Hey Hey Hey, it has been so long since I have written a blog post and I am so excited to write about this week. It’s kind of scary to me that we only have 2 months of JWI left and then the Joshua class of 2022-2023 will be out of the building starting their own life’s, building new friendships and seeing where God takes them. It’s not over yet though and it is my pleasure to tell you all about this week and all the stuff we have done. This week has been filled with all sorts of things, which included having a speaker, studying out of Philippians 3, having another theme dinner, and playing a big game of freeze tag.
This week’s speaker was Doug axe and his topic this week was mainly focused on how to defeat Darwinism and how Darwinism is false. On the last day of his teaching, he broke down with plants and animals how Darwinism is not real. He showed us a video of birds being born about 400 ft above the ground, and when the baby chicks could walk, they would walk to the edge of the nest and jump off, with some surviving and some not. If Darwinism was real, the baby chicks would have survived because Darwinism is all about life. In conclusion, Doug was really good, and I hope he can come back another time in the future.
As the middle of the week rolled around, we were finishing off the day and the girls were getting ready for girls’ night, the boys started having a massive pillow fight in the guys hall which fell into playing tag in half of the building and then the girls started playing which fell into a massive game of freeze tag around the whole building. It was just so fun to come as a community and just start something small with the guys and then it turns into everyone playing was just a very great moment just seeing how we all come together as a community and have some fun, probably one of the core moments here at Joshua for sure.
Well, guys, we got to have another theme dinner, and this one was probably my favorite one yet! This week’s theme was Joshua’s diner, and it was filled with all sorts of things from eating amazing food, to having a live band performance, to finishing off the night roller skating. When we got to the diner, we started off by our server bringing us food which consisted of patty melts, cheeseburgers, onion rings, French fries, and a root beer or a coke, and then for dessert, we got to have a cookies and cream milkshake. As soon as we finished eating, some of our Joshua brothers did a live band performance for us to kickstart us into roller skating. We went down to the rink and put our skates on, laced the shoes, and headed Straight for the rink. As it was my first-time roller skating, I only fell 2 times and I had so much fun learning how to do it, and I am 100% going to roller skate again.
As this week was filled with a lot of things, I realized how grateful I am for the community we have and how much we have grown as one in the body of Christ. As another week comes around, I ask for your prayers that we make the most of the next 2 months that we have in the building and that we can just see what God has to teach us in the next 2 months. I thank you all for reading my blog post, and just remember, God loves you and I love you too.
-JWI Current Student
Ben Lawler
-Philippians 4: 6-7
Hi friends.
Its been quite a week! Although I feel as much as the things written her on the blog are usually about the highlights and exciting adventures of Joshua, let’s take a moment to be real. Let’s talk about some of the not-so-fun things—and then we’ll talk about some of the fantastic things that make up for any of the drudgery 🙂
If you didn’t know, we had testing for Philippians chapter three the week before our LA trip, and that had most of us in a scramble. After returning from LA, every student who hadn’t tested out of all three chapters had to attend Breakfast Club—an hour every morning at 6 am dedicated to studying Philippians in order to pass in a timely manner. I had to attend my first Breakfast Club last week, and it wasn’t unpleasant, but I am glad that I avoided attending more. We still have some students going every morning, so please keep them in your prayers that the Lord may strengthen their memory and give them ample motivation to have His word written on their hearts.
In addition to Breakfast Club, we had the pleasure of 6 am chore duty this past Wednesday! Every roommate pair has a daily assigned chore from a community chart that rotates daily, and when the chores aren’t getting done, staff blesses us with a time to get them done in the morning. It is kind of disappointing and frustrating for a lot of us, because to be assigned a day of 6 am chores implies that some of us aren’t capable of taking care of a simple responsibility, which reflects consequence on the whole community. Even so, I believe it always ends up being a good start to a productive day and let’s us all work together—almost like a forced team bonding exercise—even if it leaves us with a little less sleep than desired.
Other than those few difficult things, this week was wonderful! Our highlight speaker has been Douglas Axe, and he has given us a wonderful talk on the improbability and other flaws of Evolutionary Darwinist thought. He has also spent lots of time with students playing Mafia, and even dressed up for our 50’s Diner theme dinner on Thursday night!
Theme dinners are also always so much fun, but I believe that this one was definitely one of my favorites! I must’ve watched Grease and Back to the Future a few too many times as a kid, because oh boy, did I dig the diner scene. The music, the skirts, the black-and-white checked table cloths! I think I heard Blue Suede Shoes at least three times—but I’m certainly not complaining. After dinner in the diner (which was burgers, fries, and milkshakes of course), we guys and gals all got to go roller skating in the recently defrosted Ark. Jen, one of our directors, also joined us for dinner, and dancing, and even skating! It was simply splendid; I am so deeply grateful for our Joshua Staff that put in so much time and energy to make these theme dinners magical for us! They truly are a gift to us here.
Thank you as always for checking in, here’s a few last general updates!
Spring has just started, but we still are getting lots of snow! In one week, we will be leaving for our last break of the year, Spring Break, and many of us will be glad to catch some sunshine and warmth. It’s a little odd because it feels like just yesterday, I was writing about how daunting leaving for a whole week at Thanksgiving seemed! After spring break, which ends on April 9th, we will have only one week in the building before leaving for our trip to Israel. We are currently taking our Israel geography and prep class every Friday, so please keep us in mind and prayer as we get ready to visit the very places that we’ve spent all year hearing about!
Anyway, we love you all, thank you for your consistent care and support! See you in a week, hopefully!
Hannah Rockwood