So if I could some up my entire junior year at Bethel College in one word: Faithfulness.  He has indeed shown himself to be faithful in every way.  And when it comes down to it, that is how I want to be able to describe each year as they come to a close.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Chisholm/Runyun

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/19#ixzz1sS5TIUyT

I’ve always loved this classic scene from the Wizard of Oz.  I can’t tell you how many times in my travels to Canada, Mexico, Ukraine, Spain, and the Dominican Republic that I’ve wished for a magical pair of Ruby Slippers that could whisk me home to my mama and daddy.  Even when I first moved away from my parents’ house and registered as a frosh at Bethel, I just couldn’t call Bethel home.  I was sick during orientation and I missed a lot of the team-building, ice-breaker activities that characterized early Block sessions.  Because of this, when I finally joined my block for classes, I didn’t know people and they had no idea who I was!

This was a very lonely time for me.  Instead of reaching out to make friends, I pulled back and hid myself in my room on 2nd floor Shupe with the door closed.  Choir was the only time I felt like I had any friends besides my roommate, and even these friendships were relatively shallow because I was playing shy.  Then I got involved with Theatre and my freshman experience was transformed.

The theatre department quickly took up all of my extra time, but I didn’t mind because the shoe fit.  These crazy people welcomed me into the department even though I wasn’t a theatre student; they were my Ruby Slippers.  Many of the “theatre kids” and profs were sure that I would soon change my major to theatre, but I never did.  My Spanish major is perfect for me, but the Dept. of Modern Languages was not a home for me.  I found the family and comfort that I needed when I was in FA 150.

So if you ever need to find me, between Chapel Band, Choir, and Theatre, the Fine Arts building is a good place to start looking.  I wear my Ruby Slippers even more now than I did freshman year.  They are the little slice of home that I need to survive.  Just watch out for your Dept. home- it will get all of you that you can spare!  I’m no longer just an Actress/singer.  I’m a designer, house manager, and honorary member of the Theatre Department.

But you know what they say- if the shoe fits, wear it!

Thankfully, I have great friends who wouldn’t let me sulk by myself in my room.  They took me to the Acorn and we met up with some people to play a game called Encore.  It’s a singing game, and we had a blast.  Our two teams ended up at a tie when we decided to call it quits.

I need those evenings in the Acorn; singing random songs and laughing with my best friends after a hard weekend.  It’s friends like these and game nights like this that make the week of schoolwork that much more bearable.

The Dining Commons was  transformed into an intimate cafe-like setting by the dimmed lights and the candles on each table.  The musicians were all in black, but each added their own flair of color in some way with a tie or a scarf.  The jazz band/combo are directed by Dr. Klopfenstein, one of our music profs.  They were great!  The music selection was fun and the soloists were very talented.

One of the things I like best about the Coffee House is that the music is so “in-your-face.”  You are seated so close to the band, and the platform that they are on is not super tall.  There isn’t that typical sense of separation between performer and audience.  Also, when one or several of the musicians aren’t playing a particular song, they come and sit in the audience with you.  As an audience member, you can get up and get refreshments at any time.  There are coffee drinks (obviously) and snacks like chocolate covered strawberries and pie.  If you like music, caffeine and sugar, Jazz Coffee House is definitely something to check out.

I love winter but I have to admit, especially after a semester in the Caribbean, that I am ready for spring and summer.  I’m ready for sunshine!  I’ve already started wearing flip-flops, hoping to encourage the summer weather to hurry home.  Living in perimeter housing is great this time of year because the walk to and from campus is so lovely.  Personally, I’m looking forward to the first spring rainstorm…

Bethel’s changing campus:

One of the coolest things about this class is that you get to go to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (http://www.chicagoshakes.com/) and see a show.  We went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream and it was fantastic!  The actors were brilliant and the design was fascinating.  I loved it.

Midsummer was the first stage show I ever saw- my grandma took me to see it when Bethel put it on in 1990-something.  I have since fallen in love with Theatre- I can hardly stand to be away from it.  And much to my delight and rapt anticipation, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is in Bethel’s 2012/2013 season.  With my impending involvement in this show, my experience with the enticing world of Theatre has come full circle!

Six of my friends (one being my awesome big brother) put together the group named Poverty of the Stimulus.  Now, Poverty is a special group because it is purely an a cappella vocal band.  This set it apart from the other groups from the get-go.  The members of Poverty were sure that their lack of instrumentalists would put them behind in the competition, but I had great faith in them from the beginning.  I thought that their uniqueness would put them ahead of the game.  And I would like to take this moment to say: I TOLD YOU SO.

As you may have already guessed, Poverty of the Stimulus won first place at Battle of the Bands.  What does that mean?  $100 in gift cards to split among the six of them, plus a paying gig as the opening act at Subkirke’s next concert.  I mean, I’d be excited if I were to win that!

So you should totally check them out: http://www.facebook.com/groups/253729941369746/ And come see them when they perform at Subkirke!  (Can you tell I’m a fan??)

I haven’t been sucked into Pinterest yet but one of my house mates has, and she is always sharing all of these interesting crafts, recipes, and event ideas with us.  The other day she got really excited about a recipe that she found: cake in an orange.  I mean, come on.  How cool is that?  A cake in an orange??  Over the next week we all started collecting oranges from the Acorn and the DC and storing them in our fridge.  Then one night, after a particularly long day when I consequently had a ton of homework to do, we decided we could wait no longer.  So we followed the basic idea of this video: http://www.backpacker.com/trail-chef-how-to-bake-cakein-an-orange-/videos/106 .

I have to tell you, it’s a lot of work for not very much cake, but it was so much fun.  We had a little trouble getting the hang of removing all the pulp, but in the end we did get our cake.  I love my house mates and my room mate and I really don’t know what I would do without them.   That day I came home to people who love me and are right there with me in the midst of my stress, and we set aside all our junk and just had fun together.    It was just what I needed after a rough day of stressing over classes, the show, and work:  mini orange cakes.

Since freshman year, I’ve been involved in the theatre dept. up to my eyeballs, but mostly just as an actress.  (once, I was the assistant house manager for studio classics! living on the edge…)  This year, being in the DR for the first semester meant that I would be gone during the auditions for the musical.  I was really disappointed, thinking I was going to be missing out on Little Women altogether.  But then a friend of mine told me she was going to be the Head Designer for Hair and Makeup and that she wanted me to be Assistant Designer!  I was so excited!  I have never been on the technical side of theatre, let alone designed anything.  I was very nervous, but she assured me that she would walk me through it step by step.

That was my second or third week in the Dominican, and now here I am standing on the brink of tech week/show week ready to put see all my designs come to life.  I can hardly wait!  It has been a difficult journey, filled with learning the ropes of the design process.  I did research on the styles and fashion of the period, read through the script, drew sketches, met with cast members and collaborated with the costumers.  Last night I even got to make a mustache for one of the characters!  This week will be the toughest of all, we’ll start doing full hair for all the cast on Monday, and starting Tuesday we do full hair and makeup.  It’s going to be a long week but a good one, and I can’t wait to see the cast bring the designs to life under those lights.

I love being on the Chapel Band; praising God through music is an integral part of my walk and it is such an honor to be a part of leading the Bethel family in worship.  However, getting to this place has been a journey with many lessons on letting God be strong through my weaknesses and allowing his grace to be sufficient when I am simply not enough.

Spring semester of freshman year I tried out for the BCCB as a pianist.  When I got the email from Shawn asking me to officially join the band, I was so excited and nervous; I knew I had big shoes to fill.  Classes started, and with them chapel and practices with the band.  I began to feel overwhelmed by the amount of music I had to learn.  I loved my fellow band members and Shawn was great to work with, but I didn’t feel like I was good enough for the band.  I wanted so badly to get everything right and play each note perfectly.  It became difficult for me to worship during chapel because I was so stressed over missed entrances and wrong notes.  Crying on my way home from practices became the norm.  Satan had convinced me that I was impeding God’s work in chapel with my failure to be perfect.  I was certain that Shawn had made a mistake when he chose me.

Spiritual Emphasis week came around and my stress level maxed out.  With chapels every morning and evening, I was spending as much time in the practice rooms as possible, while still trying to balance homework, choir, and friendships.  It was about halfway through the week, after one of the evening services, when I saw her.  She was standing across the auditorium and she looked at me and smiled.  I felt that unwelcome Holy Spirit nudge- that lady has a message for you from Me. Nope. No thank you!  Reeeally not feeling that tonight, God and stranger lady, but thanks anyway!  I quickly made a bee-line for the opposite side of the room but was stopped by a friend.  We began talking and in my peripheral vision I saw the lady making her way toward me.  I tried to make my escape, but I wasn’t fast enough and suddenly she was right by my side.

I smiled at her politely and started to leave when she said: “Hey, can I talk to you?”  Pasting the smile back on my face I turned to her and said “Sure!”  with much more willingness in my tone than I felt.  She proceeded to tell me how blessed she had been by my piano playing that night.  I began to tear up as she told me that she felt that I had a gift from God: the gift of ushering in His spirit with my playing.  I thanked her and began to weepily spill to her all my insecurities about playing with the band.  She encouraged my heart and assured me that I was right where God wanted me.  That night I took my first step toward believing that God’s power was being made perfect in my weakness, even in the weakness of a wrong note or a messed up key change.

It wasn’t all smooth seas and fair skies from then on out; I still had my rough days and moments of insecurity, but God continued to pursue me with His people and His word.  Eventually I was able to truly worship the Lord in spite of those insecurities and in spite of the crowded auditorium.  I’ve since made the switch from piano to back-up vocals, and I still find that some days it’s hard to trust that He can use me in spite of myself- but He can, because His grace is sufficient, even when I am not.