The Azusa Pacific Blog

One more month of my freshmen year. The last time I will ever be a freshmen… in my life. Crazy. This year has seriously flown by faster then I ever thought it would. I feel like I just got here, move-in day seems like it was just yesterday. By far, it has been the best year of my life. I have met people that I can’t imagine living life without. I have met people that have inspired me, encouraged me, and shown me what it means to pursue Christ with all of your being. There are people that I can never repay for the way that they have poured into my life. I have grown as a person, and even more so I have grown in my relationship with God. The way I have experienced God while being here is extraordinary.

It is insane to think of how originally APU was not on my rater of colleges at all. I had a whole different plan, but this was God’s plan for me. And it is infinitely better then any other place I could have ended up. This is my home now, these people are like family. This community is like family. For some people, picking a college is all about the city your in, or the look of the campus, or how great their food is, or even how good the school name will look on your resume. While I would fare to say that there are so many schools that rank better at those things then APU, I would also fare to say that in terms of community and the people, APU ranks number one. I could never imagine myself anywhere else, surrounded by any other group of individuals.

Besides school ending next month, I have a little over one more month until I leave for my mission trip to Tanzania. It is surreal at this point. The way that God has opened doors for this trip, prepared me and equipped me personally for this trip, and bonded my team is just so amazing. It has been a true testimony to how God will get you somewhere if He really wants you there. God really wants me there. If I ended up at any other place, I would not be going on this mission trip in a month. And that in itself is just a weird thought. This mission trip IS where I am supposed to be, and APU got me here. I haven’t even been on the trip yet and I already cannot imagine my life without it.

One more month until I move out of the dorms. Oh boy, that’s going to be a sad day. I will miss spontaneous trips to ‘The Hat’ or ‘Donut Man’ or ‘In-N-Out.’ I will miss beach days with my hall and waking up at 3AM to pillow fights outside and girls screaming in the hall (I know, weird thing to miss right?). I will miss Monday night cramming into a room and watching The Bachelor. I will miss constantly having my door open and never being able to get homework done because people walk in every 2 seconds. I will miss moving my mattress into other rooms and having sleepovers. I will miss spontaneous dance parties and movie nights. I will miss getting ready for GYRAD and walking into the bathroom every morning to see the whole bathroom filled with girls getting ready. I will miss spending hours on end in the study room during finals, but never having a dull moment because there are 10 other girls studying in there too. I will miss never having to be alone, unless I choose to be. I will miss sitting out on Trinity Lawn doing homework on a beautiful sunny day. I will miss every single thing about living in the dorms, it was hands-down one of the greatest parts of my freshmen year. Some of the girls on my hall will be my friends for eternity (seriously).

But there are so many things to look forward to:

• I am going to be an ALPHA LEADER next year, which I could not be any more excited about. I am so blessed to be able to pour into the lives of incoming freshmen. I can only hope that I influence the lives of my “alphies” as my alpha leader influenced my own.
• Next year I will be living in an apartment with two of the girls on my hall. They are some of the most caring, encouraging, and fun girls I have ever met. I can’t wait.
• My schedule of classes for next semester…. THREE art classes. So stoked.
• Spring Semester I am planning on studying abroad (either South Africa, England, Italy, or London!)
• Much far into the future… my Junior year… I am going to pursue being an R.A. for the freshmen in the dorms.

If you are going to be a freshmen at APU next year I have one piece of advice for you… GET EXCITED. Your life will be changed and will look nothing like what it does right now (in a good way). You will grow, learn, experience things you never imagined you would, and make friendships that will last a lifetime. Looking back, I enjoyed high school, but college is a new level of enjoyment.

If you are not going to be a freshmen at APU next year, GET EXCITED ANYWAYS. Be in prayer about where God is leading you, be pursuing Him, and rejoice in all that you do have right now.