Updates Updates Updates!

First of all I want to appologize that I have not updated this blog in like, forever! You wouldn't believe how busy I've been. Even now I feel guilty taking time to update this thing seeing as I have a boat load of homework, but I know it's wrong to keep ya'll waiting.

 

 School started with a trip to the Red Hawks baseball game and Frontier City. I'm sorry, but baseball has got to be the most boring sport EVER!!! However, I had more fun this year than last year. Baseball players ran into eachother, a few of the HBBC guys played some of side games they have to keep people entertained :D, and just fellowshipping with the other girls helped the time to go by a tad faster.

Frontier City is a whole other story! My friends found out that I hadn't been on a rollercoaster since I was five, which was a tramautic experience on my fragile emotions I might add, and dragged me onto one of the of the rollercoasters called the Diamond Back. It takes off from a dead stop and shoots down towards the ground, does a loopdy-loop, then shoots back up and levels out where it comes to a stop. I have never been so scared in my entire life! Just when I think it's over, it goes backwards: I started screaming again before it even took off the second time :D. It probably only lasted a total of 1-2 minutes counting the rest at the beginning and ending but I really thought I was going to fall out. My legs were shaking SO bad and I was trying hard to contol my bawling. It took me a whole half-n-hour to recover from the rollercoaster, which was enough time to go on another one :D which lasted longer and was definitely worse than the first one. I screamed so hard that I my chest hurt. I screamed or yelled on EVERY ride but one including the tilt-o-whirl, both water rides, and even the sidewinder (which goes around in circles and gets faster the longer it goes.) I has SO much fun, even riding the rollercoasters :D.

The last monday of every month Southwest Baptist Church has a laides meeting where they have snacks, sing awesome songs, and have a little devotional. I was having a bad day yesterday and even contemplated not going, but I knew that it would be good for me to go. I am SO glad that I did because it was exactly what I needed. The theme last semester was "Singing I Go" and this semester the theme is "He Keeps Me Singing"; how creative is that? Since there are four words in "He Keeps Me Singing" and four months in a semester, each devotional is on one of the words. Anyway, the meeting went really well.

The preaching at Southwest and chapel services here at HBBC have been awesome! Bro. Williams (a professor from HBBC) preached a message last wednseday night called "Come Hungry, Leave Happy." He asked about our appetites; do we have an appetite for God or the world? Do we come to church hungry to hear about God or are we already full from whatever we've done that day or week? We should be so full with God that we aren't even hungry for worldly things. Example: Have you ever been SO full from supper that you couldn't eat your favorite dessert, no matter how tempting? Have you ever been so full from God that you weren't hungry for anything else, not matter how tempting? Oh man was that message convicting!!!

The classes I am taking this semseter are:

·                   Cultures or Customs

·                   Cults

·                   Methods of Teaching

·                   Bible Doctrines

·                   Research and Style

·                   Baptist History

·                   Fundamentals of Speech

·                   Yearbook

I am really excited for Methods of Teaching because they actually teach you how to prepare and teach a lesson to any age group. We give a series of lessons on a theme we choose starting with an object lesson, then a life situation, then give a Bible lesson that backs up our theme, lastly choose a memory verse and song that matches the theme then produce it in a visual that children can read from. I will be giving an object lesson on Monday using a puzzel to demostrate how we try to make our plans (puzzel pieces) fit in with God's plan (the complete puzzle missing a puzzel piece.) It's still in the toddler stages, but slowly developing into an awesome lesson.

Not only am I taking pics for the yearbook this year, but I am also creating two of the pages! I am really excited to get working on those and see how they turn out.

Right now God wants me to continue working at Shoe Carnival, so that's where I'll be staying until He indicates otherwise. I am so thankful for the shuttle that the college provides. I am able to get a ride to and from work for only $50 a month.

Well, I've gotta go. I am praying for you all and I would appreciate if ya'll be praying for me.  I am going to be a WHOLE LOT busier this semester with work, assistant RA stuff, and school, and trying to have a social life in the midst of it all. I'm looking forward to seeing ya'll around Christmas time!

Love, Amber

HBBC Here I Come

Well, another summer is over (much to the relief of parents nationwide) and the children are groaning as they anticipate another year of schooling....except me! I am very excited to be going back to HBBC this year. When the dean of women Mrs. Jett called and asked if I would reconsider the assistant R.A. position, it was quite a shock! As most all of you know, I turned down the position last semester because I knew that God would have me to wait for at least another year...or so I thought :D. Honestly, I knew that God wanted me to wait, for how long I did not know. After praying and asking what the Lord wanted me to do and also consulting my parents, I accepted the position! So, all of next week will consist of what is called R.A. inservice, which is basically a training course in CPR and also a series of lectures from the President and Vice President of the college. We will also be preparing the dorms for the students and preparing ourselves for the many, many responsibilities of leadership. Please pray for me as this will be a huge time of growth in EVERY aspect of my life.

Please also be in prayer that God provide a car for me that I will be able to drive next semester. It is not a necessity, but would be a BIG help.

I will miss all of you and will try my best to update this at least once a month if not twice a month with pictures and news about whats going on. I look forward to seeing all of you around Christmas time!
Love,
Amber

So Good to Be Home!

Keeping this blog updated was harder than I thought it would be this year. The last semester of school was the hardest out and was impossible to set aside time to keep this blog updated...sorry!
Anyway, I am so glad to be home for the summer and the Lord has blessed me with it. There were many students who had to stay at HBBC over the summer to either keep their jobs or just didn't have a set job back home. God also blessed with keeping me and my friend Eunice safe during my car wreck (pictures on flickr). Please pray that the Lord will provide another car for me to drive down there this fall.

I am excited to be able to go back to HBBC in the fall and to see what more I can learn about missions and how to grow stronger in my relationship with the Lord.

While I was attending SWBC, I was able to work on Bus's 12A and 12B...I miss those kids! So, as a tribute to them and to motivate others to invited kids to church, I made a slide show out of pictures of my bus kids...hope you enjoy it!

This will probably be the only post ALL summer long....unless I get ambitious :D.

Bus Kids Video

Church Planting Conference

Hello! We just got through with the HBBC National Church Planting Conference! It was VERY good and I really enjoyed the preaching that I got to hear. My favorite message during the preaching was Bro. Metser's (?) message titled "I Wonder What Makes God Wonder?" out of Isaiah chpt. 59. God, unlike us, never wonders why the world does the things it does. Instead He wonders why there is no intercessor for them; why we stand back, watching the world do their thing and wonder how they can commit such grievous sins and why our society is in the state it is. Do I make God wonder? Does He wonder why I don't step in and do something? It was a very good, convicting message.

During the conference, Bro. Davison had several preachers give testimonies and present needs that needed to be provided for. There wasn't a single needy preacher presented that didn't walk out of there without some kind of help. One preacher that really sticks out in my mind need $10,000 to move his family; he had $4,000 already saved and was asking for 5-6,000 dollars more. God provided over $8,000 dollars for him! What a blessing!  It was also great to be able to meet in the new chapel building; it is SO beautiful!

The sunday school message this morning was excellent! We had the priviledge of hearing a missionary who will be serving in India with his family in the near future. He preached about our wrong ideas on supporting missions. Whenever someone thinks of missions support, money is usually the first thing that pops into our heads. However, support is SO much more than that! The greatest support the Apostel Paul asked for in his letters was prayer, not money or material things. Ephesians 6 talks about how we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, etc. The call to missions is a spiritual call and we should be supporting them in a spiritual way, mainly through prayer. It was very convicting, but extremely good. 

Thank you all for praying for me about my back. It feels so much better! I went to the chiropractor for the first time on Tuesday and it was like a fireworks show because of all the pops! However, on Thursday I slipped and bounced down 2-3 concrete stairs; so my back is better, but my tailbone is still sore. Please pray that I heal quickly and that nothing else happens to me! 

I have truly been blessed at work! Because we haven't been getting much business and have had so many thefts recently, they are cutting some of our employee's hours. However, God has been good in not letting my hours be cut!  I really enjoy working there; please pray that I would love the people, desire to help them, and most of all to have boldness in witnessing. Please also be praying that I get victory in my life over areas that I struggle with; slowly, but surely God is helping me!

Well, I've got to go and get some info for a future project. I miss you all and please feel free to email me anytime. Toodles!

Here's my email:

abeck90@gmail.com

Another New Semester

Well, here I am again! Another semester is about to begin and I am very excited to get started on my classes and get back to being with my friends. I arrived here safely and was greeted by Amanda and our friend Chelsea who squeezed the breath out of me as soon as I walked into my doorm room. Today everyone is going through the final registration processes and soon we will be preparing the campus for the Church Planting Conference which starts on Tuesday. I miss you guys already and am looking forward to seeing the youth at College Days and hopefully will be coming home for Spring Break in March. I love you all and will be back on here soon! Chow!

Good To Be Home

Boy is it good to be home! I am so thankful that I am able to come home for Christmas and that God kept me safe traveling home. I'll be home until January 6th and then gone for a couple months, but hopefully able to come back for Spring Break in March.

I absolutely love HBBC and am excited to get back to school and hanging out with my friends. Don't get me wrong; I am absolutely loving being home and not having to worry about homework, but I actually miss being there. It is a totally different atmosphere down there and I like that I have a schedule for my day; I never feel like I haven't done something productive. Anway, I love you guys and am enjoying spending time with you all.

I have posted pretty much all of my photos from Heartland on a website called Flickr. Please check them out by clicking on the link below. It is so much fun taking pictures for the yearbook, but more work than I thought :D!  http://www.flickr.com/photos/amber90/

Please be praying that I just step back and trust God to supply the money for the monthly payments for school next semester; I am a little worried about it, but I know deep down that God will supply if HBBC is where He wants me. Please also be praying that Amanda and I would get along with our roommates; we have hit some rough spots last semester and are looking for a smooth second semester. I am thankful for all of you who are and have been praying for me and Amanda. I love you guys!

Almost Done!!!

All of us girls arrived here at College safetly and with no complications! The time I had with you all was too short, but I will see ya'll again in about a week and a half! You can tell that everyone here is anxious for the semester to end and for the break to begin. I am SO looking forward to being home and not having to worry about homework.

There really isn't anything new happening right now other than everyone's getting ready to attend the Christmas Banquet and looking forward to the Midnight Breakfast. We've also got finals next week that everyone is dreading; I know that they will be difficult. Please pray that I will study hard and do a good job!

Well, I miss you all and look forward to seeing you soon. Have a wonderful week guys!