Nefarious

They screened a documentary about the global sex trafficking trade at Regent yesterday. It's one of the most powerful films I've ever experienced. This is an out of control industry and has become a lifestyle in many countries. "Nefarious - Merchant of Souls" investigates the magnitude of this injustice and exposes the spiritual battle that it is. We need to submerge this in prayer! Check out their website and watch the trailer. There is a schedule of screenings on the site as well. If it is anywhere close you to, go see it! This film is ordained and the filmmakers are so humble in following God's vision.

Nefarious

Factoids

Just a bunch of random stuff I have forgotten to mention...

1) The day we went to the beach with the new students I did stand up paddle boarding for the first time! It's basically paddling while standing on a giant surf board. It was tough to get the hang of it, but I did pretty well after a few falls. It was freaky to swim in the ocean (but the water was so warm!) and see jellyfish! But God helped me conquer my fears so experience something incredible.

2) I had a coffee date with my new friend Ashley Smith...aka Miss United States 2011! I facebooked her after she spoke at Regent to take her up on an invitation she made to us, and we met at Starbucks for a chat. She is a wonderful person and we had a lot of fun talking! She is also my age and I don't have many friends here that are. I'm excited to go deeper in friendship with her. She has a very expressive personality :)

3) The other day, I was feeling blue and my lovely friend Sammi noticed and bought me flowers to cheer me up! So sweet.

4) A few of the girls in our life group wanted to go to iHOP after unchapel and we had a jolly old time! I tried their pumpkin pancakes. Mmmmm...

Love Sammi :)

I love these crazy ladies!

Hannah (far left) had never been to iHOP!

My Room

Now that our curtains are finally up (thanks to Sarah's dad) I can finally post photos of our room! Sarah and I had fun buying little finishing touches together :)

Bedroom.With photos of our significant others by the mirror.

Kitchen. People like to draw and write notes on the fridge.

Sarah's mini library. You'll notice more in the kitchen.

My desk. Sarah painted the flower with her Grandmother.

Sarah's desk and the cozy chair corner.

Our window seat. Love the tree right outside.

Dinner at the Campos

The life group leaders had the huge honor of having dinner at Dr and Mrs Campos home! Dr Campos is the president of Regent. They are such a beautiful family and I could not have had a more enjoyable evening. First of all, their house is breathtaking! I creeped on Google maps so you could see a photo (below). They have three grown up kids...and Rupert. Rupert is their ridiculously gigantic great white pyrenees dog. Seriously, I could have ridden him around the house because he was the size of a miniature pony. And he made sure that we knew he was in charge. He kept barking at us (especially me), and he had the scariest bark ever. Very intimidating. Dr Campos kept joking that if they know of anyone looking for a dog they would love to get rid of him...honestly.

Mrs Campos blessed us with one of the most delicious Mexican dinners of my life! It was the first Mom-cooked meal I've had since I left home. And they lived in Las Vegas for a long time and know how to make real Mexican food. Best enchiladas ever! We enjoyed dinner and then all of us gathered in the living room to tell them a little bit about ourselves and explain what we do as life group leaders. All evening this couple was very intentional about getting to know each of us and connect with us. They told us that their hearts really lie with our ministry with the students, which was so encouraging. They love the students so dearly.

After talking about all that, we played catch phrase! It was great and I sat in between Dr Campos and Dr Kidd (director of campus ministries). Ha! We played boys against girls and girls won. Oh ya. Then we ended the evening with ice cream sundaes and fellowship. I even had the opportunity to talk to Dr and Mrs Campos one-on-one and we swapped proposal stories. We also talked about the west coast and they knew right where Santa Cruz was :) Such a great evening!

The Campos Residence

Rupert tried to get in the girl photo :)

Matthews

Last weekend, a group of us went up to Matthews (My former roommate Erica's hometown) to their giant art festival. It was really fun! The main street was lined with all kinds of different art for sale. Walking sticks, quilts, jewelry, paintings, knitting (yay!), pottery, and lots more. Our favorite one was the honey booth where we got different flavored honey sticks (I got cinnamon). We also enjoyed lunch at a wonderful pizza place. It was strange being in such a small town because everybody knew EVERYBODY. Erica kept running into people and saying hi. One of the best moments was when we walked into an antique store where there was a creepy mannequin in the corner. Erica hadn't seen it yet, so as she walked towards it, I said, "Hey, Erica, this lady wants to talk to you." By the time she rounded the corner, the mannequin of creepiness was like 4 feet away from her and she flipped out! It was hilarious.

On the way back from Matthews, we stopped at the twin's house to drop Hayley off. And we were just in time to catch their mom taking snickerdoodles out of the oven. Their kitchen smelled so good! I missed you Mommy. But God has given me Virginia Mamas!

The Gang. Danny, Heidi, Me, Erica, Jana, and Ashley.

This one's for Daddy! Delorean :)

Erica's mom, Michelle (aka my VA Mama)

Coolest Quilt in the World!

The Honey Man

Painting on Wood

New Things

God has been so faithful to me in this first month of my senior year. Today marks one month exactly that I flew back to my east coast home. It continues to be an adventure, a challenge, an opportunity for new growth, and I'm overwhelmed by the beauty God brings to my life when I step out and follow his direction. For those of you who don't know, I have joined the campus ministry team this year as a life group leader. Basically, I am a spiritual leader to the upperclassmen ladies on my entire floor of the commons (53 of them!). But not to fear, I have two wonderful co-leaders who are in the graduate program named Hannah and Anne. Hannah was actually one of my life group leaders last year so it's a joy to team up with her now. And Anne is like the older sister I never had. We tease each other constantly and she is probably the most blunt person I've ever encountered! We are a good blend of personalities and I know God will use that to get me out of my box of perfectionism.

Our meetings have been so blessed and the ladies of this floor astound me with their care and love for each other. Please pray for me as I act as a shepherdess. I desire everything that I say and do to be God-breathed, to be used as a vessel. Pray that I will be emptied of everything that is not of God. Our director, Dr Kidd, warned us that we are sheep among wolves and there is spiritual and physical danger that comes with this position of leadership. But I'm ready to fight for these girls and be bruised in the process...Lord help me. I love this role and cannot wait to see the grown God brings on this floor!

Oh, and the other day, there was a special chapel service to dedicate all of the student leaders followed by an anointing ceremony. And I was anointed by Pat Robertson!

Me and Hannah

Life Group Craft Party!

Symphony Concert

On Sunday, the Virginia Symphony performed a free concert in a city park. What could be better! Outside and free! They played very familiar crowd-pleasers including several movie themes. The best one was Titanic, it literally sounded just like the soundtrack and was beyond magical. They even played the same rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean that we played in youth symphony! Dad, you were right, I should have brought my flute and jammed with them for that one :) As we headed back to the car a bit early so we could beat the rush, Sarah and I were discussing that we needed soundtracks to our lives. They were playing a song from a military film as we walked and she said, "We must be getting ready to do something significant!" We also snacked on the best kettle corn I've ever had in my life! It was such a perfect evening with friends who really appreciate music. And God gave a glorious sunset to go along with the elegance of the evening.

Sarah, Michelle, and Ruth. The stage is in the background.

Oh, Regent...

So here is a little gem for you. Some students here (I should say guys) decided to make a little music video during the hurricane...and it went viral! It has almost 109,000 views right now and was featured on Good Morning Today. Ha ha!

Hurricane Video

Evacuation Adventure

Well, Irene came and went and thankfully was much less impressive than the news built her up to be. Everyone who stayed behind at Regent stayed safe and besides a few downed trees and lots of branches down, nothing disastrous hit the campus. Praise the Lord! He is so good. It actually turned into a wonderful weekend of bonding for lots of people. I really enjoyed the time with Sarah and we had some great conversations. I spent lots of time in the room doing homework, but Sarah made sure I didn't go too crazy. We went to Starbucks once and had a movie night with some friends. God taught me important things about trust and rest that weekend. Here are some photos of our adventures in Lynchburg!

Our hotel room

Sarah and her boyfriend Jonathan

A lovely walk we took on the last day

Me and my wonderful roomie, Sarah!

We waded in the James River during our stroll

The post-hurricane sunset. Wow...