It was a weekend for the books-my last fall conference as a student. All of Thursday, USM lost power from the storm, which was quite inconvenient for someone leaving for a weekend. But after running MANY errands Friday morning, it was time to leave! Huge shoutout to Emma for letting me shower and do laundry at her house before we left for China, ME.
I’m writing this post exclusively on my phone in South Dakota, so it’s probably going to be poorly written. Watch out for an adventure blog on SD coming soon.
My car and I drove up in the afternoon and had a great time. We went up together because for the first time in Navs history (at least from what I can ever remember), we were going to prank the boys. Is it immature? Yes. Was it necessary? Nope. Did we giggle like idiots while we did it and have loads of fun? You bet. I would tell you who I rode up with, but it is confidential information. On Sunday, once the boys found out it was not a coincidence that an entire can of axe body spray was emptied in their room, they were pretty livid and swore to get us back and wanted to know my accomplices. I will never tell.
Because everybody needs encouragement tampons.
We also went up early to set up the prayer room, which I was in charge of this year. It was pretty simple, but I hope people heard from God in it. The weather was beautiful, and my heart leapt once we got close to the conference center. It’s probably my favorite place in Maine, just because it’s beautiful and filled with such happy memories.
Friday night, after the session and wonderful snacks, Emma and I got to hit up the prayer room together. I have loved getting close to her this semester-it’s been such a joy and I can’t wait to see where the Lord is going to take both of us.
I got a whole 6 hours of sleep that night, and then it was time to rock and roll. The day started out with a devotional with Allie from USM and Hannah from MMA, who is currently the only girl in their Navs right now, so I figured she needed some girl time. Jared Parsons, the campus leader at NYU Tandon, was our speaker and we studied confidence through a character study of Peter. If there’s any character in the Bible I relate to the most, it’s Peter, so I was really excited.
After that session and a workshop, it was free time. Jeff, sound extraordinaire and overall amazing human, organized a game that was pure craziness. It was between all three schools, simultaneously kickball and whiffleball while one school played outfield for both batters. It was just insane, and I won’t bother to try to explain further. TONS of fun and laughs were had.
After all that craziness, I walked down to the lake with Jessie. We had a great conversation which ended up with me screaming to Jessie and at the lake, “It’s not about me! It’s not about me!” It was great, and that kind of ended up being the motto that all the USMers started to say by the end of the weekend-totally unintentional, that’s just what God was speaking to me all weekend.
Jessie, myself, and Emma at the top of the hill.
On Saturday night, I was done processing my stuff and was sitting in the back by myself ‘cause I just wanted to soak. Heather was out with another student and Tucker had me come stand with him for ministry prayer, just like a staff member! I was hesitant, but he insisted so I did, and got to pray for 3 girls, which was awesome and moving, of course.
After telling stories around the fire (with a whopper of one from Josh) I headed for a shift in the prayer room from 11-12pm. Then after a quick 4 hours, I did a three hour stretch in it with three different people. I started the EDGE Corps application in the prayer room then, laying at the foot of our old rugged cross. I also especially loved watching the sunrise and talking with Rachel during the 5-6am block.
And then it was the last session, lunch, and cleanup which we finished in record time. Another fall conf for the books, over and done with. I am so happy so many of our students were able to experience this amazing place. Please continue praying for…
- Our ministry to grow and for us to have to capacity to care for and shepherd everyone well. I mean, this is always my prayer, but it’s important.
- Clarity for me on where God wants me for EDGE Corps and motivation to finish the very hard application.
- Friends who don’t know Jesus who I want to so badly.
- Fiery freshman Allie, who I just recently have started meeting one-on-one with! So exciting, and pray that I can show her God’s love as much as possible in every way, as well as my other girl Lyndie- we’re going to be doing an art show for her quilling business, which is a huge step out of her comfort zone! What a blessing these girls are to my life! They have no idea!
Water from the Rock 