Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend! I had a really nice few days of break in North Carolina. Now we're back at it in Harrisburg at our home base for one more week before heading home for our 6 week Christmas break. This past week at the camp has been jam packed with events such as, a homeschool event, a Christmas party with an inner city program, Friday night Encounter (an activity filled night with kids from the community), and a men's breakfast yesterday morning. Next week we are having a senior's luncheon on Monday and the first ever Encounter Christmas concert on Friday as well as our team Christmas party on Thursday. For our Christmas party we exchanged names as a Secret Santa sort of deal and we will find out who had us on Thursday night!! We are also planning on going Christmas caroling sometime this week in the town near here.  Now, back to the Christmas party for the inner city kids. If we were interested the team got the opportunity to choose a child and get them a Christmas present which we would then present to the kids at their party. If any of us did not want to participate then the ministry covered the kids that were leftover as well as a gift card for Walmart for each of them. We had a fun filled night with the kids that involved dinner, nails for the girls, crafts, and basketball for the boys. We also had a small program for them that involved the team singing a couple Christmas songs, a small devotional, and distributing presents. For the most part the kids were very thankful. The other events that we were involved in were a variety of activities, games, singing and messages. 

Now, to get to the very best part of the week. 

Yesterday afternoon a couple of people were stressing the necessity of getting back to the camp after our town trip by 3pm. We were a little confused by that seeing as we had the rest of the night free but we came back anyways. When half of us were back at the camp we were told that we were having a girls meeting. And that can only mean one thing (normally)...we'd done something wrong. Two of the girls insinuated that we were in big trouble. So I'm sitting there racking my brain wondering what on earth we could have done to get in trouble  when the girl in charge takes out a sheet of paper and starts reading from it. I thought, "woah. This must be a big deal if she had to write it down." This is what the note said:

Dear ladies,

Tonight you are cordially invited to a night filled with laughter 

and fun in the Tabernacle at 5:30pm. Dress fancy please and have an amazing night!

From, the men of Encounter

So, obviously there was screaming involved as we frantically tried to decide what to wear. You see, we REALLY like any oppportunity to dress up. So, with cured hair, more make-up than I've worn in a while, and other people's clothes..we headed up to the Tab in the bus (because it was raining and they didn't want us to walk). So, we get to the tabernacle and walk in to see a row of chairs and the projector set up. Other than that, the building is empty. So, naturally we sat down. We sat there for a couple minutes before three of the guys walked in in PJ's. After they welcomed us they had us sit on a bench in front of a Christmas tree and they took our pictures. We then sat down again and waited while Dillon explained what was about to happen. He said that they were going to show us a movie about courageous men and then have a devotion later about finding godly husbands. Well, the movie Courageous came on and they left us there to watch it. At first we couldn't believe that we were going to just sit here and watch Courageous..but then it kept playing. Eventually the movie glitched a couple times and I guessed that the guys were going to cut in on the video. After waiting a couple minutes a video of the guys came onto the screen but then went out again before resuming to the movie. Finally it glitched again and the guys video came on again and stayed this time. It was a conversation of the guys taking about how well we did on their guys night and trying to decide what they were going to call our girls night. Eventually one of the guys stood up and said "Ballrooms and Bowties." Well, that's what they called it. In a few minutes the same three guys came to the door again this time, in dress clothes and bowties. They helped us into the bus where we found letters with our names on them. Then we drove off campus to some parking lot where we turned around and headed back to the camp...I guess they needed more time. :) When we got to the camp we were told that the guys had gotten permission to escort us to the dining hall for dinner. After we were brought to the dining room we were each given another letter written by another guy, before finding our seats.  The guys all made us a delicious "5 star" meal in the dining hall which they decorated beautifully. After serving us a delicious meal, the guys announced that we were indeed going to watch a movie, just not Courageous.  They told us we could now go and change into comfortable clothes and get ready for the movie "Elf". When we got into our dorms we saw that the guys had arranged the couches and set up the projector for us. While we watched the movie the guys brought us milkshakes with little tuxes drawn on the cups. After the movie had finished all of the guys joined us for ping pong and fellowship. It's safe to say that last night was incredible and these men sure do know how to make a girl feel special and appreciated. This morning we ministered at a small local church during their morning service and Sunday school.  This week is looking to be eventful and fun and one week from now I will be home for Christmas break. See you al soon!