Happy New Year! It has been way too long since I last updated, so let me start off by catching you up on the last couple of weeks of the first semester. The first weekend in December was FBC’s Winter Retreat which I got the opportunity to serve at. I had the pleasure of being a leader for a group of sophomore girls, some I had known for a long time, others I just met, but by the end of the weekend I had grown to love each and every one of them so much. It was so cool to see the way that God was working in the lives of so many people there, but especially in the girls I got to be with. There is so much pain and suffering in this world, but how cool is it to see God’s victory in it all. God is so good and nothing will change that because God is unchangeable! I could go on for a long time about the things that happened that weekend, but since I have so much other stuff to update on, I won’t. When I got back to the Institute we spent the week studying the Prophets. The next week we went in depth with the book of Daniel with Debbie Jo White. So cool! It was neat to see the history in Daniel but to also see the plan for the future when Jesus will come again. One thing that Debbie Jo said that really stuck out to me was that if God had so much detail and was so exact when dealing with prophecy and the end times, then He has that detailed of a plan for our own lives. That last Thursday we studied the book of Ephesians and it was a great day. It really spurred a talk on community and what Biblical community looks like. Friday we had Precepts in the morning which was just a great time of prayer and fellowship and building community. After Precepts we had Timothy group and then we all went out to Silver Dollar City for the rest of the day, what a blessing. I had such a great time enjoying the Christmas spirit and good times with friends. Saturday night we had our Christmas party at the Carters’ house. The Carters were a huge blessing in letting us invade their house for the night. It was another great night of fellowship and when we left it was snowing which was exciting! Sunday was another great day. I headed to church for the morning and had an amazing time with the kiddos and spending time learning about my Lord and Savior. Sunday evening I went and saw Narnia with a few people and then we met a huge group of KI people at Danna’s BBQ for dinner, after that we all came back and just hung out.
Monday, December 13th, started my Christmas break. Monday I headed up to Kirksville to see some college friends. It was great getting to catch up with some good friends, but it was weird being back up in Kirksville without our whole little group up there. It was also fun to have snow since we hadn’t gotten more than a little dusting in Branson. Wednesday afternoon I headed back home so that I could make it home before the bad weather came. Thursday and Friday, I was up at church a lot helping Josh get the new stuff in the youth room set up, we also got to test out all the new stuff, like the Wii and the pool table, so that was fun. Saturday night was the Choir Cantata at church, what a great night of good music and a great message of God’s greatest gift, His Son who came, lived, died, and rose so that we may have forgiveness and eternal life. It was so great to see my FBC church family whom I hadn’t seen in a long time and to see some other great friends and supporters. After the Cantata we headed over to Grammy and Granddaddy’s to celebrate Grammy’s birthday. Every year on her birthday, the family goes over and decorates their Christmas tree, eats ice cream cake, and then Grammy opens her presents. Sunday evening I got to spend a great time with family celebrating Sarah’s birthday. After Sarah’s birthday party, Aly and I headed up to church for the youth group Christmas party which was a great time. I loved getting to see all of the youth group kids, especially the girls who were in my group at Winter Retreat. I have grown to love those girls so much and so it was great to get to hang out with them again. Monday I went ice skating with the youth group out at Forest Park. We had so much fun together – reliving some of the great moments of our ice skating trip last year as well as making great new memories! After ice skating we all went out for pizza which is always an interesting time.
After some great time at home, it was time for some more traveling. Tuesday, Aly and I went and picked Grandma up and then headed down to Little Rock for a couple of days. Such a great time with family! We got there Tuesday evening and got settled and then everyone came over for a great dinner, Uncle Jeff makes the best brisket I have ever had in my life! It was also just a great time of hanging out and catching up with family. I got to meet some of my cousins’ significant others for the first time which was fun. Wednesday I had breakfast with Aly, Grandma, and Aunt Bev where we had some great conversation. That time was so precious to me and might be my favorite part of my time in Arkansas, even though it was all good. Around lunch time, once we had all gotten ready, the four of us and Leah met up with Aunt Ginny and Aunt Sheryl and had a fun little girls shopping trip. That night we went to church where we had chili for dinner and then had an Advent service. After church we headed back to the Sanders’ house and played some games. You have to love the competitive nature of the Wagner family – it makes for some interesting game nights. Thursday morning we had a great breakfast cooked by Aunt Bev and then we just hung out until the Wagners came over so that Aly and I could say goodbye before we had to leave. Aunt Bev also spoiled us and baked us cookies Thursday morning so we would have some snacks for the ride home. So Aly and I drove back home Thursday afternoon which was an adventure because Gypsy (our GPS – yes, Mom named our GPS) took us places we had never been before, but we finally made it back.
The rest of my break was spent at home which was great. Christmas Eve was spent cleaning and cooking and playing games and dinner with family and then probably the best Christmas Eve service I have ever been to. I have never heard the Gospel preached so boldly and plainly at a Christmas Eve service. Christmas was another great day – great time with family as well as celebrating all that God has done for us. This Christmas was even more special because we got to celebrate Ryan and Aly’s engagement with them. I could not be happier for my sister, Ryan is a great man of God and I have never seen Aly as happy as she is now. This break was a lot of time spent with family and it was a huge blessing to me, but as much as I loved getting to spend time with my family, I’m so excited to be back in Branson with my KI family.
This semester our big project is our belief statements. Each week we have a different section of our belief statements that we will work on and then at the end of the semester we will go before a panel and defend what we believe. It’s a little overwhelming, but I know it will be a great time of searching and discovering what I believe for myself rather than just what I’ve been taught. I’m excited to see what God will teach me through the classes this semester as well as our Bible study on James and through my internship. This week we are studying the Trinity and Dr. Kreider from Dallas Theological Seminary is the one teaching us. It has been a good two days so far of looking at what the Bible says the Trinity is and what the Trinity is not. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week and what Dr. Kreider has in store for us. I am also looking forward to Wednesday night and AWANA and getting to see my kiddos and continue building those relationships.
Prayer requests for this update: Pray for Aly and Ryan as they have a lot of planning for their future to do. Pray for my friends Jessica and Kent – Kent is in the Army and is deploying to Afghanistan on Friday, pray for his safety, but also be in prayer for Jessica because her and Kent are recently married and I know it will be hard for her to have him half way around the world. Pray for all of us here at the Institute as we seek out God’s will for our lives as the end of the year will be here in no time. Please continue to pray for my financial situation. While sometimes I worry about the future or how I will pay for the Institute and things like that, it has been so cool to see the way that the Lord provides and how His timing is perfect.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! You have no idea how much you mean to me! Please let me know how I can be praying for you.
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