After Mission's Emphasis Week

This week was Mission's Emphasis Week here at LeTourneau, and it was quite good. We had Marilyn Laszlo, a Bible translator who worked in Papua New Guinea, as our speaker on Wednesday, and several other good chapels throughout the week. On Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet and visit with Jeff Turcotte, the president of Spokane Turbine Center, where the training is done for the Kodiak airplanes. It was a good week confirming for me that I am to work in the mission field.

Classes went well this week, and I was able to get a good deal of work accomplished in my labs, as well. This week plans were made for me to go home for spring break, instead of going to Colorado. I had been planning on going camping with a group of friends in a cabin in the Rockies, but it was decided not to do that this time. So instead I will be flying home, and Becky will be flying in a little bit before me, so I will get to see her during break!

Please, feel free to write to me and let me know what's going on in your life.

First Monday of classes

Well, due to classes starting on a Tuesday, then having MLK day off, today was my first Monday of classes. Thankfully, the class part is over now.

Last week was a good week, classes and labs went well, and I got a bit more of a feel for how the semester will go, or at least I think I know a bit of how it will go.

Friday night was an honors progressive dinner, and that was a lot of fun. Three of my friends rode with me, and there were probably 30 other people that were there, too, most of whom I knew. A couple hours after the progressive dinner ended and I got back to campus, my old roommate Rusty and I went over to Kilgore for LeTourneau's skate night - we had probably 80 or more people there roller skating, in a really small roller skating rink - but it was a lot of fun. That started at 11 PM, and went for 2 hours. I was tired when I got back, but it was definitely worth it, and a lot of fun.

This week I'm keeping busy with classes and labs, and this is Missions Emphasis Week here at LeTourneau, so there's a lot going on with that, too. I am a missionary liaison, which means that I need to try to be available for one of the missionaries this week. I don't expect that to take a whole lot of time, and it should be good. Prayers are definitely appreciated though, for that specifically, and Missions Emphasis Week in general.

Take care, and may God bless you this week.

First week of school - check

Hello!

Well, it's been a busy two weeks again.

I spent my last week at home helping out with stuff around the house, getting ready for school, and catching up on some sleep. Sarah came home for my last weekend, so I got to see her for about a day, which was shorter than I liked, but it was good to get to see her.

Sunday morning I headed out for Alabama, arriving there Sunday mid-late afternoon, and spending the rest of the day with Tim, Beth, Annette, Becky, and Mrs. Hewitt. I was planning on heading out first thing in the morning on Monday, but interstates were closed, then deemed impassible, for several hours due to the snow storm that came through. Eventually at 3:00 Monday afternoon, I decided that impassible in Alabama might not mean truly impassable, and that I could turn around if I had to. So, since nothing else was closed at that point, I headed out. I found that there were definitely some places that needed to be taken slowly, but the roads were far from impassable, IF you know how to drive in a little bit of snow. So, the normally 9.5 hour drive took 10.5 hours, and I arrived on campus at 1:30 Tuesday morning. I got to bed at 2:00, and was awake at 6:00, with lab at the airport at 8:15.

The first days of classes were average for first days of classes - figuring out "okay, this class will be more interesting than expected, this one will be less," stuff like that, but all-in-all, pretty good.

One of the things that I love about the spring semester is that we start off with two four-day weeks, with not starting classes until Tuesday, then having the day off for MLK day.

As always, I'd love to hear how you're doing and how I can pray for you, so please, feel free to send me an email or give me a call.

First post of the year

Happy New Year!

As I was thinking about the fresh start that is today, the first day of a new year, it occurred to me that today is really not so different from every other day of the year.

Today is an opportunity to get a fresh start of doing our best, breaking bad habits, and forming new ones. Today is an opportunity to begin the process of becoming who we want to be, and of serving God more wholeheartedly, and putting Him first in every area of our lives. Really, though, every day presents us with these opportunities.

We find ourselves disappointed when we fail to follow through with our New Year's Resolutions - but we must learn from this, and not be discouraged. So, you only make it through a few days without messing up? Learn from it, and start over. Don't wait until next year to implement a change. What we have is this year, this day, this moment, and we need to use it as if it were our last. There are some things that we simply must not procrastinate on (yes, I know, that is a shocking statement, coming from me.) Right now you do have opportunities to start new things, make changes, etc. on the first day of the new year - but continue to make new improvements throughout the year.

My challenge to you this year is to be continually improving things, changing what you need to, throughout the year. Don't just make changes today, or even this month. We can all find things in our lives that we need to change in order to be more pleasing to God. Ask Him to show you these things, and then constantly throughout the year seek His guidance and implement the changes that you need to. When December gets here, God may still be showing you more things that can be improved, and that is okay. Just remember to implement the changes immediately. Even when December 31 arrives, we can still make changes each day, without waiting for the next year.

May you have a wonderful year, being blessed and filled with joy, but more importantly, being a blessing and bringing joy to God.

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

That's the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.

Overdue Update

Well, I've had a couple people telling me over the past couple days that I need to post again, so here goes.

First, the good news: I survived finals!! I accidentally studied for the wrong final for two days, and found out 5 minutes before I was to take a final I wasn't prepared for. So I glanced at someone's notes for about 45 seconds, since mine weren't with me. I went in, took that, and got a decent grade - VERY good for not having studied for it at all. After that things went more smoothly, as I made sure to study for the correct finals.

Now for the great news: As most of you probably already know, I'm an uncle! Annette Grace Hewitt was born on Wednesday, December 8, at 4:34 PM CST (weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz, and 20 inches long, for those who care). I got to see her about 4 hours later, went to Tennessee to stay with my uncle and aunt for a couple of days, then came back to Alabama on Friday and will be staying here until probably Thursday morning. She is a beautiful little girl who is very content. To borrow the words of a friend of mine, "Touch her and I will SCALP you with my bare fingernails."

Thursday I will leave Alabama and drive back to Virginia (my parents got in shortly after I did on Friday and will be staying until this coming Friday). Friday morning I will get up and drive to West Virginia to pick up Becky, then we will drive to her house in Vermont where I will spend some time with her and her family.

So close!

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks.

Last week, Thanksgiving week, was absolutely awesome. I got to spend Wednesday through Sunday with my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. It was great. I even got a 10 page paper mostly written before anybody else got to my grandparents' house on Wednesday! I had a good time with my cousins, although on break I averaged something like 5 hours of sleep, maybe a tad more, and I've become accustomed to 7 hours or a bit more every night. Without a doubt, though, it was every bit worth it.

I had a major reality check when I got back to campus on Sunday. My paper needed to be finished and turned in Tuesday, Wednesday I had 4 small papers due, as well as a final speech, and today (Thursday) has been quite full as well. I spent 5 hours last night writing out by hand the 12 pages of information for my test review sheet for a test at 7:05 this morning. Thankfully, I turned it in, the professor looked at it, wrote my grade on it, and said "you can go" - he replaced the test with the review sheet. Then I finished my Composites Lab work, took the final for that lab, and did my lab notebook for Instruments Lab. After that I had to study for my Instruments Lab final and a Composites class sectional exam. Took the Composites exam, went over the Instruments exam I took Tuesday, took the Instruments Lab final, and now I'm back on campus. This evening I have my last class for The Search for Historical Jesus, where I will be presenting my findings from my research paper.

Thank you for the prayers that have gotten me through the week. Please keep praying, as I have 3 regular finals and an oral final next week. Wednesday I get to leave LeTourneau and go to Tim and Beth's in Alabama!

As usual, I'd love to hear from you! Please, send me an email or give me a call!