Summer update

Even though this Summer started out bittersweet, what with the loss of friends through graduation, and the funeral, it has been a seriously growing time as well as a lot of fun. At first I was afraid that I would be super bored and be driven insane, but apparently that is not to be! When you get Rhi, Harrison, and me living within a mile of each other and randomly coming up with ideas, it leads to a serious lack of boredom! In the past six weeks, I have hardly had any time to be close to bored. We have done some crazy things, from watching the midnight showing of a superhero movie, to random movie nights, puzzle challenges, Six Flags, food experiments, garage sale extravaganzas, crazy trips to downtown, and even visiting a tiny library. Every time we do something, we come up with crazy ideas of two other things to do. This is what happens when you give college students free time...

So all this to say that I am enjoying the people here, even though I really miss you all, and am learning to appreciate the church as well as the community. I am getting to know the faculty and the staff of the school, which is an amazing experience. These people are so encouraging. Harrison is helping me to get involved with the church a lot, and has been dragging me along to a bunch of random Bible studies, which I really appreciate! I am also blessed with the opportunity to serve the church on Sunday nights for their kids events, which is really stretching and humbling.

Above all, however, God is showing me a lot of things. He is teaching me humility, in both how I view my knowledge and how I view my resolve. He is showing me again and again how Christ is truly the most important thing, and everything comes second. He is trying and stretching me in how I read my Bible, both in how often and the intensity towards which I study it.God is truly in charge of everything, and trusting Him is so important.

Harrison has been a real blessing to get to know this Summer. He is so plugged into the church in many different ways that I did not know. He is doing well with his job, which is basically the same thing that Computer Services does, but for private clients.

Sorry if it seems like I am just rambling at tons of different topics...I have about 6 weeks of craziness to pack into a blog post...its not working so well.

Most of the campus (including me) caught the stomach flu last week. It was really bad and laid a lot of people out for a couple of days. The county health inspectors ended up coming by to make sure that everything was sanitary as it should have been, since it was practically an epidemic, but we were cleared. The school is holding sports camps for kids over the Summer, and apparently one of the kids had the stomach flu and vomited in the cafeteria, after that it spread like wildfire.
It was a really humbling experience for me and taught me a lot, especially about my own weakness. But perhaps the most devastating part was that I had to miss the Resolved conference that I had seriously been looking forward to for the last year. It was really hard because I was going to go with my church from Fresno, with a lot of people that I love. But it was interesting, God taught me so much while I stayed quarantined in my room, watching Resolved Live. He showed me so much how He had me where He wanted me for a reason, to trust Him for the things out of my control. As well, it gave me time to think deeply about the things being said, by myself apart from distractions. Especially what Rick Holland had said as he set the tone for the entire conference.

The Computer Services Helpdesk is doing well. It is growing closer together over the Summer, as we have to work on random projects. The building is sinking into the ground however...oh well :D We have been busy a lot as staff, along with entire departments, are shifting locations and require the computer systems to be moved by us. This is something else that is teaching me a lot, especially in the area of discernment regarding how to not be angry and emotional about something, but yet still be strong enough to not be walked over and not respond logically and strongly because it would seem "not nice".
I refer to this because I am sorting through these emotions because the educational branch of the college that is most dear to me, the CIS department, is being completely taken advantage of by being moved and dispersed, the classrooms cut down, and being crammed into inconvenient spaces. This is because a larger administrative department, Development, is taking over the CIS building completely. This does somewhat make sense in a way because Development is the administrative structure that is in charge of bringing in donations to the school. It is because of their work that the school can actually pay their teachers. My emotional response is that it just isn't fair and they are being very forceful and pushy. The logical side, however, is saying that it is simply a bad idea because it lowers the quality of education of the students, putting the organizational structure of the school above its mission, which is basically to glorify Christ and to train up young people. I see this as interfering with the training....there's my rant....Oh well, we will adapt!

I really miss you guys a lot! I was in the lower caf last Saturday...sitting there by myself...and I realized just how much I miss y'all. Hurry up and come back!

This leads me to my final subject....The course of my entire life has changed in the past three weeks. I went from having everything planned out, from my classes to my graduation to where I was going after school, to being completely lost. Yet again God causing me to trust Him more.

The thing that has changed all my plans? I met this girl...nah, kidding :P

What IS actually true is that I am not longer a "student" at The Master's College. As of this week, I am dropping all but two of my classes, switching to being a part time student, looking for off-campus housing, and taking the open position as a full time staff member at The Master's College in the position of Computer Services Helpdesk Senior Support Analyst. The college will pay a large percentage of up to 6 units per semester, which means that with work I can graduate in just over 2 years, rather than the original full time 1 year goal. This is really a big step for me, but is something I am really really excited about! It also means that y'all aren't getting rid of me next year :P I officially start in this position August 1st.

VBS Excitement!

Howdy Tribe!!

I figured it was ABOUT TIME I contributed to this blog! I have been surprisingly busy the past few weeks, even though I still have yet to find a full-time job. Ah well, I can’t complain too much; God has been blessing me in amazing ways since graduation! Especially with the opportunity to help out with Vacation Bible School at my new church this week! So that is what I want to write about today!

As some of you know, I was beginning to feel God was calling me to leave my old church while I was away at school. I began looking into other churches in my area during breaks and such, but never really found anything I was comfortable with…that seemed like “home.” Then one night at Master’s, by God’s grace, I was talking about Yucca Valley (my home town) at tribal supper, and Caleb (who I just barely knew at the time) piped up and asked me how I knew about Yucca! He explained that he came up here last year to help with a VBS at a church that is pastored by a Master’s graduate. I was floored…and completely intrigued.

This church, First Southern Baptist Church of Yucca Valley, is unlike any I have attended in the past. The congregation is very small (about 50-70 people) and mostly elderly. But in my short time here I have found opportunities to serve and ways to connect with people I never could in 1,000+ person congregations. I now have a pastor who knows me by name and is personally involved in what is going on in my life. I am excited to go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays and hear the Word of God preached solidly, rather than politics or off-topic rantings. I am so happy and incredibly blessed to be a part of this church! Not to mention that it is really cool to have a pastor’s wife who lived in DIXON!! OH YEAH! I could be wrong, but I believe Pastor Stephen lived in Waldock too!

Anyhow…all that to say that our biggest children’s ministry outreach is about to kick off tomorrow morning! Our theme is “The Big Apple Adventure” where we are going to use New York City as a means of teaching the kids how to “connect” by believing in Jesus Christ (connecting through faith), accepting Him as their Saviour, and telling others about Him (connecting with the world). Pastor Stephen said on average we get about 50-60 kids for this VBS. Although it is only a three-day event, we are excited to be hosting a “family fun night” on Friday where we will do an open house for the kids’ parents to see what they did all week. It will be a great outreach to non-Christian families in our area who were only looking for free childcare for a few days. From past experiences in VBS’s in the desert, I can say that the rate of kids who come from non-Christian, abusive, and/or broken families is extremely high. Yet God is so good and loving to continue to bring them into these church events and allow them the opportunity to hear the gospel at a young age.

So how am I personally involved in this event? I will be co-teaching the 5^th-7^th grade class with a guy named Erick! I have to admit this responsibility scares me a lot. I have taught Sunday school classes for the young kids in the past, and am very comfortable with preschool to about 3^rd grade. This age group doesn’t only take me out of my comfort zone…it rips me out by the hair. I feel like, although there is great responsibility in teaching a child the Word of God at ANY age, these preteens are getting to the point where they are so much more intelligent and inquisitive. Our responsibility is even greater to present the Gospel accurately and clearly for them…no more spoon-feeding like the little ones.

Please pray for Erick and me as we meet this afternoon to plan our lessons for the week. Pray that all the teachers can make the studies fun and interesting to hold the attention of these little ones and that God would do a great work and touch many hearts and the lives of their families through this. Pray for Caleb as he arrived Saturday night to help out this week as well. Pray that God gives him strength and patience to serve the kids, for a refreshing visit with my pastor (who is also his former youth pastor), and for a safe travel back home on Thursday.

I am so excited to be a part of this! And so excited that Caleb and I get to share this with all of you! I miss you all so very much and hope to see you soon. Each one of you has contributed to my life in such amazing ways and I know God has each of you in a special place this summer to serve Him in a way that pleases Him and brings Him glory whether it’s while eating noodles in Korea, writing computer programs in Texas or Canada, or studying for the MCAT in Alaska. I’m so proud to call you all my friends…and my tribe.

Our classroom decorated in a Central Park theme!

10 things that I have caught myself or had to stop myself from doing since I came home from college:

1. resizing the window/zooming/resizing text on random websites to see when they finally break (muahaha!)

2. telling people they are rude

3. comparing MacGyver's mannerisms (and awesome hair!) to Weston's. This is no joke: we watched an episode yesterday and as we were starting it up my Mom suddenly yelled "oh my! He looks just like Weston!". We told her she should probably stick with Weston on her desktop.

4. trying to see how much I can see on all your Facebook's, without using my login credentials (because I'm not on Facebook and besides.... I'm not sure where my HD platter is right now)

5. saying "it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!" then have people look at me strange

6. when someone says "long date" they are usually not actually talking about the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970

7. no pun intended

8. getting Rebeka Black stuck in my head when somebody  says "Friday" or John Denver when they talk about country roads (though I would definitely prefer the latter)

9. laughing out of context when someone says loop, a ray, C, java, SLIGHTLY, or any of our other innumerable computer puns.

10. losing the game when I see an Asian.


...now that's not creepy....

on a bit of another note, I'm in a bit of limbo right now on whether or not I'm going to be able to go back and work this summer. Everything was ready to go, but then there were some setbacks so I'm talking to Jason and trying to see if we can get everything worked out. Also I heard that there is a stomach bug going around Master's that is nailing everybody, so I hope Weston and Rhi start to feel better soon. Have any of you had to catch yourselves doing something completely strange, but would make total sense at college?


Joseph

TUTT Update

Hallo!

To avoid redundancy, just wanted to let you know that I updated my personal blog Think Upon These Things, so if you want to know a little bit of what's been on my mind the past week and a half, read my new post.

In the line of personal craziness, (1) I'm still waiting to hear back from Tim Horton's (most of you know from Facebook that I interviewed on Monday), (2) we are redoing our upstairs bathroom and mamma and I are having a blast picking out all the new stuff, (3) this weekend is Rebelution Williamsport (!!!!!), (4) Brett Harris just got engaged, and (5) next week our cousins are coming and we're painting our house.

And, for the benefit of those who do not have Facebook, I leave you with a humorous conversation between Stefan and I:

Me: Stefan, when you meet Brett Harris this weekend you'll have to tell him congratulations.
Stefan: Why? Did he have a baby?
Me *laughing*: No, he just got engaged.
Stefan: Oh. Well I'm not gonna tell him congratulations.
Me: Why not?!?!
Stefan: I don't care about engagements or getting married or anything like that.

Stefan: Camille, can you do me a favor? Can you not married until I'm old enough so that mom and dad won't make me go to the wedding?

His reasoning? "You have to duck and dodge more pictures than you ever do in the rest of your life! Plus, it's on video tape or whatever...

"And you can't even enjoy it because people are laughing and crying all the time! And they're kissing the bride!"

‎"When I get married and the pastor says, You may now kiss the bride, I'm gonna say, why would I wanna do that? I don't wanna ruin the wedding!"

"And besides, I can just hire someone to clean the house for me...."

Yoiks, for'ard, and tally-ho!

~Nella Camille

My Eventfull/Uneventfull Summer

Summer and I have a love/hate relationship. There are times when I am having a ton of fun and I am loving summer, and then there is other times that I am bored out of my mind. So in-between all the evens that has happened and will happen, I have been doing (seemingly) nothing. Well, ok, not nothing, what I have been doing during boring, uneventful, nothing times is searching for a job and applying for scholarships, so I haven't been doing nothing, but it seems like it because nothing seems to be happening on those fronts.

Well the first thing that happened this summer was birthday season. I survived it! My three sisters had there birthdays and two of them graduated (Jessicah from high school and Maribeth from jr. high). It looks like Jessicah will be going to Masters in the fall, but don't expect to get to know her. She likes to be in different crowds from me, I don't know what she has against you. Just kidding it is probably because she doesn't want to have the same friends as ME. So it is me not you guys. She once had a dream that I ruined her reputation at Masters.

Which brings me to my next point, which is Masters. This is what it looks like I am going to do school wise this next school year, I am going to go to College of Canyons in the fall and Masters in the spring. I am going to do this because I can't afford to go to Masters for both semesters but I will still visit often, if I get my drivers licenses, but the last time I tried to get it I was so nervous that I almost killed someone (sadly not a joke).

Well after me sisters' birthdays, my computer got a virus, and a bad one at that. NEVER FEAR WESTON IS HERE! He saved my computer. :) Then it was my birthday. I am now an old man, 20. So Weston and Rhi threw me a birthday party and during the party Landrew came and visited Weston. After that the three of us watched a movie called "No Greater Love." It was a great party.

Then on the 17th Weston, Harrison, Rhi, two other girls, and myself saw "Green Lantern." It was a fairly good movie.

In between those two events, I had to help a friend and his mom move. His parents just divorced and he is taking it really hard, which is to-be expected. Pray for him, sadly I have been through this before (one of my other friend's parents got divorced). Pray that I know how to handle this situation well.

I have been doing Kids Fest at PBC this year, for those of you who do not know what that is, it is like a VBC every Sunday night during the summer for ten weeks. I came to the realization that I have been a guild for Kids Fest for 8 years and before that I was one of the little kids in the program. This year, Kids Fest is doing better then ever. :)

That is what happened, except I also bought a really cool book (The Complete Sherlock Holmes, it is the nicest book in my personal library) and went to Chick-Fil-A. I had not been to that place since Spring Party. My church did a fundraiser there and it was a success.

This is what is going to happen in the future... I am going to Yucca Valley and New Port Beach. This Saturday I am going to Yucca Valley (Where Anne is) to help Pastor Stephen Jones and Anne with their VBS. I did this last year, before I knew Anne, actually before Anne went to that church. And they wanted me to come back. I can tell you from experience that Anne is one of the normal people from Yucca Valley.

Then two weeks later, I will be in New Port Beach for a week in a beach house with my family. By my family I mean my immediate and extended family. My family is interesting but comparatively normal, especially when you compare it to a family like Weston's.

Well that is what my summer is going to look like. I guess it will not be as boring as I think it will be, but I guess that is what happens when you forget to look at the big picture. I think that will still keep you guys updated. You may even get an update from Anne and I next week.

In the Lord,
Caleb

beauty: how we define it

Greetings from the land filled with squinty-eyed people and noodles. How is everyone doing?

As some of you know, my mom has arrived a few days ago from a country far far away. It is good to be reunited with my family at last! I have missed her and her seemingly out-of-the-blue comments that she makes often throughout the day. Just yesterday, while we were riding the bus she turned and asked me if I wanted to get eye-surgery to have bigger eyes. No joke! Needless to say, I was stunned and somewhat enticed. Finally, I could blend in with all my white friends! Finally I would no longer be the object of the jokes and offhand comments of TMC! Who am I kidding... (haha I am totally joking, those of you that know me well, know that I more than welcome those jokes and often make them myself. Please don't think that I am hurt by them--I really am not.)

But this brought me to thinking, back to a message that I heard several weeks ago. The Korean teen suicide rate is the highest in the world (or so I heard--haven't researched the numbers myself yet) because of various reasons, I'm sure, but the idea of beauty is a main factor. The girls that have the money, go through plastic surgery to reshape their nose, make their eyes bigger and other such 'upgrades'. The pastor told a story of a girl that was emotionally scarred because her parents never once told her that she was beautiful until she went for 'beautification surgery'. This is simply heart-wrenching: I don't think that this is a Biblical view of how we ought to see ourselves, much less project upon others! Psalm 139:13-14: "for You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
Look around you. It seems like everyone is striving to look like someone they are not, running after an image that is given to them by the media of how they are supposed to look. And if they do not 'fit' in the cookie-cut 'look' that society has prescribed for them, then they are disregarded and discarded. This is not how the Christian should act at all: we have been made in the image of our Lord, and our bodies are His temple. We must steward it, as it shows respect and gratitude to our Lord for giving us the gift of life. And above all, we must remember that how we look ultimately does not matter. When people see us, we are to be invisible; people should not see us when they look at us. They should see Jesus shining through us. And that, my friends, is more attractive than eye-surgery.

Uneclipsing the Son

the book is finally available for pre-order! if you order before RE:solved, you can get it at a discount:

http://www.kressbiblical.com/

Rick Holland was the pastor of Crossroads at Grace Community Church until this May, when he moved to Kansas to follow the Lord's calling. I learned countless things under him.. and even though I haven't read the book yet, I can confidently recommend this to everyone. This is based on his sermon series by the same name, and that has been quite insightful and thought provoking.

at less than $7, this is a steal!

Fleur-da Adventures

(Or, "Why I am not on speaking terms with any vacuum cleaners, scrubbing buckets, or carpet cleaners.")

Dear Tribe,

Finally back from Fleur-da! I calculated that I in the course of our six-day excursion, I vacuumed 800+ square feet of carpet, tile, and cupboards; went through and cleaned out the contents of 33 drawers; washed out 24 cupboards; washed 16 windows (most both front and back); polished 12 wooden pieces of furniture; cleaned out the contents of 6 closets; and dusted 5 rooms. Mamma and I were working long days, our shortest day probably being 9 hours, and our longest one being yesterday when we worked from 8:00 a.m. until midnight, and mamma didn't even go to bed because she cleaned the next three and a half hours until we left for the airport. Yup, we're tired.

We didn't have much fun, but when something was even mildly funny, we thought it was hilarious. Once I called dad on the phone, and he was asking what we'd gotten rid of, and I said, "Everything!" For some reason, we even thought that was funny.

Probably my favourite part of the trip was uncovering a lot of family history. I brought back photos that were taken in 1932 when my Grandma Wagner was just a year old. I also found a book she'd started writing called, "A Legacy for My Children." It was so neat being able to read some of her thoughts and learning more about her background!

And, of course, there were some embarrassing moments. All day Monday, mamma was out running errands around Zephyrhills buying things we needed to redecorate the trailer to make it look like its worth more than it actually is (ha). Naturally, since someone needed to keep on schedule with the cleaning, I had to stay home. Makes sense; I can't drive, and she can, so she gets to go have all the fun while I stay home and work. My objectives were to finish cleaning the master bedroom (it needed to be vacuumed intensely), clean out the two hall closet, vacuum the living room and dining room, and get the house at least somewhat presentable before the carpet cleaners came to measure the square footage of the house and give us an estimate. Surprisingly, I got everything done. I turned on some Andrew Peterson, Owl City, Switchfoot, and David Crowder Band and had a fantastic time singing along with the best of 'em. The man called and said that two men were on their way to measure the house. Mamma called and said she would be home in a half hour.

I was getting a little worried. I hoped that mamma would get back before the men came to measure the house. I didn't really like the idea of being stuck in a trailer park all by myself. Then the gun-loving Republican in me started to come out. Man, I wished I had a concealed carry permit. But right then and there was a little too late to think about that. I made up my mind that when these men came, I would be calm-assertive and professional. No need to give the impression that I was some nerdy teenager stuck in a house all by myself. That'd be no bueno. Maybe for good measure, I should change into something a bit more reputable. A jean skirt and some pearl earrings should do the trick. Oh, and that computer needs to disappear. No need to get carpet cleaners thinking about what valuables they could pilfer off some lone college student. I had mentally chalked up all carpet cleaners to be disreputable waifs when the doorbell rang. They had arrived, and beaten mamma. I was stuck.

I went to answer the door, and almost stopped in my tracks. They were not the carpet cleaners I was expecting. Oh, they were the carpet cleaners alright, but they weren't old, wizened, sunburnt men wearing ripped jeans and white t-shirts. They were young men, quite young, probably just a little older than us, and they looked about as outwardly harmless as Weston and Joey. And did I mention that they were good-looking - very good-looking?

All my professionalism flew out the window. I let them in and was so flummoxed that I didn't even introduce myself, and when they asked for a tour of the house, all I said was, "Well, there's carpet pretty muchly everywhere except in the kitchen-kitchen and small bathroom." Pretty muchly? Kitchen-kitchen? Yup, that's professionalism for you there, yes ma'am! I was thankful when they left me alone to wash my dishes and they measured up everything. And I was even more thankful that after they wrote everything down, mamma arrived and handled the conversation. As soon as they left, mamma prattled on about how nice they were. My only reply was, "Uh huh. God did a good job on those two." And, to myself, And I think He's trying to teach me some humility! :)

Pictures of all the hard sweat and toil we put into the house will soon appear on Facebook, I hope. If you know anyone who is 55 or older, has no attachments to any pets, and is looking to move to Florida, send them our way. We've got a fully-furnished house they just might like! :)

In the realm of other news, my health was fantastic in Florida. In fact, I felt normal for the first time in months. Well, almost normal. And I ate carbs and wheat. And the headaches are gone. Praise the LORD!!! =)

And now, I am going back to studying for economics, and after that, sleep!

From the dust of the Rabbi,

~Camille

whats going on......how to confuse a Texan.....and why I don't like Vista

Hi. How are you all doing? Me and Charity have been doing quite a bit of stuff here in Texas. We have a big metal barn right next to our house that probably hasn't been cleaned up in at least 10 years. It is the home of everything from tarantulas, toads that excrete this poison which makes our huskies slobber everywhere, and about a hundred scorpions (with babies!). It has all the goodies/junk/stuff that might be useful in 50 years that was left by the people who lived here before as well as a UHaul full of our stuff that we brought down from Wasilla. All of the stuff was just unloaded into the barn, so I get to sort through it all and make some order of it all. It's not that hard, just really hot.
Charity is balancing her time between Nathan, starting a ministry to the junior high girls at church and starting up some Jiu-Jitsu.
Besides that, there is one rather interesting thing I learned: how to thoroughly confuse a random person at a gas station. Note to self- if you are caught in an embarrassing situation, just pretend to be insane. I was up in Dallas for my cousin's high school graduation, and had to run to the gas station for some ice. Now, I'm not really good at knowing how to get somewhere by knowing all the roads. I really prefer the more precise method of "well, you turn right at the big, funny looking house and then go down for about...oh well.... about a half a mile, then you go around this weird left hand intersection and you'll know you're on the main road because everybody will be trying to drive you off the road, then you go.....". You know, just the useful stuff to know and nothing else. Anyway, I was reading a book when we drove up (Les Miserables is amazing), so I didn't get the feel of where everything was. I really wasn't lost trying to find the gas station, just sort of going in circles. Eventually, I got the GPS working (without running off the road!) and made my way to the gas station. I was all discombobulated and, without thinking, started to talk to myself in a really fast British accent. I pulled the ice out of freezer and turned around just in time to see another person looking at me with the strangest look on their face. I suddenly realized what I was doing and, before they could say something smart, I laughed nervously and said "I'm sorry... he talks to himself like that sometimes". The look on their face got even stranger (hehe), and I walked away laughing a little crazily. It was pretty fun.
One final thing. I officially do not like Vista. I was working in a problem with my Mom's computer and got this:

arrg....windows!.....arrg.....

Enfield's latest pre-release

Hey everybody! Seeing as we enjoy Enfield's music, I thought i'd forward this to y'all..
http://soundcloud.com/resolvedmusic/the-solid-rock

On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand...

Of Bat Goggles

Just thought y'all might like to see a picture of my new bat goggles so that you'll recognise me in the fall. The lenses are soooooo fat, it's not funny!

In the realm of other news, I'll be disappearing from the Internet world for a while. Mamma and I leaving tonight to travel to Florida to clean out Aunt Diane's trailer. Pray for us - for strength, for helpers, and for health. I'm doing a little better since cutting out wheat, but I haven't fully eliminated carbs yet. It's quite a challenge, but it is making me feel better, so it's worth it.

Love and stuff.