update and plea for prayer

I don't have long, but I am currently sipping my coffee as I write to you, updating you as well as offering a plea for prayer.  On a side note, this summer I have fallen more in love with coffee (I'll admit, most people probably wouldn't like my coffee because Tim tells me consistently how too sweet it is, and this summer I have been sweetening it with VT maple syrup, spoiling done by Uncle Ralphie).  I love making it, the smell of it brewing, and then the relaxation of sipping it as I get things ready, browse the latest happenings in the world on the computer, have quiet time, or whatever else I might be doing.  I do not drink it for the caffeine though because it doesn't really do anything to help keep my awake, I simply love the taste (my way of fixing it, that is).  I do try though to not have it every morning because the grounds I currently have are regular and I do not want to become addicted to the caffeine, especially if it isn't helping me out, haha.  Okay, enough of on coffee...how about that quick update and plea for prayer!

It is Thursday and my summer is over half way done with Energy Express.  That brings along mixed feelings, weighting on the sad side.  I have so enjoyed my time with the kids and love the life of waking up and going to school where I am the teacher.  I love reading their writing, and getting to know them.  Yesterday we worked for a while with spelling (in a non traditional way) because I have two students who consistently mis-spell "nice"  I most commonly see "nic" or "nis".  I love their innocence, but am also eager to see how they have each grown throughout the summer.

As far as meals have gone lately, I am continuing to love planning and making meals!  On Sunday, Kari came over and on the spur-of-the-moment, I decided I wanted strawberry shortcake, so I whipped up some biscuits and we did it up right with cool whip, fresh strawberries and chocolate chips!  Side note, we did not eat all of those biscuits.  A recipe I have been wanting to make for a long time that I found on Pinterest is a Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza.  I made the homemade pesto and then also had fresh mushrooms, so I did half the pizza with that.  With my pizza, I enjoyed some of my favorite tea (thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Meigs!) iced, pomegranate!  So there you have it...the recent kitchen adventures!

Now for the plea for prayer...I have had the wonderful privilege of staying in the apartment of some school friends of mine while they were overseas for a mission's internship.  They started the trip home this morning and plan on being back tomorrow evening.  I couldn't even thank them enough for the use of their apartment for the past 6 weeks, and what a huge help that has been.  Their home has been very comfortable and suited my needs wonderfully.  They were gracious enough to allow me to stay for the remaining two weeks I have with Energy Express.  But for their sake, I felt six people, in a three bedroom apartment after they have just gotten back from a long time away, was a bit too much.  I have a few friends who too have been gracious enough to allow me to stay with them.  All that to say, I am trying to clean up my messes and get this apartment sparkling clean before they get back.  It has been difficult to work on packing and cleaning while still working full time.  It would figure that there would be two ladies events tonight and tomorrow that I really want to go to, but alas, I get to clean and pack.  Please pray that I get everything done, and before they get back.  I thank you in advance for your prayers.

Blog updates will probably be very limited within the next two and a half weeks though.  Don't lose heart, I have every intention to do my best to still keep up with it and keep the posts coming.  My coffee is just about up though so I am going to go try and tackle the downstairs bathroom and finish cleaning the stove pans (under the burners) before I leave for work.  Have a lovely Thursday!

I made it!

I am now currently living in West Virginia.  Daniel flew up to Vermont to spend the weekend with Tim, Beth, and Annette and then helped me drive down.  I am so thankful for his being able to do that.  I had not been looking forward to the long drive alone, especially when I am usually the one that tries my best to avoid driving on long trips.  Driving twelve hours by myself was something that was really stressing me.  But Daniel was able to help me, which put me at a lot of ease.  Dad worked hard on getting the vehicle all ready to travel.  Have I ever mentioned before how thankful I am to have men in my life that are handy with cars?  It is a huge expense saver and I feel I would be ripped off at a mechanics because I am a single female and they could tell me anything to believe and charge me whatever.  Instead, I have awesome men in my life who can usually fix it themselves, and if they can't, they know who best to have do it, and if the price is right.  So, back to the drive down...Daniel and I had a very 'easy' trip down.  I hit some stop-and-go traffic due to construction while I was driving, and he hit some rain, but other then that the trip was great.  The car went well as well (thanks, Dad!).  We drove to his grandparents where I was able to get a good night's rest before the three and half hour drive on Wednesday.

I woke up with knots in my stomach, the time had come when I did have to drive alone.  I had taken Tuesday for granted in having Daniel with me to help navigate and as someone to talk to, a second set of eyes, someone to help drive, a guy if anything were to go wrong with the car, and so on.  Daniel sat down with me and talking through the directions and answered my million questions.  He was very patient with me in making sure I felt confident about the trip.  He checked my oil and got that back to where it was supposed to.  I hit the road.  He helped me out so much with the directions he gave and I had no problem making it to school.  I did hit some hard rain which tensed me up a bit, but I was able to see an answer to prayer through that.  May sounds funny, but it was raining hard and became very blinding, but traffic was busy and I had semis all around me going 70+ mph, I couldn't drive slow because of the conditions.  I simply shot a prayer up asking the Lord to please stop the rain, and within the minute, I drove out of the rain.  So thankful!!

So all that to say, I made it safely to school and started moving into the apartment.  For those of you who do not know, I am staying in an apartment this summer located on the college campus.  The family who lives here is away for the summer on a missions internship.  I am still in awe at how God provided above and beyond what I had asked for housing this summer.  I was able to catch up with my dear friend Kari and then get ready for our opening night of VBS at my church down here. It was so good to be back and to see my kiddos.  It was also wonderful to see my adopted family again.  Thursday started work for me.

As you probably already know, I will be working for Energy Express this summer.  It is an extension (or branch) of the AmeriCorps.  It is a program only offered in West Virginia.  I have had several friends do it before, and all have loved it.  Many have gone back to do it year after year (to me that is a great sign that it is a great program).

Energy Express is a reading program to help the under educated and under privileged children of West Virginia (though from my experience in talking with people, it reaches beyond that.  My official title is AmeriCorps Mentor.  Now to explain what I do with that title...I will be the teacher of around eight students.  I will have those same students all summer (for which I am so thankful).  Each week will have a theme (family, community, patriotism, etc.) and every morning I will read my students a book on that theme. For the remainder of the morning I will have activities for my students to do related to the book read that morning and the theme of the week.  These activities might be games, crafts, writing, etc.  Also in the morning, it is the goal of Energy Express to have a volunteer come in and read one-on-one with each students.  This allows the students to have the one-on-one time with an adult to work on their reading.  I believe this will be a great experience for me as I prepare for teaching full time after college.

Another aspect of this program is making sure that the children still eat during the summer.  We feed the children breakfast and lunch each day.  This means I also have breakfast and lunch provided for me during the week.  Another sighting of how God is providing for me.

Yesterday was the first day of training.  Many have asked "how did it go?" and that is a hard question to answer.  Really, the only thing we did was talk about what the AmeriCorps is for about ten minutes, and then filled out paperwork the rest of the time.  I was done by 9:30am.  We go to the actual site we will be teaching at (which I have heard is REALLY nice) this afternoon and work on some more stuff.  Next week we go to a college a ways away and do more specific training for the summer. So anyways, I hope that fills you in a little more about what my summer entails.

All prayers are needed and appreciated.  A few specific prayer requests would be....

• my testimony with those I am working with
• that I would not only be a witness of the gospel through my actions, but also my words
• strength and courage as living alone has brought more challenges then anticipated
• that I would trust the Lord to provide for my every need
• that I would be content with his timing
• my health
• the summer staff at TER this summer, they are in their first week of training

One thing I have really been enjoying is cooking for myself.  I have not necessarily been cooking as I would choose to this week, but that is just because I am trying to only buy the bare minimum this week...well because I am being stingy, haha.  Next week I will still be careful, but will be okay with buying more of what I need.  My first meal alone was pretty rough, it was a nasty packaged soup with as I refer to it as "pasta shavings", it wasn't even like real pasta.  Needless to say, I was very hungry after church that night. I have been doing better though.     Here are some pictures of two of my first meals...

 

Last night I had some chicken and rice.  The color is about as boring as can be, but that is the nice thing about only cooking for myself, I don't have to worry about that.  The food had good flavor though.

This morning's breakfast was vanilla yogurt with strawberries and granola, and with my cup of coffee (I am learning to make coffee too and I made it quite strong this summer, haha).  The computer is there because eating is when I am most lonely, so I either skype with someone as I eat (thanks to those of you who have been willing to do that with me), watch some youtube, or as today...I blog!

I have a friend staying with me tonight for while I am so excited.  It will be fun to not be alone tonight.  We have a mutual friend who is getting married this evening, and then we have a baby shower to go to tomorrow.  Her company is welcomed!

Daniel starts his job today!  He graduated just about five weeks ago and within the week after graduation he was hired essentially as a full time airplane mechanic.  I am so excited for him with this opportunity, and ask that you pray for him with adjusting to this new job.  Also pray for safety, both as he works on the planes, but also in his long commute to work and back.

So there you have it...my life not in a nut shell!  Let me know what your plans are for the summer, and how I can most specifically be praying for you.  Prayer is what gets me through the night.  So please, give me lots to pray for!  I am going to go wash up my breakfast dishes (I love the challenge of keeping up with the dishes), and then pick up a bit before I head to work this afternoon.

Happy Weekend!

Energy Express

Well folks, I got the call today!  I have been offered a position with Energy Express this summer!  It is not at the exact location I would have liked (it will be a 20 minute drive as opposed to a 2 minute drive), so that is a sacrifice I will make in gas expenses, but I have a job.  Not only do I have a job, but I have a job I think I will love.  I get to be a real teacher!  Anyways, I wanted to update you on the job situation.

Prayer and Incense

I am still alive.  I have simply fallen in the depths of an academic life that has taken over any social life I once thought I had.  I am a college student right now though, so I am okay with busy with academics.  After all, I am doing what I love.  I have been going through a book lately on prayer titled, Becoming a Woman of Prayer, by Cynthia Heald.  Last week the chapter was on intimacy and how God views prayer.  I love analogies and so this comparison analogy between prayer and incense struck me.


"There is a fourfold resemblance between them [prayer and incense]: 1. In that it was beaten and pounded before it was used. So doth acceptable prayer proceed from a broken and contrite heart.  2. It was of no use until fire was put under it, and that taken from the altar.  Nor is that prayer of any virtue of efficacy which is no kindled by the fire from above, the Holy Spirit of God, which we have from our altar, Christ Jesus.  3. It naturally ascended upwards towards heaven, as all offerings in the Hebrew are called "ascensions," rising up.  4. It yielded a sweet savour; which was on end of it in temple services, wherein there was so much burning of flesh and blood.  So doth prayer yield a sweet savour unto God; a savour of rest, wherein he is well pleased."

-John Owen

It has been fun doing this study and seeing how many times I am reminded throughout the day what I was studying in my quiet time earlier.  I like it when that happens.  I don't want my quiet time to go in one ear and out the other.

I do bring some prayer requests to you though:

• RA Retreat this weekend
• Getting all of my observations in is proving to be a struggle
• Many very in depth projects due before the end of the semester
• Summer plans: I have applied to Energy Express

I trust you are doing well and that the Lord is doing a mighty work in your life!  Let me know what is going on...please!

summer happenings

What have I been doing instead of blogging?

Cleaning, Organizing, Filing, and Throwing Away!

I have so enjoyed my time at home thus far.  I shared with a few people how I had such high hopes for my three weeks at home, and wasn't overly confident that I would find a happy balance of getting everything done.  I had several things I wanted to do, some including: rest, go through school papers, reorganize my filing cabinet, sleep, cook, spend time with grandparents, clean out my closet, help mom around the house, spend time with family, relax, etc.  Those were just some of the selfish things I wanted to do.  I also had responsibilities of getting public school observation hours in.  I feared I would not find a happy medium of relaxing and doing personal things, while also accomplishing things both at home and out and about.  Anyone who knows me, knows I am a home body through and through, so the things at home weren't as much a concern as the things out and about.  But being at home, I was afraid I would either be too lazy and not get much accomplished, or I would put too much emphasis on the relaxing and sleeping, and not get anything productive done.

I am pleased to say that so far, I have had a very productive and restful summer break.  I went through so many papers and files, and threw away about a 2ft tall stack of papers--what a great feeling.  Mom keeps saying "are you positive there isn't a piece of paper in there you might want later on?"  The answer to her question is "there probably is".  But the way I look at it is, if I haven't looked at it for years, why can't I get past the feel of need for it once or twice?  I have gone through years worth of receipts, only to find that I am such a paper pack rat.  Why in the world would I keep a receipt for a pack of gum?  As if I thought, "hmm, just in case I need to return it some day".  Wow, Becky!  I have cleaned out my closet, and found many clothes to donate, some to throw away, and some I had totally forgotten I owned.  I have had many memory flashbacks too which have been so wonderful.  

This productivity has not been at the expense of my rest either.  I have been getting a fair bit of sleep, and in the evenings, have sat with my family and relaxed.  I have already been able to spend time with my grandparents, and some friends.  I have had fun cooking at my leisure.  I look forward to my dinner date with grandpa and grandma where I cook and bring dinner!

Today has not been an exception for productivity.  I decided this morning to wake up semi early for summer break and get right to work.  I have cleaned the bathroom, done some laundry, vacuumed the house, cleaned out the refrigerator, cleaned the kitchen, washed dishes, RA preparation, paper filing/organizing, and the banana bread just came out of the oven.  Aah, what a feeling of satisfaction.  Dinner is planned, and now I am waiting for my family to get home from their various activities of the day.  I am grateful to the Lord that He has given me such a love for the home and my family.

This morning, I began my summer Bible study on love.  I hope to meditate daily on a passage from 1 Corinthians 13.  I have two specific ministries in my near future involving daily interaction with people, and have recently been convicted that I don't love people as I should.  With being a camp counselor this summer, and an RA next school year, I need to learn to love people as Christ.  1 Peter 4:8 is one of the reasons I have been convicted and prompted to do this study, "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."  Love is the key!  If you have any verses or insight for me on this topic, please share--I have a lot of learning to do.

A quick update on my trip this summer...Plane tickets have been purchased.  I will fly out June 1st for the summer, and fly directly to Nashville (Tim and Beth) August 15th.  I would love to go home at the end of the summer, but it just isn't practical to fly home, then drive to Alabama only to drive back up to school.  I prefer to be healthy when I get to school.  Please be in prayer for me as I prepare for this ministry, and that the Lord be working in the lives of all those involved!

1 more week

I don't have long, because next week is midterms which means exams and projects galore!  They are slowly coming along though.  I find myself exhausted, and very unmotivated.  I began the week with a cold, but praise the Lord, it is just about 100% gone by now.  I am also praising the Lord for the beautiful weather and sunshine today.  It lifted my spirits tremendously.

The biggest happening in my life this week was working the WVCSA tournaments that are hosted here at school.  I worked the concession stand with a friend, and I did enjoy it.  Our menu included pizza, chick-fil-a sandwhiches, fries, nachos, cheese, chili, candy, drinks!  We kept quite busy, trying to keep up with the orders, but I think we made out well.  I smelled quite atrociously of fried food, and was quite thankful for a hot shower at the end of the day.

This morning I went to a meeting at church introducing a new curriculum we are going to start next week.  I am excited about the new curriculum and how it comes directly from the Bible teaching God as the main character.  I am proud to be a part of this church, and the life they have in Christ.  I don't know how to describe my church family here, but they have a vibrancy about their faith that is contagious to those around.  They are not judging on anyone, and everyone who sets foot in there is shared the Word of God, and is accepted and loved with the love of Christ.  I already find myself getting sad at the thought of graduating in the respect of quite possibly leaving :(.

Well, I best get back to school work, and work, but I wanted to give a quick update.  In one week I will be home, Lord willing, and in two weeks, I will be with Daniel and his parents, Lord willing!

a lovely day

I am only ten minutes into my shift and am already bored out of my mind. Homecoming weekend and not a soul in the lounge, wow. The fridge and freezer sure do sound noisy this afternoon (as well as my typing). I am thankful that it is Friday though! The weather here is absolutely spectacular. Right before I work I was able to take a walk down to the pond and enjoy a lovely conversation. The sun was so soothing and provided a wonderful atmosphere, even if I sadly did kill a woolly bear.

We had no classes today which was such a blessing. We had sessions this morning, one of which I worked nursery and got to hold the most precious baby girl, and this afternoon involves sports games. Tonight is the banquet for seniors and alumni, so the rest of us get to go to the other side of campus for dinner. I am already on page four of four pages for a paper due on Monday, which has me quite excited. I am hoping (hoping being the key word) for a slower weekend, but we shall see.

Wednesday night we had several VERY wound up children who had a hard time paying attention and listening to directions, but still it was a lot of fun. The Lord never ceases to amaze me with the excitement those children have for memorizing Scripture. I am so excited with what He is doing!

This week has been more of a struggle as I have been under the weather, but as you can read in earlier posts, the Lord has sent much encouragement to me through the little things in life. I am holding strongly onto Him for all my strength, and He is carrying me through this hard semester. One blessing I have seen through these struggles is that it has pushed me to my knees in prayer, and I love that. I know I will look back on this semester having learned a lot and been blessed, but in the heat of it, I often find myself tired and discouraged. Thank you all for helping lift my spirits through prayers, cards, and calls. Each are so very much appreciated. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and are able to rest a bit.

Week #3

Another week is coming to an end and I am finishing up my third week of being here at school. In one sense it doesn't seem possible because I still can't believe I am a sophomore. But on the other hand, it seems impossible that it is only my third week because it feels like it has been way longer then three lonely weeks.

Classes are still going well and for the most part, I am staying caught up with everything. I am kind-of-slightly behind on some reading (because on the schedule the reading was due Thursday or Friday, in the classes we didn't have class, but they weren't planning on not having class, if that makes any sense). I still find myself enjoying most classes, and am so exciting about my semester project in Testing and Curriculum. The semester project involves creating your own school that you have to write the Philosophy and Goals of Education for the school, and plan out a class. We will only be preparing one lesson, but we have to show all of our work of the technical things you are supposed to include in a lesson. Also in with this project we have to do a learning station on it, and at the end of the semester we will be teaching our lesson to our class. Our professor warned us on Monday that we may want to get to class early on Wednesday to pick out our textbook we would be using. I showed up about ten minutes early, and much to my excitement, I got Arithmetic 4! I absolutely love math, AND fourth grade is my dream age, and has always been my dream grade. The lesson I get to teach is on units of measurement (12in=1ft, 3ft=1yd etc.) I find myself wanting to do the entire project this weekend, I am so excited. The problem is, I don't know all of the nitty gritty details involved. I guess I should stick with creating my school and its Philosophy and Goals of Education this weekend!

Wednesday night was such fun with the children. The children at my church down here sure have made an impression on me and I missed them so much over the summer, so it is so good to be back with them. I was nervous about teaching Genesis 3 because of having to explain some of the topics to the 2s through 5s. But God was SO good (as usual) and helped me with it and I feel the children really enjoyed it. One little boy (~3 years old) is just so precious. He knew his memory verse from last week and was so excited to recite it to me, even though many of the older children could not remember it, and had not practiced. Later on while I was teaching this week's memory verse, I began reciting the verse, when I noticed the small voice next to me reciting it too--he knew this week's verse too. When I asked his dad about it, he explained that his son was so excited about it, they decided to go ahead and work on this week's verse too. How thrilling for a teacher to see her student so excited by the memory of God's Word. Before leaving, he looked over his shoulder with his big blue eyes and said "thank you, Miss Rebekah", while almost running in to the wall on his way out.

Once again, I am at work and it is so dead up here tonight. All of the freshman/incoming students are on a field trip (due back late this evening) and that is like half of our student population, so at the moment only two other people are up here. So far I have been enjoying my job! I get paid to do homework, talk to my friends who come by, and once in a while I sell some snacks or books, haha. I praise the Lord for providing this perfect job for me. I hope you all have a blessed, restful weekend! Always feel free to drop me an email on what is going on in your life, or how I may pray for you.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

1 Peter 1:13-16

a Friday night at work

Life has been insanely crazy this week. I am feeling the weight of taking on so many extra responsibilities, but I have enjoyed each tremendously. There were a few points throughout the week that I wondered if I would make it through, but the Lord is so good and carried me through on His strength! The week is not yet over, but I have full confidence that the Lord will continue to carry me through, for He is good!

Classes are still going well, but we definitely "hit the ground running" (as one of my teachers often expresses). I have already read through an entire textbook from cover to cover. I seem to be enjoying each of my classes, though some I don't look forward to as much. But I really have nothing to complain about.

I started the new curriculum at church on Wednesday night with six children between the ages of two and five. I love those children and love teaching them from God's Word. The new curriculum is like none other I have ever done before. This curriculum does not provide the teacher with what to say, or even any "hints", they just give the Bible passage. I love that because I feel so often children's curriculum are watered down and stray from the Bible adding extra "fluff". I appreciate how this curriculum is completely biblical with no extra "fluff". One other thing they try to draw our attention to is to make sure that the main character of every story is God, as opposed to Abraham, Esther, Ruth, etc. I am also trying extra hard to get the parents involved so that they are reinforcing the lesson and scripture memory to the children throughout the week. I am excited to see what the Lord will do this year through this time with the dear children.

I have started my new job and am actually really enjoying it. Most of the time I just get to work on homework, and when people do come around, I get to chat with them a little bit. I don't feel as guilty taking the time to just talk because it isn't really homework time anyways, but work time. Tonight has been the best of them all as there has been a lot of activity which keeps things fun and moving.

Tomorrow I plan on doing some work with CEF at a children's festival painting faces. I have never done this exact type of ministry before, but am excited. I know I am painting faces and have been told that the face paintings are done with the colors of the wordless book and as you paint it on their face, you tell the story of the wordless book. My big prayer is that I have the strength to do a good job for the Lord's glory.

I find myself very tired and ready for Sunday as my day off, and of rest. Though this week has been busy it has been good. I trust you all will have a blessed weekend!

time for training.

I can't believe I leave tomorrow for training. I am so thankful for the training I have received up this point. Through VBSs, college, church, and life, God has taught me so much, and has continued to kindle my passion for teaching and for children. When I sit back and think about my passions, I am just amazed that God has made it this clear to me, this early in life.

For those of you who do not already, this summer I will be working Child Evangelism Fellowship of Vermont. I will be involved with five weeks of 5-Day Clubs. These clubs are designed for children ages five through twelve and will be ninety minutes each day, including: singing, games, a Bible story, a missionary story, and some other little things. I will be working with at least one other partner where we together will do two to three clubs a day in an area. During these weeks, we will be living with a host family from our host church (this is probably the part I am most nervous about). I will leave each Sunday afternoon to go to the host church that evening, and will be able to come back home on Friday after my last club.

This coming week is when I receive my official training. I will be there from tomorrow (Saturday) through next Saturday. I really don't know many details at all concerning my schedule or how many people will be there, but I am excited for what I will be learning.

If you think of me, please pray that I will a vessel for the Master's use, and that I would be relying completely on Him for words and wisdom. I am excited, and thank you all for your support. I will try to keep you updated on my blog just on what is going on and if there are more specific prayer requests!

"So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that any one of

these little ones should perish."

(Matthew 18:14)

it's Friday...hooray!

Well, I can't believe it's Friday (and you thought I was going to say "I can't believe it's not butter"). This week has flown by with just different things going on around the house. At the beginning of the week, I thought I had my math CLEP test on Thursday, but it ended up that I won't be taking that until the middle of August.

Monday, I had a blast and got to spend my day with the beautiful Sophia, and Tuesday was spent studying for the CLEP exam (at that point, I was still planning on taking it Thursday). Wednesday was rather productive with little things such as continuing to unpack from college, balanced my checkbook, and went through all of the notes I had gotten during my spring semester at college. It is nice, because I had forgotten about a lot of them, therefore they were encouraging to me all over again. Yesterday was a lazy day as I was not feeling well, but I did get my prayer cards for the summer done with a ton of help from Tim. Today's agenda includes some studying, and then this evening I head over to some friend's house to help them organize some things to go on ebay.

I am sure many are wondering what I am doing summer job wise, and I would be happy to tell you (even if you aren't wondering). This summer, the Lord opened the door for me to be a summer missionary with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) doing 5-day clubs throughout the state of Vermont. Training starts a week from tomorrow (June 19-26) and then the clubs start July 5, and my last day of clubs is August 6. The beginning of my summer has been spent with a lot of time at home just trying to lighten the load for Mom by taking over on the cooking, and doing a lot of housekeeping, along with doing odd things such as helping Scott, going to work with Dad, babysitting Sophia, and working with this friend to help organize things for ebay. God has filled up my time in what I feel to be a productive way.

I would appreciate your prayers as I officially start my summer ministry with CEF. Some specific prayer requests would include:

• For the week of training June 19-26
• For the other Vermont CEF summer missionaries
• That I raise the required funds needed
• For churches to host the 5-Day Club
• That many children would attend
• That the children’s hearts will be softened
• That my life be changed for Him

Without prayer, my ministry is not possible. If you are interested in praying even more specifically then that, I am looking for people to commit to pray for a specific day of the week, each week that I am ministering. If you are interested in making that commitment, or interested in getting updates from me via email, please email me at rebekah.hewitt@abc.edu and I would be happy to give you the exact dates, and to let you know in advance if something special is going on that day. Each lesson we give, the gospel will be presented, and our ultimate goal with these 5-Day clubs is to further their walk with the Lord, whether that be through encouragement in the Lord, or through introducing them to the Lord. Please be in prayer for this ministry.

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

(Matthew 19:14)

end of the semester

Well, today was my last day of classes, and that is definitely a praise! I got all of my assignments, papers, and projects done and handed in, and the ones I am getting back, I am pleased with the thoughts of my instructors. The only thing I have left is to study for exams, and to read through the book of Acts in Ryrie's Study Bible. Hooray for the end of the semester, and my freshman year.

Tonight is my last Wednesday night with my kiddos at DBC. I will be doing a review of the fruit of the Spirit, which is the study we have been doing this semester. I have grown to love these children (though they can be very challenging) and will really miss them this summer. But as of right now, I plan on going back to DBC next year, so I will get to see them again soon.

Tomorrow is study day where we well....study. We can sleep in and the faculty serves us breakfast to our door. We have one every semester, and I loved it last semester. It is a very productive day, and I am looking forward to what I can get done tomorrow.

Friday is work day, which is when everyone from ABC (full-time and part-time students, faculty, staff, families, etc.) help clean up around campus. I will be cleaning the inside of Beukema (a classroom building), but some of the other tasks include: cleaning the buses and vans, trimming bushes, sweeping sidewalks and roads, cleaning the dining room chairs, washing windows, and still so many more. We will be cleaning from about 8:30 until 3:00. Friday evening we have an all campus picnic where there will be 'boat' races across the pond!

I am also working on my CEF application, which has been long and extensive, but I am excited to be involved in that ministry this summer.

The countdown!
7 days until I see: Dad, Mom, Scott, and Sarah
8 days until I see: Daniel, Tim, and Beth
21 days until I am home in Vermont!

Ahead?

Well, it is Friday evening, and surprisingly I have had a productive afternoon. I almost always have good intentions for Friday afternoon, but rarely accomplish those intentions. My roommate from last semester is staying with me this weekend, so as soon as I got back from English this afternoon, I started cleaning the room (thankfully, it wasn't too messy). I then did a little bit of laundry, and got to homework. I got an extra credit paper written, and my prayer letter written. I have three assignments due this coming week: got two done this afternoon, and the other assignment I got done yesterday afternoon. What has come over me? I will tell you what though, homework isn't as bad when you are able to do it at your own pace, and not have a quickly approaching time frame. Something happened this week though, and I have been getting ahead on my homework. We shall see how long it lasts.

Another praise/prayer is a job possibility. I was asked to apply for a job in the business office. I turned my application in on Monday afternoon, and got an email today asking if I could stop by and discuss some things with them. I would love to get the job because it is almost the ideal college job. I would start out with five hours a week, working my way up to ten hours a week. I would work secretarial/front window doing office work. Another neat aspect of this job is that I would be sharing an office with a dear staff woman whom I look up to. I am not really that stressed though because I know if God wants this job for me, He will provide it for me, but if He doesn't want me to have it, He has someone else better for the job. I was just honored to be asked.

Weirdly enough, I think I am going to get back to some homework, and start working on some homework I plan to finish while on spring break (this time next week, I will be well on my way to NJ to meet up with my parents, and some close family friends!).