2010

It has been 8 months since I have posted anything on this thing, and I've learned a lot in that time. Bad part is, much of it I cannot remember. The highlights of 2010 are:

1. Got to intern with the Pomerado region teens during the Summer.
This was an amazing experience. It started off with a few weeks of pure intern training by the greats like Robert, Shane, Mark, Yung, Luis, and John O. Lessons on false doctrine, Islam, theology, encouragement, leading like Jesus, prayer, exegesis, habits of highly effective interns, conflict resolution, and organization each lead to an immense amount of growth.
Some highlights of these classes:
-Encouragment gives vision--best way to overcome your discouragement is to go encourage someone else! Encourage by listening and paying attention to details. Encourage through example of convictions. Encourage by telling them to repent...2 thessalonians 2:16-17
-Prayer: prayer is creating space for God to act (EM Bounds). THere's no such thing as a bad prayer...its like kindergarten artwork, always gets put up on fridge. Prayer is: Intimate, mighty, specific, praise, aggressive, creative, emotional (heb 5:7) impact, PUSH (pray until stuff happens)..GOD I WANT TO BE LIKE ____ (JONATHAN) WHO KNEW HOW TO BE A FRIEND...ETC.
-Exegisis: A critical explanation or analysis of a text...the procedures we use to understand what someone else means by what they are saying. It doesn't matter what it means to YOU but only what God means by this, what HE is explaining it by! basically HOW TO study your bible. on the other hand Eisegesis = put something in...the way we make the scripture say what WE want it to say. This leads to false doctrine.

One of the cool things about the internship was that an amazing sister named Lisa Hinton was able to do it as well. It happened so fast, but the Gore's were I guess interviewing me and Yung casually asked me who I liked and I told her and so she went up and got her. I was super grateful and had an amazing Summer interning with Lisa though at times it got awkward. The focus on the teens was what made it great. I got to study the bible with 2 future evangelists: Micah Konzen and Kyle Schultz. They each have amazing gifts from God and I can't imagine how talented they would be with the Holy Spirit. I developed a deep relationship with each of them and was able to go snowboarding with them this winter, and I hope to continue to help them take steps to get closer to God.

this year was extremely fruitful for the campus ministry. The greatest gift of the year was the baptism of Sam Mueller--my best friend and amazing roommate. I love this guy more than any other disciple in the campus. I had the privelege of sitting in on his studies with Robert Carrillo, and I learned more then ever before. Robert used God's power to really penetrate Sam's heart. Sam made the decision that he needed to step out on faith, having a confidence that getting baptized will be the best decision and that God will make everything clear. He led a bible talk this semester at Grossmont kind of by force and not desire, and he is now transferring to the best school in the world--SDSU.

During finals week this semester I was going through some really tought times. Lots of stress, depression, feeling like a failure led to me feeling like giving up on school, girls, the church, and God. Sam helped me one night more than anyone has in a long time. He told me about emotions--the way you react to changes. Told me that many different things are currently tugging at my heart--school, lisa, and God. God wasn't winning because I was not focused or prioritized on him. When we change what we value, we risk getting extremely emotional...maybe you are putting all your heart into Lisa and not God (where your treasure is, there your heart will be also) But since Lisa loves God, and currently you are not loving God, you and Lisa have nothing in common! He also gave his new definition of faith--being certain that the changes occurring, whether they seem bad or good, are vital steps that are leading to the best outcome that God has for you. Its hard to see now how this thing mixed with that seemingly negative thing can actually turn into this awesome thing--but when we die it will all make sense perfectly--OH so that's why I had to get hungover in SB! We talked about the undeniable gifts of the holy spirit. If I give up on every other thing of God, the one thing I can never deny is the prevalence of the Holy Spirit--for me it was confidence and zeal for Sam it was humility. I also saw some epic quotes from Austin Farrell's dad on facebook: "It's better to face things with courage than to endure things with fear"
"The only way you can comprehend how much someone who's close to you loves you, is to love someone else in that same incomprehensible way."


This year I learned how dependent I am on people. How much I need the fellowship to get through tough times. I learned I need to rely on God more, because his will for me is so much greater than mine. I had a lot of practice being a leader and learned that teens take an immense ammount of patience and love. I learned that I haven't been all that loving because I've been so focused on my own personal accomplishments like school that I haven't really had time to get in people--even roommate's lives. I learned how fragile my faith is and how important it is. I learned how critical it is to be actively studying the bible with somebody, it truly helps the leader more than the learner. I learned that school, money, materialistic items are the least important ever and that my sin is to try and rely on them.

I hope to take the things I've learned this year into next year, and make next year an even more radical, intense year of life changing adventures.