Brandon Heath!

Brandon Heath in Fargo, ND

Last night I went to Fargo, ND to see the Feed the Hungry tour with Leeland and Brandon Heath! It was a great show. At one point I was actually 1 foot away from Brandon waiting to talk to him, but he was talking to another couple and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt. Oh well. I did get an awesome t-shirt and 3 kids for my youth groups to sponsor. Not only that, but I got to hang out with my cousin Amanda and her husband Tabb.

On the way home this morning I nearly ran out of gas in North Dakota. The gas light was on for nearly 20 miles before I found a gas station. I kept praying to God to make the gas last. I was stressing - who wants to be stranded on the interstate in ND? There's very little south Fargo before you hit the SD border (I know that now!)

It was a great trip and I wish I would have taken a picture with Amanda and Tabb! Gosh...what was I thinking?

SYATP

So much has been happening. Last week my life went into chaos mode and doesn't show signs of slowing - which I love. HS and MS youth fellowships have begun - youth praise band is going well (they improve each week).

Yesterday I went to Pipestone, MN (112 miles away) to visit my former seminary roommate, Jen. She was in MN visiting family and we took advantage of the fact we were so close to one another. It was so wonderful to see her and meet her family! I was told that I was the first of her seminary friends to meet her parents and her younger brother Micah. They are a truly great family and I can't wait for Jen's other seminary friends to meet them!

It was a quick trip, though, because I had to wake up early this morning for See You At The Pole! SYATP is a student lead prayer time around the school's flagpole. It is a nationwide event that happens the 4th Wednesday of September every year. Last year 20 kids met around the Milbank flagpole, this year we had 75! It does a heart good to see so many students get up early to come and pray. I am sure that the promise of free donuts was a small draw for some students though...

What I really enjoyed about this morning is that we had many of the pastors from Milbank's churches present. There were Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Assembly of God and others all present. What a showing of the unity of the body of Christ! I hope that the success of this event leads to more projects that we can do together.

I better not make this any longer. I have phone calls to make before heading back to the school to eat lunch with the students. Tomorrow I am going to Fargo, ND to see Brandon Heath in concert with my cousin. So excited for that!

Thank you all for being patient with me as I find time to share my experiences.

Snapshot of Today

9:00 Go to work: Been working on some powerpoints for this Sunday (Rally Sunday). Today I was adding music slides and doing some other editing. Also went through music book in office to create a list of music for the youth praise band to learn.

11:45 Minor crisis with the copier in the office. As I am trying to leave for lunch since I actually had plans today, they recruit my help. My advice - restart the machine. And it worked.

12:05 Meet up with Mike, the Lutheran youth pastor and head over to the high school. We get our visitors badges and proceed to hang up SYATP posters. Visited with two ladies who were recruiting for Snow Queen (shared my embarassing Snow Queen story). We made our way to the lunch room to eat with some high school students. Menu was corn dogs. We stayed in the lunch room and talked with students (but did not eat.)

1:14 Head to Subway with Mike for lunch. Way better than corndogs.

2:00 Return to work for an hour before leaving again because I don't feel well.

3:30 Watch a Netflix, laying on the couch, slowly feeling better.

7:00 Arrive at Milbank High School to listen to a speaker, Pam Stenzel, talk about sex education. She was actually very good. Favorite thing she said: Opposites may attract for personalities, but character always attracts character. You will date what you are.

9:30 Watching Federer on the US OPEN - Soderling does not even have a chance...

On another note - a friend told me today that I have a "wealth of patience and servant-heartedness" That is the nices compliment I've recieved in a very long time. So thank you.