So who is Teman?

I was reading the book of Obadiah today when I came to verse 9 of chapter 1.

"Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off from slaughter."

And I realized I had no idea who/what Teman was! So I looked it up and thought I would share my findings for anyone else who does not know who Teman is. It's crazy how much information is in the Bible! Although Teman is not a *major* topic in the Bible, we as Christians should always be striving to expand our knowledge of this holy Book. I didn't actually find much about Teman, but here's what I've got:

According to Genesis 36:11, Teman was a son of Eliphaz who was the firstborn son of Esau (Gen. 36:15). Edom was once governed by chiefs and kings (simultaneously? I dunno.) One chief was Teman (Gen. 36:15, 31, 42).


Jeremiah 49:7 says,
"Against Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts:

'Is wisdom no more in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?'"

So it would seem that the Temanites were known for their wisdom. From Obadiah 1:9, the verse in question, it seems Teman was also known for their mighty men.


Jeremiah 49:20:
"Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Edom, And His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; Surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them."

So here we find that the Temanites were not a holy people, seeing as the Lord said they would be destroyed. (See also Amos 1:12, Ezekial 25:13, and Obadiah 1:9)


One more place the name of Teman is found is Habakkuk 3:3:

"God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran.

His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise."

Habakkuk says this as he is praying.

So that's about all I found on Teman. Got anything else?

Game nights and sword fighting, argg!

This past weekend was a really great one! I really love when I get to spend time with my Christian family! Since we started Lads to Leaders (http://www.lads-to-leaders.org/) three years ago, the teenage girls here have been meeting and going through the GIFTS book by Hannah Colley (Girls in Fellowship and Teen Study: Can be found here... http://colleybooks.westhuntsville.org/PublishedWorks/works.html). It is a really great book for any teenage Christian girl, or Christian woman of any age, really, to read! She addresses real issues that need to be discussed and presents ways in which to combat them! I would recommend it to anyone!

Anyways, we met on Friday night and had a really great discussion about personal evangelism. Until I went to Guyana two years ago, I had never witnessed a personal Bible study. Last year, I led one of my own and I really enjoyed it! I'm glad I know how to conduct one now; it's really useful. At first, teaching someone the Gospel one on one can be really intimidating. You feel like you won't do a good enough job or you don't know what to say or your mind just says oh, someone else will do it. The truth is that one just has to study and practice! If one never tries, one will never know how they would do at it!

After we were finished with GIFTS, we started playing charades and catch phrase, two games I could play forever! We ended up staying till after 1 AM!! It was so much fun! People always seem to be surprised at how much fun Christians can have without going out and partying, drinking, etc. But guess what? We get to remember all the fun we had when we wake up the next day, and there aren't consequences!

The only problem with staying up so late was that I had to get up at 5 to drive to Georgia for a fencing tournament, but that's nothing 5 our energy couldn't fix! Out of 11 bouts, I won 5. There were some really good fencers there, but I still think I fenced pretty well for the level where I am right now. :) I had a great time.



The tournament was at Georgia Southern in their recreation center, and it was amazing! It was 2 stories and had all these exercise machines and treadmills and ellipticals. There were like 7 basketball courts, a few racquetball courts, and even a rock wall! But my favorite part was the track upstairs going around a few of the basketball courts! I couldn't resist running on it after I was done fencing! I love to run, and it was way better than treadmill running! Does anyone know if Freed has one? :P

Divine Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheesecake!

I have a recipe to share! It's really amazing and very easy, too. My new favorite thing! So here it is. I hope you'll try it (if you like coffee, that is)!!


Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

• 1 1/2 cups creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (I used chocolate teddy grahams)
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee (I put 3)
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 3 large eggs
• 3 (1 oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini-chocolate chips
• Whipped topping

1. HEAT oven to 300ºF. Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press firmly into bottom of 9-inch springform pan. (I just used a pie pan)
2. DISSOLVE instant coffee crystals in warm water. Beat cream cheese until fluffy in large bowl. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs, chocolate, coffee and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan.
3. BAKE 1 hour 5 minutes or until center is set. Cool. Chill. Just before serving, remove side of springform pan. Garnish with whipped topping and remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Enjoy!

I have five fingers!

So I got the most amazing shoes today. They're called Vibram fivefingers, and they're unlike anything you've ever worn before! I don't even want to take them off! They're for running and climbing and walking and yoga and everything else! They can even be water shoes! It feels like I am barefoot. I love them!

Ho ho ho!!

It's Christmas Eve! I just love Christmas, even if it can't be white. All the presents are wrapped and under the tree. It looks so pretty! I think it's funny how we (as a society) build up to Christmas for like three months, starting before even Halloween, and then it's just one day...and it's gone. That's why I like to think of the whole month of December as Christmas instead of just the one day. :D

I usually know almost everything that I'm going to open on Christmas morning before...well, Christmas morning, but not this year! Yay! I hate when there are no surprises! That ruins all the fun, right? So this year, I'm a bit more excited than usual partly because of the added suspense, and also because I'm cooking the entire Christmas dinner! I love cooking! What are we having?

Well, first of all, each of the 4 people in my family gets their own cornish hen all to themselves! We could've gotten some giant turkey or something, but everything is cuter when it's mini-sized! Then we're going to have rice and mushroom stuffing to go with those. There's a cherry cheesecake cooling at this very moment, and there will also be green bean casserole.

We don't always get to spend Christmas with our big family like a lot of people do because they live so far away! This time, they were all getting together in Texas. It takes 2 full days to drive to Texas (yes, drive). Also, we couldn't really afford that right now, especially with redoing the house as I talked about yesterday. I have been away for Christmas for the past 2 years, so it's nice to be home this year anyway. :)

Have a wonderful day today, tomorrow, and every day after that! Happy Holidays!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

If only. *sigh* If you can believe it, I actually had to turn the *air conditioning* in my car on yesterday! December 22, even in Charleston, should not be that warm! My, oh my...

We're making progress on the redecorating going on in my house since it's break and all. I think we've decided on a color scheme consisting of blue, green, and brown for the living room. My dad and I sanded the floor some more today. We're finally getting our wood floors back! Personally, I like them much better than carpet.

The other day I was watching tv (this isn't completely off topic, though it sounds like it) and the picture just wasn't that clear, and I couldn't figure out why. When it got turned off I could see a nice, fine coat of sawdust on it. It was lovely. :P

We've never done this before, so I'm just finding out how ridiculously expensive decorating is! It's horrible! We bought this one pillow for our couch, just to base the colors for paint and such off of it, and it was 13 dollars! ONE pillow. Yeah. The price for all the fixtures for one large window (actually 2 windows beside each other) can get bank-breakingly high as well. Let's see...

2 window scarves: $20
1 curtain rod: &20
2 sets of decent blinds: $40
2 sets of the actual curtains: $30

One cozy room: PRICELESS ;)

So when it's almost 100 bucks to dress the windows in one room of our house, plus it's Christmas, plus we're painting walls, adding decorations, redoing floors, getting a rug, AND doing a couple other rooms, too...yeah, it can get stifling. Slowly but surely...hopefully it will be done before I leave for college so I can see it all! I'm excited for it to be done!

So...

So I've been thinking...I should really get back in to this blogging thing, huh?

I guess I have to start somewhere, so here's the icebreaker (and not a very original one :P):

It's almost Christmas! I love Christmas for several reasons:

I have an excuse to give people random (well actually, not so random...) gifts, and I get to see the happy looks on their faces that I caused!

I have an excuse to receive afore mentioned gifts, and be made happy myself. :D

It is cold! And I love the cold. I love getting all bundled up in a cute coat or two with a hat, scarf, and pair of gloves. I love hot drinks (mostly coffee). Hot weather makes me want to die. It's like...pancakes without syrup! :O I guess that's one reason I should try really hard to follow the Lord and go to Heaven. Because if I don't like the hot weather here, well...yeah.

I get out of school. This is a big factor of the joy I find in winter. Speaking of, My mom and I went to Barry's Jewelers today and ordered my class ring! How exciting!

There are LOTS of parties. Just last weekend, we had our annual ladies cookie swap at church! I've been exercising extra hard to burn them off. ;) There's also the sock party, where I get to come home with a new pair of ugly socks every year! Of course, we might hold that one off till March since this time of year is so busy and all.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Santa leaves fantastic things under the tree for you!

I've been distant...literally.

I've been distant in that I haven't posted anything since...August 17th. I've been distant in that I haven't posted anything other than 30 Days of Music since...July 22. I just haven't felt like it. I haven't had any sort of motivation to blog and had nothing I really was dying to say.

I've been distant in that I went to South America! :D And lots of other places for that matter.

And I'm finally going to be mailing out my Guyana report letters within the next few days! Yay! Guyana letter written: CHECK!

So...


"Dear friends,

The Guyana Mission trip this year was a huge success! I want to thank you once again for the donations, prayers, thoughts, and moral support that you provided to me and others involved in this work! Because of the generosity of others, there was over $1000 in extra funds that we were able to give to the Amelia’s Ward church of Christ to further the Lord’s work in Guyana! I hope you will consider continuation of this support in coming years. I am more grateful than words could ever express for the worldwide network of loving Christians that I am a part of.


As you probably already know, I and fifteen other Americans spent seven days in Linden, Guyana at the house of preacher Nigel Milo of the Amelia’s Ward church of Christ. On Sunday, the men taught classes and preached sermons at the Amelia’s Ward church of Christ as well as the Burnham Drive church of Christ in a nearby area. Monday through Friday, we had a pretty regular schedule. At 10 o’clock, we and some brethren from Amelia’s Ward met at the church building to begin door-knocking. We were spilt up into several groups and, together, we conducted over 50 home Bible studies throughout the course of the week!

In addition, several correspondence courses were started. At 2 o’clock, we returned to the house for a wonderful lunch prepared by Nigel’s wife Jasmine and her mother Birney. If there were any Bible studies that had been set up for a time after that, those groups would go back out to conduct them.

Each night, there were maturity classes at Amelia’s Ward that addressed the subject of growing as a Christian in many different ways. The children studied a different story about David each night.

There were classes for children under 6, 6-12, teenagers, women, and men taught by the Americans. The attendance was absolutely amazing! The 6-12 year old class had to move benches outside because the classroom was too small for the up to 40 students that were present in that age group alone!

During the week, there were 4 souls added to the body of Christ through baptism!

Each one was a beautiful sight to see, and I felt so privileged to be able to witness them! Although there were 50 Bible studies and 4 baptisms, the seed was planted for all of the others. They may not have responded to the Lord’s invitation while we were there, but maybe they will weeks, months, or even years later. God always gives the increase.

Though, we go over there to help the Guyanese, I think it is just as much of a help and encouragement to us! I cannot thank you enough for providing me with this marvelous opportunity! I love you all so much!

In Christian love,

Bethany Rose Iversen"



Apart from the more professional-looking letter, here are some more pictures. :)




Oh my, oh my... :) Well on the left is Megan from my congregation, then Kierra, then Mrs. Beckie (who is met in Guyana. Love her!!) and Aesha (who I also love and met in Guyana!)



That, on the left, is Brother Nigel Milo...making a funny face. :D Heehee



On Monday, it rained while we were door-knocking. Usually, Guyana rain last five minutes and is gone, but it rained aaaaall morning this time. I loved it because that meant it wasn't hot. It was actually a bit cold. One thing we ran into, though, was out Bibles getting wet. And this was one person's solution. :P



Nertz was our favorite past time when we had a bit of free time and weren't napping or studying like those behind us on the couch. :)



The coffee pot broke halfway through the week, but we made do with what we had.



This little girl was so adorable! I adore her! She looooved taking pictures with my camera. It made me a little nervous, but it's still in one piece. :D She is Brother Cy's daughter, Shariah. He's the preacher at Burnham Drive church of Christ.



See all those bottles of bugspray sitting on the ledge in the upper right hand corner of the picture? Those are the already used up bottles. Did we still get bit? Yes.



And last...Macy emailing...SOMEONE...*at least* three times a day...every day. -_-




I can't wait till next year! It was a great mission trip!

~Bef

Favorite Band? Um...

This is very out of the ordinary for me. To have a favorite band, that is. I have always just picked and chosen songs from various artists, not bought whole cds. I usually don't like very many songs from the same band because most bands just don't seem to be talented enough to make that many great songs. There is one exception for me.

THE BEATLES! :D <3

I know lots of people think the Beatles are over rated and only got the credit they did because they were 'the new thing' or whatever, but I disagree. I love The Beatles. And no, not just 3 or 4 songs. Lots and lots of them! Just today, I put up a giant black and white poster of them on my wall. (I also put one up of Johnny Depp on the cover of Rolling Stone. Favorite actor! :D)

My favorite Beatles song ever (right now) and my favorite song at the moment is...



And just as an added bonus...



Isn't he just adorable?! All together now...Awwwww!!

I love this song. It just makes me soooooooo happy! :D

~Bef

Zzzzzzzz...wait, what? It's day 10?

Today is the day I tell you about a song that makes me sleepy. Well, actually, I've found that it takes me longer to fall asleep if I listen to music because I sit there and think the lyrics and sing the tune in my head. So then I do not fall asleep very easily. Nevertheless, there are some songs that make me sleepy, just not asleep. Here is one of them!

Anastasia is an AWESOME movie. And guess what? I didn't see it till about a month ago! I couldn't believe I never saw it when I was a kid. But it's just great. <3>

~Bef

Dancin' Feet!

First of all, I'm still only on day 9 of 30 days of music. So today, I will be sharing with you a song I can dance to!

I actually enjoy Elvis quite a bit. He makes me happy. Even some of his sadder songs make me happy. He's just an awesome guy! Well, his music anyways...And this song is just so perky and upbeat! :D

~Bef

I'm Excited! And On An Unrelated Note, It's Day 8.

Today's theme is a song I know all the words to. :D This one is really fun to sing along with. I used to get tongue tied a lot on it because it's kind of fast, but I've gotten the hang of it.



Love it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note, I'm waking up at 4 AM to go to the airport to go to Linden, Guyana, South America!! :D And I couldn't be more excited!! Much to early to be awake, but it's worth it. I'm all finished packing...I think. I took my suitcase to the airport earlier to weigh it just to see and it was 56 pounds. 6 pounds overweight. So I transfered my hairdryer and some clothes to my carry ons. Hopefully that fixed it. I'm so bad at overpacking. D:

I'm excited to...

See the preacher Nigel and his wife and son

See my good friend Staci who I met last year along with other lovely people from the mission group that I met last year

See the many wonderful Guyanese people I met last year

Have discussions around the dinner table about our day

See giant, multicolored crickets

Eat Guyanese fruit

Look at the lovely landscape

See rainbows almost every day

Sing!!

Play cards with roomies

Assist in teaching class

Learn from classes taught by others

Learn from the examples of others

Sit in on Bible studies to gain more experience

Laugh a lot

Go to the market

Relax in the air conditioned house

Go on an aiplane

Witness baptisms

Be encouraged

Encourage

And much more!


And what am I not excited about?

Sharing a bathroom

The preposterous heat

The headaches that come along with the heat

Hurting feet

Daily power outages

Poor water pressure in the shower

Outhouses

No sleep (or not enough anyway)



Obviously, the good far outweighs the bad! :)

And thank you for your prayers! <3


~Bef

Happy New Year's Eve!

I decided to do another post today simply because I am so, so behind and I got ready for church to start at 6 and then remembered it's Wednesday and doesn't start till 7!

So let's move on to day 7...a song that reminds me of a certain event.

I love Guitar Hero. Really. Not as much as I used to (which is a good thing...I got way too obsessed), but it's still a fun game to play. And where did I first play it? At the 2008 New Year's Eve sleepover at Sarah Wolfert's (now Tripp) and Lauren Anderson's apartment! Seems like soooo long ago. We played that thing to death. And there was this one song I just COULD NOT BEAT! So this song reminds me of that event.

Good times, good times... :)

~Bef

Come Sail Away to Day 6

It's day 6! A song that reminds me of somewhere! Well...actually is very much after day 6, but this is where I am at the moment. :P

Almost a year ago now I went to Roundhouse for the first time! That's a Christian homeschool thing in North Carolina that lasts a week. I had a great time aaaand was baptized there, so I've got some good memories from there. :) And I have a song that always reminds me of Roundhouse!

One night at Roundhouse, there's a talent show thing, and one group played this. Which means we heard them ALL WEEK practicing this song in the Youth Activity Building (YAB). Which is where Macy and I were a lot of the time to get in from the cold outside. Yes cold. It wasn't supposed to be cold, but it was *freezing* in North Carolina! Felt like the middle of winter.

By the end of the week, we promised we never wanted to hear this song again not because it's a bad song, but because we were just sick of hearing it! But it's not too bad after all. :P Hey, at least we had background music to everything we did and weren't sitting there in silence!

~Bef

Get You Some Crackers

Day 5 - A song that reminds me of someone.

I had to think for a while about this one. Usually, a song just reminds me of someone when I'm hearing it, but then I don't exactly make a mental note of that, so I just couldn't think of a specific song that reminded me of a specific person.

But I finally came up with Puttin' on the Ritz.

This song reminds me of my friend Sarah. We used to hang out ALL. THE. TIME. But I haven't seen her in like...a few years. Anyway, she had all this different music on her iPod (these were the days when I had horrible taste in music), and I seemed to like a lot of it. I really liked this one, and whenever I hear it, I think of all the good times I had with Sarah.

She was the one who helped me paint my room blue, orange, green, and pink.

This is the back of my bookcase.

She started all the splattering.

And the polka dots. And the putting of medals and ribbons on that polka-dotted ceiling.

Every time she came over, we rearranged the furniture in my room. I think we took apart my old metal bunkbed about a million times at 3 AM, being super duper cautious not to let it make noise.

We climbed on my roof and laid there for hours many times.

Don't worry, my room doesn't look like this anymore. :D It was fun while it lasted, though. :P

~Bef

Under the Bridge on Day Four

Day four: A song that makes me sad!

I guess it's just the general tune and lyrics of Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers that put me in this weird, sad mood. I like the guitar in the beginning.

It's said to be about a heroine addiction or something, but I try not to think about that.

It is a very depressing song, but I like it nonetheless. Oh, but I absolutely hate the part after 3:05 in the above video. I always skip to the next song on my iPod when it gets there. I just don't like to think or hear about someone under a bridge killing themselves.

~Bef

Day Three! And Some New Shoes

Okay, so day 3 asks for a song that makes me happy. I had several songs to choose from, so it was a bit difficult. I narrowed it down, though, and in the end picked New Shoes by Paolo Nutini! My friend Lavonne introduced me to this song one day at fencing when I had just gotten new fencing shoes, and I've loved it ever since!





Every time I hear this song, it just puts me in a good mood! If I wake up in the morning and am tired or not in the best mood, I can listen to this song and it will make me smile and start twirling around as I get my morning tasks done! :D

~Bef

30 Days of Music: Day Two

Alrighty, well my parents are still packing, so I decided to go on to day 2 of the 30 Days of Music. Least Favorite Song.

This song is despicable. It's called Bossy, and it's by Kelis. I'm not going to post a video because, well, this song is very, very dirty and I can't have that on my blog...or anywhere else in my life. That's one reason I absolutely hate it. Not only that, but it's ANNOYING! Every time I hear it or think of it, I just want to shoot myself in the foot! Her voice is whiny and gross. Sorry. Ick.

Spits on ground in disgust.

So there ya go.

~Bef

30 Days of Music: Day One

I know I'm behind on this. I know it, you don't have to tell me. I've been procrastinating like crazy on starting this 30 days of music thing because of the topic for the first day: favorite song.

Well, the straight and honest truth is that I DO NOT HAVE A FAVORITE SONG! I'm sorry.

So I decided to just do a song that I like very much because I could never pick a favorite. So here's the song. :)

Macy introduced me to this song about a year ago on the plane on the way home from Guyana, and I still love, love, love it, so it must be a good song for me. Usually I'm over songs after a year. :P

The official video is a bit creepy to me, so I just got one with a stationary picture. :P

I love the guitar at the beginning of this song. I think it's pretty. I adore songs that have a good beat.

I love how the two voices - male and female - of Seether and Amy Lee blend in this song. It's really gorgeous. I think that's the main thing that makes me like this song.

I love singing this song. Amy Lee's voice is a good match for mine pitch-wise.

I love the lyrics.

And I'm going to be out of town for the next 3-ish days at the Atlanta Aquarium, and internet costs 16 bucks a day at our hotel. So I don't see myself updating while I'm away. Maybe we can jack some connection off of chick fil a or something. ;) haha If not, I'll just get more behind.

One day down, twenty-nine to go!

That is all. :D

~Bef

PBC 2010: What it Meant to Me

Well, well, well. It's been a while, hasn't it? I've kind of been putting off blogging simply because so much has been happening in the past two weeks. First I went to Palmetto Bible Camp for a week (of which I could write pages about every single day!), then I was home for less than 24 hours before I left to go to that pre-college creative writing camp at Coker College for a week (of which I could also write pages for every day!) I just got home a few hours ago. Oh, how I love being busy. :)

One of the best things about PBC this year was that Brian and Kristy Gray were able to come!! I was so happy when I saw them there! I loved getting to sit and talk with them throughout to week! :D Both of them are wonderful examples to me and others, and I'm glad to have them in my life!

Another great thing about camp this year was that we had 4 baptisms! The theme was 'Acts'tion Packed, so lots of the lessons really focused on conversions. I think that was beneficial to not only those 4, but to many others as well. It was kinda funny that Acts was our topic this year since we've been studying the book of Acts in our Sunday morning Bible class here at North Charleston. :) Macy won the individual Bible Bowl this year! Congratulations, Mae! Our team of Macy, Kimberly, Taylor, and I won the team part. Yay! We had an unfair advantage, though. ;) haha

We had lots of new people at PBC second week this year! Some friends we met at the Duncan youth rally last year who weren't at 2nd week last year got to come, so we enjoyed their company. :) I loved mealtimes at camp because we always got to sit outside instead of in the dining hall with Katrina, Kimberly, Michael, Macy, Kierra, and other good friends and have lovely (strange) conversations and just have a good time there together.

We had the most unproductive free time ever this year. Rest time was right before free time, so most days we got 1 1/2 or 2 hour naps. It was simply amazing. When we did wake up, we usually went and sat upstairs in the air conditioned ping pong room and just talked or played cards. Unproductive=awesome. :) Especially when air conditioning is involved.

Also on the top of the list for PBC 2010...we didn't have to clean the nasty, gross, disgusting bath house!!!!! :D Woo! Dining Hall cleaning is MUCH preferred.

One of the most precious things to me about going to Bible Camp has always been the singing. We do a LOT of singing at PBC to praise the Lord, and it is so uplifting! I just love it! We've been learning new songs the past couple of years, and I'm still trying to get used to them. At 2nd week, they have singing class where the male campers (and some staff) volunteer to lead a song, and I really like that because it gives young boys a chance to just try it if they haven't before. It's really great to see them having the courage to lead in the Lord's worship even if they aren't the most outgoing person or the best singer. :)

Campfires. I feel like I've been saying the words 'favorite' and 'best' way to much in this posting, but campfires are another of those. Have you ever just stared into the middle of a fire and tried to comprehend it's awesomeness? Cause it's pretty awesome. :P And then you add singing to a campfire...and viola! A perfect night.

Paintball. :D <3>

After we left camp, I kept thinking I saw PBC people everywhere I went. I'd turn around and be like, 'Hey, there's...oh wait, that's not them.' I miss them! :'( Next year is my last year as a camper. Imagine that!

Well that's all, folks!

~Bef