Traveling Part 2 - Minnesota Missions

So, we've already talked about my college visits, now I want to share about a missions trip I took earlier this year to Minnesota.

Saturday July 3rd, I left with a group of fourteen other people from my church to go to Red Lake Minnesota.  As we were making the trek, by car, from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, it took us approximately 23 hours of driving both ways for the trip.  Fortunately, we were able to stop at a hotel in Chicago both ways as well.  But once we got up there, the trip was well worth it!  We were working on an Indian reservation, and it was quite a change from the comfortable Pennsylvania atmosphere I'm used to.

One of the kids from the reservation and me

As we worked with the kids through a VBS program, it broke my heart to see that many of the kids came from broken homes, or didn't even know whose house they were going home to on a given night.  It was important to show them God's love for them through us.  A lot of them grew close to my heart, and I was privileged to find that three of them dedicated their lives to Christ the next week!  Within a day, they were hanging all over us and really loved us.  We shared the story of salvation, a story some of them already knew.  Of course, not everything went smoothly.  Due to threatening weather, we weren't able to go to the lake on our third day of VBS, which disappointed many of the kids.

We also were able to help out by painting a house while we were there.  Just a simple coat of paint does an amazing job of lifting a person's spirits and is a great way to show that we care for them.  Best of all, we all enjoyed doing it!  We had a great time over the course of the week, just being able to help them and work with them.  It was a great opportunity to grow in my personal faith over the course of the week.

I also met some people that will hold a special place in my heart from now on.  Carmen and Caitlin are two girls that are really walking with Christ and on fire for him!  I will be continuing to pray for them and encourage them in their walk.  I am so thankful that I got to meet them, they really inspired me to be a better Christian myself.  I see the hardships they walk through and it is a motivator for me to go out and face my hardships with the strength of God at my side!

I learned a lot in Minnesota, and I'm glad to be able to share the experience!

Any questions, get my email address at: http://scr.im/aqy

Traveling Part 1 - Colleges

Hey everyone!


I've been having a great time the last few weeks, and am just now getting a chance to blog about it.
About two weeks ago, I was able to get out to Pittsburgh and visit Carnegie Mellon University and Grove City College!  Both college visits were fantastic, and I feel this now would be a good time for some "show and tell."

(Above) This photo was taken in the library at Carnegie Mellon.
It's a "pod" for power napping. Very comfortable!

My first trip was in the morning to Carnegie Mellon.  The campus, though in the City of Pittsburgh, feels really set off from the city.  Everything is close together, but it isn't crowded.  It's also nice to be in the city and be able to go somewhere off the college if I wish.  Still, the primary reason for choosing Carnegie Mellon is clearly it's reputation for computer science.  I interviewed with the college, and it was very relaxed and comfortable.  This is definitely a top choice for me right now!


Next, we traveled to Grove City.  This Christian campus was very friendly and welcoming.  I really like the feel of the campus, although it is more suburban to rural in feel.  As a Christian college, they have three standards that they want students to adhere to:

1. Live in single sex dorms. A separate guys building and a separate girls building.
2. No alcohol. (Pretty simple)
3. Attend sixteen sessions in the chapel per semester.

Overall, I think these are very reasonable expectations, and I know I will have no issue sticking to them.  I also got a chance to meet the head of the computer science department. He did his undergrad and graduate work to get his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon!  These two colleges are definitely neck-and-neck right now!