Project Transformation...Round 2!!!

That's right, I'm back in the big state of Texas again for the summer doing Project Transformation. I couldn't resist coming back for a second round! Last year, when I was down here in Dallas and Molly was up in Kansas doing her internship with Epic Church, it was pretty tough not being able to see her at all. I had told myself that if I was going to return to PT, I wanted to bring Molly along with me. So once it was time to start searching for summer jobs, I started talking about PT A LOT!!! She kept telling me, "O, we'll see" but that wasn't good enough for me! I stayed persistent with it and soon was able to convince her to apply! It was an even greater feeling when I heard her say "Yes, I'd love to accept the position!" on her phone interview! (I was eavesdropping in her living room while she was in her bedroom haha). So Molly is here too and having a great experience with her kids. It's nice to be able to take a walk after we're done for the day and share stories.

Ok, ok, before I start getting all mushy gushy talking about my wonderful girlfriend, I'll get back to my experience this year. I am back at Casa Linda for the summer (woohoo!!!!), but THIS time, I'm working with the youth! I know what you're thinking...Kyle will be needing a lot of prayer this summer. And you're right haha. Working with the youth is quite a bit different than the elementary. They're in that weird stage between kids and young adults and they don't really know what they're maturity level is. I can answer that....NONE!!!! Our kids are great, but good grief they need to learn how to behave...and listen...and follow directions...and keep their hands to themselves....ummm, I'll stop there. Anyway, it's a real challenge this year especially since I'm the only returning intern at my site, besides my site coordinator, Sheena.

I'll definitely take that prayer anytime. These kids will definitely be trying my patience throughout the summer and I'm really going to have to stay in control. God gave my the strength last summer with the elementary, so I'm counting on the same for this summer with the youth!

When was the last time I blogged?

Once again, I catch myself not blogging for quite a while. It's not because of business or anything, more that I kinda forget I have a blog haha. Well anyway, let's recap what's been going on lately.

I just finished my sophomore year at Southwestern a couple weeks ago. It's crazy to think that I've already spend two years at that place. And now I'm halfway done? No way! Is it possible to stay at college for the rest of my life? Hmmm, let me know if there's a way. I'm still on the route to be a PE teacher and that's going really well. I'm enjoying my classes and feel that I'm in the area I should be in. I love working with kids and feel that God has blessed me with that.

I'm now at "home", whatever that is, in Mulvane. Kinda stinks for me considering I know absolutely NOBODY in Mulvane besides Mom and Dad and all my friends are either in Leoti or busy somewhere else. This leaves me alone in this cruel, dark world full of pain and misery. Haha just kidding, it's not that bad. I normally find something to do to pass my time, like go on a walk with the parents, which is what I did tonight.

On the 28th, Molly, her best friend, Trista and I will be heading down to Dallas for Project Transformation. I did this last summer and absolutely loved it! When I got back, I talked it up pretty big to Molly and somehow persuaded her to apply. She then mentioned it to Trista and she also applied pretty quick. I'm really excited for this summer and I know that God is going to do some amazing things in our lives!

I'll try to do a better job of posting more frequently, but no guarentees. Until next time, this message was brought to you by Kyle Incorporated.

Catching up

I realized that haven't posted anything for quite a while, so I thought I'd give you all the scoop on what's been going on lately.

Over the break, I spent some time at home with the parents. It was really weird spending a break in Mulvane instead of Leoti. I know a total of about 3 people in Mulvane. Sooooo, not exactly very exciting for me. I did help Mom decorate and make some Christmas cookies as well! That was fun. Our family then celebrated Christmas on the 26th. Eric's family almost wasn't able to make it because of the weather but luckily they were still able to come down. We had a great day full of eating, opening gifts, eating, hanging out, and some more eating. Seems like that's what we do when we get together haha. The day after we celebrated Christmas, I went to Chrysalis. It had been so long since I had gone and this was a perfect time for me to go again. I was able to catch up with some friends and have a great spiritual weekend. After Chrysalis was over, I was able to go home to my beautiful girlfriend, Molly, and my good friend, Lauren! I was so excited to see each of them! We hung out that night and then the next day, we headed out for Branson, Missouri, where Lauren, Molly, Jessica, Chad, and I stayed in a couple of condo's of Jessica's parents. We had a great time hanging out, visiting the Titanic museum, playing mini golf, and playing games. What a great time with friends! We then came back to Kansas and Molly and I went to Christmas on the Just side. We had a great time there with the family. We then headed back to Mulvane that night and the next day, Molly and I went on to Holcomb to stay at her place. I was originally only going to stay a couple days but ended up staying longer because of the weather...lucky me, huh? ;) We were able to just relax, watch her brother and sister play basketball, and we even went and saw The Blind Side. What a great movie! When the week was over, Molly and I drove back to Mulvane so I could pack up for college, then headed back to Winfield to move back in. What a busy Christmas break! It was such a blast though.

Now, there is a little change in my life. I decided to change my major to physical education. I struggled with my math class and it just wasn't happening. So here I am, going to be a gym teacher now! Those kids better watch out for Mr. Just!

Interpret!

Well I haven't blogged in a while, and I wasn't really sure what to blog about, but then I had a really weird dream so I thought I should share it. Here goes:

I'm in a little town driving around and I start to drive out into the country. I get a couple miles out and I see 3 cars in the middle of the highway: two cop cars and one regular car. The cars were parked in a sort of spread out triangle, surrounding a big pile of drugs. I stop my car a ways away from the scene, waiting for a clearance. All of a sudden, I see a guy running away from a couple of cops. He starts running over to my car when I think to myself "I hope my doors are locked." I look down, and my door is unlocked! I reach down to lock it, but the criminal was already at my door. He opens up my door, shows me a gun and yells "Quick, pull the trigger!!!" I was just like "what?" He continues to tell me "Shoot me! Hurry! Just shoot me now!" I said "NO!!!" Then a cop grabs him from behind and starts fighting him for the gun. I'm sitting in my car watching this, trying to avoid any kind of misfire. The gun then goes off, shooting me in the leg. The gun goes off again and shoots me in the same leg! I'm screaming by this point in complete agony. The gun goes off AGAIN and shoots me in the arm!!! I'm in complete and utter pain. The cop finally pins the guy to the ground and assures me that things will be ok. He doesn't say anything about my wounds or anything about getting an ambulance, so I start driving back to town. You would think I go to the hospital right away, but no, I head to some house where Molly and her family is. I walk inside really casual like and start chatting. My wounds aren't gushing blood surprisingly, but I'm still in some really bad pain. Lauren then shows up to the house and complains about something that I can't remember. I then tell her "Well at least you didn't get shot!" Molly then turns to me and goes "what?" I said "Ya, I got shot 3 times today!" She then kinds shrugs and says "Oh, well that's too bad"

Ummm, a little strange? Ya, I thought so too. So here's what I want to know. How did I dream about this? Is there some crazy, deep meaning behind it? I'll let all of you do the interpretting for me.

How bout that prayer room?

A while back, Molly and Jessica found a little purple book of prayer in a little chapel in our library saying that the little chapel room should be a prayer room. Today, that little chapel is in the transformation of becoming a prayer room! The girls went and talked to a few people on campus, thinking that it would be hard work to get the prayer room approved. However, after a few hours of talking to our campus minister and the person in charge of the library, they had the permission to create a prayer room! Crazy how fast it was approved. So after the approval was made, we decided that the prayer room needed a little sprucing up. It had some water damage to the walls and was ridiculously dusty. So one afternoon, we decided to round up our cleaning supplies and get to work. After two hours of scrubbing, mopping, swiffering, and barely being able to breathe, the prayer room was looking, and smelling, like a hundred bucks (I can't say a million because we could only clean the walls to a certain point). We are now in search of some decorations and furnishing for the room. We have asked churches if they are willing to donate some things and so far things are looking great! Hopefully we can get the stuff in soon so we can have our finished product before our big event. On November 22nd, we will be having an event of 40 continuous hours of prayer. We are hoping that this will kick off our season of prayer and grab some people's attention. God has been working on our campus so much this year, and this is adding to the fun! Please pray for us as we continue to prepare the room and get ready for our season of prayer. Go God!!!

Here are a couple of pictures. The first is the water damage on the walls. The second is Molly and Jessica preparing to fight the room's evil.

Looking back...

Today, I was looking through some of my old emails, and boy o boy do they make me smile. I read some emails from Molly from the summer, I found some emails from the family with funny videos, and I also found some old birthday e-cards. Haha now that's some good stuff right there. I had completely forgot about some of the emails that I had read. It's always nice to look back and see what you talked about or laughed at in the past. Good times, good times.

Lift up those prayers!

There's been a lot of things happening here on campus. Students are losing loved ones left and right, midterms are this week, and homecoming is next week. I really would just ask all of you to just pray, pray, pray! God knows what all is going on and will take care of things.