Weekly Update - Jane Turner

Continuing our classes in the books of the Law, we took an exam Tuesday on the book of Leviticus. Not wasting any time, the following day, we started Numbers. It has been fascinating to see how God cares, protects and provides for his people. It as also been challenging to see that just as he was particular in His commands towards the Israelites, He is also particular in His commands towards us. When He tells us to do something, we need to do it, no half-way jobs here!

Perhaps one of the most exciting things that happened this week was the return of the third-year students. They arrived bleary-eyed and travel-worn at approximately 12:30 AM Wednesday morning. After catching up on as much rest as they could, they acclimated themselves back into the normal FBI schedule around noon the same day. Though their presence was sorely missed while they were away, the lack was not fully realized until they returned. We are now unified and whole! Ready to take on the world!

Our first opportunity for conquering said world came on Thursday. Banding together, we made our way to the nursing home in Peterborough. Cracking open our Great Hymns, we sang until our voices were hoarse. Afterwards, we talked and visited with the residents.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we were able to practice hospitality during the Youth Weekend. All was going well until on Saturday a hideous crime was committed. Pastor Green was found murdered. The young people broke into teams of detectives and the game of Live Clue commenced as they made efforts to discover the killer, weapon and location of the homicide. We, the Bible School students were chosen to be witnesses and suspects for the day and had a grand time playing our parts. Finally, when all hope seemed to be loss, the stupendous sleuths revealed the culprit to be none other than Ben the chef, with the bowling pin, in the Small Laundry.

And so, with the mystery solved, the week draws to a close. Until next time, Adieu.

- Jane Turner

Weekly Update - Aaron Sandford

This is the first drop in what I hope will soon become a steady flow of information from the Fairwood Bible Institute campus. Ever since I became responsible for the Fairwood Beacon, I have had some vague idea of starting a weekly update newsletter, and it has finally begun.

The week at Fairwood was a good one on the whole, but it certainly was not perfect. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But rather than continuing to be vague and cryptic, I will now explain myself with some concrete facts.

Sunday was a fairly normal, quiet day. Dan Murray had the church service on how God can use the "messy middle," and he used Psalm 3, the song David wrote while running from Absalom, as an example of how we can find God in the midst of hard times. The rest of Sunday afternoon I spent mostly in my room working on a project for the upcoming youth weekend, so any interesting events from that time have escaped my notice. At five we had a normal dinner; at seven we had a normal night class; but at eight, we had a landmark event: the very first Student-Only WFCB and Beacon Committee meeting. The result of this counsel (among others) is that you have this splendid report before you today.

Monday morning, Stephen, Katie K., and Virginia led Bible studies, for 9 o'clock hour. Each did a good job digging into the passage he had chosen and leading discussion on its meaning. The rest of Monday was really cold. Really REALLY cold. Frigid though the temperatures were, however, brave Katie K. endured them in order to produce the one thing that made Monday most remarkable: Grilled Steak Dinner. It was SO good.

We finished our study of Exodus with a test during Tuesday's class time. We are now delving into the book of Leviticus. Tuesday afternoon, the Fairwood men had a work drive that was atypically productive. Most of our previous wood days had been marred by chainsaw failure, sickness, or injury, but this time was a glorious exception. Gerry had just bought a new chainsaw, and each of the staff men and the young men was able to participate. Four guys ran the trailer constantly the whole time, but the wood was being cut and split faster than it could be hauled out. We ended up with seven full loads stacked in the woodshed.

Wednesday was when the week's biggest con was observed, and that was the weather. Overnight, about eight inches of snow had accumulated. It was still falling in the morning. This was a very icy snow, almost like miniature hailstones, and it slowly got wetter and wetter as the morning progressed. By noon, it had turned into a frigid (but not quite freezing) rain that drenched the snow and covered Fairwood with half a foot of slush. The conditions were pretty miserable, but some roofs needed shoveling, some walkways needed clearing, and some wood needed moving. So shovel, clear and move we did, and rarely have I been so glad when a workday was finally over. (Ben and Bobby, fascinatingly enough, reported that they had actually enjoyed the challenge, and they tackled the Fairwood roofs with an alacrity that inspired both admiration and gratitude.)

Thursday was Valentines Day, and the dining room was decorated accordingly. Even now, the ceiling is still bedecked with hearts and snowflakes. We had a special Valentines breakfast of orange-glazed crescent rolls, and dinner was pink shepherd's pie with a pink cake. It was most delicious and festive. We had a special night class on Thursday because Mr. Murray had been gone on Wednesday and had given us the morning class time for assignments.

Friday was a busy day for the guys. We had to clean our rooms as usual in the morning, but then we had to pack as well for what became the highlight of my week, at least: a weekend trip to Rhode Island for the weekend. I had so much more to do that morning that I actually forgot to dust the back of my flatscreen monitor, and as a result I got a 9/10 score on room inspections. This was my first imperfect score in fifteen weeks, and it was a Very Bad Thing. It was not enough to ruin my day, however, by any stretch of the imagination.

By half past three, Josh, Stephen, Ben, Bobby, and I had piled into Craig's family's van with him and our stuff, and we headed out for our grand weekend in Rhode Island. We had a five minute prayer meeting over the time, and our prayers were really answered, as the rest of this narrative will demonstrate. The drive was fun and relaxing. We listened to a lot of Craig's music, worked on testimonies for Sunday, and slept. We had a really good Sabbath meeting on the road and a great time of sharing things we were thankful for. The traveling part itself was excellent, but how was the stay in Rhode Island? We shall see!

We arrived at the home of the generous and hospitable Paul and Laura Brown around six, and shortly afterward were joined by Andrea and one of her students, Ethan, with whom I and several of the other guys are very good friends. We hung out and talked for a long time, and then we tried to watch a movie. This did not work out very well, because the DVD player there was not working with TV-Guardian - basically a prerequisite for watching the majority of movies. We needed an unknown three-digit code to unlock the parental settings of the DVD player and turn on the TV-G, and no matter how many times we tried we could not guess the combination. Instead we watched a number of Ethan's pictures and movies and then went to bed.

Saturday morning, Ben, Bobby, Ethan, Craig, and I joined Mr. Brown in going to a men's breakfast at a church in Smithfield. The chaplain of the Red Sox (and formerly that of the Patriots as well) was there, and he gave a lengthy talk on how he works with these athletes and how God is working among them. That was quite interesting, and combined with the excellent food, was worth getting up for at seven on a Saturday. The rest of the day we divided between a watching a movie, tossing a football, playing basketball in the local park, perusing Facebook, and simply relaxing.

Sunday morning Ethan left, and the rest of us got ready for church at Woodhaven Chapel. We each gave a short testimony or mini-sermon on something God has shown us or done for us recently, and we sang I'd rather have Jesus as a group. God's blessing was evident on the time, and it was amazing how satisfying the testimonies of response were. As a little side note, I can now say from experience that telling your pastor or teacher when you really appreciate something he had to say can be a huge blessing.

After church, we packed, cleaned, and threw the football around some more before finally packing into the car again and heading north. Several hours later, we found ourselves at Fairwood again, and thus a wonderful weekend - and a good week overall - came to a happy conclusion.

- Aaron Sandford