Winter Weekend

This weekend I was assigned to work as a server in pine tree, however we had over 1000 people on the hill and we needed a little more help in the kitchen. So I was able to cook and get to know what goes on behind the scenes at Hume. The weekend conferences only lasted till Saturday, as a result I only had to work on Friday and half of Saturday.
Saturday afternoon I was able to go snowshoeing with Jordan Stonerholm and a few of my other friends up here. It was a blast; we arrived at our destination: Buena Vista, at sunset and the reflection of the setting sun on the snow, and later the moon, was a spectacular view. There came a point on the hike when we were climbing nearly straight up and could see the Moon and all the stars in the sky. It was a spectacular view at the top, we could see 360 degrees around us at the moon soaked mountain ranges. I could not help but marvel at how amazing a God we have that could make something as beautiful as the sights we saw and as enormous as the stars and still care about us enough and love us enough to send His only Son to die for all of the atrocities we have committed so that we could spend eternity with Him in heaven.


I tried as hard as I could to get all the stars, but it just didnt work...
Sunday we were able to take a trip to the General Grant Tree in Kings canyon National Park, and were surprised to see the 85th annual Christmas celebration and Veterans Memorial service. We stayed to watch the old carol singers sing Christmas songs in many different genres including rock and rap, and watch the ROTC color guard present the colors and salute the veterans. It was a great time full of fond memories and fun people.

SUN-SHINE!

This last week we have been blessed with wonderful weather up here in Sequoia National Park.
My first weekend working support services went very well. It is surprising how much fun you can have cleaning toilets, mopping floors, and picking up after messy campers if you have the mindset that you are doing it to bring glory to God. It’s funny to think that something as insignificant as cleaning can be used to praise God.
This week we have been training on how to use the snowboard run, tube run, and referee broom hockey. So if any of you want to visit I can take you on any of those!
Our speaker this week was a man by the name of Dave Hanson, president of Student International. Student international is a ministry in developing countries, using college students who want to join a short term ministry team; we will be working with SI in the Dominican Republic. Dave discussed missions, and why we are called to do missions and reach out to the poor. Yet, what I enjoyed the most was how he said that not all missions is going oversees; granted some are called to go to foreign lands, however it is necessary that people remain in the states to support, get college degrees, and even use those college degrees for missions later on. God will use you where you are at, as long as you emulate Christ in everything you do. This encouraged me because I feel the desire to go oversees while I am still young and minister to those less fortunate than I; yet I still want to go to college and get the degree I want.
I have just applied to Moody Bible Institute in Spokane, WA, and San Diego Christian College to study aviation. Both have fairly prestigious aviation programs, however Moody doesn’t cost as much, and seems to be a little better schooling. I am leaving it up to God, and wherever I get accepted is most likely where I will go. All of your prayer would be really appreciated since this will be the second most important decision I have ever made.
Tonight we had another themed dinner: Joshua 50 year reunion. It was a very fun night, full of apple sauce, prune juice, and bunko. Needless to say, I felt very much like grandpa… Just look at the pictures…

Seasons greatings

Back at the building!

Well its been a fun couple of weeks. Mexico was amazing. I learned so much from the deaf children and the hearts of the people at the Ranch. It was truely amazing to see how happy they were with so little; I felt convicted because I have so much and take it for granted. Most of the week was spent working around the Ranch and playing with the children, however we were able to go into Ensenada and watch the Baja 1000: The biggest offroad race in America!

We had to leave mexico a day early because Hume was having a snow storm and we had to make it back in time to leave again for Thanksgiving break.

I finally made it home and had a great week with my family. I got to see mommy for the first time since July, and have a really great time with freinds and family on Thanksgiving day.

Back here at Joshua everything is white and cold. But that doesnt stop us from having a little fun. Being home for break was great, but I realized how attatched I have become to this place and the people here. Its still just as exciting and fun for me as the first day that I got here.



Well thats going to be all for now, all I heard back home was how long my post were and the rarity of them. So I will do my best to post frequent short blogs.
Missing you all!
-Eric

Hello dear freinds and family!
The past couple of weeks have been really busy for me. I usually post every monday afternoon, but it was difficult last week. I passed the Philipians 1 test after a few attempts to recite it and I turned in my 8 page paper for our inductive bible study class. We have been learning so much, that it is diffcult to process; so that could be one thing to pray for: that I can use my time well to study what I have been learning.
We had a pumpkin carving contest a few days before Halloween. The girls won, but I still think the zombie pumpkin was the best.



Halloween night we had a small party for one of the guys leaving Hume, A birthday party for one of the Joshua students, and a halloween themed pinata. A girl got hit in the face with the pinata stick and looks like she got in a really bad fight, she could harly open her eye. She was really tough about it though, and even started laughing when she saw it.
Oh yeah! we had our first snow on the 30th. But its been sunny since then. Oh! scratch that, It just started snowing and everyone is going bonkers.

This week:

Monday-
After having our first Israel Prep test, we had our speaker come in and teach us our Ministry skills class. Our speaker for the week was Matt Lantz, he is the director of a program similar to Joshua called the Forge. The forge is based out of a camp called Pine Tree located in Texas. Matt brought three guys up with him to hang out with us, and to also learn about Joshua. Matt was a great speaker and introduced many great ideas; during ministry skills he had us become an elder board of a church and think of ways to fix the problem of not having enough volunteers for the churches ministries. We came up with many great ideas, however heart of the problem is in peoples fear of commitment, they don't want to sign up to volunteer because they would have to follow through and actually do something that might inconvenience them. It all demonstrates the selfishness of human nature and lack of desire to do the wok God calls us to. During our evening discussion Matt divulged the importance of obedience in our faith and how “God desires obedience that comes from faith, instead of a show of self-righteous religion.” This was Matt’s thesis for all of our talks, every night giving a different problem with our obedience as Christians.

Tuesday-
Our morning class was Old Testament with Mark from the Well. (A church partnered with Hume) He is teaching the book of Exodus over the next few weeks; I love his passion for the word of God and his ability to paint a clear picture in my head that makes the Bible come to life, and creates a hunger to know more. Tuesday afternoon I worked down in main camp with the activities people. While cleaning up one of the sets used for the summer themes I accidentally sanded my arm with an electric sander- probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. (dont worry mom! its just a little scratch.)
Tuesday evening discussion was similarly themed. However we discussed the problem of obedience and how many Christians believe that obedience to religion comes first, and then you will receive faith. Yet, it is quite the opposite; “Obedience is not the source of righteousness, it is the course of righteousness.” –D. Willard. As Christians, our faith and love of Christ should compel us to be obedient to God’s commands.

Wednesday-

During breakfast I was able to talk to Matt for a while about one of my biggest fears: that the ones I love will not go to Heaven, but will suffer forever in Hell. Matt gave me many ways to minister to those close to me that wouldn't be offensive and push them further away. During the Grill Matt gave us excellent advice on dating, and his theory of the 7th date DTR(dating should just be casual and respectful, and every seven dates you define the relationship; overall a really great insight. Lately I have been feeling really annoyed with people here not respecting the staff and others by not being on time, immature comments, and overall disrepect. So to clear my head I went for a run around the lake, which helped initially, but I quickly fell back into the funk. It wasn't until I spoke with Josh Coffie (the guys RD) that he helped me realize I was being selfish and prideful, thinking that my standards were the best, and that I was better then everyone because I was the only one who could meet my standards. Yet, when I decided to give control to God and only live on his standards, it affected how I interacted with those around me. I was able to enjoy being around people I usually was annoyed with, and I could have the uplifted carefree attitude that I prefer.

Thursday-

Because we have been so busy, and bogged down by school and Joshua life, the staff took all 56 of us down to Fresno to drop Matt and the Forge guys off at the airport. Afterward we toured Fresno Pacific; it was an interesting tour, but I don't think that will be on my list of schools to apply to. Following the tour we were given 4 hours of free time to shop, relax and look for a Christmas present for our designated child in Mexico. We were told to bring 80’s themed clothes for some surprise activity; after a short drive, we ended up at a bowling alley for some awesome 80’s night bowling!


The weekend was fairly uneventful. I worked in the Cedar hall kitchen and got to spend time with my freind Jacob Wieland before he leaves. Sunday afternoon I was asked to go shooting with one of the Pause family dads and a couple guys, it was a cool time to hang out and do manly things. After church we had a "family meeting" where Rich told us that Falynne and Chelsea are in isolation for three days to determine there position and whether or not they really desire to be at Joshua. They had been struggling with turning stuff in on time and being on time places, and the consequences werent severe enough, so the were sent away from the rest of the Joshua family. Afterward we all came together as brothers and sisters and prayed for the girls that they would be used however God wants them, but that God would want them here. It was an amazing feeling seeing just how connected we have all become over 2 months, and realizeing how awesome the community is here.

This next Sunday we are leaving to go to mexico! And after mexico I will be coming home for thanksgiving. I look foreward to hearing from you!

-Eric Dean.

The longest week ever!

This week was so long and busy!



Monday-
The first part of our day Monday was spent driving an hour and a half to Hartland Christian Camp. Hartland is a small camp near Hume Lake that we have partnered with to help them grow. Our task for the week consisted of removing all small trees and shrubbery that could fuel a fire for the first mile of the road entering Hartland. When we arrived, we were greeted with abounding gratitude and warm hospitality. After lunch we wasted no time in getting to work; right away I was assigned a chainsaw, Rich must have told them how much I loved chainsaw work. Total there were 4 chainsaws, 2 buzz saw brush cutters, 2 pole saws, 6 loppers, 5 wood chippers, and 56 able bodied students with great attitudes ready to get the job done. After dinner we had an intro video from Bob, the director of Hartland, and an insight to the plan he has for us when we come back to work with the camp in May. The evening discussion was followed up by volleyball, basketball, and Rich’s Human Slingshot. GET SLUNG!




Tuesday-
Tuesday was another fun filled day of working our tails off. We had few complaints and few injuries. However lumberjacking does not go without perils; our friend Tucker Was hit in the face with a log and received some pretty good cuts, but was fixed up and right back to work in no time. Tuesday evening we were reminded that we were serving so that we can learn discipline, work ethic and teamwork while bringing God glory.

Wednesday-
Wednesday morning I woke up and was feeling a little under the weather, but I didn't let that stop me from grapping my saw and getting to work! I worked all day with Calen, heading the group through the forest and cutting trees while Calen would pull them out of the way. I am so glad that Grandpa taught me how to use a chainsaw, I am very grateful for everything I have learned from him. Yet, I am never done learning, I learned new ways to fall trees and to sharpen and detail the chainsaw from an old lumberjack named Jeff whole was helping Hartland with tree projects while we were there. After lunch we finished clearing the rest of the forest. Looking back I saw the work we did; on both sides of the road were stacked tree limbs and logs six feet high for one mile. It took us the rest of the day to finish chipping all the remnants, but we ended up clearing quarter million square feet of brush and debris. At the end of the day I had no energy left to play games in the gym, so I headed to bed at eight o’clock.

Thursday-
I am definitely sick. I woke up half of the night coughing up phlegm, and could hardly sleep. Luckily we only had cleaning to do to turn the camp back over to the Hartland crew. Over the week I realized how supportive the staff are of each other, and how they don't hesitate to help one another out; this is one trait that I would like to help implement wherever I work. I was also proud of myself for keeping in any complains of tiredness or of being sick, because if I start complaining, it gives others liberty to do the same. So I took it with a grain of salt and kept up the good morale in the group. Finally after a long hard week of work we headed home. After finishing washing the vans I took the long awaited sleep I needed in my nice comfy bed, only waking up for dinner, then going back to sleep to get rid of my sickness.

Friday-
I think this is the longest day I have ever had…at least at Joshua. We had 5 a.m’s this morning because we did not keep the building clean the previous weekend. During 5 a.m’s everyone has to do their chore for the day for 2 HOURS! Luckily I was assigned the kitchen with about 8 other people and there was plenty to do, so the time went by relatively quickly. I just feel sorry for the people cleaning the corners of chairs with cutips because they couldn't find anything else to do. I applied everything I had learned at Hartland, about not complaining and keeping a positive attitude, and it made group morale better and the time move faster. I ended up taking a nap between our classes and heading off to work, probably the most well spent 30 minutes ever. I was assigned High Adventure again this week for the men’s conference! I definitely think that would be a good place to work over the summer. With such a bus weekend ahead of us, Jordan decided to run 2 High Adventure sessions, a paintball session and a zip line session. I was able to run one of the paintball sessions and one of the High Adventure sessions. At dinner I got to talk with Jordan again; he is a really great guy with a great attitude toward life. He sees the opportunity in everything and loves living life to its fullest extent; he would be a really great guy to work for and learn from. After dinner we went to listen to the speaker speak about being salt and light to our communities, showing them the light of Christ and causing them to be thirsty to know more. Following the speaker was an illusionist that blew my mind; he did so many tricks that seemed impossible, yet he always related it back to God.

Saturday-
Saturday was another fun filled day; full of paintball, High Adventure, zip lines and cleaning up the paintball field with stumpers and chainsaws. In my High Adventure session I was leading a guy across the balance beam, 30 feet in the air, when I decided to demonstrate how strong my tethers were. I sat back in my harness and heard a loud snap then fell onto the balance beam; I looked up to see my prussic cord hanging loose, luckily my security tethers were still attached. It turns out that my prussic, the cord that shortens the rope, was outside the carabineer and only attached by the small plastic rope stabilizer piece. Needless to say, I was freaked out, but I played it off well and Tim, the guy I was leading across, hardly knew something went wrong. The rest of the session went without a hitch, and we were able to finish the rest of the day smoothly.

Sunday-
Sunday morning I walked down to breakfast early and was fortunate enough to have some devotional time. This good start to the day made everything run smoothly, even though I was still a little sick. We had no sessions today, so Calen and I were assigned to clean out the stumps from the paintball field using the giant stump grinder and a chainsaw. This kept us entertained throughout the day and we hardly realized when it was time to go to dinner.

Well I am back at the building now ready to catch upon some sleep. We have a huge essay due this week, and our Phillipians test...so please pray for that!

Blessings to everyone!
-Eric

Just and update...

Monday-
Monday morning we were allowed to sleep in and get some much needed rest. Yet for some reason I could not sleep and ended up getting up at six, doing my devo’s going for a run, then eating breakfast; overall a fairly productive morning. We met our new catalyst couple today: Joey Webb, and his wife and son. Joey is a paramedic and has a wonderful family who is really great to talk to and hang out with. We had another Israel prep class where we watched a video on previous Israel trips; identifying many places we will travel, greatly increasing my excitement for the trip. We also had a new evening speaker: Mike Bogart, who spoke on world religions and how to have a proper conversation with those of another faith.

Tuesday-
After starting off the day with another solid devo time speaking to the LORD, I had another Elements of Bible Study class where we were assigned yet another paper on analyzing the context of scripture. EBS was followed up by our Old Testament class where we reviewed our readings from creation until Abraham. Our evening discussion was a video on the religion of Islam; we learned that Allah is the Arabic word for God, how the Islamic religion came to be, then studied the 5 pillars of Islam and many other facets of the Islamic faith.

Wednesday-
Happy Birthday Sheyenne! Our Wednesday classes we the grill, where we were allowed to ask Mike Bogart many questions; one of his best pieces of advice was to grow where you are planted, always showing the love of Christ no matter the situation, and to never turn down bacon. We also enjoyed our theology class where we watched a video on Mt Sinai, and how the traditional Mt Sinai is incorrectly identified. I went offroading with Andrew Lapp again today; we explored some of the other trails up near wildwood and had fun doing manly things in manly cars. Later in the evening I let something someone said get to me far to much, and realized that I am way to worried about what others think of me and am lacking self-confidence. I decided to give it all over to Him and understand that I only need to be confident in God because everything in this world is nothing compared to what I will have in heaven.

Thursday-
During our Thursday morning discussion we finished up our series on worldly religions with the study of Judaism and the many cultures and customs that follow. We started another book discussion series today as well: Mere Christianity, written by CS Lewis; I’m not sure what to think yet…I’ll get back to you. Thursday night we had a Harry Potter themed dinner. I dressed up as a dementor with a few shirts and a friend’s bed sheet, while most everyone else was some variant of Harry or Hermione. The dining hall looked just like Hogwarts, with floating candles and long banquet tables. Pictures are on the Joshua website.

Friday-
We had another Life Skills class today where we learned more self-defense and how to tie knots. Following life skills I trusted Samantha Guzman with hair clippers to trim my hair to its normal militant style. I worked at the Ponderosa Dining hall this weekend for the Lady’s conference, which was surprisingly enjoyable despite a few demanding women. After work the Joshua guys played a game of soccer at the ark, probably not the wisest choice since I had to get up in time to be at work by 6:30 the next morning.

The next morning-
I hate myself. Saturday I woke up asking, “what the heck was I thinking playing soccer till midnight?” I stumbled down the hill to work and spent the next few hours waking up with various energy drinks and caffeinated beverages. The servers got to work a triple split, which sounds like a great ice cream dish, but really means you get to work from 7a.m till 9p.m with a couple of breaks in between. But I refused to complain, because I am tired of hearing it from everyone and if people saw me griping it would give them liberty to do the same. The façade lasted throughout the day and eventually I fooled myself into thinking I wasn’t tired and was really enjoying my workday. (Funny how the mind works) After work Josh Yee and I decided we hadn’t had enough punishment and went to the ark for another game of soccer, followed up by a fish fry up on inspiration point with a couple guys and the remaining fish from the draining lake. Isn’t fellowship and community more important that sleep anyway?

Sunday-
I definitely didn’t learn my lesson the first time. Sunday was spent in reminiscence of a time full of bed sheets, my pillow and David’s Snores. We finished up the last two meals for the women’s conference and dove straight into our deep cleaning of the kitchen. Grandma and Grandpa came up from there friends house to say hello and give me some snacks; it was unfortunate to learn that they would only be staying long enough to get a tour of the Joshua building, but it was nice that they could see the area in which I have been living and see everything that they have helped me achieve. I took my first shower in the dark when the power went out at the building and understood what a blind man feels like trying to put on his clothes; only later did I realized that most everything was inside out or backward. I took a trip down to Fresno with Andrew Lapp, Josh Yee, and Lacey Michaelsen to pick up Chen Chen from the train station and have dinner with Josh’s amazing family.

This week we are taking a trip to Heartland: a sister camp of Hume about 20 miles away. We l be doing service projects, learning how the camp works and growing as a team. Please pray that God will make us stronger in our faith and our relationships with each other and that we will be safe while doing the work of God.

For His Glory,
-Eric

another long post.

Well here I am, another week of Joshua! Just as you think you have things figured out, you get thrown for a loop. I have to remember to be flexible.

Monday-
We had another Israel prep class, still one of my favorite classes! We studied geography about the holy land and where Jesus did most of his teaching. Being one of the first rains of the year, many of us went outside for an awesome game of mud football. After cleaning up and eating dinner we were introduced to our new evening speaker- John Saltee. He asked us: “what is choking you in your relationship with Christ?” This really got us thinking about our distractions.

Tuesday-
During devotional time I read 1 John 1:9- “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” It made me remember that no matter what I have done God will always forgive me. In our Old Testament class, we studied the land of Abraham and what the culture was like in that era. John Saltee spoke Tuesday night and gave us a clear picture of how we are justified through Christ, and really defined what the gospel should mean to a Christian.

Wednesday-
During devo time I spent an hour in prayer; first I prayed for myself and things I wanted or needed, then my family and friends, finally moving on to those around me and the rest of the world. I was surprised when I finished and realized I spent an entire hour talking to God, I’m well on the way to completing one of my goals! We had one of my other favorite classes: Theology. In Theology we learned bibliology, or the study of the bible and its validity. We learned how to defend our faith when someone asks us, “How do we know the bible is true?” Rather than simply saying, “Because the bible tells us so?” Our evening Discussion from John Saltee was interesting; he spoke on predestination vs. free will and was saying that it is written in Gods book of life that there are an elect that are going to heaven, and the rest are automatically going to hell. This is a view that only 10% of christians have, and has been a debated issue for a long time. I found it hard to believe that the God who loves everything and can sacrifice his only son to save us from our own sin will automatically send everyone who is not written in the book of life to hell. Regardless, I believed what he was saying, and was upset for a long time because it wasn’t something I wanted to believe in.

Thursday-
Solo time was difficult because I was mad that my faith had turned into something I didn’t like. During our first class Rich Ferierra came in and asked us about the speaker the night before. He then told us that they brought John Saltee in on purpose, because he believed in that controversial issue that only 10% percent of Christians believe. He said they did it because they wanted to make us realize that we can’t believe everything that is taught to us, and the only real way to know your faith is to study the Bible. We need to question everything and make our faith our own, not simply believe what others tell us. If anything I would believe that we have complete free will to make the choices we want, but God always knows what we are going to do before we do it. We should simply live our lives to reach others, and let God worry about the rest. Because the one thing that I know for sure is that I don’t want the people I love to go to hell, and that God gives me the joy and strength that I have, and the fulfillment I get in everything I do.

Later Thursday afternoon I was introduced to a new feature of Joshua I was not aware of called sweeping: Student Work Experience Excellence Program; we get to work under someone in camp as an apprenticeship for a month and learn something and help out around the camp. For example you could work in the auto-shop one month or the kitchen and learn how it runs. I worked in the Joshua Kitchen, however was not busy long and went into main camp to help with the activities going on this weekend. We also had our Pause Families again who cooked us pancakes, eggs and bacon. It was an awesome time to relax and hang out with my pause brothers and sisters from Joshua as well as get to know the family a little better.

Friday-
After having another Elements of Bible study class all of the Joshua Students went into the Hume main camp to help turn it over for the weekend women’s conference. I got to work High adventure this weekend again! Definitely one of my favorite Jobs. We practiced on the ropes course to get ready for the women’s session on Saturday, also helping Jordan Sonerholm(the guys in charge of High Adventure and similar activities) with a few projects. After work, Jordan took us bouldering down by quail flats. We hiked around and found many different places to climb; we even saw some old Indian paintings that the elements haven’t washed away. All in all, a pretty awesome day.

Saturday-
After arriving at high adventure at 8 and practicing a little more, Jordan took us out to the snowboard run to trim trees and get ready for winter, I was just happy to use a chainsaw again. We had our first women’s session for High Adventure after lunch, it was run completely by the Joshua students, and I thought we did an excellent job. Afterward the majority of us went to the snowboard run to finish up what work we could before we called it a night. Saturday night was busy for Hume Lake; many people were here for Paul’s wedding(One of the cooks at Joshua, who i've known for a few yaers). We played soccer at the ark with all the previous Joshua students, and had a good time with our community.

Sunday-
We finished up work with Jordan, completing the small tasks he had lined out for us. After lunch he let us off to go to Paul’s wedding. It was a good time full of tears and laughter, watching our friend get married to his first love. The Joshua students weren’t allowed to eat at the reception because he wasn’t sure if he would have enough food for all of us. So instead I and two other guys took our trucks off-roading up in the mountains by Wildwood- one of the things I’ve wanted to do since I got here. We finally made it back to the reception, just in time to see Paul and Sarah Dixon’s first dance. After the reception we went to the Ark for another fun night of soccer and community. After soccer, most of the Joshua guys went up to Inspiration point to cook the fish they caught earlier that day, and have a good time with just the guys.

Its been a busy week!

Well this week has been full of awesome new and exciting things. The Hume lake community has been great to us, I feel like I belong here already.
During the 9 month portion of Joshua we have "pause parents." A family that works or lives up here adopts us and every thursday or so we get to go over to there house, eat, talk and relax. My pause family has an 8 year old son, a 17 year old son and a 21 year old daughter. The dad, Andy Mathers is in charge of ponderosa dining. so that means more food for me!!!! =]

We have a new speaker this week name Rob Williams (funny enough) he is pretty funny too. He is an awesome guy, and he loves to hang out with all the students and his son Grant. But he has been speaking on how we need to spend time with God, and not just go about doing work for him. He had a great analogy of a dad and son; if the son is always working for the dad, the dad doesnt get what he wants most: to spend time with his son. I really took this to heart and am trying to focus more on a relationship, rather than study time with God.

This week was a week of firsts:
We had our first rain today!
We had our first essay: an in depth bible study of the story of Jonah(very exciting...)
and also our first theme dinner!!!
the theme was Mulan, and all the guys dressed up as ninjas( because thats all we had) and the girls as gaeshas. The guys hid around the building and snuck into the dining hall and had a huge battle. Just about the most fun thing ever.
One of the guys also dressed up as the sacrificial panda(with the Gants panda hat)and we ran around Hume Lake as ninjas chasing the panda, inticing screams from the Junior Highers on a retreat.

Its been a pretty fun week, hopefully I'll get better at posting more frequently so its not so long.

But my 15 minutes on the computer are up!
We have been learning so much on discipline. We are given time limits on just about everything, and we cant be late for anything. Its a great learning experience.

Oh yeah! I forgot to add we had our first life skills class. We got to learn self defense and the basics of art! woohoo!!

Until Next time!
For His glory.
-Eric

Hello Friends and Family!

So the last couple of days have been a really awesome insight to Joshua. We have so many great speakers that come every day, amazing classes, and catalyst couples that stay in the building that cook for you and talk to you about there lives and give you advice.
My favorite class so far is the Old testament class; we started that on Tuesday and he gave a brief overview of the old testament that painted a picture of the bible so colorful and full of detail that I will never look at it the same way. I am super excited to see what the rest of the year will hold.

Also, Tuesday night we had our very first etiquette dinner. We were all given a date and we had a guy come up from main camp who instructs people on etiquette all over the world. We had to walk next to our date, open doors, stand up when they did. We had a full 4 course meal and we all had to dress up. It was awesome to get that experience and it was a really fun time.

If you want to see pictures go to
http://gallery.joshuawilderness.org/2011

Also you can check out blog updates by the students that are updated much more frequently at
http://joshuawilderness.org/blog

Well, I'm off to listen to Sam Mier give us a talk about Angel Rebellions and Hebrew names for God and there different meanings! And later I finish my High Adventure Guide training!

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
-Eric

Finally I have a spare minute to update everyone…

Monday the 13th was our first real day of Joshua, however we were woken up at 430, told to pack our things in 30 minutes for a week out in the woods. After wiping the sleep from my eyes I headed outside with my things and we all loaded up into vans and drove up the hill to Wildwood (code name for Leadership Training Camp). Wildwood is basically a place up at Hume that is removed from the outside world so that you can really focus on building relationships and re-evaluate your walk with God.
Once we arrived at the entrance of Wildwood we were told to grab a rock before we started our hike in to the camp. This rock represented our distractions and things that would inhibit us from seeing what God wants for our lives. So we all tossed our symbolic distractions into the river, and our Journey began.

The rest of the next couple of days were spent doing Group Initiative projects that brought us together as a team, broke us down, and exposed who we really are. A few projects included physically demanding tasks that would make us rely on one another and God to complete, as well as work projects and navigating the ropes course.
In addition to the Group projects we also had hours and hours of time alone with God where we would reflect on the year to come, journal how we felt, spend time in the Word, and pray. This solo time really changed me and I realized how shallow of a Christian I am, I do all of these things for the church and in the name of God, yet spend hardly any time with Him. I resolved to change that as well as a few other things.

My goals for he year are: to be diligent and habitual in my daily devotions, being able to pray as if God was right there, and read the bible with a new outlook; To be humble and accept all the new teachings I am about to receive; not to be arrogant or prideful when I think I know something. So if you would like to pray that I reach these goals that would be great!

The rest of the week was summed up by us doing many team building exercises that I cant really tell you about, (Wildwood rules) But in a nut shell I feel so connected with the 57 other students, its amazing that its only been a week. We all have different stories, but I am excited to hear how they all work out to make the Joshua story of 2010-2011.

This weekend I worked at the High Adventure Ropes course, which was a blast, and I am now almost certified as a High Adventure Guide (HAG) as we like to call it. But every weekend we get to work a different Job around Hume, which is really cool way to meet the community here and to get to know the area.

God has already worked in me so much and I can’t wait to write more about the year to come!!

1st Day

Well I arrived safely after beautiful country drive.
We had Orentation today and signed the Joshua covenant.
Then went to a BBQ and Church, then a game of soccer. Now back to the dorms to get to know everyone.
More Orentation and rules tomorrow.
More posts soon!


THE COVENANT
Understanding the purpose of the Joshua Wilderness Institute Commitment to be threefold; developing and demonstrating the priority of personal discipline in my life, denying myself access to practices which might prove a distraction from hearing the voice of God clearly, and making a distinct and determined separation from the world and it’s influences, I have decided to commit myself to the following, for the complete duration of the nine month course, including all breaks, days off and holidays:

-To abstain from any and all movies and video, including theatrical releases, videos, DVDs or internet features, with no exception made for content, company or occasion, unless introduced by the Joshua program.

-To abstain from any and all television programming, whether live or prerecorded, with no exception made for content, company or occasion unless introduced by the Joshua program

-To abstain from any and all video games, in any format, or on any platform with absolutely no exception made for content company or occasion.

-To abstain from any and all music, except for live worship music, whether prerecorded in any format or live with no other exceptions made for content company or occasion, unless introduced by the Joshua program.

-To abstain from any and all dating, defined as social engagements with persons of the opposite sex, whether alone or in groups, and including phone, post or email interactions for the purpose of developing future dating activities, except for those with existing dating relationships as established at the outset of the program, and with no other exception made for incident, company or occasion. Those in existing relationships will not be able to further their relationships. Having read and acknowledged the above code of conduct, I do hereby commit myself to the guidelines above, and will willingly submit to any disciplinary action that may be incurred by their compromise. In order to develop and demonstrate the priority of personal discipline, deny access to practices which might prove a distraction from hearing the voice of God clearly, and make a distinct and determined separation from the world and it’s influences, students are required to commit themselves to the following for the complete duration of the nine month course, including all breaks, days off, and holidays:

-To abstain from any and all movies, including theatrical releases, videos, DVDs, or Internet features, with absolutely no exception made for content, company, or occasion.

-To abstain from any and all television programming, whether live or prerecorded, and with absolutely no exception made for content, company, or occasion.

-To abstain from any and all video games, in any format, or on any platform with absolutely no exception made for content, company, or occasion.

-To abstain from any and all music, except live worship music, whether prerecorded in any format or live with absolutely no other exception made for content, company, or occasion.

-To abstain from any and all dating, whether alone or in groups, and including phone, post, or email interactions for the purpose of developing future dating activities, except for those with existing relationships as established at the outset of the program, and with absolutely no other exception made for incident, company, or occasion.

As the result of demonstrable experience and our firm belief in the effectiveness of this temporary fast from the world and its distractions, students who fail or refuse to maintain this commitment are permanently dismissed.

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A story of faith...

Well... I'm almost there, the months of prayer and preparation have led me to this Sunday when I will be leaving to go up the mountain.

This all started when God closed the doors to the Air Force Academy and took me down a completely different path. I heard about Joshua and said "what the heck, Ill give it a go."

I was interviewed and accepted as one of the 56 young men and women to go into the program. little did I know, that I would be faced with huge challenges before I even arrived at Hume Lake!

I knew the $11,000 dollars would be hard to come up with, but I never imagined that God could use that to increase my faith.

At the beginning of the summer I had a little over $500 dollars in my bank account, but I prayed and left it up to God to do the rest. August 10th was the $4000 dollar deposit deadline, and only week prior I only had $3000.

However, If I payed the $4000 and at one point during the program could not come up with the rest, I would have to leave, and they would keep my $4000. Talk about nerve racking.

Yet, after getting some wise council and some long prayer times with God, I decided to take a leap of faith and hope I didn't crash and burn. At the time, I was on vacation with my family in New York; when I got home and took my money to the bank I had $4,005 dollars. God. Works. Miracles.

After this, I was all-in. It was everything or nothing. I have been working all hours of daylight this summer, and doing just about everything possible to raise money to reach my goal of $3600 by September 12th. And amazingly I have reached that goal. I somehow came up with nearly $4000 dollars in A MONTH! God. Works. Miracles.

Thank you friends and family for your support and guidence. I could not have done it without you. You are truely a blessing in my life.

Now I am packing up, and ready to start this new and exciting chapter of my life. And I have no idea what God has in store for me.

Its Exciting!!!

For His Glory,

Eric.

What is Joshua?

The Joshua Wilderness Institute from Hume Lake on Vimeo.