You'd Think Once Would be Enough

I made plans to have a phone date with Brianne this weekend. We talked on MSN and established that Heather and I would call her at 1:00pm, and we left it at that. So, as I'm sitting in a restaurant with my mom, Teagan, and Heather waiting for 1:00 to roll around, I suddenly realize: THERE IS A TIME CHANGE!! Luckily, though, Brianne is smarter than me and wasn't expecting the call until 3:00 her time. So then we talked to her for a bit, and it was nice to hear from her.

The weekend was good. It was fun to see Teagan and have a girl weekend. We ended up going to Regina because I've been pretty big-city-deprived. We did a little shopping and ate supper at a decent restaurant. Today we went to church, had a quick lunch, and then they left me. :(

Not even two weeks until I get to come home for thanksgiving, though!! And I have my friend the car back!

So this afternoon I've just been lazing around in my PJ's. I did 4 loads of laundry (my first time doing it here as I went home a couple weekends ago), and I got a little bit of reading done. I finally figured out what the deal is with my printer, too! The USB cable was dead...so I stole my roommate's to get caught up on printing my class notes. My dad's coming to the rescue again by sending me a new one. 

I think it'll be an early night for me. Here come another week of classes...

Bottom of the Totem Pole

Horray for another week of classes being done!! I'm very, very excited for the weekend. #1 because it's a weekend, and #2 because Heather, Teagan, and my mom are coming to visit meeeee!

This past week was okay. Well, no, it was good. I'm getting a little bored with two of my four classes. And they're both on Mon/Wed. Spiritual Formation because the prof talks about the same thing over and over again and makes it really simplified. He has also got a really soothing and monotonous voice. And Youth Ministry for pretty much the same reason: I'm not really learning anything and it's not interesting...yet. Though, the prof is a lot more attention grabbing than the first one. I am still really enjoying Pauline Epistles and OT, though. 

Well, not much else to report from the week. Pretty much every night just consisted of hanging around in the dorm and either doing homework or watching Gilmore Girls. :)

I have been realizing the past couple of days why it takes a while to get used to everything. I just finished high school in a school that I've been going to since kindergarten. By the time grade 12 rolled around (and even far before that), I knew everyone, I had my consistent groups of friends, I was involved with pretty much everything, and I was a leader in the school. Come here, It's like right back to square one -- the bottom of the totem pole coming from the extreme top. And it's not a bad thing; it's a part of life. It's just different. I am one small girl among 600-ish students, just another face to the profs, and the same level of 'friend' to pretty much everyone on the hall. Oh freshman life...

Significant Day in History

Today I became an official, registered voter. 

I am very excited to finally be able to vote. I feel so grown up! 

That's all I have to say.

Critical Thinking...(revised)

( This title is dedicated to Ms. Heather Pitman. I know how much she loves that phrase. :) )

I love Rob Bell. I have watched almost all of his Nooma videos and I have read his book, Velvet Elvis. So when my friend informed me that there was some controversy about his teachings and theology, I was shocked. I hadn't heard anything of the sort, and after a conversation with a girl on the opposite spectrum as me (she hadn't read or watched any of his stuff but had just heard and read an essay about the arguments against him, and I didn't know anything about the controversy) I decided to look into it. 

So, being the nerd that I am, I spent about 30 min on Wikipedia tonight learning about the theology that Bell uses -- the beliefs of the Emerging Church Movement.  It's basically saying that the traditional church, with the Christianese language, systematic dogma, and strict theology is not doing much for bring people of the modern world to Christ. Therefore, a new way of looking at things is to simplify the doctrine, making it more personal and making it more able to draw people to Christ. Like my mom said, basically the doctrine of the Emerging Church is to love God and love people. I don't think that in any way that belief diminishes the authority of scripture and it definitely doesn't dismiss its importance. It's just responding more to the call of loving people and making disciples of all nations. Doing it in a way that will draw them to the church instead of making them feel condemned. Living our lives in a way that is so in love with Christ that we desire to follow His example and see the world through his eyes. 

So really, why can't people just leave the servants of Christ such as Rob Bell alone instead of finding little things and picking them apart? "By their fruit you will recognize them" And Mr. Rob sure has brought a lot of people to know a loving Jesus who is our Lover and closest Friend. Sure, some things he says in his book "Velvet Elvis" I don't really agree with. But, that doesn't mean that I should just write him off entirely and not listen to anything he says. The people that do that aren't exactly disciplining themselves to think critically -- they're just taking the easy way out. As a follower of Christ in today's modern world it is so absolutely important to learn to think critically, to, "keep your head in all situations" (2 Tim 4:5) and to "test everything" (1 Thess 5:21). And it is crucial to always go back to God's Word while doing so. 

There are many different types of speakers that have many different theologies and opinions. So, yes, know what you believe, but agree to disagree. Learn some things from a speaker while disagreeing with other statements from the same guy. The church is far too willing to split up over simple arguments that mean nothing for one's salvation or even for one's life with Christ.

I love weekends here. It can get a little boring, and I realize what a huge privilege it is to have a car now that it is gone. But, for the most part, the sleeping in and having nooo structure is sweet. I slept until 11:00 both of the past mornings; I've nevvvverr been able to sleep that late. It's kind of nice, but I also feel guilty for wasting my whole morning. 

I worked, read, and studied all afternoon yesterday and all afternoon today. Right from lunch (which is more like breakfast on the weekends) until supper. It's been a really productive day, though! I finally understand what the heck went on with Paul's life. I read the book, but it makes so much more sense when I use google, maps, handouts, AND the book to make notes and put things in chronological order. 

On Friday night I talked to Matt for like an hour. And a couple days before that I got to talk to Brianne. I miss people, and I can't wait until parties during Christmas holidays!! :) Oh, funny story though. So, I told Matt to call me at 6:30. He said ok. I'm waiting in the dorm, 7:00 rolls around, and then 7:15. At 7:30 he calls and I say, "Where've you been?" He says, "What do you mean?" I say, "It's 7:30." He says, "Noooo, it's 6:30." Yea. That's right. Compleeeetely forgot about the time change. It was hilarious. 

Last night at about 1:00am some girls from our hall got dressed in black and went on a mission to find the "Slurpee Cup". Hall #2 won it during the olympics and it was just recently stolen. We didn't complete our mission, but running around outside and trying to track it down was quite enjoyable. 

Next weekend My mom, sister, and Heather are coming to visit meee! (I don't even remember if I wrote this yet...sorry if I did.) It'll be a grand weekend. And then the next time I get to come home is for Thanksgiving. Woot.

I watched my grad video last night. It was sad.

Well, it's time to pack up my stuff from the library table and head to supper. Write at ya'll later.

You can't mark my art!

I just finished my weekly reading and journal entry for my Spiritual Formation class, and I am really frustrated with that book and with the class right now. I just discovered, as I was going through like 5 different disciplines in 20 minutes in order to write a one paged journal response, that it is actually designed to do one a day and THEN at the end of the week to respond to it. 

It's written in a way that every few pages is a new 'discipline' that it goes over. (ie worship, gratitude, sabbath, celebration, etc.) It has a blurb, reflection questions, and exercises. And let me tell you, I am not about to use it as my devotions for each day. It's one of those "I'll do the dishes until you tell me I have to" type things. I would way rather do my own thing for daily devotions instead of being limited to a book that is simplistic, and way to "A-B-C-like". And what is more, at the end of the week we have to journal. So at first I was like, "Yay! No problem! I love journalling and would be doing it anyway." 

But, we're getting marked on it. We have to limit it to one page double spaced and we have to follow a certain structure. I just completed the journal entry about 5 minutes ago and was so frustrated while doing it because I wasn't allowed to let my thoughts just flow and actually let it mean something to me. I had to be too conscious about making sure that I ended it with a proper conclusion, saving the goals until the end of the page, and writing it in a way that I knew my prof would be reading it. 

You would think that in a spiritual formation class they would be encouraging us to grow sincerely and do the things that work best for us. It feels fake, forced, and routine. But I guess I'll just have to take it as a challenge to make it mean something to me anyway. To take it as it is and meet with God anyway.

Week Three

After the third week of being here (and the second week of classes) comes to an end, I'm definitely feeling settled and loving it here. I've been enjoying most of the classes, even though parts can get pretty ... uninteresting. I think the most interesting one would be Pauline Epistles. Even though it is taking a lot of effort to read the text, and the Bible, and even do some background (google) reading to figure out what's going and and to get everything in order, I love the type of things that I'm learning. The background behind all of Paul's letters and even just the basic timeline of Paul's life is some cool stuff. And, like the OT class, it helps to bring me to a better understanding that the happenings of the Bible actually, well, HAPPENED like thousands of years ago...on THIS earth. Even though hate geography, it's cool to see what happened where. 

I am absolutely loving choir. We're learning so many fun songs for the Christmas musical (which is the weekend of Dec. 4-6 if anyone is interested in coming, not because you want to see me - in the midst of a sea of people - sing, but because Briercrest always puts on a Christmas musical and it is a huugggee thing). And we're also putting together a few worship songs for leading worship at the Community church in a couple weekends. It reminds me of Seekers -- learning a ton of fun songs with different parts. I just love choir. 

I got to see Gavin (my old youth pastor) and a few other covenant pastor/leader type people on Tuesday evening. They were here for a conference/meetings to talk about ideas for our Covenant Conference. So, him and another guy I just met a month ago, and my pastor from Saskatoon, and I went to Starbucks and chatted for a while. There was another man here by the name of Phil that the Covenant Church of Canada just hired to be in charge of putting together something(s) for the college/career students. Since Covenant Bible College closed down, him and a team of people are looking at what is next for us. He wanted to meet with me (he knows my mom as she is on the board) and hear my thoughts and ideas about what we need. So I was up at the crack of dawn yesterday to meet him for breakfast before my 8:30 class. It was a good opportunity, and I was glad to have met him since he's going to our church next in s'toon and I won't be there. Obviously.

So, since I was up at 6:30 and hadn't gone to bed until 12 the night before, for the first time in my life I struggled to keep my eyes open and stay away in class. It was spiritual formation, and it definitely wasn't a very interesting class. But I was totally on the verge of falling asleep, and I'm the type of person who has noo control over staying awake when I'm at the point of trying to keep my eyes open if I'm just sitting still. (If movies are playing past dark, I'm always falling asleep during them. I think I can thank my dad for this.)

Next weekend Heather and my mom and sister are coming to visit me! Yay! Heather's going to stay with me in the dorm and my mom and sister have a room at the spa! So pumped.

Anyway, not much else to report for the week. I just had my 8:30 class this morning, am chilling out until choir at 12:20, and then it's officially my weekend! I LOOVEE this long weekend every weekend business and am not exactly looking forward to having a Friday class next term. Oh well, it's apologetics. It's worth it. 

I'm looking forward to staying here this weekend and having some fun times with the people I've met. I have a LOT of homework and reading to do and get ahead on, but so far I've been doing okay with trying to balance locking myself up in my room to work and being social/having fun. I have realized though, that no matter how badly I wish I was able to just not finish the reading for the day or just not do the homework -- I am a true perfectionist. It's in my blood.

P.s. My car cost $300 to tow it back to s'toon, but only $500 to fix. The alternator was broken. I have no idea what that means (it continually recharges the car while it's running?), but if you do, that's great. 

1 is the loneliest number -- even for a car.

After a fantastic weekend at home, relaxing, shopping (stocked up on clothes and dorm items :) ), watching TV, hanging out, and NOT doing as much reading as I should have done, I headed back for school this afternoon around 4:30. Apparently an adventure awaited me and the high school girl, Jordan-Rose, whom I gave a ride to and from S'toon this weekend.

About an hour from Saskatoon my cruise just randomly shut off. So, I tried to turn it back on again and it wouldn't stick. I called my dad to ask if there was something wrong that would affect the whole car or if it would just be the cruise. As I am talking to him on the phone my speedometer quits and shows 0km/h even though I was still going 110. My steering wheel felt stiff (still don't know if that was just a mind thing or if there was actually something wrong with it) and then the car started slowing down even though I wasn't braking. Still talking to my dad, I decided at that moment to pull over and he said I should turn off the engine. So I did -- and it definitely wouldn't start again. 

My fantastic father then got into his handy truck and made his way to where we were. We only waited for about 45 min. because my dad definitely doesn't mind speeding. And then he took us the rest of the way. We were fine the whole time, and it could've been so much worse. We could've been way farther from s'toon, we could've been in a bad place to pull over, my cell phone could have been without service, or really...my car could have exploded! :) 

So I am back at the dorm safe and sound. It's good to get settled in again and see everyone. (I do really like it here.) 

And so my car sits all by itself, on the side of the road -- spending the night all by its lonesome in the dark before it gets picked up tomorrow. Poor car.

Home Sweet Home

I am pleased to announce that I am writing this entry from my very own desk in my very own room in my very own house. :) It's so fun to be home; it's different 'visiting' for the weekend than actually living here. Though, Teagan thought that I was done college already...

So yea, I'm just hanging out this weekend. Going to get together with a few people, maybe, but basically just relaxing, reading my textbooks, and being with my family. It's nice that I'm not, not looking forward to going back. In fact, in a way I kind of am looking forward to heading back on Sun. evening because I'm getting into the swing of things there and am really enjoying my classes. The work load and trying to figure out how to balance things are definitely going to take some work, but I am so glad to be learning so many interesting things already. I'll head back on Monday for about 4 weeks and then I'll be back for Thanksgiving. Woot! Bring on the turkey! (Not right now, though, because I just had a massive home cooked supper from my...yes...father. My mom is at work.)

I do love college. I feel so old and independent. And it's just an exciting stage of life. It's more of feeling bad leaving my family, especially my sister, than being really homesick and missing them. Because honestly, I haven't been homesick since the first Monday there. I'm definitely thankful for the peace at which I've been able to settle into college life. I love classes. I love choir (we've already started preparing for the Cmas musical). I love the people I've met. I love the chapels. And I love life. 

So, I'm off to enjoy a relaxing weekend...trying to actually relax more than read my textbooks. And I'm greatly looking forward to it all. 

Hosanna in the Highest

I see the king of glory  Coming on the clouds with fire 

The whole earth shakes The whole earth shakes 

I see his love and mercy  Washing over all our sin 

The people sing The people sing  

Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna in the highest 

  I see a generation  Rising up to take their place 

With selfless faith With selfless faith 

I see a near revival  Stirring as we pray and seek 

We're on our knees We're on our knees  

Heal my heart and make it clean  

Open up my eyes to the things unseen 

Show me how to love like you have loved me 

Break my heart for what breaks yours 

Everything I am for your kingdom's cause 

As I go from nothing to  

Eternity 

Under Way

I think I have officially brought myself out of the denial that I have been in about Covenant Bible College closing down and me actually being at Briercrest. I bought a Briercrest lanyard today; my CBC one is retired. Well, not quite. Just because I bought the Briercrest one doesn't mean I will use it right away. :)

Oh, and I passed my English proficiency exam. I was sooo surprised.

My first weekend here was great! On Sat a few girls took a guy from the states to Tim Hortans for the first time. He enjoyed the iced caps and the timbits! We went to Walmart and to McD's -- and we successfully skipped out on a freshmen scavengar hunt that was happening back in Caronport. teehee. We watched some movies Sat. night too. It was pretty much just an all around great day of hanging out and relaxing. 

Yesterday (Sun.) morning I went to the Caronport Community Church that was held in Briercrest's huge chapel. It was really neat to be a part of the Caronport community -- one that is so entirely made up of this college/seminary/high school. The pastor was very welcoming and it was just all around a good morning. We sand a song that I have grown very fond of: Hosanna by Starfield. And yea, pretty much just lazed around for the rest of yesterday too. Oh! Until the welcome chapel which was SOO awesome. I was looking forward to it since I got here. The official kick off when all the students are finally here and ready to start a new year of school. Last night there were also the traditional Briercrest Olympics. It turned out to be more fun that I thought it would be, as I'm usually not a big fan of ridiculous games and preferred participation. But, it was really great.

I'm in the College Singers! Yay! We had our first rehersal/practice today and it was so fun. And bonus: we only meet Mon, Wed, Thurs at noons. No Fridays or weekends (besides the occasional...and rare...weekend performance). Basically we're just preparing for the Christmas musical. The only bummer thing about it is that on Mon and Wed I have a craaazy schedule. I have class at 8:30 and then straight to chapel. 20 minutes after chapel before my 11:00 class. Straight from there to choir and then straight from choir to my 1:20 class. After that one, I have and hour and a half (which I am currently using to blog) to eat and then head off to my 4:00 class. Definitely don't get lunch on Mon and Wed, so I have to eat a big breakfast...and snack during these rare moments of break...ish... :)

Classes were SOO good today. I'm so happy to be into the swing of things, and I feel so independent and old. mwa ha ha. Spiritual Formation was first, and I think it's the class I'm most looking forward to. Intro to Philosophy was at 11:00 -- and after today, I'm seriously considering dropping it. I am very interested in the things that I would be learning throughout the class, but the prof said numerous times today that it's typically not considered a first year course becuase the reading is so extensive and you really have to wrestle with it to figure out what's going on. I know that I could do it if I tried hard and put my mind to it, but I don't know if it's worth it. I am kind of looking at this year as a break before university just to get away with the Lord, learn about myself, take Bible courses, and be refreshed and prepared for university. If I dropped it, I would only be taking 4 courses -- but maybe that will be a really nice thing and I'll be able to enjoy the year a little more? I don't know yet. A year of just four classes a term might be a nice thing to do for myself. :) The sound of actually being able to eat lunch on Mon/Wed without having a crazy schedule also sounds pretty appealing. 

After Philosophy I went to choir, which I've already said was AWESOME. Next was my Pauline Epistles class -- another one I'm really excited for, but it will also be pretty challenging. There aren't many freshmen in that one either. And instead of doing a quiz, a small paper, and a big research paper, I'm choosing to memorize the book of Ephesians! Go me! (Gonna be a lot of work...especially on top of the verses I have to memorize for the Spiritual Form. class.) But yea, it's good because it's interesting how the writers and characters in God's Word start to be a lot more real instead of just like VeggieTale characters. Sounds lame, I know, but I'm fascinated at how my proff can look through a few verses in Acts and conclude a whole chunk of things about Paul's life and his characteristics. Things that I've never even remotely took the time to care about before. 

And now, I'm sitting here and eating and watching the computer clock tick closer to 4:00, which is when I run off to my Foundations of Youth Ministry class. I'm looking forward to that one too. And then tomorrow I have OT Literature, not even any choir practice. Homework day tomorrow!!! 

So, other than my back already killing me from carting around my laptop/textbook/clipboard bag and being extremely annoyed at the piece of wood coming around our right side that is supposed to be efficient enough for a desk, college is swell! 

Pictures!

Today was absolutely boring. A glimpse into what is to come this weekend, I'm sure. But, I went for a nice walk with a girl across the hall from me, and we kind of just hung out all afternoon. Tomorrow morning I don't have anything I have to be at until some freshmen scavenger hunt at 7:00pm. What I'm going to do with myself, I'm not sure. We'll have to get creative; it should be fun. I think I'm going to start memorizing Ephesians too. I have to have the whole book memorized by the middle of November. (I'm choosing to do this instead of writing papers.)

I finally got internet activated into my dorm room. So, here are my pictures of the first week.

                                                My fancy and very comfy bed. :)

                                              My desk. Many nights will be spent here, I'm sure.

                                               Some girls from my hall.

                                               The academic building.

                                               Goodbye for now...

Settling In

Well, it is now day for...wow! four! four! f-o-u-r! Get me back in school!...of being here, and it is actually getting much better. 

This whole week, since it pretty much just freshmen here until Sat, we've just been having orientation seminars and break out session type things. I don't really like those too much because we're on a pretty tight schedule (especially for the mornings) and it feels more like camp. I am SOO looking forward to classes starting next week. Today and tomorrow for the mornings, we have modified classes. So, we finally get to meet our proffs and find out what the classes are about and everything. They're just for a shortened period of time. Today I went to half an hour of both Old Testament lit. and Intro. to Philosophy. They made me even more excited. And, I guess I'm still a nerd at heart even though I wanted to make sure to have a good balance between academics and socializing this year because I'm looking forward to writing those papers on such interesting subject. And I'm so pumped for learning!!! :D For one class, I have the option of memorizing the book of Ephesians instead of writing on research paper and two smaller essays. I think I'm going to go for it. It'll be great fun! So yea. I'm just looking forward to get into the routine of classes and be even more independent than I've been able to be during this freshmen week. Mind you, I have already been to Moose Jaw for a food and supplies run. 

The more I hear the vball girls talk about all their practices, games, and how they have to be back on Jan 1 (whereas I don't need to come back until the 10th), I feel more and more assured of how I made the right decision for me to not play. I'm glad that I got to play with them on Monday night, and I'm proud of myself that I was actually able to play pretty much to their level. But, I feel really at peace with not being on the team. I auditioned to be in the choir; it's called College Singers. I think it went pretty well, but I won't be upset if I don't make it. I'm going to try and get involved with Youth Quake planning as well. 

Socially, it's going well. My roommate, Carlee, is nice and fun and everything. We get along just fine, but it's been a little difficult to have conversations with her. She usually hangs out with the vball girls as my hall is pretty much half and half with vball players, and I don't know how much we have in common yet. But, things should start getting more comfortable and smooth. Nothing to complain about yet. ;) I've been hanging out mostly with the other girls on my hall; we're all getting to know each other really well...some more than others. We've done a couple activities as a hall and have had a few dorm meetings, so it's easy and fun getting to know the other Whit 3 girls. It's been great having Jireh Wong here too. We knew each other from school and from quizzing, and it's just nice to have someone that is from home, that knows me already, and that I feel completely comfortable with right off the bat. 

This afternoon I have to write an English proficiency exam. It's mandatory so that if people don't know english very well or how to write papers, they can get help and take an academic writing class. I'm pretty sure it'll be a write off and I'm not worried about it at all. But, I guess I just have to go and humour the authority. Tonight I'm giving Jireh a ride into Moose Jaw so she can catch a bus home. But, other than that I pretty much have a free weekend. Other than some more dumb freshmen icebreakers such as 'olympics'. Bah. I've never liked those types of things. But, I guess I might as well just make the best out of it.

So, that's my story from the week thus far. I'll try and get some pictures up soon -- I haven't even gotten my camera out yet. Thanks for your prayers. I can definitely say that I can feel God's peace as I'm trying to get settled in here and trying to feel a little less homesick. And it has been better. Monday was definitely the hardest, but now I'm feeling good. As I opened up my new Bible that I got for grad for the first time (because I was saving it for College), I had my verse that the staff gave me bookmarked. It is Jer. 17:8, 

"He will be like a tree planted by the water 

       that sends out its roots by the stream. 
       It does not fear when heat comes; 
       its leaves are always green. 
       It has no worries in a year of drought 
       and never fails to bear fruit." 

It reminded me that I have two options with feeling homesick. I can either mope and throw myself a pity party and miss out on things. Or, I can allow God to give me the strength to overcome it and just embrace things as they are. So, I'm stepping out, trying to get involved with things, and I am so excited for classes on Monday.

AND. I have an address now. It is:

Box 748

Caronport, SK

S0H 0S0

Farewell for now!

Arrival

Today was overwhelming -- and it's even more overwhelming thinking that it was only the first day. My family and I got here around 9:00, registered everything, and then started moving me into my dorm. I was surprisingly at peace this whole past week and this morning -- all up until after my family left. But, I'm sure it will get better. 

I've been struggling all week with the decision of whether or not to try out for volleyball. I knew it would be fun to play, but at the same time, I felt like vball wasn't enough of a priority to take up major commitment and time this one year that I have here. So, after a morning of decision making crises, I decided to go to the open gym thing tonight, talk to the coach, and decide whether or not to continue on with tryouts tomorrow. I'm not going to. I much better than I thought, and it was fun. But, I'm more at peace with the decision to not play. 

My roommate seems great; her name is Carlee. And my neighbours across the hall are fabulous too. 

And so after an emotional day, I'm heading back to the dorm for my first sleep in my new bed. 

sigh