One Day?

Since I last posted, 500,000 things have happened (or so it feels).

I had to goodbye to the beloved Colorado house. I hate that! And Beth ALWAYS makes me cry. I'm totally fine until I hear her sweet voice and sad eyes saying, "I love you Kate". We had an awesome time of worship, though, and then two people prayed over each of the J127 crew. Predictably, Courtney prayed over me. Apparently I'm the only one for whom her sensitive side comes out. Who knew? Michael Mastro, whose talk had a huge influence on me, also felt led to me, and he nailed me as he prayed! Amazing what the Spirit can do. He said that he felt God saying to keep praying Proverbs 16:3 every day. More on that in a sec.

First, an amusing anecdote.

Hana (age 9): Where are you going, anyway?
Me: Back to New York
Hana: And then to Africa!
Me: Hana girl, I already went to Africa. While you were in Asia.
Hana: Oh good, then you get to come back here!
Me: I have to go back to school.
Hana: *distressed sad face*
Me: But I'm almost done.
Hana: Then you get to come back here and stay with us forever and ever every single day and never leave!
Me: *awkward muttering*, as Hana scurries away in the way only adorable little girls get away with
Courtney: Careful, that one's prophetic.
Beth: Yep. Yep she is.

Anywho, then we drove down to Ellerslie training school, run by Eric and Leslie Ludy. I've read all their books and listened to most of Eric's sermons and I'm a diligent reader of Leslie's magazine. #imafan

They had a quiet worship night, that was super amazing. Remember how I was supposed to be praying the same verse every day? Yeah, that sounded super boring to me. The environment at Ellerslie, though, got my heart in the right place. During worship, things were so free, and I got this hugely long word from God that was convicting, but oh so good. I love how He works like that.

I had a great time rooming with two of the girls, and we were quite lively. Too lively in fact. Oops

This morning, we went to 5:30 am prayer, which sounds hideous, but the campus is brilliant. And Eric taught on prayer. The man wrote the book, Wrestling Prayer, and he was teaching this morning. Epic.

At breakfast, I had a good time talking with the ellerslie students, and then chapel.

But first, amusing anecdote 2

Me: It's so beautiful
Katherine: Kate, you could get married here (it's a wedding venue).
Me: *awkward giggle*
Katherine: Remind me, I have a list saved for you.
Me: *thought cloud* the girl gets engaged and then starts planning all the weddings

Chapel was great, with devotions on holiness followed by worship. Then Eric gave a message on grace. Even though I'd heard it before, it was great. And like I said, the whole ellerslie atmosphere really helped me out.

AND THEN
We had lunch with Eric and Leslie! Q&A. Eric though he'd met me before, and I suddenly got panicked, as if maybe I'd forgotten. I don't think I would have. Anyway, they were of course wonderful, and I took tons of notes all day. Katherine though will lead us into amusing anecdote 3. She said, "I'm engaged, and the ones who are single will probably be headed into marriage type relationships in the near future...how can they prepare and what are tips for getting to know someone when you know it's going somewhere but it's not there yet?"

Near future. Ya catch that?

Our room did. Amusing anecdote 3

Victoria: Did you hear that?
Me: Um yes! Not me!
Victoria: Why? I definitely think you should be the first of us to get married.
Me: Why?
Victoria: Because you love marriage. You love love. You guys could read the book of Hosea every day.

I laughed SO HARD.

Then we roadtripped to somewhere in Nebraska.

Cue tumbleweeds

Nebraska is a long state to drive across.

I had a really good time with the cool kids in the way back - Amanda and Lady V. Amanda told me her testimony, which is something I've  wanted to ask about for a little while. I also worked on my paper. Otherwise, I just sat and talked some. They told me their dogs' favorite movies. Weird.

Jeopardy totally counts as watching t.v.

Documentaries are great.

Day two tomorrow. We're staying somewhere in Michigan or Indiana with a family who owns a dairy queen.

Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. Proverbs 16:3

And yes, this was all in an approximately 30 hour time frame.