The A.N.V.I.L. LTE

     A week ago, I was taking part in a brand new LTE that was created at the Honor Academy.  This was called the A.N.V.I.L LTE.  The ANVIL is a four day event that is created to break you, challenge you mentally physically and spiritually, and to unify you as a team.  We were all assigned to teams based upon family cores.  Most teams were made up of two family cores, but my team was just my family.  We have a big family, we are made up of two sister cores and one brother core so we were large enough to make up one team.  In those four days, each team had to run all across campus to different physical and mental elements to complete them as a team.  For example, my second day of the LTE consisted of a 3 hour scavenger hunt all across campus, two obstacle courses, pulling kiddie pools across a soccer field, and a balance beam.  Each of these elements were in different places all over campus and since this LTE is a competition between teams we had to run to every element.  On average we probably ran a good 3 or more miles a day.  This LTE wasn't as much of a  physical challenge for me as it was a mental challenge.  Since my team was only my family core, it provided a lot of grace on my part and a lot of passion to see them succeed.  I am absolutely crazy about my family so God used that to bring out the leader and encouragement in me.  I wanted to let me family step on my back if needed to overcome an element, I would have carried someone on my back if I needed to.

     When the LTE was over and done with, God had shown me how to be selfless.  There were so many elements throughout the weekend that I wanted to run as fast as I could on or I wanted to go off and do my own thing.  But if I had done that, there were people in my family who needed me and they wouldn't have had me to help them.  God showed me how to lay myself down for others and how to become more prayer minded about others.  At the end of the LTE, we had a ceremony banquet where awards were given out to individuals and teams.  I received an individual award of the ANVIL woman of the year (2013).  My team placed 7th out of 8 but we were proud of how we had done because we were by far the most loving and unified team in the entire competition.  We started as one, remained as one, and finished as one!

My New Family

One of my all time favorite things about the Honor Academy is the fact that we are not only placed in a core with sisters, but we are also given a brother core.  This semester I was blessed, once again, to have not only a brother core but a second sister core.  This means we have a BIG family!  We spent our Saturday spending time with each other and getting to know one another as brothers and sisters.  I am completely blown away by these incredible young men and women that God has placed me with this semester.  I honestly could not have asked for a better group of people to have as my family.  We all get along so well and genuinely love to spend time together as if we truly were family.  We spent the day in water/ paint fights, pizza eating contests, movie watching, and story telling just sharing those little moments and memories that will last a life time.   

Mountain LTE

A week ago today I concurred Hallots Peak in Colorado!  I had the awesome opportunity to hike a 12,000ft+ mountain with a group of people that I love and cherish.  As many of you know I am a January intern here at the Honor Academy, but what you may not have known is that I am 1 of about 30 January interns.  We are a very small but close class and we had the family vacation of our lives!  We drove about 18 hours from East Texas to Colorado and spent two nights in the mountains.  In that time we had fellowship, worship, elk burgers, ice cream, and a lot of fun.  Things on campus have been rather hectic so the idea of going on the first ever January only Mountain LTE was an amazing vacation for many of us (at least it was for me).  Throughout the weekend I was able to build closer relationships with most of the Januaries that went with me.  I am so very blessed to have spent the past 8 months with these amazing men and women whom I consider to be my brothers and sisters.

A New Season

August 16th began a new season of my life.  I have been joined at the Honor Academy by a fresh and new group of young people who are eager and ready to change the world and impact their generation!  To be honest, this season has started out great but difficult.  Part of being a January intern is going through a huge transition process. The way things are now, are completely different than they were a few weeks ago.  My core, ministry placement, friends, and daily life are all totally different.  At times I find myself wondering what will change next or thinking will this ever feel normal again.  In the midst of all of this, I am so excited to be in this challenging season.  Is it hard, yes, but in my life I have learned the most from challenging situations and times.  So my answer to the rough season is bring it on because it produces growth.

The End of One...the Start of Another

This past weekend held probably the most bitter sweet moments of my life.  August 10th was graduation day for the August interns here at the Honor Academy.  Many of my sisters and friends graduated and either moved on to other things or will be staying here in Garden Valley for another year to serve and disciple the new interns that will coming in on Friday.  The night before graduation we have a banquet called Gala, at this banquet we get all dressed up and reminisce on the past year or eight months that we have been at the Honor Academy. It's a time to remember, a time for recognitions, and a time of accomplishment.

There is a song that goes "there's no place I'd rather be than here in your love" this song sums up exactly how I felt through the weekend of Gala and graduation.  I wanted to come to the Honor Academy as an August intern, however God had other plans and I came as a January.  Being a January, I had to watch all weekend as my brothers and sisters received their awards, honor rings, and diplomas.  I wouldn't have had it any other way!  I couldn't have been prouder of my family than I was this weekend.  The guy that is in the picture with me is my brother Logan. Logan is a man of excellence, faith and integrity.  He is a servant and a preacher at heart.  I was so proud to watch him receive some of the highest honors here of armor bearer as well as the faith award.

Graduation weekend was a roller coaster of feelings.  Feelings of joy for my family yet sorrow for those who are leaving.  Feelings of excitement for the new season that is rolling in, yet nerves for the anticipation of what will happen.  At the end of the day though I know that God is going to use me like never  before in this upcoming semester and only God knows what will come after that.

Becoming a Woman

My whole life, I have been what you can call a tomboy.  I have rolled in the mud as a kid, gotten into play fist fights with the guys at school, despised wearing dresses and refused to own any type of clothing where pink was the dominant color.  When I turned 18 I thought I had finally reached the point where I could consider myself a woman, but age doesn't mean that you have made it to womanhood.  I am currently 20 years old going on 21 within the next couple of months and I think I have just now grasped a little bit of what it means to truly be a woman.

I will never forget a talk I had with a close friend of mine where I was in complete venting mode.  I was going on and on about the fact that I didn't feel like a woman, I didn't feel beautiful or graceful or elegant like a woman should feel.  She simply pointed out how you dress is how you will often feel.  That struck me because my usual outfit would be jeans and a tshirt.  That's what I felt confident in, I wasn't secure enough to wear any other type of clothing.  Then I came to the Honor Academy...here it is a rule to dress in office attire which means I have to dress nice on a daily basis.

This started off miserable, I would change outfits several times in the morning because this one didn't look flattering or it was uncomfortable or I couldn't figure out what colors do and don't go together.  You would have thought I was a 5 year old dressing themselves for the first time.  Praise God I have a wonderful HA sister that taught me a lot about how to dress.  Now I am glad to say that I dress with confidence and with a sense of style (it's still in the process).

How I dress doesn't make me a woman, but it was the first introduction into womanhood for me. Another huge breakthrough was when I read Psalm 139.  God tells us what He thinks of us and we are able to see our value in that Psalm Since being at the HA I have learned so much about being a woman.  God has done such a work in that department where I can walk with my head held high as a confident, and bold woman who knows not only how to dress but she knows what her Father thinks of her.  He thinks she is beautiful and wonderfully made!!

Extreme Camps 2

This month, we had our second round of Extreme Camps!  I volunteered to help out again and was planning on assuming my position as a facilitator.  I knew what to do as a facilitator I was comfortable and prepared for what I would have to do with that job.  However, God had other plans for me.  On the first day of camps about an hour into registration I get a phone call that says to get to registration as soon as possible I was going to be a camp counselor.  I was nervous, I had seen how exhausting and challenging being a camp counselor can be, but I couldn't have been blessed with a better group of girls!  These girls made my experience easy and a blast.  They didn't complain they stuck together and respected not only me but they respected each other.  I poured all that I had into these girls and tried my hardest to make an impact.  At first, I didn't know if I was doing much other than being a friend along the way.  Most of these girls had been to extreme camps at least once before, they probably knew more than I did as far as how things work here.  They were all girls that love the Lord so it wasn't as if I had people who didn't know anything about Jesus with me.  I did what I could do to love them and be there for them throughout the week.  It wasn't until the last day of camps that I began to see a little fruit of my labor.  Our last night together was a powerful and vulnerable night where we talked about our identity in Christ and what God says about us.  That night, I was able to see walls come down in some of the girls life, I got to see them pray for each other and love each other through that.  A week later, I was able to see how God really used me that week.  One of my girls was back on campus for her mission trip and she brought me a gift from her and two of the other girls in my group.  The most precious thing (even though quarters for laundry was awesome) was a journal they gave me and inside the journal they had each written me notes.  These notes almost made me burst out in tears.  God showed me through their words the impact that I had made.  God really used me that week to minister to their hearts and to love and care for them!