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!