ROYALS 2007 CONFERENCE CHAMPS! i'd just like you all to know, that since i was not able to storm on the field i blasted "we are the champions" by queen in our lounge, decked out in BU gear singing at the top of my lungs on my knees... it was very passionate... everyone was amused, kind of! no but i was really excited obviously, what great news to read! i even got to listen to a little bit of the 3rd quarter on the webcast, early sunday morning! it was awesome... anywaysssss wow last week was one for the ages.... we had the most inspiring speaker EVER... mark parker, that man made me so pumped up to want to do great things with my life, no joke... it was incredible, me and him really connected too, so it was fun, we had a good week.... He also had a "protege'" that was following him around learning from the best... his name was Will Rosenberg, he was from southern california and he was totally awesome too... he's 26 and he has just been travelling around the world for the past 3 years... he had some amazing stories! last week was so busy i had no time to sit and relax at all... let me tell you that trying to figure out my schedule from half way around the world via email is no easy task, but one that i eventually accomplished, thankfully... i'm taking french? ha i'm excited random i know, but exciting! so last week was just a great week, hearing lectures from mark and talking to him and will outside of lectures getting good advice and listening to great stories... the week was full of fun things ranging from swimming in a FREEZING cold river under a waterfall, to rope swinging into our freezing cold creek we have on base (which is one of the more totally awesome things to on base).... thursday night all of us guys went to a local "old couples" home to hot tub, which was an amazing time of relaxation in the midst of my hectic week! Saturday we got up early to help out at one of our previous speakers homes (abby and sal, the lady from louisiana who spoke on relationships) for her little girls birthday party... she was turning 3, and it was a carnival theme, so you KNOW we had a good time... it was awesome, and i'm really good at face painting which you guys will see evidence of when i post pictures (my last pics from NZ) next week... later that day we helped out people in the community with stuff around their homes... then that night 5 of us guys, volunteered to help out at a local mens dinner that had a professional motorcycle racer there to speak... he rides those superbikes, the ones wehre they get like an inch off the ground around corners, and i geuss he's one of the better riders in the world.. either way watching videos of his races and looking at the bike he brought was incredible! it was a really cool night for sure... then sunday came, and i got the news, bethel had defeated SJU for the second time in two years, to go back to back MIAC champs... totally awesome, and to make it even better, we all went clay pigeon shooting later that day, which was awesome considering i missed pheasant hunting this year! I learned so much last week, i really think that it was a life changing week for sure... i would recommend trying to hear mark parker speak if you ever could... he's incredible... so over the past few days i was at a house that had a book written by Greg Boyd, then today our speaker referenced john piper, and also our base bought a brand new toro mower (headquartered in BLOOMINGTON, MN) so minnesota is all over the place even half way around in new zealand! its acutally kind of amazing if you think about it, that there is that much influence here, specially considering both of those guys taught at bethel (which i make sure people know) and toro is in bloomington... i thought it was cool, but i geuss maybe thats just me! well i'm off to read and work on my journal! i'd like you to know that it is really starting to warm up here, i mean i don't want to rub it in or anything but it is supposed to be 37 in MN on friday, too bad really! alright i'm done gloating... hope everything is well with you all... thanks for reading and keeping up with my blog! its really encouraging to get notes and emails from everyone! i love it! korey