This Update Is Long Overdue

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I've talked to you guys. Honestly, we've all been so busy there has barely been time to breathe. However, God has really been moving in the last week that I've been here, I'm so excited to let you guys know some of the highlights of the last few days.

Some of the cool things we've gotten the opportunity to do are a Day of Faith outreach, band Bible study, band hang-out time, classes, rehearsals, and the men and women's retreats. All of them have been an incredible time of learning and growing in our relationships with one another. Everyone here feels like even though we've only been here for a few days we've already made life-long friendships. It's incredible what united passions and a love of God can do for the outcome of relationships. :)

Last weekend all the girls went up to this camp called "Camp Otto" for a women's retreat. The camp was muggy and buggy (Ha!) but really beautiful. Here's a picture of the lake. I thought it was absolutely breathtaking.

The retreat was really great for me, because it allowed me some time to really get my mind focused on God. Arriving here and seeing everyone for the first time was so much fun, but it was also a little overwhelming. On the women's retreat we really focused on who we are as followers of Jesus. God spoke a lot of encouraging truths into my heart and used my friends to show me His unfailing love. It was refreshing to my heart. We also got to dress up on our last evening there and participate in a fun event. Here's a picture of us girls all dressed up. 

From left to right: Jessica, Natasha, Lauren, Danielle, Lindsay, Me.

Also last week we got to start to rehearsals. They have been AWESOME. We are having such a blast playing together, and I feel like the band is really meshing musically. We found out the songs we get to lead today. I'm leading "Consider Me Gone", "Blue Sky", "Rain", "Way I Feel" and "Many The Miles". I'm SUPER excited about all of them :) I wanted to post a video, but it's really not working yet. 

On Tuesday this past week we got to go to Vision night at the Bongards' house. Basically, it was an opportunity for the staff to tell us more about Keynote's mission statement. It was awesome to hear more about what they do as a ministry. Keynote isn't just focused on music, but also media and the arts. We got to watch some student made videos from some previous projects, and they were INSANELY awesome. 

There were also awesome snacks. I know that doesn't sound like much of anything, but it was so funny, BECAUSE I had really been stressed out that day. When I walked in there was a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. Delicious. Here's a picture of what the boys did with the chocolate fountain. 

This is Mike, Trevor, and Gray all with their chocolate mustaches. Nice...

Anyway, that's just a bit of an update about what we've been doing. On Monday we had band hang-out time. We went to Paradise Bakery for dinner (I bought extra cookies. SO GOOD) and then we went over to Mel's house to watch the old-school Batman movie. "Holy Stop On Green Bonding Time, Batman!" Seriously, that movie was hilarious. We've already been saying "Holy such and such, Batman!" the whole week. Tour is going to be awesome.

Oh! Speaking of tour, Stop On Green will be spending most of its tour in Indiana, with a few concerts in Ohio, Michigan, and I think Virginia. I'm really excited, because our band is going to be playing at a lot of prisons and detention facilities. I know that sounds weird, but I'm really stoked.

There's an update for you all. Thanks for all your prayers and support. They've been such a blessing to me. Until next time!

Hannah