This doesn't officially count as a recap post but here it is anyway:
There you have it folks, Marv Nelson, one of our beloved youth pastors! yeah that's actually the whole post (see why it didn't count?) Click Marv's nose to make the picture explode into bigness!
And if you want to peruse through the public facebook album of the trip click the link below:
link
Until Tomorrow,
Sema

I'm proud to announce, I am staying true to my word and continuing with the Life Recaps!
And on the second day, Francis Chan spoke. You probably already know Francis from his book Crazy Love (I have a post about it awhile back) or from the church he planted somewhere in California or from that college that he started. But let me tell you, listening to him deliver the Word of God in person; it was breathtaking!

But Francis Chan wasn't the only thing happening on the second day of the Life Conference! From the second day all through the rest of the conference they offered many seminars that you could choose two of per day. I chose Seeing With God's Eyes, a seminar taught by a quiet man by the name of Danny Hart. I got a lot out of that seminar but the one that I connected more with was a seminar by Bradley Hathaway, the beat poet and musician. I wasn't originally going to go to this seminar, but my leader-friend Erin convinced me to after she went and loved it.
Bradley is an amazingly creative dude, and the seminar was titled Be Yourself. I was awestruck by his sincerity as he spoke. He was extremely humble and rather care-free (He actually burped after eating a sandwich when someone was asking him a question!) but he showed me in that seminar through his eccentric ways what it looked like to be a genuine follower of Jesus while still being who God created you to be. It was awesome!
The whole Life Conference isn't crazy serious either, we did have loads of fun! A few friends and I explored the activities hall in between sessions seminars and meal times, where they had carnival rides, games, paint-ball and other amazing-ness! Before the main sessions we even started to learn, as a group of 6,500, the flash-mob dance that we planned to preform when everyone went to the baseball game on Thursday!
Just wait 'till you hear about that!

Stay tuned because tomorrow I'm covering Thursday (Day 3 of the Life Conference) where we do the Flash Mob dance and end up on the News!
Until Then,
Sema

    The trip has come and passed in the last week and a half. To make up for the lack of posts covering the few short days before the Life Conference and Louisville Missions Trip I'm proud to announce that during this next coming week I'll be filling you in on everything that happened on the trip. Knowing myself, I'll probably end up posting no more than four posts. So, therefore, my goal will be five follow posts on the trip. Excited?
So to kick off my follow up posts here are a few pictures I snapped on the first day:

So terribly sorry I haven't posted in awhile now! But I was taking some adorable pictures of my baby sister with a bag I made for a festival that I will be vending at tomorrow. They're too cute not to share, or at least I think so. What's your opinion?
So about this festival... It's going to be from 12 to 6 tomorrow afternoon on Bryant St (Right off of Hampton) A few of my neighbors are selling too, so if you're close and free, come down and see us! It's going to be a blast! Why am I posting about this festival on my missions trip blog? I'm going to be selling these bags and jewelry at my booth to try and earn some money for the Life Conference Trip. But so far only rain is in the forecast, so  let's pray for sunshine, right?
Speaking of the Life Conference, this morning was my team's first meeting. It was great! I found out who is going to be in my dorm with me, what an average day will look like at the conference, and a list of the seminars. I'm looking at the list right now and I see some pretty interesting ones. (Can't wait!) They also showed us a video of what students who had went to the conference last time had to say. Two guys in my youth group were interviewed with a giant banana. Who? None other than Batman himself, along with Stephen.
I just found out that one of the speakers is going to be Derwin Gray. If you've never heard of him (Or seen him in action) he is also known as the evangelism linebacker. Knowing that, I really can't put into words how excited I am! Pastor Scott said there were only 31 days 'till the trip! That means 30 days of fundraising for me (Oy Vey)
Here he is:


-- Sema

"And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 1 Corinthians 11:24 (NIV)"

     So we broke the bread and dipped it in the grape juice. And as the bread moved slowly to our mouths we thought about Jesus, what He did for us, where we would be without Him, and what we could do for Him. And slowly I set the piece of unleavened bread into my mouth. It was the first thing that I had eaten in over 30 hours.
     Forgiveness never tasted so sweet.
     Throughout the day we had been setting up tables and chairs in the church. And due to the fact that I am part of a congregation of about 30,000 people (Someone should check me on that) the setting up took most of the afternoon. An amazing band led worship. Simply put, it was beautiful.
     Something about hungry voices joined in song, praising the One who gave us everything...
     Bear with me people, this may be one of those posts that's on the long side.
     Earlier today I woke up around 7 am (thats pretty early for a Saturday morning) and got ready to go to a Bible Quiz Meet. For those of you who don't know about Bible Quizzing I'll try to explain the basics to you: A bunch of teenagers study one (or two sometimes more if their short) book(s) of the Bible every year. Each month we go to a Quiz Meet where questions are asked on a specific part of the material. The teenagers are all separated into teams of four or less. The teams face each other to get points for the questions about the book of the bible that they are studying. Like a game show. Get it? Ask any other "quizzer" from one of the Alliance Churches if you want a better idea of it. Or if you want the technicalities just go talk to a certain pair of twins from my church.
     Anyway so at these Quiz Meets, its easy to get lost in the competition part of it. Either you become an ego maniac if you do well or a depressed loser if you do terrible (exaggerations of course). I was doing pretty terrible at one part of the quiz, which was odd because I knew my stuff, I just wasn't getting the "jump" (again ask a quizzer if you want to know more). So I was pretty down, not to mention rather hungry, when my awesome team captain came over and gave some encouragement. He was talking about the importance of God's word in his life, and how amazingly awesome it is in general. He said that he knew I knew the stuff and that was what mattered. God's Word is so important. Way more important than the priority that I give it in my life. I read my Bible everyday but I don't stop and think about how this is the actual Word of the Living God, that this is our connection with the one who created the Universe. I think about how terrible my life would be without God's word but not every day. Not on the level it deserves.
God's truth, His Word is THE most important thing in my life. Wow.
     Back at the church, after we set up chairs and prepared food for the groups out doing service projects, I had the privilege of worshiping with the band; Calling Out Closer. They're a great band with amazing musical talent. The songs were fantastic and the lyrics shouted what my heart was speaking. (If that makes any sense) It was incredibly worshipful. One of the many lines int he lyrics that stood out went something like this "weakness is all I have to give" Wow. How true is that?
     I have been praying for a certain girl for awhile. I was surprised to see her at the famine without her pose of friends. I was even more surprised when she went up for testimonies. God answers prayers. And does far beyond my expectations. I was so moved that I had to go up shortly after just thanking God for His goodness.
     Guys, God is Good. He is so awesome. He is so powerful and this feeling that I have, God's presence in me right now, its just so HUGE. Words cannot encompass how truly wonderful my Lord is!
     Change is a weird word. When we say that something changed our lives we think of it as a climax in a story, or a moment that your life revolves around. When we say that something changed our lives we mean it to be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of moment. I beg to differ.
    I pray that God change me millions of times in my life. Every day that I pick up the Bible I want to feel that power course through me. I want to be changed. Every time that I see God move, I want to be changed. I don't want my life to stay the same. If I were in control of my life I would be one huge mess. But God's in control and hopefully He is getting somewhere with me. But I don't want to stand in the way of His work. Change me Lord Jesus, whatever it takes.
    Funny isn't it how this post is about the 30 Hour Famine but I haven't really talked about the hunger at all. I haven't even mentioned some of the life-changing facts that I learned today. I promise I will post more on the famine on Monday but until then may God truly bless you.
--
Sema

     Most of you probably know already that due to the freaky weather in Pittsburgh the 30 Hour Famine that was supposed to happen a month ago is happening today. Yippee! I'm starving! Due to the fact that I did do this last year, I am surprised how hungry I am. What happened! I wasn't this hungry last year!
    For all of you "lifesters" (Fellow Life-Bound Students) who are doing the famine. My greatest sympathy. Just keep in mind we're all on the same boat together.
   Speaking of boats, I learned an awesome fundraising tip during this famine-fundraising adventure!
Wanna hear it? I thought so (Oh great now I'm sounding like Dora the Explorer)


    When I heard that all students attending life had to raise $100 bucs or more for the 30 Hour Famine, I almost fainted. All of this fundraising for life, the missions trip and now the famine!? A person can only ask people for so much. You know? But then at my moment of despair , I felt a light bulb light up over my head. So I came up with the idea of making things for the people that donated. I sewed wallets with the Haitian flag on them and made earing with Haiti's colors. (Since all of the famine money this year is going to the earthquake victims of Haiti) My darling brother, who I love so much, came along to help me get sponsors. Somehow the combination of the wallets, earrings and little brother ended up with over 10 generous sponsors. More than we could have hoped for.
    Heres what I came up with (and under it is a taste of the snowstorm, for all of you who didn't get the awesomeness of it!):

    So to sum up Fundraising Tip #2 Do whatever you're good at! If it be sports, do sports; if it be drama, do drama. Whatever it is that you love. Do it for the glory of God. I got an awesome turnout for the number of people willing to help. Not only were my little gifts intensives for people to give but they are also prayer reminders.

   Another thing that I did was to print out flyers. I spiced them up a little with some graphic design skills but basically they told everyone in black and white what the famine was about. I also gave them a link to this blog to keep up to date with the whole life-bound project.

Thanks for reading! More tips and stories coming up soon so stay tuned!

Posted at 8:56 pm
    Bulletin! Bulletin! Due to the rather interesting and quite severe weather patterns in the Pennsylvania area; the 30 Hour Famine has been delayed until March 6th. This is quite alright by me, as I am just barely avoiding a schedule overload by this change of plans. In fact I'm having a rude awakening from last week (The Week of Rest) when school was canceled (again because of the snow storm).

I know that football has little to do with raising money for Haiti and going to the Life Conference/ Missions trip. I also know that I am rather late (two days) on posting this, but I really need to say how awesome the New Orleans Saints are! And I need to comment on how the average word of yesterday was "saints" on the amazingly addicting web site; MyLifeIsAverage. Here is something that I didn't know before; the quarterback, Drew Brees is a Christian. He is a really amazing guy, as you can see from this interview, and one of the best things about him is that he is in no way ashamed of his faith in Jesus Christ. He has awesome things to say; you should listen to him. And without further ado I present to you the interview:

The book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris: Its a freaking awesome book. One of the things I remember from the book is, surprisingly, about diving. Don't choke up before getting reading to dive, else your dive will fail. Without being too metaphoric and deep, the same thing can apply for fundraising or getting ready for the LIFE 2010 Conference. So, here it goes, I am making this pledge. I am going to get off my lazy butt and start fundraising for Life today. Hold me to this guys, I'm also going to raise half of all that money by March 15th. When I first found out just how much it would cost to go to Life, I was dumbstruck. I bet that you were too. $850 is a lot. Heck, $425 is a lot! But being the procrastination master that I am, I will most likely fail if I don't start soon.
P.S. This marks the first in a series of tips for all students everywhere attending the Life Conference this year:


Superbowl next week.... I'm not going to try to pretend I know anything about football. All of you Saints or Colts fans; I wish you luck cheering for your teams next Sunday. I happen to be a Pittsburgher and therefore a Steelers fan by birth, so I have no clue who to root for! Any suggestions?

-Sema

Think back about everything that you ate today. I ate two bowls of cereal , pie, a granola bar, almonds, a facon and lettuce sandwich, a bowl of  Chinese food, an orange, and chocolate chips. Wow. Thats a lot. I feel pretty fat right now. Now imagine eating nothing, for days on end but a little bit of rice. Thats starvation.


I said before that I would give a better update on whats going on with the 30 Hour Famine and this is it! 


So basically the Famine is a bunch of people giving up food to raise money for people who don't have any. The whole day we do awesome service projects and worship services. Then we break our fast with the body and blood of the Lord, as we take communion, thanking Him for His awesomeness. 


Now please excuse me while I briefly talk about funds (I promise I'll put in some interesting stuff after it)
The following is a direct quote from this snazzy email update that Miss Karen sent out to all SMO (Summer Missions Opportunity) Students:

"60% of funds raised will go to Haiti while 40% will go towards the trip expense.  Cincinnati team members are expected to raise $60 while LIFE team members are expected to raise $100. "

The 60% of the funds going to Haiti part is enough for me to start raising money! The fact that it is more funds toward the total trip expense (which by the way is shockingly large) is awesome too. Also anyone from our Youth Group can do the Famine, and believe me it is SO worth it.


Could you comment or send me an email if you could help to sponsor me for the Famine? If you are gracious enough to pledge just $1 for every hour I go without food, then I will have 30 'bucs raised, from you alone, for the Famine. Thats 18 dollars for food in Haiti and 12 dollars for the Life Conference expense. Just one person giving $1 for every hour. Wow. Thats pretty amazing.


I love this 30 Hour Famine best of all of the fundraising activities we do to prepare for the summer missions trips. We have a chance, not only to raise funds for our personal trip, but for God's people who are in need. 


^{Here is a passage from 2 Corinthians 9 (Which I will be quizzing on in a few weeks):} 


"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:
   "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
      his righteousness endures forever."


Thanks guys for reading!
-Sema