Thanksgiving at the Care Center

Thinking back on last year - I spent a couple hours helping out at a local homeless shelter and it felt so good to help people out on a day that I typically like to spend with my family. This year I am in Colorado and decided not to go home for Thanksgiving. In our school we have been doing weekly local outreaches. Myself and a few other of my classmates have been going to The Care Center almost every Monday night. (The Care Center is set up like a nursing home but the residents are mostly people with physical or mental handicaps.)We have seen the anticipation on the residents faces when we get there, and can see the sadness in their eyes when we have to leave. One lady that I have grown close to is Patty (in the pictures). She is very nice and just lights up when she sees us. I look forward to seeing her every week and just hanging out with her.

It felt so great to take a couple hours out of my Thanksgiving day to just hang out with some really cool people who didn't get to see their family this holiday. I think this is a Thanksgiving that I will always cherish.

The Leadership School Called PHASE 2

It's going into the 9th week of school for me, that means the leadership school only has 3 more weeks left. I am learning a lot about Principles in Leadership, Pitfalls in Leadership, God's Word (the importance of staying in the Word as a Leader), Faith in Finances, Effective Personal Ministry, and Strength Finders (learning about our top 5 strengths and how to effectively use our strengths in leadership). But I am also learning more about what God is calling me to do and what He wants me to work in my personal life. I have been really diligent with my time and disciplined in getting my homework done on time, if not early. I am surprised at how I haven't procrastinated much and I am wondering if I finally "grew up". :-) I do not have a love for reading, and so far a good portion of my homework has been reading books and doing book reports. But despite the busy lifestyle that is YWAM, I am learning a lot.

Moving onto other topics, the weather here has been beautiful. Colorado is always inconsistent and at the beginning of October the leaves were changing and then it snowed about a half inch so all of the beautiful leaves quickly turned into many shades of browns.

Then about a week later it snowed for about 24hrs and we got about 2 feet of snow. While it was snowing I listened to some Christmas music and dreamed of Christmas. Three days later the snow was almost gone with it reaching up into the 60's. It was nice though to get a little taste of winter and the feeling of Christmas. It was so nice.

I was thinking about touring with a band to the East Coast after my school ends on December 18th, but after thinking and praying about it more I have decided to go home after my school ends. I will be home for Christmas and I will be staying home for about 2 months. In March, I am going to come back to Colorado and be a full time missionary for at least a year. I am so excited about it, and I am so excited to discover more of what God has planned for my life.