Summer conference

One of the great perks of my job is RUF summer conference. Two weeks at the beach in May with over 1,500 college students, 40+ seminar opportunities, great main speakers every evening, fellowship with my fellow intern class (as well as the older interns and the incoming interns) — and did I mention two weeks at the beach? ;)

Some of the female interns out to dinner — representing 11 different RUFs in 7 states!

I've spent many weeks at good ol' Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center. I started attending RYM (the youth version of RUF summer conference) back in seventh grade, and I only missed it once through my senior year of high school! I went two years in college with Mississippi State as well. This year, I loved being a part of the "behind the scenes" crew running summer conference. What did this mean? It meant sometimes instead of attending a seminar, I was locking (or unlocking doors) all over campus, figuring out how to get the air conditioner fixed in a room (don't worry — they didn't have me fixing the air conditioning!), or patrolling the campus after lights out (armed with a huge flashlight, cellphone, walk-talkie, and always with an intern partner!).


It was a pleasure to serve alongside many interns, the RUF Atlanta staff, and many campus ministers. I never realized how much time went into planning the conference and keeping it running. I'm so thankful for the number of people who have faithfully run and planned these conferences for so many years!


I was so encouraged by the fellowship, seminars, and large groups this summer. I got to attend most large group nights (taught by Rev. Joe Novenson and Rev. Keith Berger the first week, and Rev. Richie Sessions the second week), and heard some great talks on sanctification. Throughout the two weeks, I attended seminars on community/fellowship, prayer, justification/justifying one's existence, anger, and a girls issues seminar. I'm so thankful for the Lord's wisdom and the preaching of the Word throughout those two weeks!

Week one with Courtney and Julian (both MTSU students)

Week two with Lindsey (headed to Liberty as an intern!), Jerrica, & Kaycee (all MTSU grads)

Seriously, if you (or your children) haven't been to summer conference, you have to go next year! Check out this year's website here, or the site for RYM (junior high and high school) here.

Searching

In approximately two days, I get to go searching...for a new apartment in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Lord willing (assuming I raise at least 85% of my budget by August), I will be moving to work at MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) for RUF (Reformed University Fellowship). I am so excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see what's in store for the next two years.

Having said that, I have absolutely no idea where I'll live, and that's very strange and maybe a little frightening? I'm currently scouring Craigslist (much to my mother's chagrin). I'll be calling a realtor's office shortly to see if they can meet with me Thursday and maybe show me a few places. I'm one of those people who isn't picky about a house or apartment, but I'd like to be close to campus, have a decent kitchen, and have wireless Internet and utilities included. We'll see what I can find...

The whole reason I get to go apartment-looking is because my brother's team made it to the state championship semifinals (held in Murfreesboro on Wednesday). He just graduated high school, so I'm glad he's getting his final chance at a state championship with his team. If they win Wednesday, they'll play Thursday for the state championship.

On Friday, the entire Whitten clan (minus a few, who already had other plans or had conflicting plans) will be traveling to Townsend/Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for a family reunion. We're staying in cabins and just hanging out, cooking, eating, hiking, and being together. It'll be great to see everyone. I haven't met my cousin Julianne's husband, Matt, nor have I met my cousin Allison's second baby, Cole. (Secretly, the whole family really just wants to get together to see Jake and Cole...but don't tell anyone!) We'll also be taking my mom's mother to Oak Ridge to visit her sister, which will be fun, but always adds to things. It's hard when you've got someone who can't do much walking or stepping up and down anymore. I know Grandmother is excited about finally getting out and doing something, so I'm looking forward to seeing her happy again.

Alright, enough procrastinating on this apartment thing: the search must continue. Until next time...

So what did I do all summer?

So what was Aubra Whitten up to all summer? And why in the world didn't she blog all summer? You know, I'm so glad you asked...

In May:
-I finished up my junior year as a communication/journalism major at MSU. I finished all my requirements for my English minor, so I'll only be taking a couple of core classes and communication classes in my final year! I think I'm really going to miss English, but not the work load/reading load.
-The day after finishing my junior year, I flew across the world to Seoul, South Korea! I spent two weeks there and in Tokyo, Japan, and had a wonderful experience. If you ever get the opportunity, please go visit both places (I'm especially partial to South Korea!). I did briefly blog about both places and I took tons of photos...if you have Facebook, you can check them out there. If not, just ask me about them. I'll be more than happy to go on and on about how wonderful the trip was!
-I started work in Starkville as a student worker for the Office of Academic Outreach and Continuing Education! (More details on that later.) This was the beginning of my first summer away from home.
-I gained another cousin when my cousin Rebecca married her husband Josh! Beautiful wedding and reception - love both of them.

In June:
-Managed to spend only two weekends in Mississippi (the rest were spent in Memphis and Philadelphia - the one in Mississippi, not the other one...for those of y'all not from Mississippi!) Went home for Pash's birthday, and visited new places in Mississippi with Tim and his family.
-Started my second student worker job as a writer and photographer for Vision, the magazine for the College of Arts & Sciences.
-Continued working my first student worker job, doing a little bit of everything - WalMart runs, errands around campus, helping with engineering conferences, filing papers, writing promotional pieces, working in Excel and Word, doing research and brainstorming for the office, filling in the for the secretary...almost every day was something different! I was hired to work as an assistant for all the childrens' camps, and those were a lot of fun. We had two weeks of art camp and one week of international camp, where I got to work with college students in the ESL program as well as Starkville kids. It was great to spend all day with them!
-Sorted through interviews and applications at The Reflector (the campus newspaper)

In July:
-Again, managed to only spend one or two weekends in Mississippi (the rest were in Memphis and Vicksburg).
-Continued working at Memorial Hall doing office work and kids camps. We did two computer camps and one dance camp. Needless to say, dance camp wore me out every day...but the girls were precious!
-Thanked the Lord for graciously giving me a free parking pass for campus (I had been walking to work every day) - Mississippi is HOT all the time, but especially in July!
-Continued working as a writer/photographer for Vision Magazine
-Enjoyed getting to know Brian Sorgenfrei, RUF's new campus minister at State. He and his wife Liza (and baby Shelby) are a great blessing from the Lord, and I look forward to getting to know them better this year. Please pray for RUF's ministry on campus; pray that the gospel would go forth and that students would come to know Christ.

In August:
-Finished working at Memorial Hall. It was a great job with wonderful coworkers and bosses!
-Finished working as a writer/photographer for Vision. It too was a great job and gave me wonderful experience! I got to write about a big variety of things-physicists helping the US Army, an undergrad doing an internship with the National Weather Service, two faculty members working to help our departments and campus as a whole be more green, and looked at some of the research and field work going on in the newly-formed anthropology department!
-Got to go home for two weeks and visit with my family and friends. It was a great summer, but it was very strange being away from home the majority of the time!
-Headed back to Starkville, started my senior year (my, oh my, I'm an old woman).
-Started back to work at The Reflector (Mississippi State's student-run, independent newspaper) as the managing editor. We've published four issues to date, and you can read us online at www.reflector-online.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/reflectoronline. And nope, I'm not ashamed of that shameless plug right there...I would love more readers. :) It's been a very challenging and stressful job, but I knew that going into it. Please do be praying for myself and the rest of the staff.
-Have been able to hang out with new friends that I met in Korea! About 61 Korean students are here for 9 months at State - please pray they would meet American friends and enjoy their time here. I have loved having them here.

So, what's on tap for this semester? One, I'm going to start blogging more. (Really. I mean it. Hold me to it, okay?) I have a teacher that recently warned us that she's going to require us to blog and answer questions via a class blog, so I figured I might as well get back into it. Two, I am prayerfully considering where the Lord wants me this time next year. I'm taking the GRE this semester (have my practice test on Saturday!), but I still have no idea what I'm doing. I'm burned out on journalism and the market is awful for journalists, so I'm considering quite a few things (including paralegal school, getting my MBA, getting an English/TESOL master's degree, getting a master's in education so I could teach English or journalism). I'm leaning toward the MBA idea, but I'm not positive. Please pray that the Lord would direct me!