Life In...

So, it is now my third day in Monterey with Andy Boutte. It has been alot of fun. Today, we wandered his campus, CSUMB, (California StateUniversity at Monterey Bay) which was a lot of fun. We found coolstuff, like old military documents and computers. We messed arounddoing anything we thought would be fun. Later that night, we went tothe abandoned prison on campus. This was pretty scary. It wasinteresting being in there though. After that, we went to the beachand Andy and I would take turns walking on railing and jumping onpillars and such. It was a good time. I'm sad that we have to go hometomorrow.

So I told my friend Andy Boutte that I would come up and visit him this week and go to his Christmas Party. I was supposed to come up on Tuesday, but decided to come up on Monday and surprise him. He called me on the way up and it was a pretty funny conversation. I got there, and he was not in his room. I called him and asked what he was up to, and he said he was eating, and would be done in 45 minutes. So, I had to find out where he was on campus. It was interesting, I had to ask four people how to get there, and randomly ran into Mike, Andy's friends' boyfriend, and we walked to the restaurant together. I have had a pretty good time so far. I went to work with Andy today in the Outdoor Rental shop and we just messed around for all 3 hours. It was some of the funniest times in my life. We then went bowling and I didn't do so hot. I bowled a 156, 111, and 117. I usually average in the 140's but its ok, I beat Andy in two out of the three games, which was my goal. I'm excited for tomorrow, we are going hot tubing in the rain, and having a party. It is going to be sweet.

So, last night, our Upper Room club had our Christmas party.  It was a lot of fun and I had a lot of good desserts.  After the party, most of us ended up hanging out till about 4:30 am.  Two of my friends and I decided  a while ago that we wanted to watch the sunrise sometime.  We decided that tonight was the night.  So, Danielle, Chelsea, and I went and grabbed a couple blankets and warm clothing.  When I left my appartment, I forgot my sweatshirt on my night stand but decided that I would be fine.  We went to a place called Mount Soledad which is a small hill that over looks all of La Jolla.  It is very windy and cold up on this hill since we only brought two blankets (so I wasn't very covered) and I was in a t-shirt and jeans.  After about half an hour, it started to rain.  It was at this point we realized how unprepared we were.  We covered ourselves in the blanket and tried to stay warm.  The rain stopped after about thirty minutes but the clouds were still thick.  This was a problem, because all we could see were clouds to the east (where the sun was supposed to rise).  We decided to stick it out and see what would happen.  We started seeing sunlight, but the clouds still covered the sun.  We waited till about 7:30 when it started to really pour.  It ended up being a very cold, wet, night with no sunrise, but it was one of the most fun and memorable nights of my college year.  It was a lot of good laughs and conversation.  I will never forget it.

The second meeting went extremely well.  Only about 35, 40 people showed up, but that is to be expected considering finals are next week.  I spoke about worrying/trusting.  It was really nice, because the way we worked it, is that I only spoke for about ten minutes then broke into small groups to talk about the bible passages and just go deep with each other.  The worship through song was again really good.  I am absolutely loving Upper Room!!  It is amazing to see God work through all of this.

Our first upper room club meeting was awesome.  It went really well.  I MC'd and my friend Ben Wisan spoke for about ten minutes about what our club stands for.  We then broke up into small groups and had discussion times on verses that talked about what we are about.  It was awesome, and people were really connecting.  I cant wait to see what happens with the club.  God does amazing things.

Some of usleaders who were part of an organization called Campus Crusade forChrist which is a club on my UCSD campus, decided to start a club this year. This club is focusing on building a strong community and encouragingpeople to pursue what they are passionate about.  If there is a strong andloving community, then everything else will fall into place.  People willwant to reach out to others, and others will be drawn in.  No one will beforced to do anything that they don't want to do.  The club is calledupper room because in Acts 1:13-14 it says "13When they arrived, they wentupstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John,James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son ofAlphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14They all joinedtogether constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother ofJesus, and with his brothers."   I am super stoked for thisclub.  We have not had our first meeting yet, but it is going to be great. We are expecting around seventy people to show up.  We will see whathappens.