November Update!

 Hello again friends! Another month, another blog!

    As the semester is starting to wrap up, so are my classes. I just finished my Old Testament course, and though it's bittersweet, I am excited to start the New Testament course in January. Something I truly enjoyed from this time was how our homework assignments weren't for a grade. We were held accountable for doing it; however, reading scripture and writing papers was more for the sake of learning than getting a good grade. As someone who would like to be a teacher one day, I hope to keep this in mind as I create assignments for my future students. 

    For my final paper, the prompt was "How should a Christian think about and use the Old Testament?" This was a broad enough question that I was eager to go through all my past notes and come up with multiple points to hit on. The fact that my paper ended up being 6 pages and I still feel like I want to add more is absolutely crazy to me. It was a great learning experience, and I'm a bit sad to see it come to an end. Here's a photo of me and my fellow classmates on our last day of class!

    Within campus life, I've gotten the chance to be really intentional with friendships with the girls I'm discipling. It can be really easy for me to fall into the pattern of doing our bible study and then seeing my girls at our all-group events. Looking back on this month, I think we all had a lot more fun moments together, along with our discipleship time. I got to watch a scary movie with a friend named Laurel, Zoe and I went shopping for jeans at Target, and I was invited to a girls hangout night at one of the students apartments. We put on colorful hair clip-ons and wore goofy hats as we played various board games. It was so nice being able to sit back and be thankful to call these girls my friends. I think Jesus had some similar moments like that with his disciples. 

    Since I was new to my friend's apartment, I got to add a photo of myself with some others to their fridge! This is their creative way of knowing/showing who all has come over at one point or another. So sweet! In this photo, my roommate Sophie is to the left, I'm in the middle, and my other friend Ashley is on the right. 

    

    Finally, I got to go to Boston, Massachusetts for Thanksgiving break! One of my best friends, Taylor, just moved there in August, and this was the first chance I had to see her. So of course I took the opportunity! I've missed her a ton, and it was great catching up and feeling as though no time had passed. I also got to go on a Boston history tour, and my guide was dressed up and calling himself Henry Knox. How fun is that!?

    Thank you for all your love and support. Working with Focus has been absolutely incredible, and I'm so thankful that you are willing to partner with me in God's work! If you would like to continue praying for me, here are some prayer requests!

Prayers for continued excitement and perseverance in our student leaders. Finals are coming up for them, and it's so easy to feel dragged down.

Prayers for our students as they go home for Christmas break. Sometimes home-life can be difficult, and I deeply wish they all have a great experience. 

Thank you all! And God bless!