Disclaimers?

1. Bear hugs are awesome! They tend to make people happy when they're sad. Or they just make them happier if they're already pretty happy. *Disclaimer: Sometimes bear hugs can be perceived as creepy. Make sure you know the person you're bear hugging, or you may be served with a restraining order.*

2. Painting nails is a great way to get someone to open up. Even if you're not a girly girl, it's a good way to get to know someone. My theory regarding why this works involves either: 1) The person is distracted while painting her nails thus sharing life stories with ease or 2) Nail polish fumes have a socializing (and possibly dangerous) effect on aforementioned individual. *Disclaimer: I do NOT recommend this technique for dudes. Try something less awkward like basketball, burping contests, or bear hugs.*

3. Never take yourself too seriously. Seriously. Fill someone's office with balloons, dress up like a dork and hang out with people just as ridiculous as you, and take a leap of faith knowing Someone will catch you if you fall. *Disclaimer: Literal leaps of faith can result in injury. I do not take responsibility for anyone who jumps off a cliff as a result of reading this blog.*

4. A little love goes a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way. Hopefully the extra O's emphasize my point. :) When you're feeling down, sometimes the best thing to do is go show love to someone. First, it'll make you realize that life isn't all about you. Secondly, showing love is just part of being like Jesus. I mean, you can't argue with that. *Disclaimer: You could actually argue with that, but it wouldn't change my mind.*

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. -Acts 20:24

The Changes

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged and it's around 2:30 Saturday morning and I'm not sleepy, so here's an update:

1. My family visited! I had a great time with them. We walked around campus, ate awesome (somewhat sarcastic) Truman food, went to a football game, train bridge, and arts festival. It was a busy weekend!

They had homemade rootbeer at the festival. It was weird, because it had no carbonation.

Our group at the football game. Despite this picture, we really are good friends. I blame the cold for our awkward pose.

I love my daddy!

It took several tries to get this picture. My eyes were super squinty that day. Hmph.

2. I went to Quincy, Illinois with friends a few weekends ago. It was my first time actually staying in Illinois (we drove through on the way to Missouri) and I LOVED IT! Quincy is an adorable town on the Mississippi River. All the people I met were so friendly! We went to a QHS football game (they won!), ate at Steak-n-Shake, walked around downtown, and spent some quality time sleeping and playing Monopoly. Also, us girls cultivated our culinary skills by making cookies and even BAKLAVA. Yum!

Christina, Sarah, and me at the game!

Baklava

Side note 1: Wal-Mart had a super cute SMILEY FACE umbrella. Of course, I had to buy it. :)

3. The Pershing Society ate dinner at the home of TSU's president, Troy Paino (T-Pain). He's pretty legit.

Miscellaneous Info: 

-I love my classes!! It's awesome being able to apply what I'm learning in class to the real world. I'm tutoring a 5th grader who just moved here from Mexico, and it's really improving my conversational Spanish skills. Sometimes, my friend Christina and I speak in Spanish for extended periods of times. I'm a dork. Side note 2: I find myself confusing Italian and Spanish words frequently.

-I met my "little" for Campus PALS (People Acting Like Siblings... clever, I know). She's super sweet, and we have a lot of fun together. I'm going to her soccer game tomorrow, which means I should probably finish this blog and go to sleep!

-I won a Beta fish, but he died. His name was Desmond Oswald. I wasn't too attached.

-I'm coming home in 2 weekends! My gov school friends are having a REUNION even though it's not their fall break. I think that's pretty awesome of them. :)

-God is still showing me so many things about myself and others. I'm right where I need to be.

My New Friends

Scared, questioning my decision, and nervous about leaving home--that's pretty how much I felt when I began the 16 hour drive to Truman. I wasn't sure what God had in store for me. The first night on Truman's campus, I was alone in my room, organizing my stuff. In the silence, I prayed that God would give me strength and open my eyes for ways to show love. Over 4 weeks have passed since that night, and God has been blessing me way more than I could have imagined. I've met some amazing people who love Jesus more than I do. They're encouraging me so much in my faith. Others have shown me so much love--they've offered me chances to come home with them, they've laughed with me, they've made fun of my accent (Apparently Cheese Doodles and Cow Tails do not exist in Missouri. What a shame!), and we've made so many memories together. Here are just a few pictures summarizing the past four weeks:

My roommate Sarah Jo and I at the bell tower on campus

Our group at the Train Bridge. Basically, it's a bridge that goes over railroad tracks (in the middle of no where).  You  have to experience it to understand how cool it is.

Painted faces before the first home football game

My friend Christina and I bought balloon hats at the Farmer's Market!

Christina and I wrote a thank you note to the Domino's delivery man. He called to thank us and say he would hang it up at work.

Yesterday, our group went to Thousand Hills State Park. We had an awesome picnic, looked at some cool petroglyphs and got caught in a massive thunderstorm. Christina was eating an apple sucker and the boys were trying to keep me out of the picture. They failed.

After the thunderstorm we saw an AMAZING rainbow!

West Campus had a carnival last weekend that had Jello-wrestling. I was up for trying something new, and it turned out to be so much fun!

As you can see, they used green Jello.

All in all, I can't begin to describe how blessed I am to be part of such an awesome community of people. :)

P.S. MY FAMILY COMES TO VISIT IN < 2 WEEKS!!!

Zambia

Some of the kids in my youth group back home have been organizing a concert to raise money for Active Water. This organization raises money to build sand filters for families in Zambia. Without these filters, people are forced to drink dirty, unsafe water. 

Crazy: Sometimes, the women in Zambia have to walk six miles to get even water. They have no other options. Often, the water they get is still unsafe to drink. A sand filter costs about $75. The average American spends twice that amount per month on FAST FOOD (FinancialNut, 2008). Seriously, isn't there a better way we can spend our money?


Crazier: 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water.  That's approximately 1 out of every 8 persons on earth. (UNICEF/WHO Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Special Focus on Sanitation, 2008)


Craziest: Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. (United Nations Human Development Report, 2006)

Pretty sobering stuff, huh? It definitely is, but at the same time, I am so pumped about the Zambia Benefit! I'm extremely proud of the kids for taking the initiative to do something bigger than themselves. They have amazed me with the time and dedication they're putting into planning this event. This is a chance to show people what faith in action looks like. It's not about us, or who WE ARE; rather, it's all about who WE ARE WITH, and that is a God who changes lives. 


Call me crazy, but I believe in a God who can use three high schoolers to change the lives of hundreds of people in Zambia. 


Data and photos provided by Pamela Crane, Barak Bruerd, and Victor Huckabee of BWM, as well as photos submitted by Tam Faller.