a fun new old pastime

My friends and I have been obsessed with puzzling (as we like to call it).  This summer my friends and I randomly did a couple puzzles and forgot how FUN they are!!  SO, Ethan and I went out and bought a puzzle at target.  We went down the puzzle isle and had to choose between a puzzle picturing Times Square or the famous painting of The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci!!!   What a toss up!!  I mean, the Times Square picture was unbelievable...but who can say no to Jesus??  We did what anyone else in our position would do...we called a third party.  We called Bryce and so it wouldn't be biased, Ethan asked him, "Night Life or Leonardo Da Vinci?"  Nothing else, not a "hi, how are you Bryce?" just "Night Life or Leonardo Da Vinci?"  

Bryce chose night life and it was a good pick as well.  Leo would have been SSSOO much harder because of all the brown pieces, but this one was pretty hard as well (lots of lights in Times Square)! 

...so 2000 pieces later we are finished!!

and we decided to sign the puzzle.  that is going to be our trademark...after we do the puzzles we sign and date them:)

and not to forget Jesus at ALL...cause after all He is the one with whom we have the freedom to do a puzzle in the

 community of fellowship with other believers...here is a picture of Mt. Rubidoux. Rissa and I went on a hike the other day and a picture of our salvation rests on the top.  

thursday funnies

So I go to the bathroom every thursday in the James building because I have a 2 1/2 hour class and our Professor gives us one break.

I laugh every time I go in, because of the funny shape that is made in the window, but I always forget to bring my phone so I can take a picture...but today you are in for a special treat...cause it is thursday and I remembered!

Every day I go to the bathroom in the same stall.  This is what I see next to me:

This is the window next to the stall.

I like to call it the "butt window".

I wonder if they really knew what they were doing, when they put these kind of windows in.  I wonder if they got a good laugh when they were putting them in, or if they were completely oblivious.

dr. tackett

So Dr. Tackett is one of my favorite people since being able to spend some time with him this past semester at the Focus on the Family Institute.  

He has this blog that you should really read regularly.  But, for now you can just read the post on "cheering for the underdog".  really.  go now:

"Jesus said: 'Let your light shine among men is such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.'

Let us do so.

Dr. Tackett's blog

a little precept and a lot of God on the west coast

So my friend Yasmin (who I interned with from Precept) came to LA about a week ago.  It was SO much fun to see her!  She decided to go on a road trip to visit a couple of her friends in California, before she left for Spain!  Yes, Spain people.  She is going to be doing a lot of ministry over in Spain with a missionary that she is close to over there.  She will be leading Biblestudies and helping in a discipleship type of program for an entire Semester!!!  So, if you remember, please pray for her and the people of Spain that the Lord, through her and the team, will be ministering to.

Other news, I have completed 2 weeks of my last semester here at school.  There are a lot of things going on in my life right now and the Lord is blessing me beyond anything I've ever imagined.

The first big thing is that, since coming back from Focus on the Family, I have been praying that the Lord would open up doors for me to engage in ministry.  I have had so much different training and although this semester is going to be full (19 units), it isn't going to be as difficult as last semesters.  I have been poured into A LOT in the past year and I was praying for the Lord to really use what I have learned so I could pour out into others.  

At Cal Baptist we have a new Spiritual Life Director, Brian Zunigha, who is implementing a new discipleship program on campus.  He has formed a group of Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors that have leadership qualities but may not have the chance to use their leadership skills to their full capacity.  Well, one night Bryce and I were praying in the prayer chapel about what to do in ministry and what the Lord wanted us to do this semester because we really didn't know what to do.  After we got back to my apartment from the prayer chapel, one of our close friends, Ethan (who is the graduate assistant to Brian), asked me to be a part of the discipleship program!  What timing the Lord has!  He introduced me to Brian and he asked me to be a leader over 3 girls in the program.  Through this discipleship program, he wants to teach the students a few things and one of those is how to study your Bible inductively, on their own.  So, once he found out I had some background with Precept he asked me to teach the entire group the Precept method!

So, Monday and Tuesday of this week I taught, by the grace of God alone, how to study your Bible in 2 hours. :)  Wow, it was so awesome.  I loved every minute of it.  The Lord taught me A LOT through those two days.  It is so neat to see Him prepare you and then prepare the way for you.  It was nothing I did, He totally set up everything!  

Then, I was meeting with my New Testament Professor the other day to catch up on what I had learned through Precept this summer and Focus this Fall.  We started talking about the 19 units I'm taking and a couple classes that I'm just taking to get the units and he offered to set up a meeting with the youth pastor at his church.  He expressed that he wanted to help me practice what I had learned this summer by possibly leading a "How to study your Bible" study at the youth group at his church across the street.  So we went to a meeting and the youth pastor totally has the vision for teaching his youth how to study the Bible for themselves.  Exciting!  So I went to their church on Sunday to advertise for it and we are now waiting for the Lord to provide the students for the group.  The coolest thing about this study is that the Dean of Christian Studies (Dr. Dan is awesome!) is going to let me lead the study for units toward my undergrad this semester!  I will be doing hands on training for what I really feel the Lord has called me to do in the future. 

The Lord is giving me opportunity after opportunity to teach and I have received more confirmation in the last week than ever before about my teaching.  I don't know how seminary will fit into plans after I graduate or if I even am supposed to go to seminary, but I know that the Lord has been faithful thus far and I know He is going to pave my way.  He is so good and I am blown away everyday by sitting in the passenger seat and letting Him drive.  It is tough at times and sometimes I beg for Him to drive, but He is so gracious to calm my trivial worries.  He continues to point back to His faithfulness and that makes me realize of how unfaithful at times I can be.  

Oh Lord, make me more faithful.  I have no justification to worry because you are God over everything.  You will get Your glory and may I be a vessel that you use to show Your glory.

this goes out to my friends in colo

at least you aren't like this dude...:)

wordle

so this may just be the most amazing thing ever.

say you get picked for designing a t-shirt and you need inspiration or maybe you want to do something cool for v-day (which is coming up) and you don't want to do all the mushy stuff that everyone does but something really practical and something your special someone will enjoy instead of being awkward...wait all of that sounds really familiar...hmm

anyways, this is the coolest thing EVER...well at least this week:)

it is a website called wordle and all you do is type in a bunch of random...or not so random words and instantly it creates a jumbled awesomeness!

what else could you do with this??  get creative and let me know:)

p.s. reisen chocolates are pretty much the best chocolate in the WORLD.  if you haven't tasted it you NEED to!  i know...i'm just a huge source of info today...you're welcome!

new update soon...

...in the meantime, enjoy this:)

it seems like i'm always moving

so i have packed pretty much everything and i'm ready to move down to riverside.  

craziness!!

last semester until i graduate.  it seems like just yesterday was orientation for new students:

wow...just looking at that picture is amazing because of all that the Lord has taught me in the short 2 semesters at cal baptist and 1 semester at focus on the family.  i go back to cbu with so many lessons learned and so humbled by the power of the Lord.  there will be more to learn this semester (and ALWAYS), new friends, community, classes and ministry.  oh how i can't wait to see what the Lord has in store!  isn't it great to be a child of God!!

here we go...