Sunday Morning Scramble School - The Latest Summer Review Ever

Hey y'all!

I know, I'm the worst blogger in the world (I'm sorry), and this post is from the summer which has definitely passed (from the early mornings and darker evenings that I see everyday now), :( but it doesn't mean that you can't read it and enjoy it! Hopefully, haha. Like Josh said, tennis, academics, and life in general are getting to me. It's getting busy, which will only increase to my demise. WILL IT EVER STOP SO I CAN ACTUALLY WRITE A POST AND SCRIPTS ON TIME (yeahh... I have a verse though to share with you!)

"28 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.' " -Matthew 11:28-30 

This world is full of stress, non-stop work, and just overall busyness, but in the midst of it all, we can find comfort and rest in our Lord and Savior! Don't forget that as you go through your new week! :) 

Below in black is my summer post, and in this color will be extra comments of mine. Summer here we come! 

{HELLO MY LOVELY READERS. HOW I'VE MISSED THE INTERNET (NOT REALLY...)

I'm in trouble. And I haven't blogged since. Forever. I'm so sorry T_T. To make it up, I'm doing an extra long post. Telling you all about the summer (yay Odyssey Related to Reality). (This will be long. I promise. I should draw you some pictures so you can smile and think "Odyssey"! Or happy thoughts...ANYWAYS) 

Josh came back from Yale yesterday (Yay!) Hope you caught up with his adventures and work and stress on his ILC blog (the work and adventures and stress have not ended - college apps and seniorlyfe)!

I went to a camp called CBM (Chinese Bible Ministries) and it's totally awesome-a week away from the world in the great outdoors with a bunch of well... (majority wise) Asian kids from Chinese Christian churches! You get to meet new friends, have workshops and learn way more about God, and interact with everyone through a whole bunch of games and free time! (Kinda like Camp What-A-Nut - a lot of activities, competitions, the great outdoor experience.) This was my first time at the high school camp. The year before was my very first year at a CBM camp, but I had gone to the junior high camp!

My parents drove us on a lovely Monday afternoon with four of my friends two hours up to the camp! Many became homesick (even when they arrived at my house!) but I was excited. This was my second time at a CBM camp and my first time was totally awesome! I couldn't wait for another week of learning what God was trying to tell me and meeting a whole bunch of kids and seeing some old faces! Things were going to get interesting and God taught me so much - even in six days.

Confession time:
In the beginning and even now...
I admit that I felt like I couldn't hear God speaking to me. Sometimes I'd lie in bed waiting and trying to erase everything from my mind (impossible for me...) and hear Him trying to verbally say something. And I wouldn't be able to hear anything. It'd frustrate me because I thought God wasn't speaking to me. I felt lost, confused, and unsure about what God was calling me to do. I guess that's kinda like Camilla in Your Servant is Listening.

Going off topic a little...
HEY GUYS DID YOU HEAR THE NEW EPISODES HUH HUH HUH HUH :D YAY. I WAS EXCITED. AND I LIKED THE EPISODES. WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER, BUT BACK TO CBM...

We arrived at camp. And like last year, many of the churches had and were arriving. Compared to us, THEY'RE HUGE. Like forty kids in buses or even more. In total I think CBM High School Camp had about...guessing over 200? Lots of Asian people. We only brought five kids from our church o.o in a van. Thankfully my two girl friends (both sisters) and I were in the same cabin so we'd be together and the other two guys (both brothers) would be together. The camp grounds were HUGE compared to the original site where CBM used to be! There was so much walking, but it was good, :D 'cuz we all need exercise right? The bad part about it being so big was that it was harder to make new friends since mostly everyone stuck with their church groups and were more spread out.

I was feeling good as I stepped out of the van, but I got kinda scared. I wondered if I'd fit in with these kids. I wondered if I'd be able to make friends and continue to be friends. I was getting anxious (AND IF YOU GUYS GET ANXIOUS, TELL YOURSELF PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7. :) It's a great verse). And as I tried, I felt it was harder to reach out to make friends because it seemed as if everyone already knew each other and had their own groups. Was I going to meet tons of new kids or just stick with my childhood friends? Man, it was only the first day of camp, and I was already stressing and doubting God's power.

My workshops were "Sexuality in the Bible" and "The Problem of Evil". Total wise, there were six workshops, three on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the other three on Thursday and Friday. Each workshop was lead by a pastor from a different church, and each held a number of kids and counselors who wanted to take them.

In the "Sexuality in the Bible" taught about what God's purpose was for marital sex, and the corruption of sexuality (lusts...) It sounds like an awkward subject right? It totally is, but now I know whenever the lusts or things are shown around me, I shall pursue Christ! That's what we're supposed to do! We're surrounded by a world who makes immorality seem normal- in the internet, dramas, TV, movies, songs, all entertainment. It's like "Soaplessly Devoted" where Erica's favorite show was trashy and immoral (wording from AIO Wikipedia page). 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 tells us to flee this, and we should pursue sanctification instead (1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Timothy 5:1-2). God gives us to strength to get rid of these thoughts and feelings. He gives you and me the strength to say no to temptation and lusts.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it"-1 Corinthians 10:13

Ever want a great book to read about the idols of our lives, check out Gods At War by Kyle Idleman.

"The Problem of Evil" workshop was very good. The question asked was "If God is good, then why does He let bad things happen?" I had always wondered how to respond to people who asked that.
We learned about four elements:
1. God is all good
2. God is all powerful
3. God exists
4. Evil exists
We proved that they existed from a biblical standpoint.
The fifth element that makes the first four work together is that God has a GLORIOUS purpose for evil. What is that purpose? Romans 3:3-5, Romans 5:8, and Romans 9:17, 20-21, 22 tells us that it's because it's to glorify God. We always think our lives is about us right? To our surprise, it's not. It's all about God. We all suffer, in different ways, in some ways more than others. But we have our Father to call upon.

SPOILER DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO THE RECENT ALBUM 57 EPISODES I REPEAT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED DON'T READ THE BLUE BELOW

Like Connie, when her mother passed, she wondered why did God take her mother home now, at this time. At the time, Connie didn't know why this would even happen, but despite the tragedy, Connie learned the lessons of comfort in God, and is going to help out Jeff Lewis in his missionary work. The only way she found out about his work was because of her mother's funeral. I'm not saying that it was a good thing June died, I'm saying God has a purpose for everything that happens in your life, good or bad, whether you know it or not. It's a matter of if you trust Him in the midst of the situation you're in, or you go flying in solo. Uncertainty needs trust, so if you're ever concerned about what God has in store for you, learn to lean on His sovereignty. 

This reminds me of the bible story about Job, and the Odyssey episode of "Bernard and Job". Lisa learned that when life treats you unfairly, the blame should not go to God and that God is in control of all things.
So, in a world of evil in the dark, what are your responses to evil, things that are unfair to you, or suffering? How can you give it all to God when everything seems to be caving in?

One of my highlights of CBM was campfire, where everyone in the whole camp all gather in the amphitheater and we all sing and some people share about their highlights. It's a blessing and an encouragement to hear how the camp has impacted them or helped them in their walk with God, and how excited they are to share about Christ! The sharing definitely involves tears, hearing tragic events that have occurred, but it always ends with God coming through (what can we learn from that? :) He'll come through!) It was definitely cold, but the body heat and testimonies warmed me up.

As the week went by, I met so many people, but I only became close friends with a few. I learned that it doesn't matter how many friends you make, but who you're friends with. These people that I befriended have absolutely been God's blessings to me by checking in on me, praying for me, and being always there to talk about Him. It's awesome to see how God places people in our lives during different stages, and how they affect you during that time. I miss them all so much: my friends, the counselors, the camp environment. But with a week of knowledge, encouragement, and our bibles, we're ready to be God's messengers, to go bold, go strong and go FISH!}

In the summer, my family and I had an awesome trip to Canada! Puppy really wants to post about that trip (and show off his "model" pictures of the house), so I'll let him take care of that :) 

 THIS IS ME. HELLO WORLD. Do you subscribe to Clubhouse? Does your little siblings or cousins or neighbors? Well then you can see my art that I submitted and all the other cool creative games and ideas in the Clubhouse Members Magazine 2013! Second year in a row! (I was in the 2012 version as well!) Both Odyssey related :) I did the theme of the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and tried to incorporate all of them into something the Odyssians could all do together-hence the theater and a Fruits of the Spirit play, which totally go together! Penny and her talent are at work making a poster for Connie who's trying to direct everyone, but of course everyone is going crazy and not paying attention to a surprisingly calm Ms. Kendall. If you see the girl in the background with the black hair and orange tee, I based it off myself hahaha. I know, so original, but it felt so empty there. The whole Odyssey gang is there (except Whit :( maybe he was taking a picture of this chaotic scene). Jay, Priscilla, the Jones, Nelson, Ryan Cummings, the Jones, and the Parkers are all in it to help out! Check it out! It was a lot of fun to draw! :)

So for most of the Internet people I know, I make pictures for their birthdays (and they're always late haha). This one is for Kevin McCreary, The Ceiling Fan Podcast creator, writer, and actor! As you can see, Josh and I are in there, with Garrett Vandenberg and his guitar playing a HBD tune. Kevin's character, Ethan, is with Connie, who he really likes haha. And what do you know-Jimmy Barclay is there too! All old and grown up... with a soul patch! The markers that I used for this picture were COPICS, alcoholic markers that you can find at specialty art stores (super worth it :3)!

Now my life is just: school. School consists of music, homework, and tennis (which is ending soon!), as well as other stuff, like art, letters, and blogging, now and then. It's getting busy, but God has been helping me get through it and He'll continue to help! I just wish I had more sleep... Yay, a long satisfying post :3 (well, I'm satisfied! I hope the same goes for all of you :P) I hope you all have awesome weeks, I shall be back soon! 

CHALLENGE:
HEY - GO COMPLIMENT SOMEONE RANDOMLY AND MAKE THEIR DAY. :) It's so fun to do that, just randomly messaging someone and checking up on them. It's fun for me because I LIKE FELLOWSHIP. IT'S NOT THAT HARD SO IT SHOULDN'T BE A CHALLENGE... JUST GO DO IT!!!! 


  

Memorable May + Jubilant June

Hey, it's Ally! It's been a busy school year, and a busy last few weeks but here I am!
Finally writing another post, I know it's been a while and I'm super sorry about that D: it's called school. And other events which I will enlighten you about! (Don't worry I'll relate them to Odyssey. After all it is an Odyssey blog isn't it?)

In May, our youth group went to an indoor mini golfing place, which is basically mini golfing. Inside. It was awesome to see the crafted courses resembling the Bay Area! I did so terrible though, I hit the golf ball out of our course and into others, I'd get a 6 on most of my holes. It was embarrassing, but loads of fun. Kind of reminded me of Wooton when he played golf with Fox Fletcher in "Nothing But Half the Truth" (Album 42), how he hit the ball of out of the course.

On Mother's Day, I and two of my very good friends got baptized! We've been Christians ever since we were little, but Jesus put on our hearts the desire to proclaim our faith and declaration in Him! To be honest, it was teary, all smiles, and a blessed time, and I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now when I was reading my testimony, I was scared out of my mind. I was sharing my life story to this whole crowd of people. It was crazy and I didn't know if I could do it. But after a little fast praying and realizing it's just all family and friends there in the crowd, I told them about trials I've had, family members with illnesses which led to questioning about God. Even though my loved ones didn't have serious cancer like Karen Crosby from "Karen" (Album 3), they still had faith just as strong that God would heal them. Satan gives us doubts to believe so that we would doubt in Jesus, but "When in Doubt...Pray!". That's exactly what showed how God blessed me, now my family are cancer free and recovering from strokes. It's amazing what God can do and how He made this a way for my faith to become stronger. God does answer prayers! It may not be the way we would want it to turn out, but it's the way God wants it to be.

"I remember an ol Scottish prayer my mother taught me when I was a wee girl. It goes, 'Lord, I thank thee a thousand times for the roses. Help me to thank thee for the thorns as well'."-Fiona Donneral "Thank You, God" (Album 3).

That Sunday was wonderful because we could celebrate my mother for Mother's Day, and my baptism with family and friends! Plus, many college students that have gone to our church came home to see their families so they also could see us get baptized WHUTTTTT. (allGod)

Our seniors graduated in early June, which for both of us (Josh and I) were sad to see go. These seniors were smart, talented, funny, and great leaders. When the valedictorian went up to speak, it reminded me of when Connie was one in "The Graduate" (Album 31), and how the audience sang a hymn after her declaration of not defying her school authorities with her prayer. I wish that our school could do one, but since it's public school, they didn't :(. But it was a great speech, funny and enjoyable to hear! We got to play for our graduates, which was an honor for me!

Right after school was out basically Josh was off at camp and I was driven to Anaheim to visit relatives! I got to see my friend Kara and we went to THE GETTY CENTER IN LA IT WAS SO COOL OH MA GOODNESS ART IS AMAZING GUYZ. (not like i'm great at it but it's so inspiring and just so *girly squeal* too cool) Yeahh I like art guys. I can't be like Penny Wise who is "a very good artist". But I can try my best! Anywho that was really fun (I know I'm a boring person looking at art all day and gawking at it but it's gotta be art I like otherwise yes the museum would be boring). And I ate a lot. Not as much as Wooton does. But I ate a ton and it was great!

THEN JOSH CAME HOME YAYYYY. AND WE WENT TO VANCOUVER! It was awesome!! We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Haddon House, a historical house from the 1920s that was restored! It was beautiful! It's in Burnaby a small city with a lot of history like Odyssey! They even had a museum, a reenactment of the village of Burnaby in the 1920s I believe! IT WAS SO COOL. Like they had an old school house (some of the children from the Haddon house went there and we knew that cuz their last names were Haddon.), we saw an old radio station, the chapel (someone from the 1970's got married there! WHUT.), they even had an old carousel indoors like in the movie "The Sting"! Yeah I like old stuff guys... Like jazz! ME AND BARRETT JONES ARE AWESOME THOUGH CUZ JAZZ IS AWESOME. :) anywho... We went to a gelato place called La Casa Gelato and Ice Cream and get this: IT HAD 218 FLAVORS THERE. No not 9 out and the rest in containers, like literally 218 flavors to choose from. Not a typical Whit's End there but it tasted alright. It was more fun tasting flavors. And eating. We also visited famous parks such as Stanley Park with the totem poles and at the Stanley Rose Garden we saw a TV show that was going to be or was filmed! It was for "King & Maxwell" on TNT (never heard of it) but it was cool cuz everyone was dressed up as if going to a wedding! And of course something disastrous happened cuz the FBI and police and fire department was there (We asked the SWAT guy what was being filmed. hehe). Kinda like Connie and Mitch's wedding except we don't know what happened in this episode of "King and Maxwell". We also went to Vanduzen Garden! It was so beautiful, reminding us of God's creation! It was sad when we had to leave, leaving a beautiful city, a beautiful home we stayed in, and a great vacation, but I'm glad we went when we did!

Vacation's still going on, so it's only the beginning! But what great adventures have you begun this summer? LEMME KNOW I'D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT :) Yes this wasn't a review of an episode or totally Odyssey related (I'm sorry) but I wanted to share some memories that were made and some things that were related to Odyssey since after all it is an Odyssey blog! Still working on the podcast slow and steady! A post from Puppy is coming up so look forward to that! Thanks for reading!