A Wonderful Weekend with my Wonderful Phillip

This Sunday Phil and I went up to camp after church, and we stayed there until after sunset. It was just wonderful! Not only did I need the time away from campus, but it was so wonderful to be able to spend some quality time just him and me.

Simply Wonderful

Can I just take a minute to say how thankful I am!!

I have such a great life... I go to a great college and am loving my major! I have been blessed with a great roommate, a fantastic boyfriend, and some simply wonderful friends, who I get to live with next year! (The friends, that is, not my boyfriend -- just wanted to clarify.) I have a wonderful advisor who is understanding and very, very helpful. My grades (for the most part) have been good, and I (again, for the most part) am enjoying my classes. I am just loving where I am right now, and embracing every moment that I have here.

The weather has been sooo nice!! I think that I've spent a significant amount of time in the sun every day for the past week. :) Isn't it amazing how nice weather makes everyone so happy?

Starving Children

There's this book that I have to read for Philosophical and Ethical Issues called Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider. It's about the hungry and starving people in third world countries. I haven't read much of it yet, but what I have read so far has touched my heart immensely. I have been thinking about it so much recently, and here's what I have realized:

America is a country that is starving for God. We are so hungry for Jesus in our lives. We need Him so much! We have a psychological and spiritual deficiency.

In countries such as Africa, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and many others, there are people starving for bread and water. These people are in need of a few extra cents so that they can feed their dying children. They have a physical and economic deficiency.

So, here is where my frustration kicks in: Why on earth aren't we, the rich Americans, doing everything we possibly can to stop this hurt in the world?? There are people all over the world CRYING OUT for God -- people who just want God to provide for them fifty more cents a day so that they can feed their families. And here I sit, in my dorm room, next to a full refrigerator, an overflowing closet, a warm bed, and a lock on my door, typing away on my laptop. It feels so wrong for me to be spending $30,000 a year to get an education when there are children starving. Who cares about my education, I want to help the people who are dying. These people are dying because I am too selfish to DO something!

I was talking to my boyfriend about this yesterday and he was saying how America needs our help too... We're going downhill fast, and there need to be good Christian men and women here, making a difference in America. He's right... but here's the issue I have with Americans: There are people who make millions and millions of dollars -- and they live the life of luxury!! How can they do that?!?! People like Bill Gates or Tom Gallisano or even the president of RWC ---- or the president of the USA... These people have done great things with their money, for example Gallisano donated sooo much money to the building of our multi-million dollar library here on campus. A library is good, education is good. But why do we need to spend so much money on one building?? I can't bring myself to be proud of that library...

The way I see it, people who have money should do everything that they can to help those who need the money the most. And part of that, I believe, is living a life of simplicity, and putting all of your extra time and money into helping others. I think that being a steward of your money involves not keeping it all to yourself as well as not giving it all to one person. People who have a lot of money need to give it away to touch as many people as possible.

Have you ever felt so passionately about something that it just made you want to throw up? I don't think I've felt this way about something in a long time... but I feel like I am not being who I need to be. I feel guilty for the way I have been using my money. I feel like I should be doing something about this -- not just learning about it. I feel like I am spending too much money on myself just by going to college.

And even as I sit here I think about my plans for tonight, to go to a show in a huge auditorium that probably cost as much as it does to save thousands of children from dying tonight. And after the show, I'm haded out with friends in a car to a restaurant where I am going to buy myself a dessert that costs as much as it would to pay for three families' meals for the day.

If I never go into missions, if I never leave the country again, I will certainly make it my goal to live a life of simplicity, and spend all the time and money I can on those who need it most.

End of the Semester!

Wow... I can't believe how close it is to the end of the semester! It's kind of a weird feeling -- it has been a looong semester, but at the same time it feels like it just started. Strange...

Well, I'm begninng to realize all the big stuff that's coming up in the next few weeks... papers, projects, and of course my application for admission into the division of teacher education! Thank goodness there aren't as many little things on top of them, though!

There are a lot of things that I'm looking forward to this summer. I can't wait for KC Sports Camp!! And I sure can't wait to see the Cuevas again... but at the same time, I'm dreading leaving Sam and Phil and my roommate and other friends... I don't want to have to say goodbye to Gwen -- as she will probably be moving to North Carolina at the end of this year. I don't want to have to find a job... and I know that I will have a hard time living at home again for such a long period of time. Although I love LCC, I will miss my church here an aweful lot.

Oh well - I have four more weeks of classes left and then finals week, so I have some time to get stuff done and prepare myself for the change that is to come this summer.

Thanks for reading!

God Has A Plan

Last night I found out that I was not accepted to be on the Students Association again next year. I had interviewed on Monday, and I honestly had no idea how the interview went... But when I got that email, I felt heartbroken. I was depressed and I felt like I was worthless. I had to keep telling myself that it was not a judgement of my character -- it was just that a decision needed to be made.

Well, last night after I got that news I had a paper to write, so I went to the library. All that I really needed at that point was for someone to tell me something nice about me -- that I am good at what I do and specifically tell me what I have done that was worthwhile... I needed some encouragement from someone. Ever feel that way? I was aching for it. Well, by the grace of God two friends of mine showed up at the library and stopped by to talk - both of which always seem to put a smile on my face. One imparticular, though - Evan - he only sees the good in people. He really helped me to see some good things about myself. It was really encouraging to talk to him.

Anyways, I was walking back to my dorm really late last night and just praying about it -- and I think that God spoke to me through myself (has that ever happened to you?? It's kind of weird). I was telling Him that I KNOW that His plan is better than my own for myself, and I KNOW that down the raod I'm going to look back on this as a positive experience, but right now I am just crushed. I'm hurt and depressed and anxious about what next year will bring. And that's when I realized -- how stupid is it to be depressed and anxious about the fact that God's got even better plans for me than I did for myself?! If I know that down the road I will be glad that I didn't get an SA position, why am I wasting my time being sad about it?? It just doesn't make sense.

So, now I'm just trying to remember that... God has a plan -- and it's even better than the plan I had for myself for next semester! And - best of all - it's going to be a surprise!! (I'm not sure how I feel about the surprise part, but I'm working on it...)

And that's what's going on in the life of Elizabeth this week... thanks for reading!

April Fools!

AAHH!!! What a crazy April Fools' Day this was...

Okay, I need to fill you in on some background information before I dive into this year's April Fools' Day... So last year Ashley, Kelsey, and I decided to play some April Fools' jokes on the boys (Nate and Phil). April Fools' Day last year happened to be on Palm Sunday last year. So on March 31 it was open hours in Miner -- Phil had a concert and Kelsey coned Nate into going to BTs with her. So Ashley and I were free to do our deeds in their rooms!

We covered their shampoo bottles with saran (sp?) wrap, we short-sheeted their beds, we switched Phil's pants with Nate's pants, we hid their mouse balls, and we taped on of their shoes to the bottom of their desks and hid the other shoe. We also left them each a goodie bag on their beds (to make up for what they were about to find in their rooms) with a note on it saying "Do you know what tomorrow is? I do."

There are some funny side stories that go along with last year's pranks, but for the purpose of this post I'll leave those out. Ask me about it if you want to know! All you need to know now, though, is that April Fools' Day ended with them not being able to get us back for our pranks. We won!! But that meant we really had to watch out this year...

Well, Phil didn't retaliate at all this year -- and nobody did anything to him (at least to my knowledge)... but there were happenings between the other four of us...

Nate and Kelsey (who are now dating) were playing some April Fools' jokes through Facebook on their friends -- saying that Nate left Kelsey for another girl and such... well, that gave Ashley the idea to get into Nate's Facebook account (because she had his password) and change things on it... kelsey helped her and I wasn't aware of this until after Nate and Kelsey had agreed that they were done with Facebook pranks. Well, Ashley wasn't in on this agreement so she decided to continue it -- and she got me in on it.

So later that night Phil and I went out on a date and I left my room locked, with specific instructions to my roommate to keep the door locked all night. But she had her own ideas for some pranks that night -- she wanted to break into some of her friends' room, so she decided that it would be a good idea to try to unlock our room door with a bobbypin (practicing breaking into the room...) She managed to break the lock so badly that she had to have Security come and drill the lock in order for her to get back into the room. So now we have a hole in our door that can't lock, it's only like 7 at night, it's open hours, it's April Fools' Day, I'm out of the room, and Stacey had a meeting to go to. Our room was up for grabs. Here's a list of things that happened to us -- what happened to me was mostly done by Nate as a retaliation, but some of the girls on my floor helped him. What was done to Stacey was done by the girls whose room she was practicing to break into (she ended up TPing their door -- a LOT -- I mean layers).

• My flip flops were hidden in Stacey's drawer
• My computer background and screen saver were changed
• My keys were put in a bowl of water (that never got the chance to freeze) in our freezer
• My bookbag was hidden in my closet
• Stacey had cereal and ice cubes in her pillowcase, sheets, and pajamas
• Stacey had hand soap on her toothbrush
• The letters on our door were turned upside-down
• Our markers and magnets were stolen
• There was lotion on the doorknob

It was an interesting night to say the least... (Pictures follow):