True Love

Last Wednesday we did a group tour in admissions for a church choir visiting from Georgia. I'll be honest I only signed up for the tour because there was free pizza involved and me being a poor college student will sign up if there is anything free offered especially food. To my surprise they were the probably the coolest sixty people I've had the opportunity to meet working in admissions. Before we went out on the tour they sang for us and if I could sing half as well as they do I'd be a happy camper. After we got off of work a few of us went and hung out with them at the volleyball courts.
Quite the competitive bunch.
Unlike the majority of the people I hang out with I've never been to Bible camp or youth group before so this was a good way to figure out what I have missed out on. Betsey, the choir director, invited us to do their devotions with them. They sang a couple of songs and then they put two seniors in the center of the group and told them affirmations. I thought they were going to be silly things like "you're pretty" or "you're nice" and they did say that but they went beyond that. They were so unbelievable honest and nice I wanted to cry and I barely knew any of them.


Kaylyn and our new friend Carl

Whitney

Future Sailfish **whoot whoot** Maggie

P.S here is a funny picture of Jamie

There is no denying it... I am blessed!

I have this any way friend named Hilary (an any way friend is a friend where you can say anything and do anything and they will love you any way) who is from Ana Maria Island which is on the opposite coast of Florida that I miss every day. Hilary told me she was going to come on Friday at 1 am because she had to do some stuff at home and me being the worry wart told her to wait until Saturday morning. Hilary, being the stubborn one, says no that she'll just come at 1 in the morning.

Leta and I where laying in bed Friday night watching mind blowing episodes of Grey's Anatomy on Hulu and Leta just shoots up and runs out of the room. I was very confused and when I asked where she was going because I could hear the front door open she yelled Kaylyn is here. Kaylyn coming over is a pretty usual thing so I just sat in bed and waited for them to come back. As I'm sitting there in walks Hilary! At 8:45 pm! I didn't know what to do. I kinda just screamed a little bit and hugged her and cried. We spent the night eating ice cream and watching mind blowing episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

Saturday we spent the day at the beach and eating Chipotle. At 7 Leta, Jordan, Robbie and I went to a marriage conference in Boca where Kirk Cameron was spoke and Warren Barfield performed. If you are wondering why four single college students went to a marriage conference it's because we want to get it right the first time. We not only learned a ton about having a healthy marriage but we got to meet Warren Barfield and Kirk Cameron.

Robbie, Kirk Cameron, Jordan and Leta

Robbie, Warren Barfield, and Jordan

Fun fact: one of the leading causes of divorce is people connecting/having affairs with old flames/new flames through FACEBOOK!

Sunday was night of worship at The Ascent, this is where there isn't a message just straight worship. They really tried to use all kinds of worship so there was a woman who was saying verses kind of like a monologue, a woman painting, a man who rapped and then The Ascent worship band. It is a truly amazing feeling standing in the theater with all this going on around you and being with so many people who are all worshiping God.

This is the picture that the woman painted. It only took her about 2 and 1/2 songs to paint it.

Tonight was another successful night of worship in the boys room. We had more people show up that was very exciting. What I love about going is I not only get to hear good music and worship God but I find out that people are feeling and experiencing the same feelings I am during the week.
Arno, Matt, Tyler and Robbie playing music for us

**We do a night of worship every Monday at 8:00pm in Towers 110 please come!

Best Cookies Ever!

Tuesday night we went to J1ten, an event Christ Fellowship puts on. The worship was great and the message was even better. We were told that our hearts matter more than our outside appearance and that we should have peace with ourselves and be confident (not arrogant). Afterwards I talked to Andy about the 30,000 shoes for Haiti and Jamaica. I have decided it will be 30,000 PLUS **hint hint to everyone out there with shoes**

After J1ten Jordan and I made cookies using is mother's recipe. You have never tasted chocolate chip cookies until you have tasted these. They are like the best things you have ever eaten wrapped up in one thing. While they were cooking Leta took the liberty of beating all the boys at video games

Leta and Robbie playing a fighting game

Cookies!
Looks like someone stole one of Leta's cookies

Night of Worship

Yesterday was our first night of worship. Robbie, Matt and Tyler played and the rest of us just sat and listen or sang. It was pretty nice just sitting and listening and then we were able to talk about what different songs reminded us about or what had happened in the past week.

Afterwards we all piled into Jordan's car and went to Mcdonalds.Tyler and the drive thru menu

Bible Study, Badminton and the Beach

There is so much to say! Where to begin? Last night was the first meeting for a Bible study that Christ Fellowship is having at PBA this summer. It is called Sacred Roads and we are basically just going to go over what it means to be a disciple and how people have been a disciple through history.

We started with a BBQ and some badminton. Unfortunately, Robbie and I lost.

One of the people at the Bible study, Blake, is going to school to be a photographer and he took our picture.

Afterwards we started talking about giving our four legged lambs instead of three legged lambs. This means instead of giving our left overs or stuff we don't want any more we need to start giving our very best. Andy Glass (he works for Christ fellowship) told me about this pastor that is collecting 30,000 shoes to bring to Haiti and Jamaica. We decided that we would start collecting sneakers, even though it will probably only be a drop in the bucket those drops add up! **hint,hint for everyone out there with sneakers that are in good/decent condition :)**

This morning we went to Clarke Beach to watch the sunrise and worship. There seriously isn't a better way to start your day. Side note you maybe wondering why we go to Clarke Beach. It is because there is free parking.

Robbie and Jordan at o'dark thirty worshipping on the beach

The only thing to do at 7:00 in the morning on a Friday is to make chocolate chip pancakes. This was my first time making them and with supervision from Kaylyn I think they turned out well. No one died and everyone asked for seconds so I would call it successful.

Peanut Island and a Baptism

The guys planned a trip for us all to kayak to Peanut Island on Saturday. We rented the kayaks from the Greene Complex at PBA and the guys were in charge of putting them on top of the car. Unfortunately, the way they tied them stopped the door from being able to open. Which meant that we all had to climb through the window. Climbing through windows at 7:00 am really makes the rest of the day more interesting.

This is our friend Kathleen climbing on Robbie's back


Robbie got baptized on Sunday at Clarke Beach!!!! The entire group plus Robbie's family from Ohio came out to support him. There really isn't a way to describe a baptism but it was absolutely amazing.


Clarke beach...PBA students live where other people vacation :)



Robbie right before he was baptized

This is the group from left to right it is Alaska, me, Jordan, Robbie, Kaylyn and Leta


Robbie and his family decided to have a little fun with a water balloon launcher at the get together in Towers afterwards

Homless Feeding

Last night we all went down to Clematis St. to do a homeless feeding with a group called Art and Compassion. I've been to a couple of things like this before where we gave them a cheeseburger or a piece of chicken but this one was different because we gave them a loaf of bread and other foods that they could use throughout the week. The people that work with Art and Compassion were extremely lively and would randomly start dancing. Come to find out some of the volunteers that handed out food were homeless themselves. Jordan and I got to talking to this guy named Jim. He is the one who delivers all of the food to the site on Clematis. Jim told us about his son Harrison who is a marine and how at one point he was also a marine. He told us about how he felt when he came back from war and how he was so proud of his son and the other troops that were doing such a courageous thing. What I'm learning a lot now is that some people just need to talk, homeless or not.
This is a picture of closing prayer for Art and Compassion.





A.K

Welcome to The Palm

My name is Alli and I'm going to be a sophomore this upcoming year. When I came to PBA almost a year ago I was nervous. Not because I didn't know any one or I thought I picked the wrong school but because I was leaving the places I know. My goal with this blog is to tell you guys about things you can do on the weekends here in West Palm Beach so you won't have the same nerves I had.

I'm currently living in Towers on the third floor with two girls Leta who is from Kentucky and Szilvi who is from Hungary. We spend most of our time with the girls we work with in admissions and some guys who live on the first floor. The guys are Robbie who is from Ohio, Jordan who is from Pennsylvania and Alaska who ironically is from Colorado


Last Night (Tuesday night):

The guys cooked dinner for the first time and surprisingly they did not burn the building down and the meal (Mexican lasagna) was tasty. After that we decided an intense came of apples to apples was needed. What you'll come to find out about PBA is apples to apples is the game everyone plays and it gets really competitive. When it is Jordan's turn to pick the card he takes 20 minutes reviewing all his options and why each card should or should not be the winner. One of these 20 minute reviews ended up in him throwing the card to Robbie which happened to hit me right in the eye. It was so funny I didn't even realize it hurt.

A. K