FINALly Over.

Today marks the end, and the beginning. The end of my first semester, of my first finals, my first college classes and advisors and teachers and deans, my first time truly having to make [well, most] of my own choices independently. The beginning of a new part of my life, of being with my family, seeing friends at GYC, and eventually, either coming back to school at Weimar or going to the mission field as a student missionary. These 3 and a half months have brought many trials, times where I needed more faith, times where I saw God's love for me, and amazing experiences in which everything worked out for good. One of the hardest times, however, when I needed the most faith, was this past week - finals week. I knew that I would need more faith, more persevering prayer, and more of God working in my life, more than ever. As always, God was there, He was ready to help - but I was distracted, distracted by the worries of the present and questions of the future.
What to do next semester? What questions might be on this final? Oh, I should definitely study that.... What should I do for PAC time? How can I make sure that I have an A in this class - maybe I should talk to the teacher? When am I going to make sure that I have time to pack?

Questions, problems, and annoyances pressured my mind until I felt sure I was going to blow, and it was only Tuesday night. Completely alone in my room, it was a lot easier for me to be depressed, and my big decision about the next six months were really weighing on me. Being a decision-making type of person, at least with big decisions, I always have my plans set and my choices made, and I almost always carry out those plans. But being undecided about such a massively significant decision was taking its toll, and I didn't know what to do. My roommate was also struggling with decisions of her own, and I had no one else I could talk to about it unbiased and in person. Then, I heard the familiar ding of a new email, and began to read. I started to cry, and I couldn't even finish it, because it was exactly what I needed. In fact, I know God was speaking to me through her, saying, "I haven't forgotten about you; in fact, I love you and I am always here for you."
The email was totally unexpected, but definitely planned by God. Right after it, the same friend sent me another email with a quote that exactly applied to me, and helped me remember where my focus needed to be - on the One who could help me solve my dilemma. I am extremely grateful to the Lord for good friends that have prayed for me, encouraged me, and helped me through the hard times. I am still experiencing the dilemma of my decision, but I have peace that He is leading me, and I am praying that wherever He leads me next semester, I will be able to do what He wants me to, and trust Him even more with my decisions.

This Day with God

This morning, I woke up late. Not only that, but I was still tired when I woke up. I tried to read something for my devotions, but I couldn't focus and my eyes kept wanting to close, so I prayed instead, asking God for strength. I should have known better, because any time I do this, I never end up having the best day, but I reasoned with myself that I could come back and read something later, after breakfast, and hurried away.

A little more than halfway through the morning, I was feeling absolutely horrible. I was not comprehending thing in class, making stupid mistakes, and just not having a good time in general. It was then (as it always is) that I remembered I hadn't had my devotions that morning. I crept off in between classes and read from tomorrow's devotional (from This Day with God, November 16). It was such a blessing! God knew exactly what I needed, gave me time to read it, and blessed me with strength for the rest of the day - the strength that I had prayed for! :) Here's what it said:

"We have every encouragement that, if we daily surrender our wills to God, the promise will be fulfilled, 'And of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace' (John 1:16). Every revealing of the grace of Christ in our behalf is for us. We are to reveal His grace in our lives, in thought, word and deed.... Were it not for the power received through Christ, we would have no strength. But Christ has all power.... Here is our power, our comfort. Of ourselves, we have no strength. But He says, 'I am with you alway,' helping you to perform your duty, guiding, comforting, sanctifying, and sustaining you, giving you success in speaking words that will draw the attention of others to Christ, and awaken in their minds the desire to understand the hope and meaning of the truth, turning them from darkness to light and from the power of sin to God. (TDG 329.5)

Fall Colours

Surprise at ARISE Part 2

So this is part two of yesterday's post! :) After we finished eating, we went up to the game room and all played some games together. Here are some shots :)

Melissa Guthrie: future ping pong pro. 

Playing with Shannon, who is another future ping pro :) I am so honoured to take pictures of them before they're famous! :)

Guess who?

...Carmen! :D

This event was so awesome it had TWO photographers :)

Filipinos are good at foosball! :)

At about 10, a group of tired, happy people left for bed. It was a really fun night, and a good chance to have some fun with friends! :) I miss you all, and Victoria, thank you SO MUCH for having a birthday! :)

Surprise at ARISE

Last month, at the beginning of October, Val and Allie had the brilliant idea that Cyrus, Melissa and I should come and visit them at ARISE. We all, of course, loved this idea, but Cyrus had a big test the next weekend, and the weekend after that was a closed weekend at Weimar, and the weekend after that Melissa was busy, and then they had an evangelistic series. So despite the threatening emails, the pleading Skype chat, and our own desire to drive and see everyone, we hit a dead end. 

Then, about a week before the closed weekend, I received an email in my inbox. I had been Bcc'd on an email Matthew sent to the girls' dean at Weimar, asking if Melissa and I could come down for Victoria's birthday! We were surprised and super excited, but we were pretty sure that it wouldn't work out (so we tried not to get our hopes up). Surprisingly, the school said yes! We cheered, we jumped up and down, we packed, we told Cyrus, we cheered again, and on Friday we began the long drive.

8 hours we spent in the car, for our dear friend Tori, and then we finally got there. She came in to see some her ARISE friends holding up a Happy Birthday sign, and then Allie gave her a completely blank card (that we had gotten for her) that said, "The distance between two friends..." on the cover, and then on the inside: "...is never as far as it seems." She was kind of confused, and begin to tear up. "I don't know who I'm supposed to be missing," she said, "but I really miss all of my friends!" Then we walked in, and there was much crying and snapping pictures and recording videos and smiling. It was THE best. Surprising people is my new favourite hobby. :)

Here are some snapshots of the weekend. Sorry for the blurriness in some of the shots, but the memories they capture are worth it. I love and miss you all!

COCONUT cake! Best. Thing. Ever.

This shot is really blurry, but I think it really captures Matthew as his usual self. :)

Tori telling some one on the phone how we had surprised her :)

This pretty much captures why we went - for Victoria, because she is one of our closest friends, and we love her and miss her a lot! Love you Tori! :)

Canvassing

This last summer, I went canvassing again. When most people say canvassing again, they mean for their second summer, perhaps their third. But I was actually going for my fifth summer. That's right, my fifth summer. It was a hard decision to go again, because I wasn't sure if that was what God wanted me to do, and I liked the idea of just staying at home and spending time with my family. God has a much higher calling for each one of us, however. He calls us to do whatever it takes to tell others about Him, to share with them the good news that they've found. :)

Joel reading his birthday card :)

This picture was taken by my good friend Moses :) I thought I should at least include one picture with me in it. lol.

Lol Misa's face is priceless!

Nancy didn't really like the cherry tomatoes. 

Moses and Sheela (she's wearing our class sweatshirt!) :)