Ya, so I never finished updating that xanga entry.  Oh well.  I don't really feel like doing it now either.  School is back in full swing, and with it, a lifetime supply of reading.  Ya, somehow I'm going to fit a lifetime supply of reading into one semester.  I really love my classes this semester.  I find them all very interesting, so it's pretty nice.  And the thought of going to school and than work pretty much from 8 or 9 to 5 every day really scared me at first, but I actually really like it.  It's a good schedule.  And I have lunches every day.  Yay!  And the weather the last couple of days has been amazing!  I love gloomy days after we've had heat for a long time.  It's so nice and refreshing and there's already a hint of that special autumn smell in the air.  I love it!  I'm so thankful God gave us a variety of seasons.  Yes!  I said seasons!  Even in sunny Southern California! 

This year is already very different from the other years at Master's.  I'm not on S.L.S. this year and that makes a big difference because I don't know all the girls on my wing very well yet.  It will take more effort, but that can be a good thing.  Also, a lot of my friends either graduated or are living off-campus.  So school has a younger feel to it.  A lot of people have been mistaking me as the younger sister between Emily and me.  When I'm with her and one of her friends that hasn't met me yet I get a "are you a freshman?"  And then I'm like, "no, actually I'm a senior, ya this is my younger sister."  Hey, I should be thankful for it, one day I'm sure I'll like hearing that. 

Bible study was so good on Thursday.  Jesse was talking about how it's wrong for us to want to serve in order to receive attention.  It's so easy to do. He talked about how for us at Master's it's easy for us to want to do S.L.S. so that our R.D. or somebody else will notice us.  I know I struggled with that a lot, but even now, not being on S.L.S. it's easy for me to think, "O.K. I'm going to serve even though I don't have to and maybe someone will notice."  Ugh!  How disgusting my sin is!  Besides, all Christian's should be serving, we all in a sense have to.  Jesse was talking about how we should strive to be like Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve, and He didn't do it to draw attention to Himself, He washed the disciples feet behind a closed door.  We should want to be like Him and seek to serve Him in humility.  Boy, did I need to hear this! 

Well, I was going to write about something else too but now I can't remember it.  Oh well.  I hope everyone has a good week!

So, it's been all summer and I haven't updated this thing.  I think it's about time. 

I just got back from my mission's trip Monday night, and let me tell ya, it was, I am pretty sure, the best trip I have been on in my life.  We went to Barcelona, Marseilles, and Geneva; all beautiful cities.  Not only that but our team got along so well, and the missionaries were wonderful!  They feel like family and we only spent 2 to 3 weeks with them. 

The main focus of our trip was our time in Spain.  Two missionary families from my church, the Glass' and the Anthony's, are in France with a mission's organization called TEAM.  Well, they had their missionary conference in Barcelona this year and our team that went over was in charge of the Vacation Bible School for their kids.  We were there for a little over a week and it went great.  The ministry was a tad different than what we anticipated.  Being missionary kids we expected our time to more of encouraging these kids in their sanctification.  But it seemed like it was more evangelistic instead.  A lot of these kids didn't really show fruit of salvation, and so hopefully God will really use the Vacation Bible school to save some of them.  We went through heroes of the Bible.  In the mornings we just told them the story, and in the evening the guys taught a practical message on how they could apply these examples to their own lives.  Even if the kids didn't get anything out of it, I sure did.

I will continue to update this when I get home.  Now I have to work.

There are three more weeks of school left.  Frankly, I'm a bit perplexed as to how I am going to get all my homework done and turned in, but somehow, it always gets done, so I'm counting on history to repeat itself.  This has been a good week.  I feel like I've been learning a lot.  Last night I could not sleep.  I have had a good case of the common cold and so I took some excedrin for a headache and sudafed for the nasal congestion and I guess the mixture kept me from sleep.  Anyway, I sat up reading until two, and than just lay there in the dark for about an hour.  There's not much to do when you can't sleep but think.  Sometimes, (not often enough) I just think about how God is infinite.  I mean, nothing can contain Him.  I can't even begin to imagine what that really means.  All I know is that when I think about that, it makes me feel very small and it puts me in awe of the fact that the God of the universe sent His Son to die for insignificant me.  And now Jesus calls me friend!  It's so easy for me to get caught up in the worries of this life, and Jesus tells us not to do that.  We are to acknowledge Him in all our ways.  Psalm 1 has really encouraged me the last couple of days, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers."  Later on it says, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous."  What rich promises!  Being sick has been good, it's always good for me to remember that I am weak, and God is my strength!  A good reminder as the end of the year comes upon us. 

Wow.  It has been a long time since I have updated this thing.  I must say that a lot lately.  Must either mean that I haven't had a lot to say, or I've been busy.  Or both.  The school year is drawing to a close and it's really crazy!  Next year I'll be a senior in college.  It sounded weird enough to say that I was going to be a senior in high school.  And now I found out that I'll most likely graduate at the same place, College of the Canyons.  That will be a little weird.  This year has been really good.  Everyone told me freshman year that every year gets better and I really didn't believe them, but it's really true.  But this makes sense because every year we grow in our relationship with the Lord, and as a result, every year should be better than the one before. 

On another note, it can be frustrating to see certain sins in my life that I would have thought I wouldn't struggle with much anyomore like sharing.  (How's that for a run-on sentence?)  Sharing sounds like something I should have learned in third grade, but it can still be a struggle.  It's interesting too how hard it can be to apologize for something.  My pride rears its ugly, disgusting head in these situations, but you can learn so much from them.  I think it must be a bit easier to share the next time because you realize how ridiculous it was that you didn't before.  My good friend was reminding me yesterday that when we share and give things to someone it is as if we were giving to Christ.  Because He says something along the lines of, what you have done for the least of these you have really done it for Me.  I think that's what hit me hardest as I struggled with this.  To realize that I had been witholding something from Christ who has given His life for me.  How ridiculous it is to look at any sin as small!  All sin is first and foremost against the LORD. 

On Saturday we had the Volleyball tournament to raise money for missions.  It was so much fun.  I always like the volleyball tourament because I feel like I get to know people from my Bible study better.  I guess because it's an all day thing, and we have to play as a team.  I know that may sound corny, but I think you always get to know people better when you work as a team.  It was even more fun this year because I am actually going on a missions trip.  I'm going on the Spain trip.  We are going to Barcelona and then Marseilles and Geneva in France.  I can't wait.  The only thing is that I like to travel and its easy for me to get really excited about the actual trip part, but I also want to be praying for the work we will get to do over there.  It will be a wonderful opportunity to serve the missionaries and have the chance to tell others about the Lord.  So, ya, that is life in a nutshell right now. 

Everyone stay focused in the last month of school!

Well, I have a slight break from work, so I guess I'll update the ol' xanga.  It has been awhile.  Today was a good day, well it's not over yet but so far it's been a good day.  This morning I was able to sleep in...mmmm....nice, than my sister and I went to breakfast at Panera Bread.  She paid.  She said it was my Valentin'es Day present.  :0)  I had P.E. for Elementary Teachers (one of the easiest classes in the world.)  Then I ate lunch with Kim Troxell who I have barely been able to talk to at all this semester even though she lives across the hall and one room down from me!  And now I'm at work and our boss got all of us girls a rose. 

Valentine's Day went well yesterday too.  I went to Elizabeth's apartment, and we watched a movie called "The Skulls."  Kind of an interesting movie to watch on Valentine's Day.  It was good though, well...it was suspenseful (sp?) and I like those kind of movies.  It seems like something else nice happened yesterday but now I can't think of what it was.  Oh well. 

This weekend is the Resolved conference.  Yay!  I'm looking forward to it!