Cambodia

During missions conference two weeks ago, the Grace student body was given a challange. Last year during missions conference, Grace College raised between six and seven thousand dollars to donate to Feed My Starving Children, an organization that packs and ships food all over the world. My mouth dropped to floor when I heard that this year's goal was ten thousand dollars; much more than last year. I had my doubts on whether the Grace student body could raise enough. My mouth dropped a second time and almost to the floor when I heard the ending total for the missions week. We gave over fourteen thousand dollars so that our brothers and sisters in Christ could be supported in Cambodia. The money will help start businesses, provide Bibles, and pay a years rent in a ministry facility in this country. All I can say is that I am thoroughly proud of Grace students and their willingness to give. We completed the seemingly impossible challenge with the goal of spreading God's kingdom!

Rainy Days And Silly String

The week has been fairly uneventful, save winning two free combos at Taco Bell and ambushing my suite mate with a can of silly string. Oh, the simple joys of college life. The weather is hideous today and the campus is spotted with various colors and patterns of umbrellas. Today will be a good day to nap or just stay in and study. Maybe I'll make a mug of tea and snuggle up in a blanket with some Hulu. I know this is where I should say that I'll use this time in the room to get ahead in my homework, but you fine readers don't deserve such lies. I'm probably just going to play on Facebook and eat random candy I find in my desk drawers. I'm sorry I don't have anything more interesting to report. If something terribly exciting happens, I'll be sure to let you know. Have a lovely (albeit rainy) day! Keep on truckin'!

Intramural Soccer

Unfortunately, the intramural soccer season came to a close for the Westminster 4th floor girls this past Thursday. I had never played soccer in my life until last year when I became involved in the intramural soccer program at Grace. I am thankful that my lack of experience does not matter in the Grace Intramural Program. Grace really emphasizes having fun and fellowship with other Grace students more than the competitive side of sports. Because intramural sports are played with fellow hall-mates, I have been able to learn more about the girls on my hall and to develop teamwork with them in order to be productive on the field.
In addition to soccer, Grace will have an intramural volleyball, basketball, and softball season yet this year. I am not extremely athletic, yet I feel very comfortable with joining in on these sporting events. Also, there are usually several people on each hall who have played the sport in previous years who can help lead the team to victory.
Although our season was shorter than we wanted, we enjoyed the many benefits of our involvement in soccer. I look forward to next soccer season in the Grace Intramural Program because it is an outlet for exercise, getting to know my hall-mates, and improving my few soccer skills.

Missions Week

This past week on campus our focus has been missions. It has been an amazing and encouraging past couple of days :) Anywhere from chapel, to growth groups, to lunch in Alpha there have been missionaries from all over the world flooding our school. We had the vice-president of World Vision come and speak to us during chapel and his message was revolutionary. Not only did he encourage us to get out of our comfort zones and spread the message, we had over 40 missionaries and mission groups that we could look into achieving this goal! It was so cool to hear their stories, two missionaries came to each individual growth groups and we got to know them and how they got to where they are today. Also our chaplain, Scott Feather, encouraged us as a family to help our Christian families around the world and raise 10,000 dollars for relief efforts in Cambodia. And do you know what? We raised over 11,000 dollars! How cool is that? We came together as a family and helped out our brothers and sisters in Christ who are hurting. That's just how awesome our campus is! :)

- J to the MO