Back into the calm

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. Life has been so busy and stuff has been building up and I haven’t had time to write. But, just to let you know, I am making it through.

But it has been three weeks since I’ve written a post, so I will have to divide this up into different sections by events, instead of the traditional style.

1. Missions Conference- Set Us Ablaze!

Missions Conference was amazing this year. I can’t even contain in one post how much stuff went on. From our three speakers (JFK Mensah, Mark Parker, and Kevin Humble) , almost a hundred seminars, and interaction trips to a record 8 global awareness rooms (not including the homeless area and the prayer area), a record 100 Missionary Organizations, and tons of other things. And that doesn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg of what God did during the conference.

Kevin Humble- thanks to Biola chimes

The three speakers worked in unison even though they didn’t know what the others were talking about. JFK Mensah gave us the good theology (he has the entire Bible memorized!), Mark Parker gave the passion, and Kevin Humble gave the practical application.

What was really cool was that the Humbles took over Missions Conference. Justin Humble was a coordinator and his brother was on staff. They introduced one of the speakers, their father, Kevin Humble. And, at the alumni panel, Arny Humble, the grandpa, came and stole everyone’s hearts. The father and grandpa were both SMU presidents when they were at Biola, so we have high hopes for Justin and Finn, or maybe even their sister. Anyways, everybody is now in love with this godly family, especially when Justin introduced his dad and said his mom, “is the most beautiful woman in the world.” I think I heard a female choir singing “awwww” and almost everyone I talked to is in love with him now.

The big event was Thursday night. Typical retreat or conference, the last night is the big spiritual high night. Mark Parker was speaking and God was present, as he had been preparing the campus for this evening. God convicted people, people were healed of sins and spiritual afflictions, and emotions were high. Everyone realized that God was there. The big difference from the normal ‘emotional night’ was that there was substance. There was not only an emotional and spiritual high, but there was also a rational connection. There was a whole experience and people’s hearts have been set ablaze. After all the conflict and spiritual attacks, God has moved in our campus and set our hearts ablaze. We will never be the same.

JFK Mensah- thanks to the Chimes

There were a lot of stories from Missions Conference, that just being one. Justine and I experienced a miracle as Logistics coordinators. We had the keys to two carts (the Behemoth and the Event Cart that we renamed the Leviathan) and on Wednesday night the keys to the Behemoth disappeared. We knew a two minute time frame in which they disappeared. The cart got locked up with a bicycle lock, Justine walked up to me after taking the keys out of the ignition and when I got them the keys were gone. We looked everywhere for them. We were panicking, but one of our directors, Rebeca, told us to trust that God would provide them as he had done earlier that week with a flashdrive (another crazy story). The keys never ended up showing up, but when we went to tell them we lost the keys the people were fine (the carabiner it was on was bad). Once we had the backup keys we realized there weren’t keys to the bicycle lock. God had unlocked the bike lock so we could use the cart later that week. We were looking for him to provide keys, but he provided in another way. Praise God!

For more Missions Conference stories, check out one of the articles in the Biola Chimes.

2. SOS Spring Retreat

This year I’m an SOS crew leader, which is a lot different from normal SOS. Retreat was good, even if I was a few hours late (I was working MC). Five of us went in my car (Tyler, Morgan, Grace, and Letti) and we had fun. Now, SOS retreat is a secret because:

SOS is shrouded in secrecy and deception

So I can’t tell you what we did, except that it was a great bonding time. I love my crew and I know that God has placed them all in my group for a purpose. I can’t wait to start to REALLY get to know them.

Every year I have a picture like this

TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I love my crew and I really want to get to know them better

SOS Crew Leaders 2011

3. Mock Rock

This year I wasn’t able to do Mock Rock, but they did so well. The theme was Batman (probably my only contribution to the whole thing) and they were legit. They didn’t place, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t do great. I could go through and point out parts that I love (like when Jessi is the only one standing in scene two; how every year Mat and Ann are on stage for the same scene and Ann has her hair the same way and Mat always takes a heart out and either eats it or throws it out; or the fight scene; or pretty much the whole thing) but I won’t. Instead you can just watch it here.

waiting in line

I did get to watch it this year and it was really good. I was the second group in line, and the group had to get there early, so we had a lot of time to kill. We took pictures, registered for housing next year (phase I) and ate dinner. It was fun, we even got some crazy disco necklaces and glow sticks before going in. The whole of Mock Rock was pretty good, and afterwards we, SOS, went to In-N-Out for a celebration meal, and then we had a two hour dance party in the Staples parking lot. It was crazy and probably the longest dance party I’ve ever been to. Everything was clean (the people in SOS are top notch people) so no body felt uncomfortable or anything.

That weekend everybody was pretty out, but I still managed to go to Disney land with Julie for our one-on-one. Julie’s in my crew and we were going to go in a big group on Friday, but that didn’t work. Almost nobodies’ work on Saturday so we made it a one-on-one for crew. We got to do a lot of fun stuff like visit Kelly in Toontown, go on Pirate Island (which I’ve wanted to do for years) check out critter country (which is a lot more fun then I ever thought it was), watched World of Color, and went on a few rides. It was a lot of fun.

Julie, Kelly, and I at Dland. Kelly works with the characters in Toontown and she's perfect for the job. She's lots of fun, enthusiastic for the job, and is really approachable. It was so much fun to visit her on the job.

4. Torrey

Torrey has been going well the past few weeks. There have been times where I’ve barely finished my reading before class, but sometimes those are my best classes. My last class on Pascal was really good and I barely finished it. I found almost every quote that the professor was looking for, so I felt pretty good about myself.

Friday I went to Cheese Club with David and John. There were only two cheese there and they looked like Cheese Whiz… because they were! April Fools! They had about six different cheeses in the frig that they didn’t bring out at first. They got us good. After Cheese Club I talked with John for awhile. It was a good talk and I realized how good of a friend I have in John. I can’t wait to be in ministry with him in the future.

Two big Torrey things lately have been the paper and the Disney Movie Meta Torrey. The paper isn’t important, but the Meta Torrey is. I was the first one to suggest a Meta Torrey on the THI chatter and I got 30 or so people interested! I needed at least 8 and had room for 20! I’ve had two professors’ input and they both like the idea. There are six or seven other Meta Torrey proposals that were announced on Thursday, but I plan on beating them.

5. Life in General

Life is tough. I have good friends, a good family, and a good God, but that doesn’t make it easy. I’ve had four friends lose their grandparents, including one lady that was really close to my grandma and part of the reason I have a business major. I feel a little distant from SOS because of Missions Conference stuff and everyone knows my name, but I don’t know everyone. PLUS there are othe big things going on that I won’t mention here, but life is crazy. God is good.