This past weekend all of us unexpectedly had the weekend off!! It was really cool to see all 43 of us hanging out in the building for the weekend. A couple groups decided to go snow shoe-ing. Over the weekend, they had hiked over 16 miles. Everyone said it was worth it and the pictures looked amazing! Another group had gone to Grant’s Grove during the weekend, but the majority of the students decided to hang back and chill at the building. It was really nice to take a weekend to just hang out, read, and sit by the fire. One of the nights, a group of us sat by the fire in the great room and Seth shared with us a message he had been working on and more about his life before he became an RD at Joshua. The next night, Seth had a devo time in the classroom and he talked about the two things we need for worship: the law, and the presence of God. Seth shared two songs during the devo time and gave us a lot of good points to think about. I think a lot of our perspectives were changed and I personally view worship with a new mindset now. Walking down for meals in the snow definitely wasn’t the highlight of our weekend but it was very funny when most of us slipped on the ice or threw snowballs at each other. Although it was freezing and snowing this weekend, one of the best parts was seeing the snow fall from the great room windows. It was so beautiful and breathtaking to see the trees and mountains completely covered in snow. We are all very excited for the winter season and for the amounts of snowball fights we will have. – Jaedyn
Guy’s night: A night filled with testosterone, yelling, and attempts to pick up the media coordinator, Tucker Horton, and carry him through the building. Then it’s onto running from room to room shouting “Party in so-and-so’s room!” Once we all finally calm down, Seth explains what tonight’s plans are. This night just so happened to be cereal night. A favorite amongst the community. After being dismissed, we all ran to our rooms to get our bowls, spoons, and wrap around the building to empty the cereal dispensers. Chad came ready with his ginormous red bowl and serving size spoon. Brandt brought a Tupperware container. Within one fell swoop, we take out all of the cocoa puff cereal. From there, the night is filled with hanging out and eating. A relaxing night to say the least.
-Kyle
This week our speaker is Jeff Bachman. He is a youth pastor in Orange County. He came up this week to talk to us about the identity of God and how we interact with Him. On Monday we learned about the concept of how the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. As humans we tend to project our own qualities onto God when, in reality, we are not even close to fully understanding God. On Tuesday, Jim talked about how we interact with God and the different ways we connect with Him.
-Casey
Girl’s night was a sweet time that allowed us to bond with one another in a deeper way. Tiff described the Christmas story to us and shared what she had learned from women’s retreat that weekend. She told us about Mary and how she could have heard that she was going to have a child out of wedlock, and yet she rejoiced because she was going to birth the Son of God. Mary then ran to her cousin who was extremely supportive and loving in this entire process. Tiff then divided us up into smaller prayer groups and she gave us a bunch of slips of paper to discuss with one another. We were able to answer fun Christmas questions, but also share about our home life situations and what break would look like for each of us. We then made prayer requests for what we will be facing over break and we were able to pray about it together. It was such a tender moment being able to hear each other be vulnerable and share what they needed God to help them with in their lives. After we prayed, we made sure that we would stay in contact over break and check up on each other and see how all is going. Over all, it was my favorite girl’s nights. – Hannah
