And so the prodigal returns. Many thanks to my mother for her motherly sympathy and wonderful defense of her poor, sick boy. *grins* Yes, I've been sick.

Well, here's an overview of the last two weeks.

• NIKO was awesome! It's one of those things that if you tell the details about it, the effect is lost, so I can't tell you the details. But, it involved "going out", and doing things that I wasn't comfortable with. It stretched me... A lot! There was one moment where I was the leader and we were trying to find something. I had led us too far out and we were having to backtrack. I had to stop and pray and give everything up to God. It wasn't five minutes past that that we found what we were looking for! It really showed me the importance of relying on Christ. I think complete surrender is what really came out of that weekend.



• Then we returned home to cleaning, meetings, and preparation for the freshmen to move into the dorms. I was really impressed by the student leaders and the unity of purpose. Last year was a year of stress and attack and we wanted to start the year off with joy and with prayer. We had a great time praying for the campus and for the coming year. God met us.



• The Freshmen arrived on the 19th. That was a lot of fun to see the new faces, check them in, and get to pray with them. Then we had a dinner send-off. The rest of the week was orientation with many facets to it. A couple highlights: I wore Knight Clothing in the chapel, not Night Clothing. I volunteered to help with registration all day wednesday and Thursday morning. That afternoon we went out to Camp Lane.



• Camp Lane was one of my favorite experiences my Freshman year. This year it was different being an RA, but also being sick put a very interesting twist to it. Okay, I had a tickle in my throat all day long and was coughing every once in awhile. Ya know how you can cough and somehow it causes you to hiccup? Well, that's what happened to me. It was awful! Right in the middle of the service, you guessed it, one of the loudest HICs I've ever had... and not just one but two! Needless to say I turned red. Because of the tickle, I hiccuped off and on all night long. That, heartburn, and my friend Morgan snoring, combined to make a sleepless night. But then after a little bit of hicing in the morning, I was through! I was sicker than a dog though and slept most of Friday and Saturday. I was getting better on Sunday, but didn't go to church. Today I have a bit in the lungs, but it's mostly gone.



• Classes are: Greek Reading, Theology I, Pulpit Speech, Prison Epistles, and Human Development. There's a lot of reading and work involved in all of these, but the one I'm worried about is Human Development. This teacher is cool, but he expects a lot and there's a ton of reading. So I'm just a bit worried. But I am looking forward to getting into the reading and into the classes.



• Time is going to be really tight. What with all the homework, RA stuff, Youth Group, and work study, I am not sure when I'm going to sleep...

Wow.. NIKO is going to be intense... I'm pumped about it though. Even though I'm weak, my team members will help me and I know God will.

I leave tomorrow at 7am and get back Wednesday 2am. Then we have on campus training for being an RA. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks. It's going to be rad to be able to check people in and learn who they are. It is going to be an awesome year!

The college has been paying for the RA's meals and I've had some yummy food! Steak last night and real fajitas today. Me tummy is happy!

I'm not sure when the next update will be... They're going to keep us busy...

I just read one of the saddest and moving books that I've ever read. A Child Called "It" is about David Pelzer and his life as an abused child. I didn't cry, but I was sure close to it! This boy was starved, tortured, and totally unloved by his mother. She was a horrible person! I can't understand how soomeone cold be so cruel to her own child... It totally woke me up to the reality of child abuse. I haven't thought much on it 'cause I guess I've never really been made aware of the horror those kids go through.

Lord, I ask that You will reveal those families. I don't know how I can help, but Lord, my heart breaks for those kids. Help me to find a way to help.

Well, besides that, today has been totally cool. All three of the RAs and Brian (the resident director) went to breakfast at The Greenwood. As we ate our food (The RAs had biscuts and gravy and Brian had bery waffles) we shared about who we are and what God is doing in our lives. TJ, Levi, and Brian are very cool people! We then covered a ton of dorm issues and how we're going to run the dorms. I am so ecouraged! Brian is a fair, compassionate guy who is fun loving, but won't be lax about enforcing the rules! I am totally pumped! God is going to do some awesome things in the dorms this year.

I also watched King Arthur. Besides the fact they tried to make it historically accurate and had a brief sex scene, it was a pretty good movie. The action was believable and the plot was pretty good.

I was really looking forward to youth group tonight, but I listened to my messages and it turns out that yg was canceled. Oh well.

As it has been a slow week or so in blog land I have decided to grace you with an entry. About the only one who has made a recent entry is Crystal. Her two most recent posts, one about extroversion and the other one about what Christian Ministry is, are very good. Ministry is something that I've beein thinking about the last couple of days. I want to get more involved in my youth group. I have the opportunity to teach, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and work out a lesson. I have a glimmer of an idea - Righteousness and righteous living, but that's it for now. I also need to spend more time with the youth. I have been helping out for almost a year now and I barely know them. I'm a little at a loss to know how to befriend them... Age difference never used to be a problem, but now I seem to have issues... weird, hunh?

Let's see, what else to talk about? Oh, the other two guy RAs are on campus. Tomorrow we start training and most likely, cleaning. *wrinkles nose* Oh well, it's something that has to be done. Now I hope that my shoulder doesn't give me problems...

Well... I think that's all folks.

Oh and Spyder Boy is quite an interesting read. When you read this, remember all of this is absolutely true.

Heh. Mother, your questions in your email inspired a blog entry.

When is the NIKO?

A week from tomorrow. We do some sort of orientation on Friday and then go out and hike, camp, and do rope courses for two days. I'm not exactly sure of the details but it should be fun.

As far as my shoulder goes, Mr. S. said that they'll help me and provide assistance. I should be able to do most of the hiking and some of the rope courses. We'll see.

Are you getting your Corinthians course done?

Slowly but surely. I've just started on Lesson 12 and hope to get at least one more lesson done today. The last few days and weeks have been extremely busy with all of the different things that came up. My goal is to finish up the lessons tomorrow and then work on the project on Saturday.

Did you talk to David?

Yup. Your conversation was much more informative, but it was good to talk to him. I plan on calling him this weekend and getting the cell number from him. I also hope that he'll make a blogger and keep us semi-updated...

When does your new billing period begin?

Yes, I only have 11 minutes left this billing period and that would be why I'm not talking during the day time. My new billing period starts the 10th.

What else is happening?

Hmmmm... Good question... My RA duties start on Tuesday with some sort of training. I'm looking forward to that 'cause that'll start the school year for me. The 19th is when the dorms open and I'll be extremely busy that day and the rest of that week.

Josh, Cas, and I went shopping yesterday. We bought a ton of food with Cassy's food stamps. Mostly non-perishables for the sake of the school year. Sunday night dinners, here we come!

I'm all of the way moved into my room. It's so nice to have space and quiet.

Oh, we found a radiator for fifty and I'm going to see if Roy will be able to install it tonight.

I think that's it for now. Love ya Mother. *grins*

You know that you're good friends when you can say harsh things (in love, yes, in love) and know that you can still be friends. I used to go through a period of time when I couldn't confront or approach a friend with something negative without being afraid that I'd lose them as friends. Now, I have friends who even though I might make them mad, I can still be honest and point out things that need to be pointed out. And I am still friends!

Thanks.

Well, okay, so I'm now done with housesitting. That TV was draining me and I need to get homework done. So, Jason is taking over and I get to relax in my new room. Yes, I'm finally moved into the back of a four-man room and I'm so happy! It's much more roomy and I actually want to keep it clean! It definitely improves my mood.

As far as the radiator goes... I was going to drive out and get a used one from a junkyard today, but couldn't find a ride. Luckily Josh, Cassy, and I are going to go shopping tomorrow and he'll take me out. Very good thing. Problem is, this is going to drain all of my living money for the next couple of months.

However, I did get a month's credit on my phone bill for renewing my contract. That'll help. Plus, once my car is fixed, I hope to not use it much. I need to get ahold of Isaac and get that bike of mine fixed...

So, yeah, it's late. I need to go to bed. So, Ctrl + C and then publish...