a quiet weekend.

hello friends. i hear it's cold where you all live. *grimace* i feel your pain.

not physically, understand, it's 70 and sunny in Chico. i actually got HOT yesterday. weird, huh?

this week was:

THE FATHER HEART OF GOD
--Mike White

(in prose, recapped, as follows)

i knew there was something special about Mike White the first time i laid eyes on him. we had just gotten back from Steph's ranch and the dinner at chipotle on the way home. it'd been a long, tiring, but amazingly fun weekend. it was great to get away, go four-wheeling, encourage her church, and receive sweet bear hugs from her dad. the chipotle wasn't bad either.
i walked in, the first car to get back. mike (our mike, in DTS, michael wilson) and his mom, brother, and friends are there. he says Mike White came to hang out with us, but we weren't there. he came saturday, just to chill with us! wow! some 10 minutes later in comes this man, Mike White, and starts getting to know people. i do my formal introduction, as the hospitality lady you know, but he immediately puts me at ease. this man is all about relationship. all week long he modeled for us the Father's heart, time after time. Mike White woke up every morning and came to breakfast with us at 6:45. he spent his free time hanging out in the lodge with us. he took our entire DTS, BLS, and staff to in-n-out (burgers, it's a west coast thing apparently) and to an ice cream place. he brought stuffed animals for us all and held a graduation. he prayed for us. he has myspace!

i wrote him a song, out of deep appreciation. this was a week of rest, which i needed because i had stomach sickness all week. who knows what that was all about. i honestly saw Jesus in this man, a side of Him that i don't see all the time. what Mike said in class was good, but the fact that he displayed it among us made it so much more real.

this weekend 5 of the girls went to Oregon to Chantelle's house. Jake's in Sacramento with friends, Raychel's at home, and Dongman's at Yosemite with the ESL students. the ESL went away this weekend too, all but 2, one group to San Fran and one group to Yosemite. so there are 4 girls on the whole floor, and 6 guys. but it's SO quiet. there's a huge conference of youth, about 200 junior high and high-schoolers. it's CRAZY! but the lodge is still quiet. and my roommate is in oregon, it's SO WEIRD to have a room to myself. it's been 6 weeks! this is a crazy world, eh?

went to a welcome dinner/potluck at Trish's house last night, i met Trish at Matthew's (Matthew's Cafe, the church i go to here in Chico) 2 weeks ago and she invited me to this dinner connections deal. Mike, Andria M, and i went over to her house last night and with 7 others ate and fellowshipped. it was a really fun time. and at church this morning, i actually knew people who knew my name! yeah. that's so cool. the meeting this morning was really good, the sermon about submitting to one another and we had communion too. i'm so impressed with this place, and overjoyed that i get to go there while i'm here!

well, the week coming up is Spiritual Warfare, with Dean Sherman. highly acclaimed. we shall see. . . . . .

i hope you all are well in your respective locations. i pray for you. i miss you. i think of you. God bless you!

love,
kara