Sunday, September 14, 2003

So, another week has passed and it is time to record what has gone on during the first week of school. Well, for starters I have started off on a new trend of getting up early enough to go to morning prayer before class. I then eat after my first class which works nicely. All of my classes are going well and that is all I really want to say about them.

I have really started to build some good relationships with some of the guys on my floor. I am excited because of the potential that is here for us to have an awesome community.

InterVarsity started the year off with a bang. The Unkegger went very well and I thought there was a great turnout. There really seems to be a lot of interest in the various activites.

Prayer meeting really seem to be taking off. It is so exciting to see ten or more people up at 7:30 in the morning to pray for our chapter and campus. I led my first prayer meeting on Wednesday evening.

Our first large group (Oasis) meeting had the largest attendance that I could ever remember. I think that there were almost 50 people there. Ross talked about the goals of the chapter and the purpose of InterVarsity on our campus and in our lives. This really helped me to get in focus what I plan to do this year.

On Friday night we had Outloud at Marquette . This was a great time to get people plugger into InterVarsity and we had a very good turnout. Hunter was the main speaker and he delivered an excellent message challenging us to be who we want to be. This really got me thinking. I am not always so sure what I am supposed to be doing. Several times this summer I struggled with the idea of not coming back this year and staying on the farm. But for some reason I came back and I am glad that I did. Right now God has shown me that he wants to use me on the third floor to reach out to fellow students.

After returning from Outloud, I got some of the best news ever. Christopher Samples, the child of a teacher at my school had been found. He was taken by his father the weekend of my graduation 15 months ago. This has been a huge answer to our prayers and I am so thankful to God for his safe return.

On Saturday, a bunch of us went to Hunters house for a cookout because it was raining and we didn't want to get stuck in the rain on the beach. After eating we went down along the lake and played a very fun game of ultimate Frisbee.

The rest of the afternoon I spent much of the time talking to Gabe and planning our floor small group. I emphasis that it is a Small Group and not a bible study. God has really placed it on my heart that we have a community with accountability.

In the evening, I went to the movies because they had this great deal where we could get the ticket, bus ride, large pop, and large popcorn for only $4 and I got mine free for being a peer mentor. I decided to go to SWAT and ended up sitting by some freshman girls who I met previously at InterVarsity activities. The movie was really good and full of action. After talking the whole way back with another guy and the five girls, we decided to play a card game called scrunch. I had never played Scrunch before but I think the best way to describe it is as a type of multi-player solitaire. The other guy had to work the next morning so it ended up being me and five girls sitting around in the MLH lobby for an hour playing cards. I actually remember 4 out of the five names which is very good for me. There was Sarah, Sarah, Bridget , Brittany and one other that I just can't think of. They were all really nice and I had previously met Sarah, Sarah, and Bridget at InterVarsity activities.

Upon returning to my dorm to go to bed, I stopped by Gabe's room to see what was up and ended up talking to Gabe, Andy, and Kathy for almost another hour. I think that I am beginning to realize that sleep is a bit overrated and that there are more important things to do. I finally got to bed at about two.

Sunday morning, I arose early to go to Sunday school. I decided to attend the class on Ruth that is being taught by Sarah's dad. I think that it will be a really good class and that we will get a lot out of it. The service was really awesome, we had a special guest Lucian from Syria and he had an excellent sermon about working together to build God's temple. It was also great to see so many people from MSOE attending church.

After this we went to the College Age Kickoff Luncheon. This was a great time to meet other college students from around the city. There was an amazing turnout and I look forward to getting to know these new friends throughout the year.

I returned to the dorms for a couple of hours before I had to work at the library and tried to do some homework. I ended up watching the end of the Packers Lions game, reading a book, and then talking to my parents. My parents didn't have much new news except for the fact that they bought a new chopper. I will have to talk to my dad but maybe next summer we could do some custom chopping now that we have a self-propelled haybine and a self-propelled chopper. I actually think that it would be a great summer job to go around harvesting crops. I guess that is sort of what I did when I was working with my uncle but with our equipment we could move so much faster. I won't bore you with all the cool details because most of you don't care and I really only talked about it for a minute so I don't know everything yet.

Work was a bit slow but also a great time to get all the homework that I had been putting off done. When I returned I went to eat at Roscoe's with Scott. Then upon returning to my room, I watched the news upon the advice of my cousin and saw a story about Christopher's safe return. After that I spent the rest of the night writing this.