November Update

This past Sunday, November 11th, was Friend Day here at Southwest Baptist Church. We had over 50 cards filled out from those who promised to come, and looking around the auditorium, we had a lot of visitors! Pastor Jason Gaddis preached a moving and convicting message on Salvation and during the inivitation, approximately 20 people raised their hands for salvation. However, only two people received Jesus Christ as Savior out of those 20. Please pray that the rest would continued to be reminded of their lost, sinful state and accept Jesus as Savior before its too late.

Friend Day wasn't just limited to the adult service, and all 24 buses increased their visitation efforts encouraging the kids to invite their friends and family members through competitions and prizes such as a 5ft pixie stick, 1lb gummy bear, a 2lb Reses Peanut Butter Cup, and coupons for McDonald's happy meals. As a result, my bus had 33 kids and two of them received Jesus Christ as Savior that day! I am so thankful for the privilege of working the bus ministry, and I cannot think of a better weekly 'missions' minded ministry than working with these children...I truly love it.

God has definitely been growing me lately, teaching me to deny myself and invest in those around me. How? By using my afternoons to take girls to doctor's visits, dentist appointments, job places to fill out paperwork, the grocery store, picking up one girl from the hospital, picking up some of my roommates' RA responsibilities, taking girls out to eat, and on the list goes. The reason? I am single and selfish. Have you ever thought about how a married woman gives up on her wedding day what a single woman still has?-- time for Jesus, time to spend outside her home and with those around her. God has not allowed me to meet who He has for me yet, and instead of focusing on myself and current single state, I am to be a good steward of these single years God has blessed me with and invest in those around me. Believe me! It is NOT easy! But, I would do it all over again for the peace in knowing that I am doing exactly what God wants me to do, and for the relationships I have gained with the girls. 

I love my roommates Katie and Amy and I am so thankful God has placed me to work along-side them. God has definitely given me more responsibility this year as an assistant, and I wonder what in the world He has in store for my future because of all the things I've had to do and handle....kinda scary! However, despite the unpleasantries of RA life, I LOVE it and enjoy knowing the girls on a more personal level.

Look forward to seeing everyone back home next wednesday! Amanda and I are so ready for a break. Please pray for our safety, as well as Whitney's as she will be following us home!
Love, Amber

Busy Busy Busy

I knew when I came to school this year that there would be a lot happening. Brand new Dean of Women and Dean of Students (which means adjustments :D), new job- HBBC bookstore, new dorm, new roommates, new class of Freshmen (which was close to 200 people!), and a new outlook as an assistant RA since I have a year of experience under my belt. But I didn't expect it to be so busy or challenging! I absolutely LOVE being an assistant RA, and through this position God is pushing me out of my comfort zone and molding me into what I'm going to need to be as a future Missionary's wife. Although I'm taking about 20 class hours, my work load is fairly easy which means I have more free time to do homework and extra curricular stuffs. I'm on yearbook again and am enjoying taking lots of pictures, which I will try and get posted up here in the next week.

"Dorm Day" week was this past week which means that the entire campus turns their dorms upside down to clean out every last dust bunny, hair ball, papers crammed under dresser drawers, and crickets and scorpions (Yes SCORPIONS!) It is a very stressful week of making sure the dorm is spotless for the once-a-semester white glove inspection; its great for the RA's who get to judge how each dorm did (they make it a competition to try and keep it fun) and bring in all the bribes (goodies that get dorms extra points). This week and next week are also midterms, so a lot of studying was being done between cleaning. AND...sigh....the Family Fall Festival was also today! For about three-four hours, approximately 300-400 bus kids and church kids enjoy a carnival style activity that involves bounce-houses, various games, cotton candy, popcorn, face painting, and tractor/train ride. It is so much fun, but very tiring because your with the kids trying to control and guide them for that entire time. Judging for dorm day and then going straight to the Fall Festival was work!

Amanda and I were able to kick back and relax for a while yesterday at a friends house across the street from the school (the Buffingtons, who remind me of Bro. and Mrs. Beem). They were gone for a few days, but let us come over to bake, do laundry (for FREE!), and watch part of Finding Nemo before I had to go to work in the evening. It was so funny :D....we were very excited just to get a chance to get off campus and do something fun.

God has been so good to me :D! I'm sure you all remember when I spoke infront of the church about how I struggle with assurance of my salvation...well, I got that taken care of a couple weeks ago after talking to my dad and Amanda. I sat down and talked to the Lord for probably about 30 minutes just telling Him everything on my heart, and then he told me about Himself through Romans 1:1-5 for about 15-20 minutes. I had such a wonderful time fellowshipping with Him. I confessed my sin of doubting my salvation and I have had such peace since then!!! I know FOR SURE now and boy do I feel free :D!

Thank you for all of your prayers and I look forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving.
Love,
Amber

Third Time's the Charm

I've only been in OK for about 3 weeks and already I am worn out! I have been kept very busy helping decorate our dorm, getting new and returning students settled in, unpacking all of my stuff, shopping for stuff I needed that I didn't bring with me, working in the bookstore, running errands for students and friends, spending time with Amanda, and rushing off to class every morning (which started this week). It feels so good to busy again though and having a schedule. My classes this year include Missionary Communication, Ladies Biblical Counseling I, Fundamentals of Math (which I'm hoping to test out of :D), Yearbook, Choir, Philosophy of Christian Education, Teaching Art, and Revelation.

In the midst of all the responsibilities, I was able to enjoy a relaxing evening at a Redhawks Baseball game and an exciting day at Frontier City, a theme park with rollercoasters, water rides, etc. My dad told me I was crazy for riding a roller coaster, but they're growing on me! I surprised myself when I told a girl infront of me to stop screaming, that she was going to be ok.... that was right before the rollercoaster took off backwards, did a loopdy-loop, and then came to rest at the beginning. WOW! It was so much fun :D.
We also enjoyed about 400 pizzas from Papa Johns Sunday night while we heard singing from Assurance and played a treasure hunt game where Bro. John Lande (the HBBC sunday school director) asked for various items from the students, who raced up to Bro. Lande trying to give him the item before anyone else did. People were knocked over, pushed over, shoved, and even picked up and brought to the stage! The Pizza Gorge was so much fun!

I have really enjoyed being able to work in the bookstore. It is easy work and allows me to fellowship (while working :D) with fellow students and get to know them better. I feel so connected to everyone now and I can't wait to be able to meet some great preachers that will come through.

Me and Eunice Perez

I am really excited for this year; most of the freshmen class seems to have a sincere desire to serve the Lord and the Lord has already been speaking to me through the preaching and my personal devotions in the morning. He has been teaching me that I need to start taking all of my burdens to Him rather than blabbing to my friends and teaching me to submit and serve him rather than my flesh. I feel so much at peace right now and boy is it a wonderful feeling! :D

Katie (my roommate), Me, and Steffanie (fellow RA)

Please pray for my car situation. Not sure if there are some coolant sensors that are bad or what, but the car keeps registering that it has a low or hot coolant level (which it doesnt) and the oil-burning seems to be getting worse. The Lord has provided a good mechanic to work on it, but he can't really figure out whats going on. Also, please pray for the safety of all the students as they are out traveling on the OKC streets and for Jude Buffington. Bro. Jude is VERY involved at the school doing various jobs, but will be out for a while as he has shattered his ankle. Please pray for a very quick, uncomplicated recovery! Love you all! ~Amber

Photo Frenzy

I just love photography and had a blast taking these and then editing them. These are just pics I took around Dorchester and the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. Enjoy!

First of all, let me give you a little update of whats been going on the last 2 months since I seem to not be keeping up with this blog very well. May 4th was the Graduation Banquet, a banquet where all the Graduates were recognized, given gifts, and some were asked to give a speech. We took all of our pictures before the banquet this year down by the ball field so we wouldn't have to stay later at the banquet. It was nice to just relax, eat some good food, take some pictures, and fellowship with friends...Amanda and I had a great time. 

The very next day, Amanda and I and some of our other friends drove about 1 1/2hrs  to the Wichita Mountains...well they're not really moutnains, but for Oklahoma where everything is flat, they were mountains. We hiked up and on Elk Mountain for about 4hrs on the mountain jumping across gaps in the rocks, climbing boulders, scaling down a few inclines, dodging prickly cactuses, ducking and climbing over tree branches, and trying to find shade whereever we could find it.....it was really hot that day! The scenery was beautiful! One thing that was really cool, but weird at the same time, was when we saw trees growing out from the cracks in the rocks. How can a tree grow outof a rock? Oh, and how can grass grow from a water puddle ontop of a rock? I had never seen anything like that before. After hiking Elk Mountain we cooled off in a small stream, then drove up to Mount Scott. It was very, very windy and the heat from the day made the mountains appear hazy...it

was gorgeous! We had so much fun :D.

The graudation preaching conference, May 7th-10th,  started off with a bang with a message from Bro. Dave McKracken on the holiness of God. We also enjoyed preaching from Bro. Jaime Jett, Bro. Josh Merril, and others as well as testimonials and music specials from the students. May 10th makred the big day for the Graduates, who were more than eager to close this chapter and begin a new one in their lives. Bro. Clifton Mizer preached the commencement, Bro. Mark Gray led the singing, and soon the graduates were doing the walking!

It's hard to believe that in 2 years I wlll be walking across that same stage...I can hardly believe that I'm halfway done and that I will be entering my Junior year this fall! It truly has been an amazing year full of Spirit-filled, life-changing preaching, endless ministry opportunities, and spiritual growth spurts. I loved my roommates this year: Jessica Yruegas, Kali Morgan, and Bre Gittings. We had so many laughs together...they were absolutely crazy at times when they burst out into song or just randomnly yelled, "Whoo!" It was encouraging to have roommates who had a desire to serve the Lord and were considerate of one another; different from last year!

The assistant RA position definitely made things more interesting. I was forced out of my comfort zone multiple times by having to confront girls about rule infractions, even writing them, and myself, up. Getting hours you have to work or pay off isn't fun or convenient! Fortunately, this position isn't all about enforcing the rules, although it is a big part; but it is also about getting to know the girls more intimately by spending time in their rooms, praying for their prayer requests, talking one on one with them about any problems, giving them spiritual and physical advice, and so much more. I look forward to serving in this position again next year!

The classes I took this year were hard, but the work was worth it. I learned why I'm a Baptist and how to defend our Baptist doctrine in Baptist Distinctives and Baptist History,  how to properly teach children in Methods of Teaching, the basic doctrines of the Bible in Bible Doctrines 1 and 2, the various religions and cults in this world in World Religions and Cults, techniques to learning a foreign language in Linguistics, literature in American Lit, and also took pictures and constructed a few pages in the year book. Yes, it was a very profitable year!

I am very glad to be home for the summer though and sleeping in my own bed, having no curfew or lights out, abundant food in the fridge and cupboards, and best of all getting to talk to my parents face to face instead of through a chunk of plastic. I would be lieing if I said I wasn't looking forward to another year at HBBC....but only after a few months break :D.

February Update

Well it's been about a month since school has started and I am have such a good time. I was able to take off work for the church planting conference this year and the preaching was absolutely amazing. We had over 100 preachers in attendance and many presented personal and ministry needs. I think we raised close to $300,000 one time and monthly support for them! Much of the preaching was centered on prayer; in fact, the Sunday before the conference Bro. Benefield, missionary to Cambodia, preached on the importance of praying for our missionaries and I was very much convicted about my prayer life not being what it should be. That night I promised the Lord that my prayer life would change and it has become more important to me since. Anyway, during the conference a preacher named Daniel Davison preached to pray for the areas where you know there are little to no Baptist churches preaching the Gospel. I have been thinking a lot lately how sparse Nebraska is in good Baptist churches....but I haven't been telling God about it. So, I have been praying specifically that God would send a church planter to Saline county NE to plant a Baptist church! Anyway, I'll finish this later because the book store is closing and I have to go. TTYL!
---Amber

Ok, I 'm back and can finally work on finishing this post :D. I am so thankful for guys who know how to work on cars. My car has been driving funny, just jerking and veering to the right a lot lately as well as a few other nicks I didn't know about. I had one of the guys I know from last year on campus look at it and now I am on my way to getting new tires put on and he is going to be cleaning up some of the mechanics on it to make it run better. PTL
Nothing much exciting has been happening here lately except for the fact that I got see my first cuff 'em and stuff 'em at Shoe Carnival this week! My managers and Loss Prevention (LP) man were keeping an eye on a stoned, and boy do I mean stoned, guy who was trying to steal a pair of shoes. My boss called the cops early so they could get there in a timely manner. While waiting for them, our LP man stopped the stoned guy from leaving and found a pair of shoes in his coat jacked. I think he cuffed him and then took him to the back office and waited for the officer to arrive. About 20 minutes later, I let the officer into the store and he took the stoned man away. It was kind a scary because I had never seen anything like that in real life before, but exciting at the same time because I've always wanted to see what it was like when we caught someone stealing and had to call the cops. I was also tipped $10 yestereday for helping a lady find three pair of shoes. She had been to 3 other Shoe Carnivals and no one was able to help her, but the Lord allowed me the opportunity to help her. She started jumping up and down because she was so excited to get some shoes that acutally fit her size 11 wide feet. It was a good day!
Well, I've got homework to get done before Amanda comes over and I have to go to work tonight. Chow!
~Amber

HBBC 2012

Thank the Lord me and my car made it to campus in one piece with no problems! It seems weird to be back already...I feel like I just left. 
Please pray for me as I am struggling with bouts of homesickness more than I thought I would. I know that the sacrifice of the presence of my parents and the comforts of home are necessary for me to serve the Lord, and this thought gives me courage to go on, even thought it is hard.
I am excited about all the things I will learn this semester and look forward to seeing how the Lord's used all of you in the differing ministries at Fellowship. I will be praying for you all this semester. Looking forward to seeing you all again in May.