October...already?

So, it is October!?

I feel like September flew by oh so quickly.
Since I posted my September newsletter, some things have happened.

Christian Challenge took a group of about 66 students to our annual Fall Conference. It was a great time. Our speaker this year was Max Barnett and he shared lots of wisdom with us in regards to living A Life that Counts! He talked about some essentials that we need to get serious about. First off, we need to spend more time with God - since we are a "hang out" generation, we need to hang out with God rather than people all the time. We also need to read His Word! Get it memorized and in our hearts. Third, as we are growing into mature believers, we need to be influencing younger believers to be more Christ-like - MAKING DISCIPLES. He provided some really practical ways to do these things and lots of students were deeply affected. God was WAY at work throughout the entire weekend. We were also able to enjoy some great worship music from a band called Anthem. And of course, it would not be Fall Conference without some Ultimate playing :)

A group of us playing "catch" before our big Tournament!


OH! How could I forget. BLESSING of the month story:
So, there are these really great shoes called "TOMS". It is a campaign that donates one pair of shoes to a child in need of shoes for every pair that is purchased. They are pretty pricey, but very fashionable, and as mentioned before, a GREAT cause. I have been wanting a pair of these for quite sometime. Years to be exact. Lately, a LOT of my friends have been getting them and I have been trying to "rejoice with those who are rejoicing," but really have been quite envious. Well, my good friends knew how much I wanted these shoes (and that I was saving up for them) and decided to pool their moneys and buy me a pair. This started with two people. Then became about 15! I felt SO SUPER blessed. About 15 of my close friends all gave some dollars to buy me (and a shoeless child) a pair of shoes. How stinking sweet is that!? Seriously, I can't really tell you how loved I felt. So here they are, the shoes I chose:

One of the best things is - they gave them to me at fall conference when most of the people who pitched in were gathered around - and I was COMPLETELY surprised...I LOVE SURPRISES :D

In addition to Fall Conference, my current life consists of about 20 hours a week of Babysitting on top of Christian Challenge stuff. It is lots of fun, but I am trying to figure out a schedule that works for me. I have been quite tired lately, but I know that some of that is just laziness that needs to be ironed out of my day-to-day. Please pray that I would be super efficient in managing my time and energy to glorify the Lord.

I am learning the guitar these days. I actually have not practiced in about a week...so I need to get on that. It is relaxing and fun...and I'm sure it will be much more fun once I can play a whole song :)

Tomorrow I am going with Michelle Hood to Chicago to visit Daniel and Rachel! How exciting huh! We got our bus tickets for just $1 each way!!! So awesome.

One last thing...
I am reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, with Lisa (the wife of the Director of Christian Challenge) and two girls on staff (Michelle and Brandi). It has been talking a lot about how great God is and how it is SO important to get to know His character. How a lot of times Christians study what God has done rather than WHO He is. It is vital in a relationship to know another person for who they are, and what better way to grow my relationship with God than to get to know Him more personally. This book paired with the messages that Max Barnett shared has been really affecting me lately. I want to spend more time with God in order to learn more about His character - and a great way to do that is to read His Word and listen to Him. A verse that I really like that describes some cool things about Him is Numbers 14:17-19, "Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared: 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of their fathers."