The Last Week and Christmas Break!

     The last week before break was very busy! On Sunday and Monday I was sick with the flu, and so I didn’t do much other than go to church and go to bed. On Monday, my roommates Allie and Danielle made a great big breakfast for us, I love them! I think it was one of the first times so far we have all eaten together: it’s hard because we are always on the run! Monday night we went to my sister Kilah and Melissa’s birthday party, then we had our apartment Christmas party. Lyn and Kasey made the treats, and got us all stockings to hang by our little Christmas tree. Then we went around to all the girls apartments and sang Christmas carols. It was a great night!

   
     The next few days we were at the church long hours doing mailers, calling cadre members, going to classes, and studying for our exam on Friday every free moment! When it finally came around on Friday, I’m happy to say I think I aced it! Lyn and I then went to Burger King for a little celebration lunch. It was raining hard, but that didn’t stop us from singing in the rain under the safety of her umbrella! We had a Christmas party later that night at Jeanne’s, and said our goodbyes to everyone.
   

     Beth and I were fortunate enough to fly together, so we got to have quite the experience navigating the busy airports of Atlanta and Toronto! When we finally got to Halifax, we were beyond excited. Our families were waiting with balloons, flowers, and my Dad even had a stuffed penguin for me! My two weeks at home consisted of visiting friends and family, doing some pre and post Christmas shopping, and of course, catching up on sleep! I think I napped at least once a day, every day! As I get ready to go back, we head into “busy season” at Master’s. I have yet to fully understand the meaning of that, but I’m sure I’ll blog about it when it happens. Until then, it’s hanging out with my family, and trying to fit all my presents into my two suitcases!

Christmas is Coming

     This past week is honestly a blur in my mind: I’ve been so busy here I can’t tell the days apart! One thing that really stuck out in my mind was chapel this week. I got to sing on the worship team this week, and after that we had the message. Pastor Jordan surprised us big time by buying all of the first years a token, and it was different for everyone. A lot of them were antiques, and I got an antique wooden box with a brick, or “cornerstone” in my case. He wrote a letter to each of us and explained our gift, and what it meant to our lives. I won’t share that on here, but it was really cool to see how we’ve all grown so much in the past nearly three months, and how people notice. It served as a great encouragement and totally strengthened us all before break!
    
     On Saturday we went out in the community to pick up garbage and offer prayer to the neighbours. We got to talk to a lot of people, invite them out to church, and pray with a few of them. It was only 3 degrees outside and I couldn’t stand it, so I don’t know how I’m going to deal with -15 back home! Speaking of home, only five more days until I come home, I’m so excited to see my family and friends! Until then, I have a bunch of projects to work on for the church and an exam on Friday, so I’ll be kept busy right up until I go. Beth and I fly out at lunch time on Saturday: I get home late Saturday night. I’ll see you all on Sunday!

The Week After Break

     Our first night back after break, we met at the church to play dodgeball, family vs. family. I am proud to say that out of all the families in Masters, ours won! It was fun and a great way to finish off break. Go Healers!


     The next few days were pretty busy, and mainly consisted of me preparing for my sermon last Friday. It was my final presentation for verbal communications, and I spoke on Job and how he encountered hard times.


     When I was on stage, my teachers did everything they could to try and distract me, throwing me off on my speaking. They really pushed me this year, and wanted me to truly earn whatever grade I got. So as I'm speaking, this guy sets up 6 black fold up chairs behind me on stage, and as I'm going through a really serious part, he sprints up to them and throws himself into the chairs! He literally dove into them, and they went flying everywhere! Then a bunch of guys grabbed chairs and sat down right behind me on stage, talking and trying to distract me. If that weren't enough, our director and executive director Pastor Jordan and Jeanne Mayo stop by for a few minutes to see how I'm doing! I'm happy to say I didn't let any of these things effect me, and I managed to do really well. I realized how far I've come as a speaker this year: at the beginning I barely wanted to talk, and now I'm preaching from a pulpit! The class really helped me, and it proves to show that if you take a step of faith, God will meet you.
    
     On Sunday I was chosen to work a fundraiser with 9 other Masters students at the Georgia Dome. We were working the NFL Falcons vs. Eagles game, and I got to see the teams warm up from a behind the scenes point of view, it was really cool! Our job was to help fill the sky boxes with snacks and basic supplies, and so it was pretty easy and went really smoothly. However, when we went outside to leave, we realized our cars were towed! We had to wait there an extra 3 hours to get them out, and all of our stuff was in the cars so we were freezing in our white t shirts! Praise God, we managed to get them out and go home not too late.
    

     Today, Heather, Allie, and I went out on our day off to have some fun. We went to Stevi B's pizza buffet, and ate our hearts out. Then we went to Kudzu's, a really cute antique store, and did some Christmas shopping. I am really loving my time here, and I'm learning so much, it's incredible. God has already changed so many area's of my life, and I still have 5 months to go! I'm definitely going to miss this place, but I am ready for Christmas break- I will be home in 12 days! See you all soon!