The Mystery of Maine

Date

Hey everyone! Welcome to the OneLife Class 6 blog!

The past two weeks have been filled with tons of laughter, and crazy memories have already been made-truly an amazing start to this new adventure in all of our lives!

For those of you who don’t know, Saturday we re-packed our bags and headed to Acadia National Park in Maine. (Yes, 13 hours in a van wouldn’t be complete without jamming along to some favorite tunes and analyzing Taylor Swift.) 😀

We stopped late Saturday night and spent the night at The Root Cellar in Portland Maine; a nonprofit organization with a heart for the less fortunate and bringing their community together.

Sunday we got up and headed to a small park a few minutes from The Root Cellar. There, we worshiped together and the staff and RLs shared their testimonies. We did an activity called ‘Across the Line’ to get to know each other better and spent some time discussing it with our apartments afterwards. After a healthy, well balanced lunch of pizza and salad, we boarded the vans and completed the last few hours of our journey, arriving in Acadia late afternoon. We worked together in teams of four to pitch tents and after a good dose of laughter, perseverance, and just a hint of frustration, we succeeded. (Don’t worry. The only casualties were a few bent-beyond-repair tent stakes.) The rest of the evening was spent in fellowship and after debriefing our day, we headed to bed.

Monday morning we enjoyed a breakfast of instant oatmeal before heading into the town of Bar Harbor. The morning was spent in a small church called The Message as Zac and Kelly explained how all of us Onelifers will be challenged in our character and calling this year. We had a delicious lunch with Pastor Jody and then headed out into the national park on a scavenger hunt with our apartment-mates. Showers hanging within grasp for the winning apartment, the competition was intense, but apartment 5 (a.k.a. the fab 5) narrowly snatched the victory by “embodying the values of OneLife the best”. If God taught us anything while showering, it was that he’s got everything under control, even when the timer on your pay shower isn’t working correctly…😶

Tuesday was our longest and earliest day, starting at 4:30am so we could see the sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain. We worshiped together as it rose and spent some quiet time with him in the early morning, reflecting on his goodness and everything we’d experienced the past few days. By 10:00 am we were geared up and ready to head out sea kayaking. We spent a few hours out on the water gaining a new perspective of the place we’d been for the past day and a half before heading to Sand Beach and chilling there for a while. Some of us spent some time enjoying the sun and taking a nap while others cooled off in the 55℉ water and others hiked up Beehive Mountain. Dinner was provided by the guys-tacos of course for Taco Tuesday-(ladies prepared some pretty sweet shish kabobs on Monday) and afterwards we walked to cliffs by the ocean. Kelly led a debrief session of the day as the stars came out and we discussed what we’d learned about ourselves, others, and God. We met with our RLs briefly and then headed back to camp. Before we fell asleep, a few jokes about being slow-roasted in the muggy tents were shared, (at least in my tent) ending the night in laughter.  

Going into OneLife, I was somewhat concerned that the other students wouldn’t have much in common with me, but as I got to know other people while camping I learned that we have more in common than I originally thought. It was nice spending some free time ‘introverting’ with some other classmates. And it was while listening to some students analyze Taylor Swift songs with Zac that I was reminded that God has placed truth in everything.

Wednesday we got up, worked together to pack everything and rolled out of Acadia by 9:00 am. We spent the entire day driving back to LBC, the van ride complete with everything from serious conversations with each other and some just-as-serious (but not really) car karaoke.

Reflecting back on those first few days, I couldn’t imagine any better way to start off my time at OneLife or any other amazing people to spend the next nine months with. Being an introvert, meeting new people-especially 31 all at the same time isn’t something I’ve done before. Getting to know everyone while camping and making memories brought us together super fast and has made me excited to get to know everyone better this year. It’s also shown me that initiating conversation isn’t quite as terrifying as I used to think. Here’s to many more adventures as a OneLife family! Cheers!   – Amara Sherman

Investigative Journalism

by Brandon Bechtold

Matt Harling – Current Student

1. How do you feel apartment cleanliness benefits the community?

“Onelife has many lessons we can learn that will help us later on in life, and cleanliness is one of them. Everything that we own was given to us by the grace of God, and we should be good stewards of what has been given to us. Not only that but as an apartment, we are able to build community skills by dividing the work among our fellow apartment mates so that we may learn how to work together to get things done.”

2. Which rule or policy at OneLife do you feel is most beneficial?

“I think the most beneficial policy at Onelife is the electronic device policy. We all came to Onelife to grow in Christ, and to meet life friends, but in order to do those things we need to limit distractions. Everything that Onelife wants to accomplish won’t and can’t be accomplished if the distractions in our life are not taken away. God wants us to be still and listen without anything to come between us.”

3. Why do you think Committees are super important for Onelife?

“The committees are super important for Onelife, because they strive to bring community back into our lives. When Adam and Eve fell, their community with God and each other was broken; therefore, we need to be focusing on rebuilding that community with God and each other. Which leads me to believe, that the committees do a great job on building that part of our character.”

Maria- Resident Leader

  1. “Roommates are given the opportunity to work together which not only helps them to form deeper relationships but also helps them grow in skills that will be applicable to their future lives and homes.”
  2. “I think the no dating policy is the most beneficial for students because when they are able to eliminate potential distractions in the relationships they are forming with one another, then they are able to focus more intently on developing their character, clarifying their calling, and understanding relational wisdom.”
  3. “Committees allow students to take on leadership responsibilities, step out of their comfort zones, and use their God given gifts to create opportunities for fellowship in the areas God has placed them.” 

PRO-TIP! 

by Debbi Celeste

  • Pro-tip #1 – Slow roast your marshmallows over the embers of a campfire instead of the flame
  • Pro-tip #2 – Don’t miss the bus so you have to run a mile in wet clothes when competing in a scavenger hunt (we’re looking at you, apartment 2)