation from my Grandma Hall today that marked the halfway point in my saving. I have enough to pay the first installment due in November! Her donation plus several others that were above and beyond what I could have ever imagined that I would receive has sparked a hope in me that this really can be done. God really WILL provide this for me, and He is showing me that daily. If this is what God is willing to do for me when I am constantly falling short of anything that could be considered pleasing to Him, then what is in store for me during 24/7 (and after) when I am encouraged to praise Him, read His word, and serve Him and others every day? I am so excited to see what else he has in store for me and my classmates over the next 10 months and then for the rest of our lives!

All this is to say that I feel so truly blessed and I am so grateful for such generous friends and family that have sacrificed so that I can have this experience in 24/7. I am reminded today of the verse that I hear every weekend at the end of the church service, a verse I've probably heard over 50 times, that never really sunk in until today:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!"- Ephesians 3:20

Praise the lord!

It's almost here!!!

I got an exciting inside look at the rules I'll be following when my homesponsor, Michelle Ault, emailed me the "Homesponsor Handbook". For anyone interested in my weekly schedule, activities I'll be involved in, expectations of me from my homesponsor, and a few other details about 24/7, here you go:

• Most people wonder why I have to live in a host home, when my own home is perfectly fine. You might not understand why I have to leave my family and live with a stranger. But you have to consider the big picture: "24/7 students come from several different states and occasionally from other countries. Many times students coming to 24/7 are far from anything that they would call 'home'. Homesponsors are able to give them a 'home away from home' where they feel safe, secure, and welcome. As a Homesponsor, you will impact your student's life as they impact your family."
• Spending the night away from home: "Students are allowed to spend the night away from their Homesponsor’s house five times a month. The student is responsible for letting their Homesponsor know when they will not be home for the night."
• My homesponsors will be doing random room checks (making sure my room is clean and mess-free) and I am expected to always have a spotless room.
• Athletic activities: "Students participate in a rigorous workout 4 days a week. Activities include: running, weight lifting, an Eco Challenge team adventure race, and an Olympic Triathlon. They are also involved in a competitive intramural sports program weekly."
• Spiritual activities/growth: " Students are involved in a wide-ranging spiritual program that is designed to provide direction for each student. Church services, fasting retreats, scripture memory, Bible studies, personal discipleship, and special conferences are some of the aspects that make up the spiritual program."
• Typical weekly schedule (the times in between are the times I am available):

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 6:30 to 5:30 and 7:30 to 10:00

Wednesday: 6:30 to 4:30 and 5:45 to 9:00

Thursday: 7:30 to 5:00

Friday: 6:30 to 7:00

Saturday: 6:30 to 1:00 and 3:30 to 8:00

Sunday: 7:30 to 1:00

• Typical day schedule:

6:30 Workout

9:30 Prayer

11:00 Class

12:00 Lunch

2:00 Class

4:00 Class

• For once in my life, I'll actually have a curfew! (AHH!):

Monday – Thursday 11:00 p.m.

Friday 12:00 a.m.

Saturday 11:00 p.m.

Sunday 12:00 a.m.

• Weekly requirements:

- Scripture Memory

- Church Services

- Bible Study

- Daily classes

- Physical Fitness Program

- Consequence Time

- Home Sponsor Night

• No dating, intimate/lengthy conversations or private meetings with opposite sex
• Host home duties/expectations:

- Bathroom must be not only tidy but CLEAN at all times, regardless of messes made by other people using the same bathroom. (I will be living with an 11 and 13 year old, yet I will be held responsible for the cleanliness of the bathroom).

-Room must not only tidy but CLEAN at all times (make bed daily/put away all clothes/dust/vacuum/change sheets weekly).

• Weekly scripture passage memorization (there will be a cumulative test right before graduation).

That's all the info I have for now, and I promise I will post more once I get back from Orientation (Sept. 3)!