Wow...

Like I said above, wow. It's been awhile since I posted. Okay, well, for me at least since I was practically posting twice a day there for a while. Things have picked back up since school has started and DUNES is coming at a not so slow pace. A couple of things I am excited about in the coming months: ABS bible studies for high school, Missions Fest, my birthday, DUNES, my birthday. I'm sure there is more but that will do for now.

In case some of you aren't aware, I am a mentor for the high school group. That means that I (along with a bunch of other folks) have a group of kids that I try to connect with, invest in their lives, have bible study with, and just try to be there for them if they ever have questions or need help or want to hang out. It helps out Ryan and Trina since it would be rather difficult for them to connect with each of the 200++ kids that come out on a Wednesday night. Anyways, we have condensed our 13 teams down to about 4 so that our bible studies can be a bit bigger and have more energy and create what we like to call togetherness and fellowship. I'm excited cause the kids are excited. They share their opinions and make comments, pray and lead worship, and actually want to be there. Let's just say this is a bit different from the bible study that I was part of last semester. It’s so fun to watch these kids take a role and own their bible studies. Mentors aren't here to run things, we are here to encourage the kids to step up and take charge and it’s so wonderful when they do that. You can actually see the Lord working in their lives and their hearts, I'm so glad I get to be a witness to that. We will be going through Hebrews, pretty intense stuff but perfect for the upcoming Missions Fest, and our goal for our time together as a bible study before DUNES is to have three bible studies, a social activity together and a service project. Should be great, I'll keep you updated.

Also, Missions Fest is in a few weeks and Steve Saint is going to be there (and here at church I think) with one of the very guys that killed his father, Nate Saint and 4 other men (including Jim Elliot) in Ecuador 50 years ago. What an amazing and powerful story! That same weekend the movie The End of the Spear will be coming out and I can't wait to see it. If you haven't heard much about this story do some research and make it a point to see the movie. More on this to come.

If you've been reading my blog then you all know about DUNES and as nervous as I am about getting everything ready I am super excited to go and see what it looks like and how it all takes shape. I know the kids look forward to it so it must be pretty fun. I'm sure I'll be posting much more about DUNES so stay tuned.

And last but not least: my birthday. Just in case you all don't remember, and I'm sure you all don't, my birthday is February 17th. Can anyone guess how old I'll be? I was going to tell you but I think I will actually let you guess. It's much more fun that way. And do not worry; I won't be offended by any guesses. I'm a crazy person about my birthday, birthdays in general really. I love having birthday parties, especially surprise parties. And so the count down begins: 38 days till my birthday (incidentally, it is also 38 days till DUNES, yikes; but at least this way I'll remember).

Well, I hope everyone has a great day! Hopefully I'll blog again soon! Love you all!