Josh came to town! - Photos

This last week Josh, my boyfriend, was in town. It was a little strange at first, being that I haven't seen him since October. We have talked on the phone every night for hours for a while now, but this was the first time to see him in person since we started to date.

He came in on Saturday and left on Wednesday. While he was here, we celebrated Easter, went to the Orlando Science Center, and got to see "Horton Hears a Who," which was hysterical! We also got to share some good quality time together and everyone here, including friends and family met Josh and got to see how wonderful he is! :)

We had a wonderful time! So much so, that he didn't want to leave but neither of us could afford the extra cost for him to stay until this weekend. So, we got online and Allegiant Air has some amazing deals if you are flying in and out of smaller airports. We found a deal where I can fly up next week for only $100 roundtrip. It will be the first time that I will meet most of his family. I met his mom and his aunt back in October when they came for our commissioning. I'm really excited to go back up and spend some more time with Josh and get to know his family!

One man's junk is another man's treasure - Photo

I just held a garage sale/outreach at my church this Saturday. We had free water, a bounce house and face painting for the kids (although many BIG kids used it too), sold hotdogs and sodas, and a ton of families brought all their unneeded items to sell. 10% of all proceeds went towards meeting my goal and 100% of proceeds from the food and drinks sale as well. The youth raised over $250 doing a car wash for their puppet/drama ministry. It was a great day and we raised a ton of money! We raised approximately $330 towards getting me to El Salvador. I sold a ton of clothes, games, dishes, and other items I had collected through the past couple years that I just can't afford to take with me. It would be cheaper to buy them in El Salvador than to try to ship what I already have in suitcases.

We also gave salvation bookmarks to all the people that came out and thought it would be a good way to promote ourselves within our own community. People don't typically just walk into a church because they are afraid to. If you make friends with them first and they can see Christ through the way you live and serve, then they are more likely to feel comfortable enough to come to a church service. We can't expect people to come to the church, the church needs to go to the people. After all, isn't that what Jesus did? Did he wait in the temple and expect people to come to him? No. In fact, he went out and sought people to help and to teach, but he did this first by befriending them.

Anyhow, it was a great time had by all and we are looking forward to doing another yard sale soon and probably even a Fall Festival in early October. I'm really excited for my church and the things the Lord has in store for us all!

Let's go play in the SNOW! - Photos

So, I just got back from a ski trip to Blowing Rock, NC with my family. It was a great to share some time with my Uncle Bill, Aunt Mary, and cousin Tarah! This was my first time skiing and only second time ever seeing snow. Yes, I know...I'm 24 and going skiing for the first time. However, Tarah was sweet enough to stay on the bunny slope with me the whole time. My first time on skis was....interesting. I got into them great, then as soon as I started to move, BOOM! Yeah, I landed on my booty and couldn't get up until a ski instructor came by and put one ski over the top of my two skis and helped me up, a trick that came in handy that day! :) Of course, the first day everytime I got off the ski lift, I fell on my face. It was fun though. AND the first time I started down the slope, I almost Sonny Bono'ed it! I was yelling "PIZZA!" which if you try to slow down and point toward eachother (like a pizza slice) you're supposed to slow down. I didn't. :) I came inches from a tree to the face. When I finally caught my breath, I looked back to see my aunt and my cousin cackling at me! It was a good time.

I finally got the hang of skiing and could make it down the bunny slope without falling and the next day could even make it off the lift without falling. I felt accomplished! Tarah and I decided to give tubing a try one morning. It was so warm that we had to take off many of our layers and I went tubing in just some pants and a tank top. It was a ton of fun though! We had races and even bulldozed through a few people. Ooops.

Also, I officially started to date a guy I met in October at Pre-field Orientation. His name is Josh Sears and he's worked with King's Castle before. I met him through a mutual friend, Jacob. They had worked together as interns in 2002 and of course Jacob and I have worked together the past couple of years. The three of us hung out all the time while in Springfield and Josh and I have kept in contact since then. Anyhow, we just made it official right before this trip! He's a man of God and you can check out his website and ministry here.

Here are some of the pictures from that trip: