Laura A. Reece

Mmm... what to say... Ok, for those of you who do not know my name is Laura Reece or some call me Reece's! Like the candy!

Which I happen to like very much! Peanut butter and chocolate were made to go together! Mmm... So good! Anyway I'm the one who does not say much in class... or out of class... Unless you know me personally... Then on occasion I will talk your ear off... But I mostly let other people do that. :) I enjoy listening. :) My major at school for two years was music then last year I switched to General Ministry to get my BA, I'm also hoping to get all the extra classes for the first two years of the Bible and theology major too... I know you are thinking I'm an over-achiever... Haha! You're right... I don't know if it's going to work out like this or not but I'm trying. :) This summer has gone by way to fast! I'm in Minnesota and I love it here! :) 

What have I done? Well I got a job working in house keeping at a place called Lake Geneva, and its a "christian" camp ground. There is so much to clean there! It has been fun though and I'm glad I was able to find a job for the short time I'm here in MN. :) God has blessed me this summer! I have been jet skiing on our lake which is so much fun! If you don't know what that is, well... look it up! A group from CLC came for the weekend this summer and they got to go jet skiing so you could just ask them what it is. It was Israel's group if you're wondering...

I have played piano for my church a few times as for as ministry goes... But with work, I have not been able to help as much as I did last year... I love my church here and what God is doing. We had a little boy get the Holy Ghost the other week and another one was Baptized that day! God is moving and doing great things in our town! :) I will be sad to be gone because I don't want to miss what He is doing here! But I will rejoin you guys at school for our final year and will have to settle for just hearing about the amazing things God is doing in MN. :) One year to Go! YAY! :) Ok let's see... My favorite colors are Green, Blue, Purple, and Orange! :) 

I love to go clay pigeon shooting! It is one of my favorite things to do besides shooting my compound bow! Which is awesome too! :) Kayaking is a lot of fun. :)

Well if you're still reading this, you must be finding this to be somewhat interesting... I love to read when I have time! :) I like coffee, and chocolate, and ice cream, and cookies, and the list goes on.... And I like to draw and paint... But I'm not that great at it... Just good enough to get by... :D I have been taking lots of pictures around my house and my grandma's.

I love to listen to music and to try and play it... My sense of humor is quite dry and not everyone understands it, but I'm ok with that now... I just feel bad that some of you are left in the dark about this kind of humor... One of my new favorite quotes is "My sarcasm is an allergic reaction to your stupidity." Haha! Just in case you guys are wondering. :) Ok, well, I can't think of what else to write so if you have endured this book of a blog thing, congratulations! Hope you have a wonderful day and God Bless! :D Smiles all around! :D

Joshua D. Shalapsik

What’s good everyone?!

The summer time used to mean that I would sleep in, find something to do with my day, go to work, and all of the rest of the time I would be at church. Well, the summer of 2011 has been polar opposite of those of my high school years. This summer is even completely different than the passed two years that I’ve been out here at CLC. For the passed two summers I had been traveling around the United States with tours groups for the entirety of the summer. However, this summer I have found myself leading my own tour group of one member!

            The begging of the summer was rather shaky for me. I was unsure of what exactly was going to happen from day to day at that point. The days moved by ever so slowly with so much running through my mind, different things pertaining life and ministry. I eventually began to move out of that stage and simply tried to embrace what was around me at the time. Well the notion that I needed to embrace was that of my music internship. Being a music major I have to meet a certain listing of requirements in order to obtain a BA degree. I could have chosen to meet these requirements by either planning a senior recital, or going with an internship. I chose the internship! So here I am at CLC fulfilling my internship requirements with the CLC Music Dept. The internship has been everything I have expected and so much more!

I started the internship by simply continuing my daily office duties, and then the familiarity of the CLC scenery quickly changed. I found myself in Las Vegas for an entire week! Bro Sillimon and I went to attend the Edwin and Walter Hawkins Love Fellowship Music and Arts Seminar. 

The seminar was great, and so was the food! For those of you who are not familiar with this event, it can be simply described as form of TTCM. I sat in class listening to Donald Lawrence, Ted Winn, James Harrison, and others of their gospel music industry caliber. I also spoke with the benevolent Richard Smallwood, Dr. Edwin Hawkins, Maurette Brown Clark, and many others! 

I also sang in the mass choir for their live recording at the end of the week, and I wore all white! The Seminar actually recorded Bro Sillimon’s original piece “Who God Says I Am”, it was great.   

Shortly after returning from Las Vegas, Bro Sillimon and I flew out to Colorado. We traveled to Colorado in order to do the music for family camp. That week was fun, interesting, and exhausting, but nevertheless we made it through. We worked with the praise team as well as the mass choir. 

One of the songs that was taught and sang was an original from myself “So Great”! Long services, roughly 12,5468,124 songs, long dinners, Rev. Jerry Jones, and not enough sleep was the culmination of that particular excursion.

Next stop, San Jose! Bro Sillimon and I traveled down to San Jose to put on a music clinic for the music department of the East Valley Pentecostal Church. 

The time that I spent in San Jose for this music clinic will never be forgotten. When we arrived I was amazed at the size of the church, it was very large and the décor was phenomenal! Anyways, as soon as we arrived the pastor took us to eat and then we had an immediate band rehearsal followed by a vocal rehearsal. The next morning came and we tried to find a McDonalds and failed in our attempt, so we ate a random Pilipino coffee shop. I was very skeptical at first, and then I ate the absolute best breakfast sandwich I had ever eaten! We arrived back at the church at 10 and began our band rehearsal. After we finished with the band we grabbed a quick bite to eat and prepared for the vocals. During preparation I was in charge of the band and ended up teaching them all of their parts for the song we were going over. I was completely unassisted at this time and went for it! It was amazing because the musicians had so much confidence in my musical ability that they followed my direction with such trust and assuredness even though some were way older than me! That particular experience was priceless! So as I had said, we arrived at rehearsal that morning at 10, and we didn’t end until 6:15! It was a powerful day! The next day was Sunday and that meant that all of our hard rehearsal time was about to be showcased before the entire congregation and God! All of the songs went very well, including the songs I played keys for; it was an awesome experience. After service the pastor took us to Santana Row, which is absolutely the ritziest area I have ever been! Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s were rolling down the street left and right, and just about every female had a tan, sunglasses, and a pocket dog! To say the food was excellent would be an understatement, so instead of trying to describe it I’ll just have a moment of silence for it...____________, Thank you. Oh, and I need to mention that I had my own room to stay in! Other than staying in a presidential suite at the Riviera in Vegas for a night, my own room was the second closest I got to fulfilling literal “Rock Star” status this summer! Oh, and I need to mention that the room I stayed in for three nights was the former President of CLC Samuel Ankarcrona future place of residence!

Well that does it for the traveling so far! Bro Sillimon and I will be traveling out to do another music clinic before the semester starts, and I’m sure more opportunities will await me there as well. However, activities here at CLC have been going on like crazy! We just sang at the state fair this past weekend, both Covenant and the Choir, and then we will be singing out this coming Saturday in downtown Stockton. My summer has been nonstop! So whenever I have been traveling, I’ve been here in Stockton doing office work at 8 A.M., playing keys for Wednesday night service, directing on Sundays, playing drums when needed, practicing piano, eating, gaining weight, having Jesus time, and trying to prepare mentally for my last year!

Believe it or not there is much more I could tell you all about, but Ill save it for later conversations. I hope all of your summers have been a blessing to you as mine has been for me. I love and care about all of you Senior Class of 2012!

-         Much Love, Joshua D. Shalapsik 
o       8/1/11

Christian Life College SENIORS!!!!

As I mentioned before, this blog is going to have a LOT to do with my classmates from Christian Life College because I want this blog to be a keepsake for my senior year.... so.... some of the following posts will be posts devoted completely to an individual from my senior class! They are going to write about some things they have been doing this summer- fun things, ministry things, boring things (ha!) Hopefully they will include some pictures of what has been going on and who they have been spending their summer with! I am apart of an incredible class- I am looking forward to seeing them in just a few short weeks!