I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving, cause I sure did! It went by quick because I was only in Maine for three full days, however, I got to see my family and all my best buddies! It was painful returning to the gym after not lifting for a whole week! Everything with the ministry is going great and we just recently had a youth retreat which was a great success! I would like to start sharing some of my journal entries with you by posting them on this site from now on. Here is one I'd like to share:

I found this beautiful picture on the internet today of Los Angeles, CA all lit up at night with palm trees. As I looked at it, I thought of the word paradise. Almost all I could think about was the beauty of God's creation. Even though the city itself was man made, it is ultimately God's work. How much better will God's paradise be for those who love him! I can't even imagine what lies in wait for those who will inherit the kingdom of the Lord! I found this amazing verse that says, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." -1 Cor. 2:9 This just gives me so much more motivation to do the Lord's work now!

OTW Crew

This is one of the pictures we had taken at one of our photo shoots. Unfortunately, some of our interns weren't able to be in the picture.

Living and Learning and Learning and Living

Hi everybody, I've been really busy lately so I haven't been able to write as much as I would have liked to. I am currently working on support letters for monthly missions trips that me an my friend Vern will be putting together. I am also planning a big trip this summer to go and serve in 12 major cities around the country. Please pray that the will of God will allow us to seek after the Lord's lost sheep and serve in areas of need. It's been almost 6 weeks since I've been at Off the Wall and It's been a blast gaining knowledge about God's word and being in a well developed Christian community. I've learned that God choses his people according to his will so that he can have a bride to present to his son, Jesus Christ. The only reason for our being and our salvation is to bring glory to God, and we are here to be the church-- the bride of Christ. There is so much more I could write about, but that would take too long! My favorite class is Soteriology, which is the study of salvation. We have it every Monday night at New Grounds Cafe. Tonight I am going to Mosaic, which is a young adult group that meets every Thursday night at Countryside Chapel, my home church. The group was started by Corry Scally, one of the guys I live with here at Off the Wall. I must say that the fall weather out here in Ohio is beautiful and the temperature is perfect. It's been in the 70s out here the past week or so. I've been keeping up with my schoolwork pretty well and my goal is to have my school year completed by the end of Christmas Vacation! I will be flying back to New England in a matter of weeks to see my family for Thanksgiving. I'm excited for that! I'm flying in November 22nd and returning back to Ohio the 26th, which is the day after Thanksgiving. If you would like to support me and my ministry experience, I invite you to be a monthly donor. Please email me at whiteyd7@aol.com if you are interested and I will get your home address so I can send you a letter.

Recent Photos

For those of you who don't use Facebook, here are some pictures of Chicago and other cool stuff! Your're welcome! :)

Technical Difficulties

Sorry to disappoint you all, but my webcam videos aren't uploading to blogger! If you want to video chat me, my Skype name is whiteyd7. I will try to upload my recent photos I took over the past few weeks. They are also available on Facebook. The inner city youth program in Cleveland was fun and I'll look forward to going back, as we return once a month. I played basketball with some of the high school students who were there and only scored one basket! I guess I need some practice. The weather out here has been great this past week, except for the small amount of rain we had yesterday. Today is Friday, my day to relax, which by the way I am very good at. Thank you, have a nice day, and come again soon!

Herrooo!

I can't believe we're already almost half way through October! The Chicago trip went great. We went to Moody Bible Institute which had a really nice campus in downtown Chicago. I met a lot of new people who are friends of Don. Travis, and Josh. I took a ton of pictures and ate some really good food there. Through conversation and biblical training, I have found myself to have almost a completely different view on Christianity than I did before. I look at that as a positive thing. This might be because I am gaining more knowledge and everything makes a whole lot more sense now. I'm excited to see what else I will learn throughout the year since I've only been at Off the Wall less than a month and have already learned a lot. My family visit this weekend was incredible! Brigman came along too and he really liked the ministry and being out here. Since they were here for only one full day, it seemed we did a week's worth of things all in one day! We went out for breakfast at Dutch Valley, an Amish cooking restaurant, and drove around to many other places throughout the day. They really got a kick out of the Amish culture! During biblical training this morning with my pastor, I came across an amazing Bible verse which I now consider to be my new favorite verse. It's Romans 4:16 and it reads, "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all." This verse puts confidence in my faith and salvation and eliminates all doubt. This week marks the end of the first quarter for my schooling and I will be looking forward to possibly graduating early if I consistently do large amounts of school work. I'm excited to go to Cleveland tonight with a few others from the ministry to speak to the inner city youth. Just like going to Chicago, I'm looking forward to going to Cleveland because it will be my first time there. Keep me in your prayers and God bless!

My First Update

Hello to all my family and friends and family out there! My first few weeks at Off the Wall have been great. I've been really busy with school work and Off the Wall since I've been here and I've been having a lot of fun. I'm taking four biblical training classes on top of my high school Bible class, so I guess I can say I'm taking five Bible classes! I really enjoy learning about God and his word. I've learned sooo much more than I expected these first few weeks at Off the Wall, and I'm excited for what's next to come. New Philadelphia, OH is the city I live in with Off the Wall and we currently have seven people living at the guys house. I have two roommates who also play guitar and I enjoy hanging out with them. I'm really excited to go to Chicago tonight with Don, Travis and a few others because I love to travel and this will be my first time in the city of Chicago. We have a lot of events planned for the year, including a youth retreat called Alive to Shine. I can't wait for my family, along with Brigman, to come visit me out here in Ohio this weekend! I also may be going skydiving on Saturday too, so please pray for me as jump out of a plane 10,000 feet in the air! I will also be making videos and posting them here in the future so ya'lllll can see whats going on in my life.....if you're interested. So, goodbye for now and God bless!