Time to say goodbye...

In the last five days so very much went on in Pigeon Forge! We started going over and reviewing our whole summer and what we had learned, known as processing days. We had our last days of work and it was sad to go, but it was time to move on and get back to school... We had our last meal together at the Apple Barn and then ended at Evergreen Church to talk about memories and end with a dance party! It was so great to have met all of these people who truly love the Lord! It was an awesome summer and I learned so very much!
The Lord was so good in allowing me to be in Pigeon Forge this summer and thanks to all who have supporting me and reading about my summer! It has been a doozie, but an overwhelmingly awesome, yet difficult experience of the Lord and what He had to teach me!
This is it and back to school I go tomorrow!

Love In Christ,
Rachel

Another week gone.

Heyy,

So this past week has just been a blur. It went by so very fast, which makes me super unhappy. I don't want to leave even though I am ready to go back to school. It's just bittersweet! Last Wednesday was filled with Bible Study as usual and then Thursday we had out actual Bible Study along with a workshop in the morning! We did B-Stud at the fancy McDonalds in Pigeon Forge! It was huge and I felt kind of like I was in an airport because it was so spacious! Haha.
Friday through Sunday was filled with Dollywood and work. However this weekend was great because the Muncie Family (minus alex) from Auburn came to visit along with Mallory! It was so good to see familiar faces and get to hang out with them! We went to Dollywood and the Apple Barn! It was a great Saturday!
Monday was good as well. It was just a relaxing day! I had my one on one and right before it I coincidently met our speaker for the night at Starbucks, who ended up knowing my aunt and uncle and cousins who are also involved in Navigators! Small.world.after my one to one I met some girls at Zaxbys and then we went to the outlets and did some shopping! We had so much fun! Then after shopping had dinner and headed to Nav Night! Mike Jordahl spoke in World Vision and talked about how in order to go later, we must start now in talking to people right around us about Christ. I don't know if I'm called to missions, but I figure here (or auburn) is a great place to start!
Today we are headed to Knoxville to go to Remedy coffee shop for "processing day" and then tonight we have campus dinners to discuss what we want to see happen on our campuses after being here! However, Sam and I will be meeting with all of the schools that don't have staff here do it should be fun!

More to come! Only 5 days left...

In Christ,
Rachel

All caught up on the forge.

Okay, So I'm going to try my best to catch you up on the past 2 weeks all in one fell swoop! My parents and Matt came on July 1st and stayed through the 4th for parents week! We had so much fun and I loved having them here in pigeon forge! We did so many things while they were here, including going to Dollywood and going to Dixie stampede! We hiked some and just hung out!

When they left on the 4th, it was obviously fourth of July and our big group went to see fireworks (which you couldn't really see) and I made a flag cake so we all had something sweet to eat! Also, the hotel and the parents of someone else cooked out for us and at the end we all jumped in the pool (with our clothes on)! woops. It was such a great day!

Thursday the 5th was Bible Study day and I caught up on a lot of stuff that I needed to finish after the family was here for so long! We went back to work on Friday and worked through Sunday as usual! It was a lot cooler than the last weekend in June, so we were super pumped!

The next 2 days, Monday and Tuesday, Sam, Ann Marie and I headed to Birmingham for the funeral of Dalta Garrett, who went to Auburn and passed away in a car crash the Thursday before. It was so sad to see such a great, humble and strong Christian woman leave this world, but we know that she is in a much better place now! After the funeral, Sam and I stayed at our grandmother's house and it was so very good to see her and get to tell her all about my summer so far!

We got back on Tuesday and came back right in time for our group date! It was pouring down rain and our guys had planned to take us on a picnic, but it got changed to inside. They got a suite in the hotel and cooked dinner for us, and had a beautiful table set up! After dinner, we hung out and played a game called Quelf, which is a game with the dumbest rules that you have to keep throughout the entire thing, while going around on a board with your player. We had so much fun with it!

Wednesday was our day off and I literally did Bible study almost all day except for going to lunch, to the Titanic museum and then to play putt putt in the afternoon! Jennifer's boyfriend came into town and so we had to have a little bit of fun! The Titanic museum was awesome! I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but they have the grand staircase and a lot of the dishes from the actual boat! They have an ice berg and you can stick you hand in 28 degree water! John, Will, Jennifer, Sammi and I tried to see who could last the longest... I lost to the boys, but beat the girls! haha.

Thursday was once again Bible study and workshop day, so the entire morning was filled with talks of Romans 9-12, which is one of the hardest things I have ever done. Is God fair was the question to answer this past week and He is, just coming to terms with how He is, is one of the hardest things to accept. But the Lord is still good and sovereign in all things. So much so that He chose to send hid son to die on the cross for our sin, so we could be blameless and have a relationship with him! How cool!

Friday we all went back to work and it was actually pretty fun this weekend! It wasn't too hot and we had a lot of storms, so our ride shutdown for and hour at least once every afternoon! It was so great!

Then yesterday, monday July 16, we went to knoxville for a Junior girls' day and also for Caroline's birthday! We had a blast on Market square and then went to Mast General store where we spent a couple of hours and we almost convinced Jenn to get Chaco's! (we'll get there by the end of the summer) We also went to McKay's used books, movies and music, which is a huge warehouse of books, music and movies that sell for like 3 and 4 dollars! it was so cool! We got lost in there for a few hours at least, and then we headed back to Pigeon Forge for Nav Night, where Ben Nugent from UF spoke on discipleship! It was a great time to listen and I have quite a few quotes from him that I can't wait to use! One was "We weren't called to make converts, we are called to make disciples." That is so true in everything we do! Not only do we tell people of God's grace and love so they can be saved, but we also bring them up to maturity in Christ, so they can then go and do the same! What a cool calling.

Today in X-TAWG and team day. I'm trying to decide what I want to read. I just finished Galatians, but I think I may go back through that and also through some of Romans. Those are just 2 books that I don't think you could ever get everything out of! Later my team is watching Titanic for our team day! Can't wait for that one! And then tonight is our annual talent show... I'm sure some funny things will come out of the wood work for this one!

If you're reading, please be in prayer for my mom. She is in the Hospital at the moment and about to have a heart catheterization to see if anything is going on with her heart again. Just be in prayer that the Lord will comfort her and my family and steady her heart and mine as she goes through this and I'm not there. Pray that she will come out safe and sound and the Doctors will figure out what is wrong; that they will have wisdom from the Lord to understand what is going on.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!
Sorry that this was so long with almost no pictures.... but now you're all caught up!

Love in Christ,
Rach

Team overnighter

Hey guys!

I'm sorry that I'm terrible at posting, but its just been so crazy around here! Since last monday a whole lot has happened! Tuesday and Wednesday we went on our team overnighter to Chattanooga and then on Thursday we had an (almost) full day, except for my midday nap and read in my eno! But I'll post more details below! :)

Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Chattanooga for our team overnighter and we had such a great time! We first went to the Bluff View Art District and did our TAWGs at the cutest coffee shop ever! It was called Rembrandt's. They make their own coffee, along with breakfast, lunch and the best desserts ever! It was quite possibly my new favorite place on the face of the planet! Coffee, food, sweets and cute. That's my kind of place!
we stayed there until about 3 in the afternoon and then left to go get pedicures, which were completely fabulous as always! I got mine in painted in french tips and so did Jennifer and Jordan and Sammi got pink! Hooray for our pretty toes!
After pedicures, we went downtown to Northshore in Chattanooga, which is one of the coolest places ever. It has a lot of shops and places to eat, but it also has a park that follows down the tennessee river, which is on the back side of all the stores! We ate dinner at the Northshore Grille and then got ice cream at Clumpies Ice Cream Co. Yummm! We walked down through the park after. However, to get to Northshore, you have to walk over a drawbridge (which I have never been on before) and then to get back you walk on a pedestrian bridge (or vice versa). You go over the Tennessee River where they have a ton of river boats, which were cool as well! Obviously I just think this is the neatest place!
We spent the night on the other side of Chattanooga at the house of one of Sammi's friends. We watched movies and slept so great. We were so tired!
We woke up and ate breakfast there and then left to go to the Ocoee River Whitewater Center. This is where they had the 1996 Olympics and usually you can swim there during the weekdays because they don't let the water go from the dam. However, on this particular Wednesday they had let the water go right when we got there, so we just laid out on the bridge and read! (no complaints) We really wanted to see the water come down, but the dam was 3 miles away, so it didn't make it in time... sad. But it was still a really pretty view! We stayed there 'til about 2:30 and then had to head back to Pigeon Forge, back to summer life!

On Thursday we had a workshop on conflict resolution and relationship questions... those were both fun, needless to say! We spent the rest of the day joking about conflict resolution, but got some good conversations out of the relationship talk, both with girls and boys. After workshops we had bible study and we went over Romans 3:21-5:21... talk about some hardcore scripture! It just goes to show how much the Lord really cares for us and what He did not only counted for our sins, but for everyone's who came before us, and before him! That's crazy! So after my head hurt and was so full of info from bible study, I got an Apple Muffin from the Apple Barn (where we had bible study and also the yummiest place to eat in Pigeon Forge!) and then went and hung out in my eno, and napped and read The Help! it was very relaxing and then after at 8 p.m. we went evangelizing in Gatlinburg as we do every Thursday. We got to talk to a few people, all believers, which is a great way to be. However, I think at this point, we see it as more of a discouragement than an encouragement, but the Lord is glorified in whatever we do and his timing and exaltation is perfect!

Today we headed back to work, along with Saturday and Sunday. Its over 100 degrees here, and I don't think I have sweated as much as I did today since summer soccer workouts...! Yikes. No matter what happens though, we know that we glorify the Lord in what we do and thats what matters!
Also, today at work I passed the time by doing scripture memory -- its a great way to make use of the time that we don't end up doing a whole lot! I memorized 1 John 5:13 and 1 Peter 4:18.

Now you're all caught up to two weeks ago! Mom and Dad and Matt come tomorrow, along with Uncle Marc, Aunt Carol and Paul, woohoo!

I'll write more soon!
In Christ,
Rach

Donut.Friar.

Hey Guys!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!
Not too much has been going on, but we did have Bible Study and Evangelism last thursday. I got to go out with Sammi, my team leader and we talked to multiple people, all of whom were christians. Its really encouraging to talk to people about their faith and what was even cooler was that I got so excited about it on our way to evangelize. The Lord just really put a fire in my heart to talk to these people and to make the Glory of Him known to them.... How cool that He would put that in my little brain!?! Ah!

Then Friday through Sunday we went to work again, which is fun. However, it got really hot this weekend and this coming weekend its supposed to get up to 100... yikes, but the Lord will sustain!

This is the Donut Friar Entrance!

Today is Monday, so I'll catch you up on my life today! This morning I had my one on one with Sammi (some of my favorite time). Today we went to the Donut Friar in The Village in Gatlinburg, which is now one of my favorite places and we talked about the fear of the Lord once again, but then she incorporated the power of God and why we are in awe of who he is from Isaiah 40:18-25. Knowing that the Lord uses the skies for a tent and could pull them back as a curtain is just mind blowing... However, it is also crazy to think about how each one of us is so small, yet so special to Him! He gave his son for us, sinners. Its so awesome that it just boggles my mind and that in itself is more than enough reason to give my life for Christ, just as he did for me!

After going there for a while, the rest of the day has been spent at various places working on Bible study! In this one we had to do word studies, which is different from anything I have ever done, but really cool to find different ways the words are used!

And tonight we are going to team dinner, then to Nav Night!
Tomorrow we leave for our team overnighter to Chattanooga!
Pray for and a relaxing team time!

In Christ,

Rach

It's been a happenin' week!

So this week has been pretty crazy, but it's been great fun as well! They keep us busy around here! All kinds of stuff has happened so I'll just start day by day!


Wednesday (June 13) we had our off day, so it's just a good day to hang out with people and relax! Nothing too big went on!


Thursday (June 14) was when everyone (well half of our group) went back to work! But for my team it's the day for Bible Study and 1 on 1's if you don't have it on Monday (which is when I have mine)! Bible Study was great! We holed up in a little corner in McAllisters and got 2 dollars off of our meals because we work at Dollywood! Woohoo! In bible study we are going through Romans and it is so cool to see that all throughout Romans, Paul is basically giving them guidelines to the Christian life - a rule book! And also informing them (over and over) that it is both to the Jew and the Greek! What a blessing! We did the overview this past week and then will be doing chapters 1-3 this week! It's been great to do some inductive reasoning with words! Also, Thursday is usually our day to go evangelize and share the gospel in Gatlinburg, but we were unable to go because it rained (well, stormed) that night! So since we didn't go, we all played outside and made a sonic run! It was a great time of fellowship and fun with everyone being together from the program! 


Friday through Sunday was the dreaded back to work days...! But we actually ended up having a lot of fun up at the ropes course! Friday I was doing harnesses once again, so the day went by fairly quickly! Saturday I worked in "Camp Teachittoomee." This is the place for little kids to play who can't go on the big ropes course. They were so fun to be around and watch! And Sunday I worked my first day on course! It was fun, but somewhat boring.
However, we did work late that night for what is called "CoasterCon." This is a group of major fanatics that love themeparks and coasters! I guess you could just call them daredevils..? I don't really know! But they were great and we just watched them do the ropes course as well, even though some of them scared me a little bit with their uncautious ways, it was still fun!


Monday (June 18) is probably one of my favorite days! It's really chill and relaxed because half of our group is working, but it's also my favorite because I have my One on One with my team leader, Sammi! At the beginning of the program we prayed and asked the Lord to show me one thing that He wanted to teach me -- turns out I'm learning about the Fear of the Lord and how that plays into being a Godly Woman, while also how it plays into sharing the gospel, which is ironic because my (impossible but Possible with God) prayer for this summer is that I would fall in Love with sharing the gospel! So naturally thinking about fearing the Lord and being in awe of who He is, Sammi and I went to proverbs 31(shocker, right?) haha! But through these verses I learned so much and have been looking up fear throughout scripture! They all point to the fact that those who fear the Lord are righteous, have wisdom and derive their strength from the Lord and nothing else! They are humble and only want to praise God! There are so many instances when this is true and I'm so excited to learn more! Also on this day after my one on one - 8 of us girls went out thrift shopping for clothes for our square dance on Tuesday night! We may or may not have gotten a little lost! But we had a great adventure for about 2 hours! It's been great getting to know girls other than my teammates as well!

Then came Tuesday (June 19) where we had Ex-TAWG (extended time alone with God) in the morning and then had "gender day" where we split off into male and female and went our separate ways! The boys played sports all day, but we went to the Sevierville city Park and had a lesson on the purpose of women, which was great! Then we played bucketball and some frisbee, while also just chatting away and crafting some cards with cute paper! Typical girls, I know! After that we all came back and got ready for our fabulous square dance with the boys! I had only square danced once before So it was pretty new! But we did get to wear fun outfits all night and had a blast learning the moves to keep a square!

And today is once again, Wednesday, our day off! Nothing too big is happening except for some Bible Study Prep, blogging and some letter writing and catching up with people who aren't here with me!
And while we were out at McAllisters I found a Lady Bug on my salad... I don't know about you; that was a new one for me! I didn't eat it, but I got a free cookie! 

Sorry that it's so long, but now you're all caught up!

Romans 1:16 & 17 are officially my summer verses, along with Proverbs 31: 18, 25, 30

In Christ,

Rach

Team Days that turn into Date Nights!

Yesterday was our team day, which means we have extended TAWG - or time alone with God - and then afterwards we went to one of Dollywood's more fun events called Cirque de Chine. In this show we got to see all kinds of Chinese Acrobatics! It was so cool. We loved going to see it! My favorite was at the end when they brought out a big metal globe and had four motorcycles going around in it at the same time (pictured below). Apparently these kids start training when they're about 4 in China and then get picked to be an acrobat when they are about 8 or so! They all came straight from China so they didn't know much English... The only thing I knew was how to say hello and I can't even spell it! Haha.

Anyway, so before we left for team day, we found out that it was team "date night." This is where a boys team asks a girls team out for the night! We got asked at 1:00 on Tuesday afternoon by opening our door to a towel elephant with sunglasses on with a note that is pictured below! We ten had to go in a scavenger hunt to find these boys and when we found them they sang to us to ask us out on our date! They were so sweet and did a really great job of asking us! After we said yes to their song, we were told to look nice and be ready to have 'cruise-like' fun in Gatlinburg at 4:30!

We met them at the lobby and headed to our secret destination which turned out to be the aquarium! We got to see all kinds of fish and sharks and they even have a Nemo exhibit with all the fish on a coral reef, along with some really cute penguins! I even picked up a horseshoe crab! After that we walked further downtown and they took us to TGI Fridays and after dinner, we split up into 2 groups for a picture scavenger hunt! Some of the items we had to find are pictured below as well - like finding someone's school mascot (we found the UGA bulldog), finding a spiral staircase (there's only 1 in Gatlinburg) and a picture with people in rocking chairs! Needless to say, it was a fun night and our guys did a fabulous job of making a perfect date!

Spiral Staircase.

UGA Bulldog.