Catching Up!

Since starting school back in January life has changed quite a bit and sadly this is an area that has gone much neglected.  I have been thinking of my blog here lately and wanted to just catch everyone up on camp camp, school life, and life in general. 

Let me start with camp life first.  This summer we had a wonderful summer with a wonderful staff too.  This is my first summer trying to balance both camp and school life at the same time.  I am happy to say that it worked out as well as it could have.  My classes were focused on challenges that my supervisor Aaron and I had visited about.  My classes were experience based so camp was my classroom.  This summer I focused a lot on how to develop a team and what the best way was to progressively build a team that was productive in meeting camp needs while taking out time to minister to those I worked with spiritually.  I set specific goals and worked on them throughout the summer.  As my goals weren't reached then my mind start thinking almost immediately on how to improve and accomplish my goals.  Some goals were achieved and some didn't work out quite the way I had planned.  The nice thing is that it is always a learning and growing experience.  The Lord is never done with the work He begins. 

At the start of the summer we needed to restructure a bit and with that need a position in the dining hall came open.  I was asked about it and if I would want it.  With summer just starting and definite goals set for the summer I didn't feel like that was the right move for me at that time.  There were a couple of options floating in the air so for a month I watched, prayed, visited with various people in leadership, and then my camp director visited with me.  At the first of the summer I wasn't in a place to switch roles but as the summer progressed and as the options were running out the Lord started working on me as to whether I should go back into food service or remain where I was.  The Lord clearly revealed to me His will by the end of the summer and I started working in the Kitchen full time on August 1st as Assistant Food Service Director.  This has been a wonderful change for me and has helped with my class load as well.  It is strange that it is working that way because I am putting in more hours now then I did before, but I do put in most of my work hours on the weekend and some in the week which leaves more time during the weekdays to work on class work.   There are differences in how Sacramento serves and preps food compared to Ceta so there was more learning to do in the kitchen and that was a big reason for the decision to change. 

As for school life well it is fast and furious and before I know it I think I will be finished.  In the spring I took Introduction to the New Testament and Introduction to the Old Testament.  I was fortunate to have the same online teacher for both classes and I loved it.  With Intro. to the NT being my first class I started out a little slow but by the time I finished off the session I had an A.  I felt that is was a good start after being out of school since high school except for a few certification courses along the way (which all the tests were multiple choice).  Intro. to the OT went so much better I started out strong and stayed strong.  I finished off this class with an A too.  This was so exciting for me because as most of you know I wasn't the most dedicated student in high school so I wasn't sure how this would work out. 

In the summer I did 2 experience based classes as I said earlier which were Developing Dynamic Teams and Organizations as Learning Communities.  This was an interesting balance with summer hitting here at camp and trying to balance 2 classes at the same time.  The Lord was faithful and with little sleep and lots of support from my supervisor I was able to finish off the summer with and A in both classes.  I learned a lot from having camp as my classroom.  When talking with my advisor about my fall classes the Lord was amazing and my advisor worked it out that I got credit for another experience based class that was a Challenge Course class.  Because of my experience and hours that I had on our challenge course my advisor said that I could prove with that information that I was competent in the challenge course so he would see what he could do.  It worked out that I was able to get credit for this class during the summer too. 

Now I am in the fall semester and have just finished session 1 of classes.  I took my first grad online class and I have to say I was very nervous.  I had a new teacher, there was more work, and she only opened up one week at a time which meant I couldn't check out the whole class and go completely bonkers with thinking I couldn't do it.  Looking back I am now thankful that she didn't open all 8 weeks to us because I just focused on one week at a time which was so much better then looking at the whole picture.  My class was Inductive Bible Study.  We learned how to study our Bible based off of Precept Ministries format.  This was life changing for me.  I learned so much about how to study God's Word through observation, interpretation, and application.  I would suggest this form of studying God's Word to anyone and am hoping to either mentor someone on how to study their Bible individually or maybe even start up a small Bible Study group to teach them this method.  We will see what opportunities the Lord opens up.  :)  I finished off this much worried about class with an A!  I was excited and so thankful.  I did a lot of traveling during this class that caused me some concern but my teacher was so helpful and I was able to stay on track with assignments and such. 

On Monday I will be starting my next online class which is Christ in the Old Testament and another experience based class Strategic Thinking.  I am really looking forward to both classes and pray that I am able to handle both with ease.  I do have to say that Christ in the OT isn't as overwhelming as my other classes have been I think that coming off of a grad level class and moving into an undergrad class is helping me with my confidence to be able to tackle it.  I hope I do good still and will work as hard as ever.  :)  At this stage it looks as though I will be finishing up with both degrees May 2015. 

Now on to life in general.  This is a hard one because between camp and classes there isn't much time for anything else.  I was able to make a trip home back in August which was really fun.  I little difficult with online classes already going but it worked out just fine.  In September I went on an Emmaus Walk at the end of the month which was a life changing experience.  I was really challenged to look at myself and if there were changes that needed to be made.  Since returning home the Lord has been working in my life in a way I never would have allowed before.  It is always hard experiencing change but it is always a good thing. 

At the first of October my niece Rachel and nephew Luke accepted the Lord as their Saviour and was baptized.   I am so thankful concerning their decision.  I wish I could have gone to their baptism but I wasn't able to.  I also went to see the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions which a lot of fun.  It wasn't what I expected but still wonderful.  I had a good weekend with my family even though it was a quick trip.  I left Saturday night and got home late Monday night (close to midnight).  I think that is the quickest trip I have ever made.  Other than that I am just trying to catch up on life this week.  I have been working on addressing Christmas cards, getting pictures in them, and will be writing a Christmas letter soon.  I know it is early for Christmas but once classes start it will be busy until December 21st when they end.  This is the best time to work on them.  I am close to completing my Christmas shopping and it will feel good when that is complete.  I try to have it all done by Thanksgiving so that I can take my Christmas to my family then instead of mailing it.  With that being said the current plan is to remain home at Sacramento for Christmas again.  I hope I get snow for Christmas like last year!  :) 

Well I don't know much else I just wanted to catch yall up on life and let you know I am still kicking and doing great.  I pray that this update finds everyone abiding in the Lord and doing wonderful.