WOW!!! GOD IS GOOD!!!!: An Update on the Status of the Trip!!!

Greetings from Atlanta,

I just wanted to update everyone on the status of my trip. Currently, I am still at home in Atlanta waiting for the trip. We are inching ever closer to our September 2nd departure and as it stands right now, we are currently less than a week away from our trip.

A few big things have happened since my last note. The leader of the group, Dr. Terry Edwards, from Freed-Hardeman University, had open heart surgery a few days ago. This surgery was a surprise to everyone and was a last minute thing placed upon Dr. Edwards. Therefore, Dr. Edwards could no longer go on the trip with us. This was scary because the trip was kinda up in the air for a bit. However, another Professor from Freed decided to step up and take his place. Dr. Edwards son, Jonathan, has currently filled the rest of the position of being in charge of the trip while the new Professor from Freed will be doing the teaching. Dr. Edwards is doing fine from all reports. He is gaining strength everyday and is currently resting at home comfortably. Meanwhile, Jonathan left yesterday to set everything up for us in Italy. He should be arriving some time today. Please pray for his safe travel.

WHERE WE WILL BE LIVING

I also now have an address for you to reach us via snail-mail if you so choose. The location we are staying at is:

Hotel Sobaria
Via Dela Pineta 2
06010 Citerna (PG)
ITALY

Below are some more pictures of Citerna and Where I will be staying.

The following link will lead you to a video that will let you see what the hotel is like. The video is of a dance class that is happening at Hotel Sobaria and lets you see some of the great sites we will be seeing in our new hometown of CITERNA.



ANNOUNCING MY USTREAM WEBCAST
We are getting more and more excited every day about this trip. I hope that all of you will keep checking this blog often for updates from me as we go on this journey of a lifetime. However, I also will have a webcast on USTREAM.TV while we are in Europe called the FCU/FHU STUDY ABROAD CONNECTION. This webcast will serve as a means of communicating back to the states so we do not spend money talking on the phone. It also provides parents, family, and friends another means of communicating with their loved ones while they are in Italy.

If you look under the section called “links” on the right of this screen, you will see a link that leads to our webcast. All you have to do is log in and get an account with USTREAM (WHICH IS FREE!!!!) and you can chat with us via the computer. Each show will have a chatroom available that my fellow travelers and I will be able to see. You can ask us questions, send messages to us and hear stories of our travels and studies. Our goal is to try to webcast some of our devotionals over the internet. Thirty minutes before and after our devotional, I will allow my fellow travelers to get on the camara and talk to people that are online if they wish. That way, if they would like to set up a time with some people back home to meet up on the site, they will be able to chat with them for a few minuets and communicate with there loved ones. If you have any questions about the webcast, let me know. There is no definitive scheduale yet on when we will brodcast but we will have an idea when we finally get to Citerna.

LEAH MOSS: ITALY EXPLORER

Furthermore, I am also going to put a link to Leah Moss' blog ITALY EXPLORER on the right hand of the screen as well.. Leah is one of my best friends and she will be blogging during the trip as well. This way, you all will have more than one point of view of what is going on during our trip.

You can also click here to go to her blog.


That's all for now. I will probably update again before the trip with a list of stuff that I packed so future generations of Study Abroad students can learn from my mistakes and triumphs and with more information as it comes along. I hope all is well where you are.


Love and peace be to you all,
In and because of Him,

Συνέκδημος υμων



P.s. I just got the news today that I will be blogging on two blogs. My blog that you are currently viewing, and the official Faulkner and Freed-Hardeman Study Abroad blog. This blog will be the some/what official record of our trip. Click HERE to check out the new blog. You can also click the link on the right hand side of the screen.
KC

WOW..... DID I DROP THE BALL OR WHAT!?!?!?! : An Apology

Greetings from the ATL,

I hope that this post finds you all well.

As we all know, Summer is over and I really dropped the ball on keeping everyone updated on what happened in Florida. I apologize and hope that will not happen again while I am in Italy. I hope that you all will keep looking on this blog as I travel on what promises to be a journey of a lifetime. Please pray as I make preparations to leave the states. Here is the latest news on the trip.

Officially, we have 13 days till departure. I know my countdown clock on the right hand side says 12 but we have been pushed back a day due to some unforeseen events. We are officially leaving on Tuesday, September 2nd. Funny enough though is the fact that I will not be traveling with the group over to Italy but will be meeting them there thanks to my father's free flight privileges that pass down to any dependents under the age of 23. My flight will leave at about 4:35 PM on the 2nd and will touch down in Rome about 8:25 AM on the 3rd. The crew from Faulkner will have a much longer day ahead of them starting out about 6:30 AM. They will be flying on Northwest and will be flying from Montgomery, AL., to Memphis, TN., to Detriot, MI., to Amsterdam, The Netherlands and finally to Rome, Italy. I will be arriving an Hour and a half earlier than them and will be meeting Dr. Edwards, the man in charge of the whole trip that is affiliated with Freed-Hardman University in the Rome Airport. The Faulkner group will be flying for 26 Straight hours so please pray for them.

Officially, the count is going to be 55 people on the trip (if you include both Freed and Faulkner). Currently, Faulkner has just started their classes on the Montgomery Campus yesterday. I was there for Freshman Expierence as a mentor but since I have no classes to take on campus, I have no place to stay on campus. Since I will be leaving from Atlanta, I decided to stay with my parents at my home near Atlanta. I am begining to pack up things and making my list on what to take.

Now I do admit that I can pack to much stuff so this craziness of packing light is all new to me. I am praying that I will be packing light enough so I do not kill myself trying to lug too much around on my travels. I am also learning and researching how not to dress like a tourist. The handbook that the students going on the trip received speaks plainly on how dangerous it is to travel around dressed like a tourist because people will treat you differently and can also target you easier for pickpocketing and scams. This is a new concept for me but I am learning quickly.

Another thing I am learning is how to pack under limits for flight. This part is tough because we have to pack enough clothes to live on, enough stuff for our studies, some textbooks for some of our classes and much more. It gets crazy and the littlest things seem to put you over weight sometimes. I know I will just have to figure it all out. Pray that we succeed.

I'll keep you posted on more as I hear it. Pray as we make final preparations for my journey. Love yall and take care

Love and peace to you all,
In and because of Him,

Συνέκδημος υμων


P.S. Please be sure to check out the new web cast on UStream. The group and I will be streaming live a few nights a week so we can communicate back to the states via Web cam and we will also have some of our devos streaming as well. A more definitive schedule will be out soon. The link is on the right hand of your screen. Thanks.


KC

Week 1- Moving Down: Beach Balls, Rubber Bands, Brush Fires, Printer Ink and Getting Things Done.

Hey family,

Sorry it took me so long to write. I’ve been extremely busy trying to keep up with things down here. Honestly, it has been a bit crazier ride than I thought it would be. Nevertheless, I am optimistic and keep doing the best I can.

So far, I have been here for 12 days. It seems like I just got here a few days ago but time flies when you are having fun. Allow me to catch yall up on what has happened so far:

MOVING DOWN:
May 8th, I moved down to Satellite Beach, FL. This area is in a region called the Space Coast because we are right next to Kennedy Space Center, where they launch rockets and people into outer space. It is a beautiful area. It was an eight and a half hour drive. Probably the longest drive in my whole life. (To be perfectly honest, I am dreading the drive back already.) It was a boring drive because I was driving by my self. I had no one to talk to and it was just me and the road. I used that time to talk to God about the summer and pray that I will be able to help the teens I will be working with this summer and that I do not loose my passion for Ministry. I knew I was officially in Florida when I saw an alligator, lying on its back with all four legs up in the air in the middle of the interstate, dead as a doornail from being hit by a car or large vehicle. Where else can you have such exotic, and extremely large road kill????

After the marathon drive down, I finally made it to my new home. I am living with my old roommate and one of my closest brother in the faith C.J. Salie and his family in a city called Melbourne. It is about 10 min away from Satellite Beach and is a thriving town. When I arrived at about 7:00 pm, we went ahead and unloaded all of my luggage and moved it inside to the guest room. Then we went to Satellite and to the Church of Christ at Oceanside, my new church home for the next 12 weeks. We went and offloaded my extremely large library, my tools and research, and my teaching tools that I will be using for the few months. If you would like to see a video tour of Oceanside Church, please go to my video blog on Youtube, coming soon.

The next few days, I just hung out with the teens and with C.J. and got to know the area.

BEACH BALLS:
However, on Saturday, I took my first actions as a youth intern. If you did not know, there is not a youth minister at Oceanside. Only elders, deacons, and an evangelist. Therefore, I am going to be the acting Youth Minister for the summer. It is somewhat scary that I have to do the job, however, I have learned if I rely on the members of the church and on my church family, I will
get done what needs to get done. But I digress.

Like I said, Saturday the 10th was when I made my first group action as a youth minister. That
day was my first devotional. Moreover, It was my first Moceanside devo. allow me to explain this term. In the area, there is about six congregations of the Lord’s family. The closest one to Oceanside is called Melbourne Church of Christ. It is a thriving congregation of 200+ and is about 20 min. away from Oceanside. There is a very strong bond between the youth groups of both congregations. Many of the Melbourne teens come to Oceanside events and vice versa. Every 2nd Saturday of the month, the congregations take turns hosting a joint devo with both groups at the respective congregation’s church building. The kids started to call it Moceanside Devos because of the use of both names and it has stuck ever since.

Well, it was Oceanside turn to run the devo. I wanted to make a good impression on the Melbourne kids so I prepared a great devotional about Ephesians 4:11-16:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

I am a huge fan of object lessons. Christ used worldly objects to teach Heavenly Truths all the time. Although Jesus is so much better at this than I am, I decided to give it a try. I compared these verses to a Beach Ball. If you want to see it, I have it on video. Just head over to YouTube and look for one called BEACH BALL FAITH. We had the devo on the beach by the way. It was AMAZING.

Sunday the 11th was easy going. I went to church and they announced my arrival and a few events on the calendar that the Elders and I already worked together to plan. That night, after the devo, I took some of the teens to see a movie and we called it a night because a lot of the teens had school the next morning.

MONDAY –FRIDAY:

Monday was my first day working at the building. For my internship, I have to have office hours to get credit. I’m at the building everyday Mon-Fri from 9 AM – 2:30 PM. I had already moved into the office so I did not really have to set up much. C.J. came to the building with me to help out with some projects I needed to get done. The whole week was dedicated to making a notebook for the parent’s to have at the Parent meeting I set up on Sunday. Below are some pictures of what it looked like and what it had in it. It was full of information about the summer, about me, and about my ideas on youth ministry (Thank you Kyle Cantrell for the idea). It turned out really cool. However, I had to by a lot of ink for my printer because I printed a lot of it in color and they do not have a color copier. I have never used this much ink in my life. I hope that this is not how it will be the whole time I am down here.





While at the office, I am also trying to keep up with Greek. I am currently translating a picture of the plaque at Mars Hill that has the whole Sermon of Paul on Mars Hill. It is truly a masterpiece of excellence in Logic and Eloquence. I am also taking an online class in Psychology. I have to take it so I can take more classes at Faulkner next year.

I also took the time to check up on some of the Teens in Palm Bay area. If you did not see on the news, I am about 15 miles from the Brush Fires in Florida. I am not in any danger but please pray for the 165 families who no longer have homes. A lot of my teens had to evacuate their homes because of it. We are safe, but continue to pray for us as we are still helping those who need it.

Wednesday Nights, I have to teach the teen class. Currently, we are studying something that I have been working on in my own life: SPIRITUAL MATURITY. The object of Youth and Family ministry is to make spiritually self-reliant, mature Christian Adults. Therefore, we are studying the differences of immature faith and mature faith. As Christians, we mature in spiritually much like we mature physically, mentally, and emotionally. It takes time, hard work, and patience while the Spirit works within us. Pray for me as I lead this class that the teens will take it to heart and learn more about what we have to do to mature in faith.

RUBBER BANDS:
Every Saturday night, the youth group has a devotional. Very rarely do they not have a devotional meaning I am always having to think up new devotionals and help plan food and activities and such. This past week, the devotional was at the home of John Branard, one of the Elders of the church. He and his wife opened up their home to me and a shocking 24 teens at the devotional. It seems like the teens are really getting excited about me being here. They really have been inviting friends from Melbourne church and from other areas to come and be apart of our youth group.

That night, I talked about rubber bands and how they are like relationships. I had them all stand in a circle and I passed them all one rubber band. I told them to hold their rubber band in their right index finger and to hook their other index finger in the rubber band of the person to their left to make a circle. I told them to take a few steps back until all the rubber bands were about to break. Their was a lot of tension in the circle. Then I told them to come back in a bit and we discussed how relationships have tension sometimes. Nevertheless, we should acknowledge the tension and come back together to make the relationship stronger. If you want me to send it to you just ask. It ended

That is what I have been up too. I can see a lot of spiritual growth happening and we have not even started the summer yet. I am getting closer to the members and teens down here in Florida. I love how they always want to spend time together as a group and fellowship with one another. It is a true blessing to be apart of the family of God, is it not????


Please be keeping me in your prayers as I am working for the kingdom. I hope this note finds you all well and in the service of the King. If you need anything, please let me know. I am in constant prayer for you all. It is pleasure to be your servant and brother in Christ.

Love and peace to you all,
In and because of Him,
Your servant,
Συνέκδημος υμων

SOOOOOOOOOO..... Family rocks and I decided to make some changes!!!

Greetings,

Soooooooooo... if you did not know, I am back in Peachtree City for a bit. It's been a crazy ride so far trying to get back home and trying to pack everything for my internship in Florida. I have been trying to get things done but it has been really hard due to the lack of sleep. Just be praying for me.

Like I said, I am back at home. There is no place like home. Especially the people at home. I got home last saturday morning at about 12:30. On Sunday, I went to one of the congregations in the area called Fayetteville Church of Christ. As soon as I walked in through the door, I was bombarded by most of the members with well wishes and congratulations. Unknowingly, my mom, in her pride in my accomplishements as her son, decided she would tell everyone about my job in Florida and the award I recieved for the semester I spent studying Greek. I had no idea how many people would come up to me before and after services. It was a good feeling. Even the preacher, Jeff Wilder, spoke well of me in the pulpit. I was touched that my spiritual family was so welcoming and supportive of my ventures in this life.

While talking with Jeff, he asked if I would be able to write a newsletter every few weeks to keep everyone updated on what I am doing down in Satellite Beach. So I decided I would use this blog for that as well. I will be sending out the blog to everyone that wants to keep up with my journies in Youth and Family Ministry and My journies abroad. That way, I do not have a blog that will just sit idly by until september.

I love you all and will miss you dearly. I can not wait until I move down. I will keep everyone posted on my progress.


Love and peace to you all.
In and because of Him,
Συνέκδημος υμων

HOME SWEET HOME!!!! (Well, at least for the fall.)

I hope this finds you all well.

I am still in the states. I forgot to tell you all that I will not leave untill September 1st and will be there until November. We just had the last meeting with Dr. Jewel and Dr. Hicks (male) before we leave for the summer break. We got a whole lot of new information. Such as the place we will be staying for three months. I would like to welcome you to HOTEL SOBARIA!!!

This will be our home. I am getting really excited. God is good. Love yall and I'll keep you posted as I prepare to go. Love yall.

Συνέκδημος υμων

Welcome!!!

To my friends and family,

This blog is for you. If you did not know, I am headed to Europe for a Study Abroad semester with Faulkner in Italy. I will have so many wonderful things to expierence and tell you about that I decided the best way to share it would be by a blog.

The name of the blog is Greek for Journey (If you know me, I love to study Greek so it just fit). This trip will be an expierence of a lifetime. Something that I will never forget. I just know that so many people will worry or wonder about me while in Europe so I created this blog to tell you of my expierences and travels in a foriegn land. As the clock to the right runs down, I will keep you posted on my preperations to leave and when I do get to Europe, I will try everytime I can to post video, pictures, and updates on my journey until I reach home. And of course, yall knowing that I am a Bible major, I will have a few posts of devos and such.



Throughout the Bible, God's has sent people to foreign lands to do His will. Many times they questioned God and ask Him why or come up with Excuses. Look at Moses. He came up with so many excuses to not be sent that it is not even funny. However, God answered every one of his excuses by reminding Moses who He is: THE I AM.

Everyday, we pass by burning bushes. We see things that shows the glory of God and just do nothing. This trip is my burning bush. Do not fear. Trust in God and what He wants you to do. He will provide you with everything.

More to come. Love yall and stay real
In Him,
KC