Soprano Surprise

I made Bel Canto! For those of you who do not know what Bel is I should say that it is the choir at Hesston that one has to audition to get into.

It happened pretty quickly; Thursday night I checked my e-mail around midnight and read an e-mail that said there was going to be 1 or 2 openings in Bel this coming semester and that auditions were Friday between 11:30 and 12. I figured I did not have much to lose and auditioned. Around 4:20 that day 10 minutes before I was leaving for work Anna congratulated me. I asked her for what and she said that I made Bel and should check my e-mail.

This is a big deal for me because I have never really thought that I had a singing voice. I had a good friend tell me when I was young that I could not sing. College here in Hesston is that first time that I sang in a chorale. I am happily surprised that I made it into this 20 member group that one has to audition for!

This opportunity is exciting and I am very much looking forward to my time in the group.

Thanksgiving weekend at Hesston

I am grateful that I was able to see both Nathaniel and my parents during this weekend. Nathaniel drove out here which is 25 hour drive when 3 hours are added for sleeping time. He got here Tuesday evening while I was at work. My parents arrived Thursday afternoon they had gone to see Caleb and the other Gugel's in Iowa before they came down.

As seems to be a pattern we played lots of Apple's to Apples. Bill sent out some of his smoked pork with Nathaniel and we enjoyed that with the cookies sent out for me with my parents. The 4 of us went to see my cousin Mark on Friday in Hutch, we went out to Chili's and then back to the VS house he lives to continue talking and catching up for a while. After the fun there we headed to see "The Blind Side" which was a great movie that all four of us enjoyed.

Now I am turning back to my school work for 2 more weeks, a few days of exams, and then Christmas break!

the lie of fairytales

I just read my Bluffton roommates facebook status, and this is what she had to say. 

"All the fairytales tell a lie; they say that everything has to happen perfectly to get us to our happy ending."

Thank you Rachel, I think it is worth pondering

Silent Retreat

As a wonderful story from my experience at a Silent Retreat:

I went on a silent retreat this past Saturday for my class Faith and Discipleship. I spent the morning focusing on just being in to moment,praying for others, and for organizations/conflicts around me. After lunch I decided to walk the trails; it was during this time that I prayed about my future. I talked with God about how I felt that I was seeking and he was not responding and that I did not understand. I was lead to re-ask myself what God wants me/Christ-followers to do.

I had just read Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne over fall break. While reading the book I was pleased to find that what Shane talks about is what is inside of me that I lacked the vocabulary to vocalize.

Thinking of that book, Jesus' example, and my own beliefs I realized that simple radical truth: God desires for me (for Christ-followers) to love (radically love, something so many Christian's do not do). God wants me to love a love that gets not just my hands dirty, but my life dirty. If we love someone then we get involved in their lives and help them (which can "mess up" our own comfortable lives). God reminded (okay, had to reveal to the silly narrow minded me) that I do not need an organization to do live out the Radical Love that Jesus lived out.

I felt once again re-affirmed in my plans to move to Pennsylvania. I do not know if I will end up with an organization or not, God may in fact lead me to an organization; however, I am very open to the possibility of being a full time lover without an organization. I could very well work at a "regular" job (like transfer to an Applebee's out there) and love.

This may sounds silly; however, to me it helped me move from just having the internal understanding of love to grasping the radical external lifestyle of real love.

My Thoughts on the book: Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne was written to push people to live a life that reflected Jesus’ life of living with and amongst the poor and outcasts. Irresistible revolution does just this when Shane Claiborne destroys the comfortable Christianity that the American church created and un-remodels Christian living taking it back to its simple and true form of love. Jesus calls us to love and to love those around us; Shane Claiborne wonders how people can follow Jesus from the comfort of their middle and upper-class lives while letting the poor go hungry on the streets. Jesus, Shane Claiborne points out, does not want his disciples to be so detached from the homeless on the streets that they send them a monetary donation everyone once in a while to ease their conscience. If disciples of God are to follow Jesus’ life and teachings then they had better do just what Jesus did; build relationships with those on the fringes of society. How can a Christian say that they love someone if that Christian has no relationship or connection to that someone?

In Irresistible Revolution Shane Claiborne mentions that wealthy people ask him what they can do to help, usually meaning “where can we send the money?” In response Shane Claiborne often replies that they can come down to The Simple Way, where he lives, and spend some time building relationships with the kids and families on the block. The challenge is that if everyone who claimed to follow Jesus would really follow Jesus and get the know those around them who are in need the needs would be able to be met and people would cease to be marginalized.

At one point Shane Claiborne and a friend wanted to contact Mother Theresa to see if they could join her in India. After many tries they got her number; he asked if they could come and told her when and how long they wanted to be there for. Mother Theresa told them to come on out; when Shane Claiborne began to ask about the travel details and where they would stay Mother Theresa told him that if he wanted to come and serve God’s people then he should just come and let God take care of the details. That is the kind of lifestyle Christ-followers all are suppose to live; people are suppose to love God’s people even the details clear. Following God gets dirty; when people start to really love those around them they get involved in their situations and suddenly the easy life has intertwined with their friend’s reality. The clean cut separation between another person's problems and their own life becomes fuzzy as they work more and more to help their friends. This is what Jesus did, Shane reminds us; Jesus spent his time with tax collectors, prostitutes, and outcasts showing them God by loving them. Jesus got involved in their lives blurring the social boundaries that existed.

My understanding of God’s desire for us to love was driven home during the silent retreat I attended on Saturday. During the nine hours of silence I spent some time praying about my life after graduation in May. I have been searching out youth organizations in South Eastern Pennsylvania to get involved with and have not been having the best of luck finding them. I asked God what He really wanted me to do and re-asked what I was essentially called to do; it was then that I remembered Shane Claiborne’s book and how I when I had read the book I felt like he was putting into words the truths I did not know how to vocalize. I remembered that God wants me to love, racially love, first and foremost. I do not need an organization to love God; I can radically love God by honestly loving those around me wherever I go.

Fall Break

Fall break was wonderful and as expect went by much too quickly for my liking. The flights went well and I was occupied reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Since Shane lives in Philadelphia the book included many organizations and such in the area. This offered me encouragement as I feel that I am exhausting all of the routes and connections I have to the area. Who knows; I am trusting God and seeking with him.

Nathaniel and I watched the Phillies games with his cousins and I must say I am hooked! When I was back on campus Wednesday I was sad that I was not going to be able to watch the game that night; then Marlene whom I babysit for on Thursdays and I started talking in the cafeteria (where she works) and she invited me to watch the game there! I am psyched for the World Series!

Bill smoked some ribs and pulled pork while I was there so that I could see that his was the best He wanted to prove to me that CityQ's bbq could not compare; he was correct. Originally he was going to smoke for the community festival; however, the weather canceled that event so he smoked just for me. Bill made sure that everyone knew that they had to thank me for the smoked pulled pork by saying that if I had not been there he would not have made any. (Which would have been sad, it was a great addition to the Sunday evening Phillies game with the Franconia young adults).

On Monday I met with the Franconia Conference Youth Pastor Marlene. She gave me tour of the C-Dock School grounds and we talked about what I might like to do in her area after graduation. It was enjoyable to see the grounds and nice to put a face with the name. She did not have any specific ideas for me, but gave me some things she'd thought of and told me that she would keep me in mind.

Nathaniel took me out putt-putting (or mini-golfing as they do not call it putt-putt) and then to dinner Monday. He is amazing, we had more fun than most people could have put-putting. After he won the game (which was no surprise, he'd beaten me bowling both times we went out with his friends that weekend; he did give me some tips to improve me game), we went to eat some tasty, tasty food. After we were both stuffed, we went back to his house put on some Phillies gear and went to watch the game!

I had an amazing fall break, which as expected went by too quickly. Before I knew it Nathaniel's mom was driving me back to the airport and I was coming back to college, still I am grateful for the time Nathaniel and I were able to spend together.

Busy and looking forward to fall break!

Since I'm so busy reading these books for classes I do not really have the spare time I used to for the luxury of blogging. Even right now as I am sitting here I am thinking about things I should do as an RA in preparation for our pick-a-date mod meeting tonight; I need to drop the hot-coco, apples to apples, and the other games off at my mod parents so they they are there when people return with their desserts from our Dessert search (4 people, 2 date sets, are going out with a limit of $10 and 1 hour to see which group can come back with the best dessert and then well play games).

This past week I cross-trained at Applebee's from a hostess to a server. I did a little math in my head on my way back to Hesston on Saturday after getting off my shift and realized that I worked over 40 hours at Applebee's this week. I am quite glad that I do not work a full time job with my 17 (plus my auditing of chorale which makes it 18) credit hours; I'd never have a moment to spare between homework, Applebee's, and my other responsibilities as an RA. No worries, I'll be back to a normal part-time position at Applebee's now that my training is done. Applebee's is getting new menus on the 19th, which ought to be fun to try to implement so soon after my training. Although, I am looking forward to several of the new items; I just hope that it does not completely confuse me since I am so new to this position and will never get to be a server with the menu I trained under.

On an extremely happy note that I happened during Hesston's Centennial celebration weekend the last weekend in September. My parent's came out for their 30 year class reunion and when I was heading outside to greet them I saw a third person walking beside them, whom I first thought was a random person who just happened to be on the sidewalk, but suddenly realized was Nathaniel! This was the most wonderful surprise I could ask for; Nathaniel's home is 24 hours from Hesston. He had contacted my parents and set it up so that he would drive to Ohio and then car-pool out here with them. I was completely ecstatic! It was dinner time and where I was meeting my parents was just outside the cafeteria, so everyone eating got to see Nathaniel surprise me. I had quite a few people on campus tell me they quite enjoyed watching us, especially the girls in my mod with whom 5 minutes prior I had a conversation with about how long it would be until I got to see him. The weekend flew by (with not much sleep), and while I was gone to a chorale rehearsal my parent's and their college friends Brian and Judy TP'd my room and short-sheeted my bed. I love them, who can say that they were pranked by their parents and their parents college friends? Also, Penn State and Iowa played that weekend; as I am sure most of you know Iowa won! Even though I had to miss 3/4 of the game because of music gala the chorale sang in, I enjoyed having Nathaniel around so that I could tease him a bit.

The weekend went by too quickly and soon my parents and Nathaniel were heading to Iowa Poor Nathaniel had to meet my brother and most of the Gugel's without me. He survived, I think they went easy on him. I will say though, that saying goodbye this time was much easier than it'd been in May and then in August when we knew we wouldn't see each other for several months because it was only 3 weeks between then and fall break. Now fall break is only 3 days away! Wednesday after classes I am flying to the Philadelphia airport where Nathaniel will pick me up; I am very much looking forward to a break from classes and a week with Nathaniel and his family.

My Thoughts on the Book: Hurt by Chap Clark

Chap Clark shares his observations from submerging himself in the youth culture and talking to youth. To sum it up the book tells how society is forcing youth to create their own culture or "the world beneath" because culture separates them from the adults abandoning then and forcing them to create their own rules for survival. The result is a lack of trust between the youth and the adults because adults do not seem to take the time to really care about the youth.

There are chapters dealing with different areas in "the world beneath" including peers, school, family, sports, sex, busyness and stress, ethics and morality, and the party scene. Each chapter Chap Clark shares about what students told him and what he was able to observe during his research.

Good book to enlighten adults about youth culture

Hesston round 2

Well, summer's practiacally over. I'm out in Kansas again doing RA training before classes start. It is nice to be settled into a room that I know will be mine for the next 9 months.

I got to be home this year for my birthday! This hasn't happened since I was 15 so it was wonderful. I had a tractor cake that was Hawkeye colored; it was pretty much amazing. Also my parents, Jessica and Jeremy, and my grandma were all there; basically I got to be around my amazing family just like old times ('sept my brothers).

I got home August 1 and stayed there for 11 days chilling with my parents, having a bonfire, hanging with Ohio friends, and staining the deck. Great times.

I really am glad that I was able to spend this summer living in Iowa. Volunteering at Elements was a great experience as was watching all the children during the week. I'm going to miss the kids as I know that I will most likely not make it to Iowa near as much as I used to growing up.
Lisa told me that Tray was asking when I was going to watch them again; oh the innocence of 3 year olds. It made me smile and yet be sad all at the same time.

my thoughts on the book: Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli

Messy Spirituality

by: Michael Yaconelli

After reading this book for the 2nd time this summer I think I'm ready to write something about it. I needed to read it again to remind myself of some things. It seems that too often the church has boiled spirituality growth down to a recipe and if you follow the recipe you will get delicious spiritual growth...one problem with that theory; God us not an oven and is not limited to a recipe. So often it seems people claim that those who believe in God never have doubts or struggle; that their spiritual growth is a steady incline. Messy Spirituality reminds us that Spirituality is so much more complicated than an escalator going up. Spirituality has periods of "resting, listening, waiting, starting, returning, savoring, celebrating, dancing, learning, [and] growing" (pg 130). These times make the "graph" of our spiritual life's filled with highs, low, and a steady line that neither goes up nor down. Michael Yaconelli writes about some of the most spiritual people he knows not fitting the norm of what the church calls spiritual; their lives are messy, just like mine, some people use "colorful language", some deal with alcoholism, and some have had divorces that have made the church reject them. Messy Spirituality reminds us that we do not have to have it all together to be acceptable to God; God uses those of us with messy lives to do his work just the same. I do recommend this book to those looking to be reminded that they do not have to have look like the recipe perfect christian with their lives all together to be loved by God or spiritual.

My thoughts on the book: A New Kind of Youth Ministry by Chris Folmsbee

A New Kinds of Youth Ministry

by: Chris Folmsbee

I do recommend this book to those searching for a way to direct youth ministry towards something that seems to reach students. Instead of the traditional "make a lot of events that attract youth and hope they apply the theology to their lives" discipleship Chris Folmsbee encourages a ministry that guides youth into a relationship where they live their daily lives (not just Church days) as disciples of Christ. A New Kind of Youth Ministry acknowledges that change is not easy and that many people in the church like the traditional event based youth ministry model because it is easy to see the results (X number of kids showed up etc) even if those results do not reveal the true health of the youth's spiritual life. Chris Folmsbee encourages those in youth ministry to "re-culture" their way of "doing" youth ministry so that the youth do not "graduate from Christ when they graduate from school." Instead let them graduate with a spiritual life they are already practicing and living out. A New Kind of Youth Ministry is a great read that has challenged me to pursue a youth ministry that walks with the youth engaging them and challenging them to live out Christ now and not being afraid of making mistakes along the way. Chris Folmsbee urges and guides those in youth ministry to have a plan for change, engage their volunteers, and have mentors to help and guide them along the way. The book is clear with examples and models to help those in youth ministry apply the concepts introduced into their own youth ministry. The book enables the reader to apply what he/she reads because the "how to" is reachable.

It has certainly encouraged me to pray, talk to mentors, and think about what God may have in store for me after I graduate from College next May. I feel less overwhelmed with possibilities (and sometimes the feeling of there not really being any options) and more directed. Certain areas of youth ministry have always stuck out to me and I have often felt helpless in knowing how to get from point A (college) to point B (a place I can best serve God and others). The book challenges those in youth ministry to make a plan of change (because without a plan it is likely no change will happen), and because the "how to's" are included I could apply these plans of change to my discerning, pulling out, and narrowing down where I can best serve God and others after graduation.

My thougths on the book: Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry by Doug Fields

Your First two Years in Youth Ministry: A personal and Practical guide to starting Right

by Doug Fields


This book provides helpful input for youth ministers who are looking for advice in specific areas. Each chapter focuses on helping the Youth Minister deal with or develop certain areas of his/her ministry. While I am sure this book would come in handy if I was stressed, discouraged, or seeking to better a certain area of my ministry reading it for a college class made the advice sound good but I had no forum to put the advice to use. I can see myself keeping this book on my shelf as a handbook for dealing with the areas it addresses (Listed in my words below), but I cannot see myself reading through the book as a whole again. Like a manual, generally I look at a manual when I need assistance in a certain area or wish to know how to do certain things differently. I rarely read a manual all the way through; instead I open up to the chapter that best suits my needs. I believe that if this book is used in a similar way one may find encouragement/assistance/ideas that he/she can adapt to his/her ministry.

Chapter 1: discovering my role at the beginning
Chapter 2: Discouragement
Chapter 3: Keeping myself Spiritually Healthy
Chapter 4: Students like relationship most
Chapter 5: Working with parents
Chapter 6: Difficult people
Chapter 7: advice for working with/finding leaders
Chapter 8: Help from team leaders
Chapter 9: student leaders
Chapter 10: evaluating programs
Chapter 11: making changes
Chapter 12:job descriptions

An Iowan for the summer!

Welcome to Iowa! So for those of you who missed the boat I am living in Iowa this summer with my uncle Duane, aunt Karen, and cousin Aleigha! On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I babysit my cousin Jeremy's 3 children and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I babysit my cousin Natasha's 3 children. Once I week I volunteer at the youth center "Elements" in town. It is great!

I'm here until August 1st. I will head home then and be home for my whole birthday for the first time since I turned 15! I am excited and will enjoy spending 2 weeks at home before I head back out to Hesston for my last year of college.

I've come to realize that I do not know how regularly I will be able to get to Iowa after I graduate next year. Growing up we came out 2 weeks a year or more and I know that after I graduate and continue on I may not be able to come out here near as often. Which is so sad, all my vacations growing up were here with my Gugel family. I am grateful for the chance to spend this summer here with my family.

Wednesday night I went out for a motorcycle ride with my cousin Shannon, her husband, and their friend. After cruising around for several hours we headed back. It was probably around 11pm when a deer ran out in front of Scotty and Shannon's bike. They hit the young buck and crashed. We were following them on our bike and stopped. Thankfully they are okay. Scotty fractured at least 1 rib and broke a finger, both Shannon and Scotty have plenty of road rash. They were wearing helmets, Scotty had a leather jacket on and Shannon was wearing four shirts. The accident could have been so much worse, the ditch was deep, it could have happened when they were alone, we could have collided into them with our motorcycle if we'd been to close, the bike could flipped. Thank you God.

There once was a car

So my car is at it again. My car broke down on my way back from Hesston on Sunday. Hershy, Nathaniel, and I had gotten to Kansas City and had to detour onto 435 because of construction on 35. Then my car was smelling a bit funny so I pulled into a parking lot to check it out. I thought perhaps it needed more oil (it had been leaking some). Well, it died. A man stopped, showed us where a parts store was, and jumped the car. We made it a mile from the store and my car died again. By this time Amanda, a girl from college who was heading to Iowa and not far behind us on the road, had stopped and her and her family were trying to help. We couldn't jump the car, and ended up having to have it towed.

So close to having the engine diagnosed for free at the parts place, but NOOOOOOOOOOO it was towed to a Honda dealership where it cost $97 for them to tell me my alternator died and killed my battery on its way out. Which I had already assumed was the problem. They wanted to charge $580 to do that less than an hour job. The alternator was still under warranty because I had to put a new one in last semester when it died on my way home from Bluffton. So my parents picked up the alternator and drove 11 hours on Monday to Kansas City where my car sat in a Honda dealership parking lot and we sat 7 minutes from the dealership at Ashley's cousin's house . (We were all very happy that we had remembered that she was staying there for the week. and had 3 extra beds. We slept well, went for a walk, played basketball, made and grilled hamburgers...had fun).

Long story short, my parents got here at 1:00am, fixed the car and we headed out at 2am. Hershy and I drove all night and we stopped for breakfast in Iowa at 10:00. My grandparents met up with us for breakfast and we continued on to Ohio. We got back about 6:15pm. Long trip, and because this was the 2nd time in less than a month that my car broke down. I De-named it and it is not l allowed to go on long trips. It still has a few things that need fixed up and I think that 2 adventures in less than a month caused by the car is quite enough.

Broken Clutches and Cheap Motels (The Perry Oklahoma Experience)

Kyle, one of my mega-cool cousins who lives in Houston Texas, told me that I should go and visit him sometime while I was at Hesston because it is much close to him than Ohio. So I took him up on this offer over Easter break. The drive is still a good 10 hour drive so I invited Nathaniel to come along (Kyle was excited to be the first in our Gugel generation to meet Nathaniel). We headed out Thursday afternoon and made it 2-2.5 hours south of here and had to exit off of I-35 because of the wild fires in Oklahoma. We stopped at the gas station to figure out new directions and then continued on down the highway that was now trying to contain all of I-35 traffic. We shifted into 3rd gear to discover that the car would not speed up anymore, it acted as if someone was revving the engine while it was in neutral. We pulled off onto the shoulder, waited a bit and tried again. A pick-up truck slowed to let us in; however, we could not get past 2nd gear so we pulled back off to try to figure this out.

The truck pulled in front of us and a car pulled in behind us. Soon a police officer came to the door and said "were you a part of the accident?" We were uber confused and replied that we were just having car problems. Turns out that the truck that was trying to let us into traffic was rear-ended by the car right behind him. His truck was okay, but the car hit the hitch and was going to need a new radiator.

So the tow truck came and picked up Raoul (my car), the man said he was going to take it to Jesse's auto and called Jesse to see if he was still at the shop. Jesse was not, he was at his parents house making sure that their house did not catch on fire.

This is when we found out the car would not even be looked at until the next day (Good Friday), so the tow truck man said he'd drop us off at the Super8 so we could get a room for the night. Needless to say, Nathaniel and I were a bit unsure as to what to do, we were not to keen on the idea of getting a room together. So we call Stefan and tell him the predicament and he says that he will get a car and bring another person down so that we will have a group of people to stay in the room and it wont be just Nathaniel and I.

So we get a 2 bed room and take our stuff there. As I was talking to the receptionist my mom calls my phone, without thinking I hand it to Nathaniel to answer. She knew we were having car problems and was looking for an update; poor Nathaniel had to tell my mom that a few other people were coming and we were getting a motel room. I felt bad after I realized what conversation he was having with my mom....how would you feel if you had to tell your girlfriend's mom that you and your girlfriend were getting a motel room?

Nathaniel and I put our stuff down and after I studied for Heils for a bit and he watched TV we walked to the Braum's next door for some food. By this time we have updated both of our parents and are waiting to hear from Stefan about the car, he isn't having much luck. We find out about 7:00pm that he cannot get a car. So Nathaniel and I are trapped in Perry, Oklahoma in a motel.

Both of us decided that after this weekend we would be able to withstand any and every awkward situation that arose. I mean, both of us had "getting a motel room with my girlfriend/boyfriend" on our list of things never to do. I studied my Heils at a table while he chilled with the TV.

When our parents found out it was just us; they understood. We were both relieved, we were not sure how our parents would respond, but they knew that there was not much else we could do. Rooms are expensive. It was awesome to see how much our parents trusted us. We both decided we have amazing parents who raised us extremely well.

The next morning Jesse's auto called letting me know that it was my clutch, they gave me an estimate and said that they had ordered the clutch and that the clutch would be in that afternoon. After talking to my dad and Kevin, who is my parents' friend from college who keeps an eye on me out here and makes sure my car works, they decided the price was as good as I'd get and I called Jesse's back and okayed them to work on the car. That is when I was informed of the possibility that my car would not be fixed until Monday.

We had to be out of the Hotel before 11:30am, the manager knew about our situation and allowed us to keep our stuff there for the day. We walked way out of the way to get in town only to discover that Perry does not have much in town. We ate lunch at a small pizza-hut and checked out what we decided was the smallest Walmart in the known universe. By the time we walked back to Braums (a little after 4) we decided that we had walked about 7 miles and were ready to find out what was going on. Round-about 5 we found out that the car was done. Let me simply say that we were quite overjoyed by this news.

We decided to continue on down to Houston, because at this point returning to campus would be quite a boring way to finish out Easter weekend. We made it to Houston around 1:30am and spent Saturday chilling with Kyle at Market Street, Schlotzsky's Deli, and the movie theater. He also made us YUMMY TACOS for dinner.

Sunday we got up for church, which was sweet. We went to Woodsedge Community Church and it had a lot of technology including lights and audios, but unlike the other churches I have been to with this equipment that church used these resources to enhance the worship time instead of be the center of attention during the worship. The sermon was not the typical Easter sermon; the pastor used the story of Paul on the road to Damascus and his conversion from Acts 9 explain how Christ rescued Paul as he rescued us by his death on the cross. It was refreshing and a good start to the Easter Day.

Kyle took us out for lunch to a local Mongolian Grill. Neither Nathaniel nor I had eaten at a Mongolian grill before and it was good fun and rather tasty. We decided that we are going to have to find one a little closer and go sometime.

We headed back at 12:13pm for a mostly uneventful trip filled with me studying for Heils and Nathaniel being like "your wipers suck, I cannot see." We tried fix that problem with the windshield wipers in my trunk....but that was an epic fail. 1st off I put them on the wrong side and second off the one started to fall off as we were going down the interstate. After we fixed them we discovered that they were probably more crappy then the other wipers....oh well we made it back safely. With full tummies thanks to Nathaniel who bought us dinner at The Cracker Barrel. Thanks Nathaniel, you are amazing. But Brooke is more amazing...discussion over.

oh dear, I think I'd better end this before Nathaniel accuses me of continuing the conversation that is apparently over. SO END OF STORY! GOOD BYE!

P.S. I said my Heils (which for those of you who don't know is the Bible story from creation to now told with a timeline you draw in 5 minutes before you begin) and I am happy because I did well.

Psalm 13: Brooke Gugel Version

Please read Psalm 13 before you read my version. If you don't have a bible in front of you google it! It is an awesome psalm. We used it tonight in Youth Ministry Seminar 1! I re-wrote it in a way I have never done...it has a little attitude, let me know your thoughts please.

Psalm 13

Hey God!? You up there?
Remember me here on earth?
Would you mind droppin' me a line
I haven't heard from you in a while?

Life has been miserable
It doesn't make sense
People here are jerks
My problems keep punching me in the face

Hey God!? Wont you listen to me?
I want to be happy again
I'm tired of being beaten down
Culture's about to declare victory over me
It has begun a beer bash to celebrate my defeat

But God. I know you've got this
you're taken care of me
So I think I'll throw my own party
one to glorify You

Spring Break!

Guess who I saw during spring break?

That is right, the most amazing Nicole EVER! meaning my best friends whom I missed so much! Obviously if I saw her that means I traveled home over Spring Break.

Last Friday I traveled with 3 other girls to Iowa (8 hours) and spent the night with my Gugel family (meaning a Gugel Aunt and Uncle). I felt hunky-dory until I got out of my car at midnight-thirty and walked in the house. I quickly felt lightheaded, hot/cold, and my eyes were burning. Needless to say I was running a pretty good fever. This ruined my plans to have lunch with my grandma and grandpa Gugel the next day. boo, I did however venture to String Town to pick up some more dried fruit and in expensive groceries. After lunch I traveled home (6.5 hours) by myself. It was not too horrible I took my ibuprofen every 4 hours and my mom called a few times and Nathaniel called twice to make sure I was feeling well enough to keep driving.

I spent the next 2-3 days running a fever and not having enough energy to do anything. Saturday after I got home I went to bed (10ish) I did not get up until 1pm the next day (do factor in the fact that I lost 2 hours of sleep, 1hr due to the time zone change and the other due to daylight savings). Still, I gathered enough energy to take a shower and I was wiped so I chilled on the couch until 8:30 and I went to bed again.

When I was finally feeling somewhat better I went shoping with my mom and grandma to purchase clothes for my new Applebee's job. Woot woot, it was a lot of fun and reminded me of old times when my mom, grandma, and I would shop on the days I did not have kindergarten (actually, the 3 of us often shop together, we just had our beginnings back then).

Later that day (Tuesday) I headed to Bluffton and got to spend about 24 hours catching up with my friends and updating them on life as they updated me on life. Good Times, sadly that portion went WAY to fast and I felt pretty thinly spread about. I did not even get to see several of my friends; I suppose that is the way life goes.
Wednesday after I left Bluffton I headed to Church where I observed the JYF (Junior Youth Fellowship) in their evening activities and then visited with the MYF (Mennonite Youth Fellowship) youth sponsors and my youth pastor for just a bit. Joshua Schafer and I went out for Pizza to catch up and have a few laughs and I headed home.

Thursday I did a bit of laundry, and prepared a bit of food for dinner. My wonderful sister and brother-in-law came over to eat. We played Mouse trap after the food and I think it is important to note that I WON! I think it had something to do with the fact that my game piece was a frog and everyone else was playing with mice; the name of the game is mouse trap NOT frog trap. : D

Friday I went with my grandma to her eye doctors appointment (she had cataract surgery the day before) and she got a great report. We then had a few hours to waste before my dentist appointment so we went to the mall to see if they had a Deb's so that I could purchase my dress for Jessica's wedding (they did not). We ended up sitting and watching people for 45 minutes or so; we actually had a lot of fun doing this. Commenting on the different people and who we thought was seriously into the shopping and who had come to the mall just to walk laps to get their exercise. THE DENTIST WAS WAY COOL! Probably because I am done with my invisiline now and he gave me the a-okay to wear my retainers only at night. YEAY!

Of course Nicole came home for the weekend and her, my parents, and I went to Nicole and My's favorite restaurant City Q Barbecue! With there amazing kettle brewed sweet tea! Nicole and I were completely happy!

Saturday I left home at 8 and picked up 2 girls in Lagrange Indiana and finished driving to Kalona, Iowa. I spent an hour with my grandma and grandpa before they went to IMS (Iowa Mennontie School) for a fundraising dinner. My cousins met at my aunt and uncles house for Pizza and good times. It was awesome to catch up with them and entertaining to have them pester me with questions about Nathaniel. Never the less, the night ended and I picked up 4 other girls Sunday morning for our drive back to Hesston, Kansas. My trunk was packed so ridiculously full; I actually jumped up and pushed down on the trunk to make sure that is was latched. The 3 girls in the back seat had a suitcase and some other small bags of theirs to hold for the trip. Needless to say, it was a cramped ride.

We made it and it was an adventure! All in all a memorably fun Spring Break to the not-so-Springy-in-fact-kind-of-chilly Ohio (yeah flooding in Ottawa that made me have to make up my own route to Bluffton). Good to be home on campus!

P.S. Over break/on the car ride today I was able to finally read Blue Like Jazz I will have to post my thoughts about the book soon.

Preping for Spring Break

I really do not have much to say, just wanted to drop a note to all of y'all who are amazing (aka, all of you).



Ashley, Nathaniel, and I went shopping the day after valentine's day for all of the amazing sales. I bought a big soft ladybug stuffed animal Nathaniel names Eh Steve who has become a great addition to my dorm room. Before we shopped we stopped at family video to drop off a rental and to our luck A little ceasers pizza was next door and the man was out on the streets getting people to stop in. Of course Ashley and I could not resist getting picture with him!

I have also dyed my hair since we have last spoken. It was Cinnaberry; however, the color did not change my hair to the drastic red color Natale and Ashley had hoped when they picked the color for me. That is okay, it was still loads of fun (and there is only a tint left in my hair).

Yesterday I went to Applebees for orientation. I have been hired as a hostess and have the joy of spending this next week from 4-5:30 everyday book training for the job. Originally I was going to have to come back from spring break early to have my orientation; however, my supervisor called Thursday and asked me to come in Saturday for training. Works for me! Now instead of coming back from spring break 2 days early my vehicle just needs to leave a few hours later than planed before!

Speaking of spring break. This Friday I am heading to Iowa and spending the night with my wonderful family, Saturday I will hang out with them for a while before I continue home. Ashley is caravaning home with me and then leaving her car at home. There are 7 of us girls heading home for spring break together and on the way back my Honda civic will be carrying 5 girls! For 8 of the 14 hours it will be just 4 of us because we are picking up (and dropping off) the other girl in Iowa. So fun! I am also done with my Invisiline Saturday so on Monday I head to the dentist to have my final horrah! Honestly, the dentist appointment is the reason I HAD to go home over spring break; seeing my family is just the icing on the cake. Oh, and seeing you Bluffton people! I am hoping to spend a day or two with y'all! by the by, do you think you could possible warm up Ohio for me? I am getting used to the warm weather of Kansas (okay, so maybe not this weekend because the weather has been below freezing the whole time, but before that and for the rest of this week it is/has been wonderfully warm).

I know this post has no point to it and I would like to make one; however, I just can't focus anymore too many jumpy thoughts...look a butterfly. haha.

OH WAIT! before I go, I want you to know that I have finished my second biblical inductive! This time it was over Joshua 7. Very interesting and educational, yet I am glad to have the time consuming inductive complete. Now to work on the Heilsgeschichte; the entire bible story memorized. I will recited it to one of my professors it will take approximately 45minutes to recite.

Hey there Hesston

Hesston has been amazing! I have a class called biblical literature and I have to write 2 inductives for it; I have spent over 20 hours working on the first inductive... too much time in the library, ew. Still, I am learned so much about Judges 9 and Abimelech. I have not gotten my grade yet on that inductive; however, I received the passage for my individual inductive today Joshua 7! Ding ding ding, round 2!

Other than that my youth ministry classes are amazing, and I really believe that the direction I am heading in is pleasing to God! In youth ministry seminar last Thursday I was in charge of devotions; I had met with Michele earlier that week to discuss what that job entailed and also to share about my "dreams" for the future. One of the ways that I had the other youth Min's interact was to give them each play-doh to form while we were discussing Psalm 138. That went over well, and was great fun to play with!

The night I purchased the play-doh (which now reads Clearance-doh thanks to Nathaniel and the stickers) Garrett, Nathaniel, and I played with it for an hour and a half in the Larks nest and Kendra Horst joined us to help us make the sweet frog shown on the box.











the amazing group made play-doh frog















Nathaniel with his Jason mask





As for things being out of the ordinary...well, I do a lot more random things here. There is the yummy doughnut shop called Druber's in Newton which does not open until midnight. My friends and I hit that place up quite a bit. I mean who wouldn't want fresh peanut butter, maple, pine cone, squid, octopus, long johns, cream filled, or muffins! YUM! Then there is Newels; a truck stop in Newton with yummy yummy cheese fries (that are deathly greasy) and a small is a plate full and smothered in cheese. More grease than I can handle, so I often share a plate. I have heard that their milkshakes, and biscuits and gravy are tasty as well; I have not tried those yet..hmm maybe I'll take a group of people there tonight. Newels is definitely a place that would be really weird in the daylight, or early evening. Movies are a frequent happening most nights, somewhere between 11 and 1 a movie is started with my friends down in the pit (the basement of Erb), or KC lounge (which is the place I prefer because even though it is a farther walk from my dorm it was much much cleaner). Last weekend I went thrift store shopping in Newton. There was a huge sale at the et cetra shop, $1 for a paper bag filled with everything we could fit! Some my friends and I bought the most hideous outfits we could and have plans to wear them out sometime.

Ashley at walmart




Last Friday I went to Applebee's to ask if they were hiring and get an application. I ended up have the first 2/3 of my interview done right then! This Thursday I had my last interview and was hired as a hostess! Unfortunately I do not start until March 14 because they are in the middle of orientation right now and will not have the next training session until March. This means I have to come back from my spring break 2 days early because of the orientation 9am-11am on Saturday. That week I will have "class" from 3:45ish-5:30ish and will also have to follow another host for 5 shifts to learn what to do; it'll be busy. Still, I am quite excited!

Not sure what else to fill you in on, OH wait! Maybe y'all would be interesting in knowing that today the weather is gorgeous! by that I mean the high is 71outside and I love it! It has snowed 2 times since I have been here, barely if even an inch both times and the snow was completely melted within 2 days! This is such a fun and warm winter! Kansas weather is very bi-polar; I remember one day when I was looking working on my inductive I looked out the windows and saw that it was completely sunny, 20 minutes later is was overcast, and in another 20 minutes it was completely sunny again! No joke! That happens all the time here (because of the wind), how fun! It is like the sky is ADD and keeps forgetting what it was going to be!

on that sunny note I will leave you all my warm thoughts to keep you warm! hugs!
God Bless

The book "UnChristian"

I just finished reading the book "UnChristian" by David Kinnaman, a researcher for and the president of The Barna Group. This nonfiction book takes a raw look at what people who do not practice the Christian faith think of the people who call themselves Christians. Their findings from 3 years of statistic and interview research reveal that most people who do not practice the Christian faith believe that Christians are very UnChristian. Words like Judgmental, too political, and Hypocritical describe the Christan's. While the book seems to be written for the generation above me (who may not be as aware of these and other perceptions), I was intrigued by the evidence and challenged even further to be a genuine Christian. Good book, I do recommend "UnChrisitan."