United we stand...

"Unity of the Spirit"; I have to say I've heard about the body of Christ, and everyone being a part but never really thought about it so much as today. In Chapel this morning Kenton spoke on it from 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Ephesians 4 and it kinda stayed with me all day and I figured I'd share some of my thoughts on it.

First, I thought it was a great topic to discuss at the beginning of the school year especially since we are all so close in proximity to each other, doing everything together and so forth. It is SO important to treat each other "with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love" (Eph 4:2). We are truly "one body and one Spirit..." (4:4) and believe in "one Lord, one faith...one God and Father of all..." (4:5-6). I mean, Christ died for ALL of us - we are all equally important to Him so shouldn't we be important to each other? If Christ loved us, as SINNERS, why can't we love each other, show respect to each other, forgive each other, now that we are all in this journey together, already forgiven by Christ!?!?!

It is so cool to be part of this body of Christians, all different but striving for the same goal; all here for the same reason and despite all our differences (whether we say eh or y'all, are from the North or South, come from private or public schools etc) we are all children of God - a FAMILY! I have been amazed and blessed already at the cool conversations we have had, some different points of view but all of us willing to listen and accept one another.

Today we started our cleaning assignments after lunch and it again just struck me how we were all working together in such a simple way but I just felt so connected. We were all serving, giving of ourselves, for the good of everyone around us. Being a body, a family, includes the little things too and I found joy in washing windows, organizing and vacuuming with my sisters and brothers.

Finally the passage in Corinthians speaks to the fact that we are walking in flesh but battle with weapons "divinely powered" (2 Cor. 10:4). It just reminded me that in our attempts to create unity, Satan will try to stop us; he will try to tear us apart so that we cannot function but with God's help "we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every though captive to the obedience of Christ" (10:5). This is so important because disunity can start with just one thought, one word and I pray that God keeps us together and develops lasting relationships with each other that we can serve him wholly this year.

So ya, I don't mean to preach but just to share some cool things I've been thinking about. If you all could pray with me on this, I'd appreciate it.

Loving you all!!!

Look! It's your relatives!

So today after church we all went out to Sidewinders for lunch and let me tell you! that place was awesome. It was kinda like a Boston Pizza with all the TVs and such but they actually have a big screen TV so....ya. Anyways, I bought this pretzel there with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni and it was SOOOO good. It was like soft pizza crust with cheese inside it, like TONS of cheese and my sisters would love it because it is like a pizza but no sauce! I couldn't even finish it! wow...I still can't get over how good they were!

After Sidewinders me and 3 others went up to the Teton National Park to "see wildlife". All we ended up seeing was a few birds, a chipmunk and then just as we were leaving, three deer. But we found this awesome creek/river thing that we are gonna hike tomorrow after class so stay tuned for that!

Oh and every time we saw Canadian geese, Heather would yell out "look it's your relatives!" I mean they were like have a family reunion down here! It's crazy, they must be all confused or something! haha But it is nice to see a little bit of home down here, oh not to mention the Tetons look so much like the Canadian Rockies I could imagine myself in Banff or something. How can you tell I'm homesick????

Hanging baskets, creaky attics and little kids

So everyone...I am finally at Jackson Hole Bible College. Let me tell you, Jackson ain't no HOLE! It's a bustling tourist city, a cross between Banff and Whistler. The campus is small but really cool and the people are awesome. I have laughed so much already today - don't get me wrong, I've cried too. Saying goodbye to my parents and Danae was a trial, still is actually so pray for me eh?

Some of you would be interested to know that I am staying in a bunkhouse...in the loft...in which I can barely stand in the center and have to crawl most the time. haha. At the moment I am boiling but I'm told the cold weather is coming so not to worry. One slightly freaky issue...the attic floor creaks and moves in some places and I'm a little worried about that...another issue: the hanging baskets outside the bunkhouse! I have almost bashed my head on the one, TWICE. Luckily I have reflexes of a MONGOOSE and can avoid them.

Finally I have to tell you all about the cute little kids running around. They are like 5 and under, blond and adorable. Right now they are singing as they 'help' my roommate set up her Christmas lights. Basically, they make me giggle, which is a good thing in this place so far from home.

I miss everyone so much already, but I'm getting more and more excited. I have a ton of textbooks and as I finish this post, I'm about to start the reading assignments. Sounds fun don't it?

On the road again...

Well, not much to talk about today. We drove through the Oregon High Desert for 7 hours with nothing really of interest except a few trees, some sage brush and the occasional “town” (more like a rundown station with a gas pump). Oh and for all you fans of Sisters, Oregon, we have fabulous news! We found Brothers, Oregon! Check it out!

Anyways, besides the High Desert (which is at an elevation of around 4500ft high which is high! - Abby is only 195ft in comparison!) we also entered into Idaho today. Sad event of the day: practically missed the welcome sign:

Oh, scary event of the day! We are driving along the highway coming up behind a semi with THREE trailers and we notice it wiggling and we're like, “whoa!”. Then as Dad goes to pass it, the wiggling on the last trailer gets worse and it is now rocking back and forth and waving across the lane. Dad stamps on the brakes as we watch the trailer rock off it's wheels on one side to the other and we're all sure it's going to topple right in the middle of the highway. Miraculously it rights itself and we boogie on past it. I'm telling you, my heart was racing and my muscles were all tight and I was just happy to be alive. Who knows what would have happened if it fell!

Idaho seems pretty much the same as Oregon just not quite as sage-brushy. Plus there are a lot more towns, I mean, real towns with populations above 1000. Mind you, we didn't camp NEAR any of these towns because, as per typical Styles, we find ourselves trekking 23 miles into the wilderness across a cattle guard, dodging cows and climbing up to 5000ft before we reach Fort Running Bear resort. There is seriously nothing out here except this campground. Just a whole lot of hillsides and a few lakes that apparently have good fishing. I have to say though, it is beautiful! But not beautiful enough! Tomorrow we cross the state and head into Wyoming! We'll be in Jackson within a 6 hour drive...ha!

The Oregon Trail

That's right! Just like the old computer game from Elementary school! I know you're all now imagining us fording rivers, stopping at trading posts and hunting our own meals but it really hasn't been quite that exciting.

Our first big river was actually the crossing into Oregon. We went from Vancouver WA, across a huge bridge into Portland Oregon! Then through that crazy town and into the wild lands. We trekked up Mt. Hood, over 5000ft and stopped at the top for lunch. The ski hill up there looked a little welfare and I don't know if I'd trust myself on that lift...for a second I thought we almost saw snow, it was FREEZING! On the way down we found ourselves staying pretty steadily at 3000ft and we arrived at the weirdest landscape. We were up high but it was flat like the prairies. The was no one around, it was like being on the moon! Very few trees and lots of sage grass.

The only wildlife we saw were the RV trailers: Cougars, Big Horns and Taigers (as Mom calls them. We then had to explain that no, it is pronounced tIger, not taiger or tigger). So hunting was out of the question. Instead we went to Papa Murphy's Pizza. Did you all, oh pardon me, y'all (we are in the States after all) know that it's like a Subway but for pizza!?!?!? Its crazy! We ate them tonight with only a slight mishap when the paper platter started burning...anyways, I got sidetracked. Where was I...ahhh yes, the Oregon trail, weird landscape...

So we came to a deep valley that kind of just pops out of nowhere in the tabletop prairie land and were welcomed cordially to Warm Springs. It was a pretty little town and the start of civilization. Back out of the valley we came to rich farmland where fields of barley, dill and onion were cultivated. The coolest part came as we drove across a HUGE bridge which spanned the Crooked River Gorge. And what a gorge it was! 300ft deep with signs warning that "many dogs have died here". We pulled a U-turn in the middle of the highway and turned back for a better look. I very much doubt our fellow travelers on the Oregon Trail years ago made it across that thing!!

Our last adventure of the day involved driving into the forest for 4 miles on a dirt road in search of the Lava Cast Forest. That was my idea and we never got there because Mom and Dad didn't really think bumping and crashing for another 5 miles was really good for our brand new trailer. So sadly, we will always be wondering what we missed, that is unless we stop in tomorrow and unhitch...I can always hope right?

Oh ya, the final funny was getting into Cascade Meadows...Danae saw a sign to turn left for Cascade Meadows but Dad kept going, following Maggie...she told we had arrived in the middle of the highway. We stopped there (Only in the middle of Oregon can you stop dead in the middle of the highway without bothering anyone-one lane too!) and looked to the left and there was the campground, all spread out and full of RVs. Of course, we had to pull another Looey.

But now we are here, full of chicken artichoke pizza and ready to drink tea and play a game. You're all jealous, I know! Well, goodnight! Tomorrow is the long haul to Idaho so it should be fun!

Oh ya, did I mention it's still FREEZING!