A fantastic day... with pictures!!

Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend.
Tampa Underground-- Church and baptisms on the beach
BBQ with the fam (no pictures though)
Movie night-- at our apartment in Tampa
Midnight IHOP!

Part I: Church on the beach!

Theresa's 2-year-old nephew took this picture!

"Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior?"

*dunk*

Smiles from everyone. :)

Newly baptized: Gus, Jeremy, Josh H, and me!

Soak up some rays!!

Part II: "Stop being indecisive and just pick a movie!!"

Luis makes awesome faces.

The movie of choice in the bg (Little Miss Sunshine)

Juan likes my keyboard!

"No pictures..."

"Okay, you win, you win!!"

I heart Nadia!!

Interlude: Prank calls to our friends who didn't come!!
(One of our favorite pastimes!!)

"I'm calling to confirm your nose-hair braiding appointment at 3pm tomorrow..."

???

Searching for more numbers...

Part III: "We're young and hip, let's go out!!"

Nadia and Nadette's first time at IHOP!

How about... RAWBERRY!!!

"That's why you fell in love with him, isn't it Robin?"
"Yep, girls love guys with skills!"

Scientist.

Reflections...

(This might be a little long. But it is an awesome example of God's great power, and also His great love!)

The highlight of Chapter Camp this year:
Josh.

Josh was Ryan's roommate in the dorms this school year. He was curious about God, he liked Jesus, but he was never ready to truly give his life to God. He was afraid. He didn't want to lose control. So many times, he came SO close... and then ran away from God once again.

We really wanted him to come to Chapter Camp, so he could have some space to truly consider God without distraction. We wanted him to come so badly, that Jeremy was able to find a donor to give him a full scholarship! (A huge THANK YOU goes out to that person, whoever you are!!)

So we arrived at Chapter Camp. Josh immediately became sick. Literally, he came down with some bug and was throwing up with a fever. I felt really bad for him. We all did. And the worst thing was, he was missing out on camp. He missed the first two days!! And the part that sucked the MOST of all: He missed the extended prayer/worship night. He missed a powerful talk on how God is the perfect father, and not the same as our earthly fathers. Some people have broken relationships with their fathers, so to call God a father... well, it doesn't really mean much if a person's only experience with a father is being let down by one. But God is the perfect father who loves you and never lets you down... and someone who needed to hear this message so badly was sick and asleep in his bed. Josh has some issues with his family, and issues with trusting God. We knew he would have been really moved by the talk.

That night, a student from UCF decided to give his life to Jesus. We knew exactly what had happened, because all the students began crowding around this one kid in the middle, and praying. Then, suddenly, they all burst into applause, and everyone started hugging. It was a beautiful sight, but at the same time, my heart broke for Josh. I felt so defeated. The song we were singing right then was called "You Overcame."

Savior, worthy of honor and glory,
Worthy of all our praise,
You overcame.
Jesus, awesome in power forever,
Awesome and great is Your name,
You overcame.

As I was singing, I began praying so so hard for Josh. I prayed that God would overcome all the obstacles that were in Josh's path. His sickness, his doubts, his fears... everything. I prayed with such desperation... which is kind of funny, because when I Googled those lyrics, the results said the song was by Desperation Band. Weird.

Fast forward to the next day. Josh was finally feeling better, and was able to fully participate in camp. That evening, the talk was about things that hold us back from trusting God. It was good, and when it was about over, Stacy came up on stage to close us out for the night, but as she started talking, she paused. She then said that she didn't want to rush us out if the Lord was moving in us, and she asked us to just spend a few minutes praying, and if anyone needed someone to talk to, find someone and pray together.

Ryan was immediately called away when Greg asked him to pray. This left me sitting by Josh. I looked at him, he looked at me. He mumbled, "I need to do this." I said, "Do what, Josh?" He looked nervous. He said, "I need to put a stone in the water." (In part of the room, there was a cross, and in front of it was chalk, stones, and a bowl of water... if you wanted to, you could write something on a stone and put it in the water, washing the stone clean as a symbol of what you are giving up to God.) I said "Okay, well let's go!" And we walked up to the cross.

He sat on the ground. He wrote "CONTROL" on a stone, and sat there with it in his hand. He looked so nervous. I asked if I could pray for him, and he said okay. I don't even know what I prayed. I was internally freaking out. I was terrified. I had a feeling what was happening, and I didn't want to mess it up. We prayed, and he dropped the stone, and a huge smile came over his face. He told me he felt so happy. He felt so relieved. He had been so scared of giving control of his life to God, but now a weight felt as if it had been lifted off his shoulders. I said "What does this mean Josh? Are you ready do do this, for real?" He said "No... I need to forgive my mom..." I told him that he doesn't need to become perfect before he comes to God. In fact, God could help him have compassion and forgiveness for his mom. He smiled again, I think he started laughing even, and crying too.

At this point, Ryan came over. The three of us talked. Mostly Ryan and Josh, I was too scared to say anything. And I think that was "the moment," when he truly decided to follow Jesus. I wasn't sure what was happening. But then Jeremy came over, and started praying. Then Josh H. came, and then Gus, and Jordan, and Heather, and Theresa, and more and more, and we were all crowding around him, and Jeremy was praying and we all had our hands on Josh and each other. And then we started clapping, and then we all began to hug Josh and each other... and I started crying. Just the night before, I was so desperate for Josh to come to the Lord... and 24 hours later, it happened right in front of my eyes, just as I had hoped. It was beautiful. I was so blown away! I can't even begin to describe it.

God is amazing. He is so faithful, and He overcame!! I come from a family of non-Christians, and a lot of my friends don't follow Jesus either. Sometimes I lose hope, and I fear that they will never know God. But then Josh... the first time a person who I knew and cared about decided to follow Jesus. And the fact that I was able to play some small part in God's plan... I am so honored and so thankful. Thank you.

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made US alive with Christ!! (from Ephesians 2)

I am still amazed. More to come soon.

P.S.

Spanish I...................................................A
Public Health/Pathogenic Micro................A
Cell Biology...............................................A
Cell Bio Lab...............................................A+

Amazing. I did not think that was possible. Had to have been God...

I'm home...

Back from Georgia. Chapter camp was amazing. See Facebook for pics.

I have a lot I could share about the week spent with friends and God, but not right now.

I do, however, want to share that last night my brother went to prom. He looked flipping amazing, and his date was the prom queen. Prom queen!! After prom, they were gonna go to a party, but then changed their minds and went to IHOP with friends. He was home at 2:30.

I was kind of worried for him, 'cause I know some people have crazy prom nights. But my worrying was for nothing. He had a lot of fun, and still came home safe. What an awesome kid.

:)

2 parties, 1 day... must be graduation season!!

So today was fun... parties are nice. I'm gonna miss all the graduates tho... *sigh* ah well, one of the things I've gotten better at since coming to college is dealing with change. I mean, come on, I've moved AT LEAST once a year for the past 3 years... I lived in the same house my ENTIRE life, and then during the past three years I have lived in 5 different places. Meanwhile, apart from a core group of friends, people in my life come and go every semester. It can get hectic, but InterVarsity has been a nice bit of stability in all that insanity. Now some of the IV people are leaving too, though. However, I've learned that though things change, life still goes on... never exactly the same as before, but still just as wonderful.

Today was really fun though. First was Tianay's party in the afternoon at Lettuce Lake Park, which is actually a pretty cool place. I've never been there, even though it's just down the street from USF. But there's these nifty boardwalk paths that go all through the swampy area and everything, it's pretty cool. We all saw some alligators, ate some delicious food, and had a good time just hanging out with each other.

Then after a quick trip to Target and a stop back at home, we were off to Lauren's party! It was pretty sweet, we had an awesome dance party at the Telford House. Trina had her iPod hooked up to the TV's sound system, and we were breakin' it down to some old school awesomeness (my favorite might have been "Creep" by TLC... haha!). It was a really good time, I was dancing (and sweating) sooooo much, lol. We opened the windows and the front door, and you could hear the music playing and bass thumping aaaaalll down 22nd Ave. Good times. :)

I left kinda early though 'cause my stomach is really hurting for some reason. I dunno. I still need to pack, but the thought of standing right now is not fun. I can't really stand up straight at the moment. Maybe I can pack sitting down or something... it would be nice to get it over with so I can sleep in a little...

Anyway. We leave for Chapter Camp from the MC parking lot at 8:30 in the a.m. tomorrow, and I'll be up on a mountain in Jasper, GA until Friday night. Have a wonderful week, and hopefully I will do the same!! Peace.

What's yours??

This personality test was surprisingly accurate... take it, and let me know if it matches you too!

http://www.41q.com/index.41q?a=1

My results:

Your personality type:

Quietly forceful, original and sensitive. Tend to stick to things until they are done. Extremely intuitive about people and concerned for their feelings. Well-developed value systems which they strictly adhere to. Well-respected for their perserverence in doing the right thing. Likely to be individualistic, rather than leading or following.

Careers that could fit you includes:

Counselors, clergy, missionaries, teachers, medical doctors, dentists, chiropractors, psychologists, psychiatrists, writers, musicians, artists, psychics, photographers, child care workers, education consultants, librarians, marketeers, scientists, social workers.

(how weird, my 3 favorite potential careers are there too!! and they're a pretty random mix, that's saying something!)

Loner for the evening...

So I'm chilling at home for the night, which is cool I guess. My friends are heading to a little party, but I've been up since 6:50 this morning (took my car in to the shop at 7:30, ew!) and I just feel like staying home. Plus, they're playing beer pong, and it gets REALLY boring really fast if you don't play (like me).

It's been a super good day though. My car is fixed, I had some time to lay out by the pool, we had a little barbecue at Nelson's (the kid grilled half-pound burgers!! literally!!), and OH YEAH, exams are over!! Been over since yesterday, actually! :) So now I can just focus on getting ready for Chapter Camp! We went to Wal-Mart tonight, I had to get some flip-flops for the shower and ended up spending like $30 on all this random stuff... go figure. That's Wal-Mart for ya. *sigh*

But yeah, Chapter Camp should be awesome. I can't wait to see some of my buddies from UF, since they'll be there the same week as us, along with USF St. Pete and SPC (I think)! Plus like 10 other universities, but I don't know anyone from those... lol. I'm excited about doing the Leadership track this year, too. (At Chapter Camp, you choose a topic that interests you, and some of your time is spent in that "track" learning about whatever it is and being trained in that area.) Last year, I did Small Group Leaders, which was really good and helpful because I ended up actually leading a small group Bible study this year, but only 5 USF people were in that one. However, there were about 20 USF-ers in Leadership. lol. I think we have 50 kids going this year, and I can't wait. It's definitely gonna be great to spend some quality time with God, the free time is awesome for getting to know USF people that I don't know very well yet, and it is BEAUTIFUL up in the mountains!! However, I'm NOT super excited about driving 8-9 hours to Jasper, GA and then driving poor little Matilda (my Honda Civic) up a mountain, but she did it last year, so hopefully she can make the trek again with no problems. Gas is gonna kill, though... I think it will cost about $120 there and back! Yikes.

Anyway. I'm just rambling. I'm so relieved the semester is over, though. It was getting pretty crazy, but now I suddenly feel like I have all the time in the world. It's so refreshing, because during the entire semester, my exams were spaced out just right so that at any given time, there was always SOMETHING I should have been studying for, and I never felt like I could truly relax. It's really nice to have a chance for my brain to rest a little, though.

Life is lovely... <3