i will out of town, out of state actually, for about a week starting friday night (the 26th). i'm going a conference in Urbana, IL put on every 3 years by InterVarsity, a Christian organization that works in colleges across the country. this conference is all about missions. even tho i personally am slightly tired of that topic (my college group study leaders are huge into missions & it seems that is all they talk about), it's still an awesome area & i'm excited to be able to go to Urbana.

what i ask of any who will is that you will pray for me & the 12 other people who will be traveling across the country to a state where there is actually such a thing as snow (i grew up in IL so i'm prepared, but the others are not). & also pray that we will get out of this conference what God has planned for us, that our hearts won't be hardened to His plans for us. Thank you

Stay safe, bro. Have fun! :)

CJ

i'll be praying. have a blessed time. :)

I'll be prayin, & i hope you have a great time! I have some friends that are also tehre right now :) God bless!!!!

thank you for your prayers. :) they were (& are) much appreciated. i am now back from one of the longest days of my life. :P since i haven't been in a real bed for about 32 hours, i'm dog-tired. as such, i will let y'all know how everything went (in brief, so as to not bore you) tomorrow when i'm more rested. :)

cool. glad to hear you all got home safely. :)

Welcome back Mike

Even though I didnt reply earlier I was praying that you would be blessed and I am looking forward to hearing about your trip!!

thanks John. :) i appreciate it. & sorry to all who have been waiting (not that i'd expect a lot of you to be waiting, but i did say i'd post & i haven't). anyways, here's the lowdown.

the typical day was this. we'd wake up, go to breakfast, have our small group Bible study, go to the Gen. Session, then go to lunch. after lunch there were 3 seminars (actually, with the time lunch was, you had to skip lunch to get to the first seminar). right after the last seminar was dinner. then the second Gen. Session of the day. then our small groups met again to pray or talk about the day or whatever (i think ours met once. the other times Steve, a friend from my church, either cancelled it 'cause it was extremely late, or nobody showed up).

so of the 5 seminars i went to, i really liked 4. good ratio i suppose. the thing about the different seminars that struck me was how much of an impact culture has on how we view the world. for example, one speaker talked of how in some cultures they say "the pen dropped" instead of "you dropped your pen" like we say here in America. they say that so as not to shame the person who dropped their pen. so when a well-meaning American with all the love in the world comes up to them saying "you dropped your pen. let me pick it up for you." we are actually shaming them without knowing it.

in another aspect of culture, one evening a Native American band, Broken Walls, played for us. they had their drum & everyone was all decked out in their regalia dancing like you'd normally see them dancing at festivals & such, but it was for God. 20,000 students worshipping God with this team of Native Americans. it was so incredibly awesome. i simply can't describe it.

needless to say, God taught me many a thing & has shown me some parts where i'm lacking or need change. He worked, that's for sure. & He's going to continue to work in me & build these things out. over all i'd have to say that this conference was totally awesome. :D

I live in urbana ;)

Thanks for sharing with Mike......I would have loved to see Broken Walls...as i love the Native Americans and their culture. The Native Americans have really gotten a raw deal down through history and most people dont seem to care >:(

I am glad you had a good time

J3

you're welcome John. :) & i know what you mean. their entire way of life has become so crappy because of what has been done to them.

one of my roommates (the other was a friend of mine already) is from New Mexico & his dream was to help out the Native American community & bring a restoration there. not through government or money, but through Christ. he's half Dutch-half Navajo so he's got a foot in both worlds. i felt so impressed by his heart.

anyway, i'm going off again. :)

my boyfriend went to the urbana conference and he loved it (except for the long days). he really enjoyed the native american worship. from what he told me, it was an awesome experience. i wish i could have been there for it.

that's cool that your boyfriend went. :) has he decided on becoming a full-time missionary yet. ;)

yeah, the native american worship was definitely awesome. even tho we had to stay up later than normal for it (& we got little sleep as it was) it was certainly worth it. :) big time.

that's cool that your boyfriend went. :) has he decided on becoming a full-time missionary yet. ;)


actually, he decided to be a missionary several years ago. he likes going to missionary conventions, plus our college offered it as a course and he needed the extra credits. it also made it a little cheaper for him (always a plus for the struggling college student) ;)
also on the subject of urbana, my boyfriend told me that his mom (who works for the army) heard that there was a terrorist threat on the conference, so it's a major praise to God that nothing happened!!! ;D

in another aspect of culture, one evening a Native American band, Broken Walls, played for us. they had their drum & everyone was all decked out in their regalia dancing like you'd normally see them dancing at festivals & such, but it was for God. 20,000 students worshipping God with this team of Native Americans. it was so incredibly awesome. i simply can't describe it.

My friend went to Urbana. That's why he's so into Native music now!!

that is awesome that there was a terroris threat, yet nothing happpened! God was definitely watching over us. :) i didn't even hear about anything.

yeah, the Native American worship was awesome. a friend of mine also got into that style of music. she wanted to get all of Broken Walls' CDs, but they were sold out of all but one. :- but she'll play that one to death i'm sure. ;)