Let the classes begin...

Is it just me, or does it feel like I've been in Colorado Springs for at least a few months? I feel so at home here! I can't believe I arrived only two weeks ago! Last weekend was so much fun as the entire FLI staff and students went into the mountains to Intervarsity's Bear Trap Ranch. We had so much fun worshipping together, hearing from a few of our staff, playing lots of board games, eating delicious food, ice skating, snow tubing, playing broom ball on the ice, and doing a few leadership exercises with our Life Groups. (Our class of 44 guys and girls is split up into 8 Life Groups, in which we'll do all of our leadership exercises and in-class projects all semester.) I loved getting to know all the guys and girls better--what an incredible group of people. :)
(See pictures from the retreat below.)

This past week was the first week of classes and we actually only had one class all week. From 8:30am to 11:30am Monday through Thursday we were taught by the creator of The Truth Project, Dr. Del Tacket, about Family, Church, and Society. Bascially, he gave us a broad overview of all of God's social institutions (family, God & man, church, labor, community, and state) which we'll study more in depth in our other three classes throughout the rest of the semester. Then, at the end of the semester, we'll have his class for a week straight to close everything out.

I started my internship/practicum this past week and I love it. The people I work with are so hilarious and really made me feel at ease. Mainly, I've been working on finding statistics, stories, and quotes for Focus on the Family's monthly Pledge letter that the ministry sends out to its 15,000 regular donors. Each month there's a different theme. For example, I'm working on April's letter right now and the theme is Counseling, so I'm getting testimonies and statistics from Focus' Counseling department to read through, compile the best ones, and send to Focus' ad agency, CSK. (P.S. I was able to attend my department's meeting with CSK and I talked with them about being interested in advertising! They said I should come see the agency sometime and they'd treat me to lunch!! Who knows?!) It's been incredible reading through so many stories from real people whose lives have been affected by Focus. I was even able to use my Spanish when one of my co-workers asked me to proof read a Spanish pro-life booklet that Focus is going to publish! I've never been so excited to find typos in my life. :)

This past Friday and tomorrow our FLI class is going through a leadership intensive course, training us on what is takes to be a good leader according to the Bible. The course is split between classroom time and interactive leadership activities. At one point on Friday, we signed up for guys and girls Bible studies and I decided to attend one on the Proverbs 31 woman. There will be 9 other girls in this study with me and it's going to be led by the wife of Dr. Leland, the VP for College Student Ministries and professor of our Christian Worldviews class. She will be leading it with another young woman who is just about to finish her Masters in Christian Studies and, for her thesis, she wrote a Bible study on the Proverbs 31 woman applied to the college-aged woman. So that's what we'll be using in our small group and I can't wait! :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Danielle. is. incredible. God could not have placed me with a more perfect roommate this semester. We get along so well and she has been so encouraging and fun to be around. Our personalities go so well together--I feel like I've known her all my life. No joke.

Yesterday morning Danielle and I hiked all the way up the Manitou Incline (a huge set of stairs made of railroad ties going straight up the side of Rocky Mountain, gaining 2011 feet in elevation over a length of about 1 mile) and we had no clue what we were getting ourselves into! Basically, it's a huge outdoor stairmaster that is sure to zap any strength you thought you had and leave you feeling like you got hit by a truck the next day. I've been feeling extremely sore all over today, but I'm so glad we went--the peak had such a beautiful, clear view and it was a refreshing 65 degrees outside.
(See pictures below.)

Random side note: Brandon's twin is in FLI with me. His name is Ben and he was born 5 days before Brandon. Kinda freaky...
(See picture below.)

This morning, I had the opportunity to attend the service at Northland Community Church (where Danielle's sister attends) with Danielle, Ben (Brandon's look-alike), Danielle's sister Elisha, and some of Elisha's Air Force cadet friends. Tonight at the church's baptismal service, Ben, Danielle, and I will be leading worship. I am so grateful that God has given me this opportunity. I've committed to leading worship at the church's youth group on Friday nights this semester, but please pray God would give me wisdom about which church he would have me attend on Sundays. There are so many great churches in the area, so I would like to just choose one soon so that I can get plugged in over the next few months!

Again, thanks for remembering me in your prayers! Let me know if you ever want to skype! My skype name is berkeley.bagwell, or just shoot me an email at berkeley.bagwell@gmail.com -- super easy to remember. ;)

Leading worship at Bear Trap Retreat

Snow tubing for the first time--SO much fun :)

Whipping my way down the snowy slide

Beautiful Colorado Springs from above


Playing broom ball with a few of my new friends
(Plus Mave, my friend since 6th grade)



Bear Trap Retreat

From the top of the Manitou Incline, overlooking the Springs area

Looking over in the direction of Pike's Peak

The top of the indescribably long outdoor stairwell dubbed "The Incline"

I can't believe we actually made it...but we did!

Overlooking God's breathtaking creation

Hiking up The Incline

The beginning of The Incline--we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into...

Brandon's look-alike here at FLI...crazy, huh??

I'm finally here!

Yes, I'm finally here in beautiful Colorado Springs! And I mean, it. is. GORGEOUS.

First of all, I want to thank all of you who were praying so hard for safety on my trip out here. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The worst part was getting off of Greenville's icy roads!! Once we were out of Greenville, the roads were clear the rest of the way!

TRIP SUMMARY:
Mary Avery (one of my best friends since 6th grade and my college roommate for 2 years) and I left Greenville on January 15th, spent the night in Nashville, then traveled to St. Louis, where we ate lunch and went to the top of the Gateway Arch with Jessica (a friend of mine from my Cordoba study abroad trip). After a few hours in St. Louis, we continued on to Kansas City, where we spent the night, and then spent the entire next day driving across the very flat and usually boring state of Kansas to get to the beautiful Colorado Springs. Fortunately, one of the girls in my Campus Crusade for Christ Bible study is from the Springs, so we stayed with her incredibly hospitable family that night and then checked into our apartment the next day!

I LOVE it here already! It is so incredibly gorgeous! I left a freezing and icy Greenville, SC to arrive at a beautiful, sunny 50-degree Colorado Springs!

After all the FLI students moved into their apartments yesterday, we all gathered at the Focus on the Family campus to have a mini-orientation and dinner with all the students and staff together. There are 44 students total: 33 girls, 11 guys...yeah, I know, shocker.

I've met almost everyone by now and I have been blown away at the sincere kindness and excitement that everyone has here! Everyone on staff is so thrilled that we're here and all the students are so excited to be here. All day today, we started our 2-day orientation schedule and went through the 4 different syllabi for our classes with our profs (which I'll detail in a sec). The FLI staff and our professors are such cut-ups--they had all us students laughing almost the whole time! However, we definitely saw the faculty and staff switch from hilarious to serious when they started to discuss the reason that we're here. When the professors started talking about their heart behind their particular class, and the material that we're going to cover in it, I could really see how sincerely passionate they are about this program, which made me so much more excited. :)

I am living in the program's only 2-person apartment with a super sweet girl named Danielle, who is from New York. We have gotten along so well already and have even opened up with each other about some about things we're struggling with and things we're passionate about. She has been such an incredible blessing already.

Click the link below to see a more detailed description of the 4 classes I'll be taking this semester:
http://www.focusleadership.org/Display.asp?Page=classes

Also, at the bottom of that web page, you'll see a section called "Professional Practicum." That's the internship I'll have while I'm here. From what I understand, we'll be in class everyday from 8:15am to 11:30am on the Focus on the Family campus, eat lunch in the cafeteria there, and then do our internships twice a week in the afternoons. I just found out today that I got my #1 choice for my internship placement (yay!), which is Focus on the Family's Constituent Relationship Management/Fundraising department. I don't have any nonprofit marketing experience, so I am so excited about this opportunity! I told the internship coordinator that I would love to incorporate my Spanish skills somehow too, and she said that Focus' Hispanic CRM department would love to have me help them for a few weeks too! I am just blown away at what God has provided for me here. The staff here truly care about us students and really want us to get the most out of our experience here. Click on the link below to read a little summary of my internship:
http://www.focusleadership.org/Display.asp?Page=practicum-CRM

About a week before we arrived, I volunteered to help with the group's praise and worship band, and then found out yesterday that we were supposed to lead worship that night! But, honestly, it was such a blessing to lead worship the very first night we were together and I'm so excited to help in that area over the next few months.

I have absolutely loved meeting and getting to know so many college students who passionately desire to know God more and delve deeper into what the Christian worldview is all about. It's just so incredibly refreshing and encouraging.

I do ask that you pray for our student/staff retreat this weekend. Please pray that we all get to know each other more so that we can learn to fully trust one another and really become transparent and vulnerable with each other inside and outside the classroom.

Thanks for reading! I love you all and I thank God so much for you. :)