YBC 2016

Sorry, I've had this post semi-finished for several weeks, but I was having issues with writer's block, so I just avoided finishing it. :) Welcome to the world of Miss Procrastination. :D

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Well, YBC 2016 has come and gone. I can't believe it's over already!

Most of us agreed that this YBC was probably the best thus far. The atmosphere was very peaceful and it seemed as though there were more sincere youth there than usual. Also, six youth were born again! That made the week even more special! :)

The preaching was exceptional this year. Various speakers preached in the morning, after which we would have group discussion. Directly after group discussion, we gathered back in the sanctuary to hear Dale Gish speak on relationships within the family and outside the family. Jerry Mawhorr was our afternoon speaker. He spoke on studying the Bible. It was very informative! Then Dale Gish had the evening messages.

I was very blessed by Dale Gish's short talks on relationships. They were about 20 minutes long. The first day he spoke on our relationship with our fathers. I was very blessed listening to it! Since Dad was so deathly ill last year, I have grown to appreciate my dad for who he is, not what I think he should be. Slowly, but surely, I'm learning how to respect him.

Jerry Mawhorr's messages on Bible study were so inspiring! Studying the Bible was something that always intimidated me. The subject was so large, I didn't know where to start or even how to go about it! So, I just didn't study. Jerry gave us a game plan in how to start. I'll share it with you...

*How To Study*
1. Read through a book (preferably a small one) 7 times, once daily.
2. Segment it- Read through it and ask yourself where a subject changes. Look for similarities in verses like repeating words and thoughts.
3. Spend a few days looking at each segment. Study them.
4. As you read, look for words that you don't understand
5. Cross reference words or verses by looking them up in Strong's, etc. to find other similar verses.
6. Most importantly, pray! Meditate throughout the day on what you've studied.
7. Stay humble!

I didn't take notes for Dale Gish's evening messages. I like to take the evening off just to listen and take everything in. So, I don't remember exactly what he preached, but it was all very good! :P

As most of you know, I was asked to be a prayer group leader this year. I went to Bible School feeling nervous and very unworthy of that position. I had a very sweet group of girls, though, that gave me no trouble at all! They all talked and listened. :) I was very blessed by their willingness and openness. Being a prayer group leader gave a whole different aspect to Bible School that I didn't know existed. I had a responsibility instead of just being a student. I had to listen more closely to the messages and discussions so that I would have something to talk about in prayer and sharing. :) The responsibility of it all was so good for me! Even though I feel like I didn't do the greatest job, I'm very thankful that God allowed me to go through that experience.

Chorus was a blessing also! I usually don't enjoy chorus at all because it generally sounds pretty awful, but this year was different. The song selection was very good. Most of them were simple songs that were fairly easy to learn, not those terribly difficult choral songs that sound awful. I only knew three of the songs. :) There was one song in particular that I enjoyed, "All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night," or, Tallis' Canon. It was so beautiful! We sang another song that dated back to the third century... It was incredible (to me at least) to know that I was singing a song that old!

We had a wonderful group of people at our host family's. :) I knew most of them, a few by sight, but most I knew. We had some very interesting discussions... For example, what end time torture would be like, word pronunciation... All kinds of fun topics! :)

Wednesday is picture day!

For the first several days of chorus, Jon had us stand in a circle. It really worked well that way!

(This was taken later in the week)

Later on in the week, we posed for a good picture. :)

This is the IA, IL, and IN group.

Snack time at our host family's

Mr. Gingerich was explaining to the boys as to how he made their grandfather clock.

I was so glad the committee decided to do a live recording this year! We were supposed to be at the church by 11 Saturday morning to sing through our songs. That meant we could sleep in! Boy, did it feel good! In this picture we are gathered waiting to start.

Jon Hilty taught us two warm up songs... "I Love my Oreos" and "If I Want to Join the Choir." Watch, and laugh. :)

Host Family Sharing on Saturday

There were a couple Russian girls at Bible School. They were all staying at the same house so they decided to share a Russian song (with the help of a few other girls who learned the song).

My prayer group... Left to right: Emily Mawhorr, Whitney Smith, Jenny Hege, Emily Zimmerman, Ashley Downin, and me. Yes, you read correctly, there were three Emilys in my prayer group! :)

Going through the food line

This is the discussion group that I was in. I was prayer group 17 and discussion group C. :)

These weren't even all of the shoes at our host family's!

Playing foursquare in the Gingerich's shop Saturday night.

After the foursquare game petered out, Marlin showed us this really neat experiment.

The next several videos are of everybody just clowning around. :)

Marcus Imhoff wanted to play "My cow died last night" with the boys. Some were rather unwilling... :)

Not sure what's going on here...

Boys will be boys...

The inevitable arm wrestling match... I was just a little bit proud that my brothers beat the other boys (ok, I was a lot proud:).

The girls even got involved!

Leg wrestling

The ceiling was so low that the boys could stand on their hands with their feet flat on the ceiling.

This is our favorite video. Marcus started jumping, forgetting that the ceiling was so low. I'll let you guess the rest. :)

We thought it would be neat to take up-side-down pictures of the boys standing on their hands. Here, the boys are tucking in their shirts in preparation.

Shaking the blood back into their heads...

Whoops, Julian lost it!

Weird, isn't it?

Our group at Gingerichs'

Waiting for church to start on Sunday morning. Take a look at my hair! I was having issues with it that day. :)

Waiting for the program to start...

Our chorus director, Jon Hilty, was hilarious! He really kept us on our toes. I think that this was the best sounding chorus ever!

Yours truly :P

It was really sad saying good byes that evening... When I hugged a few girlfriends in particular, I almost felt like crying. :)

On the way home later that evening, we stopped at Starbucks for coffee. I got this smoked butterscotch latte. It actually did taste smokey, but was really yummy!

A beautiful sunset capped off our week at Bible School.

Kenrick and Sharon Zook raise dogs. They had sold this adorable puppy to someone living in Gretna, so they asked if we could bring him home with us. The family was so excited, they came to our house Sunday night to pick the little guy up! He sure was cute!