A Providential New Years

I just had the New Years of my life. Let me explain...

My church is affiliated with UTC's Campus Crusade for Christ. They were all going on this trip from Dec. 28th-Jan.1st called Encounter in North Carolina. Since I had just gotten in town and knew NOTHING about it, I looked into it and began wondering if it was something I would like to go to. Not far into my search, I cast it aside as a "NO GO"... i didn't want to be the outsider that was the only one that didn't go to UTC and it seemed like too much trouble than it was worth. I wasn't sure if I would have fun, if I was SUPPOSED to go, etc etc, so i just took the easy way out and didn't bother with it. I was, though, still kinda wondering what i'd end up doing for New Years, but the thought of being at home with my family and not having to go to any parties having to do with alcohol was kind of appealing.

You know how sometimes you just wish God would go ahead and write things in the sky so you'd know for sure if you were supposed to do something? Well, He kinda did. It was the night before everyone was leaving to go on Encounter and I went to a High school reunion/ party. There, i got to talking to one of my good high school friends and her boyfriend who happened to be involved in CRU at UTC and were leaving in the morning to go on the trip... they told me all about it, told me it wasn't too late to still go, and DEMANDED me to go home and pack. So, after a few minutes of me being super stressed out and being indecisive (if you know me, deciding at 10PM the night before to go on a 5 day trip is a little out of my element..), I went home to pack and still had no idea why I was doing it or what I was getting myself into... looking at it then, at least I didn't have to worry anymore with New Years plans... little did I know, though, God had me going for a reason.

So everything ended up perfectly.. (except that I forgot my blanket that I ALWAYS sleep with.. but even to that we found a solution) Encounter ended up being a Christian conference a lot like Passion, if you've ever been to one of those. Just a TON of college kids gathering together to learn about and praise our Creator togeter. It. Was. Awesome. It helped that I knew a handful of the people that went, through Red Bank Baptist, but it was SO awesome to meet new UTC people and make many more friends. They were all so great to me and we had the most fun staying up late, worshipping, and getting to know each other.

New Years Celebration went like this:
-Nightly Worship/Speaker: 8:00 - 10:00ish
-UTC group time 10:30ish- 11:45ish
-Prayer time 11:45ish- 12:10ish (everyone was in the huge room in groups, praying in the new year... that 2009 would be a year of us drawing nearer to Him)
-amazing WORSHIP for about 45 mins - way neat....then..
-DANCE PARTY till 3 AM.
-chat in hallways with new friends till about 5. hallelujah.

it was SUCH a fun way to ring in the new year with something different and refreshing. and the whole week was God. Here are some pics from the trip...

On Tuesday afternoon, we got to go out in the city of Greensboro, NC and share the Gospel with people. This was a "Mrs. Nails is goin to heaven!" celebration picture just after this woman we encountered accepted Christ :)

Me and Taylor--- SO glad to be able to spend quality time with her this trip... i can't WAIT for a whole 2009 together as she's made the life-changing decision to work at Camp Vesper Point with me this year.... YAY! she's perfect. camp will LOVE her! :)


The AMAZING worship after Midnight... loved this.

2.0.0.9!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

DANCE PARTAY!!!!


I'm way grateful for this opportunity and am thankful God nudged me into going. Now I'm back, sleep deprived, and wishing I had a FEW more days at home before I'm headed back to plunge into a brand new semester! whew!