Hey guys! How are you guys? I'm super sorry about the post delay! But congratulations to everybody on how the St. Louis Tournament went! I was disappointed I didn't get to go this year, but I had a good weekend anyway; got to invest in some younger people, and I had a few brownies, so you know... it was good :P I know from experience it can be really easy to get discouraged, if your performance wasn't what you would have hoped. But if you want to dodge a wave of sadness, just remember that we all have off days, even the best of us. One quiz or tournament doesn't define the rest of the season; make it your business to make the best comeback ever! Bounce back from that set back, and kill it like only you can. You are more than capable, and you are going to acheive your goal! We're coming into the Christmas season now, and everyone's watching all those old movies, putting up decorations, and getting some shopping done whilst making travel plans. It is, admittedly, probably one of the busiest times of the year. And it is about this time, that new and old quizzers have less motivation than any other time of the season. That doesn't mean that we can feel good about ourselves slacking off during these few weeks (:P); it means that we have to make it a priority to keep ourselves on fire throughout all of the festivities whilst still enjoying the holiday. There's lots of different ways to do this of course, and I'm sure that as quizzers, you've begun to really discover what works best for you in that area. But one thing, I'm becoming more and more won over to, is that when we choose to rest in God's presence, and keep our focus on His love and goodness, everything we need simply comes as a byproduct - you know? I mean, last year in Galatians, we quizzed over the fuits of the Spirit. And as we all know, fruit is the byproduct of a tree, that is growing in health, maturing, and thriving in what it was origionally created to do - its same thing with us. How many of us know, that real and long-lasting inspiration has to come from joy, peace, and patience having a permanant place in our hearts? Now, I want you to know that I'm a long way from where I want to be. I've had a rough week or two battling to keep myself working at these things, and I've had lots of failures. But I can say, that I've learned a really hard lesson about trying to find a reason to do my best, and looking no farther than myself. And even though I haven't arrived, I think I've finally realized what God's been trying to tell me - where I need to be heading; and that's just towards Him. This time of year is all about family, Christmas carols, hot chocolate, celebrating Jesus' birth, and loving eachother - its reaslly easy to get inspired! I look forward to this all year round! But, there's only so much that this can do for us in life as a whole. Getting into our Father's word, and being washed, renewed each morning, and transformed by it, is the single greatest thing that we can do, to be continually inspired and motivated, and to prepare for our futures - and it lasts all year, not just in December. Oh hey, that kinda sounds like what we're doing each year! Quizzers commit to really digging into a different part of the Bible each season, and that's amazing when you think about it, considering the world today. So you see, getting inspired or motivated, or whatever you call it, to get into quizzing and do some preparing for the competitions, can come from what we're quizzing over - the Word. It makes me laugh; only God could design something so simple. A lot of people, including myself, have missed this vital aspect of being a quizzer. These are some of the things I've learned so far, about being inspired by the Bible - inside and outside of quizzing.
I guess it all just comes back to purpose. Why are we working so hard? Why do we go through all of the trouble to practice, travel, and spend free time studying rather than playing video games, or reading novels? It's because we teens, are choosing to set our focus, no matter what amount, on God and His word; His kingdom rather than on this world. He says to seek Him, and no better way to do that, than reading His love letter to us. If we're seeking our Father, and trying to keep our minds on Him and His words, inspiration can and will come as a byproduct - that's not me, saying that this is what I've done and what you should do, that would make me the world's biggest hypocrite ever. This is me repeating and applying what God's promised us, and I encourage you to study out this subject for yourselves, it'll bring you a lot of joy. So, to wrap up, as quizzers and teens we should feel proud of this "hobby" that we've taken on, no matter how frustrating, or discouraging it might feel sometimes. As friends, I wish you all a very happy holiday season, and I hope that you all have an awesome time, surrounded by your friends and family. And finaly, as siblings in God's household, keep running your race! Thanks for reading, y'all! Keep calm, and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory P.S. The picture for this post, if you can't tell, is at Garden of The Gods, here in Colorado Springs! It was my second time going hiking there, when this was taken, and man, it is breathtaking! Super, super cool stuff up here, that are just a little different from Texas scenery :P
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Hey! Today marks two years of my writing this blog! I'm quite embarrassed about some of my old posts (and should probably go fix some things about them...) but I'm glad that my writing has gotten slightly better since then :P Keeping this page, even though I tend to procrastinate posting occasionally, has really helped motivate me along my quizzing journey, and it's been a fun hobby. But most of all, if I've helped anyone even a little bit, then that makes everything more than worth it! When I started out, I really had no idea what the heck I was doing (and I'm still trying to figure it out :P), and it was hard to write to an audience I wasn't sure was there. Now, two years later, my traffic is still quite modest, but I learned the lesson of writing what I might need to hear, rather than trying to define what my audience might. So, all in all, I'm exceedingly glad that I woke up that day after our local qualifier for Top Ten, and decided to give it a go. It's been a great part of life to be able to share things I'm learning with you guys! Anyway, enough sappy stuff, lets get on to the exciting part! I apologize for this taking so long, but at long last I have the downloads for the Learn Luke events and memorizing schedule, and the calendar. Unfortunately, these only cover through this year, and end at January first, because of the unknown material to be covered at the Bethany Invitational at the end of that month. But in general, seven verses a day/five days a week or vice versa should be a good rule of thumb for memorizing outside of the schedule.
I hope you all have a fantastic break and thanksgiving next week, and wish you good luck at the Top Ten quiz in December!
Thank you all for reading, and keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey y'all! Sorry about not posting for a minute, a lot of stuff has been going on in my life recently, and I'm super excited about it! So much so, I'm gonna point you over to my family's blog we just started (so there aren't many posts yet, but they're on the way :P), where we talk about what we're learning, and why we moved up here in the first place - the address is www.Leakeclan.Wordpress.com, check it out! So anyways, congratulations to how everyone did at the Olathe Invitational!! Since I'm quizzing with a new team up here in Colorado, and this is their first year, I quizzed with another team who were from North/South Dakota, and it was an awesome experience! Met some super cool, nice people who I wouldn't have otherwise, and I think that's one of the best parts of moving to another quiz district - meeting so many other people in the quizzing community. How did y'all do with the memorizing sprint? Obviously, I didn't have almost any of the material ready to do according to's for this tournament, but the sprint did help me to get into it pretty much everyday, and to spend time focusing on each section - especially the last few chapters. Even though I didn't meet all of my goals for the sprint, I did learn some things that I want to do differently next time. For instance, I found that reviewing was my weakest area in learning the material. And of course when you don't review, you lose what you've learned, so now I'll have to go back and re-learn several passages. But you know? That's okay. Everything in life is a journey, and you just gotta keep making progress, and keep learning how to do it better. Run your race, as Paul says :P So in the Learn Luke Challenge, (I'll have a printable calendar of the memorizing schedule and events coming up as soon as I can!) we should be a little past chapter 11, depending on if you used last week for memorizing or reviewing. For the St. Louis Top Ten tournament next month, they'll be going over chapters 1-13 to my knowledge, at that's about 94 verses to learn if my math is right :P Assuming that we all have memorized chapters 1-11 (to whatever extent of recall), and beginning this week rather than last, that should be about 47 verses a week for two weeks with one week of review, or about 32 verses a week for three weeks and no time set aside to focus on reviewing (so you'll have to do that on top of memorizing). Whichever of these outlines you think would work best for your schedule, and for your quizzing goals, divide the verses up among the days you'll be studying each week. A good idea, one that always helps me, is to write out your goals - general, weekly, and daily. Like I've said before, once you know exactly what you should do to work on quizzing everyday, it becomes a lot easier to just get to it. About this time of the season, people start to wind down, and lose their excitement about the material and even begin to give up on their goals simply because they haven't reached them yet. And I'm here to tell you to not give up on them! Listen to me when I say I have a lot of experience with failed goals, and the thing that the most of them have in common, is that I gave up too soon, you know? The season's not over, you can still do anything you want to, right now, with Luke. Turn your set back into a comeback! And yes, I read that on Pinterest :P But remember, my friends, as we're reigniting our sparks, that your worth doesn't come from how you place - and this is hard, both when you do well, and when you're disappointed with your performance, but it's something that is absolutely essential. And by the way, it took me over two and a half years to realize that, and I'm still learning how to think and respond that way. But leading a well-balanced life means trusting God to be your foundation, and finding your worth and importance in who He says you are; beautiful, redeemed, worth it, loved, and His. Don't forget! I know there's a lot of material to learn this year, but the harder the challenge, the more rewarding the victory! KEEP AT IT! With this year being my sophomore year in high school, and with the stricter laws for homeschooling in Colorado, I have a heavier load than usual, and I won't deny I've had some pretty rough days (not to mention missing old friends). But in it, it's made me need to trust God more, and to put my faith into practice; mainly in one way, based on Matthew 6:33. Here Jesus is talking about the cares and worries of this life, and about His provision of His people. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." And to me at least, this really hits home with the issue of being able to get everything done during the work week, and being happy while doing it. He also said to work at everything with your whole heart, and that He would bless the work of our hands, and multiply the fruits of our labor, and fill any empty vessel that we surrender to Him. All of these scriptures that came to my attention, I felt were God asking me to go ahead and just try; just to try my best, and to focus mainly on Him and His love, and trust Him with the results. And y'all, our God is faithful, and He'll always take care of us, especially when we're in obedience to what He asks us to do. So yeah, that's my little testimony from the past couple months in regard to quizzing and school and stuff :P And I would just encourage you to exercise trust these next couple weeks as we're getting ready for the St. Louis quiz, and to believe His promises, and to not be afraid that He can't help your personal situation - He's a personal God! Keep going you guys, keep on running and pressing forward towards your goals for this year! You've got this! You're capable! Thanks for reading! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory |
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