It's about time for an update.

Well, here's the long and short of what's been happening:
Saturday, I enjoyed a nice day out. I went with two students out to a soccer game. We enjoyed beautiful day and some awesome scenery. The field overlooked the Back Cove, and on the other side of the cove was the city of Portland. It really was a great view.
We watch the two students from the youth ministry play soccer. Unfortunately, the game ended in a tie. It was a good day, nonetheless.
That evening, I helped take a group of middle school students down to a corn maze. Surprisingly enough, this was my first time in a corn maze. It was a great time, even though my group was lost for about 45 minutes. It was a fun time of walking around in circles.

Sunday was my second week in a row helping with e-kids. Children's ministry really is a different experience from youth ministry. We talked about Jonah (or as the New Englanders like to say it "Joner"). Then Sunday night was another great night in middle school fusion. For the first week, someone else gave the lesson, which was nice, I didn't have to prepare the lesson. I helped lead the games. Next week, however, I'm covering for Jared in High School Fusion. After fusion, we had a dodge ball for the high school guys. It was a great time that has still left me sore.

Monday, I celebrated Columbus day. It is a much bigger holiday out here in New England. Some students had a four day weekend because of the holiday. It's so big because it's the last chance that some people get to go camping. I went over to a friends for a cook out and for flag football.

It was a great holiday weekend. This weekend, however, I'm looking forward to a guest. Lindsay comes out this Saturday and I can't wait to see her.

It's been a long, but great week.

Like I said at the end of the last post, my Monday began with taking Rondel to the airport at 4:00 am. That was quite the experience. It took me about an hour round trip to go pick up Rondel from Jared's, take him to the airport, and then go back home and sleep. This was the first of many busy days this week. Monday wasn't too exciting at the office, and actually most days really aren't that exciting. They are productive, but not really exciting. That evening, though, I had a great time helping David, one of the two high school guys I live with, find cleats. This was fun because it is really hard to find cleats a third of the way through the soccer season. Most of the shoes that he wanted were sold out. Eventually, he found some. The best part was, however, just hanging out and talking soccer with him.
On Tuesday, I went to small group. There is a small group at EastPointe for college age/20 somethings. I found out about this group by accident, but love the fact that I am able to participate in a small group. The group is called "Live 4:12" (live as in "I live" not as in "This is a live broadcast) from 1 Tim 4:12 (setting an example for the believers in speech, life, love, and faith, and purity). It's a great group, and we have a great time every week. Next week, we're going down to the beach to see a baptism, so I'll probably have some pictures from that.
Wednesday is my d-group night. We rapped up our discussion of evangelism this week. We talked about how we can use our testimonies to share our faith. As a part of that we talked about a really cool thing called cardboard testimonies. I challenged the guys to think about what they could right on a piece of cardboard that would be able to tell people how God has made a difference in their lives.
Thursday and Friday were once again game nights. Thursday, I saw the Windham Eagles beat the Gorham Rams 1-0 in soccer for the first time in 5 years, and learned that I need to buy long underwear. The nights have consistently been in the 40's and one night was supposed to dip into the 30's. And Friday I saw Scarborough get beat in football. I was really there to hang out with Middle School students. I found out that in Scarborough, the football game is the place for the middle school students to hang out on friday nights. It certainly was an interesting experience just to hang out with a bunch of middle schoolers.
This has been a long week, with something to do every night of the week, but it's been fun. I am, however, going to enjoy Saturday.

Football and Futbol.

Well, school is in full swing out here in Maine and that means it's time for sports. Yesterday I went to Westbrook High School and watched the Freshman Blue Blazes. Jared, my field mentor, is the assistant coach at Westbrook. It was a good game to watch. I felt bad for the freshman, 2 of whom go to EastPointe, because the score was 46-8. If the first quarter could be thrown out, however, the score would be 16-8. It was a good time, and the two kids from the youth ministry did well, but it was kind of a rough game.

Tonight it was soccer at Windham High School. I was planning on going to Scarborough, but turns out that game was away and over an hour away. So I went with the family I went with to the boys' soccer game. It was a great game, and really close the whole time. If it weren't for one pk, it would have been even closer. Windham lost 2-0, but played well. It really made me miss playing soccer. Maybe, if my future wife will let me, I will play next year. I still have years of eligibility left.

While at the soccer game I also learned a few things about Maine. 1: The temperature swing from day to evening is a lot bigger than in the Midwest. It's been in the 70's during the day, but it will dip down to the 40's at night. Lesson learned is: always have warmer clothes for the evening. 2: I need to get a rain coat, a warm rain coat. Because of the swing in temperature, when it rains at night, it gets a little colder. Thankfully, I was warm enough tonight during the game, but in the future, it probably won't be good enough. Basically, the moral of the story, is when in Maine be prepared for cold.

This weekend, Rondel, my youth ministry professor, is coming to visit. So there should be some interesting stories from this weekend.