Bay City Baptist Church, Green Bay, WI

College Tour 2006

Web updates will be made as often as possible along the way. How often we update will be determined by internet access along the way. It's looking like we can update on Monday night, Tuesday night, maybe Wednesday night, maybe Thursday night, hopefully Friday night. Since we will be putting everything on one page, the page may load slow.

MONDAY, March 27, 2006
Travel to Bob Jones University
It's 907 (extremely long) miles to our destination today. We pulled out of the parking lot at 5:00 this morning, on time! After a brief prayer and organizational meeting with Pastor Dave in the back of the bus, we all got comfortable in various nooks and crannies and got straight to business...the business of sleep, that is! We made two brief stops today, the first in Indiana to get some lunch, and then in Tennessee, before the final leg of our journey to Bob Jones. Pastor Dave faced some serious competition in "Ready to Rumble Boxing Round 2", a classic college tour video game, and ended up on top, beating almost everyone (except Joey). Overall, it was been a great day, and we arrived at BJU at about 10:00 p.m. eastern time.
Written by: Jan Dervish

How Bay City students pass the time:
Telephoning friends!

Mr. Stauff on the final portion of today's journey
to BJU.

.
Jan working on tonight's web page

Ben and Luke relaxing in the back
of the bus.

TUESDAY, March 28, 2006
At BJU all day
We had a Grab-and-Go breakfast after getting ready in the dorms, and went on a tour of the university at 9a.m. Of course, we’re here on the only cold day of the whole week. We went to chapel, where there was a very enlightening message about creation and evolution. The student body is enormous! After chapel, we had an extremely long wait in the lunch line. Some various classes attended by our group were Probation and Parole, a nursing class, an Electronics II lab (Jan, Luke, Ben, and Joey said Adam the robot was awesome), American literature (the guys loved it), and a coaching basketball class (where the entire class was MIA). The classes were very interesting, and the teachers were very good. Some of us toured a world famous art museum on the campus (ask Natalie about the content and ask Daniel what he learned about taking pictures). We then visited the Snack Shop and walked around the campus (By the way, it’s extremely large and every building looks the same on the outside. Not good for directionally challenged people.) We met at the gym at 4:45 p.m. and took the bus to the Bruss' where we toured their lovely home and Mr. Bruss grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for us. We took turns holding Jude, who is absolutely precious!! The DeGroot's showed up and had supper with us. Most of the group went to the park nearby. We celebrated Mr. Bruss’ and Julie’s birthday. We went back to the university, where the girls went swimming. Bob Jones was an experience. Good night!!
Written By: Jessica Stauff

Our group in the Amphitorium after chapel today. Each of our students attended a campus tour, chapel, and two classes today.

Miscellaneous pictures at our evening meal at the Brusses'.

Our friends, the Brusses.

BONUS: Click here to see a short clip of our time at the Brusses'.
(You'll need Windows Media Player and a fast internet connection in order to view this short video clip properly. This video was taken at about 6 p.m. eastern time tonight.)

WEDNESDAY, March 29, 2006
Travel to Pensacola Christian College
We left Greenville around 9 a.m. and headed south. The farther we went the warmer it got. The first large metropolis we went through was Atlanta. We headed through downtown right past the stadium where the Braves play baseball. Next stop was lunch about 40 miles outside of Atlanta. The kids reluctantly played some games at my urging--actually we had a deal made. It was fun even though some of them will tell you otherwise. Before we knew it, we were within an hour of Pensacola Christian College. We stopped at the border of Alabama and Florida at a place we traditionally call Flobama (Florida and Alabama combined--get it?) and got a picture (see below). We landed at PCC at about 4:30 p.m., just in time to see Laura Mattson, Mandy Dunford and Mrs. Shawna Christenson before they headed back home to Green Bay from their own excursion south. We had dinner at the Four Winds (on campus) and then went to church at the Campus Church. Tomorrow, we have some big plans...but you'll have to wait for that.
Written by: Julie Bender

Kayla, PD, Jan, Julie, Joey, Courtney, and Natalie playing Catchphrase on the bus. Many others were playing but they're not pictured.

All of us In Flobama. (That's a combination of Florida and Alabama--we're
standing on the state line.)

Looking over Courtney's shoulder during the Wednesday evening service at the campus church at PCC.

All our students on the platform after the service.

THURSDAY, March 30, 2006
At PCC all day
Hi again! We got up early this morning and took a guided tour of Pensacola Christian College at 8:15 am. Most of us grabbed breakfast (this college has great food!) before we went on the tour. It ended up at Crowne Centre (the enormous auditorium) where we had chapel. It was a great message, and after that everyone split up and each went to a class, a few of which are: Strings, Entertaining in the Home, Marketing, Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, and Advertising Design. We ate lunch fast and then took off for the beach at 12:30. The guys stayed for a few hours, but the girls and Mrs. Bender left after an hour and a half and checked out one of the shops along the beach. We all then went out for dinner, and finished out the night bowling on the PCC campus. (Ask us about our great friend Jonathan!) Word to the wise: never ask a lone bowler if they want to bowl with you. Anyway, it was a great day. All the guys are really sunburned (it hurts to look at some of them), and the girls got a little red too. Good night!
Written by: Jessica Stauff

The guys get a little help from their tour guide as they select a class to attend.

Some of our students attend a New Testament survey class.

Daniel enjoys the beach--we did unearth him after just a few minutes.

All of us bowling at PCC on Thursday evening.

FRIDAY, March 31, 2006
Travel to Heritage Baptist University
Today began early, as we left Pensacola Christian College at about 8:00 a.m. to head for Heritage Baptist University in Indianapolis. After a (not so) brief meeting with Pastor Dave to talk about our experiences at Pensacola Christian College and talk about the Lord’s will, we settled in for the journey ahead. We made one stop at a truck stop to dump the storage tank. Around 11:45 a.m., we made a brief pit-stop at a group of fast food restaurants, and then continued on our way to Heritage Baptist University. A word of advice from Jan: Stay away from Taco Bell. We watched a movie during the second part of the trip, as well as played a few games with Mrs. Bender. We made a brief 15 minute stop underneath an overpass during a huge storm that rolled through Indiana; there was a tornado watch in the area but we made it safely through. We arrived at Heritage after 10:00 p.m. and took a tour of the campus before heading to bed. Tomorrow we have to get up early for the final stretch home. Natalie also requested a small shout out: "Hi." Request granted.
Written by: Jan Dervish

Here is our usual morning meeting (not all pictured) in the back of the bus. As we leave PCC, we discuss what we have learned, and talk about Proverbs 3:6. "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."

SATURDAY, April 1, 2006
Travel to Green Bay
We got up and headed out around 6:00 a.m. eastern time after getting a little sleep at Heritage Baptist University. After two restless hours of sleep, we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast. We continued to travel through the Indiana countryside and hit Chicago well before the lunch rush. Starting and stopping at all the toll booths was somewhat monotonous, but we finally made it into Wisconsin, and through Milwaukee without any problems. Around 10:30 a.m. we passed through Sheboygan and started to clean the bus from top to bottom. After we got done cleaning, we all sat around in the back of the bus, reviewed our trip, and all the things that had happened. We got back to church at 11:40 a.m. All in all, it was a very uneventful day, but a fitting end to a very busy week. The end.
Written by Bush (Luke) and Flem (Ben) and Steph:)

Luke works on the text for the final day's web update with help from
Steph and Ben.

Brandon relaxes while Mr. Stauff drives and bus owner Craig
Barlament looks on.

Our "ride." Thank you Presidential Limousine.

Dear Luke, Ben, Daniel, Joey, Jan, Tim, Brandon,
Jessica, Steph, Natalie, Courtney, and Kayla,

We had a great time didn't we? It's one road trip we'll probably always remember. Take this one thing from our time together: the Lord is our Shepherd (and He'll never lead you wrong). God knows what's best for your future. Keep Him first and you'll never regret it.

Your friends,

Pastor Dave and Julie

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