“You have nothing to prove, nothing to hide, and nobody to impress.” – Cory Fenn, our speaker for this week, summed up the truth of our freedom in Christ in that simple sentence. His series titled “Wisdom for Joshua” challenged us all to become further set on pursuing a deep and intimate relationship with the Lord while we have the blessing of being in the program and beyond. This week has been a neat opportunity for growth as we’ve returned to the wilderness for God to show us our hearts.
Sunday evening was an epic reunion filled with hugs and laughter. Every time one of our JWI siblings walked through the lobby doors a shout of joy was sent up and everyone who had already returned rushed to greet the newly arrived. 🙂
On Monday, we jumped right back into the swing of classes and began our unit on wisdom literature in our Old Testament class. After learning about interpreting poetry, we did a cool exercise by writing our own laments. A few brave students shared, and it was good for us all to hear that we are not alone in our struggles or abandoned by God.
Tuesday was filled with Christmas cheer as we spent most of the morning setting up Christmas trees and various decorations around the building. It was sweet to spread the spirit of the season by singing songs and spending time with our JWI family.
Wednesday was another full day of classes and study hall. After our last class of the day, I got to take advantage of the gift it is to live in the woods and went exploring before it became too cold to go out without snow gear. The pond in wagon train has begun to freeze over, and there are many icicles by the creek; God’s creation is incredible.
Today (the day I am writing this) is Thursday, and we just had my favorite of all the themed dinners so far. It was a night themed at the first Olympics, filled with Greek food, games, and great memories.
I’m excited to see what these next few weeks before Christmas break bring and grateful for the time we have now! That’s all for now. 🙂
-Natalie Dien (Current Student)
This week we have done so many amazing things, and God has really blessed our time at Joshua.
First we had made up Monday which I was not there for because I was away on Thanksgiving break, of which I stayed an extra day so I came back to Joshua late. Then Tuesday we decorated for Christmas which was amazing, and if you look at Joshua’s Instagram, you’ll probably see some really amazing pictures of me because I was decorating Christmas things and also wearing a Santa hat. The next thing we did was on Wednesday, which was go to classes.
I talked with a lot of my friends after coming back from Thanksgiving break. It was really fun to see everybody. I was low-key sad that I had to come back but it’s ok, I miss my family. Then, I hung out with friends on Wednesday. I just took a rest that day, and on Thursday, we had a theme dinner. The team dinner theme was the first Olympics, and we all wore Togas and sheets we had on our beds because we are all broke and couldn’t afford costumes. It was really fun. We played a lot of cool games, but I hurt my ankle because we used some weird rope for the three-legged race, and my ankle is swollen. This week at Joshua was lit.
-Lizzie Luke (current student)