Moving out and up!

So, a few weeks ago I talked with MariJane, the woman in whose home I am staying and we mutually agreed that it was time for me to move out on my own and become independent. So, for the past few weeks I have been looking through the newspaper, online, and talking to some people about possible places to rent out. I came across a good looking ad in the newspaper, so I called, but they had already leased that duplex half, but they had an apartment in a four-plex that had just become available if I was interested. So, last Thursday (almost a week ago) I went over before work to take a look. It looks great!!! It has everything I wanted and is very close to my church and work, which makes it very appealing. I went home that night and prayed about it and talked to my parents, and decided I wanted it. So, that weekend I called the landlady that I had met with and told her that I would like to rent the apartment.
All of that is to say that Friday I am signing a lease on a two bedroom apartment in a four-plex and moving in on Saturday with the help of some of my friends from church!

Yay for growing up :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Korean Delicacies

So this past Monday I went over to a woman from my church's house. She is from Korea, and decided she wanted to teach me how to make some food. So, she taught me how to make crab meat cheese, pork dumplings, and sushi. It was so much fun, and so delicious! I think I will have to try my hand at it again. YUM!

Brrrr!

Today it snowed in Midland for the first time, at least that was undeniably snow. After church there were tiny little flakes, and just a little while ago we had our first big fluffy flakes. So pretty, but so cold.

My First Trip to an Apple Orchard

So, Sunday afternoon Nas and the girls took me on my virgin apple orchard experience. We had a great time, pretending to be little children again. Nas' mom and one of her friends met us there, and stayed for a while. We rode the little lawn mower pulled train, went through an alphabet maze, picked some apples, and of course ate apple goodies including an apple cider slush and donut. Yumm! It was one of the last days to be outside and not cold I think, so I loved it. The only thing missing was a corn maze, I guess I will just have to go again.
It was great to be able to spend good quality time with three ladies who are like family to me.

So, Catch-up after 2 and a half months -SORRY!

Well, Lets see what I've done. I'll just tell you a little snippet of each major thing, and hope I don't miss anything.

July 18-20 I went camping with my dad's side of the family. It was fun to see cousins I haven't seen for a while, and have so many of them together for Saturday dinner. I also slept in a tent Sat night with Dave and Cherith, so that was fun. I hadn't tented it in quite awhile.

July 23-28 The whole immediate fam got together in Houston. I hadn't seen Emily since March, so it was great to see her. It was really just amazing to have all 5 of us plus Cherith together for the first time since my high school graduation. I miss my family when there is that long a space in between whole family visits. We had a great time together, went to see alligators at Brazos Bend State Park and some garden/zoo thing downtown, that I can't remember the name of.

Aug. 7 I spent part of the day with Emily in Grand Rapids as she was there for a friend's wedding, and also got to meet her boyfriend Ryder for the first and only time.
Aug. 8 On the way home from GR I stopped at Cran-Hill Ranch to see many of my friends from WI who were there to help at a youth group's retreat.

Aug. 10-16 Mission Trip to NYC! My cousin Kendra went with me to NYC on my church's mission trip. We went with the Center for Student Missions. It was a great time of experiencing different cultures, lifestyles, and missions organizations. I think my favorite part was getting to know the people in our group better, some for the first time, and really getting to know my cousin on a whole different level. It was a great time of experiencing God.

Aug 19 I started working full time at Sleepy Hollow Bookshop in Midland. I work 38-40 hours a week selling books more or less.

Aug 30-Sept 1 I spent Labor Day Weekend up at Vanderwende's condo with a bunch of old people, but had a good time relaxing, enjoying the outdoors especially the water!

Sept 16 The one year anniversary of going to DTS.

Sept 16 The first night of the young singles Bible study - Emerge- that I started. It has been going wonderfully. There are about 7 of us with potential for more. We all are really bonding and have a hard time ending. Everyone really desires more of God and want a genuine community of love and honesty. It has been a great blessing already.

I think that is all that I have done. And now, Happy October!

Week on the lake

So, on the way home from Wisconsin / visiting Grafs I stopped for a week or so at VanderWende's condo on Lake Charlevoix. It was a great weekend of being on the water, relaxing and hanging out. I got to surf behind the boat again, and play a lot with V's new, six week old grandson who was there for the week with his parents. It was great! Also got to sail a few times, so much fun. Now I am back in Midland for a while, enjoying seeing friends again.

Visiting the Grafs

On the way home I swung over to visit the Grafs from my DTS. They live in Apple Valley, MN which is near St. Paul. It was so great to see them it had been about 6 months since I had last seen them. I was able to see the house they live in now and the house they are moving to in a couple of weeks. I also went to church with them Saturday night and then Sunday to the church that they are doing childrens ministry at. On Sunday at church I was also able to send about an hour reconnecting with Levi and Kelly from my DTS too. Then Sunday afternoon we all went to the zoo, saw the animals, and flowers. Then Monday Carissa (12) and I went to the Mall of America. Then Tuesday morning I headed almost home. I drove about 11 hours and made it all the way to VanderWende's condo on Lake Charlevoix to spend the fourth of July weekend.

Graduation

On Friday we Graduated! We had a nice fancy dinner, then each of us talked a little bit about what we learned or how we changed. And then they gave us our certificates and prayed for us and we were free! It was a bittersweet night. It was good to be done and good to be heading home. But, it was really hard to say goodbye to all the people here, especially the students. We became really close and will really miss each other. I love you guys!!

Wed - Lake Day

So on Wed we got to have a fun day. We borrowed a ski boat from a nearby bible camp and played on the beach, in the boat, and had a picnic. We had a great time skiing and tubing. And ended up a nice, happy tomato red.

Tues. Pie Night

So, on Tuesday the 24th the SBF class had a pie night. All of the staff and all the students got one pie each. We all stood in a line and in order we each said who we were going to pie and why. Many of the students chose Tom, our director of the school, so instead of following the trend, I decided to pie Zach. He was in charge of giving us quizzes and leading discussions of one of the books we had to read, Church History in Plain Language. It was early in the morning when we had to do that and we all really didn't like it. So, he got pied for it. Then after all the pies were thrown we took all the random leftover chunks and smeared it on each other.

Fredrick, may you rest in peace

So, on Friday our cook Luke was out in the yard, and one way or another, I'm not really sure, he found a baby duck with no mom. So, he decided to take it in. It was probably less than a day old, and would otherwise be some animal's dinner. Well, he was going away for the weekend, so he asked us girls to take care of him. We loved it. He was such a cute, tiny duck. We took such good care of him, loving him, getting him a good home and everything. Then Saturday afternoon disaster struck. Poor little Freddy slowly died. Then on Sunday morning we had a funeral service for Sir Fredrick. We attempted a Viking funeral, thinking that would be romantic and poetic for young Freddy, but it didn't work as planned. So, in the end he just reconvened with nature just as he began. May you rest in peace Fredrick, you were well loved.

Body in a Bag??

What?!?!?! That's right, last Saturday us girls put our bodies in a bag. A ziploc bag to be exact. I had purchased a giant ziploc bag to put a blanket in, and decided it would be fun to see how much of my body I could fit in. Mel and Bethany soon joined the fun. It was great fun. And further evidence of how too much studying can effect your mind :)

Baptism into the Body

So on Thursday Kurt, one of the other students, and one of the staff's kids were baptized. We went to one of the lakes nearby for the baptism. It was so cool to see them take a stand for Christ. Kurt had gone through a lot before becoming a Christian, and it is so great to see how far he had come in such a relatively short time. God is amazing and this occasion was a great reminder of His blessings and the body of Christ around us.

(photos included)

Spring has sprug . . . Finally!

A couple of days ago a transformation occurred. It seemed like overnight the trees became green. It was beautiful. There are so many trees around us that everywhere you look is covered in green. And, flowers are blooming. I love it, so beautiful.

Happy Memorial Day!

We had the day off of school today!! It is/was so great to have a break. It was much needed. Last week we had a week of church history with a great teacher, Suzanne. She really made it interesting and helped us put ourselves in there spot and realize to a certain extent how and why things happened as they did.

Today our SBF (school of biblical foundations) director Tom and his wife Lisa invited almost all of the base over to their house for a cook-out. It was fun. Good food.

Well, I hope all of you have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Amazing God

First off I uploaded some pictures of where I live and a few day to day pics. So, check them out.

So, I thought I would share the incredible way that God is such a vital part of our lives here. The other night there was a lightning storm a little ways away, so Bethany called Mel and I out to the balcony at the end of our hallway so see it. It was so beautiful and we were so excited about God's majesty the we started to shout with joy at each burst of lightning. That soon progressed to over an hour and a half of worship to God for His majesty and awesomeness. We had a great time just praising God and being invigorated with love for Him. That is just one example of how focused on God people here are, it is unusual in this world, but in such a close community of believers I think we are freer and more apt to be vocal with our praise and love of God. What a blessing to be here with such beautiful girls, even if for just a short time.

Oh yeah, and the next morning we heard that we were quite loud and kept people up around the base, but oh well. People live after a lack of sleep the night before. :P It was well worth it.

What an Awesome God we serve.

One Down, many to go

So today I preached my first sermon!!! I didn't think that I was going to do well, but I gave it over to God and He worked through me to do quite well. I talked about the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. It was really fun to dig deeper into a passage that I have heard many times. So, I am done with the first one, and have many other outlines to do and at least one other full sermon to preach. Crazy!

On a lighter note, the pranks have begun. The other day Kurt threw a serving bowl full of water on Melissa, so we decided to return the love. Go to my pictures to see the full story. We had a great time. :)

Welcome to April in Northern Wisconson

This is what our campus looks like after a first day of April snowstorm.

My first week

So, I have been in Wisconsin for almost a week now and have experienced enough to feel like I have been here much longer. I will start with the basics.
I have 4 classmates 2 girls, Bethany(19) and Melissa(21) and 2 guys Kurt(19) and Tyler(22). They are all from the Midwest area, and are now good friends of mine. We also have 4 staff assisting our leader Tom in teaching us. We have dived into 4 different books, and are learning how to do word studies. We have on average 3-4 hours of homework each night, but since we all have something more than knowledge pushing us on it isn't so bad.

Friday night we had a talent show in which we all had to be a part of, so Melissa, Bethany, and I decided to do something together. We "played" glasses, but really didn't. Instead we made the noises ourselves. It was a little strange, but all we could come up with.

Overall, I am adjusting well and enjoying the time, people, and learning here at YWAM Northwoods.

I'm here!

So, I safely traveled to Wisconsin, taking pretty pictures of the lake and bridge. I got here in the afternoon and have met many people. They are all nice and I am sure I will be good friends with them soon. The place where we are staying is quite nice. (I will put pictures up of the base soon.)
I just wanted to let you all know that I am here and safe.

HAPPY EASTER

Getting Ready

This week has been all about getting ready. I am leaving on Sunday the 23th to start on my adventure in Wisconson. I am going to another YWAM school in Weyerhaeuser, WI where I will study the Bible in depth and learn how to teach it better. That means that I am counting down the days, shopping for the last minute random stuff I need, getting maps, and saying goodbye to many friends again.

This time leaving isn't so hard, after having left and come back once I have kind of figured out how it works. I will miss people a lot, and do my best to communicate with them. Then I will get absorbed with what I am doing and not miss them as much. Then before I know it I will be back with them again and it will be almost like I never left. So, not to say that it is easy to leave, but not as hard.

My Birthday Weekend

So, for my birthday I was able to have dinner with my friend Sarah, my brother, Dave, his girlfriend Cherith, and my Dad. I got lots of presents!! And had a fun time with people I love. That was in Grand Rapids, then I continued west with Sarah on our way to visit our friend Rachel in Holland. While we were in Holland we had a great time reconnecting. One afternoon we also met up with our friend Anna. With her we went to Lake Michigan to see the ice formations. Of which we took some pretty pictures. All in all it was a great weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Visiting mi hermana!

This is a little bit late, but . . . . A few weekends ago, on my way home I got to visit my sister, Emily!! It was so fun to see her after over 6 months. She just moved to a new home with 2 girls she met at church. Basically she is doing great and it was a blessing to see her again. We had a great time together. One thing we did was go to the World of Coca-Cola. We took some fun pictures that are online for you to see. Thats all for now!

Stop, Alto, Pare

Argentina,









Mexico,





United States,










The three countries where I have spent the last six months. Each one has become a part of me and become home in the time I was there. It has made me learn what makes a home. Love and trust. When those two factors are present, anywhere can become home.

Now, about the stop signs. My time with YWAM Monterrey has come to an end. My life in a sense has come to a stop, just like you do at a stop sign (in most countries ;). However, you soon keep going just as I will. One other quality of a stop sign it that it is the time where you can change directions. This is one time in my life where I choose where I want to go. Now my only problem is deciding which direction to go.

Finally

Sorry I took so long to post. So I'll catch you up on the last three weeks of DTS.

The third week we were in Argentina we went to a neighborhood about and hour outside of the city, called Barrio Sacchi. We stayed at the little church there, and basically tried to help the church there be encouraged and grow. So, we did some door to door evangelism and did some kids programs. We also participated in their already established services. However, there was one thing that occurred this week that makes it a week that will always stay in my mind. There is a family living behind the church, on the property. Their son was very sick with cerebral palsy and was close to dying. A few days after we had been there, and had gotten to know the family a little bit, the mom came and knocked on our door as we were hanging out and told us that she thought her son had just died. So, we went over to her house and checked on her son and called an ambulance. It turns out her son had died. It was a very impactful time to encounter death on the other side of the world and how different people and cultures react. The parents of this boy had, for me, an amazing response. They were ministering to others and were very positive because they knew that their little boy had gone to a place free of pain and suffering to live with his best friend, Jesus. They also knew that he had fulfilled the Lord's plan for his life by being a witness to his doctors and nurses. It was a great reminder of the hope and love we have in Jesus.

The last week we were in Cordoba we stayed at the church where the YWAM Cordoba base is located. It was a time of reconnecting with some of the people we had met throughout our time in Argentina and building up the base in Cordoba. We were able to go with the staff of that base to visit a house they are thinking about buying and pray over the land. It was a nice relaxing end of our time in Argentina.

28 HOURS LATER

We arrived back in Monterrey and we able to see all of our friends again!! Like Dina, Heather, Casey, Kelly, and Levi, our other classmates. It was really fun to hear each others stories and hear how God worked in their outreaches. This week we really just relaxed, played Phase 10, and reflected on DTS. It was a great last week spending time with people

Cordoba, Che

So, it has been awhile. We got to Cordoba just fine, tired, but glad to be here. We arrived Sunday afternoon, rested, and went to church. Church here in Argentina is at night, almost always. Then on Monday we toured the city and celebrated New Years with the pastor's family. We ate good food, danced, and had fun. On Tuesday we went to a river outside of Cordoba, about an hour. Then on Wednesday we went to a youth camp/retreat. While there we mostly were there to interact with the students there. We also taught some of our dramas to them to use for evangelism. Also while we were there I met my Argentinian parents. It was a little hard to communicate well with them, but they took my under their wings and loved me and cared for me like parents. It was a true blessing. We got back on Sunday, went to church, and then rested up for the free day we had on Monday. On Monday we went downtown, did touristy shopping and then at the night we went to Laura and Luis (my Argentinian parents) house for dinner. Then Tuesday morning we went to another town about 5 hours from Cordoba called Frías. While there we were able to stay with host families. Katelyn and I stayed in the house of the pastor's parents. It was great to be in a house again, and they took such good care of us, like grandparents. It is really awesome to see that when I was missing family and that care they have God puts people in my path to fill that desire. During the week in Frías we learn the intricacy of the siesta. Every afternoon we got to rest for a few hours, which was good because we were up until 3 or 4 every night. It was a relaxing week for us. A few hours of team time in the morning and at 5 we would meet with the youth from 3 churches. We taught them different lessons 1 or 2 every day and also taught them some of our dramas. Then at 11 or so we would go to the plaza and do some dramas and play some music. Then afterwards we would hang out for a few more hours. We bonded really well and have great friendships there in Frías that we will never forget. When we left they all came to the bus station and gave us a great send off of many waves with a few tears. It has been a great two weeks, and I am looking forward to another great two weeks. I praise God for the great blessing that our time in Argentina has been. Thank you for your prayers, they are greatly appreciated.

(I have no way to put pictures online from here, so you will have to wait to see all of them until I return to Mexico on the 26th, sorry!)