Week of E: Part 2

Monday morning on week of e (the e, by the way, stands for evangelism) we were back at the church building painting. We were putting the finishing touches on the youth room upstairs at the same time part of the group was beginning work on the new coffeeshop downstairs in the main worship area. ECC was turning what was once a couch area where the youth met into a coffeeshop for Sunday mornings. Getting these two things done took the majority of the day. The evening we spent at home and we watched the NCAA championship game that night. Sadly, MSU lost.

Tuesday we put the finishing touches on the coffeeshop and moved all of the couches from downstairs to the new third floor youth room. Unfortunately, at least 3 of them were couch-bed combos. They were heavy, but we got them all up there. After lunch we split up into groups of 2 and 3 and went to pass out the door hangers for the Easter service on Sunday. Spencer and I walked two neighborhoods for 2.5 hours putting door hangers on doors. It was fun to walk and talk, but after a while our feet got tired. We did it though, and then came back and relaxed until wally-ball that night. We played at a local racquetball court with the small group that I met with while I was in Maine. When we got back we hung out at the church and ate food.

The next day was our day in Boston. This was another fun day just walking around and hanging out and seeing the sights. I've been to Boston several times before, and so it was a pretty typical day. The best part of the day was heading to Fenway Park. I've been to Fenway a bunch of times. I had, however, never been in the park. This time I made it in. Thanks to one of my friends on the trip, we got two standing room only tickets for Fenway and watched and inning of the game. It was fantastic. Next I go, though, I'm staying for a whole game.

Our last day was spent with the other New England trips celebrating what we had done. We flew back to Illinois that afternoon, after a 45ish minute delay. Thankfully, we got back to Lincoln before midnight.

That was my wonderful trip to Maine and Boston, and sometimes I wish I hadn't left.

Week of E: Part 1

Last week I went back to the place that I lived for 4 months. It's interesting how much being gone for another four months changes things. There were a lot of new faces to see and a lot of old ones that I didn't see. I also saw places and did things that I didn't see and do while I was there. It was quite an interesting to return to Maine.

We first went to the Root Cellar when we got to Maine. We spent a few hours there hanging out with teens and getting schooled in foosball (2 college students vs. 1 teen: we lost 4-10). It was a an interesting experience. The Root Cellar gets a lot of intercultural kids and when we got there we were outnumbered by teens who African. After about 10 minutes of awkwardness we started playing and hanging out and it was a great time.

The next morning we spent the day painting and getting the new youth room ready. It was a long day, but it was fun. We worked on the room with some of the youth group students and then that evening we got ready for the lesson the next night. Then we went home and spent some time with our host families and I got to stay and catch up with the family who kept me over my internship.

Sunday was mostly about Sunday morning Service and Fusion that night. In the morning we went to first service and the split during second service. Some of us talked to the high schoolers about bible college and others went to work with the children's ministry. In the afternoon we went to the Lobster Shack for lunch and saw some lighthouses, and then that night we went back for youth group. It was awesome to be back with the middle schoolers, they are great kids and really fun to hang out with. Afterwards, we sat and talked with the high school students about what it's like to be a Christian in a non-Christian world. This was very insightful. Then we went home.

That's all for now on Part 1 of week of E. Part 2 will come later. Part 2 will include walking for 2.5 hours, the Boston Red Sox, and an extra 45 minutes in Manchester's Airport.

For pictures of the trip see the albums down and to the right.

What I did on my Spring Break...

Last week was my spring break, and I took the chance to head home for a bit and hangout with my family. Here are the highlights.

After getting to my house, my first trip was to Half Priced Books. My dad and I spent a long time looking around and I finally found the set of the Lord of the Rings that I've always wanted. I

was very excited about finally finding this set and finding for half-off, so I purchased an early (very early) birthday present for myself. I already have the Hobbit book to match and now I just need the Silmarillion to match, too.

On my spring break I was able to accomplish something I have never achieved, I read two books over break. I was able to read Out of the Silent Planet and Till We Have Faces, both by C.S. Lewis. The first was for fun and the second was for my Lewis and Tolkien class at LCC. I was also able to get some research done for my research paper on the inklings from that class.

The best part of my spring break was spending time with my family. I spent time with my parents and my sister's family. One of the most fun times was helping my nephew Simon build a star wars lego set. We built Anakin Skywalker's fighter.

The week ended with a trip to my favorite eatery back in Indy. My wonderful mother took me to Skyline Chili for lunch, and then we spent the afternoon together doing some shopping.

That was my spring break, and now I'm back in to the flow of school. My next "break" comes in a few weeks when I take a trip up to Maine with a group from my school to serve Eastpointe Christian Church and the greater Portland area. I'm excited to go back and see the church and family that I lived with for 4 months.

So bowling is a good sport for me

In the past couple of weeks, I've been bowling a couple of times. I've been candlepin bowling and regular bowling. And apparently it's a sport that comes naturally to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I went candlepin bowling with the staff of ECC. And, of the two games that we played, one of them I won, and the other I came in second. Overall, I scored more than any. Candlepin isn't easy either, it's a lot different than regular bowling.

Fast forward to this week, and I went bowling with my small group. It was in celebration of my time here, because I am leaving. So we went, and I had the best games of my life, along with my friend Zack. It was an exciting game and just because I can I want to share my scores (if you click on it, you should be able to see it better). The funnest part of the night was when Zack and I both bowled amazing games, the same game, with the same bowling ball. We are convinced that our ball was magic.

That was my fun night, and how I learned that bowling is a good sport for me. If you want to see pictures from the night, they are down in the "Where I've been" section on the right.

The Hoedown

This weekend the church had an interesting event. It was the Hill-Billy Hoedown. I must say that I haven't participated in an event like this before. It was an event with food, dancing, and hill-billy games. And of course, everyone was dressed up. Most people wore flannel. It was a great time of just hanging out and having a great time.

The church hired a professional square dance caller. So, I learned to square dance and line dance. It certainly was quite the experience, and also quite the work out. Though, some of the dances were a lot harder than I thought.

The funniest part of the night was that a lot of people assumed that I would be the expert on hill-billies, being that I am from the Midwest. They also assume that I am an expert on corn and farming, too. It's also funny to see what they think of people from the Midwest. I think they confuse farmers, red necks, and hill-billies, and assume that they are a lot a like.

Like I said, we also had some games. The games were pretty good. We had a donut eating contest and seed spitting contest. On top of the games, there was a lot of country music. It was a great time.