Pondering the Future

I was at a very enjoyable BBQ at a friends house today and as all the girls went inside later on the conversation quickly turned to marriage and weddings (seeing as three of them were already married and another was soon to be). As they talked about their relationships, engagements, weddings, and things that happened at them and such it made me wonder...Where am I going to be a year after I graduate? (they all got married right after college). Am I going to be in RI? Am I going to be in a relationship? Am I going to be in a kitchen or a bakery? It makes one wonder. I feel that when one is married it is easy to know where one is going to be because you are going to be wherever the other person is, but when you are alone it's kind of confusing and not real clear (although not everything is clear and laid out because it is all in God's plan). But in situations like today it does make one wonder. It also made me feel lonely and inadequate. Because I have never been in a relationship before and thus there obviously no wedding in my future anytime soon. It also hits home when people make comments like "Why don't you have a boyfriend yet" or "Oh, I was excited for you" (when there is a miss communication about who someone is). It does make someone feel like "Well why aren't I in a relationship?" or "Is there something wrong with me?" I do know that I can not control these things though because God is in control of it all and He is all I truly need, but it is difficult in situations like this.

Chocolate Mousse

One of my classes this trimester is 4061. What it is, is the running of a restaurant. We are in groups of 3 people and we have a budget of $125 to fee 16 people a minimum 4 course meal. We then have assigned days and each group executes their own menu. We pick our employees from the rest of the class and create our own menu. My group went 2 weeks ago and it turned out great. This week I am a BOH employee and am making the dessert. The dessert the group chose was chocolate mousse and since I had not made mousse since over a year ago, I decided to test it out this weekend. It turned out really well...no chocolate chip mousse, thank goodness. I am now prepared to make the best mousse that I can this Wednesday.

Bored...bored...bored

You know what really gets me. Facebook and the internet was fun way back when, but recently I have become very bored with it. I always find myself going to the same sites over and over again and they are not very educational, ie; Facebook, e-mail, shopping, amazon, jwu, etc. I get very bored with it and it frustrates me when I catch myself doing it. I need to start reading more and finding other things to do. This does not mean that I am going to stop being on my computer because I need it for homework, but I just need to stop being lazy and find other stuff than going on Facebook all the time. So if you find me doing this, please stop me and tell me to find something else to do. 

Marriage From the Beginning

Voddie Baucham

Marriage from a biblical perspective, marriage by design, what marriage was intended to be.

"Marriage was designed on purpose for a purpose, and when we use it for things it was not designed for we will find ourselves in trouble. Gen 2:18 - "The Lord God said that it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Marriage was God's idea. Marriage is a good and honerable state. It is a gift, holy and wonderful thing. It is an incredible relationship, ministry and opportunity but we do not believe that. Proverbs18:22 - Proverbs 31:10-

2 basic biblical purposes for Marriage:

1. Procreation - the idea that we would represent God on the earth. The idea that he gives us marriage to have children, to raise them up as and represent the image of God among the earth. "Be fruitful and multiply" - the first command that God gave to man.

2. Illustration - Ephesians 5. designed Marriage to be a living breathing illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church.

3. God Designed man to desire marriage - do not shy away from the desire that God has given you for marriage."

Projects...UGHH!!!

I really hate it when every single class that you are in has projects. The biggest project due first is for my 4061 class, which is where we basically run a restaurant. We are in groups and we have to design our menu within a $125 budget, with 5 courses and serve 16 people. We have to do everything from picking who we want for our employees from the rest of the class to running and managing the restaurant on the day of service. My group was smart and picked to be the second group to go...which turns out is next Wednesday. Our whole project is due this Wednesday and we have been working diligently on it all day today and now I am just worked out. For some reason I have no umph to finish the thing today but I know it has to be done....and Alon and I have another project that is due tomorrow that we need to finish. UGGHHH!!! I can't wait till I'm out of school.

Light After Dark

http://www.lightafterdark.org/

This is a great website. They have the videos for Crazy Love by Francis Chan if you don't have time to read the book. They also have the audio for Marriage by Design by Voddie Baucham, which are also very good and something that everyone, especially those who are single need to listen to.

Russia 2010

I am finally back from our Spring Break Mission Trip to Russia; Zavolzh'ye to be exact. The trip flew by very fast, except for the flights. They were both 10 hours, there and back. We landed in Moscow at 11am on Saturday morning with maybe all of us having 45 minutes of sleep the whole flight. Needless to say it was a long day touring Moscow until 10:30pm when we had to go to the train station. We got to Nizhny Novgorod at 6:30am Sunday morning and then had an hour drive to Zavolzh'ye. That morning we had about 1hr 30min to get ready for church and then were out the door again. It was such a blessing for Alissa and I to be at the church again and see how far they had come since last year.

The year before we entered in the front on the ground floor with planks of wood and drywall everywhere. This year we entered through the back and there the construction supplies used to be there is now a room they use for childrens church and for the english club. There is also a kitchen off of the room that they never had before. When you go up to the sanctuary there is a brand new floor similar to the one used in the room downstairs. Last year it was just planks of wood that if you dropped a pen it would fall all the way to the ground floor. 


On Monday through Thursday mornings we went into the school and spoke with the english classes. We gave a presentation about life in Providence and at Johnson & Wales. We then broke up into groups and we able to speak with them one on one (with translators of course). They loved to perform for us as well and would dance, play the guitar or sing. Some of the students actually came to every session on all 4 days, and they were the ones who were so eager to learn from us and had the dream of going to the language school to become a translator. It was a blessing to see the smiles that we brought to the students' faces just by being there and being interested in their lives. Many of them were confused as to why we chose Zavolzh'ye and why we were interested in them considering we are Americans. Many of them also had such gloomy faces and this look of sadness in their eyes because they do not see much hope in the future or ever in Zavolzh'ye. Many of them want to leave Russia or go work in Moscow but the teachers tell them that they are not going to make it very far, and all they are going to know is what they learn at the technical school. It is really very sad. 


I found that the church this year was much more open to inviting the students to the church for a special youth group on Tuesday and Thursday of that week. When the youth leader got up at the school to invite the students to the one on Tuesday there happened to be a teacher in the audience that was atheist. She told the principal that we were actually connected to the Baptist church and were not Orthodox. (We had never told them that we were either. They just assumed we were orthodox). Well when they found out they cut our 2nd sessions at the school on Wednesday and Thursday. (we were meant to have 2 sessions on those days but instead we had one on each day). That was ok because even though we did not announce it publicly, we did invite the students in our groups personally. And the students came. The reason for the removal of the sessions though is because Baptists in Russia are viewed as a cult. 

While there we were able to help Mike sort out the stuff for the English Club. Someone had given Alissa a Netbook before we left because they thought she needed a new computer. Since she didn't she gave it to Mike to use for the club. Mike and Jake were able to set it up so that the projector and everything was run off of the top of a cart that someone had made for them. We also organized the books so that they fit on the bottom of the cart. This way the whole cart is run off of one wooden cart and it saves Mike and Alissa from lugging books and cords and computers back and forth to the church. 

The Tuesday and Thursday youth groups were a great turn out. Each night I think we had about 7 students from the school that came. We found though that the church is very guarded when it comes to sharing the gospel because they were underground for so long and because they are viewed at as a cult. So they had asked us to plan the program for Thursday. So we decided to play a game, sang some worship songs and then Erica shared her testimony and Kevin was able to share the gospel because how else were the students from the school going to hear it. Hopefully we were able to encourage the church by doing this, by showing them that they should take advantage of every opportunity that they are given to share the gospel. 

We toured Gorodetts on Friday and that evening Kevin, Jake, Erica and myself left Alissa and boarded our train to Moscow. We went to the open air market and toured Moscow on Saturday before turning for a goodnight sleep before our return flight on Sunday. I think I slept a total of 30 minutes on the flight back. 


I am looking forward to next year and seeing the progress that the church will make in the coming year and how we are able to serve them. Please keep them in your prayers when you remember. They need the courage to share the gospel and be ready to take risks.