Amish In The Light?

Hey gang,

So right now I'm just chillin' on my day off catching some rays on my back porch :) It sure is quite a beautiful day. This past week has been great -- can't believe it's already coming up on week three for me here at Grabill. 

Funny story of the week: Wednesday night at youth we had what was called "Prayer Night." It was just a time of prayer through thanks, break-off groups, reflection, etc. and praise through song. During the small group time, I was with about six or seven jr. high girls. The way we had the night set up, was we'd have "prayer intervals" of about 5min each for different specific topics (our summer theme of servanthood/mission trip, the process of hiring a new associate youth pastor, our community and church, and the world). During our prayer time for the world, our MC for the night, Heath, mentioned that he couldn't recall ever praying for an Amish person, especially with there being quite the Amish population here in Grabill. He suggested that we pray that the Amish would see the light. One of the girls in my group then prayed, "I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a pun, so God, I pray for the Amish, that they'd see the light, whether that means You're light, or... electricity." I thought that was SO cute!!!

Now that I finally have some pics of Grabill's fantastic summer staff team... let me introduce you to these folks I have to put up with... uhh, I mean... get to work with :) 

Who's this stranger?! Oh... this is me :)

Courtney, more commonly known as Chip-Chap. She's pretty sweet, actually super awesome. Yesterday we had our fair share of splendid moments ranging from biking to work together, to spilling the grounds on the carpet and not reading a VERY important sign when it came to her teaching me how to brew a pot of coffee :) Grabill is actually her home church, as she lives just down the road with her family, and she loves to run, and does Track when she's at school.

This would be Heath, whose real name is Dustin... but also goes by Number Six. My curiosity kept persisting after being told that it was a "long story" -- now I can attest to it being the truth. But basically, apparently in the Bible, the #6 has something to with "being manly, or a man -- in a rebellious sense." Heath is a great asset to our team, with a very determined, "get 'er done" persona, and he loves to go for rides on his new "lightening-bolt" motorcycle. He also enlightened our team to what might be one of my "top-favorite" words right now: brouhaha. Look it up!

Lastly, but surely not least, this is Joey -- the only one of us hooligans who does not go to Bethel. He is from not too far away himself, just more downtown in The Fort. Joey has known Kelley-guy, the youth pastor, for years, and actually was part of his wedding, so they go back pretty far. He has the hook-ups for creating a pretty sweet t-shirt design, and also likes to cook, or more specifically "grill out" -- SO... he has been knighted as GrillMaster for our Summer KickOff in just over a week. 

Well, looks like that's all for now, folks. Keep prayin' for us -- it means so much, and we need it!!!

Case