Orientation Days 2, 3, and 4

[This was written last night, but the internet on my laptop was not cooperating....my first class is in about 45 minutes!]
So…Orientation is over, and classes start tomorrow! That means now is my last chance to catch you all up on the events of the last three days :D.

SUNDAY – Orientation Day 2
We started off with each O group going to a church together. Daniel, one of our O group leaders, took us to his church – Fellowship Bible Church of Siloam Springs. I enjoyed it, although it is a lot smaller than CBC and the style is somewhat different. If I had no choice at all, I wouldn’t really have a problem going to that church. We’ll see where I end up though. I know there are at least two other churches I want to try out, and I may go to a bunch just to experience other ways of “doing church.” I’d like to get plugged in before too long though. Anyways, the sermon seemed a little forced…I’m not entirely sure why. His main point was good though. He was preaching on 1 Samuel 14 about Jonathan going up to fight the Philistines with his armor bearer. He talked about how we should be willing to take chances (within God’s known and revealed will) even when we’re not sure of the outcome. After the service, we all stayed for Sunday school which was also very good. It was on James 2:14 and I really liked the teacher. He talked about how works are not necessary to our salvation, but they are necessary in order to have fruitful lives and to receive eternal reward.
In the afternoon all the freshman were required to voluntarily take a survey for UCLA to do some research….as in, the schedule said it was mandatory and then when we got there we found out we didn’t have to….don’t know why.
We had some free time after that, and I think that is when I wrote my essay for the freshman contest. It was based on the book we did for the summer reading program (The Chosen). I will probably post my essay after the contest is over. I like how it turned out….I *amazingly* came in well under the 900 word limit on my first time to write it!!! (I hardly ever do that, as Mrs. S could testify….I get VERY long winded!) [this post is also a very good example of that...hahaha] It came pretty easily, and I know it is because the Lord was giving me wisdom on how to say what I felt in my heart. I found some really good quotes to use too!
That evening we went down the hill, across the soccer fields, and over the bridge to have a BBQ outside of President Pollard’s house (we would not all fit in his house, even though it looks quite big from the outside).
Once we got back we all headed to the cathedral for the video introductions of the different dorm RD’s and RA’s. My favorite one was the girl’s dorm Mayfield…they had a video using most of the songs from Sound of Music, but rewritten with different words. The RD and her RAs then danced to the songs…it was really funny! Then everyone split up and had dorm meetings with their own RD and RAs.

MONDAY – Orientation Day 3
Monday morning we had the Day of Caring. That is where the various O groups go out into the community and do various kinds of community service. Our group (with about 7 other groups) had the job of shoveling mulch at school playgrounds. The school we were sent to had about 10 different play areas, each with a BIG pile of mulch that had to be spread out and leveled. It was hard work, but also a lot of fun. However, the really annoying part was that the first area (probably about 15 feet by 20-30 feet???) only had a mulch pile on one side. We had to shovel the mulch into an unused plastic garbage can we borrowed and drag it across the playground in order to get the mulch spread out. Then, when we went to the other play areas, they all had TOO MUCH mulch, as in, we would get the playground all nicely covered and still have BIG mounds of mulch. Also, we didn’t have enough shovels/rakes/scrapers/etc, so a lot of us ended up using our hands and feet to spread the mulch. I really wish I had brought my work gloves from home, but I didn’t…so I got a blister, and of course it popped in the last 10 minutes of work we did :( I really did enjoy it, even though it perhaps could have been a little better organized. As we were leaving, the kids were coming out for recess. One little girl asked us “Are you JBUers?” I thought that was pretty cute ;-) I really put in about 2 hours of work…after that there were too many people concentrated in too small of an area and so I didn’t feel like I helped much (for the last 45 minutes or so). I came back to my room and took a shower, but my feet are STILL stained from the mulch, even though I have specifically scrubbed them with soap twice! [This morning I woke up really sore…my upper arms and one spot on my back are really feeling it…but it’s not as bad as I thought it might be. Also, I later found out that one of my professor’s twin girls go to the school that we worked on, so that is neat :D]
After lunch, we had several informative sessions to choose from. I attended one about studying abroad, one about living in the dorms, and another one about growing spiritually by getting involved in the small group Bible studies or the various mission opportunities. I’ve already signed up for a Passion group (what they call the Bible studies here), but I don’t know yet which one I’ll get assigned to.
That afternoon we all had to take a relationship/spiritual assessment. Lots of people said some of the questions were really awkward….and they did ask things about relationships with the other sex, drinking, smoking, gambling, etc. but I didn’t really find those a problem for me…. ;-) The more difficult ones were about what my friends think of me….I know what people often say about me, but I also know it’s not always the whole picture…..so I had to decide what to answer more on those. Both this assessment and the survey from the other day were SAT style fill in the bubble tests…bad memories. :P
Next we had a rally promoting JBU sports. They taught us some of the chants and the JBU fight song. After that was the scavenger hunt. Most of my O group didn’t want to do it, so those of us who did joined up with another team. We tried really hard, running ALL over campus…and we probably got second place out of the 33 O groups (but I don’t think all 33 participated)…but we didn’t win :(
At dinner time they had what they called the Homeland Rally. Everyone dressed up representing their home country/state. I went all out, as much as I could anyways. Thankfully, I had decided to take my Texas capitol shirt (I was wishing I had one like Nathan’s though!!!!!), and I put a bumper sticker that said “Native Texan” on it that my mom had gotten me on the back. I wore jeans, brown hiking boots (since I didn’t have any cowboy boots L), braided my hair in two braids, and wore my HSAA bandanna around my neck! One of the other guys from Texas had actually brought some home made chili that was really good! It was a lot of fun.
For desert, we all went to the homes of the faculty that are over our majors. Communications division folks went to Professor Gould’s house. She is the mother of the two girls I mentioned earlier. Professor Warner (the journalism professor) and a couple other faculty members were there too. I was REALLY excited to see that she had a cockatiel!!!!!!!!! She was really really sweet and even let me rub her head! (I could hardly believe that!) I promise I did interact more with the people than the bird though :D
Later that evening was the Karaoke. I didn’t sing anything, but I did watch some….some of it was good, and some of it I didn’t like…but that’s kind of part of the game!

TUESDAY – Orientation Day 4
This morning I went to the Walton Health Center and ran on the inside track. I knew as soon as I got in there that it wasn’t a quarter mile track, and when I ran 4 one minute laps in a row without too much trouble I figured it wasn’t a 200 meter track either. I guessed that it was a tenth mile track, and the guy outside verified that. So I’m not sure that I will be running there too often….that would probably get too annoying. I ran a mile there this morning though, in 11:09. It will be kind of interesting trying to figure out pacing for that….have to multiply by 60, divide by ten, then divide by 60….we’ll see.
After breakfast one of the Biblical professors gave us a session on what the professors probably expect of us. It was mostly common sense stuff like come to class, be on time, do your work well, and so on, but it was a good reminder too.
Next we got together with our Gateway class for next semester (I don’t know if I already explained this before here, but the Gateway class is a required class for all freshman, kind of a Christian philosophy/college introduction class. JBU offers lots of different flavors, from Celtic Christianity to Crime Fiction to Pop Culture. I chose NARNIA!). Today, though, we were purely discussing The Chosen. We started off by writing a 20 minute essay evaluating The Chosen from a Christian world view (that’s the words they used!!! I was quite happy to hear that term again!! :D) I had heard that that’s what the essay had been about before, so I had kind of subconsciously been thinking about it I guess…because I knew right away that I would write about the flawed view of God and the flawed view of man represented in the book. Mrs. S, here is a shout out to you: If I had been told to write an essay in class in 20 minutes about three years ago, I would have FREAKED OUT! Because of your class, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. THANK YOU!!!!!! :D
Next we had a chapel service to conclude Orientation, and then we were FREE FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON!!!!!!!! I desperately needed some free time before classes started to get some stuff done, so I was VERY glad to have it! During lunch, the honors students had an information session with some of the current honors upper classmen.
This afternoon, I received a surprise package from home via a family from church who were bringing their son here. I got some kettle corn and the bicycle pump that Dad and Mom had accidentally taken home, as well as a couple other things. I also found all my classrooms. Now I just can’t wait to actually get into it!!!
After dinner, I played Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of other students out on the Quad (the big grassy area in the middle of campus). I wasn’t very good at it, although I did make a couple interceptions and once made a score by catching a short toss from another player on my team. It was a lot of fun though! I quit about an hour ago. It was getting kind of dark, and then the sprinklers came on right where we were playing. I decided that was a good enough excuse! Slippery wet grass + darkness + running back and forth a lot = a bad combination in my opinion!
Now I’m going to head for bed….this has been much too long….sorry about that, but kudos to any troopers who made it through the whole thing!!! At least now I feel all caught up :D