Wow. I haven't been on here in awhile. Partly due to a hectic schedule at school, and partly due to being unable to login for some unknown reason. Anyway, I decided to try and login again today, and guess what? It worked! My school is on Spring Break this week, so I'm mostly just chillin' back home in Kissimmee. I really need to start working on some of my homework assignments that are due next week, but I really haven't the motivation at all.
On Friday afternoon, after all our classes had let out, Charlie, Esther and myself headed to a dinner theatre at the Wycliffe Headquarters in Orlando where we saw an awesome production of "Sunong." After that, Charlie dropped me off at home where I found a large green bag of gifts that my mom had left for me. It was awesome! She got me some cross-stitch supplies, thin mints (Girl Scout cookies, if you're unaware), a bunch of mini tissue packets, a magazine, and twobooks I really wanted: Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness by Diane Wilson and Out of the Cocoon by Brenda Lee.
I couldn't wait to dig into my new books, and have already gotten halfway through Wilson's book. The more and more I read in it, the more and more I start to think about how similar Diane Wilson's life mirrors that of another woman I care about, who is still involved with the cult. There are so many similarities, and while I'm very concerned for this woman, this book is allowing me to stay hopeful that she will one day see that this organization is not "in the Truth," and rather a false prophet of which the bible warns about.
It's incredibily profound to know that my interest in this religious cult was piqued by my relationship with a self-proclaimed witness, whom I almost married. It's also an incredible blessing to look back upon my experiences with the two mentioned above, among a few others, and see that I not once found myself willing to explore more into this organization by joining in it myself. It's also such a blessing to still have a relationship with my ex-fiance where I may one day have an opportunity to witness and share with them just what divides Jehovah's Witnesses from being true Christians, although they put up a very good disguise as being such.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in learning more about this cult, or just want to get to know more about me, I'm always available on AIM ([email protected]).

Comment! (0) | Recommend! | Categories: Cults [t], Jehovah\'s Witness [t], Life [t], Education [t], Friends [t], Edward [t]

I've been thinking about this school thing, and I am really not a school person. I love the classes that I'm in, and I love my classmates and friends and professors and all, but I still really feel this incredible need to get out of there as quick as possible. So I've considered the option of getting my A.A. and then going to Tennessee and working with "A Christian Ministry in the National Parks." [Great Smoky Mountains!] Trinity College doesn't have any art majors anyway, and I'm not interested in transfering to a bible college that doesn't right now. So I think that's what I've pretty much decided at this point, but that could change by the time this next semester ends.

Comment! (0) | Recommend! | Categories: Employment [t], Vacation [t], School [t], Education [t]

These past couple of days have been interesting. Went home on Wednesday evening, after stopping at Chili's for some dinner, although I'd already eaten what the school served for dinner that night (individual pizzas and curly fries). I just got some fried cheese sticks, which are awesome! I love those things. I got home around 8-9 pm, and I wasn't even home five minutes before getting annoyed at Joseph. Sometimes I feel it is his goal and mission in life to annoy his older sisters...grr! His fall break from school isn't until next week, so I didn't see much of him after that, and I'm kind of thankful for that. I love my stupid brother, but he's more annoying than friendly. At least towards me.

I didn't really do much on Thursday and Friday, although I did get to play Sims 2 and download ALL of my music onto my MP3 player. 783 tracks...yes, I am a music addict. I'll admit it--I absolutely love music. I also got to go out to eat on Friday and Saturday to a couple of my favorite restaurants, Fazoli's and Olive Garden. I still say Fazoli's has better Italian cuisine than Olive Garden, and it's cheaper! Oh, and funny story about something that happened at Fazoli's--some guy tried to take my food. Off the tray. Seriously! The guy was confused and thought that my baked ziti was actually part of his order and took it off the tray and started to walk back to his table. HELLO. The guy realized his mistake not two steps back from the counter, and returned the dish, but still. I just stood there stunned as he tried to steal my food. I was offered a new plate, but he didn't actually do anything to the food (I had my eyes on him the entire time).

I saw the last half of Final Destination 2 on Saturday. It looks like an interesting movie, although I haven't gotten through more than the first half hour of Final Destination nor seen the first half of FD 2. I would like to see both of those movies in completion though. (Oh, and Kenan & Kel came on Friday night. I was so happy to get to see that again!) I figure I'll have an opportunity to rent both of those sometime in the near future, so I'm not too upset about having missed the ending of one, and the beginning of the other.

I decided to visit two different churches on Sunday. First United Methodist Church (FUMC) was the first one I attended. I used to work at that church as a babysitter in the nursery in high school, although I never actually attended the services on Sunday morning. It was a good service; they're actually one of the few churches back home that use hymnals. It reminded me a lot of Charlie's church, just a little bigger. I was mostly interested in possibly getting to see the kids I used to babysit, which I didn't realy get to do. I saw two, and third who looked a lot like Maddie, but I can't be certain that it was her. I also got to talk to Dwight for a few minutes, which was awesome.

The service at Cornerstone has changed so much since I last attended a service there. It's a good change though, I kind of like the new format that they are using now to spread the message. Speaking of which, Sunday mornings service was about sex..and the emotional/mental aftermath of having pre-marital sex. It was interesting to say the least. There's more I want to say on this particular topic, but I'll save it for the two people I trust most in this world.

I also saw the Ten Commandment with Esther and Charlie on Sunday night. It was pretty good, although it did leave a few things out. I enjoyed it all the same though. I've also come to realize that I'm starting to trust my new friends here at Trinity a lot quicker than I used to trust people I just met at school or work. I think that's good for me, though.

Come Monday morning, I find that my roommate, Jesse, is engaged to her boyfriend, WIll. And the wedding is set for someime in December. I have very mixed emotions about this, and again need to talk to the two I trust most in this world, Ed and Esther. I'm happy for Jesse, I really am, but I just got out of an engagement and am still trying to get over it. It also seems a bit rushed to be getting married in December when they just got back together. (They were broken up about two weeks ago...)

This is certainly a lot more than I bargained for when I decided to go to college...

Comment! (0) | Recommend! | Categories: Friends [t], Family [t], Church [t], Education [t]

Today I finally submitted the first part of my application for the Discipleship Training School in New Zealand that's to begin on February 23, 2008. It appears that a lot of people think I have decided to do this next semester after only a little time in prayer about it. That isn't so. I have been praying about doing a DTS since last October, ever since I learned of Youth With a Mission. Now the time has come to get all of my paperwork together and sumit the application. I've decided to do what I can online, so as not to lose the information before it's sent out., although I know there is still going to be a bit of physical paperwork to be done as well. I'm excited! I am also a little sad, because I absolutely love it here at Trinity, and there are so many things coming up in the spring semester that I know I will have to miss. (GCMF Missions Trip, Female Basketball Team, etc.) And I am seriously going to miss living just across the hall from my best friend. There are a few things back home that I'll miss as well, like my Uncle Clyde's wedding, and my dad's birthday. But I anticipate that the joy found in serving the Lord overseas will be beyond anything I can imagine, so I'm not terribly terribly upset about having to miss those activities. And it's not as though I will not have the opportunity to participate in some of the aforementioned activities at a later date.
I'm going home next weekend for fall break, so I'll get to be home for a little longer than in the past when I've gone home for the weekends. I don't have any real plans for while I'm at home other than visiting Emily (Ed's mom) and attending my home church, Cornerstone on Sunday morning. I'm also toying with the idea of visiting FUMC, the church that I used to babysit at on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.

Comment! (0) | Recommend! | Categories: YWAM [t], DTS [t], Education [t], School [t], Friends [t]

Wow. So I totally haven't written a new blog here on Nutang in quite some time. I think now is a great time to do so. What did I write in my last blog? I talked mainly about New Student Orientation and moving into my new room here at school...
Well, it's now halfway into the semester, and their is a lot more homework than I ever could have imagined! I love the classes, and the work is manageable, it's just a lot of [mostly] reading. My classes are as follows: Freshman Comp I, Old Testament Law & History on Weds. and Fri. I have World Missions & Religions, and Intro to Public Speaking on Tues. and Thurs. We don't have any classes on Mondays, which is awesome. Every weekend is a 3-Day weekend for us! Last night was our schools first pep rally from 10-12. It was so much fun! I got my whole face painted and even had the oportunity to play a tiny bit of basketball towards the end of the night. I love playing basketball, so I was really happy I got to play even if it was only for 20 mins or so. And my friends who also went had a hard time recognizing me with all of my face paint on! Cliff also got up a rapped during half-time, and he's actually pretty good. Who knew a white girl from Kissimmee would go from liking country-western to Christian rap and Hip-Hop?

Anyways, it's time for bed right now, but I promise I will post more soon! And I will definitely do my best at keeping this blog better updated for my readers. Also, for anyone who doesn't know what school I'm going to, it's Trinity College of Florida in New Port Richey, FL.

Comment! (1) | Recommend! | Categories: School [t], Education [t], Friends [t], Entertainment [t]

So this has been an awesomely busy week. I started school on Wednesday, but I moved into my dorm at Trinity last Saturday. I LOVE IT. The four days of new student orientation were awesome too. I loved getting to go out with a bunch of new people and having some fun. I don't remember everything we did, but I know it was all a lot of fun. I think Tuesday, the day at Clearwater beach was definitely the most fun. We went to the beach in the morning, and after going to Subway for lunch with Esther, Robert, and Ronnie (I think it was Ronnie..), we walked down a little farther and found an arcade where we played DDR and a few other games. Got the guys some stick on earrings with our tickets and some plastic rings...I managed to lose my ring about five minutes after we got back to Trinity... Monday night I went to my first volleyball practice..although I don't think I'm going to join the team. Not this semester/year anyway. I have to concentrate on my classes and make sure my time isn't filled up with a bunch of things to distract me (like volleyball!). I'm still going to work out though, you can be sure of that. We get free memberships to the Y and Esther says there's this great Taebo class on Monday nights we can do together. Sunday night was kind of fun, but a little depressing too. I had fun at miniature golf; that wasn't what I found depressing. But I hated those freaking bridges we had to walk over everywhere! No, it wasn't a huge amount of water or anything under them, but still. It freaked me out! And my hip was hurting like crazy that night..but I took some Aleve when we got back and it's been fine since. My hip is weird... So far all of my classes have been pretty easy, but it's only the first week. You know how that goes. We basically just went over the syllabus in each course, although I have already had to take some notes in two of the classes. And I wrote an essay in English on the second day of class! It was an easy essay though; one of my favorite topics. (Where I want to live-if you know me, you know the answer.) Now I'm home for the weekend, but I'll be returning later this afternoon with Esther. And in all honesty, I feel more at home at Trinity. It's hard to explain why, but I like the independance I have at school, and I like that there isn't as much secular entertainment to distract me from my relationship with Christ.

I picked up some more stuff for my dorm room yesterday. Got some washrags and things like that. My dad also did my laundry..and it was FREE. Not two dollars like at school. I love free laundry! We also went to Staples to pick up some jump drives for my sister and I, and we got to look at laptops-so I now know what kind of computer I'll be getting for school. I'm thinking I should have it by October 1st, if not before then. The laptop is going on sale this week, and I'm assuming my dad wants to get it at the sale price..but I don't know for sure. And it comes with a printer which is even more awesome!

So that is my update for the week. I don't know when I'll update again, but I'll try and update at least once a week, or every two weeks. Computer time is rare right now, and I don't have much time for MySpace if I'm going to stay ahead in my classes! Love, Laura

Comment! (3) | Recommend! | Categories: School [t], Education [t], College [t], Esther [t], Friends [t]