Ok I admit I'm a little late with this update, but we've been so sidetracked by stuff. I am honestly trying here.
Anyway Hilary is off to work this morning and I have an hour before my first class of the year. So I thought I'd give you all a little update about where we are.
The past week was full of unpacking, unpacking, and oh yea did I mention unpacking. We still aren't done but the end is in sight.
I rented MLB 2k9 and have played it a bit. I haven't played a lot of new sports games recently so when I started to play this game I was shocked at how awesome the graphics are. The players look so real. It was neat.
Speaking of games, if you haven't heard about SWTOR, then you need to watch this http://kotaku.com/5343638/the-old-republic-20-minute-developer-walkthrough
It is a 20 minute video broken into four parts detailing in depth the game's story aspect. It is so neat to see an MMO with real story. Also it is star wars so you can't go wrong there.
As for school, I'm all set to go. This semester I mean business and I want to show the world what I can do when I actually put my mind to it. I'm tired of being the guy with all the wasted potential, so this year I'm going to leave no stone unturned and I promise that I will have my best semester by gpa that I've had so far. I even dressed up today in an effort to show my professors that I mean business. Let the school year begin!!
Dan
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Back in Houghton
Hey everyone!
This is Dan
I just wanted to give a quick update for all of you waiting on us.
We're back in Houghton. We've got everything moved in from storage but we're still working on putting it all away. Hilary had her staff meeting on thursday, but she doesn't start actually working until Wednesday, so we still have some time to move in.
We had a blast while we were home. Thanks to everyone we hung out with and stayed with. It was fantastic and we miss you all already.
Stay tuned throughout the school year for regular weekly updates!
This is Dan
I just wanted to give a quick update for all of you waiting on us.
We're back in Houghton. We've got everything moved in from storage but we're still working on putting it all away. Hilary had her staff meeting on thursday, but she doesn't start actually working until Wednesday, so we still have some time to move in.
We had a blast while we were home. Thanks to everyone we hung out with and stayed with. It was fantastic and we miss you all already.
Stay tuned throughout the school year for regular weekly updates!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Kingdom Bound!!!
This is Hilary posting, with Dan's input.
Well, we had planned to give daily updates from Kingdom Bound, but unfortunately lacked internet access, so you will all have to bear with us for an extremely loooong post as we try to tell about everything.
First of all, let me say thank you for all the prayers that went up on my behalf. Those and a lot of painkillers helped me get through the week with no more than minimal discomfort.
The trip to Kingdom Bound was largely uneventful. Some of the teens decided that our car is a Transformer (a Decepticon named Cherry Bomb) but that was about it. When we got there, Dan and I particularly were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of OPTIONS there are. You could keep busy from morning to night without ever riding a roller coaster, and in fact we only rode two the entire three days we were there.
The first day Dan and I went to an insightful seminar on why teens leave the church after high school, and the way that Christian groups (particularly one called InterVarsity which is where the speaker was from) work on secular campuses to encourage Christian growth. That was encouraging to us, living in the Houghton bubble, to know how God is working in other colleges, and that a person has options to go to a public school and not need to compromise their faith.
After that, we rode the Mind Eraser, a rather pitiful ride. It was too jerky and shaky and really not much fun at all. Then we went to see Matthew West in concert (we LOOOOOVE him!!!) and Dan got to get his autograph. Matthew West was actually really nice to him, and when Dan mentioned a particular song (History) which has touched his life in a very tangible way, he APOLOGIZED that he hadn't sung that one! Then we walked around hanging out with the many Houghton students that were there. It was a nice little pre back to school reunion. Dan ordered some Dippin' Dots, and something hilarious ensued. He ORDERED a medium. He PAID FOR a small. He RECEIVED a large. Awesome!
Finally, the big evening concert that night was Casting Crowns. Dan and I are not really that big of fans. It might be borderline sacrilegious to say that, but its true. We like their songs, and even love some of them. But their strength is in their lyrics, not their music, and in our opinion even though they are good they are not great, and do not deserve the over hyped MANIA that surrounds them in the Christian music world. Even so, we enjoyed the concert, and it touched a lot of people. When you can feel the Spirit in a place, when you see literally thousands of people all joined in worship, it is hard to begrudge them anything, even if their music is mediocre.
One more, extremely important thing, about Monday night that I need to share. (This is Dan.) I have been struggling with the emotional part of my faith recently. I say that because I have never doubted that God is God, nor have I doubted that He loves me. However, ever since my mother died, I have felt a disconnect from the presence of God. That all ended Monday evening at Matthew West. As soon as he sung Only Grace, I felt the rushing of the Spirit come over me and I was brought to tears. It was like the burden that I'd been carrying around for the past 11 months was finally lifted. God showed me in His most tangible of ways how much He loves me. Ever since then I have been singing and praising, praying and reading, and just generally rejoicing with that presence in my life once again. For so long I had been going through the motions because I believe firmly in God and I think that it is very important to worship even when you don't feel like worshiping. God is worthy to be praised even if He never blesses our lives simply because He is God and He died for our salvation. But, having said that, I'm glad we serve a God that cares for our needs and wants to have relationship with us and cherishes each and every second that He can rejoice and fellowship with us. Now back to the recounting of the week.
That evening we all got to bed around 1 AM, then had to be awake the next morning at 8. RARGH! Devotions were at 9:30, and the kids all had to share about the speaker they had heard as a way of keeping them accountable. Although it was clear that some of them were merely going to a speaker because they had to and not because they wanted to, it was also cool to see how many of them were really getting something out of it. Woohoo!
The second day we took some of the teens to see one of our Houghton friend's band play. His was not an "offical" band in the sense of the word, but they were playing in the middle school tent for morning worship each day. They were REALLY good, and those who went with us seemed to enjoy it. Keep an eye out for "Adulation" because they just might be something someday!
Afterward Dan rode The Ride of Steel, which no one ever calls by its proper name, rather calling it the Superman, with some of the boys, while I wandered the market tent and then went to a really informative seminar on drama ministry. I was less than impressed with the drama team's SKITS but very impressed by their passion and the information they had.
Dan and I met up for lunch and then went to a couple seminars together, mainly because we knew the larger portion of our group was going to them and wanted to be sure they were getting good information. One guy was speaking on the reaction of the church to people struggling with homosexuality. Although he started off a bit dubiously, his eventual premise came through very well, which is that we need to love them as human beings, and treat it as a sin like any other sin, not the unforgivable sin. If a Christian went to a Pastor and said "I'm struggling with homosexuality, I don't want to be this way but I don't know what to do" they would get kicked out of the church. If a Christian went to a Pastor and said "I'm struggling with gossip, I don't want to do it but I don't know what to do" they would receive wise counsel, and accountability, and definitely NOT get kicked out of the church. Why do we as a church get to decide which sins are worse than others? Is a non-practicing homosexual any more sinful than a non-practicing gossip or a sober alcoholic? Is a STRUGGLING homosexual any more sinful than a struggling gossip or a struggling alcoholic? Why do we treat homosexuals worse than say, a couple engaging in premarital sex or even adulterers? We don't even kicked divorced people out anymore! We can love the sinner and hate the sin in this case just like any other case, but we do not. This leaves two extremes. Hatred and condemnation, or indulgence and approbation, like the United Church of Christ. Where is the middle road, the path that Christ embraced? "Go and sin no more" not "Get the hell away from me you pervert!" Sorry that we have taken up so much time on this one seminar, but the fact of the matter is that it is a position we both share and it was so encouraging to hear someone else advocating it. He could have done it better, but he was saying the right things.
The other seminar which we were concerned about our teens getting right information was a "girls only" seminar. By nature Dan and I are wary of gender specific seminars because there is so much trash out there, and so many stereotypes. So often the boys ones are "Girls are evil, tempting creatures. Don't look at porn" with no more meat, and the girls ones are "Boys are evil, lustful creatures. Don't wear bikinis." Well, what can I say about this one? I feel it was about 50 percent garbage and 50 percent gold, with the garbage being evenly divided between Feminazi rubbish and what I will now use the term FemiNInazi to describe. First of all, the gold. The seminar was quite encouraging to the girls, reminding them of their worth as daughters of the King, of their beauty as a creation of God, and their purpose as His redeemed. All good and important things for girls (and boys too, but that's a whole 'nother rant) to learn and be affirmed in. The garbage was a mixture of the Feminazi: Don't waste your time with boys, they are pigs, they will distract you from being an "independent woman," etc, etc. There is nothing wrong with being a strong woman who knows what she wants, of course, but this attitude is strikingly selfish and superior. Then, of course, there is the FemiNInazi garbage: You are so pretty, your beauty is power, use it to make boys fall in line (because of course they are boorish pigs who only want your body) make a boy work hard to woo you while you stand there and pout, etc, etc. Again, there is nothing wrong with having high standards, simply something wrong with (again) having a superior and selfish attitude. It really struck me today for the first time how SIMILAR the message of the liberal, left wing, Feminazi zealots and the conservative, right wing, "girls must submit and be homemakers" (like I said, FemiNInazi) zealots are. Of course there methods are different but the bottom line is the same. Girls are better than boys. The end. Since when did Feminism (the declaration that girls are EQUAL to boys) become so perverted on both ends? I am a feminist, and proud of it. I subscribe to the mutual submission of marriage theory. I am a proud believer in the ideals of the CBE (Christians for Biblical Equality) (endorsed, by the way, by Dr. Jo Anne Lyon and Dr. Earl Wilson, present, and previous General Superintendents of the Wesleyan Church.) I believe the Bible firmly supports the EQUALITY of men and women. So where does all this woman superiority garbage come from, and why is it coming from BOTH the secular world AND the Christian world? Bah! Sorry, I am getting preachy there, but this is a pet topic of mine! If you guys are still with us after our preaching, THANKS! We now return to our regularly scheduled blog post.
So, after these seminars we went to the Everyday Sunday concert. They have VASTLY improved their sound. We were minor fans before, but we are MAJOR fans now. SO GOOD! Their new CD is JUST fabulous. Every song is good, both lyrically and musically. The teens all REALLY seemed to get into them, also, which is very good for them, as they weren't seeming to really connect with any of the other bands, except of course Casting Crowns with the hype. Lots of them bought CDs and drumsticks which were autographed by the band.
Then Dan finally talked me into riding the Superman, which is the most fantastic roller coaster I've ever been on, although also the scariest. The first drop is PURE TORTURE as you literally get about 5 seconds of WEIGHTLESSNESS as you drop down a 208 foot drop at a SEVENTY degree incline! That's the biggest and steepest I've ever been on, though that doesn't hold true for my much braver husband who has conquered both the Millennium Force and the Top Thrill Dragster. The REST of the track, however, is what I'm constantly begging for in a roller coaster. HELIXES! Banked TURNS! Fun up and down up and down little hills! It was GREAT! So then I decided to play a trick on the teens, who all knew how nervous I was to ride the ride, and not tell them I'd been on it, and act all nervous as I rode it the next day. Haha!
Dan interjecting again: So when I went home for my Dad's wedding, Hilary had a girls day with some of the girls in the youth group. Ever since my boys have been begging and begging me for a Guy's Night. So I told them to bring all sorts of food and junk to the hotel and we'd do it one night at KB. So we did it this night. It started out with a contest. Hot Sauce in one cup, and tomato juice in the other. (Later I found out that it was Hot Sauce in both cups, just that one was cut with water.) Next we chugged Mountain Dew. First person to down two cans won (that was me btw :). And then we got a box of Little Debbie's brownies and threw them at each other in a brownie fight. After that we went bowling...with mountain dew cans for pins and brownies for a ball. Fun was had by all....except that one of the teens spent most of the next day in the bathroom. I thankfully was fine.
Anyway, the next morning was a little different. Dan was responsible for devotions that morning, and he talked about friendship, which ended up giving me my idea for MY devotion, about encouragement. But more about that later. That morning, instead of going straight to the theme park, Dan and I took five of our group on a little detour to Houghton College for a visit. We had decided on spur of the moment to do it the day before. Dan called up Houghton to try to arrange it. They were a little skeptical. Dan's like, look, I'm a current student, my name is Dan Holtz. The guy on the other end of the phone goes "Oh Dan, this is Mark, Mark Satta!" who was Dan's RA and had classes with him and worked on class cabinet with him. In other words, a friend. After that, he quickly made it happen for us.
Another spur of the moment decision had us calling up Kelvin and Margaret at about 11:15 asking them to have lunch with us and 5 teenagers at noon. Fortunately they were good sports. Guys, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! We're sorry you had to put up with them in one of their more mischievous modes. Anyway, the Houghton trip seemed to go really well, and I'm grateful we were able to give them the opportunity.
We missed about half a day of Kingdom Bound on our return trip, not returning until 4:30. The last day was rather uneventful until 6:30 when we got to hear Sanctus Real, one of our all time favorite bands. They were good, of course, and we bought their new(ish) CD and got them to sign it. We got to talk to them (well, Dan did, I'm shy as it is and was also a little star struck) and we told them that we had been fans since Say It Loud! their first CD. They seemed genuinely flattered and mentioned that we got to see them grow up, which is really quite true. Their new stuff is way better than their old stuff. They have matured musically and lyrically just as Everyday Sunday has. Dan and I were actually first in line to get their autograph, which was cool. Even cooler, though, was the fact that every Christian band (except for the ones doing the very last concerts which never ended til close to 11) signed autographs and talked to their fans, seeming very down to earth and just really genuinely nice. It's so neat to see the difference between Christian bands and secular ones. It's reassuring to know that a walk with Christ truly DOES make a difference in behavior, because so often the statistics tell us otherwise. But here are all these famous guys who are humble and personable and just awesome. It's totally due to the influence of Christ.
Anyway, after that David Nasser was speaking. That was a total blast from the past, as we had seen him as a speaker numerous times at various youth conferences in Jr. High and early High School. It was so cool to hear him again, and his testimony is something powerful. Short version is that he's from Iran, and his parents were Muslim, and they moved to America and he started going to church as a teenager and found Christ. He was disowned, but eventually his whole family became Christians. How cool is that? The best thing he said is that some people, when they become Christians, have to repent of UN-righteousness, and some have to repent of SELF-righteousness. How true.
Finally I was able to pull my trick on the kids with the Superman. They were SOOOOO mad at me at the end, but they all agreed it was hilariously funny. I thought it was a great joke!
Finally, we went to the last concert. The final concert was the newsboys, with the new singer, Micheal Tate from DC Talk. Most of the teens LOVE newsboys, and were pretty displeased with their new sound, but Dan and I have NEVER been newsboys fans but have liked DC Talk in the past and thought their new sound was much more mature and musically diverse. It was kind of cool when the old lead singer came out to sing Breakfast with them, and the encore was the best part of the show, as they played DC Talk's Jesus Freak
That night, we did devotions in the evening to save time the next morning. This kind of put me on the spot as I had been planning on having the evening to prepare mine. Oh well, I thought it went very well, as I talked about the importance of encouraging and complimenting each other. I admonished the guys to affirm their sisters beauty, and admonished them all to be genuinely edifying to each other. Some cool things came out of that, as one of the teens who never really says much told me I was pretty, and I told the girls in my room some specific compliments about themselves, and then they gave me some back, so even I was really uplifted by my own message. Cool how that works, huh?
Then of course this morning we packed it all up and came home, and that's about all there is to that story, which anybody who is still bothering to read this is probably going "phew, glad that's over with!" Sorry for regaling you guys with such a LONG post, but there were SO many important things that happened, and we just really wanted to share it with you all.
And Saturday we leave for Lauren's wedding and then for home! WOOO HOOO!!
Love,
Dan and Hilary
P.S. It took us over an hour and a half to write this, it is six pages in a word document, and if you really read the whole thing, we'll give you a cookie.
Well, we had planned to give daily updates from Kingdom Bound, but unfortunately lacked internet access, so you will all have to bear with us for an extremely loooong post as we try to tell about everything.
First of all, let me say thank you for all the prayers that went up on my behalf. Those and a lot of painkillers helped me get through the week with no more than minimal discomfort.
The trip to Kingdom Bound was largely uneventful. Some of the teens decided that our car is a Transformer (a Decepticon named Cherry Bomb) but that was about it. When we got there, Dan and I particularly were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of OPTIONS there are. You could keep busy from morning to night without ever riding a roller coaster, and in fact we only rode two the entire three days we were there.
The first day Dan and I went to an insightful seminar on why teens leave the church after high school, and the way that Christian groups (particularly one called InterVarsity which is where the speaker was from) work on secular campuses to encourage Christian growth. That was encouraging to us, living in the Houghton bubble, to know how God is working in other colleges, and that a person has options to go to a public school and not need to compromise their faith.
After that, we rode the Mind Eraser, a rather pitiful ride. It was too jerky and shaky and really not much fun at all. Then we went to see Matthew West in concert (we LOOOOOVE him!!!) and Dan got to get his autograph. Matthew West was actually really nice to him, and when Dan mentioned a particular song (History) which has touched his life in a very tangible way, he APOLOGIZED that he hadn't sung that one! Then we walked around hanging out with the many Houghton students that were there. It was a nice little pre back to school reunion. Dan ordered some Dippin' Dots, and something hilarious ensued. He ORDERED a medium. He PAID FOR a small. He RECEIVED a large. Awesome!
Finally, the big evening concert that night was Casting Crowns. Dan and I are not really that big of fans. It might be borderline sacrilegious to say that, but its true. We like their songs, and even love some of them. But their strength is in their lyrics, not their music, and in our opinion even though they are good they are not great, and do not deserve the over hyped MANIA that surrounds them in the Christian music world. Even so, we enjoyed the concert, and it touched a lot of people. When you can feel the Spirit in a place, when you see literally thousands of people all joined in worship, it is hard to begrudge them anything, even if their music is mediocre.
One more, extremely important thing, about Monday night that I need to share. (This is Dan.) I have been struggling with the emotional part of my faith recently. I say that because I have never doubted that God is God, nor have I doubted that He loves me. However, ever since my mother died, I have felt a disconnect from the presence of God. That all ended Monday evening at Matthew West. As soon as he sung Only Grace, I felt the rushing of the Spirit come over me and I was brought to tears. It was like the burden that I'd been carrying around for the past 11 months was finally lifted. God showed me in His most tangible of ways how much He loves me. Ever since then I have been singing and praising, praying and reading, and just generally rejoicing with that presence in my life once again. For so long I had been going through the motions because I believe firmly in God and I think that it is very important to worship even when you don't feel like worshiping. God is worthy to be praised even if He never blesses our lives simply because He is God and He died for our salvation. But, having said that, I'm glad we serve a God that cares for our needs and wants to have relationship with us and cherishes each and every second that He can rejoice and fellowship with us. Now back to the recounting of the week.
That evening we all got to bed around 1 AM, then had to be awake the next morning at 8. RARGH! Devotions were at 9:30, and the kids all had to share about the speaker they had heard as a way of keeping them accountable. Although it was clear that some of them were merely going to a speaker because they had to and not because they wanted to, it was also cool to see how many of them were really getting something out of it. Woohoo!
The second day we took some of the teens to see one of our Houghton friend's band play. His was not an "offical" band in the sense of the word, but they were playing in the middle school tent for morning worship each day. They were REALLY good, and those who went with us seemed to enjoy it. Keep an eye out for "Adulation" because they just might be something someday!
Afterward Dan rode The Ride of Steel, which no one ever calls by its proper name, rather calling it the Superman, with some of the boys, while I wandered the market tent and then went to a really informative seminar on drama ministry. I was less than impressed with the drama team's SKITS but very impressed by their passion and the information they had.
Dan and I met up for lunch and then went to a couple seminars together, mainly because we knew the larger portion of our group was going to them and wanted to be sure they were getting good information. One guy was speaking on the reaction of the church to people struggling with homosexuality. Although he started off a bit dubiously, his eventual premise came through very well, which is that we need to love them as human beings, and treat it as a sin like any other sin, not the unforgivable sin. If a Christian went to a Pastor and said "I'm struggling with homosexuality, I don't want to be this way but I don't know what to do" they would get kicked out of the church. If a Christian went to a Pastor and said "I'm struggling with gossip, I don't want to do it but I don't know what to do" they would receive wise counsel, and accountability, and definitely NOT get kicked out of the church. Why do we as a church get to decide which sins are worse than others? Is a non-practicing homosexual any more sinful than a non-practicing gossip or a sober alcoholic? Is a STRUGGLING homosexual any more sinful than a struggling gossip or a struggling alcoholic? Why do we treat homosexuals worse than say, a couple engaging in premarital sex or even adulterers? We don't even kicked divorced people out anymore! We can love the sinner and hate the sin in this case just like any other case, but we do not. This leaves two extremes. Hatred and condemnation, or indulgence and approbation, like the United Church of Christ. Where is the middle road, the path that Christ embraced? "Go and sin no more" not "Get the hell away from me you pervert!" Sorry that we have taken up so much time on this one seminar, but the fact of the matter is that it is a position we both share and it was so encouraging to hear someone else advocating it. He could have done it better, but he was saying the right things.
The other seminar which we were concerned about our teens getting right information was a "girls only" seminar. By nature Dan and I are wary of gender specific seminars because there is so much trash out there, and so many stereotypes. So often the boys ones are "Girls are evil, tempting creatures. Don't look at porn" with no more meat, and the girls ones are "Boys are evil, lustful creatures. Don't wear bikinis." Well, what can I say about this one? I feel it was about 50 percent garbage and 50 percent gold, with the garbage being evenly divided between Feminazi rubbish and what I will now use the term FemiNInazi to describe. First of all, the gold. The seminar was quite encouraging to the girls, reminding them of their worth as daughters of the King, of their beauty as a creation of God, and their purpose as His redeemed. All good and important things for girls (and boys too, but that's a whole 'nother rant) to learn and be affirmed in. The garbage was a mixture of the Feminazi: Don't waste your time with boys, they are pigs, they will distract you from being an "independent woman," etc, etc. There is nothing wrong with being a strong woman who knows what she wants, of course, but this attitude is strikingly selfish and superior. Then, of course, there is the FemiNInazi garbage: You are so pretty, your beauty is power, use it to make boys fall in line (because of course they are boorish pigs who only want your body) make a boy work hard to woo you while you stand there and pout, etc, etc. Again, there is nothing wrong with having high standards, simply something wrong with (again) having a superior and selfish attitude. It really struck me today for the first time how SIMILAR the message of the liberal, left wing, Feminazi zealots and the conservative, right wing, "girls must submit and be homemakers" (like I said, FemiNInazi) zealots are. Of course there methods are different but the bottom line is the same. Girls are better than boys. The end. Since when did Feminism (the declaration that girls are EQUAL to boys) become so perverted on both ends? I am a feminist, and proud of it. I subscribe to the mutual submission of marriage theory. I am a proud believer in the ideals of the CBE (Christians for Biblical Equality) (endorsed, by the way, by Dr. Jo Anne Lyon and Dr. Earl Wilson, present, and previous General Superintendents of the Wesleyan Church.) I believe the Bible firmly supports the EQUALITY of men and women. So where does all this woman superiority garbage come from, and why is it coming from BOTH the secular world AND the Christian world? Bah! Sorry, I am getting preachy there, but this is a pet topic of mine! If you guys are still with us after our preaching, THANKS! We now return to our regularly scheduled blog post.
So, after these seminars we went to the Everyday Sunday concert. They have VASTLY improved their sound. We were minor fans before, but we are MAJOR fans now. SO GOOD! Their new CD is JUST fabulous. Every song is good, both lyrically and musically. The teens all REALLY seemed to get into them, also, which is very good for them, as they weren't seeming to really connect with any of the other bands, except of course Casting Crowns with the hype. Lots of them bought CDs and drumsticks which were autographed by the band.
Then Dan finally talked me into riding the Superman, which is the most fantastic roller coaster I've ever been on, although also the scariest. The first drop is PURE TORTURE as you literally get about 5 seconds of WEIGHTLESSNESS as you drop down a 208 foot drop at a SEVENTY degree incline! That's the biggest and steepest I've ever been on, though that doesn't hold true for my much braver husband who has conquered both the Millennium Force and the Top Thrill Dragster. The REST of the track, however, is what I'm constantly begging for in a roller coaster. HELIXES! Banked TURNS! Fun up and down up and down little hills! It was GREAT! So then I decided to play a trick on the teens, who all knew how nervous I was to ride the ride, and not tell them I'd been on it, and act all nervous as I rode it the next day. Haha!
Dan interjecting again: So when I went home for my Dad's wedding, Hilary had a girls day with some of the girls in the youth group. Ever since my boys have been begging and begging me for a Guy's Night. So I told them to bring all sorts of food and junk to the hotel and we'd do it one night at KB. So we did it this night. It started out with a contest. Hot Sauce in one cup, and tomato juice in the other. (Later I found out that it was Hot Sauce in both cups, just that one was cut with water.) Next we chugged Mountain Dew. First person to down two cans won (that was me btw :). And then we got a box of Little Debbie's brownies and threw them at each other in a brownie fight. After that we went bowling...with mountain dew cans for pins and brownies for a ball. Fun was had by all....except that one of the teens spent most of the next day in the bathroom. I thankfully was fine.
Anyway, the next morning was a little different. Dan was responsible for devotions that morning, and he talked about friendship, which ended up giving me my idea for MY devotion, about encouragement. But more about that later. That morning, instead of going straight to the theme park, Dan and I took five of our group on a little detour to Houghton College for a visit. We had decided on spur of the moment to do it the day before. Dan called up Houghton to try to arrange it. They were a little skeptical. Dan's like, look, I'm a current student, my name is Dan Holtz. The guy on the other end of the phone goes "Oh Dan, this is Mark, Mark Satta!" who was Dan's RA and had classes with him and worked on class cabinet with him. In other words, a friend. After that, he quickly made it happen for us.
Another spur of the moment decision had us calling up Kelvin and Margaret at about 11:15 asking them to have lunch with us and 5 teenagers at noon. Fortunately they were good sports. Guys, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! We're sorry you had to put up with them in one of their more mischievous modes. Anyway, the Houghton trip seemed to go really well, and I'm grateful we were able to give them the opportunity.
We missed about half a day of Kingdom Bound on our return trip, not returning until 4:30. The last day was rather uneventful until 6:30 when we got to hear Sanctus Real, one of our all time favorite bands. They were good, of course, and we bought their new(ish) CD and got them to sign it. We got to talk to them (well, Dan did, I'm shy as it is and was also a little star struck) and we told them that we had been fans since Say It Loud! their first CD. They seemed genuinely flattered and mentioned that we got to see them grow up, which is really quite true. Their new stuff is way better than their old stuff. They have matured musically and lyrically just as Everyday Sunday has. Dan and I were actually first in line to get their autograph, which was cool. Even cooler, though, was the fact that every Christian band (except for the ones doing the very last concerts which never ended til close to 11) signed autographs and talked to their fans, seeming very down to earth and just really genuinely nice. It's so neat to see the difference between Christian bands and secular ones. It's reassuring to know that a walk with Christ truly DOES make a difference in behavior, because so often the statistics tell us otherwise. But here are all these famous guys who are humble and personable and just awesome. It's totally due to the influence of Christ.
Anyway, after that David Nasser was speaking. That was a total blast from the past, as we had seen him as a speaker numerous times at various youth conferences in Jr. High and early High School. It was so cool to hear him again, and his testimony is something powerful. Short version is that he's from Iran, and his parents were Muslim, and they moved to America and he started going to church as a teenager and found Christ. He was disowned, but eventually his whole family became Christians. How cool is that? The best thing he said is that some people, when they become Christians, have to repent of UN-righteousness, and some have to repent of SELF-righteousness. How true.
Finally I was able to pull my trick on the kids with the Superman. They were SOOOOO mad at me at the end, but they all agreed it was hilariously funny. I thought it was a great joke!
Finally, we went to the last concert. The final concert was the newsboys, with the new singer, Micheal Tate from DC Talk. Most of the teens LOVE newsboys, and were pretty displeased with their new sound, but Dan and I have NEVER been newsboys fans but have liked DC Talk in the past and thought their new sound was much more mature and musically diverse. It was kind of cool when the old lead singer came out to sing Breakfast with them, and the encore was the best part of the show, as they played DC Talk's Jesus Freak
That night, we did devotions in the evening to save time the next morning. This kind of put me on the spot as I had been planning on having the evening to prepare mine. Oh well, I thought it went very well, as I talked about the importance of encouraging and complimenting each other. I admonished the guys to affirm their sisters beauty, and admonished them all to be genuinely edifying to each other. Some cool things came out of that, as one of the teens who never really says much told me I was pretty, and I told the girls in my room some specific compliments about themselves, and then they gave me some back, so even I was really uplifted by my own message. Cool how that works, huh?
Then of course this morning we packed it all up and came home, and that's about all there is to that story, which anybody who is still bothering to read this is probably going "phew, glad that's over with!" Sorry for regaling you guys with such a LONG post, but there were SO many important things that happened, and we just really wanted to share it with you all.
And Saturday we leave for Lauren's wedding and then for home! WOOO HOOO!!
Love,
Dan and Hilary
P.S. It took us over an hour and a half to write this, it is six pages in a word document, and if you really read the whole thing, we'll give you a cookie.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Please Pray!
Hilary here...
Boys, sorry if I gross you out. It's just past 6 in the morning, and we're getting ready to leave for Kingdom Bound. I've known all along that I was going to have my period this week, the week of Kingdom Bound, but 9 times out of 10 that isn't any big deal. Well, it chose this week to be a big deal. I woke up this morning in a LOT of pain. Please, please pray for me that God would take care of this pain, because I honestly feel like standing up straight is a chore right now and I need to be at my best for three days of music and amusement park riding. I want to be effective for the teens... but right now I just want to crawl in a hole in the fetal position.
I love you guys and Dan and I will definitely keep you posted on how Kingdom Bound goes. Except for this, I'm SOOOOO excited. Thank you in advance for all your prayers, I know they're gonna get me through this!
Love,
Hilary
Boys, sorry if I gross you out. It's just past 6 in the morning, and we're getting ready to leave for Kingdom Bound. I've known all along that I was going to have my period this week, the week of Kingdom Bound, but 9 times out of 10 that isn't any big deal. Well, it chose this week to be a big deal. I woke up this morning in a LOT of pain. Please, please pray for me that God would take care of this pain, because I honestly feel like standing up straight is a chore right now and I need to be at my best for three days of music and amusement park riding. I want to be effective for the teens... but right now I just want to crawl in a hole in the fetal position.
I love you guys and Dan and I will definitely keep you posted on how Kingdom Bound goes. Except for this, I'm SOOOOO excited. Thank you in advance for all your prayers, I know they're gonna get me through this!
Love,
Hilary
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Forecast: Tears
Hilary here,
Well, today was our last Sunday in Lisbon. One more week, and then next Saturday we'll be heading to Lauren's wedding (YAY!) and then home. And as excited and anxious as I am to see everybody... I am going to MISS it here!
I cried in Sunday School today as we said goodbye. The teens were fantastic and all gathered around Dan and I in a group hug. Then they kicked us out for secret plotting. I'm frightened.
After Dan preached in church today (he did an AWESOME job by the way, definitely the best he's done ever) we said goodbye to our new family. And they are our family and leaving them is SOOOO hard and I cried again. Then I teared up several times as people were hugging us goodbye.
I imagine there are many more tears in my future the next week. I just can't help it... I've come to love this place and everyone here SOOOOOOO much and the idea of leaving is just painful.
But I love you all and I'm excited to come home and visit!
Love,
Hilary
Well, today was our last Sunday in Lisbon. One more week, and then next Saturday we'll be heading to Lauren's wedding (YAY!) and then home. And as excited and anxious as I am to see everybody... I am going to MISS it here!
I cried in Sunday School today as we said goodbye. The teens were fantastic and all gathered around Dan and I in a group hug. Then they kicked us out for secret plotting. I'm frightened.
After Dan preached in church today (he did an AWESOME job by the way, definitely the best he's done ever) we said goodbye to our new family. And they are our family and leaving them is SOOOO hard and I cried again. Then I teared up several times as people were hugging us goodbye.
I imagine there are many more tears in my future the next week. I just can't help it... I've come to love this place and everyone here SOOOOOOO much and the idea of leaving is just painful.
But I love you all and I'm excited to come home and visit!
Love,
Hilary
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