It truly is amazing how much can actually happen within a short amount of time. Last week is one such case. I did everything from fly on airplanes to have a pizza party to going on a hike. It was a good break from normal life, but nonetheless I did enough stuff to last a pretty decent Blog post.

I was debating on what style to write this post with; whether just to hit the highlights or the most meaningful events or to cover a play by play of my last week.. I decided on a Thorough Covering in a Chronological Format, with just a hint of a Metaphor—if you understand any of that...

You already know about Saturday and Sunday due to my last Blog post, so here's Monday:

The sun rose on Monday as we all woke up in the morning with enough time to shower, get dressed and eat breakfast. After that Grandma and Grandpa took us (Mom and me) to BJU for our first Bible Conference service. Everything was going according to Sunday night's plan. Once at Bible conference I found the place where I was supposed to meet Patrick and from there I found 'Becca and Erin. I had gone to school with both Patrick and Becca, and Erin I had only met through others (she had heard of me and I had heard of her). Nonetheless we had fun. The speaker that morn was Dr. Gary Anderson. It was a good service all around. The music was great, the sermon was great, and the fellowship afterwards was great.

That lunch time I ate with Patrick and Becca at BJ's "Family Room" of the dining hall. We ate there because Faculty/Staff kids could eat there as well as visitors. Just before the meal of burritos I had seen Lauren and her friend (who is a boy). Lauren did not know I was coming so it was a pleasant surprise to her.

After lunch Becca, Patrick, a few of their friends, and I all went to the "Social Parlor " and played a few games there. We also found Erin there and joined in on a Game of Blurt. It was fun, but our time was cut short by then need to get over to the next service.

While I was on BJ's Campus, my Grandparents and Mom went to a Violin place. There Mom picked up a nice (Used) Violin. He'll be starting lessons soon!

Once again, The service was great. Dr. Burggraff spoke this time. Before and after the service, I had found a few of my other friends--Andy and Andrew. It was good to see them. After the service, I talked for a little bit then we left and went back to Grandma's house for dinner.

After a wonderful dinner we went Back to BJ to the next service. Pastor Phelps preached on how to get a second blessing--using Elisha as our role model. Take it how you like it. After that we all went back home and into bed.


A day of much anticipation as I planned to meet a man who I had never met in person before.

Once again We all got up, dressed, filled, and out the door in time to make it to Bible Conference. Once again, I found Patrick and the rest of the group and we all sat through the sermon. This morning Dr. Will Senn spoke on the Song of Solomon. It was a great sermon. After the message, though, we had to rush off early. That wasn't a bad thing though, but as you'll see this type of thing will become very characteristic of this trip--rushing off from one thing and hurrying to the next.

Anyway, we got back to Grandma's house and ate a quick lunch. I then quickly changed and then we left. We drove for about an hour and we finally made it to a little town called Honea Path. There we drove a ways to a Man's house--and his workshop. This man was Mr. Charlie Hind--an Ocarina Craftsman. I had found his website a few weeks before this trip so I tried to get down and see his workshop. It was really neat to see how he does what he does. In the end I walked out of his workshop have my own Ocarina (It was decently priced at around $40). That was a fun trip.

After the drive back to Grandma's house we quickly ate dinner then once again left for BJ to go to the Bible Conference. Dr. Anderson spoke once again.


I was greatly looking forward to this day--one of my best friends was arriving at the airport and I was hoping to see her--which of course, I did.

Once again we awoke to ready ourselves for Bible Conference. This morning Dr. Martin spoke. Before the service I had found all my friends. All week we were putting together a get-together under the code name of the "Social Gathering." This, being the day before the "Social Gathering" we were working on the finer details--before and after (but not during) the service.

Katherine Shumate was supposed to be on Campus for the second service--she was flying in that morning and being picked up by Mrs. Pennington--Erin's mom. Unfortunately, Katherine could not make it due to a headache and tiredness. Lauren almost cried because of that, but plans we then re-made to have a reunion of sorts the next day at the Markham Center. I however knew of a shortcut to meeting Katherine before tomorrow...

That night Mom and I went to Faith Baptist in Taylors. As we walked in we saw Erin Pennington along with Katherine-- Surprise surprise. Anyway--they told us where to go--Mom went to the service and I followed the girls to the FBC Quiz meeting. It was fun to see how much these kids knew of the books of James, Hebrews and I and II Peter. I was even able to answer some of the questions to myself. It was much fun indeed. After they were done practicing, we went back to the main building and found my mom. I met some of the Pennington family an I also relayed some messages pertaining to the "Social Gathering" to both Erin and Katherine. Then Mom and I went home.

(Please note: I did not go to Faith simply to be with friends. I went because I had heard many good things about the church and Mom also wanted to see what it was like.)


Probably the most planned out day--anticipated by everyone that was involved in the "Social Gathering."

Once again we went to the morning Bible Conference service. I found Patrick and everyone else--including Katherine, and from then on the group stayed together. Dr. Green was the replacement Speaker for Dr. Ian Paisley. I was somewhat disappointed that Dr. Paisley couldn't make it, but Dr. Green was a great preacher.

After the service--and according to plan--we all headed over to the Markham Center. There everyone who wanted to see Katherine, yet couldn't make it to the "Social Gathering" (Lauren) said "Hi." After catching up a bit with everyone, those coming to the "Social Gathering" all went to Pizza City (a nearby Pizza place). It was a fun walk across Campus and over to the pizza place. Once there we all ate and talked. Then when we were done, Patrick's mom took most of us over to Patrick's house (Actually Patrick drove but his mom was right next to him), while Andrew Gossett took the other half of the group, following Patrick.

The "Social Gathering" had begun. We quickly established places where people could change out of their Bible conference clothes into something more comfortable and practical. After that I quickly set up my Nintendo Wii. Meanwhile most everyone else was gathered around the baby grand Piano singing songs like "Bow the Knee" and "Before the Throne of God Above." We were having tons of fun. After a while we set up a Twister tournament all 1 on 1 matches. Eventually I won surprisingly. After that, some of us played the Wii, while most of us played a long game of Apples to Apples. Then it was time for dinner. Mrs. Hulehan made and Awesome spaghetti. It was great. We all had fun while eating. Some of us were telling jokes, while others were figuring out riddles, and some of us were just talking. It was great.

After dinner, Patrick went inside to make a peanut-butter rice-crispy thing. While he did that most of us stayed outside. We explored the golf course that was right near his house--that was really cool. (Note: We did not mess anything up, though we did theorize what would happen if we found a free golf cart). Word came that Patrick's desert was ready and we headed back inside. It was really good stuff.

After we had been totally stuffed we all went back outside--the the end(?) of the golf course. Once we where there (it took quite a while...) we all sat down and rested in hopes of watching the sunset. Unfortunately, while we had a great view of the sun, it was not setting. 8:00 came around and we headed back to Patrick's house, where most of the parents had just arrived.

Before we all left I gave a little devotional from Micah 6. A few others gave a testimony and I had Patrick "dismiss" us all in prayer. After that we all said goodbye and went to our separate homes.

You'd think my night was over then, but it wasn't (not that that's a bad thing). After leaving Patrick's house i went to the car we were using only to meet a friend from Germany! Jeremy and his mom had come up just to see us. While I was at the "Social Gathering" Mom was with the Dawsons. Anyway, we went to a local A&W. There we all talked about everything. It was really fun.

When the Milkshakes and Ice cream was gone we all went back to Grandma's house. Grandma was really nice and let our guests spend the night. We all went to bed, but Peter and James, Jeremy, and I all talked about everything we could think of. It was a really good time of catching up with everyone. One by one, though, we all fell asleep.


The last day of BJ's Bible conference. Every one was light hearted, relaxed and refreshed. These last services would send us on into the last few weeks of school Spiritually Awakened.

Early in the morning the Dawsons, Mom and I all left for the BJ LINC place. We all toured the facility and got to see how they do all the LINC classes over Home-Sat. It was really neat and really fun. After that we went to IHOP for a little breakfast. Then The Dawsons had to go back home. We said our goodbyes and then we went our separate ways.

Then, like every morning, we headed off to the Bible Conference. This morning Dr. McClelland was speaking, and once again I found the rest of my friends. This was that last day of Bible conference and everyone was having a great time. People had seen old friends (in fact Mom was going out to eat with one of her old friends later on) and others had surrendered their lives to Christ fully. This week had gone by so fast, but everyone enjoyed every second of it.

Once again, after the service, we ate in the Dinning common. afterwards we hung out and played a few games. It was a relaxing time.

The next service came, the Speaker was Dr. Custer. He spoke on the interpreter and gave several passages where people interpreted the Bible to others. When he finished, though, I felt like he didn't even finished the introduction. I was longing for more.

After the service, cousin Peter and I hung out and awaited the time when BJ would have it's Planetarium showing.--and hour or so after the message. While we waited I introduced Peter to a few of my friends, and we played Dutch Blitz in the Markham Center until we had to go to the showing. The presentation was really cool--nothing was really new to either of us, but it still was fun to watch. We then headed to the rendezvous point (cousin Dwight's dorm room) and form there we were picked up by Uncle Mark and taken back to Grandma's house.

At Grandma's house we all ate a delicious dinner and then headed off to the final service of Bible Conference 2007. The service was great. The music was awesome--they had a "volunteer" Choir and that was really cool. They had some special media clips of the different groups (guy's dorms, girl's dorms, other assorted groups) that raised money for the Bible Conference project (re-doing the Welcome Center). After the Media, the ushers came to take the offering--back flips and all. They most certainly were amusing. After the theatrics, Dr. Green spoke once again. Once again his message was a challenge-- "Are you really living for the Lord?" Very convicting, to say the least.

After the service we quickly left (for I had to get to bed early) and went home. Mom stayed for her class reunion though, so I went home with Grandma and Grandpa. When we got home, I got all my stuff ready for the next day, finalized my plans, sent a few e-mails, said goodnight to Grandma and Grandpa, and went to bed.


An early day for most everyone I know. Cousins were going home and my group of friends were all planning on a hike. This day promised to be fun... maybe even a little special.

I started off the day with a quick shower at around 6:30 AM--We had to be at Patrick's house at 7. We, my mom and I, got all ready, said goodbye to my aunt and uncle and cousins, and then left for Patrick's house.

We arrived right on time; My mom dropped me off. We all had a good breakfast that Patrick, himself, helped prepare. We also waited for the Penningtons. They were slightly late--but not without cause, for they were picking up several other people. Once we were all together, filled, and ready, we headed out for the place where we would hike. (We had 2 chaps, so you know--Mr. Pennington and Mr. George [an experienced hiker and a teacher at the Acad.])

Once we arrived we set off down the trail. It was an awesome hike. Mr. George, brought two of his little kids along (Isaiah -5, and Gideon -3) and they were really cool. less then halfway down the hike, though Katherine tripped and rolled her ankle. She had sprained it really badly before, the re-sprained it... now she sprained it again. Her injury was nothing really serious, but, she did need an ACE wrap.

A ways down the trail Erin Pennington's ankle got hurt as well-- a decent sized rock rolled down the hill that we were going up and hit her ankle dead on. She could still walk, but Patrick had to help her along most of the way.

As with most hikes something will go wrong somewhere, and while probably the most serious of the "things that went wrong" were the two injuries, we also did take a wrong turn. To save time Patrick and Mr. George blazed a trail through the woods and to where we wanted to get to. In the meantime, we all rested high up on the path. We ate some lunch and all talked. That was a fun time. Patrick and Mr. George came back and we followed them on the "new" trail. It was kinda fun going through the forest taking a path that no one had ever taken.

Eventually we made it back and around; we saw the waterfall and a bunch of cool things. it was really fun. After we all made it back (we were kinda split up into two groups of about 5 people in each, my group being the one in the back) we went back to Patrick's house. From there, most people went home with their parents.

Katherine and I however went with my mom to Wendy's for a frosty. I hadn't really gotten a chance to catch-up with her all week so on the hike, I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere with me so we could catch-up on what's happened in our lives since we last saw each other. It was a really good time for both of us. After the frosties Mom dropped Kat off at the Pennington house and we went back to Grandma's house from there.

After a few games of Chinese Checkers with Grandpa, we all decided to play a game of dominoes. It was a really fun couple of games. We took a break and ate dinner--a delicious meal of pork chops. and then we resumed playing. I, however, was starting to fall asleep, so I requested to go to bed. This was about 7:30 PM. Yeah I was tired. Sunday My last day in South Carolina. The sun was beginning to set on my adventure. The memories, however, will live on.

We awoke early this morn. Mom had packed everything the night before, so when I was ready I loaded all the stuff into the car. We ate a quick breakfast. Then we prayed with Grandma and Grandpa. We said our goodbyes and left for Church.

We went to Grace Bible that morning. In the teen Sunday school class they had me give a little (well as short as I could go was half the class period) update on life up in the Cold Cold North. I told them about our church and how it's growing it's was a really good time. After that the Youth Pastor gave a challenge about how we use our tongue from James and from the Proverbs. After the Sunday school was the morning service. Pastor Huff spoke on.. well, the tongue from James.

After the service we had to rush off because we had to make sure we would get to our plane in time. So Uncle Lennie took us to Burger King where we picked up a quick lunch. then we drove to the airport. It was a fun ride. Erin Waterman (Cousin Erin) was in the seat next to me so we talked the whole way. It was really fun.

We made it to the airport in time, we got everything all squared away. Then we said goodbye. Uncle Lennie Aunt Barb and Erin all wished us well and we left. We waited a little while before we could board, but it wasn't long. The first flight was great. Everything was on time and everything was smooth.

We landed in Detroit. There we made it to where our flight would take off and waited. Once again we boarded on time, but the takeoff was delayed, due to a long line of other planes and the pilot was running a little behind. In total we left about 10 minutes late--not bad.

This last flight was a very cool flight. It was around the time of sunset. and we got to watch the sunset out the window throughout most of the flight--it was spectacular.

We landed a little late because we left a little late. We made it to the lobby area and there was the rest of my family all waiting for us. It was good to see them. We picked up our luggage and headed home.

The Sun had set on my one week adventure, but the results most definitely will last a life time. I made new friends, strengthened old friendships, and I definitely learned alot. If nothing else it'll be a good memory. . .

To go to a Photo gallery of pictures I took on my trip go here.