Jaron Holliday, a brave defender of our freedom, a young man committed to serving the Lord and doing everything to the fullest that he could has gone home to be with the Lord. Saturday the car he was in ran over a mine, killing him and two fellow soldiers. Please pray for his family...he leaves behind 7 younger siblings and a mother just now starting chemo for breast cancer.

In lots of ways this summer has been extremely depressing. It just seems that death has looked me in the face at every turn. First we recieved news that Ada May, a wonderful woman at church and wife to one of the most active guys in our church, passed away very, very suddenly. Then Jon-Eric died. Then we just found out earlier this week about Jaron. This afternoon I drove by the spot where Tamera died a few years ago and was struck by a sudden, horrible fear for the students in my Wednesday night class in Kinmen. In my somewhat short life I have only lost friends who I know I will see again...and it's been very, very tough. What about my unsaved friends? I honestly don't know if I could handle that.

On to less depressing topics...

I have a job! I will be working with disabled and retarded people as a personal living assistant. What they told me is I'll basically be living with the person for aobut 32 hours a week (8 am Friday to 4 pm Saturday) and doing everything from getting them to bed to making breakfast to cleaning the house to taking people to the movies. I'm looking forward to starting. I'm also very glad that I'll be able to work so many hours (32 a week), which will pay for my school and help a lot in saving up for the China trip.

I start school next Wednesday. I am a little apprahensive...I hope that I don't hate all my lit classes. I've never taken a lit class in my life and here I am majoring in English Education...God's ways are not only higher than ours ways, they are also very different!

Tomorrow BJ, Anna, Ethan and I will be driving up to Kansas to visit with Daniel, a friend from Taiwan. He only lives a few hours from us, but the only times I've seen him before have been in Taiwan! lol. I'm looking forward to paintball....watch out!

Got to go now. Talk to y'all later!