This is definitely a bitter sweet day! I would have liked to have stayed in Amsterdam a little bit longer, I feel like we just got here and much more could have been gotten from this trip if we had been here a ways longer. But God is so good! and I'm sure I'll be back here and he and a lot of you blessed me so much by making it possible for me to come!!! Thank you all! I love all of you so much and it will be good to go home it has been 33 days since I have been home!! To everyone who hosted me on my trip in various locations, you were all an enormous blessing to me, and I will never forget you! May God bless you beyond our understanding for your willingness to serve him! feel free to email me if you have any questions or anything you would like to hear more on from my trip and about Amsterdam! I would love to share more!
Last night we got to go to the bible study that we went to last week, the one where there are women who have gotten out and are trying to get out of the trade of working behind the windows here in Amsterdam!! THOSE WOMEN ARE PRECIOUS!! One of them prayed her first public prayer while praying for us to have a safe trip home! It was amazing, i don't deserve that precious gift!! but, i feel like Good really fulfilled part of the inspiration for the trip last night... I wrote in my support letters that I wanted to be able to love on women and people here without a price tag... and last night we got to do that, God gave me a couple of words of encouragement for 2 of the ladies and I got to pray for them... and god showed me how much he loves them!!! Those women are Jesus' favorite!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could take you guys for a little trip through my heart so you could understand how I feel right now! I definitely see how I would love to do something long term here to really be able to love those women enough to make a dent/difference in the amazing souls here in this beautiful city!!
I have to go catch a train to catch a plane to catch another plane to catch a car to catch my bed! we'll be home 12:00am california time 6am Amsterdam time!! pray for us and that the flights are fast... and I will blog more when I return and can process more of what god has done and is doing!!
I LOVE ALL OF YOU!
happy blogging
--kim
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Amsterdam has been amazing!
okay so Wednesday... we went to a cafe for coffee and pastry for breakfast. Dutch coffee is really strong!!!! Then we went walking down the big shopping street down to the famed Flower Market that is entirely on water! Tulips aren't in season right now, but they sell bulbs by the trillion! and they even have ones that are certified to be able to grow in the us if they are brought over!! I might have to bring some!
Then we went to a prayer and worship session at the YWAM Tabernacle... it is a prayer house modeled after the 24 hour Kansas City IHOP (International House Of Prayer) . They pray for the City of Amsterdam and for the Pastors and for the YWAM base and for God to powerfully move in the lives of the people here. So we went to a session where they worshiped Jesus, and worshiped from what we sensed from the holy spirit and sang scriptures and prayed that God would teach us to have respect for the authorities God has put over us and also to respect our fellow brothers and sisters in the lord:
Romans 14
1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong...7 For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. 8 If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.
10 So why do you condemn another believer[a]? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For the Scriptures say,
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.[b]’”
12 Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. 13 So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.
Then we went to a BBQ for all the people that work at the Cleft house.... Venezualen BBQ prepared by our blessed sister Edna, cooked by Desi our host who is a professional chef and is Canadian, in the apartment below ours of Wilfred and Carolina who are from India... and we are in the Netherlands and we are from America... so there alone 5 countries are represented... not to mention the people from Germany, Poland, and Ghana that were there!! :)
Thursday I was able to meet the Pastor and his wife from the Vineyard here in Amsterdam, got to go outside of the Center... the Center is what they call the oldest part of Amsterdam where most of all the people and stuff are and where we are staying in the Red Light District. I had tea with them and talked about our different Vineyard Churches! They were amazing and very hospitable, I'm glad I got to meet them!
Then we went to the Thursday Soup Kitchen day at the Cleft, prepared sandwiches and soup and coffee and tea and they open the house up for 3 hours for anyone to come in and have as much as they like as long as everyone gets some! We got to hang out with all homeless people in the district and be their friends and love them the way the Jesus does! I had the best time... I met people from all over Europe! Lots of interesting people, a few of them High... tried to offer me a few things and I gave them soup! met someone from Louisiana who is here trying to escape Obama.... he was hilarious, very blunt! But we had an amazing time serving Jesus
Friday we went to another session at the Tabernacle and we prayed for the City Pastors and that God would continue to work in their lives and guide them in his light! There is the best and most amazing peace in the Prayer room! I love being there, I definitely want to have one at my church!
and then we painted with Will in the Cleft House. Will is one of the guys on saff, he is from Minnesota, and boy is he from Minnesota... lots of minnesotan phrases!! Hilarious! and Kim and Will and I Painted for 6 hours in the Cleft house, they have needed to do some more stuff for a while so we got to make a significant dent in the work needed to be done as well as put our fingerprints there! Will took us to the best ice cream place, the ice cream is like iced whipped cream ice cream for 90 euro cents and then to the best patat place in town... patats are big french fries in a paper cone with Mayonaise on top! dutch specialty and really good!
Then we went to the Tuschinski Theater and saw a movie.... it is a really old and beautiful theater here, the building is as well older then our country! we went home afterwards and Edna who lives in our apartment also brought some missionaries home that are from Brazil and work with YWAM there, they invited us to visit their extensive ministries anytime!
Kim and I went to the Corrie Ten Boom Museum in Haarlem today which is a 20 minute train ride away! and our new Brazilian friends came with us! We got to spend the day there... Haarlem is kind of like a smaller version of Amsterdam and we got to see the place where the Ten Boom family hid Jewish people during WW2! We had the best time and Adrianna and Deniss from Brazil were amazing! We are still praying about it, but Kim and I definitely think we were supposed to meet them, after knowing them for less then 24 hours we feel like we have known them forever! Man! The family of the LOrd is so amazing!!
Well if I didn;t type your ear off enough, maybe I can remember some more to tell you tomorrow! I love all of you! I'm kind of sad that I only have 3 days left here! Amsterdam is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen!!!
happy blogging
may the lord bless you and love you and hold you in his arms for the rest of your life!
--kim
Then we went to a prayer and worship session at the YWAM Tabernacle... it is a prayer house modeled after the 24 hour Kansas City IHOP (International House Of Prayer) . They pray for the City of Amsterdam and for the Pastors and for the YWAM base and for God to powerfully move in the lives of the people here. So we went to a session where they worshiped Jesus, and worshiped from what we sensed from the holy spirit and sang scriptures and prayed that God would teach us to have respect for the authorities God has put over us and also to respect our fellow brothers and sisters in the lord:
Romans 14
1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong...7 For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. 8 If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.
10 So why do you condemn another believer[a]? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For the Scriptures say,
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.[b]’”
12 Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. 13 So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.
Then we went to a BBQ for all the people that work at the Cleft house.... Venezualen BBQ prepared by our blessed sister Edna, cooked by Desi our host who is a professional chef and is Canadian, in the apartment below ours of Wilfred and Carolina who are from India... and we are in the Netherlands and we are from America... so there alone 5 countries are represented... not to mention the people from Germany, Poland, and Ghana that were there!! :)
Thursday I was able to meet the Pastor and his wife from the Vineyard here in Amsterdam, got to go outside of the Center... the Center is what they call the oldest part of Amsterdam where most of all the people and stuff are and where we are staying in the Red Light District. I had tea with them and talked about our different Vineyard Churches! They were amazing and very hospitable, I'm glad I got to meet them!
Then we went to the Thursday Soup Kitchen day at the Cleft, prepared sandwiches and soup and coffee and tea and they open the house up for 3 hours for anyone to come in and have as much as they like as long as everyone gets some! We got to hang out with all homeless people in the district and be their friends and love them the way the Jesus does! I had the best time... I met people from all over Europe! Lots of interesting people, a few of them High... tried to offer me a few things and I gave them soup! met someone from Louisiana who is here trying to escape Obama.... he was hilarious, very blunt! But we had an amazing time serving Jesus
Friday we went to another session at the Tabernacle and we prayed for the City Pastors and that God would continue to work in their lives and guide them in his light! There is the best and most amazing peace in the Prayer room! I love being there, I definitely want to have one at my church!
and then we painted with Will in the Cleft House. Will is one of the guys on saff, he is from Minnesota, and boy is he from Minnesota... lots of minnesotan phrases!! Hilarious! and Kim and Will and I Painted for 6 hours in the Cleft house, they have needed to do some more stuff for a while so we got to make a significant dent in the work needed to be done as well as put our fingerprints there! Will took us to the best ice cream place, the ice cream is like iced whipped cream ice cream for 90 euro cents and then to the best patat place in town... patats are big french fries in a paper cone with Mayonaise on top! dutch specialty and really good!
Then we went to the Tuschinski Theater and saw a movie.... it is a really old and beautiful theater here, the building is as well older then our country! we went home afterwards and Edna who lives in our apartment also brought some missionaries home that are from Brazil and work with YWAM there, they invited us to visit their extensive ministries anytime!
Kim and I went to the Corrie Ten Boom Museum in Haarlem today which is a 20 minute train ride away! and our new Brazilian friends came with us! We got to spend the day there... Haarlem is kind of like a smaller version of Amsterdam and we got to see the place where the Ten Boom family hid Jewish people during WW2! We had the best time and Adrianna and Deniss from Brazil were amazing! We are still praying about it, but Kim and I definitely think we were supposed to meet them, after knowing them for less then 24 hours we feel like we have known them forever! Man! The family of the LOrd is so amazing!!
Well if I didn;t type your ear off enough, maybe I can remember some more to tell you tomorrow! I love all of you! I'm kind of sad that I only have 3 days left here! Amsterdam is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen!!!
happy blogging
may the lord bless you and love you and hold you in his arms for the rest of your life!
--kim
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sorry I haven't posted in three days!!!
wow!! I can't believe time can fly by so fast but be so slow at the same time!!!!!
I want to share all that has happen! but it is 12:30 in the at night and we are leaving to visit Haarlem, the Netherlands to visit Corrie ten Booms house tomorrow at 9am... so I promis tomorrow when we get home I eill in depth share all that has happened since Tuesday!!!
I love everyone!!
happy blogging--kim
still have no desire to try hash while I'm here... has nothing to do with religious reasons, just being here has made it absolutely not appealing!!!
I want to share all that has happen! but it is 12:30 in the at night and we are leaving to visit Haarlem, the Netherlands to visit Corrie ten Booms house tomorrow at 9am... so I promis tomorrow when we get home I eill in depth share all that has happened since Tuesday!!!
I love everyone!!
happy blogging--kim
still have no desire to try hash while I'm here... has nothing to do with religious reasons, just being here has made it absolutely not appealing!!!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Red Light District
So today we were able to go a YWAM chapel service. It was really great being able to worship with them and share in our faith in Jesus and continue to be family with christians all over the world. There are so many different Nationalities here! There are people from everywhere!!
Then we got to babysitt our host's kids again we took them for walks around the city and feed them lunch and get sandwiches at a local deli... and tried real dutch licorice today! It was disgusting!!!
The we went Prayer walking i the Red Light District with a group from the Cleft, the YWAM ministry we are working and staying with. We got to learn about all the different areas and nationalities and sex areas of the district... there is actually a lot of cultural stuff and influences going on and lots of clashing and a lot more to the area then most people visitng would ever notice! and we got to minister to people in the area, mainly homeless people.... and pretty much just talking with them like friends and asking if they are interested in hearing anything about Jesus or coming to a church service any time... if they don't we don't make anything of it we bid them a good day... met this guy named Johaam from Portugal and I think he might start coming to a service now and again!! He was really nice and seemed to enjoy hearing about Jesus!
Then tonight we got to serve coffee at one of the services! They have the doors open for 2 hours to any homeless people or anoyne to come in help themselves to coffee, tea,sweetness and creamed or not and cookies and then participate in worship and a sermon and hang out and chill with us for however long they want. This is an opportunity for them to continue to build relationship and hopefully have fruit from loving these people as much like Jesus as we can!
Now I have to crash and sleep... it is 2pm Cali. time but 11pm here!
I love you guys a lot!!]happy blogging
--kim
Then we got to babysitt our host's kids again we took them for walks around the city and feed them lunch and get sandwiches at a local deli... and tried real dutch licorice today! It was disgusting!!!
The we went Prayer walking i the Red Light District with a group from the Cleft, the YWAM ministry we are working and staying with. We got to learn about all the different areas and nationalities and sex areas of the district... there is actually a lot of cultural stuff and influences going on and lots of clashing and a lot more to the area then most people visitng would ever notice! and we got to minister to people in the area, mainly homeless people.... and pretty much just talking with them like friends and asking if they are interested in hearing anything about Jesus or coming to a church service any time... if they don't we don't make anything of it we bid them a good day... met this guy named Johaam from Portugal and I think he might start coming to a service now and again!! He was really nice and seemed to enjoy hearing about Jesus!
Then tonight we got to serve coffee at one of the services! They have the doors open for 2 hours to any homeless people or anoyne to come in help themselves to coffee, tea,sweetness and creamed or not and cookies and then participate in worship and a sermon and hang out and chill with us for however long they want. This is an opportunity for them to continue to build relationship and hopefully have fruit from loving these people as much like Jesus as we can!
Now I have to crash and sleep... it is 2pm Cali. time but 11pm here!
I love you guys a lot!!]happy blogging
--kim
Monday, June 22, 2009
Last night!
i have to leave in 1 minute, but I have to tell you about last night!
we were able to help make dinner for and sit in a bible study wth a bunch of ohenonenal women who have gotten out or are trying to get out of prostitution! They were so amzing! They are all just so hungry for Jesus! If that isn't encouraging or convecting to see... then I don't know what is!! Praise Jesus! I'll tell you more about it when I get back!
happy blogging
--kim
we were able to help make dinner for and sit in a bible study wth a bunch of ohenonenal women who have gotten out or are trying to get out of prostitution! They were so amzing! They are all just so hungry for Jesus! If that isn't encouraging or convecting to see... then I don't know what is!! Praise Jesus! I'll tell you more about it when I get back!
happy blogging
--kim
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Waking up in Amsterdam!
So you wake up and you look out of the window and there is a church outside that is called the "Oude Kerk" which translates "Old Church" and it's older then your country and it dates back to the 1600s.... way awesome... you walk down the street and every building is at least older then your great grandmother!
I went to a Dutch church today! It was called Celebration, it was really cool. They had Dutch songs and English songs and they had the sermon in Dutch and English and it a pretty conservative church for the Netherlands apparently. It was held at one of the main buildings for YWAM Amsterdam and from what I have heard most churches in the Netherlands.. called The Traditional Church... are pretty conservative. It was similar to the Vineyard with a splash of Bethel ( that means a little extra charismatic) It was really great! Everyone was so welcoming and I got a free tote bag!
Then I went to the Van Gogh Museum!!!!!!! It was absolutely Phenomenal!!!!!!! It was so crazy, hearing and reading and studying about van gogh and his paintings and then seeing them your self 2 feet away!!!!!! Oh MY Gosh!! I will never forget that! We saw 1 of his sunflower oieces and some of his most famous self portraits and 200 of his other works from his entire career as well as pieces from Renoir, Millet, Barnard and Redon... AMAZING! I never know Van Gogh's pieces were so Beautiful!!!
Tomorrow we start work with the Cleft!... oh and did I mention that we are staying in the middle of the Red Light District!
Note to readers:
The proper way to pronounce Amsterdam it Omsterdom
The proper way to pronounce van Gogh is van couffff and the "c" is really flemmy and cough-like try to pretend like you are hauking to a loogie
and you really don't need to try your own Hash while you are here! You can just walk down the street and you really can get your own experience....
I went to a Dutch church today! It was called Celebration, it was really cool. They had Dutch songs and English songs and they had the sermon in Dutch and English and it a pretty conservative church for the Netherlands apparently. It was held at one of the main buildings for YWAM Amsterdam and from what I have heard most churches in the Netherlands.. called The Traditional Church... are pretty conservative. It was similar to the Vineyard with a splash of Bethel ( that means a little extra charismatic) It was really great! Everyone was so welcoming and I got a free tote bag!
Then I went to the Van Gogh Museum!!!!!!! It was absolutely Phenomenal!!!!!!! It was so crazy, hearing and reading and studying about van gogh and his paintings and then seeing them your self 2 feet away!!!!!! Oh MY Gosh!! I will never forget that! We saw 1 of his sunflower oieces and some of his most famous self portraits and 200 of his other works from his entire career as well as pieces from Renoir, Millet, Barnard and Redon... AMAZING! I never know Van Gogh's pieces were so Beautiful!!!
Tomorrow we start work with the Cleft!... oh and did I mention that we are staying in the middle of the Red Light District!
Note to readers:
The proper way to pronounce Amsterdam it Omsterdom
The proper way to pronounce van Gogh is van couffff and the "c" is really flemmy and cough-like try to pretend like you are hauking to a loogie
and you really don't need to try your own Hash while you are here! You can just walk down the street and you really can get your own experience....
Saturday, June 20, 2009
In Amsterdam and Yesterday was my 21st Birthday!
So we are here!! I have to make this quick, because We have spent 2 days traveling to get to Amsterdam one of them was my birthday! Yay! andI haveonly had 3 hours of sleep!
But I have had my first legal drinks! in airports :) it was fun and I got a lot of phone calls while we were in the US and now we are in Amsterdam! This is one of the most beautiful places I have every been to! we are staying right in the middle of the red light district, I can see women for sale from our window and men peeing outside... and to all those wondering about my views on Hash... Who needs to try it when you get your own personal experience just from walking down the street with the many locals and fun characters around!
I am having an amazing time it is 5pm here 8am in CA and we have been here 8 hours so far and we visited the Anne Franks Museum! It was amazing!
I am about to keil over from exhaustion so I will post more when I revive from my acoma!
I love all of you, and I am perfectly safe, don't worry! :)
happy blogging
--kim
But I have had my first legal drinks! in airports :) it was fun and I got a lot of phone calls while we were in the US and now we are in Amsterdam! This is one of the most beautiful places I have every been to! we are staying right in the middle of the red light district, I can see women for sale from our window and men peeing outside... and to all those wondering about my views on Hash... Who needs to try it when you get your own personal experience just from walking down the street with the many locals and fun characters around!
I am having an amazing time it is 5pm here 8am in CA and we have been here 8 hours so far and we visited the Anne Franks Museum! It was amazing!
I am about to keil over from exhaustion so I will post more when I revive from my acoma!
I love all of you, and I am perfectly safe, don't worry! :)
happy blogging
--kim
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Amsterdam!!!
Okay so I flew from Seattle to Sacramento where Kim Johansson, one of my amazing roommates and amsterdam trip buddy, picked me up we hung out in Sac-town and her son and his girl friend went to dinner with us and dropped us off at the airport!!
now we leave in 2 hours from Sacramento, we fly from Sac to Charlotte, NC... wait there 5 hours then fly from Charlotte to Philadelphia, PA, then wait there 5 hours the fly from Philly to Amsterdam! we will be getting at 6:35am their time on Saturday Morning! and tomorrow June 19th is my 21st B-day!!! I will have my first drink in Philly!! I'll tell you all about it!!
wish us luck! Pray for us! and don't worry We'll try not to get stolen!!
I'll probably blog a lot while we are in airports! feel fee to email me! I would love to hear from all of you
Yay! I'm really going! Happy B-day to me!!
--kim
happy blogging!
now we leave in 2 hours from Sacramento, we fly from Sac to Charlotte, NC... wait there 5 hours then fly from Charlotte to Philadelphia, PA, then wait there 5 hours the fly from Philly to Amsterdam! we will be getting at 6:35am their time on Saturday Morning! and tomorrow June 19th is my 21st B-day!!! I will have my first drink in Philly!! I'll tell you all about it!!
wish us luck! Pray for us! and don't worry We'll try not to get stolen!!
I'll probably blog a lot while we are in airports! feel fee to email me! I would love to hear from all of you
Yay! I'm really going! Happy B-day to me!!
--kim
happy blogging!
Seattle...=.... L.A. meets Arcata... :)
Ok so I have spent 4 and a half days here in Seattle, WA! I got to go to Stumptown Roasters and watch them roast and participate in a cupping! It was amazing! I got to try this coffee from Panama called Esmerelda and it is supposed to be one of the finest cups of coffee in the world!... one of the hilarious things about the cupping was that you don't actually keep the coffee you drink... you splurtle it into your mouth with a spoon letting it splash across your whole tongue so that your buds can properly analyze the flavors and then you spit the coffee out into a spitoon (paper cup) and move onto the next cup! so everyone walks around slurping and swishing on the best coffee in the world bending over whiffing the greatness and spitting into a cup! The best time ever!
I got to go to Espresso Vivace which was started and is owned by this guy named David something, something... but this guy has written 2 books about barista'ing and coffee expertise that are considered by most people in the barista world as the barista bibles! the latte art was amazing and I got to talk with some of the baristas and they recommended some more shops for me to go to in Seattle.... all in all I got totally wired went to about 16 shops and walked about 20 miles around Seattle... if it weren't for the fact that I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of pastries and unhealthy tourist food I might have lost some weight. Hopefully my legs got a little more buff though!
I went to Mars Hill Church Downtown on Sunday and it was amazing! God really spoke to me there, they are going after it for Jesus there! I was able to go to a neighborhood gathering that they had going on at a restaurant down the street from where I am staying and I got to connect with the people there. And we had an underground cupcake off while I was there... pretty much sampling and critiquing some of the best cupcakes that Seattle has to offer!
... and then I got to go see Broadway Across America's tour of Rent!!! with 2 of the original broadway cast members who also starred in the movie.... the guys who played Mark and Roger (Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal) and I got Anthony's autograph and a picture! It was amazing!!!
And the best part of my time here besides spending a day the Seattle Center with the Space needle and the Experience Music Project/Sciemce Fiction Musuem was..... going to dinner with Eric and Connie Hiatt!!!!!!!!!!! We went to the Belltown Bistro and spent the evening together, they are in town for a wedding!! I was so blessed to be able to see family!!! wowee!!!
okay gotta run again, I have to check out of the hostel and catch my shuttle to the airport!! Kim Johanesson is meeting me in Sacramento and then the 2 of us are flying to Amsterdam! IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!!! YAY!!
happy blogging
I love all of you!!!
--kim
I got to go to Espresso Vivace which was started and is owned by this guy named David something, something... but this guy has written 2 books about barista'ing and coffee expertise that are considered by most people in the barista world as the barista bibles! the latte art was amazing and I got to talk with some of the baristas and they recommended some more shops for me to go to in Seattle.... all in all I got totally wired went to about 16 shops and walked about 20 miles around Seattle... if it weren't for the fact that I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of pastries and unhealthy tourist food I might have lost some weight. Hopefully my legs got a little more buff though!
I went to Mars Hill Church Downtown on Sunday and it was amazing! God really spoke to me there, they are going after it for Jesus there! I was able to go to a neighborhood gathering that they had going on at a restaurant down the street from where I am staying and I got to connect with the people there. And we had an underground cupcake off while I was there... pretty much sampling and critiquing some of the best cupcakes that Seattle has to offer!
... and then I got to go see Broadway Across America's tour of Rent!!! with 2 of the original broadway cast members who also starred in the movie.... the guys who played Mark and Roger (Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal) and I got Anthony's autograph and a picture! It was amazing!!!
And the best part of my time here besides spending a day the Seattle Center with the Space needle and the Experience Music Project/Sciemce Fiction Musuem was..... going to dinner with Eric and Connie Hiatt!!!!!!!!!!! We went to the Belltown Bistro and spent the evening together, they are in town for a wedding!! I was so blessed to be able to see family!!! wowee!!!
okay gotta run again, I have to check out of the hostel and catch my shuttle to the airport!! Kim Johanesson is meeting me in Sacramento and then the 2 of us are flying to Amsterdam! IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!!! YAY!!
happy blogging
I love all of you!!!
--kim
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Life in the past 24 hours :)
note to readers!!!:
creepy looking men, usually are creepy men!
so my friend sarah that works at mosgo's took me to trinidad yesterday so there are some pics from mosgo's the one man band and the beach!! and then a couple pics from the hostel in seattle that I'm at!
Sarah was so amazing! she was a sweetie and then we got to have dinner at the this cute cafe by the ocean in Trinidad!!
Now I'm in Seattle! I've been here for 10 hours now and I went to a russian bakery, the first ever starbucks, pikes place market (it is right next to my hostel), and the green tortoise hostel where I'm staying!! yay! going to The Quest Church here in the morning and the the Downtown satelite of Mars Hill tomorrow evening!!... no worries I've got my eyes peeled for creepy asian men!
it was kind of sad though, I got asked out by some really hot guys staying in the hostel with me to go out to drinks with them, but I had to say no... I'm 6 days shy of 21... probably wouldn't have actually gone out with them anyways, not very safe at all!! but hey I was flattered for the persisted invitation!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Mosgo's amazingly awesome-ness!!
oh... so I never finished telling all of you about the ONE-MAN-BAND he ended up having a show at the Humbolt Brewery over here the day after he played at Mosgo's, so Gail and Sarah and I went to see him play... and he gave everyone free CD's!!! his name is Brian Ernst and if you want to hear him when I get back I would love to share! I am going to try to post some videos I captured onto youtube!
Sarah, Gails daughter had a birthday lunch with a bunch of her friends at Tomo Sushi and they invited me, it was amazing! I had tempura, i really enjoyed it... then I got to watch SIngin' in the Rain... an old musical from back in the day!! It is one of my favorites!!!
Working at mosgo's has been a blast, the people are so great! Arcata is so different, they recycle absolutely everything... I was caught a couple of times throwing something away that could have been a recycled item... THE SHCOK! THE HORROR! it was hilarious, in Redding, we recycle averagely but it isn't a huge thing, here it is... I am learning and everyone has been so kind to show me proper recycling and composting etiquette ... It has been funny:) people don't like things nearly as sweet here and things are a little more layed back. Recycling and the planet are the two main things that seem to be serious, the rest of the world here is pretty chillaxin'
...funnily enough I feel like I have actually fit in pretty well... that's really nice, now that I have managed to figure out all of the Mosgo's ways of the coffee biz, I am leaving tomorrow... I am really going to iss the people here... Tom and Beth Reed have welcomed me like one of their own too! I don't know what I'm gonna do when I am not pampered like I have been... geez... they have fed me and let me use their laundry room, and I have my own room... wow!! I have been beyond blessed!!
One thing God has shown me is that no matter where I go he will bless the relationships I have with people... One thing that has scared me about one day moving to Hollywood someday is that I know that I will never have the relationships that I have in Redding, but everywhere I have gone God has allowed me to be apart of people's lives and get to know them, I know now that even though it will be sad and there will never be a time like the times I have had in Redding and at the Vineyard and at YAks ever again... where ever I go will be amazing too! I get to love on and be with God's children the rest of my life!!
Tomorrow morning I am going to be flying to Seattle, WA and staying at the Green Tortoise Hostel, no major plans in Seattle except to have the time of my life!!! yay!!
so the pictures are from the wedding
top--2 or my sisters and my cousin Bill who got married...crys, me, steph, bill
2nd--jami and bill after the commencement!!
3rd--the cake
4th--my grandma, my dad, my sister crys, my sister victoria, my sister steph, my nephew Johnny, my nephew Adam, and me
5th--my sisters, my dad, Chnate, and me
Sarah, Gails daughter had a birthday lunch with a bunch of her friends at Tomo Sushi and they invited me, it was amazing! I had tempura, i really enjoyed it... then I got to watch SIngin' in the Rain... an old musical from back in the day!! It is one of my favorites!!!
Working at mosgo's has been a blast, the people are so great! Arcata is so different, they recycle absolutely everything... I was caught a couple of times throwing something away that could have been a recycled item... THE SHCOK! THE HORROR! it was hilarious, in Redding, we recycle averagely but it isn't a huge thing, here it is... I am learning and everyone has been so kind to show me proper recycling and composting etiquette ... It has been funny:) people don't like things nearly as sweet here and things are a little more layed back. Recycling and the planet are the two main things that seem to be serious, the rest of the world here is pretty chillaxin'
...funnily enough I feel like I have actually fit in pretty well... that's really nice, now that I have managed to figure out all of the Mosgo's ways of the coffee biz, I am leaving tomorrow... I am really going to iss the people here... Tom and Beth Reed have welcomed me like one of their own too! I don't know what I'm gonna do when I am not pampered like I have been... geez... they have fed me and let me use their laundry room, and I have my own room... wow!! I have been beyond blessed!!
One thing God has shown me is that no matter where I go he will bless the relationships I have with people... One thing that has scared me about one day moving to Hollywood someday is that I know that I will never have the relationships that I have in Redding, but everywhere I have gone God has allowed me to be apart of people's lives and get to know them, I know now that even though it will be sad and there will never be a time like the times I have had in Redding and at the Vineyard and at YAks ever again... where ever I go will be amazing too! I get to love on and be with God's children the rest of my life!!
Tomorrow morning I am going to be flying to Seattle, WA and staying at the Green Tortoise Hostel, no major plans in Seattle except to have the time of my life!!! yay!!
so the pictures are from the wedding
top--2 or my sisters and my cousin Bill who got married...crys, me, steph, bill
2nd--jami and bill after the commencement!!
3rd--the cake
4th--my grandma, my dad, my sister crys, my sister victoria, my sister steph, my nephew Johnny, my nephew Adam, and me
5th--my sisters, my dad, Chnate, and me
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Arcata!!
So I've been here a few days now... really groovin' it here at Mosgo's... kinda sad though now that I only have 1 day left of working :(
So I have been pondering something... there are these awesome people around the world who just love Jesus and they are so humble and they tell you about other christians and how much those other christians love Jesus and how holy or saint-like they are and... that is an amazing thing to say, shows a lot of humility and those people I'm sure are totally amazing God fearing people,... but I'm am noticing it is the people that tell you how amazing other people are that are the amazing ones!! There are these people here who press into Jesus day after day, love others, and have these amazing humble servants hearts.... they convict the hell out of me and they don't even realize it... a lot of the world doesn't see it but let me tell you there is something to be said for those strong solid steadily moving more and more towards Jesus kind of people!!! They are the world-changers; they are the ones we should spend a year sitting under!!! It makes me more and more not want to be a person who people will automatically give me glory or honor for being the way I am... I more and more am wanting to be a nobody, so lost in love for Jesus and others with a silent steady strength, someone who will just do anything God tells her... I think the holy spirit just lves working through those people... and I want to be a tramp for the lord... going where ever he would lead me, letting him work through me and love me day in and day out!!!
.... ANYWAYS! about Arcata!
so the first couple of days I was here I stayed with an amzing servant of Jesus, named Gail Fults and her daughter Sarah who was visiting from Portland, OR... the two of them just welcomed me in like family! Sarah turned 30 while I was there and they just included me in everything they were doing! Gail's home was absolutely stunning, I can't believe I got to stay there! and the firs day I was here Mosgo's had an open mic night... and there was a guy that has travel 7500 miles around touring open mics around the US and he played for us and he is a one-man-band... he has this looping pedal and he has the most amazing skill... rarely have I heard anything so amazing!! check out his website at www.brianernstmusic.com... I think? and mosgo's has been so fun!! oh my gosh and now I am staying with Tom and Beth Reed from the Arcata Vineyard! They are fabulous!!
I have to run I ran out of time on my internet time and my ride back to the house is here... I will write more tonight and post it tomorrow!! I love everyone who gets a chance to read this!!!
...going to Seattle on Saturday and staying at the Green Tortoise Hostel next to Pikes Market!!!
happy blogging!!!
So I have been pondering something... there are these awesome people around the world who just love Jesus and they are so humble and they tell you about other christians and how much those other christians love Jesus and how holy or saint-like they are and... that is an amazing thing to say, shows a lot of humility and those people I'm sure are totally amazing God fearing people,... but I'm am noticing it is the people that tell you how amazing other people are that are the amazing ones!! There are these people here who press into Jesus day after day, love others, and have these amazing humble servants hearts.... they convict the hell out of me and they don't even realize it... a lot of the world doesn't see it but let me tell you there is something to be said for those strong solid steadily moving more and more towards Jesus kind of people!!! They are the world-changers; they are the ones we should spend a year sitting under!!! It makes me more and more not want to be a person who people will automatically give me glory or honor for being the way I am... I more and more am wanting to be a nobody, so lost in love for Jesus and others with a silent steady strength, someone who will just do anything God tells her... I think the holy spirit just lves working through those people... and I want to be a tramp for the lord... going where ever he would lead me, letting him work through me and love me day in and day out!!!
.... ANYWAYS! about Arcata!
so the first couple of days I was here I stayed with an amzing servant of Jesus, named Gail Fults and her daughter Sarah who was visiting from Portland, OR... the two of them just welcomed me in like family! Sarah turned 30 while I was there and they just included me in everything they were doing! Gail's home was absolutely stunning, I can't believe I got to stay there! and the firs day I was here Mosgo's had an open mic night... and there was a guy that has travel 7500 miles around touring open mics around the US and he played for us and he is a one-man-band... he has this looping pedal and he has the most amazing skill... rarely have I heard anything so amazing!! check out his website at www.brianernstmusic.com... I think? and mosgo's has been so fun!! oh my gosh and now I am staying with Tom and Beth Reed from the Arcata Vineyard! They are fabulous!!
I have to run I ran out of time on my internet time and my ride back to the house is here... I will write more tonight and post it tomorrow!! I love everyone who gets a chance to read this!!!
...going to Seattle on Saturday and staying at the Green Tortoise Hostel next to Pikes Market!!!
happy blogging!!!
Monday, June 8, 2009
So I'm in Arcata, CA!! and let me tell you about Denver!
So... Thursday afternoon my sister Crystalyn and I got into Denver and we got to participate in the first half of my cousin's bachelor party... I got to play ultimate frisbee with my 2 cousin's and some of their friends (never played ultimate frisbee before, I didn't suck but I wasn't amazing... had a couple good blocks and my throws for the most part were pretty good, I wouldn't mind playing more and getting good at it!!) And the we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and pretty much all of us gorged ourselves on all things wigs and fatty related!! Needless to say Crys and I had a great tie hangin' out with the guys, especially since we hadn't seen our cousins in about 4 years!
Friday... my sister Stephanie came to town so Crys and Jim's amazing girlfriend Chante and I picked her up and then met my aunt, uncle, grandmas and my cousin Jim for lunch and then Chante and I did My cousin Bill's laundry (he was the groom and has absolutely no time to do any laundry before him and his new wife went on their honeymoon and he almost nothing left that was clean and I needed to do laundry too.. it worked out well!) and then we all went to the Rehearsal dinner and we surprised Bill with the arrival of my other sister Victoria and her husband Justin and their 2 kids... Bill wasn't sure if all of us would be able to make it or not! It was so great for all of us to be together!
Saturday was the wedding!! all of my sisters and Bill, Jim, and Chante and I and my grandmother had lunch at P.F. Chang's Chinese Bistro... it was fun and then we all crazed around getting things finished up for the wedding and then the wedding happened! It was beautiful and my dad made it! and the flowers were beautiful (tiger lilies and white roses!!) and Jim gave a speech as the best man that moved me to tears!!! Jim and Chante and I went to Aunt Jan's and Uncle Wes's house after helping clean up and running wedding presents and leftover beer places... we watched the end of Independence day...
that is kind of a brief over view of everything that I did, but pretty much we ran around did lots of stuff to hang out with everyone and get the wedding rolling in the right direction and barely slept at all... and Jim and Chante and I had the most amazing time hanging out a lot!! They were so awesome! I had the most wonderful time crashing in Bill's apartment with them!!
I left Sunday Morning but Crys, Steph and Dad met Jim, Chante, and me for Breakfast at Village Inn!!! I got delayed alittle in Denver, they delayed us 20 minutes, not that bad but then.... in San Francisco every united flight was getting delayed an hour to 2 hours each not exactly sure why... something to do with maintenance on the run ways and being over booked with flights and overcast in the area as well as other areas that planes were coming from.... my flight was delayed an hour and then they un delayed it but moved the gate then they delayed in 40 minutes then they undelayed it 30 minutes and the they delayed it another 5 minutes... kind of weird but I made it!!! yay!! The house I am staying in is absolutley amazing
we are going to see a one man band at Humbolt brewery right now so I have to go but I will post some pictures later with more info about this one man band and anything else that I feel like sharing!!!
happy blogging!!
Friday... my sister Stephanie came to town so Crys and Jim's amazing girlfriend Chante and I picked her up and then met my aunt, uncle, grandmas and my cousin Jim for lunch and then Chante and I did My cousin Bill's laundry (he was the groom and has absolutely no time to do any laundry before him and his new wife went on their honeymoon and he almost nothing left that was clean and I needed to do laundry too.. it worked out well!) and then we all went to the Rehearsal dinner and we surprised Bill with the arrival of my other sister Victoria and her husband Justin and their 2 kids... Bill wasn't sure if all of us would be able to make it or not! It was so great for all of us to be together!
Saturday was the wedding!! all of my sisters and Bill, Jim, and Chante and I and my grandmother had lunch at P.F. Chang's Chinese Bistro... it was fun and then we all crazed around getting things finished up for the wedding and then the wedding happened! It was beautiful and my dad made it! and the flowers were beautiful (tiger lilies and white roses!!) and Jim gave a speech as the best man that moved me to tears!!! Jim and Chante and I went to Aunt Jan's and Uncle Wes's house after helping clean up and running wedding presents and leftover beer places... we watched the end of Independence day...
that is kind of a brief over view of everything that I did, but pretty much we ran around did lots of stuff to hang out with everyone and get the wedding rolling in the right direction and barely slept at all... and Jim and Chante and I had the most amazing time hanging out a lot!! They were so awesome! I had the most wonderful time crashing in Bill's apartment with them!!
I left Sunday Morning but Crys, Steph and Dad met Jim, Chante, and me for Breakfast at Village Inn!!! I got delayed alittle in Denver, they delayed us 20 minutes, not that bad but then.... in San Francisco every united flight was getting delayed an hour to 2 hours each not exactly sure why... something to do with maintenance on the run ways and being over booked with flights and overcast in the area as well as other areas that planes were coming from.... my flight was delayed an hour and then they un delayed it but moved the gate then they delayed in 40 minutes then they undelayed it 30 minutes and the they delayed it another 5 minutes... kind of weird but I made it!!! yay!! The house I am staying in is absolutley amazing
we are going to see a one man band at Humbolt brewery right now so I have to go but I will post some pictures later with more info about this one man band and anything else that I feel like sharing!!!
happy blogging!!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Wedding fun in Colorado!! Yay!
okay so I'm in Denver, Co my flight boards in 10 minutes for Arcata, CA (if you don't know where this is... it is well worth your time to google map it and find it!! Crazy awesome hippy town POT capitol of the USA and home of Humbolt State Univ.)
I spent the past 3 and a half days in Colorado with my family on my dad's side that I haven't seen in 3 to 5 years!! My cousin Bill got married to his lovely bride Jami!! It was by far my most favorite wedding that I have ever been to! It was so amazing to see everyone my cousin Jim was Mr. Incredible making sure everyone in the entire family was fully and beyond taken care of and tended too and every detail of the wedding was taken care of!! I was beyond impressed and touched! And his amazing sweetheart Chante and I buddied up the whole weekend and had the most amazing time getting to know one another and hanging out! I think she is amazing! Of course it was fabulous getting to see all of my sisters in one place as well as my Dad!! and brother in law and my nephews who will some day break many a young women's heart with their adorable-ness!!!
I have to board in 1 minute but as soon as I get to Arcata or next time I get to internet I will tell all of the adventures from the whole weekend as well as a few pics!!
I will leave all of you with this note: I had an amazing time this weekend (besides the annoying cold I caught from some unkind person in the airport...)!! I love my family so much it is hard to describe!! I will miss them a lot, and I hope to be able to see all of them more often... wish my travels well and my time in the Redwoods and on the beach well!!!
I spent the past 3 and a half days in Colorado with my family on my dad's side that I haven't seen in 3 to 5 years!! My cousin Bill got married to his lovely bride Jami!! It was by far my most favorite wedding that I have ever been to! It was so amazing to see everyone my cousin Jim was Mr. Incredible making sure everyone in the entire family was fully and beyond taken care of and tended too and every detail of the wedding was taken care of!! I was beyond impressed and touched! And his amazing sweetheart Chante and I buddied up the whole weekend and had the most amazing time getting to know one another and hanging out! I think she is amazing! Of course it was fabulous getting to see all of my sisters in one place as well as my Dad!! and brother in law and my nephews who will some day break many a young women's heart with their adorable-ness!!!
I have to board in 1 minute but as soon as I get to Arcata or next time I get to internet I will tell all of the adventures from the whole weekend as well as a few pics!!
I will leave all of you with this note: I had an amazing time this weekend (besides the annoying cold I caught from some unkind person in the airport...)!! I love my family so much it is hard to describe!! I will miss them a lot, and I hope to be able to see all of them more often... wish my travels well and my time in the Redwoods and on the beach well!!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Last days at the Dream Center :(
So I have an airport shuttle picking me up in a half hour and then I will be flying to Denver, Co where my cousin Bill is getting married in Saturday!!! Yay!
So Tuesday I got to get a tour of the Dream Center and hear a little bit of history on the building and some of the awesome stuff God has done hear... I wish I could remember all of it, but I can't... If I remember as I go along I'll pop it in here, but I doubt it! One thing though is that the campus here is an old hospital building that used to be a Roman Catholic Hospital that had been abandoned because the convent that ran it could no longer afford to keep it open so it was left vacant for years and different movie companies apparently would rent it while it was vacant for filming movies... there were a few famous ones that they mentioned but the only one I can remember was APOLLO 13.. which is actually really cool!!! and the building had originally been for sale for 10 million dollars, which is a deal for a space this big in its location and the Dream Center was able to purchase it in 1994 for 4 million dollars!!! wowee!! Jesus is good!
Then on Tuesday I got to go on a Food Truck with the Foster Care outreach... this outreach helps mothers with food and clothes and furniture and anything they can and feel led to help with to help these single mothers be able to keep their kids... otherwise these moms couldn't afford to provide for them and they would lose their kids to the governments foster care programs... so we went to 5 different mothers homes and gave them lots of food, hang out with them for a while and got to pray with them!!
Wednesday I got to go with the Skid Row/ Under the Bridge outreach!! Skid Row is an area of downtown LA where all the homelss people in the greater LA area are dropped off at... When the homeless hang out in the nice, rich, fancy areas of So. Cal. complaints are usually filed and so they are all pretty much picked up and dropped off in Skid Row... and so the whole neighborhood-ish place is full of homless people and they all just live right there and do drugs and live life and beg and there is some pretty sick stuff out there, sometimes there isn't always an actual place to go to the restroom but there is plenty of street and sidewalk to go on... so they usually do... SO... at the Dream Center they go out in the morning an we hand out invitations to church with the bus pick up times listed and we tell them about the meal we are going to be serving at 1:30 at one of the drop-in centers in skid row... so we spent all morning walking around the area inviting people to the meal and talking with them and praying with some of them. I met a guy who writes music and he was homeless and he gave me one of his lyric sheets that he hand wrote... I'll see if I can't post a picture of it on here later or write down some of the verses for you... it was really cool! Then in the afternoon we bring back pre-prepared food from the Dream Center ad we serve food to 300 homeless people! There was this awesome girl named Holli from Ireland that is on Short Term too from the Dream Center and she is a sweetie let me tell you!!! Fearless! And me and her went around while they were serving and mingled and talked and prayed with the people eating! It was so much fun! Those people are amazing! We met a girl who is 5 months pregnant and homeless and 18 and she has Koolaid red hair! We got to pray with her, find out what some of her needs are and we got her connected with the people to talk with at the Dream CEnter to see if she can start living there. Her name was Kristin, and she was absolutely precious!
Then last night I went on a Hope For Homeless Youth outreach to Santa Monica... to the beach and Pier there... I was able to go with some friends I made that had all just arrived for Short Term Missions and a lot of them were from Australia (2 girls I met Stef and Sarah were just amazing!!) and then a girl from Canada named Nicole and a guy from Pennsylvania named Jon... we all went and invited the homeless hanging out on the pier and in the park and stuff to come listen to some testimonies and get a free sack lunch! It was so cool, because I am finally getting into my groove down here and I had the best tine talking with the people down here... and awesome man named "Teddy Bear" and a gal named Gina, and couple other guys named Albert and Saheid... each one had the most interesting story of how they got there and why they are homeless... it really started to break my heart! ..... and some how I was coerced into to sharing my testimony in front of everyone... I wasn't really sure what to say, what can I a 20o year old girl who has never been drunk or done drugs share about loving Jesus to a bunch of down and out homeless people. So I just prayed that God would speak through me, and the Holy spirit would show up... and I spoke on how I grew up being your average Sunday Morning Christian and God broke my heart showing me that being a christina doesn't make you a good person! Being a christian means starting a relationship with God and asking everyday to show us his love and show us how to love the world and out of that we slowly become "good people" by his grace... being a christian is simply allowing god to love us and letting him rule and reign in our lives it has nothing to do with pretending to be a good person... it is about living for the love of god and seeking to love the world more and more each day!
I got to catch my flight now, my ride is here!! Love you guys I'll post more later!!
happy blogging!
So Tuesday I got to get a tour of the Dream Center and hear a little bit of history on the building and some of the awesome stuff God has done hear... I wish I could remember all of it, but I can't... If I remember as I go along I'll pop it in here, but I doubt it! One thing though is that the campus here is an old hospital building that used to be a Roman Catholic Hospital that had been abandoned because the convent that ran it could no longer afford to keep it open so it was left vacant for years and different movie companies apparently would rent it while it was vacant for filming movies... there were a few famous ones that they mentioned but the only one I can remember was APOLLO 13.. which is actually really cool!!! and the building had originally been for sale for 10 million dollars, which is a deal for a space this big in its location and the Dream Center was able to purchase it in 1994 for 4 million dollars!!! wowee!! Jesus is good!
Then on Tuesday I got to go on a Food Truck with the Foster Care outreach... this outreach helps mothers with food and clothes and furniture and anything they can and feel led to help with to help these single mothers be able to keep their kids... otherwise these moms couldn't afford to provide for them and they would lose their kids to the governments foster care programs... so we went to 5 different mothers homes and gave them lots of food, hang out with them for a while and got to pray with them!!
Wednesday I got to go with the Skid Row/ Under the Bridge outreach!! Skid Row is an area of downtown LA where all the homelss people in the greater LA area are dropped off at... When the homeless hang out in the nice, rich, fancy areas of So. Cal. complaints are usually filed and so they are all pretty much picked up and dropped off in Skid Row... and so the whole neighborhood-ish place is full of homless people and they all just live right there and do drugs and live life and beg and there is some pretty sick stuff out there, sometimes there isn't always an actual place to go to the restroom but there is plenty of street and sidewalk to go on... so they usually do... SO... at the Dream Center they go out in the morning an we hand out invitations to church with the bus pick up times listed and we tell them about the meal we are going to be serving at 1:30 at one of the drop-in centers in skid row... so we spent all morning walking around the area inviting people to the meal and talking with them and praying with some of them. I met a guy who writes music and he was homeless and he gave me one of his lyric sheets that he hand wrote... I'll see if I can't post a picture of it on here later or write down some of the verses for you... it was really cool! Then in the afternoon we bring back pre-prepared food from the Dream Center ad we serve food to 300 homeless people! There was this awesome girl named Holli from Ireland that is on Short Term too from the Dream Center and she is a sweetie let me tell you!!! Fearless! And me and her went around while they were serving and mingled and talked and prayed with the people eating! It was so much fun! Those people are amazing! We met a girl who is 5 months pregnant and homeless and 18 and she has Koolaid red hair! We got to pray with her, find out what some of her needs are and we got her connected with the people to talk with at the Dream CEnter to see if she can start living there. Her name was Kristin, and she was absolutely precious!
Then last night I went on a Hope For Homeless Youth outreach to Santa Monica... to the beach and Pier there... I was able to go with some friends I made that had all just arrived for Short Term Missions and a lot of them were from Australia (2 girls I met Stef and Sarah were just amazing!!) and then a girl from Canada named Nicole and a guy from Pennsylvania named Jon... we all went and invited the homeless hanging out on the pier and in the park and stuff to come listen to some testimonies and get a free sack lunch! It was so cool, because I am finally getting into my groove down here and I had the best tine talking with the people down here... and awesome man named "Teddy Bear" and a gal named Gina, and couple other guys named Albert and Saheid... each one had the most interesting story of how they got there and why they are homeless... it really started to break my heart! ..... and some how I was coerced into to sharing my testimony in front of everyone... I wasn't really sure what to say, what can I a 20o year old girl who has never been drunk or done drugs share about loving Jesus to a bunch of down and out homeless people. So I just prayed that God would speak through me, and the Holy spirit would show up... and I spoke on how I grew up being your average Sunday Morning Christian and God broke my heart showing me that being a christina doesn't make you a good person! Being a christian means starting a relationship with God and asking everyday to show us his love and show us how to love the world and out of that we slowly become "good people" by his grace... being a christian is simply allowing god to love us and letting him rule and reign in our lives it has nothing to do with pretending to be a good person... it is about living for the love of god and seeking to love the world more and more each day!
I got to catch my flight now, my ride is here!! Love you guys I'll post more later!!
happy blogging!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
pics!
heres some pics of my red toes.. a painting i'm working on for my cousins wedding... the city from the roof of the dream center on the park and flowers!!
yay! i'll post more later!!
Monday, June 1, 2009
So Jesus totally saved my life today!!!!!!
so yeah it was my day off at the dream center and none of my friends from LA were available to hang out so... I plotted this way-awesome course to walk around LA. I was going to go to this cathedral and an art museum.. all with in a few miles of the Dream Center...
So I'm walking and it is a lot further then I had imagined, and I am slightly considering turning back... it had been a nice walk so far but I had a ways to go and however far I end up I also have to walk that far back... I stop at a bus stop bench to sit for a while... now I am smart enough to know that as a single young beautiful women I need to be very observant and cautious not to do anything stupid because I am in the middle of LA alone...
...well a little ways before the bus stop I passed this middle aged asian man walking the opposite direction, he smiled at me... and I started to smile back but there was something in his smile that was odd. It wasn't sleezy but not a smile that makes a discerning person want to be their friend! so I didn't quite make it to a smile... I just kept on trying not to read into it. I sit down at the bench and then a couple moments later that same man (yes I'm sure it was him) walks past me from the direction he had just walked from (which means he walked back...) and he plants himself 6 to 8 feet from me. There were other people around, the bus for that stop was coming soon, but I noticed it was the same guy so I cautiously made myself aware of what he was doing... and he kept slyly making glances at me. I kept thinking about how maybe it was my imagination, but he kept on doing it... the same thing I was doing to him, making himself cautiously aware of what I was doing.
Then the bus for the bus stop we were at came and he pulled out some money from his wallet... I'm thinking great! this was all in my imagination!! yay!... well everyone at the stop got on the bus except for me and him, and I start talking to Jesus asking him if I'm crazy or not, but the guy is very slyly looking over at me to see if I'm going to get on, but I had only sat down to catch my breath... I decide while the bus is still there and when I think the guy isn't looking I should just get up and start walking back to the dream center and cut my day off where it is at and make sure I can get home ok, that is more important then my walking adventure!
So I do it, I get up and I start walking back the direction I came from... and as soon I start walking as fast as I can without looking like I'm panicked... I glance behind me and the guy is following me!! I look ahead and I see a street that I know will connect to one I need to be on eventually and I figure maybe if I take a different route then I came from but isn't a longer one then maybe that will help me...? I don't know, I've never been stalked by a creepy asian man in a big city... and I don't know what he could do to me or what could happen but I really didn't want to find out.... so I took that street and I start walking even more faster then I was I am up a block or so and I look behind me and he is still following me!!! I am totally scared out of my gourd by now but I can't stop I know I need to keep people around and I need to keep moving!!! I started praying and I started praying in tongues (sorry if that freaks you out..) I kept looking behind me and he was still following me for at least a mile or more because that street I had turned onto was a parently not a very busy street which isn't good because I was alone, but I was walking faster then him, PRAISE JESUS!! I kept looking behind me and he was still there but he was losing ground... finally I got to a busy part and after a while he wasn't there anymore!!!
I know, I know it was stupid to go walking around downtown LA by myself!! It was really stupid!! but I got to stop at a really cool cafe when I got back to around the Dream center.. it was just a couple streets over in the opposite direction I had gone before and it was on a main street... then I went back to the dream center and painted my toe nails red!
God is so amazing!! Some bad stuff could have happened today, and I keep thanking him for making me a smart person! for making me observant and with a good discerner... for giving me long legs!!!
No body worry for me please, i did something not very smart, I know that now! but I'm not going out like that!! Sorry to give anybody a scare... I think I was definitely humbled today, but I trust Jesus so much more then I did before and I thought I already trusted him a lot!!
yay Jesus
happy blogging!
So I'm walking and it is a lot further then I had imagined, and I am slightly considering turning back... it had been a nice walk so far but I had a ways to go and however far I end up I also have to walk that far back... I stop at a bus stop bench to sit for a while... now I am smart enough to know that as a single young beautiful women I need to be very observant and cautious not to do anything stupid because I am in the middle of LA alone...
...well a little ways before the bus stop I passed this middle aged asian man walking the opposite direction, he smiled at me... and I started to smile back but there was something in his smile that was odd. It wasn't sleezy but not a smile that makes a discerning person want to be their friend! so I didn't quite make it to a smile... I just kept on trying not to read into it. I sit down at the bench and then a couple moments later that same man (yes I'm sure it was him) walks past me from the direction he had just walked from (which means he walked back...) and he plants himself 6 to 8 feet from me. There were other people around, the bus for that stop was coming soon, but I noticed it was the same guy so I cautiously made myself aware of what he was doing... and he kept slyly making glances at me. I kept thinking about how maybe it was my imagination, but he kept on doing it... the same thing I was doing to him, making himself cautiously aware of what I was doing.
Then the bus for the bus stop we were at came and he pulled out some money from his wallet... I'm thinking great! this was all in my imagination!! yay!... well everyone at the stop got on the bus except for me and him, and I start talking to Jesus asking him if I'm crazy or not, but the guy is very slyly looking over at me to see if I'm going to get on, but I had only sat down to catch my breath... I decide while the bus is still there and when I think the guy isn't looking I should just get up and start walking back to the dream center and cut my day off where it is at and make sure I can get home ok, that is more important then my walking adventure!
So I do it, I get up and I start walking back the direction I came from... and as soon I start walking as fast as I can without looking like I'm panicked... I glance behind me and the guy is following me!! I look ahead and I see a street that I know will connect to one I need to be on eventually and I figure maybe if I take a different route then I came from but isn't a longer one then maybe that will help me...? I don't know, I've never been stalked by a creepy asian man in a big city... and I don't know what he could do to me or what could happen but I really didn't want to find out.... so I took that street and I start walking even more faster then I was I am up a block or so and I look behind me and he is still following me!!! I am totally scared out of my gourd by now but I can't stop I know I need to keep people around and I need to keep moving!!! I started praying and I started praying in tongues (sorry if that freaks you out..) I kept looking behind me and he was still following me for at least a mile or more because that street I had turned onto was a parently not a very busy street which isn't good because I was alone, but I was walking faster then him, PRAISE JESUS!! I kept looking behind me and he was still there but he was losing ground... finally I got to a busy part and after a while he wasn't there anymore!!!
I know, I know it was stupid to go walking around downtown LA by myself!! It was really stupid!! but I got to stop at a really cool cafe when I got back to around the Dream center.. it was just a couple streets over in the opposite direction I had gone before and it was on a main street... then I went back to the dream center and painted my toe nails red!
God is so amazing!! Some bad stuff could have happened today, and I keep thanking him for making me a smart person! for making me observant and with a good discerner... for giving me long legs!!!
No body worry for me please, i did something not very smart, I know that now! but I'm not going out like that!! Sorry to give anybody a scare... I think I was definitely humbled today, but I trust Jesus so much more then I did before and I thought I already trusted him a lot!!
yay Jesus
happy blogging!
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