The taste of community...

Going to Kenya is financially a steep adventure, as I mentioned in previous posts. Currently I have over 56% of my support raised and I am still in need of $2,104. God has been showing up in the most amazing ways. Perhaps one of the coolest things about my Nairobi internship is sharing my preparations with the ACC community. I have yet to feel like I am alone in preparing to serve in Africa. Instead I feel like I have an entire campus supporting my efforts. My professors have demonstrated their interest in my summer plans. Furthermore, my fellow students have begun to partake in journeying with me in this experience. Everyday I am stopped by a variety of people who are interested in hearing about how my support is coming. One day I was given an anonymous financial gift. Another day I was stopped for some prayer. Today I was given African flashcards from a sister in Christ. Additionally, the coffee shop on campus, McKinney's, has been gracious in allowing me to sell homemade muffins, with all proceeds going to Kenya. The donations I am receiving for my muffins far exceed my asking price. I am living in such a generous community.

You will hear a lot about community at ACC. It is at the center of everything we do. This years theme on campus has been, "Living in a transforming community." We hear about that concept a lot between classes and chapels. I do not think there could have been a more appropriate focus for the campus this year. This school year has transformed me, which adds to the greater transformation of the whole ACC community.

So come here and expect some changes within yourself. You will find yourself surrounded by a community that will love you, support you, and buy your muffins so you can go halfway around the world.

P.S. This is our last week of regular classes before finals. Caffeine consumption is at an all time high. Stay tuned for the crash following.

Some teacher appreciation...

I came to visit ACC last March during my spring break. I left Philadelphia, where it was 22 degrees, in a sweater and winter coat. I got off the plane in Atlanta, where it was 70 degrees. I almost had a heat stroke.

Perhaps one of the most significant things I remember from my campus visit was my admissions officer telling me about the student/professor relationships. My guide informed me how different our professor are from most; they are drastically involved in the lives of their students. This concept stuck in my mind because it was not the case at my community college.

I am here a year later to report this is in fact TRUE. The relationships you will establish with your professors at ACC will be amazing. At my previous college, adjuncts were the majority of the teacher staff. Therefore, none of my professors had office hours nor were they willing to meet with me outside of the classroom. I could not have discovered a farther opposite here. ACC professors make themselves available to you. And perhaps more importantly than that, they genuinely care about the details of your life. Just on Friday I had two professors (who's classes I am not even taking) ask me about my fund raising for Kenya. Another professor asked me to meet him in his office; when I got there he encouraged me about my summer and prayed over my plans to serve in Nairobi.

The student/professor relationships. It is something to consider before you spend a significant amount of money on your education. You will get everything you need here from the ACC faculty and you will get more. You will find yourself mentored by the Godly men and women who lead this campus. And if you don't find this to be true once you come here (and I know this post has persuaded you to)... I will buy you a muffin and explain this in another post!

Soroity Retreat and Spring Formal '08!

Hey guys!
This past weekend was slammed packed! This past Friday the sorority on campus had a retreat! We camped out and had so much fun. The sorority is called Sigma Alpha Omega and it is a Christian Sorority. It has allowed me to become best friends with girls I otherwise wouldn't have. The sorority is so much fun and a great opportunity for girls to get more involved on campus and in the community with other women of Christ. Also this weekend was Spring Formal. It was so much fun. My friends and I got to get all dressed up and go out with our dates and just have fun. We got to dance and relax with classmates and teachers. The teachers had just as much fun as we did I believe. It was a lot of fun and a good rest from all the papers and tests we are having in the end of the semester.
Overall it was a very fun weekend!!! :)

Who Am I?

Hi! My name is Nicole. I am a sophomore here at Atlanta Christian College and I'm working toward a Bachelor of Arts in Business. I'm involved in a couple of things here at ACC. I am part of a team for Sunday Nights service. Also I'm the social chair of the sorority, Sigma Alpha Omega, on campus. It is a lot of fun and basically I just plan and execute all social activities for the sorority. Some different socials we have done are pumpkin carving, valentine outing, Braves game, and other fun things! Here's a photo from when we went to the Braves game last season. But with just those two things it may not seem that I'm not that busy but I am. With those two things, plus trying to handle classes and to not be a hermit around campus my life here at ACC can get quite busy at times. Especially these next couple of weeks because papers, projects, and different homework assignments keep coming up. I also have the sorority retreat and the school formal this weekend. Next weekend I have the sorority formal which I am so excited about! I just pray that I can make it to finals in the beginning of May...Hope you guys are doing great:)

write to you soon,

nicole

What is up...

Food. It is an important aspect of your higher education. It is a fact of life that when you come to college, you are going to miss home cooked meals. Sometimes a fun game to play during lunch or dinner is... "What would I rather be eating?" I have found our cafeteria excels on a few particular dishes. I also give them a lot of credit for trying new things and being open to new suggestions from students. My absolute favorite meal is the meatloaf. Meatloaf day is like winning the lottery for me, perhaps because it actually tastes like home. I wish everyday was meatloaf day here at ACC...

Outside of the cafeteria, the campus is beginning to feel the effects of the end of the semester. Papers, tests, and projects are piling up. We are all feeling a little bit more ragged. Personally speaking, I find myself staying in bed a little bit longer and sporting the pajamas a little bit more in my morning classes. Despite being excited for the end of this semester, I do not feel quite ready to leave for summer yet. I have grown so accustomed to being here. Additionally, I know my summer in Kenya is going to change me in immense ways. I most likely will not return to ACC as the same person that left in May. As I normally ask, please be praying for my trip. I have a financial deadline this Friday, and I am still in need of $1,664 in order to meet it.

Also, I wanted to point out that today is "Look up at the sky day." Well just because... that's whatsup.

Just Bloggin

So, we can definitely tell that it is beginning to be spring time around campus. Not only is the weather warming up, the birds coming out to sing, and the pollen painting everything yellow, but everybody is starting to come outside. For the past week, every time I have thought about just sitting in my room for the afternoon and taking a nap or getting some projects done, I have just stepped right outside my door to find a lot of people in the yard. All of the girls bring their blankets, books and music out there and study or chat. But the guys go out there to have a different kind of fun. We throw footballs, Frisbee, play golf (using different objects around campus as "holes"), play freeze tag and pretty much just anything else you can thing off. The best part is that none of these activities are planned, everything just happens on random, it is great. I have never played golf before today, but my roommates brought out some clubs and balls and we played. I almost drilled Katie with the ball, pretty fun, I think she was upset.
People are just constantly doing things around campus. This past weekend we had out first ever Global Missions Conference which turned out a whole lot better than I though it would. I was part of the team who was planning the event and with all of the rain that came in, I thought our whole weekend would be ruined. But we worked stuff out and ACC people and students from other schools stilled made it a fun event. Plus we got to hear some pretty cool speakers and learn about missions. I also got to catch up with some old friends who go to the University of West Georgia, so it was a fun time.
Also, Dr. Billy Strother, the Preaching Professor of ACC, preached in chapel this morning. I have taken 2 of his classes and he told us to make sure and grade him the same way he grades us when we have to preach in his class. He broke a few of his own rules, but he will just say it is okay to break a rule when he knows what he is doing. I can't wait til Friday. The thing about Dr. (Bow tie) Billy is that the week of finals last semester, he was involved in a motorcycle accident and almost lost his leg, he almost lost his life. He could have just spent this whole semester sitting at home in his wheel chair, enjoying the injury pay, and just feeling sorry for himself, waiting to walk again one day. But no, Dr. Billy gets up, and with the assistance of his wife, Mrs. Carol, she dresses him, loads him in the truck, and takes care of him all day, everyday. She helps unload him at school and he spend every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings teaching classes. He actually has another surgery coming up that will bring him closer to walking so please pray for him. But his whole sermon was about playing hurt, how everyone is hurt in some way and we must be sensitive to this. It was a very good and inspirational sermon. It will probably be available on the ACC podcast.
With only 4 weeks left of classes, I am ready to get out but at the same time, I do not want it to end because I will be in England all next semester. So, I guess I will just have to make the best of times.

Matthew 18:3 & 28:19...

Greetings from what should be called Hotlanta. Instead, we have cold, dark, and rainy Atlanta today. As mentioned last week, we had the Global Missions Conference at school this weekend, with missionaries from all over the globe flying in to speak to us. Friday night and Saturday morning we had students from Georgia Tech, Auburn, and Georgia State come for the seminars, so the campus was pretty packed out. Doug Kallestad and his wife are missionaries in Chile through CMF, the organization I'm going to Africa with. They shared with us how they were called into ministry and what our role should be in global missions. Outside of the seminars, we had other fun events going on. Friday included some Guitar Hero action, some Wii action, a bonfire, and a fun Open Mic Night in McKinney's following the service. Overall, the weekend was just another reminder of what the hands and feet of Jesus can look like around the world. Plus, when else am I going to see some fellow classmates perform "Gangsta's Paradise" on an acoustic guitar?

Furthermore, ACC never ceases to surprise me. You know how Jesus talks about becoming like the little children in Matthew 18? We take that seriously here at ACC! For example, this year our fall Freshmen and Transfer student orientation was hosted at Chuck-E-Cheese's. I witnessed Mr. Huxford, ACC's Vice President for Student Development, take a spin on a few rides over orientation. It was a priceless moment in my college experience. However, last night may have raised the bar. The Sunday Nights team hosted... SPAM night! Events included: a Spam eating contest, a Spam parable carving challenge, a Spam taste test, and a Spam tower building contest (using only toothpicks). Ok, I'll admit, I couldn't bring myself to touch the stuff. But I loved every minute of watching other people do it!

In one weekend: Global missions, "Gangsta's Paradise," and Spam. I'm never leaving college.