CBS

The past six weeks have been...hmm...i'm trying to think of a word that would describe them...which, after thinking for a while, i've discovered is impossible...so I guess I'll leave that sentence incomplete and attempt to finish that sentence through an entire blog post.

I traveled to Arkansas with these amazing ladies... We had many adventures together and made some pretty epic memories.

 

Walton along with Juli Mast, Lillian, and I

Of course, I'll have to start with the good serious things like classes and studying and homework and term papers and exams... wow. the world of education.  But honestly, classes were so enjoyable.  Biblical Worship by Elam Stoltzfoos was so inspiring and definitely my favorite class!  I also loved our time of chorus with Wendell Glick.  Chris Stoltzfus taught Muslim Evangelism... his passion for Muslims and for the Kingdom of God was incredible and so contagious.  And I appreciated all the discussion in Ken Kauffman's Life of Joseph class.  While I was in the middle of it, I felt as if I wasn't really learning much... but looking back, I realize that I really did learn, albeit unintentionally, and now I'm equipped with many things to put into practice and actually make reality. 

 

This was one of my favorite days in Biblical Worship... the day one of the students asked a question at the beginning of the class and Mr. Stoltzfoos laid aside his entire plan for the day and we had open class discussion on a very relevant subject for over an hour.

Chorus was always so much fun... I loved our song selection...

...and Mr. Glick is the best!

 Here's everyone at our last program in Calico Rock. 

Studying in the girls study hall was mostly distracting but very funny...

 Lillian and Sarah were never fit to be close together, but they were anyway.

 sleeping was normal...

 The weather was beautiful enough to study outside some days...this had to be a pink Friday.

One of my favorite things at CBS was double dutching.  Lillian and I taught dozens of people how to double dutch and those who did it every time got really good at it.  It was so much fun teaching them how to do all the cool moves we knew. :)

 

These are the faithful four who double dutched about every other day... Lillian, Nate, Chris, and I

Weekends were exciting... especially after it had just snowed inches and we were all supposed to head off to town for evangelism day...

My group spent a lot of the day in the nursing home singing for elderly people and handing out coffee to the staff and stuff like that.

 

Here's an awkward picture of my awesome group. :) We had much fun together.

me, Zach, Sarah, Brendan, and Stephen

And then there was that beautiful Saturday that we played volleyball tournaments. It was literally the nicest day of the entire term so far. 

My team did really well, but got knocked out in the semi-finals.   

Renita, Zachary, me, Kenny, Heather, and Tony

One weekend a big group of us went out on the lake on pontoons...

 

Brenda and I 

 

We all met around lunch time and hopped from boat to boat and ate lunch together and just chilled for a while...it was such a relaxing day!

 

Diane, me, and Jenita

We double-dutched before we left...

  

...and Nate got to plank on a plank... lol.

 Another weekend I went to a park and it rained all day.  We blew some bubbles in the rain...as an attempt to raise our spirits, I guess.

 We ended up playing frisbee in the rain anyway.  'Twas somewhat miserable, but definitely memorable.

 

 That evening the Muslim Evangelism class visited a mosque and ate a meal with the Muslims there and were able to interact and converse with the ladies.  Experiencing God's working through us was such a blessing, and I love the memories from that trip!

We spent a Sunday afternoon at the bluffs...

 

it was such a lovely, sunshiney day!

Oh, I cannot forget to mention my amazing dorm!  I love these girls so much.  We had such a party in our dorm every evening at dorm sharings.  I was literally the quietest person in our dorm...and if you know me, you know that our dorm was very loud.  We all talked at the same time and interrupted each other and tried to get our little piece in when we could... so many memories!

me, Susanna Yoder, Deborah Shank, Tinslie Wagler, and Carrie Raber

 We got to go to the cleanest dorm party twice... cheers!

Okay here are just more random pictures of CBS things.

 

eating outside in the beautiful evening sunshine

hanging out at our picnic table... This was weird hair day, btw. :)

 

Lois Yoder and I... she made my day so many times!

 

Lillian and I...how would I ever have survived without her?

 

my second-cousin-twin... I love this girl!

 

Lillian, me, and Deb... i love us so much!  these girls though... I don't even know what to say. 

I made so many good friends and tons of memories.  CBS turned out to be a really good experience for me although it took me at least half the term to actually get into it and enjoy it.  I'm so very glad I went, and I'm glad to be back home once more.  Lillian and I had a far-too-exciting ride home...falling asleep at the wheel in the middle of the night proved to scare us intensely and make us so much more grateful for the fact that we are alive today.  This post is already too long... I'll spare you the details. 

Most of the photo credit for this post goes to the talented picture committee: Nathan Miller, Tony Shrock, Diane Beachy, and Sarah King (I think...forgive me if I'm wrong) as well as Deb Shank and probably some other individuals who I'm overlooking.

Farewell.