It's been an interesting ride..

I haven't blogged for a week! Last week was missions emphasis on campus at IWU.  Chris Heuertz (Word Made Flesh) was on campus for 3 days.  Monday, I went to the Globe (our campus' theatre) to watch Born Into Brothels, is a documentary which follows of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.  It deeply portrayed the hopelessness of a life in the brothels -- very sad.  This week two student organizations, Doulous and World Christian Fellowship, are highlighting specifically human trafficking.  T-shirts, bags, and journals are being sold to support anti-trafficking organizations, and special chapel speakers have been brought for Wednesday and Thursday.  Saturday night I went to the theatre with my friends Phillip and Jay to watch Taken:: The seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father, the retired agent Bryan Mills that left the secret service to stay near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart; she convinces the reluctant Bryan to sign an authorization to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When they arrive, they share a cab with the stranger Peter and Amanda tells to him that they are alone in Paris. When Bryan succeeds in contacting his daughter, she tells that criminals have just break in the spot and they are kidnapped by an Albanese gang of human trafficking. Bryan promises in the phone to kill the kidnapper of his daughter and immediately travels to Paris to find Kim and chase the criminals.  As opposed to Born Into Brothels, Taken really showed the evil of human-trafficking, and both really showed a dark evil.  Taken made it look very scary.  Very unfortunately for India, female tourists are not safe from abduction and forced sex slavery, while in Cambodia, though trafficking is very prevalent, there is little-to-no risk for "tourists" such as myself.

Also on Saturday [Valentine's Day], my friend Josh Koontz was married to the beautiful Susan Adams.  It was a wedding unlike any I have been to, because it was in the IN Capitol Building, but it was very nice.  Josh, Jessie, and I have only been good friends for maybe 4 years, but we have done a lot together.  We met at camp, when he was a district youth pastor.  Somehow, Jessie and I never managed to have youth pastors at camp so we connected with Josh and a few others.  We had his youth group convinced or an entire weekend that we were triplets.  RIDICULOUS. 

After the wedding, Jessie and I joined Mom & Dad we visited Joni and Leah.  That baby is growing so fast, I cannot believe it.  She will be crawling so soon!  We left Joni's before 7 and stopped for dinner at Chick-fil-A (yum yum!)  The whole restaurant was covered in  red, pink, and white balloons.  There were 2 waiters in suits to seat us after we placed our orders, and they gave every girl a carnation.  The tables had red table cloths, and there were roses in vases on each table, and doilies and little paper hearts.  It was so cute!  As we were finishing up, another waitor brought out free dessert!  Meanwhile, the "eat mor chikin" cow was roaming around in a suit as well, taking pictures with children.  It was hilarious!

This week we have mid-terms, which means tomorrow is my last day of badminton class!  I intend to continue going to the gym each Tuesday and Thursday morning, but it will be hard to not stay in bed, because I won't have class until 12:05.  I'm pretty busy, but not too stressed yet.  I'm realizing that I am halfway through my second year of college, which means I am almost halfway through college!  Wowie.

Yesterday, I had lunch with my friend Bonaventure.  He is a funny guy!  He is so interesting too.  He is a refugee from Rwanda, and I believe he spent most of his youth fleeing for safety, from whatever and whomever.  After dinner we were both headed to the library, and Bonaventure showed me "his office" - a desk and end table he has claimed in the corner of the 24-hour study lounge.  He leaves his books, laptop, and study material on this desk 24/7, haha!  He is a nursing major, and keeps very busy, studying very hard.  I laughed and said, "Bona, all you need is a coffee pot!"  Well lo-and-behold, he scattered a pile of books, and uncovered a coffee warmer!