Tuesday, October 15, 2013

An Amazing Year

This semester has been absolutely amazing! I have a wonderful group of girls the Lord has placed in my care.  We have little to no problems and the girls get along really well. I thank God for the unity and peace we have :D. I am SO very thankful for my assistants too. I couldn't ask for more loving, humble, helpful, and sweet girls to help me run the dorm :D :D :D!

For my birthday my assistants and 7 other of my friends took me out to Braums for supper and dessert Sunday night. I worked most of yesterday (my birthday), but it was a blessing as dozens of people wished and sang me happy birthday, brought me lots of chocolate, and I even got flowers (from a girl in my dorm) and a coffee mug full of mints and a balloon attached! It was a wonderful birthday.


Last Saturday I attended the Medieval Hayride which was awesome!!! Everyone had lots of fun shooting arrows, throwing hatchets, eating roasted pig, and trying to kill each other with out plastic swords and battle axes. I also battled the enemy in the Holy War, but got tangled up in burr plants and spent at least 20 mins picking each tiny burr out of my velvet dress, and to top it all off I got nailed three times with water balloons!
For supper they served us roasted pig, beans, corn, and hot dogs. The pork was soooo tender that I had a hard time knowing what was fat and what was meat :D. Most people dressed up either as nights, medieval ladies, hunchmen, 2 dressed up as friars, one in a banana suit, one in a batman suit (the Dark Knight :D), and one as Robing Hoodette (a female Robin Hood). I just want to praise the Lord for the dress I got to wear. I was out thrift store shopping when I prayed and asked God specifically for what kind of dress I wanted right down to the neckline shape and even the price....and I got it! It fit perfectly and I didn't have to alter it in anyway. The Lord is SO GOOD :D! There are more pictures at the bottom.

Classes this year are good and I'm enjoying them. I have a lot of reading to do and it's hard to keep up with it, mainly because I'm tired all the time and end up napping instead of doing homework :D. But I am looking forward to being able to use what I've learned after I graduate. So far my favorite classes this year are Personal Finance and Teaching Bible.

I am truly enjoying my senior year. I feel like the Lord's teaching me a lot this year in my own personal life. Through various circumstances I am learning to be myself, but in moderation; not to over analyze situations and people's actions; how to be tactful in speaking to people about things that need to be corrected and changed; and also how to budget and manage my money, especially now that I have such a small school bill. Please pray for me to make God my focus and not others. 

I'm not planning on coming home for Thanksgiving so I can spend it with some dear friends of mine here the Buffingtons'. They invited me over my sophmore year when I had to stay and work, and this is my last chance to spend it again with them. So I will see you all in December! Love you all :D
Love, Amber



















Saturday, August 31, 2013

"Senior" Moments

Frontier City with some old and new friends
I can't believe I made it to my senior year at HBBC! When I arrived as a freshmen in 2010, I really didn't know how I was going to make it for so long and so far away from home. But God.... i love these words...only God got me through my freshman year and He has been faithful to keep me going the rest of the way.

I arrived on campus 2 weeks before school started, 1 week before the dorms opened for the other students to arrive... so strange to see the campus empty and quiet! I had the priviledge to spend some personal time with the Deans and other Head RA's before the assistants arrived and I really enjoyed it. They took us to a Red Hawks game, which I actually enjoyed for the first time :D, and also to see what was left of the tornado damage in Moore, OK. It was so sad and humbling to see driveway after driveway and nothing but land, trees that had their limbs ripped off, and only sections of houses that were left stading where a beautiful house was. We also saw the elementary school where seven 3rd graders were killed when the tornado completely wiped away the school. I hope to never ever experience that in person.
Approx 30 minute wait for water ride at Frontier City

We were preached to by Bro. Switzer (missionary to Ethiopia) and also Bro. Lande (college and career director at SWBC) to be leaders and not drivers of the "sheep" that are under us and also to focus on the present ministry before us (RA's) and not focus on a possible future ministry (boy was it good :D)! After Bro. Lande's short challenge, the girl RA's went shopping while the boys went hiking, and that evening the Dean of Students had us over at his house for dinner and movies.
Me and my assistants (left-right) : Juanita Hale, Kara Wright

Activities this week included an amusement park called Frontier City, acarade place called Gattitown, and lots of preaching, singing, and orientation...I'm SO glad school starts Tuesday :D.

So far I have really enjoyed being the Head RA in Mercy Dorm. This position allows me to get to know the girls in my dorm on a more personal level and I am so thankful and priviledged to have each of them. Please pray for me that I will have wisdom on decisions and responsibilities that I need to make and have as I lead this dorm.

Love, Amber

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Holiday Happenings

Head RA Amy and boyfriend Eric

President's Day Weekend was a great time to just relax and have some fun. I was asked to chaperon my head RA and her boyfriend to Stillwater, Oklahoma to an OSU vs. OU basketball game, a visit to the OSU campus, and out to eat at Eskimo Joe's Saturday. I had a BLAST! The basketball game was amazing and lasted for 3 hrs due to it going into overtime. The OSU campus was beautiful with old (whatever styled) buildings that date back to the early 1900's and a little pond with duckies and water fountains.

Eskimo Joe's was delicious with its cheesy, bacon fries and big burgers. It was great to just be off campus and out of the city for a change!
Sunday I was invited to one of my friend's adoptive parents house to eat some good old HOME cooked food, a nap, and a movie before going to church that evening.




After Sunday evening services, a couple hundred students packed out the ice skating rink. The ice skating was a blast and almost everyone was out skating till midnight. There were several guys were out in the middle of the rink playing  red-rover (not with skates, just on there shoes); that was fun to watch.

President's Day me and some friends went to the OKC Zoo; admission was FREE! It was fun walking around and looking at the animals, but nothing will compare to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha! One of the funniest things I saw was a "Caution! No Swimming" sign in the alligator crocodile exhibit. I mean, come on really?! I would hope that someone would have enough sense to not swim where this beasts are!


Southwest just finished their annual Missions Conference. 10 missionarys and their families attended, all focusing on the theme "By Faith." The message that spoke to my heart the most was on faith promise giving. Every year the challenge to increase my promise to God comes up...but each year that decision on how much to increase always causes me to pause. As a college student on limited funds, thoughts about increasing are always kind of scary. Thoughts like it would be more convenient if I gave this amount, or I can't afford to increase or increase very much! It was no coincidence that the first message was about giving to missions by faith, and it hit me square on the nose! We live in an abundant country, giving out of our abundance to missions. What about giving above and beyond? Giving that requires faith? Giving only what is convenient is not faith promise missions, but convenience promise missions. Giving only what I can afford in my budget, is budget promise missions. Bottom line? If I can give to missions, then it's not God, and if it's not God, then it's not faith...pretty good stuff, huh?

This week is dorm week, and everyone is busy cleaning and organizing the dorm for the dreaded annual Dorm Day, which is this saturday. And if that wasn't enough to keep us busy, this week is also midterms for most of the students. AND...sigh....we are all preparing for the campus to double in size as hundreds of prospecitve students flood in for College Days next week. Though it will be busy, it is such an exciting time. I am really looking forward to seeing some of Amanda's family, Pastor and Mrs. Goodrick, Mrs. Beem, and Kate; it is always a highlight for me :D.

This semester has been good, hard, tireing, challenging, and fruitful. I am loving being here, but looking forward towards summer break and coming home. I love you all and are thankful for all the prayer and financial support; they are priceless!
Love, Amber


Thursday, January 24, 2013

Another Semester Underway

All the ham and pumpkin pie has been eaten, Christmas presents opened and played with, and the snow on the ground too dirty to play in anymore...all sad signs of rest and relaxation fading away and a new school semester looming on the horizon of this college students' life. But, when Heartland Baptist Bible College is a school that I have come to love, a new semester seems more like a 'dawning upon a horizon' rather than a 'looming'. I am so thankful to be back at HBBC and to have a new semester underway. Don't get me wrong; I ABSOLUTELY love enjoying the comforts of home (parents, GREAT food, sleep, space, yada yada yada), but I miss the go go go of homework, activities, and outings with friends as crazy as that may sound.

 To start off the semester, HBBC hosted its annual Church Planters Conference where approximately 117 church planters from all over the US, including Alaska!, presented or supplied each others financial and material needs. Over $330,000 was raised for needs and the spirit of giving spilled over from various church planters to several college students who, without much hesitation, also stood giving what they could afford. Spirit-filled preaching, singing, and specials were scattered througout the 3hr service...which didn't seem very long except for when I was caring for rambunctious 2yr olds in the nursery :D.Overall, the conference was a success and a blast.

Every new semester the school gives students an opportunity to have fun before the madness of school sets in. A trip to the Science Museum, Frontier City (rollercoasters, carnival games, etc.) or bowling. Well, this year they took us to the Omniplex Theater, a section of the science museum that plays movies and documentary films... you would never guess what they were showing the day we went! Drum roll please........Tornado Alley! When I first heard this I thought, "you're kidding right? I am scared of tornados!" and as an assistant RA I am strongly encouraged to go in order to encourage others to go too. So, with a box of popcorn in my hand and friends sitting nearby to watch for entertaining signs of an "Amber-freakout episode" I settled into my seat infront of a 70ft screen and prepared myself...is it sad that I jumped as soon as the sound came on? :D Because the screen was sooo big, you actually felt at times that you really were in the tornado that they were filming. Although I had to tell myself a few times that it was just a movie and not real, it was very educational...but not something I would go out of my way to watch again.

The annual photo scavenger hunt is also a highlight amongst the students, and since I didn't have to work that day I grabbed my camera and took off to find a group to go with. Each group was given a list of places, and take pictures of things, and a few we had to being doing something in the picture, and we only had 2 hours to get it all done! Me and my group had a blast as we drove all over OKC trying to find the things on the list. Below are some of the pictures:


Hunter Shearin, Nathan Rogers, Madison Klauke, Katie Trowbridge, and Me. Burger King (top, right), Duck Duck Goose in Walmart with stuffed animals (top, middle), this architectural thing in the Myriad Gardens (top), a trucker at a gas station (top, right), rocking chairs infront of Cracker Barrel (bottom, left), exactly 3cents of gas at a gas station (bottom, middle), and snow angels (bottom, right).

This semester's classes are excellent, and I'm doing more practical application with everything that I've been learning the past 2 years. This semester I am priviledged to be taking Children's Ministries (how to evangelize children and build a successful children's ministry), Audio/Visual Methods (using various aids whether visual or audio to teach), Missionary Methods (about church planting in foreign cultures), Ladies Biblical Counseling, Women's Mission Practicum (first aid and practical living in a foreign culture), Profiles of Faith (learning how to live by faith through studying Heb. 11), and Choir. It's going to be a great semester!

Praying for you all and trust that ya'll are praying for me too. Hopefully see ya'll in march!
In Christ's Love,
Amber