Happy November 1st!

I'm beginning to see a pattern here at college: I start to see a weakness of mine, I see the "weakness" with greater and greater clarity until I realize that it is a huge hole, I am overwhelmed with my inability to fill the hole, and finally I run to God and in Him I find all the strength I need. This past week was no exception. It was a rough week. Not for any reason in particular. I was very lonely. When I looked around, it seems like the people here are starting to form really close friendships, and I haven't. Sure, I have friends. But not like my friends back home. Of course, these friends will never be just like my friends back home, and I realize that. I felt pressure to act certain ways in certain groups and I didn't feel comfortable enough to be myself. Most all of this was my fault; my pride and insecurity gets in the way of relationships. But God is merciful, and He forgives my sins. This past weekend He has provided some amazing opportunities. On Friday, a friend from California was out here to check out the school. It was so exciting to see someone from home. He brought me two packages from home containing popcorn and cookies and banana bread. Mmmmm. Yay for care packages from Mom. :) I got to show my friend around a little bit, and on Friday night his dad took me, Makishi and Brett Harris out to dinner. For those of you who don't know, Brett Harris along with his brother Alex have written a book to teen called Do Hard Things. They put together confrences around the world and are impacting the culture. They are doing some awesome things for God. It was such a neat opportunity to visit with my friend and learn what Brett and Alex are doing next. Since then more and more cool things have been happening. The father of another student from Southern Cali came out to visit and he brought In-In-Out for a bunch of us, and his mother sent me some pumpkin bread. :) I've watched good movies with good friends (and some not-so-good movies), worked as a porter at a funeral, and visited a corn maze (but being college students, most of us lacked sufficient funds so we just took lots of pictures). Tomorrow my roommates and I are going into DC to see the sights. And we don't have school until Wednesday! God is good. He has put some amazing people at this school and has given me some incredible opportunities. I can't wait to see what kind of lessons, friends and situations are in store for four years.

Until next week,

~Carissa