MISSION: SANTO DOMINGO!

So I will make this as brief as possible, because I've learned that if I try to do a "series" of posts...it never gets finished. :-P

I spent 10 days in Santo Domingo, D.R. at the end of July this year. Most of the people on my team, including my team leader, were from our newest adoption into Sovereign Grace: Riverside Christian Fellowship, in Fort Lauderdale. The rest of us were reppin' Titusville, Niceville, Daytona, and Orlando. =)

The first few days were spent getting to know the Iglesia Cristiana Oasis people, attending their church service, and meeting/getting to know our host families. I roomed with a girl named Ruthie (from Niceville) and we stayed with Yuris and Gabriel, who have 2 daughters: Cynthia and Elizabeth. They are SUCH a nice family, who just opened their home to us and served us heroically through out the 7 days we stayed with them.

This picture is of Alyssa (from Fort L) and me

when we were both starting to get sick. :-( We were in the vans getting ready to head out to Memizo (I think). Alyssa got severely sick and

had unconfirmed Dengue. I woke up with a fever on Thursday, but since Yuris is a doctor, she took me to a clinic to have a blood test taken...which showed that I tested positive for Dengue Fever. Blehhh. It was no fun, but I was SO grateful that the fever itself didn't last more than a day for me, as some of the others who caught this lovely fever were 'down for the count'...for half, if not most of, the trip. Satan was definitely trying to distract us from our purpose there, and break up the unity that the Holy Spirit was building between all of us. But God was kind to make us all spiritually strong, and I didn't hear complaints from any of the team on this trip, and our team was unified in a way that could only have been done by the Holy Spirit. What a blessing to look back and see that, despite the Enemy's efforts to ruin our trip, we were STILL able to go to the villages we had planned, Adam gave more messages than planned, and

our team was knitted together with the hearts of those in the Santo Domingo church. We shared the Gospel, going door-to-door in poor villages, where people ONLY spoke either Creole or Spanish...I speak neither. And yet, through translation, and even hearing the Word of God spoken in a different language, my heart was filled with joy at this amazing opportunity!

This is a picture of some adorable girls that attend one of the schools we visited. We performed a puppet show...in spanish, sang songs...in spanish, played with chalk and painted nails...in sp...j/k. The kids were SO patient and SO much fun to interact with! The time flew by SO fast here. During this time, all the girls on the team kept all the girls in the school to paint their fingernails and toenails and take pictures with them, while the guys on our team took the boys in the school to play basketball, and they later came back to play with chalk. It was a BLAST!

That's all the pictures I'm going to post because it's too difficult to format the pictures on this blog...=P But if you want to see more, check out the 2 albums of pics on my Facebook page!

Overall, our team was blessed beyond expectation. I personally was stretched beyond what I had planned *smile*, and God moved in ways none of us could have imagined! I'm SO glad I was able to go on this trip, and that I was able to make new friends in the D.R. AND in the states! =)

Assurance...Valley of Vision

I think God's trying to remind me of something. He keeps directing me to verses in the Bible about 'keeping the faith' and resting in the 'assurance' I have in Him...and then I saw this:

Almighty God,

I am loved with everlasting love,
clothed in eternal righteousness,
my peace flowing like a river,
my comforts many and large,
my joy and triumph unutterable,
my soul lively with a knowledge of salvation,
my sense of justification unclouded.

I have scarce anything to pray for;
Jesus smiles upon my soul as a ray of heaven
and my supplications are swallowed up in praise.

How sweet is the glorious doctrine of election
when based upon thy Word
and wrought inwardly within the soul!

I bless thee that thou wilt keep the sinner
thou hast loved,
and hast engaged that he will not forsake thee,
else I would never get to heaven.

I wrong the work of grace in my heart
if I deny my new nature and my eternal life.

If Jesus were not my righteousness and redemption,
I would sink into nethermost hell
by my misdoings, shortcomings, unbelief, unlove;

If Jesus were not by the power of his Spirit
my sanctification,
there is no sin I should not commit.

O when shall I have his mind!
when shall I be conformed to his image?

All the good things of life are less than nothing
when compared with his love,
and with one glimpse of thy electing favour.

All the treasures of a million worlds could not
make me richer, happier, more contented,
for his unsearchable riches are mine.

One moment of communion with him, one view
of his grace,
is ineffable, inestimable.

But O God, I could not long after thy presence
if I did not know the sweetness of it;

And such I could not know except by thy Spirit
in my heart, nor love thee at all unless thou didst
elect me,
call me,
adopt me,
save me.

I bless thee for the covenant of grace.

Surprise! You're fired!

Yeah, this is SUPER old...don't get freaked out. I just forgot to post it, but I figure it's still worth posting cuz it's such an interesting story. ;)

So I know I haven't posted in almost 3 months, but I decided this was worth posting immediately.

I've decided the WORST possible way to get "fired" is basically what happened to me over the weekend. I have been working hard trying to get a weekly report done EVERY week, with a report system that basically takes 1/2 a week to get done...so needless to say I'm a little behind. But I had heard no complaints from my boss(es), and in fact was receiving more tasks to do on top of what I already had...which was fine. =)

I had set up a group to go with me to Mardi Gras at Universal Studios this past Friday night to see Boys Like Girls. =) I had given 2 of myc comp tickets for 2 of my friends to use to get into the park, I was going to use my employee ID, and 3 of the girls were going to get/renew their annual passes. The day of, I actually semi-freaked out, thinking maybe the girls w/ the comp tickets wouldn't be able to get in since M.G. is a 'special event'. So I called the number and my anxiety was put to rest...temporarily.

When all 6 of us got to CityWalk, 3 girls went ahead to get their passes taken care of while Jenn, Linds and I stayed in my QF store in CityWalk, trying on sunglasses, hats, and taking pics. =) When we got to the Universal gate, I let the 2 girls go ahead of me, and they went through fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. I gave the 'turnstile lady' my ID and she scanned it. The screen showed "unable to scan". We both seemed puzzled, but I just assumed that the magnetic strip on the back had gotten screwed up because it was in my wallet w/ my credit card, etc. The lady took my ID a few turnstiles down to another lady. They whispered to each other and looked back at me (meanwhile, I'm holding the line up which I LOVE!). The lady came back and said it was void, and usually an ID is only voided if the employee was terminated....?????? I smiled politely at her and said that I hadn't been terminated since I had just gotten off work about 1 1/2 hrs earlier. Ms. Turnstile didn't crack a smile. Suddenly she turned into robo-cop and was treating me as if I were a rebel teenage brat who was trying to smuggle myself into the park w/ a voided/stolen ID. She began interrogating me as if I were a suspect, asking questions like "when was the last time you worked?" and "are you sure you weren't terminated?"...guh. I was quickly losing my patience so I asked her to go check w/ her supervisor (bad idea) because I KNEW this was a mistake. She left and came back w/ her super who was probably the same age as me, tall, thin, blonde hair, dark sunglasses (which you're not supposed to wear in front of guests, if they can't see your eyes...it's rude and impersonal, but w/e).

This guy was not much better w/ his 'guest manners'. I attempted to assure him that I am, in fact, still employed, and tried to give him as much information about my company as I could squeeze out of my rattled brain at the moment. He also had come to me with the attitude of assuming I was one of those 'teen brats' that he obviously doesn't enjoy dealing with. He picked up on the 'interrogating' process where Ms. Turnstile left off, saying things like 'your name didn't show up on the time card' (even though I had just rec'd my paycheck that day) and 'this ID was last used in December' (which isn't true). The biggest shock was that he stated I shouldn't even HAVE this ID if I'm employed by a 3rd party vendor (which is what QF is to Universal) because 3rd party vendors have completely different ID's that don't allow access into the parks. I asked him if that was a new policy, and he smiled like I was stupid and said No. I informed him I had taken the class in October w/ a whole room full of 3rd party vendors and we all got the same ID. He basically avoided that comment, and then proceeded to tell me that my ID was herein confiscated!!! I asked him how I was supposed to go back to anyone (since all my supervisors/boss were already gone for the weekend) and PROVE that I was a current employee. He basically said it wasn't his problem, because "this ID is now Universal property. (turns card over and points) see? It says 'property of Universal Orlando'"....ARG!

I asked him what he expected me to do since I'd just let my friends in w/ MY comp passes that I'd just gotten a MONTH ago w/ my ID...he said w/ a smirk "you could buy a Mardi Gras ticket." Linds was standing behind him, motioning for me to calm down cuz she knew I was getting angry. =\

Long story short, I was able to get a night-manager at QF to talk to CityWalk guest services (since Universal Guest Services was hanging up on him every time he tried to call!) and they got me a comp pass, but not before informing us that Universal was not supposed to take my ID away from me. ):-( So even though all my friends got to get into the park at 6:30 that night, this whole ordeal took me 2 hours before I was able to get through the turnstiles.

THEN today I had to go to HR to retrieve my ID...met up w/ more frustration when the receptionist informed me that I was indeed terminated...on January 30th, 2009! Weird. My heart kind of sank, but then she asked me when I last received a pay check from Universal. I told her I got one on Friday. There was a lot of back n' forth between me and 2 other women, both of whom seemed completely unaffected by the trouble that their employees had given me...probably because the system still says I'm terminated. So HOPEFULLY the 'reinstatement' papers will be sent in today (by the manager at the CityWalk QF that did this in the first place) and my status will go back to 'employed' as of tomorrow. =) I then have to go back to HR and get a new ID. Oh joy.

Moral of the story...maybe you can point it out for me.

Rundown of my Cali Trip

Hello friends!

I thought I'd give you a detailed list of what we did each day...along with some pictures, and maybe some video if my computer doesn't act up! =P

Monday Megs and Malah picked Lindsay and me up from the LAX airport and took us to In n' Out for some UH-mazing burgers! Then we hung out at the Baird's for a while, and then went over to Malah's house to watch Skeleton Key (scary movie) and then the Cali group decided to take us to a nearby cemetary...to scare the living daylights out of us! ;) It was SO much fun!

Tuesday we went to San Alejo in Encinitas with Meghan and her parents (they had relatives camping out on the beach there). Before hitting the beach, Megs took Linds and me to Juanita's, a mexican restaurant...um, UHmazing again! It was this great little hole-in-the-wall place. Then we went down the street to Thrifty Threads so Megs could buy a pair of Seven's jeans. ;) Once we got to the beach...which is absolutely GORGEOUS...the three of us laid out on some rocks to somehow catch some rays through our jeans and sweatshirts, since it was so stinkin' cold there! Later we went for a walk on the beach, took some fun pictures, and then met up with the fam at the campsite for a grilled steak dinner! One of Meghan's uncles told the story of Rinder Cellar...it's a great story! ;)

Wednesday Linds and I slept in (shocker!) since Megs had to work till noon. Then she came and picked us up and we all drove to the Pantages theater to see....WICKED the Musical!!! Megs had never seen it and Linds and I were able to get tickets as her combined Christmas/birthday present! She loved it and we loved seeing it again! It was such a fun experience to see it in such a classic theater as the Pantages. =) Later that evening, after having pizza with the fam, Malah and her sister Bree met up with us and we all drove down to Colorado Blvd where the Rose Parade would take place the next morning. People had been camping out since 11 AM! It was a lot of fun. We eventually got out and hung out with some of the Sovereign Grace 'campers' until after the countdown.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post the rest of the week later. =)

The Epicness of Ice-Blocking

I have NO idea why I never posted this, but here it is nonetheless...

Truly, what I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance, secrecy, and frivolity. You will never experience anything QUITE like ice-blocking, so I shall leave you with detailed instructions.

1. Purchase a block of ice from nearby grocery store

2. Wrap ice block in towel for safe-keeping

3. Drive to nearest golf-course (or otherwise most hilly place in FL)

*NOTE: Ice-blocking is much more effective when executed after sunset...preferably around 10 or 11 pm*

4. Send a scout down the hill to ensure there are no lakes, walls, or other such obstacles before commencing to ice-block

*NOTE: concrete footpaths and iron grates will hinder your journey of ice-blocking*

5. Set the unwrapped ice-block on the ground with the folded towel on top

6. Sit on towel and 'commence to start'

7. Once momentum picks up, lift feet and hands off the ground to ensure increased momentum; balance is required at this point

*NOTE: always see other ice-blockers as a potential threat to your personal ice-blocking experience...steer clear of them...do not run into them. This will result in the 'human snowball effect'*

*NOTE: the hands may be used as brakes, but it is not recommended*

8. In order to end your ice-blocking experience (at the bottom of the hill), simply drive heels into ground to slow the speed of your ice block; or as some may choose, simply throw yourself off the ice-block...not recommended

9. Carry ice-block back up the hill for others to enjoy the epic thrill

*NOTE: the green stains on your hands and clothes will come off...eventually*

*NOTE: soreness the next morning is to be expected; Advil is recommended*

Thus concludes very informative instructions for ice-blocking. If you have any further questions, please do not ask Lindsay. ;)

The Never-ending Road to Cali

Lindsay and I decided several weeks ago to fly out to California to spend a week with Meghan Baird. Little did we know that our endeavors would be somewhat thwarted, and our patience tested.
On December 27th, Lindsay and I headed to the MCO airport at 4:30 pm. We got there around 5:15 pm. But as soon as we walked in the doors, a Delta employee asked us if we were on the CANCELLED flight to LA. Our spirits fell, but we had NO idea what was in store for us. We got in line to see if there were any open seats on the other LA-bound flights. An hour and a half later, we got up to the front only to find out that they had already re-booked us for a flight out on Monday morning, and there was nothing going out that evening that wasn't already overbooked.
The airline was gracious enough to give us hotel and meal vouchers, so we decided to start our vacation off with a bang. =) We took the vouchers and headed to Macaroni Grill (luggage in tow) in the airport and feasted....compliments of Delta Airlines. After dinner, around 8 pm, we went out front to Ground Transportation to get picked up by the shuttle that would take us to our hotel. Long story short, we waited over an hour for the shuttle that came and went 2 times before we realized it was our shuttle! Oh, and there was a sketchy old guy who kept staring at us while we were waiting outside and then he stole my wheelchair...pictures to follow. ;)
So we FINALLY get to our hotel, the lovely Orlando International Hotel, around 10:30 pm. The concierge sends us to our room on the second floor by pointing in the direction. We drag our tired bodies (along with our VERY heavy suitcases) down the hall, only to find that there was no elevator. So we lug our suitcases up one flight of stairs...ONLY to find out that we were on the WRONG side of the hotel. Our room was up another staircase! =) So we lugged everything downstairs, trudged past the apologetic concierge, and dragged everything up the other flight of stairs. We get to our room on a rather deserted floor, and fall in exhausted relief onto our two beds. It was a decent sized room, complete with: a tv that had about 3 working channels, a bathroom with stained washcloths and toilet paper, and an AC unit that sounded like it was going to kill us every time it came on!
We got through the fairly sleepless night (after watching a movie on Lindsay's laptop...she put it up on the ironing board in between the 2 beds so we could both watch from our beds.
Sunday morning, we packed up again and waited about a 1/2 hour for the shuttle to take us back to the airport so we could see if there were any openings. When we got on the shuttle, the driver started asking us questions about our travels. When she realized Delta had put us up in this hotel, she started talking about how that hotel was haunted!...no WONDER we had such an awful night! ;)
But I guess our gracious God decided to bless us after our day of 'suffering', because when we got back through the Delta line, even though there was still no availability until Monday, they were able to find us a room in the Hyatt (inside the airport)....WOW! WHAT a switch from the night before. The room was so comfortable we stayed in it until dinner! We only left to raid Sbarro downstairs with our meal vouchers, and brought our plunder back up to our room. =)
Through all of this....over the past two days, God has reminded me that there is ALWAYS grace for EVERY situation, every trial we may go through. And Lindsay and I were challenged this whole time to be joyful and encouraging to the employees as much as possible (of course we had our non-joyful moments as well). Anyway, we're scheduled to fly out tomorrow the 29th at 7:15 am and we'll arrive around noon in LA. Please continue to pray for our traveling safety and for our attitudes, since we lost a day and a half in California. =\

Tagging

Okay, so I got caught up in the tagging thing too...and the picture thing...duh. I did what my sis did. This is 5 folders over, and the 5th picture over. =)

This was taken under a tree in Wales last year. What you're looking at is a section of a series of gardens in front of one of the castles we visited. I forget the name of this one though, but way back in the back, there's a very secluded garden called "lover's circle" that is guarded by an old rod-iron gate. This kind of architecture is what makes me drool as a photographer. Oh, to go to places like this and just shoot rolls of film...yes, Jenn. ROLLS, not megapixels! ;)

K, nuff of that. I'm going to tag some pretty sweet blogs/people: my wonderful boss Aubrey , my dear friend Janelle, another wonderful Janelle, and my sis Jenn of course. Wow, those are some very diverse blogs. ENJOY!!