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.

finally...

This weekend, exactly on year after we got engaged, I finally got my ring. I'm not going to go through the whole story, but basically it took longer than it should have.

Also for "finally", after a year and a day of being engaged we finally got our engagement pictures done this weekend as well.

That's all for now.

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.

A Wardrobe and a Ring

First I want to say: yes it is the wardrobe you are thinking of, but probably not the ring that you are thinking of.

It was a pretty eventful weekend for me this weekend. It really started on Friday when I took a field trip to the Wade Center. The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College houses a very large (and for some of the authors, the largest collection in the world) collection of original drafts and first editions of Lewis, Tolkien, and 5 other famous Christian authors.

I am taking a class on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Our class spent time studying Lewis and Tolkien. We each have to write some sort of research paper about Tolkien or Lewis or their works. I am working on a paper about the relationship of Lewis, Tolkien, and the group of writers associated with them (the inklings) and how it effects their writings.

Among the first drafts, original letters, and first editions, the wade center has objects, furniture, and even pipes belonging to those writers. One of the biggest pieces is the wardrobe belonging CS Lewis, the wardrobe that was inspiration for his book.

Also, this weekend, there was a ring. It was not Tolkien's Ring, however. Lindsay and I ordered our wedding rings two weeks ago. Saturday, we went down to Springfield and picked up her wedding ring. It's a beautiful ring, but I can't wait to finally have my ring which won't be in until March.

somethings I wish I could do a little more

It's been about a month since I've been back at school. I've spent my time getting back into the swing of things and doing lots of reading. Since being back at school, I have read 4 books completely and I'm in the middle of 4 other books currently. I really wish that I had the time to read these books well, and other books for that matter. I am a slow reader and have to admit that some books get "mostly" read so that I am able to get the reading done. My semester is going to be a lot of reading.

One other thing that I wish I could do a lot more of I did a few nights ago. One of my friends was leading worship at the student lead worship service called Focus. I convinced him to let me play drums for the night. I played drums a few times over my internship and I've played congas once and drums once at Jeff St. CC since I've been back to school, but I can say that it's been a few years since I've really been forced to step up my drum playing. To understand why i had to step up my drumming, here are a few of the songs we played (these aren't us playing): overcome, all because of Jesus, and marvelous light. I was very grateful for the chance to break out my drum sticks once again and play the set.

And so it begins one last time.

Well, it has been such a long long time since I posted last and lots have happened since then. So I will elaborate in list form:

• Came back from Maine, stopping in NY to see my sister and her family.
• Visited friends in Lincoln, IL at LCC
• Visited friends in Quincy, IL at Madison Park CC
• Went back to NY to spend a few more days with my sister and my family.
• Drove back through a blizzard in Cleveland.
• Spent Christmas and New Years in Indy
• Spent a weekend with Lindsay's family and met the new niece and nephew from Ukraine.
• Moved back to Lincoln for an intensive class
• Lindsay and I went to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond to register for wedding gifts (and I registered for a Wii)
  
• Now, classes have started and I'm volunteering at Jeff St. CC

Now that everyone has been caught up, hopefully regular blogging can begin. Things are going well here at LCC, we've experienced sub-zero temperatures for a few days, but now it's back above 0°.

I've been through all of the syllabus classes and have a 3 day weekend. It's going to be a good semester, but I have a ton of reading to do. But it's alright, because this is the last semester of College that I have to get through before I graduate.

That's all for now.