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