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This past weekend, as I'm sure all of you know, was the BASIC Conference! I think it was one of my favorites thus far. Friday night, when we were worshipping and people were ministering/being ministered to, I was at my seat, praying and crying out to God. Anthony came over and had me stand up. He put his arm around me and prayed for me. Afterward, he talked to me and told me God was preparing my heart for getting baptized on Saturday. He said other things but I'm trying to keep this short and fast because I have a paper I should be working on, haha. When all was said and done, I honestly felt so overjoyed and I know God had done some healing and work within my heart. It touched me so much having him come over and pray for me and just embrace me in his arms. I really felt like he was my dad at that moment and he knew exactly what to pray for and what encouragement I needed. I don't know how else to explain it. It also touched me when I felt someone else's hands on mine and I opened my eyes and saw Ms. Cruz praying with Anthony.

It was my second favorite part of the conference. What is my first, you might ask? Well, let me tell you, it was leaving on Sunday morning. Just kidding! Getting water baptized was my absolute favorite part. I wa sso super nervous about it, I was actually kind of dreading it. I wasn't dreading getting baptized, I was dreading doing it in front of so many people. But as the time came closer, excitement overtook me and then seeing Lisa following me made me SO much more happy. Like seriously. I am glad Anthony and Pastor Beaumont were able to baptize us, I think it made it that much more meaningful for me. And Lisa, I'm sure. As we were waiting, we were talking about how we were afraid we were going to fall. Lo and behold, when I was walking in front of the tank I was in, I slipped on the plastic and down I went. I was glad to hear not many people saw it. :D I got up and continued out the door, with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. After we got changed and such, we went back where we were greeted with smiles and hugs and tears. It was probably one of the most touching experiences I have ever had. It meant so much to me to see everyone there, cheering us on, and just being there for us. I had seriously been having doubts about getting baptized at the conference, but I am so UNBELIEVABLY happy I did. If we were to go back in time, I'd do it all over again, no hesitation.

Anyway, Saturday night was awesome. I had just begun praying for my family when Erin came over and asked if I had any unsaved family. I said yes and then she said she wanted us to pray for our families. So me, Heather, Lisa, Erin and Shannon stood in a circle, held hands and she prayed for our families for us. I love that girl. She said she was very protective of her girls (us) and it just touched my heart. My heart was touched alot this past weekend, if you hadn't noticed :D There's just something about seeing 400 other Christians praying and worshipping our amazing and beloved Creator that just gets to you (in a good way, of course). It's just amazing to know we are all there for one reason, to grow deeper in our relationship with God. It's a time when we can forget about the natural world and focus on the supernatural with little distraction.

One last thing. The one thing that really seemed to stick with me was what Sherrie Anderson and I believe Chris Hopper both touched on. And that is we need to stop letting Satan take control of our lives. When we hear his smooth talkin voice whispering lies to us, we need to rebuke him and just tell him to shut up and go away. He's soemone we should not be running from, he should be running from us! Also, the whole carry the milk story, I liked it a lot and definitely learned from it. Ok, I am going to stop, even though I could go on and on and on and on. Kind of like the Energizer bunny...only not. Watch out Shakespeare, here I come! :D

P.S. I came back with more clothes than I left with. 3 new t-shirts, a new pair of shorts and a new hoodie. Suh-weet!