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)!