Live from Florida

Greetings from Florida! Just wanted to share a few pics and a video from our events today in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Enjoy...

Thought this was funny....Joel controls the computer and lights during my portion of the concert and he usually has an auditorium curtain to hide behind. Obviously that was not the case tonight. We built a hillbilly (no offense to any hillbillies reading this) tent for him to hide behind with bed sheets and ladders.

Joel REALLY had fun in his little tent cave.

Some of the kids that came out tonight...

A clip from the assembly today at the high school. Joel's exact words to me when he saw this video: "It's too bad you walked in during my least favorite line of the whole talk. You should have come in at a classic time when kids are laughing and we're all having a good time. We should time that up better next time."

Florida!! sorta

I say sorta, because when I think of Florida, I think "Florida!" because I think warm. But it's not really warm at all there right now.

Joel and Ryan made the trek down to Fort Walton Beach, FL on Monday. They have 2 assemblies and a concert each day they are there (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)--which is exciting! They are actually finishing up a concert right now as I type. Please pray that lots of kids come to these concerts and hear the Gospel. Please for receptive hearts and minds.



Assembly at Fort Walton Beach High School.... this morning.




On Friday, we get to go to the Wuerffel Trophy banquet. They were able to get all of these bookings this week because of it. If you didn't know, Joel won the Wuerffel Trophy his senior of college which is basically the Humanitarian Heisman of college football. http://www.wuerffeltrophy.org/ We get to participate in all of the festivities for that.... which I hear is quite an ordeal. I think I am going to feel a little out of place considering I am the wife of the guy that works with Joel, but it was nice of our friend John Watts to invite us.

Since Joel is flying back early for a speaking engagement on Saturday, Ryan was going to have to drive the Moose back himself. I am flying down tomorrow after school to be down there with them a couple of days and then make the drive back to Ohio with Ryan on Saturday/Sunday. We are going to be stopping halfway to see my brother, Adam, in Nashville. We are going to spend the night there......in a boys college dorm. Weird, but free. :)

I will give you updates on the week soon. Please pray for the kids!

Emily

Sick and Snow

Hey all,

Well, I think they have recuperated from all the traveling--- approximately 60 hours over 2 weeks. Ryan came home with a nasty cold and Joel came home and woke up in the night with food poisioning! But I think they are both 90%.

Everything went incredibly well over the 2 weeks. One school in particular was the best experience they have had yet. They really had a chance to develop some neat relationships with the kids throughout the day through some breakout sessions at school. Ryan got to run with some cross country boys after school and Joel got to lift with some other guys. (Joel LOVES lifting and hates running. Ryan LOVES running and hates lifting. ha.) They also went to dinner with a group of guys that evening. They don't have an evening concert set up but plan to get it scheduled to go back soon. They are already looking forward to it!

Joel at the North Dakota state line...


Ryan is busy catching up on bookings....... please pray for the Spring bookings. We are actually going to be heading over to the Pentons in a little bit to have a meeting to prioritize the million things that seem to go on. Hopefully it is productive!

This is my 2nd day home from school because of snow. Thank you Lord for beautiful snow that gives us a day off!

Happy winter wonderland...

Emily

Georgia Concert Video!

Travel, Travel, Travel

Hey Friends,

Like I said in the last post, Joel and Ryan have been doing some serious traveling. Last night, after finishing up an awesome concert in northern Ohio, they started on their journey to North Dakota. They are currently still on their way, but I just talked to Ryan and they are less than an hour away... woo hoo!

After the evening events where the gospel is shared, Ryan and Joel have the students fill out cards to respond to what they heard and also to get their contact information so that they can follow up with them.

I wanted to share some responses that students wrote from last night's concert:

Most Random: "I really liked the concert tonight. Joel and Ryan are cool like the other side of a pillow."

One that reminded them why they do what they do: "I really love the music that Ryan sang. Joel is an excellent speaker and he spoke to me so much. I realize now that God has been tugging at my heart. I don't know what about yet but I am going to find out."

Cutest: A girl said she rededicated her life to Jesus, then drew a smiley face next to it :)

One that needs prayer: (Pray for this 18-year old guy) "I am not convinced. If my "soul" is so important, I need to be persuaded that there is a God, and that I need to believe in it. If I refuse to bow my head, convince me that my life depends on it. Otherwise, I still have no reason to belive in a story such as God."

One that made me laugh: (Sorry, buddy.) "Good job. The blue lights hurt my eyes."

Stay tuned for a video from last week's Georgia concert.... for some reason, I am computer illiterate right now and need to go to bed!

Emily