1 camp down...

The first camp is officially over!  I can't believe how fast it went.  It seemed like the campers just got here and now they are gone.  The 8 interns taught classrooms how to do the inductive study method through the book of James.  The whole week focused on studying the Bible without a study.  We showed them how to do a chapter study and walked them through the steps each day.  They worked on a chapter a day, so the last day we let them do chapter 5 by themselves.  

It was so exciting to see them working and really getting the method!  And 

more importantly, they were knowing God a little bit more each day!

Besides the classroom, Paul(my co-counselor) and I had a team where we competed against other teams during sports time.  I am proud to announce that we were UNDEFEATED!! 

The kids on our team were all SO different but so much fun!  They really loved each other and it was so fun to see them work together so well!

They had an obstacle course that all 10 teams competed in called the "Gladiator Event".  A few of the guy counselors dressed up like gladiators.  Here is a picture of all the campers at the starting line and Ryan(my co-teacher and  one of the gladiators:) lol) getting ready to start the event:

They had to do some hard team building events as well as some gross things that you have to do when you work with students...just for laughs:)  They had to get their whole team over a rope without touching it as well as sit on a balloon filled with chocolate pudding:)

I also roomed with 5 other girls in a room.  Here is a picture of all of us:

It was a great week at camp.  We are continuing to pray for the students who now have to leave and go back home to really tough situations.  The goal was to teach them a method of study in order that they could continue in it at home...ONLY to grow closer with their Savior.  

We are just hanging out today.  We got up and went to church where David Lawson was preaching.  Then all of us went to Chili's for lunch.  We are going to go play some volleyball and just rest before orientation starts tomorrow.   Counselors for boot camp 2 get here tonight.

Please pray for the next campers that they Lord will be preparing their hearts.  Pray for strength and endurance for those of us who have been here for both camps.  

The Lord is so good and has been teaching me SO much!  I can't wait to write more.

Boot Camp Orientation

Hey everybody!!

I don't have a lot of time to write, but I just wanted to let you all know that Boot Camp orientation for the counselors has officially started.  We started the day off with individual prayer and quiet time for about 2 1/2 hours and then we got all together for prayer in preparation for staffing boot camp.  Please pray for unity among the counselors and wisdom as we prepare for the campers to get here.  Also please pray for the hearts of the campers that are coming; that they would be prepared!  Thank you for your prayers.  Here is a picture of the room we are meeting in and a few of the counselors.  Emily is the one with the thumbs up:)  She is the one going to Focus on the Family with me in the Fall!

"Mini Boot Camp"

I've been here at Precept for 9 days now.  It has been so great.  The Lord is teaching me so much.  We have been in the classroom every day completing all the workshops that Precept Ministries offers.  The ones we have completed so far are Witnessing, Biblical Prayer, How to study your Bible, Basics of Precept Upon Precept, and Word Studies.  It is so great for us interns to go through all of these even though we have done inductive study for so long, because we are going to be teaching at Precept.  We have gotten the privilege to watch many different teachers and their different approaches in teaching and leading.  It has built our confidence in leading as well as focus us on Who is really the One giving us the power and strength to lead.  

Tomorrow is our first day of leading.  We get to participate in the Executive Briefing.  The donors and sponsors of Precept Ministries are coming to Chattanooga to experience a "Mini Boot Camp".  They are going to go through many of the different activities and sessions that the campers go through.  We get to take them through a little bit of the studies we will be teaching the students here this summer.  We really want them to see how the student ministries part of Precept works and looks like.  It is really exciting!  So, please pray not only for the interns as we teach, but that the Lord's will would be done and that He would provide.  

I know this isn't a very long blog, but just know that I feel so blessed to be here.  The Lord is putting everything together perfectly and humbling me like no other.  He is taking me step by step this journey and I am so glad that I am in the palm of His hand.  How unworthy I feel and yet this is how He is glorified the most!  Thank you for your prayers!

4 airports later...

Hey All! (notice I didn't say ya'll...my voice hasn't changed quite yet)  I'm here and its beautiful!

First thing this morning at 8:00 the Precept Staff prayed over all of the interns.  They were so excited for us to be there and it was so encouraging to see them all and to hear about how they had been praying for us.    

We also had our 

first day of class today.  We had a workshop on how to do the Basics of a Precept Upon Precept course.  We worked on a part of one of the Genesis studies.  We studied about Abraham and his obedience in faith.  It was really awesome for all of the interns because of where we are in life.  I think that even though it was a long day we were all so encouraged and so grateful.  We learned so much observing how our instructor took us through the lesson.  He also instructed us a bit on how to lead, so that was very helpful as well.  

(Here is a picture of the room I'm staying in)

   (Here is a picture of our binder for the summer!)

Tomorrow we have a Biblical Prayer Workshop that we are all really excited about. 

There are 8 interns, 4 boys and 4 girls.  Their names are: Yasmin, Ashlee, Emily(who will also be attending Focus on the Family with me in the Fall), Ryan, Nick, B

en, and Jeremiah.  We would love prayer.  Pray for strength, focus, endurance, and unity.  I am rooming with Yasmin(I met her last year at boot camp). 

It has been such a great first day and I am so looking forward to the rest of the summer.  I feel so blessed!  Thank you for your prayers!  I'll talk to you soon:)

new music & yoga...totally unrelated

So I've found this awesome musician named Andrew Case.  You HAVE to check him out.  He has all of his music on this page that you can download.  The lyrics are awesome and his voice is great.  

In other Holly Strand news, I leave for Tennessee in about 4 days!!  Crazy!  I have a bridal shower to go to tomorrow for one of my childhood friends.  I'm super excited to see her again.  Then I'm going to see Narnia tomorrow with the fam...it's always exciting with the 6 of us.:)  

I've started training for Half Dome already (oh ya, if you don't know my brother and sister and a friend and his brother are climbing Half Dome this summer right after I get home from Precept and before I go to Focus on the Family for the fall!).  I've ran 3 mile

s each day.  Its so good to be able to run after 2 weeks of choir tour just sitting on busses ALL day long!  

I've also raised all the money that I need for my internship this summer.  Praise the Lord.  Thank you to all who helped me.  I am eternally grateful.  Well, I'm going to go do a yoga video with my sisters and brittany (here are some pics of them).       

                                                          

                                                                  

This should be fun;)  We tried to do it last night and absolutely laughed our heads off when the instructor told us, "Let your sit-bones sink into the earth..."!!!  Bye for now! 

sing unto the Lord

So, I'm almost done with Choir tour. We have been to Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oaklahoma (not in any particular order)! It has been fun, hectic, trying, demanding, tiring, interesting, and exciting. This has been our basic routine for the last week and a half:

1. Drive from around 6-9 hours in a bus

2. Arrive at the church and start curling the hair

3. Eat dinner at the church

4. Sing for 2 hours

5. Tear down and clean up

6. Get paired with a host family and go to their home

7. Sleep

8. Wake up and do it all over again!

Here are some pictures of the churches and our tour so far:

This is a picture of one of the churches:

Here is a picture of Rissa Lauren and me at one of our concerts:

Here is Rissa and me on the bus going home from a concert:

These are my roommates for next year in the Spring when I get back from Focus on the Family:)

This is a few of us getting ready for a concert in the dressing rooms:

Sometimes when we get to the church, we have a little bit of extra time...so Rissa and I usually steal away and find our quiet spots to just be with the Lord (after being with crazy music students all day:)). Then we compare our spots at dinner. We have found some pretty sweet Baptismals.
We have 4 concerts to go with 2 days left! I'll be home Monday afternoon. I can't wait to see my family!

faithfulness to the unfaithful

     Today I got a LONG awaited call from Focus on the Family saying that I have been accepted to the institute for the Fall Semester!  I applied at the beginning of the spring semester (January-ish) and since I was up to my eye balls in school work, I hadn't had time to really think about it.  As the school year was drawing to a close, the time for applying for housing and registering for new classes had arrived.  I knew that I wouldn't find out if I had gotten accepted until after I had left for the summer, so I had to register for classes and figure out plan B of "my plan" in case it wasn't the Lord's (this is usually the outcome).  I signed up for classes and wasn't too thrilled about them.  Over and over again I asked the Lord that if He didn't want me in Colorado in the fall, that I would not be accepted.  It has been probably one of the biggest desires of my heart right now in this period of waiting.  There are so many unknowns, but the list is getting shorter!  I now know where I will be in the summer (Precept-Tennessee) and I now know where I will be in the Fall (Focus on the Family-Colorado)!  The Lord is so faithful even though I fail so many times.  He has, is, and will always be faithful to me.  He disciplines for my benefit, so that I may share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:10)!  

     The greatest part about this story is that I actually missed my acceptance call from Focus on the Family because I was praying with a friend in the prayer chapel.  One of the things that we were praying about was Focus on the Family.  The past week I was so anxious about getting the call.  It seemed like the call was NEVER going to come!  But while we were praying I told the Lord that I didn't want to go anywhere He didn't want me to go.  Instantly I felt peace.  It is that peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7).  Then when we walked back to my cottage I checked my phone and sure enough, they had called!  I wasn't expecting it; I just knew that the Lord was taking care of it.  

     The Lord has definitely been teaching me patience and it is so exciting to see growth in the waiting period.  In James (5:7) it says to wait as a farmer waits.  This is such an awesome concept because a farmer doesn't sit around while he waits for harvest.  He is working and laboring HARD!  He is irrigating, mowing, weeding, spraying, tilling the soil, and pruning.  He is working so hard so that the reward is great.  He is focused on the pursuit.  His mind is focused on how he is going to get to the time of harvest, not harvest itself.  He has so much to do before harvest, so he works; he works hard.  So while God is telling me to wait, he is preparing me and growing me.  I can't desire the end result more than the pursuit because there is such greatness in the pursuit!  If I focus on the end I will miss all that God is trying to teach me now!

     I leave for Choir tour tomorrow.  We leave for two weeks and then I'll be home for a week before I head out to Precept for the summer!  I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me.  I am so blessed and so unworthy.  He is so faithful even though I can be so unfaithful!  

Lord, may my focus always be on you.  May I never worry because you are my hope, my refuge, and my strength.