Youth Retreat!

Youth retreat was wonderful! We thoroughly enjoyed all the fun, food, fellowship, and teaching. Not to mention the wonderful sermons brought to us by Bro. Jared and Tim. Bro. Jared preached on "Get up and win the race." It was a good message. Tim preached on "We have a Great God and that is why we can finish the Race." Of course those might not be the exact titles of their messages but that's just my interpretation. Mom's class was "Racing to Glory in the Fear of the Lord." Sister Ginger's class was "Running in Holiness." They went along together really well. We didn't have a very large group this year. I counted 29 including the staff. (only the ones who stayed overnight.) That was kind of nice. Everyone was together all the time and everyone knew each other and was comfortable with everyone else. We didn't have to waste time getting comfortable with one another. We played Basketball, Four square, Volleyball, Football, Cranium, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, and Catchphrase. Cody Haffley is the King of catchphrase. Anyway There are many stories that could be told but I prefer to talk rather than type so I don't think I'm going to tell them on here. It would be really neat if there was this machine that you could talk into and it would type whatever you said. Maybe I'll get better with electronics and invent it. HMMMM....... Ok I'll let you guys get back to your lives now. Oh, Pray for me on Friday morning I'm getting my wisdom teeth cut/pulled out.

A Visitor

I told my sister, Bethany, that I needed to tell everyone about our visitor and she said which one, the strange man who came and spoke or the bird. Okay I'll start at the beginning. The "strange man" was the Gideon man he came to do a boost on the Gideon work and we gave him an offering. I was talking about a little bird. We had a wren come into church at the beginning of sunday school. He sat on the window sill and watched us during sunday school. After Sunday School ended he flew up to the front of the church, behind the pulpit. Dad was the sunday scool teacher this sunday and he said that the bird was one of the best students he's had. He didn't hear a single peep out of him the whole service. :-) After the Gideon man spoke Pappaw preached. While Pappaw was preaching the bird started hopping around behind him. After a while it got up it's courage and started flying. He "buzzed" Pappaw while he was preaching. Pappaw just made a joke about it and kept preaching. Dad said the kids eyes never left the front of the building it was one time they've never been told to face forward. And absolutely no one fell asleep. After church we helped the little bird find it's way out. In other news Zach had his wisdom teeth out Friday morning. He came through the surgery fine. He's doing pretty good though he does have some swelling. This weekend is ..... YOUTH RETREAT! We are all looking forward to it. Mom is studying. She has to teach a lesson this weekend on the Fear of the Lord. How does it relate to the Finish Line racing to Glory? We can't even start the race without the fear of the Lord. Well, I'd better get going. I'll post again later. If I have anything to say......

Counseling Seminar

Hey everyone! I'm back!!!! I had a really exhausting week but I can truthfully say that I learned a lot. We had to get up by six every morning but mom always set her alarm for 5:45. When it went off it always woke me up and then I couldn't fall back to sleep before I had to be up! We had a very full schedule. We were in class most of the day. We got meal breaks and that was pretty much it. Curfew was at 10 but most nights we didn't get out of class till just before 10. By the time we actually made it to our rooms it was usually after 10. Then we would get ready for bed and study for the big exam on saturday till 11 or 12. Then start over again the next day. We had the exam on Saturday morning and........ I passed! Yay! I didn't think I was going to pass when i first turned my sheet over but I prayed and God brought things back to my memory. While we were at the seminar Mr. Gothard told us a funny story. He was driving down to the Counseling Seminar with a bunch of his headquarters staff and they stopped at crackerbarrel for lunch. As they were being seated Mr. Gothard noticed a young man across the room. This man had long hair and at first Mr. Gothard couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. He had tattoos and piercings all over his bod and was wearing jeans that were really tore up and a black leather jacket. As Mr. Gothard noticed this he thought to himself that young man could really benefit from going to a basic seminar. Just about that time the man looks up and sees Mr. Gothard. He stands to his feet and runs over to him yelling excitedly, " Bill Gothard! You changed my life!" As the young man talked to Mr. Gothard he told him that he had attended 10 basic seminars and was now a youth pastor at his local church. We all thought that was so hilarious. Mr. Gothard told us that we can't judge a book by his cover but man does and we should always have an appearance that would bring glory to God. We stayed overnight with Brother and Sister Buckner going and coming and went to church with them on Sunday morning. Then we drove home Sunday afternoon and made it in time for church at Farmville Sunday evening. Today we started back up on our school schedule. Burkeville CoGoP is having a revival this week. An old friend of our family is the evangelist and we are going over there tonight. Tomorrow is VLB service we are still showing the assembly dvd's. Last week we had a business meeting. I have a new assistant. Sister Gayle Sandy. I think Pappaw said he was going to appoint Tonya to jr. VLB's and gleaners. I still have all the responsibilities I had last year. Dad is now the local CPMA leader. And the boys and dad are all ushers and Dad and Bro. Tony were appointed assistant pastors. Anyway that's about it for now except that Tomorrow is Noah Cox's Birthday and Saturday is Micah's Birthday. Anyway I'll probably have more tomorrow or maybe not!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Sing with me, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mama, Happy birthday to you." Of course you guys can insert something else in there in the place of Mama! :-) Mom is the big 50. So Happy Birthday to Mama!

Update!

Hey everyone. We had Minister's Convention last week-end. It was wonderful. The Spirit was there in a wonderful way. Our theme was "I'm Having a Revival! How About You?" We were encouraged to have revival in our own hearts and lives and then challenge others to allow God to work a revival in them. Now if we all take that home with us.... think of all the wonderful things that God can do this year! Guess what! My birthday is Saturday, I'm turning 18 this year. Next week Mom and are going to Indianapolis for a seminar that I need for our home-school program. If I want to take advantage of any of the college courses or ministry opportunities I have to have this seminar. It's called the Counseling Seminar. It's supposed to equip you to work with others. Anyway I'll be gone all week. The only problem is I have to miss Apple Butter! It's so sad. Dad and the boys and Beth will get to go to Apple Butter though. I'm going to try and post the latest pictures I actually have on the computer. Some of them anyway. They are from February when we went to see the Cox's. Everyone's grown some since these pictures were taken.