Nov 29, 2008

Thanksgiving Week + my Sermon

So I had a four thanksgiving dinners this past week. It all started a week ago with the Mahannahs. I went over there to enjoy a thanksgiving meal with their family. It was a wonderful meal with lots of food and about 5 or 6 different pies. I really enjoyed the night, even though most of the time my upcoming sermon the next morning. I got back later that night and ran over my sermon a couple of times.

The next morning I got up and was nervous like CRAZY about preaching. This was the first time that I have ever preached on a Sunday morning. The services went really well, the second service than the first. I had a great time doing it. Once I got on stage to start speaking, it just kind of flowed out. I'm so glad that I got a chance to do that. Everyone gave me good reviews of my sermon, so apparently it was decent. If you want to listen for yourself it's here: http://www.eastpointecc.com/sermons/2008/20081123.htm

That night was my second of 4 thanksgiving dinners. It was a potluck thanks giving dinner, which means there was lots and lots of good food to be had. It was a fun time to hang out with my small group from church.

The next thanksgiving dinner was on wednesday night. I ate thanksgiving dinner with the family that I'm living with. I was another traditional thanksgiving dinner with all the fixins. I stuffed myself with lots of food. It was wonderful, although, there was not pumpkin pie that night.

My last thanksgiving meal was back with the mahannahs on thanksgiving day. We ate ham, since we already had turkey. Then I ate 4 pieces of pie that night. Then I stayed up late that night to play video games with Chris and Ryan. I stayed for the next day and played more video games. It was a great way to celebrate the holiday and getting all of my school work done for my internship.

Nov 11, 2008

Retreat Number 2 (Middle School Remix)

So this weekend, we had the middle school retreat. As far as craziness goes, the weekend was a lot less exciting. We didn't loose any keys and we didn't have any serious injuries. Despite this lack of craziness, we had a great weekend.

We went to the same place for the retreat, Camp Berea in NH. I will certainly miss that place, because of the beautiful view. It's one of those views that is beautiful no matter what kind of weather it is.

For the most part we did all of the same basic things that we did last weekend, only this time with middle schoolers. It was a fun time, and I think I laughed a whole lot more. The middle school students are a handful, but are definitely fun and funny.

We had lots of great times with carpet ball tournaments, knock out competitions, and two-hand touch football in the rain. Thankfully, it was relatively warm this weekend (I know, Maine warm in November, crazy) because I soaked my shoes and only had flip flops for the rest of the weekend.

This weekend I also had a chance to teach during the retreat. It was a great experience, mostly because everything you say stirs up questions among the students, and they really want to share. We focused on what it means to change the world from the inside out. It was a great weekend. Retreats wear you out, but it is well worth it to spend the weekend with awesome students.

There are now pictures from both retreats on my Picasa account (see where I've been section on the right).

Nov 3, 2008

Retreat Number 1

This weekend was, as the locals say, a wicked crazy weekend. On Friday, we began our trek to Camp Berea in Hebron, NH. We drove for a few hours when we stopped at McDonald's for Dinner. While there we lost the keys to one of the vehicles. So we looked for keys for around an hour, and we didn't find them. So we packed up the stuff in other vans and left the suburban there.

Eventaully, we wond up at Camp Berea (also after getting lost due to faulty directions). We had a great night there settled down and got ready for a crazy weekend.

The next morning was pretty normal. Actually, the morning itself was beautiful. There was a beautiful sunrise over the hills across the lake from where we were. We had a worship service and then a lesson time. I taught about the Bible and the reliability of the scriptures. The class went really well, even though I felt like I bored the kids to death, they seemed to enjoy it however.

That afternoon we did a challenge course.
It was a good time, the hardest part was trying to cross the tight rope wire. It took my group a while, but we had a great time doing the tight rope. We also did a thing where we balanced on a wooden raft thing, but that wasn't as hard as the wire.

It was a great time. That afternoon I played football with the guys and the missionary/speaker for the weekend proved to be a great quarterback. He lead us to victory.

We practiced for the worship service that night, I played drums that weekend. The worship service that night went really well. Afterwards, we had the first ever Fusion olympics. It was hilarious for most of it We had fencing with noodles, we had 3 legged races, discus throwing with their mouths, and weight lifting with chairs. It was a really great night. The only bad part was when one of the students tried to flip and gave himself a concussion on the concrete floor. That was a rough end of the night.

Luckly, the student was ok. The rest of the retreat was pretty uneventful. After getting back from the retreat, I had to lead middle school fusion. Which, even though I was tired, was fun. We played dodge ball for a while. Then Chris, one of the Seniors, gave a lesson and did a great job.

That was my wicked crazy weekend. Hopefully the next weekend (the middle school retreat) will be just as fun but with less complications.