Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"The sweetest blessings are won with prayer & worn with thanks." 
-Thomas Goodwin 

::Classes::

So this week everything has been out of whack a little bit due to it being Thanksgiving! 

Instead of having one speaker for the entire week we had breakout sessions. This was where we had members of the staff teach on various topics at various times and we were able to go to which ever one appealed to us! 

The breakout sessions I went to were:

*Music Theory- I have always loved music theory and have taken classes on it before. It was a nice refresher course to be apart of! 

*Vocal Workshop- Loved this class! We had two amazing instructors that really know what they are talking about! They gave us some tips on using our voices and how to sing and articulate properly. We then had a practical application part of the class where we were able to sing for our instructor and be critiqued. I decided to participate in that! Yes, yes I did! I'm so proud of the confidence that I am gaining in my voice! Thank you Lord!

*Band Development- This class was awesome because it wasn't what I had expected! We actually spent time focusing on the dynamics of a band. Meaning, we looked into the relationships within a band. This was so insightful because so many times this get overlooked and then there is dysfunction.

Something else that we did this week was that we watched the move, "Father of Lights." Seriously everyone should see this trilogy of movies that a man by the name of Darren Wilson has produced. The first movie is, "Finger of God," followed by "Furious Love" (which I saw and wrote about a couple blogs ago), and finally "Father of Lights." So inspiring. So amazing. Everyone in class was so jazzed to go on outreach by the end of the film. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!!

::THAIBODIA::

*So I can't believe that in 2 and 1/2 weeks I will be headed to Bangkok, Thailand! Yes! God has provided the finances that I have needed to go on this outreach through all of you, my friends and family! Words cannot express to you how incredibly thankful I am. THANK YOU!!! 

This week our whole group traveled to the Doctor to receive our wonderful array of shots! ha ha. Thankfully I only had to get a Typhoid shot! One step closer!! 

We have also started learning our dramas that we will be performing overseas! I LOVE dramas so when I learned that I got to be a main actress in one I got super excited! We are doing a drama to a song by Mumford and Sons called, "Dustbowl Dance." This drama hits home for me personally because it is a silent drama that follows a girl through life and how she puts on different masks or "faces" in accordance to whoever she is talking to or hanging out with. Then Jesus comes in and he breaks all of those masks and turns her face towards His. It's an extremely powerful drama and I'm excited to see how the Lord will move through it when we perform it in Thailand and Cambodia. I'm ready! Let's Goooooo!

::THANKSGIVING::

-Sooooo!!! With some help from a Mr. Derek I was able to arrange a surprise arrival for Thanksgiving! I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life to come home, surprise, and spend time with the people that I love the most! So early Thursday morning I touched down in good ole Philly! It was wonderful just knowing that I was back in PA! Early Thanksgiving morning I hid in the trunk of Derek's car as he pulled up to my parents farm. My parents were expecting him to bring a pie for Thanksgiving. Instead, when they opened the trunk to pick a pie there was ME! I had my video camera on my phone all prepped and ready to capture their reactions! Dad started cracking up and mom started to as well, but it quickly turned into crying. This was such a very sweet moment that I was so blessed to be apart of. We pulled it off and I couldn't have done it without the help of my amazing brother! 

We had a wonderful week! I got to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents while seeing my grandparents, some extended family, and two of my favorite girls in the entire world! My heart had missed my sweet Abby and Anna so much. I got to go black Friday shopping for the first time in my life with some wonderful people, go for a ride around the farm with my mom and Penny, ventured to King of Prussia, and had an absolute BLAST! Visiting with family and friends made my visit so priceless. I even got to spend an evening celebrating Christmas because I will be in Thailand for Christmas this year. To everyone that helped pull this together, spent time with me, and planned things... I thank you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you all so deeply. I will say though that it made leaving on Monday that much harder. 

Thank you...

I think this is probably the shortest blog that I have written yet! Sorry it's not chock full of amazing insights like normal, but for me this week has been monumental just the same! 

Thank you again everyone for your love and support! Especially those prayers! 

From My Heart,

Brielle Renee

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!