First Week Back!

So I have been back to school for almost a week. I am slowly but surely re-adjusting to waking up early and going to classes every morning at 8:00. Other than classes, I've been hanging out with my friends, working out, and catching some of my tv shows. I think it will be a good semester, rough for sure, but good. I have 6 classes...all of which require a lot of reading so I will be spending most of my time reading up for them. It has been good to see all of my friends. I missed them all a lot over the month and a 1/2 we had for break.

There are a few exciting things coming up too! Next week, I start weekly team meetings for the mission trip to Bolivia I'm going on. I am going to be working a merchandise table for the band Remedy Drive during Welcome Back concert here at SBU Friday night...so that should be fun! My roommate and I are also going to rearrange our room, which may not sound exciting, but I'm looking forward to it.

Also, I'm currently in progress of starting an SBU chapter of the ONE Campaign. ONE is an organization thats working to end poverty. Around a week ago, I became the campus leader to SBU for ONE as a part of the campus challenge. If you can, I'd encourage you to check out our page...and please sign up to support ONE through SBU. We get points for every person that supports it through our school...so please help us beat our competiting schools!
Here's the link....http://www.one.org/campus/mycampus.html?school_id=1944 Thanks!

I pray that this will be a great semester. I can't wait to see all God has in store for me.

In Christ,
Katlyn

Inauguration Day

I got to see history made today (well yesterday since it is early morning now). I watched 44th President Barack Obama sworn in as the first African American President of the United States. To be honest, I really didn't think it was going to be worth my time, but in reality, I am very glad I watched because it was really eye-opening. There was a lot of things that went on at the ceremony that I believe were great. Rick Warren said the opening prayer...he got to declare Jesus' name to the entire world. I know that God has a plan for Obama this country. He is an All-Knowing God and even though all of my views do not totally match President Obama, I have faith that he is a good and generous man that will do great things with this country. I was very pleased and impressed that he used scripture in his speech, and that he spoke about the need to help poverty. I signed a petition for the ONE campaign ensuring that he did. I even sent him a thank you through ONE to express my appreciation for his commitment to helping our world's increasing problem in poverty. I will end my post with he had to say about it...because it was great and important.

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it." -President Barack Obama--Jan. 20, 2009

My Last Week!

I can't believe it's my last week of winter break....I'm not complaining though because it's been almost five weeks since I've been in BoMO. I do miss it actually. I have been struggling a bit with some stress over some random things, but God is good and He has already been humbling.

Matthew 6:34 says "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own".

I am looking forward to what God has in store for me this semester. I will be starting weekly team meetings for the Bolivia mission trip I'm going on once the semester begins. I believe I will learn and grow a lot through my fellow team members.

I am very thankful for the time I got to spend with family and friends this break!

The ONE Campaign

If you don't know that I'm all about raising awareness of the increasing problem of poverty in the world today, then you don't know me very well. A friend of mine introduced me to an organization that is working to end poverty called the ONE Campaign. It took me awhile before I really got into it, but now I feel that I should take a part in this more than ever! We talk about how low our economy is every day, but in reality there are far worse environments and living situations around the world today. More than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day. How sad is that? I spent around 10 bucks on coffee this week, and that would be like what a family lives off of in like 2 weeks! Ugh, man do I feel a little more than guilty after letting that one sink in! Anyway, I would like to invite you to take action with me by learning more through their website, http://www.one.org/.


Thanks for reading!

Katlyn

It's Been Awhile

So it's been a bit since I last posted. I have been hanging out and doing some pretty fun stuff. I got to go on a scavenger hunt my dad created for my friends and I which was awesome. My team (called Jesus' Favorites), won! Haha yeah it was a blast! I also got to go to Blue Springs, MO for 3 nights to work Team Spirit, a leadership conference for high schoolers to promote safe driving. I love my team spirit family and am super glad I got to see them since the only other conferences we have are in the summer and I'm not even sure I will get to attend this year because of Bolivia. :^/

Not much more exciting-ness has been filling my time. Just work and hanging out. I have gotten to see some friends I haven't seen all break, and then said goodbye to some as they left and went back as well. It's been quite a break I'll say. I still have over a week left! Yeah I think I'm starting to feel a little anxious about going back. I love my friends at school and I really miss them!

I do want to share that God has yet again touched my heart to remind me that even in the midst of all the things I have to stress about, I shouldn't because there is so much to be thankful and happy for. And...He will always be there. So yeah, keep me in your prayers that I may be able to continue to follow His path for me.

I believe this is going to be a great year filled with blessings!

Hello 2009!

I can't believe it is 2009! I hope everyone had a great New Year celebration. I had to work New Year's eve and day so I didn't really do much. I spent time with the fam...which is fine with me. We ate a lot of food (haha what else is new) and played Bingo. :0)

So far I've had a decent break! At the very beginning, I got to go to an International Student Banquet at a new International ministry in St. Louis called Oasis. There were around 50 internationals there. My friend Justin came to hang out and we went back to my house afterward to have a cookie decorating competition with my brother. It was definitely a good time (probably one of the highlights of my break so far). Christmas was great! God is good! I got to hang out and spend some quality time with my family. I got some sweet gifts (gift cards & an ihome are among the many). I didn't even ask for anything. The only thing I actually asked for, I got early since I knew it was coming. I got Tom's Shoes...for every pair of Tom's you buy, they send a pair to a poor child in another country. I love them! They're navy blue and have the Gandi quote "You must be the change you wish to see in the world". LOVE!

As you can see in the picture...our tree fell down the day after Christmas. Ha oh well we still have 5 other trees in the house. :)

I still have many plans before I go back to SBU on the 25th. I will be in Kansas City the 7-11 for a Team Sprit conference. I will be facilitating a group of high schoolers to create an action plan to promote safe driving at their school. I love my Team Spirit family and can't wait to see them! I also have quite a few friends I plan on seeing while I'm home and can't wait to hang with them! 9