Hello Everyone!
I finally found some free time to post an updated blog!
Thank you all for praying for my testimony. It went well, although I ended up crying at the end of it, it went really well. The leader of the day thing went well too. Erin and I got all the cross country skis and poles and shoes set up for our group and we did some practicing in the morning around the camp. In the afternoon, we went into town and skied some trails at the local Speculator park. It was pretty fun, and by then, most of the group had the cross country ski skills. Michael Craven and his son came out with us as well, which was fun as well!
Today we had the last three classes with Craven. He taught on Modernity, Post-Modernism, Consumerism, and Sexual Ethics previously in the week, and today we talked about homosexuality, marriage, and same-sex marriages.
We had our growth group this afternoon, and tonight we are having a small missions night where people will be sharing their stories of going on missions in the past. It should be pretty interesting! Tomorrow is a free day, so I hope to go to Oak Mountain to ski/snowboard during the day, and do some hiking and ice climbing in the afternoon.
Well, more to come in the days ahead! Thanks for your prayers and ongoing support!
In Christ,
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
MONDAY EVENING
Hello LIFT 21 Followers!
It's monday evening right now, and it's been quite a day. It was our first couple classes with our guest speaker, Michael Craven. He is very intelligent, and very sophisticated. Today he spoke about modernity and modernism. Tomorrow we will be looking at Post-Modernism and Idols/Consumerism. I'm excited to see what I can take in from all his teachings.
Tomorrow we all will be going over to Oak Mountain at 6 AM to do our usual hike. Hopefully it will take no more than 35 minutes. It's a very tough climb and it burns your calf muscles, but boy the run down sure is fun and exhilerating!
I took up the responsibility to help on the administrative ends of some of the weekends, doing some data entry and website postings for applications. Hopefully I will be able to serve the office in a huge way by doing this for them, and hopefully a lot of my past administrative skills will be able to shine through! :)
Well, we have a couple more Michael Craven classes tomorrow, and I have my upcoming testimony on Wednesday morning, so please keep that in your prayers. Also, Erin and I will be the Leaders of the Day on Wednesday for our Nordic Ski outing in the afternoon. So if you could, please pray to keep our heads in line that afternoon, and pray for the safety of the group! Thanks!
Well, I hope to go back to Timbers (the guys cabin), and read some of The Great Omission tonight. I'll catch up with all you soon! God bless!
In Christ,
It's monday evening right now, and it's been quite a day. It was our first couple classes with our guest speaker, Michael Craven. He is very intelligent, and very sophisticated. Today he spoke about modernity and modernism. Tomorrow we will be looking at Post-Modernism and Idols/Consumerism. I'm excited to see what I can take in from all his teachings.
Tomorrow we all will be going over to Oak Mountain at 6 AM to do our usual hike. Hopefully it will take no more than 35 minutes. It's a very tough climb and it burns your calf muscles, but boy the run down sure is fun and exhilerating!
I took up the responsibility to help on the administrative ends of some of the weekends, doing some data entry and website postings for applications. Hopefully I will be able to serve the office in a huge way by doing this for them, and hopefully a lot of my past administrative skills will be able to shine through! :)
Well, we have a couple more Michael Craven classes tomorrow, and I have my upcoming testimony on Wednesday morning, so please keep that in your prayers. Also, Erin and I will be the Leaders of the Day on Wednesday for our Nordic Ski outing in the afternoon. So if you could, please pray to keep our heads in line that afternoon, and pray for the safety of the group! Thanks!
Well, I hope to go back to Timbers (the guys cabin), and read some of The Great Omission tonight. I'll catch up with all you soon! God bless!
In Christ,
Friday, January 23, 2009
FRIDAY NIGHT...
Hello everyone!
It has been a little bit since I have updated this. Maybe two days? :)
Well, tonight is when our next group comes in. I am not working this evening. I am working the buffet line tomorrow morning for breakfast, tomorrow lunch, and dinner in the evening. We all have the day off on Sunday.
Yesterday and today, we all had three classes throughout each day, so I think we are all pretty mentally exhausted, and pleased we have a relaxing weekend coming up. There aren't too many kids coming in this weekend, so our activities should be pretty easy, and our clean-ups should be pretty quick.
On Sunday evening our first guest speaker, Michael Craven, will be arriving and will our guest teacher for the week. I am excited to hear him speak and teach. I think this is going to be a great opportunity for all of us to get a lot of information from him, and learn a lot of biblical and cultural information.
My memorization for Sermon on the Mount is going well. I have about 3 out of the 14 cards memorized. I think that's pretty good!
Well, I hope to chill out this evening, listen to some music, and go to the local grocery store called Charlie John's. Should be a good time! I'll keep you all updated as the weekend goes on, and as we go into the next week. Stay tuned!
In Him,
It has been a little bit since I have updated this. Maybe two days? :)
Well, tonight is when our next group comes in. I am not working this evening. I am working the buffet line tomorrow morning for breakfast, tomorrow lunch, and dinner in the evening. We all have the day off on Sunday.
Yesterday and today, we all had three classes throughout each day, so I think we are all pretty mentally exhausted, and pleased we have a relaxing weekend coming up. There aren't too many kids coming in this weekend, so our activities should be pretty easy, and our clean-ups should be pretty quick.
On Sunday evening our first guest speaker, Michael Craven, will be arriving and will our guest teacher for the week. I am excited to hear him speak and teach. I think this is going to be a great opportunity for all of us to get a lot of information from him, and learn a lot of biblical and cultural information.
My memorization for Sermon on the Mount is going well. I have about 3 out of the 14 cards memorized. I think that's pretty good!
Well, I hope to chill out this evening, listen to some music, and go to the local grocery store called Charlie John's. Should be a good time! I'll keep you all updated as the weekend goes on, and as we go into the next week. Stay tuned!
In Him,
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
WEDNESDAY HIKE UP BLUE MOUNTAIN
Hello friends near and far!
What a privledge it is to be writing this to you, letting you know I made it through today's hike just fine! We started out to Blue Mountain this morning at about 9 AM, and got there at about 10:30 AM, and started our snowshoe hike up it. Blue Mountain is signifcantly higher than Oak Mountain, and it took a lot longer to reach the summit. However, there was a really cool fire tower at the top that we got to see, and boy was it cold! It was about 0 - 5 degrees at the top including wind chill.
We hiked back down the mountain and got back down to the vans at about 1:30 PM, and got back to camp at around 3 PM and had a quick debriefing session about the hike, the group, personal growth, and our selected leaders (Tim and Becky) of the day.
Speaking of leaders of the day, Erin and I have been selected to be leaders of the day next Wednesday, when we do some nordic skiing. This will be interesting, only because I have not done a lot of outdoor cross country skiing, so it is both mine and Erin's job to lead the group next Wednesday afternoon as we take to the cross country ski trail. Also Wednesday morning, I will be sharing my testimony before the day, and Erin will be sharing a select bible scripture. So you can be praying for that as well.
This afternoon, I drove my car (oh yeah, it started this morning which was a tremendous blessing!) to the Speculator Auto store and bought (no, not a new car battery) a new headlight because I realized my front headlight wasn't working. So I put that in after I bought the bulb, and drove over to the Speculator Department Store and browsed through their touristy items they had. It was a pretty cool store. Speculator is such a small town, and it seems everyone knows everyone else here. Some people have grown up here in Speculator their whole lives. Incredible!
Well, now I am getting hungry, dinner is right around the corner, and I got much reading to catch up on. I saw that the Hartford Wolfpack will be visiting the Albany River Rats in the end of March! Very exciting! I am seeing if I can get that night off to go and see the game. That would be awesome!
Hope all is well where everyone is! Keep warm! Talk to you all soon!
In Christ,
What a privledge it is to be writing this to you, letting you know I made it through today's hike just fine! We started out to Blue Mountain this morning at about 9 AM, and got there at about 10:30 AM, and started our snowshoe hike up it. Blue Mountain is signifcantly higher than Oak Mountain, and it took a lot longer to reach the summit. However, there was a really cool fire tower at the top that we got to see, and boy was it cold! It was about 0 - 5 degrees at the top including wind chill.
We hiked back down the mountain and got back down to the vans at about 1:30 PM, and got back to camp at around 3 PM and had a quick debriefing session about the hike, the group, personal growth, and our selected leaders (Tim and Becky) of the day.
Speaking of leaders of the day, Erin and I have been selected to be leaders of the day next Wednesday, when we do some nordic skiing. This will be interesting, only because I have not done a lot of outdoor cross country skiing, so it is both mine and Erin's job to lead the group next Wednesday afternoon as we take to the cross country ski trail. Also Wednesday morning, I will be sharing my testimony before the day, and Erin will be sharing a select bible scripture. So you can be praying for that as well.
This afternoon, I drove my car (oh yeah, it started this morning which was a tremendous blessing!) to the Speculator Auto store and bought (no, not a new car battery) a new headlight because I realized my front headlight wasn't working. So I put that in after I bought the bulb, and drove over to the Speculator Department Store and browsed through their touristy items they had. It was a pretty cool store. Speculator is such a small town, and it seems everyone knows everyone else here. Some people have grown up here in Speculator their whole lives. Incredible!
Well, now I am getting hungry, dinner is right around the corner, and I got much reading to catch up on. I saw that the Hartford Wolfpack will be visiting the Albany River Rats in the end of March! Very exciting! I am seeing if I can get that night off to go and see the game. That would be awesome!
Hope all is well where everyone is! Keep warm! Talk to you all soon!
In Christ,
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sabbath Rest
PRAISE GOD! We got a sabbath rest today (TUESDAY) and it was very much needed! :) We got to sleep in a little this morning, and a group of us drove up to Northville to a Country Kitchenett for breakfast. This is after my car did not start twice this morning, so I had to be jump started by two different people. Yeah, that was interesting.
So after breakfast, we started to drive back towards the camp, and we took many scenic roads on the drive, looking for great look out points and views. We found a walking trail that went out onto a frozen lake, and me and 10 other LIFTers went out onto the lake and had a great time playing, racing, and walking in the snow and ice on top of the lake.
When we returned, we found out we missed the inauguration - but congratulations to our new president, Barak Obama!
We changed out of our wet shoes, and pants, and many of us went about our business this afternoon. However, Erin, Kim, Katie, and I thought it would be a great idea to do some ice skating. So we skated for an hour and a half on a covered ice surface that is used as a basketball court in the summer. It was a blast, and another great workout for the legs.
Tomorrow we will be snowshoeing up Blue Mountain late in the morning, and we won't be returning until late in the afternoon. It will be challenging and probably pretty stressful for some, but this group of LIFT students and leaders have really come alongside one another in encouragement and love.
Well, it's about dinner time. But I figured I'd update you all with what I did on my Sabbath Day of Rest! :) Hope you all had a great Tuesday. Must stick my face in the books after din din. Talk to you all soon! God bless!
So after breakfast, we started to drive back towards the camp, and we took many scenic roads on the drive, looking for great look out points and views. We found a walking trail that went out onto a frozen lake, and me and 10 other LIFTers went out onto the lake and had a great time playing, racing, and walking in the snow and ice on top of the lake.
When we returned, we found out we missed the inauguration - but congratulations to our new president, Barak Obama!
We changed out of our wet shoes, and pants, and many of us went about our business this afternoon. However, Erin, Kim, Katie, and I thought it would be a great idea to do some ice skating. So we skated for an hour and a half on a covered ice surface that is used as a basketball court in the summer. It was a blast, and another great workout for the legs.
Tomorrow we will be snowshoeing up Blue Mountain late in the morning, and we won't be returning until late in the afternoon. It will be challenging and probably pretty stressful for some, but this group of LIFT students and leaders have really come alongside one another in encouragement and love.
Well, it's about dinner time. But I figured I'd update you all with what I did on my Sabbath Day of Rest! :) Hope you all had a great Tuesday. Must stick my face in the books after din din. Talk to you all soon! God bless!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday evening...
Hello LIFT followers,
We just finished our last day of servant leadership from the weekend, and we are all pretty tired out. We have a big week ahead of us academically, but praise God, we do have a Sabbath Day of Rest tomorrow! Tonight I'll be working on catching up with my readings - in hope to have some free time tomorrow to explore the area and surrounding areas.
We did our Oak Mountain snowshoe hike today. However it wasn't at 6 AM. It was at 1:30 PM... much better. :) Everyone made it up and down safely. There were actually skiers on the hill today because it was Martin Luther King Day, and they had the ski hill open.
So I just took a dip in the Camp-of-the-Woods swimming pool with my roommate Harim, Chris, Matt, Sarah, and Bri. I'm pretty soaked right now and I am waiting to grab some food for dinner at 5:30 PM. But I figured to update this blog of mine.
I hope everyone is having a great start of their week! I can't believe it's been a week already! Unbelievable! :)
Blessings,
We just finished our last day of servant leadership from the weekend, and we are all pretty tired out. We have a big week ahead of us academically, but praise God, we do have a Sabbath Day of Rest tomorrow! Tonight I'll be working on catching up with my readings - in hope to have some free time tomorrow to explore the area and surrounding areas.
We did our Oak Mountain snowshoe hike today. However it wasn't at 6 AM. It was at 1:30 PM... much better. :) Everyone made it up and down safely. There were actually skiers on the hill today because it was Martin Luther King Day, and they had the ski hill open.
So I just took a dip in the Camp-of-the-Woods swimming pool with my roommate Harim, Chris, Matt, Sarah, and Bri. I'm pretty soaked right now and I am waiting to grab some food for dinner at 5:30 PM. But I figured to update this blog of mine.
I hope everyone is having a great start of their week! I can't believe it's been a week already! Unbelievable! :)
Blessings,
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday Morning
Good morning everyone!
It is Sunday morning, and we are getting ready to go off to church at North Country Bible Fellowship Church here in Speculator. I'm pretty excited to experience this church throughout the semester. We will be visiting two other churches during the semester, a mega church in Albany and a very small church in another town nearby.
This afternoon I plan to do a little recreational rock climbing, some bible memorization, some reading, and maybe some basketball (if the courts are available).
Tomorrow morning, we start our day off with a nice 6 AM snowshoe hike up and down Oak Mountain, a ski mountain that is located about 5 minutes away from Camp-of-the Woods. So that will be a good wake up call for all of us!
Thank you for your ongoing prayers for my challenges academically and physically. I believe things will definitely work themselves out, and I got some more time this weekend to have great fellowship time with other LIFTers, so I am thankful.
We have Sabbath day on Tuesday this coming week (meaning a day off). So I hope to be caught up on the readings and studies so that I may enjoy some recreational activities and some more fellowship time!
It totally snowed this morning, and I also realized I have a front headlight out on my car, but I'll get that fixed soon. Hope to hear from you all soon! Back out into the cold!!! :) Talk to you later!
It is Sunday morning, and we are getting ready to go off to church at North Country Bible Fellowship Church here in Speculator. I'm pretty excited to experience this church throughout the semester. We will be visiting two other churches during the semester, a mega church in Albany and a very small church in another town nearby.
This afternoon I plan to do a little recreational rock climbing, some bible memorization, some reading, and maybe some basketball (if the courts are available).
Tomorrow morning, we start our day off with a nice 6 AM snowshoe hike up and down Oak Mountain, a ski mountain that is located about 5 minutes away from Camp-of-the Woods. So that will be a good wake up call for all of us!
Thank you for your ongoing prayers for my challenges academically and physically. I believe things will definitely work themselves out, and I got some more time this weekend to have great fellowship time with other LIFTers, so I am thankful.
We have Sabbath day on Tuesday this coming week (meaning a day off). So I hope to be caught up on the readings and studies so that I may enjoy some recreational activities and some more fellowship time!
It totally snowed this morning, and I also realized I have a front headlight out on my car, but I'll get that fixed soon. Hope to hear from you all soon! Back out into the cold!!! :) Talk to you later!
Friday, January 16, 2009
NEGATIVE 17 DEGREES!!
Yeah, the title of this blog should pretty much sum it up for the walk to breakfast this morning.
It should warm up on Sunday, hoping to give way for warmer weather for our 6 AM snowshoeing expedition on Monday morning on Oak Mountain.
Today we are continuing to write our support letters, and we start our servant leadership tonight when our weekend conferences and retreats arrive. I'll be rockin' out this weekend in the dish room for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the guests, and I will be helping out at the indoor rock climbing wall tomorrow afternoon.
Hope everyone in CT is keeping it warm for me, and thank you for your prayers and support! More to come in the near future!!!
It should warm up on Sunday, hoping to give way for warmer weather for our 6 AM snowshoeing expedition on Monday morning on Oak Mountain.
Today we are continuing to write our support letters, and we start our servant leadership tonight when our weekend conferences and retreats arrive. I'll be rockin' out this weekend in the dish room for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the guests, and I will be helping out at the indoor rock climbing wall tomorrow afternoon.
Hope everyone in CT is keeping it warm for me, and thank you for your prayers and support! More to come in the near future!!!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Prayer Request
So, it seems this semester will be academically challenging with a lot of reading. I am quite the slow reader, so please pray I keep up to date with all my reading assignments, and I get the most out of each of the readings.
I know the physical requirements, conditioning, and training will be quite the test as well, but please continue to pray that God will give me the energy I need to be obedient to all tasks and challenges that may arise.
Thank you all!
I know the physical requirements, conditioning, and training will be quite the test as well, but please continue to pray that God will give me the energy I need to be obedient to all tasks and challenges that may arise.
Thank you all!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Our Schedule
PS:
To all those who want to follow our weekly schedule and want to keep up with what we are doing everyday, it is constantly posted and updated on the LIFT website, which is:
http://www.liftdiscipleship.org
Thanks again, and blessings to you all!
To all those who want to follow our weekly schedule and want to keep up with what we are doing everyday, it is constantly posted and updated on the LIFT website, which is:
http://www.liftdiscipleship.org
Thanks again, and blessings to you all!
Day 1
Hello LIFT followers!
Wow! What a trip it was up here! It has been quite a day! The trip up was beautiful, and I took some awesome pictures from the car ride, so whenever I can post those, you will be able to see them.
As soon as I arrived, I got introduced to some other LIFT members, and my roommate Harim. I did some introductory rock wall climbing yesterday afternoon, and wow, that is going to tear me into shape throughout the semester!
So apparently, I only get 20 hours worth of computer time for the semester, so I am going to make these blogs as detailed as possible, with as much information as possible!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and donations so far! They mean so much to me.
A lot of orientation stuff was dumped on us last night, and it was pretty overwhelming. I know I will be stretched in so many ways here, challenged in so many ways here, and I will be growing in so many ways here.
The LIFT team here has been great so far, and my fellow students are coming from so many diverse backgrounds, cultures, and countries. I am excited to get to know them more as the semester progresses.
So for the semester, we have to memorize the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew. We will start looking at it today. It is pretty intense, and it looks like a mountain to me, but I know I can get through it, little by litte.
Today, we are off to snowshoe up a ski hill in the afternoon, along with a tour of Camp of the Woods and Speculator. It was snowing this morning (not a surprise up in the mountains of New York!)
Thanks for your prayers, and when I get another free moment - another blog will be coming your way!!!!! Miss you all very much!
Wow! What a trip it was up here! It has been quite a day! The trip up was beautiful, and I took some awesome pictures from the car ride, so whenever I can post those, you will be able to see them.
As soon as I arrived, I got introduced to some other LIFT members, and my roommate Harim. I did some introductory rock wall climbing yesterday afternoon, and wow, that is going to tear me into shape throughout the semester!
So apparently, I only get 20 hours worth of computer time for the semester, so I am going to make these blogs as detailed as possible, with as much information as possible!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and donations so far! They mean so much to me.
A lot of orientation stuff was dumped on us last night, and it was pretty overwhelming. I know I will be stretched in so many ways here, challenged in so many ways here, and I will be growing in so many ways here.
The LIFT team here has been great so far, and my fellow students are coming from so many diverse backgrounds, cultures, and countries. I am excited to get to know them more as the semester progresses.
So for the semester, we have to memorize the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew. We will start looking at it today. It is pretty intense, and it looks like a mountain to me, but I know I can get through it, little by litte.
Today, we are off to snowshoe up a ski hill in the afternoon, along with a tour of Camp of the Woods and Speculator. It was snowing this morning (not a surprise up in the mountains of New York!)
Thanks for your prayers, and when I get another free moment - another blog will be coming your way!!!!! Miss you all very much!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Another way to keep up with us!
Hello LIFT followers!
I just received another link in which you can follow our progress and activities while up in New York and in Brazil:
http://liftdiscipleship.blogspot.com
This will be updated weekly, and will include pictures of the leaders and the students, many of the hikes, outreaches, and activities we will be involved in.
Can't wait to hear from all of you. God bless!
I just received another link in which you can follow our progress and activities while up in New York and in Brazil:
http://liftdiscipleship.blogspot.com
This will be updated weekly, and will include pictures of the leaders and the students, many of the hikes, outreaches, and activities we will be involved in.
Can't wait to hear from all of you. God bless!
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