I’ve always wanted to have a great memory, to be able to memorize a paragraph just by reading it once or twice, memorize someones name the first time I hear it, etc. Honestly I do have a pretty good memory when it comes to steps, or processes. For some reason I can almost always memorize something the first time when it comes to following steps or a process. But when it comes to memorizing information sets, I start to lose my “edge”. So one of my exercises here at WOLBI is to memorize every students name by the end of February. So far I think I’m at about 100 names, and their is about 480 students here. So I guess we’ll have to wait and see if I can reach my goal.

Posted by Ethan - 26/10/11 - 0 comments

 

This past weekend a group of about 50 bible institute students went to NYC to do open air evangelism. We started off at a church about 30 min. away from Times Square. After we unpacked the vans and bus we got in to five
groups. My group had 7 people in it, not including our team leader. We then got on the subway to head to Time Square for the evening. Our leader gave us some instructions and our boundaries and then we prayed and headed off in pairs.

Starting out I didn’t feel nervous about approaching people, since I’m used to that. But the fact that I’m presenting them with some information that has eternal ramifications is pretty intimidating and humbling at the same time. I started out just getting people to stop, and then handing them a gospel tract. After about 30 minutes my team leader came over and told me to look for people who were already standing around. He then pointed out several people and told me to go talk to them. So I did. I ended up having a couple 5 or 10 minute chats with people. I never got into a real deep conversation but the seed was planted and they all agreed to take a tract afterwards. As I was walking away I could see all of them reading the tracts, so at least they felt the need or interest to do that.

At about 10 o’clock we headed back to the church for the night. When we got back we were given jobs for the next morning so that we could pack up quickly and get back out on thestreets. We got to bed by 12 A.M. and then got up at 6:30 A.M. and started packing up and setting up tables for breakfast. At 8 A.M. we had a meeting and were given better instructions on how to improve our witnessing “abilities”. Around 10:30 A.M. we headed back to the subway and split into two groups. One group went to a park and the other group, the one I was in, headed to the Bronx. We went to a smaller neighborhood similar to what you would find in Rochester and Buffalo. The environment was much more relaxed compared to the previous night. More people were milling around and willing to talk. I decided I would pull out some of my old sleight of hand and use it as a conversation starter. I got to talk to about 20 people that afternoon. Not very many people are willing to turn down a small 17 yr. old who wants to show them a “magic” trick. Once again none of my conversations went very deep and I only got to present the whole gospel twice, but I did hand out a lot more tracts and people were much friendlier and seemed to have a genuine interest in what I had to say. Around 2 PM we headed to a park down the road to have lunch and relax. We all chatted about our experiences and had a good time just relaxing. Finally we went back to our spots and witnessed for 45 minutes or so before we packed up and headed back so we could go home.

Overall the weekend was a great experience, especially being my first time in NYC. I’m so thankful we got the opportunity to share the loving and saving power of Jesus Christ with so many people. We shared the gospel over 200 times as a whole and had 20 people make professions of faith.

Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by Ethan - 23/10/11 - 0 comments

 

Haven’t really been very busy lately. Mainly hanging out with friends and relaxing. So far my daily photo idea hasn’t panned out, mostly due to my lack of internet access on my Droid Incredible. Oh well. I had the privilege of helping with some tech related things at a friends wedding this past Saturday and had a great time doing that. Reminds me of how much I miss doing tech on a regular basis…sigh…

This week we’re going to be studying the book of Leviticus. I’m not super excited about it, but I’m sure we’ll learn a lot of  stuff that will be helpful to our lives either way.

Today I have to take a quiz on Acts that I missed this past Thursday due to being sick. Then I think I might skype some friends from home. All in all, a pretty chill weekend.

Posted by Ethan - 17/10/11 - 0 comments

 

I have to say media in general is a huge part of my life. Unlike a lot of people I don’t just enjoy watching movies and tv shows for the story, I also like to analyze the camera movements, music behind emotions portrayed, etc. I guess my interest in filming is the reason for that.

So one of the rules here at the BI is that no movies, tv shows, trailers, etc are not to be viewed unless its an approved movie at a staff member’s house. Now this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal off hand, until you realize how much its just a part of my routine. With media so easily accessible through the web, it just seems like second nature to catch up on my favorite shows.

I have to be honest and say I did break the rule once, and of course as God would have it my fellow RA did stop by and talk to me about it. And I’m glad he did. After thinking about it some more I can understand why the rules are there and why they need to be enforced. And it actually hasn’t been a problem to follow the rule since then. Just realizing how much responsibility and expectations are put on us as RA’s as it is, we are expected to enforce AND follow the rules for a reason.

Not every show/movie is evil or bad, and Word of Life doesn’t state they are. It’s just part of preferring one another and setting a standard to help us all “be above reproach”. And since God has put Word of Life and it’s staff over me, I am expected as a Christian young man to follow the rules and respect them for it.

That’s about all I have to say for today. We have DC devos later tonight, then back to the room for some more chapter titles and some sleep.

Posted by Ethan - 13/09/11 - 0 comments

 

College Fact #2: Tapping your foot to music may disturb the people below you…

Sunday afternoon all of the RA candidates found out whether they were given a position or not, and surprisingly I was given the position of a Command Center RA. I have to say it sounds pretty fancy, but its pretty similar to working customer service at a department store (minus the irate photo customers.)

Today we had our first bit of training and got to know each other a little bit. I’ll be working with 5 other people off and on depending on what our schedule calls for. Overall it seems like a pretty fun job. It combines most of interests and experience into one, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

For the rest of today I’ll be hanging around campus and probably work on some more chapter titles. Only a couple hundred more to go. Prayer is appreciated as all the students arrive Thursday and Friday.

Here’s a picture of my desk. Sorry about the low quality. I was too lazy to get out one of my DSLR’s so I resorted to using my phone.

Posted by Ethan - 12/09/11 - 0 comments

 


College Fact #1: It is possible to sharpen a pencil with toenail clippers

Wow, I can’t believe how fast this summer flew by. It seemed like it was too short at some points, and just long enough in others. But overall it was a great experience that I’ll never regret. I had the privilege of working on the Audio/Visual team at Word of Life Island for the second summer in a row and had the opportunity to watch campers grow in their faith for 8 weeks.

I have to be honest, during the summer it’s not always enjoyable. There are times when I would think “Why in the world did I come here AGAIN. I could be doing things with my friends at home, going to concerts, etc.” But later that day I would usually hear a great message from one of the speakers and I would have a totally different attitude. I praise God for the fact that I got to participate in helping so many young people hear about His word and what He’s done in the lives of the speakers and staff members. It truly is an experience you can’t explain until you’ve taken part in it. As a tech team we did run into some problems, but God brought us through. I’m sure we grew together as a team more then we realized through the difficulty’s and became closer friends as well.

After I headed home from the island I spent two weeks saying good bye, relaxing, sleeping in, packing, etc. and now I’m currently back up in the Adirondacks attending Word of Life Bible Institute. Right now we’re still in the stages of RA training week. Basically the deans and staff members choose students to be leaders on campus. Some of us will be dorm RA’s, some will be service RA’s, and some won’t get any position. The purpose of having dorm RA’s is too help the students grow in their walk with God, hold them accountable to Word of Life’s student handbook, and help them take care of their daily to-dos. Service RA’s do similar jobs, but instead of a small group of students, they are assigned to different work areas.

I am attempting to get a service RA position in either tech, admissions, or a type of office assistant. I just feel like those jobs have something to do with my previous work experience and talent’s. But I can be put in any position that the administration feels would be best. We all find out tomorrow afternoon whether and what we have a position in.

I’ll continue to blog when I can find time throughout the school year, but please be praying for me that God will continue to grow and mold me into the man He wants me to be.

Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by Ethan - 10/09/11 - 0 comments

 

Posted by Ethan - 28/07/11 - 1 comment

 

So it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything, so I thought I’d do a quick update post while I’m bored at our local public library.

I’ve been working on a project called “Vidcredible” for the past couple weeks. My original idea for the site came about when I was bored and wanted to watch some cool videos on YouTube without having to scroll through all the junk that is most of YouTube’s content. I looked for some domains and found that one, which is kind of catchy, not totally stupid, and was availible for my budget of $10. The I hired a freelance designer to make the logo for me and now Vidcredible is in its second week of operations.

Recently I also decided to leave both of my fantastic jobs and head up to Word Of Life Bible Institute this coming fall. I’ll be working tech at the Word Of Life Island this summer again in order to qaulify for a scholarship, and because who can pass up a great summer with new friends, old friends, and doing what I love? Well some people could, but I can’t.

I can’t really say what exactly changed my mind about going, other then why not. If God has opened up the doors, its our job to walk through them.

Tags: , , ,

Posted by Ethan - 06/05/11 - 0 comments

 

image

I recently purchased a Canon hf11 to replace my Canon hv20 that I sold several months ago.

I got a great deal on this camera from a member on hv20.com

Ill hopefully be purchasing a few items to make a DIY mattebox for it. As well as a mini hotshoe adapter, or flash bracket, cowboy studios shoulder support, and possibly a Rode Videomic for recording reference audio.

Overall I’m very happy with this purchase. It was much needed and I hope to purchase a second unit in a few months so I will have a total of three cameras.

Tags: , , , ,

Posted by Ethan - 31/03/11 - 0 comments

 

image

Just got this adapter in the mail today. Got it off eBay.

Posted by Ethan - 30/03/11 - 0 comments

« Previous entries

Next Page »