SovHope & SWO

• Adam's teaching
• I'm really excited about being a member of Sovereign Hope. I used to think that I would never find a pastor that I would enjoy learning from as much as Pastor David. He's just such a good teacher and so easy to listen too. For that reason, I was pretty scared about ever moving away, being called to go something else, etc. Although, I started listening to Adam's sermons a little over a year ago on my way to and from school. It's really encouraging. I'm still a little sad to be moving on from Second. But i'm so excited about the leadership (and everyone else) at sovhope. It is just so great! But to the real point...Adam is so challenging. It's really annoying. This semester He has been preaching on the Trinity and then Heaven/Hell/Evil/Sin. He wants us to get it and expects us to study it. I'm one of those people that just has faith. I don't really question things in the Bible. I just kinda go with it if it's over my head. I've always been okay with this part of me. For one thing, I love the trinity. I love God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I understand their roles to an extent, but I really don't want to dig into it. I don't truly understand how something can be 3 in 1. Yet, God calls me to try to understand it. And i'm aggravated that someone is holding me accountable to that. And don't even get me started on Hell and Sin and God's perfection/justice/love. I probably can't explain it well. I know that He is all of them. But don't throw me a "hard" question.....right now. Because you know....I'm having to learn all of this stuff that just flies over my head. It's just exciting. I love being a part of the church that challenges me. I love being a part of a group that is concerned with my relationship with Christ. I love that I never have to be careful of what I might hear from people around me, because we are all pursuing holiness and that's just cool. I've finally found a group of friends that i absolutely CHERISH. 
• I'll cover the rest of those things in the list at a later date.

SWO STAFF ORIENTATION

The weather was awful driving up. My parents decided to make a vacay out of the trip so they drove me up. It was pretty nice considering it was dark, the roads were a little tricky, and it was raining. I got there about 10 minutes late, and cars were everywhere. I got all of my stuff out of the car, dried off a little under the porch, waved goodbye to the parents, and walked in! I stood in the back for a little bit because everything was already going on. Sarah had told me where she was sitting, but I couldn't seem to find her. Eventually, someone came over and pointed her out to me :) Sarah said she was wearing a blue shirt. I was looking for bright or navy blue....it was baby blue. haha. So I sat and listened.

The first night was by far the most overwhelming night i've ever had. It was ridiculous. The room was FULL of people, I only knew 3 of them...through facebook (which, it was FABULOUS to finally meet them, they were PRECIOUS). I'm usually a pretty outgoing person, but this was just overwhelming. I found myself just following some people around that first night. I really wanted to be intentional in my "meeting" people. I mean, what do you say when you first meet someone that you DON'T KNOW. There was a whole lot of "What's your name, where do you go to school, what's your major?" It's good small talk, and was really all the night allowed for, but i'm really excited to get to "know know" people. The conversations that encouraged me the most were "what is your testimony? or what is God doing in your life right now?" and I KNOW that those will come more. :)) 

Saturday was good! There was a whole lot of free time where I was able to get to know more people. and then i got to "know know" some girls. It really encouraged me. It was still overwhelming, but was nice to have real conversations with people. I signed up for canoeing, creek tubing, or hiking for off-campus recs, and then goliath swing, zipline, and three man swing for on-campus recs. I'm not sure which one they will assign me to. The weekend really didn't inform me with all i thought it was going to, but that's what two weeks of staff training is for! It's SO PRETTY at the camp!! All of the full time staff is great. It was everything AND nothing like I expected. 

Mostly, the whole weekend calmed some fear. I'm not afraid of going back now. The Holy Spirit continues to prepare me for being away this summer. While I don't know who my close friends are going to be, or who my campers are, they are constantly in my mind. I pray that I am always available for them to come to, and I pray that the Holy Spirit speaks through me. I pray that I am an encouragement to my fellow staffers and that I represent Christ well this summer. I pray that I learn a lot. Adam continues to tell me that I will not be the same person after this summer. I wish i understood what He meant. But I am excited about it!!

I want to start posting pictures on this. I've totally slacked on that since I've redone my blog. I had a test today in Pharmacology. I really hope I made a B on it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It stinks that we do so much at school, but the only thing that matters is our test grades. kinda sad. but oh well. I won't know the grade until Monday or later. Aggravating...