You Light Up My Life

Have I told y'all that I love my roommates??? Like I couldn't have asked for better women to live with for 3 months. I think these girls put my faith back in having roommates! So here's a post about my roomies :)

Gabby and Amber at snack time!

Amber- is from Tuskegee, Alabama. She's solid. She went to Duke, but I don't hold that against her for all you Clemson people reading. She's super intelligent and knows how to speak words that rock you! Amber is pretty quiet, but she's very aware of what's going on around her. I sit next to her in class so I can crack jokes and have her laugh and roll her eyes at me. I like this one, she's pretty awesome!!


Madisen- ........................................................

There are no words for Madisen. Really. None. She's weird, but totally awesome at the same time. She grew up on a farm in Canada, so I think that explains things. She raps, she dances, she makes funny faces ALL the time, she provides entertainment 24/7. But in all seriousness, she's firm in her beliefs and a great example of just standing your ground. She knows how to make you think, then laugh 5 seconds later. Couldn't ask for a better woman of God to hang out with!

Staci- is from The Bay Area in California. Fremont, I think is where she claims home. Staci is the mom of the room. "Ok, girls, 5 more minutes til we need to go!" (we aren't ready in 5 minutes, so she goes to class without us). She always has a smile on her face, even through her tears you can see a smile. Her happiness is contagious. Seriously. You can't help but smile or laugh whenever you see her. She and I have had amazing conversations about what we're learning, how we're being blessed, and just life in general. She asks GREAT questions. I enjoy having her in my room AND in my DTS.

Staci and Gabby

Gabby- is from Kuai'i, another island :) she's an island girl! She is the picture of elegance, grace, and beauty. She has such a child-like faith and she is just hungry for learning more about God. Gabby is pretty quiet, but has some powerful questions and prayers. She's just on her journey of being closer to Jesus and you can tell she's grown leaps and bounds since she's been here at DTS. I love her honesty and meekness. I think of precious when I think of Gabby. She's wonderful to have in our room!!

Amy- is from Washington, the state. She's bubbly, light, hilarious, a lover, a singer, a songwriter, a ball of laughter!! I like how she's a realist but fun at the same time, she's definitely not a Debby-Downer about things. She gets crazy visions from God and knows how to inspire a whole room with her words and excitement about life. You guys are gonna hear her on the radio one day singing praises to her Creator :)

Amy and I at OpenMic Night

Melissa- is from Omaha, Nebraska (or New Braska, as Madisen would spell it). She's who I cuddle with at night and watch movies with. We talk sports, she's a Husker fan, obviously! She's super dry which adds a whole new element of humor to our room. She loves the beach, she goes every weekend! Which is smart since we're in Hawai'i. Melissa is a talented piano player and singer. She listens to piano all the time and it makes me want to start playing again! She also LOVES popcorn, so I feel like she would fit in the Stone family well. She is always seeking the Lord and enjoys learning more about Him. I have enjoyed her very much so far :)

Rachael- is from Canada and enjoys hiking. She has some awesome pictures of mountains and stuff in Canada. I didn't know Canada was pretty until I saw her pictures. (kidding kidding). Rachael is my bunkmate, so I hope my bed doesn't break and land on her. Rachael comes from a HUGE family, like she has 10 brothers and sisters. Her nieces and nephews call her Auntie Sug cause she likes candy so much and gives it to them all the time. Rachael is quiet but really funny, I like her inputs all the time. I'm lucky to have her in my room! She's opening up and she's wonderful :) her smile is gorgeous and her heart is beautiful too!!

Sooo mom and dad, you don't have to worry, I'm surrounded by AMAZING girls and we all have a great time together! Other girls say they want to come live in our room because we actually know each other and spend time together. I will really really miss them when we all leave in 2 months :(

You've Got Magic

Last week finished up nicely. I really enjoyed Jeff and his teaching. Thursday, we had small groups (in the afternoon after our lecture) and we had a book report due. Well, not really a book report, but we read Loren Cunningham's book the first weekend of school, so we had to act out an event from that book that we enjoyed. We could either be Loren or Darlene (his wife) as we told the story from their perspective. So I chose to act out when Loren got dismissed from the Assemblies of God because they didn't see YWAM as an organization that agreed with their visions. I also acted out Loren having "heart surgery" in New Zealand, he prayed for a week for God to purify his heart and God reminded him of the events that took place when Thomas Zimmerman asked him to leave the Assemblies. I went first in my group. I was nervous, as usual, but I did GREAT! I'm such a great actor. So we were in the cafe on campus and I was acting out the part where Loren is praying for a clean heart, I was on my knees with my eyes closed and my hands folded in front of me. My team was getting a good laugh at my acting, so I opened my eyes and one of my leaders was filming me and Jenni Gillespie (my school leader) had joined the group while my eyes were closed. I was SOOO embarrassed!! Then John, her husband, my school leader, sat on the other side of me. So I had to finish acting out my prayer of a clean heart and writing Brother Zimmerman a letter of apology. I got an A! Yay! It was a fun ordeal. Then the rest of the team gave their stories and we had a great time talking about the story of how YWAM was started and how Loren and Darlene really live out a life of following God. We couldn't decide what to do for the rest of the time, so we decided to go around and affirm each other. That took up the rest of the time plus some. It was so great being able to speak positive words to each other and tell each other what we see in them. My group said that I was determined to finish tasks, and do them well, that I was bold and confident, that I spoke wisely, and the most popular affirmation was that I was hilarious. :) I like that I'm bringing smiles to people's faces!

Friday, was Jeff's last day of teaching us. We went through the book of Ephesians in like an hour, really looking at how Paul turned things upside down in that city. We read Acts chapters 18 and 19 about Paul's three years in Ephesus (roughly 3 years) and how all of Asia Minor heard the Gospel because of Paul living out a Christ-like life. He taught in the lecture hall, worked in the market place (Paul was a tent maker--traveling tents for rich people to travel with), made friends with the government, and turned this port city upside down. Then he left right when riot broke out in the city. This really is an interesting story, I encourage you all to really read and research Ephesus and what Paul did there. By living like Christ and really following him, Paul changed a city for the better. So many people followed Christ because of Paul.Did you know that Christianity was originally called The Way, because it's a way of life not a religion. Isn't that interesting? Like back when it was spreading, before they had a name for it, everyone called it The Way because it changed how people lived their lives. Listening, following, and loving God is a way of life, not a religion. Good word right there!

Friday night some of my roommates and I went to Wal-Mart for things needed and for something to do. Then some of us went and watched the Dodge Ball tournament going on. (I will upload pictures when my camera is charged) That was so fun! A team of 6 guys from my DTS ended up winning the tournament and they beat a team made up of guys from our staff. That was interesting, but super fun to watch. It's funny how emotional guys get about the activity they're participating in. If someone wasn't being honest about being out or if an official made a "wrong" call some of the boys were pretty vocal about their dislike. It's dodge ball at missions university, calm down buddy. It's not the dodge ball Olympics! Does that exist? But anyways, fun night of dancing and watching dodge ball.

Saturday and Sunday I had work duty in the kitchen. I had to be there at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday and 6:00 in the morning on Sunday. I made oatmeal again and cleaned the dishes inside (so big pans and trays and utensils etc). We had a break until 3 and then we had to come back for dinner. Saturday night we had Taco salad, that was yummy. I mixed salad stuff and then washed dishes again. On Sunday, we had cheese tortellini. Zach, the weekend supervisor (he's 22, real cool dude), wanted Alfredo sauce for our portion of the meal (we eat before the rest of campus) so he made some from scratch. Basically it was the best Alfredo sauce I've had. Almost all of the team was packed around the stove top with rolls we had just pulled out of the oven, dipping the bread into the skillet with the sauce. Talk about YUM. I didn't clean dishes Sunday night, I swept the floors and mopped the floors and for a little while I was scrapping the big dishes before another person washed them. My hands and wrists got sliced up from the pans, so putting them in the soapy water didn't feel to good. I still have all the little cuts, so it still hurts to wash my hands, which I do 500 times a day. :( I like the team I'm working with on kitchen duty. We have a good time together. Here is a picture of the oatmeal I make in the morning and another picture of the Alfredo sauce we made on Sunday night. OOOH and Sunday night, we didn't make the tortellini fast enough, so we just had to put out stuff to make Ham and Cheese sandwiches. Those late people weren't happy, but at least they got fed! Hopefully we will finish the tortellini sometime this week, it was really good!

Monday, today, was our first day of hearing from Bryan Brennt. He's from the OC and has been influential in many guys lives here on CommTrans staff. He's impacted a lot of other people too. He's  really funny speaker!! I was dying laughing at all of his jokes. He got off on a tangent about FuddRuckers (the hamburger place) and seriously, it was hilarious the way he was describing the options you could choose from and how you have to unbutton your pants so you can eat your whole burger. "You leave that place bigger than when you went in. FuddRuckers." Listening to him made me want to go there! Too bad they aren't in Hawaii. But anyway, today we joined the "Super Natural Academy." Bryan is teaching us the gift of prophecy and delivering the message that God gives to you for others. Some people don't have this gift, this gift of getting pictures or dreams or words from God about themselves or others. He explained that in order to hear from God you have to accept the fact that He Loves you (loves you, like your mom or dad loves you), that He Likes You (like when you have a crush on someone in the 7th grade), and that he Lavishes you (he was saying both Ravish and Lavish.. but He pours His love out for us and embraces us). Then once you accept those 3 things, you heart is tenderized, it is easy for you to love others, and it gives you the authority to destroy your enemies. We then broke up into 2 groups, the ones who had this gift of prophecy and those that don't (who he calls the Quarterbacks). Then we got into groups of 3, two prophecies and one quarterback. I was the quarterback with a girl named Lexx and a girl named Kate. We prayed for each other and asked for God to show us how He loves us and then we asked about strongholds in our lives that need to be gotten rid of (that's bad grammar, but I can't think of the right words.) This was a great exercise and it was interesting to hear how God tells other people about us through words or pictures or visions. That's how we ended class, then we went to the prayer room after lunch. This session was about praying for our generation. Asking God to remove the chains that hold our generation back from accepting His love and spreading His love. And then asking God what this generation was "pregnant" with and asking Him to develop it and birth it so we could see fruits of this generation. (I still don't understand what that question means, but I prayed anyways.....) Then I hung out with some roommates before dinner and did some job searching online and chatting with my roommates. Now I'm going to bed! I'm tired!

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday, and I hope your week goes well!!


LOVE LOVE LOVE

Get Up and LIVE

You know we're living in the church of Acts, right? Transformation and revival is happening NOW. All around the world. Get on board, don't miss being apart of the greatest story every told!

Just had to get a little radical on you for a bit. "Wake UP child, it's your time to SHINE. For such a time as this."

Jeff Reid is our speaker this week and he hasn't really taught us anything, he's been sharing stories of revival and that's what has been teaching us. God is just speaking through his stories like none other. I'm worn out after I listen to him for 3 hours, he just brings so much truth just by reading the Bible out loud. Monday he just starts off with a story of salvation and tells us, "The Kingdom is real. You're living in it right now." That's sooo TRUE. God's will is being done on Earth, He is still active and alive through us! Jeff shared his testimony and some other stories of evangelism and then had us pair up and tell the person we were with what Jesus has saved us from. Our generation doesn't use the word "save" anymore. You are probably sitting there saying to yourself, "Why is she using saved? She should say "born-again" or something else." NO!! We were SAVED when we accepted Christ as our SAVIOR. Ah, listing off what I've been saved from made things sooo real. I'm thankful that He has forgiven me, I fully accept the forgiveness, but to think about how He saved me from a life of destruction really hit me differently. Thank you for saving me from the trenches of this world! We were VERY late for lunch Monday.

Tuesday. We started off watching this video. It's about Heidi Baker and her Iris Ministries that she works with in Africa. Please tell me you watched that and were moved. I wanted to get out of my seat, fly to Africa, and help. I was sooo stirred. Children are who we see Christ in so much, they're who we should be pouring into. They hold the future! (We all hold the future in our hands, too, so go out and write a new part of history!) But ah that video was just so touching. "Love looks like something.." Love is actions! It's not just a word, it's an action. So Jeff basically read straight from the Bible to teach about Simple, Affection-based Obedience. What's your first thought when  you hear the word "obedience"? Something strong, something constricting, something not fun. At least that's what I think. But affection-based obedience is the opposite of those things! You obey God because you love Him and you love Him because you obey Him! I've always felt that God was so big and great that His word and everything about him had to be held so high and you could only use big words when you talked about God. I felt like understanding the Bible was out of reach and like you had to be really smart to understand God. NOT TRUE! It's called Simple, Affection-Based Obedience because it's SIMPLE. You just listen and obey. We read through John 15:1-17 about being branches that abide in the vine. I'm a branch and Jesus is the vine and God is the gardener. How many of you have a garden, had a garden at one time, or know anything about gardening? You have to cut/prune things in order for them to produce more fruit. God isn't going to cut you off if you aren't producing fruit, He is going to cut you so that you grow back bigger and full of fruit! Fruit Happens! For His glory. You were created for His glory, not for your glory. The better you get to know Him, the more your heart becomes like His. "If you remain in me and my words remain in  you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you." You're reading thinking, "Oh, so I can ask for that new Lexus and He'll give it to me?" Nope. If you remain in Him, the desires of His heart will become the desires of your heart. He will give you the desires of your heart because they're what He desires! Does that seem hard to you? It shouldn't. It's simple! So simple! It clicked with me that things don't have to be super hard and intellectual with God, it's so simple. You follow and obey because you love Him and He loves you. Go out and do His work! So that was just the lecture. We were late for lunch again. Kinda. I had small group after that and we started a booklet called the Big Ten. Basically, what 10 things you would leave with someone you just led to the Lord. We went through Evangelism and practiced giving testimonies, basically telling the Gospel real quick. Our leader Kristina would give us scenarios for what we might be doing on outreach then we had to give the Gospel like we would in scenario. My scenario was that I was at fashion week in NYC and I was leading Paris Hilton to the Lord. Awesome. Gotta practice sharing my testimony and the Gospel! Then I went to Tom and Becky's for dinner. I sure did miss being with the kids and Becky. Didn't get to see Tom, but that's ok, I'll see him around sooner or later....

Wednesday. Um, can you just say the word Crazy with me? Crazy. We start class at 9 and Jeff shared a story about saving a demon-possessed man in Cornwall, England. Weird story. Then we had a time of sharing of the Lord was doing in our hearts since we've been here. A girl talked about how she had disliked so many things about the church and how since being here she's realized that she can't deny God anymore, she can only deny religion. Religion keeps you disconnected from your relationship with God. Religion keeps you silent, kept in a corner, it doesn't save you. A guy was wearing a shirt that said "Religion Kills. Jesus Saves." SO TRUE!!!! So many people are so against the church because it's all about religion and good deeds, its not about the relationship with God, your daddy, your creator. It makes you apathetic to the ways of God and that's not what I want anymore!! (Please do not read that the church is bad. The church is Jesus' bride, He loves the church, not the religion aspect of it) Jeff confessed that the Lord told him a while ago that He wouldn't ever send him to people that weren't world changers. We are room filled of world changers. We had a radical time of just listening to music and declaring things over the mic to the whole room. Then we had a dance party! I wish I had film of us jumping around and praising God for creating us for His glory, giving us a purpose, and loving us. Oh my gosh, it was crazy. So Jeff comes over the mic and says, "I feel like God is calling us to have a baptism. In the old Jewish history, people got baptized whenever something new happened, like moving to a new place, or starting a new thing in life. It signifies new life. A lot of you are cluing into who you really are, you're something new, you're a creation of God. So let's go do some baptizing!" That was at 11:30. We went down to the pier in downtown Kona and had a massive baptism. Here are some pictures! There was a cruise ship in the ocean and people were coming off the boats to go into town and they were standing on the wall watching our baptism. It was insane! So amazing!  

That's my roommate, Staci, after coming out of the water. She was so elated!!

We missed lunch completely. We went to our electives (water, healthcare, or prayer room. media won't start for a couple of weeks, so we went to the prayer room.) We prayed over a verse for ourselves (like not all together, just separately, just time to be with God.) I read Matthew 5:13-16. Being the salt and light of the world. Adding taste to the world for God and lighting up the world for Him. Very good versus to read over for yourself, asking God to make you a seasoning for the world and light for the world. That's what I wanna be; salt and light. Then we went on community outreach  and I had an uncomfortable situation occur. My roommate, Staci, and I started talking to this homeless man, who said his name was Pineapple. I can't even tell you all the weird things he said they were so offensive. So I was so uncomfortable that I told Staci it was time to leave, so we said bye and continued to walk around downtown. She wanted to "deliver him right now" but it just wasn't right. That man had so many layers of things to work through that I think it's best to develop a relationship with him then lead him to the Lord. He was beyond scary, but Jesus loves him and he needs to know that! After community outreach we had dinner and now I'm here, finishing up this post to you all! 

This is how I walked around the streets of Kona for community outreach.

Get Up and Live RIGHT NOW!! You're royalty, you're destiny, you have been set-free, YOU ARE A WORLD CHANGER!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

p.s. A lot of you all have asked for my address and I can't remember who, so please send me an email or a text or a facebook message and I'll give you my physical address here in Kona! thanks!

We're just Ordinary People

But God can do extraordinary things with us.

This is a circle, just stick with me...

Have you ever been used by someone? Have you ever used someone? Knowingly used them to get ahead in school or in business? Have you known you were being used but just let it happen anyway? I have. I've been used and I've used those around me to help me. You know, those calls whenever they really need you to help them out but no calls just to see how you're doing? Those "friends" who say they'll always be there for you, but when you finally need them they're too busy or they just don't answer. Yeah, I've been there. Or only talking to that person when you need help with school work (or business work) but ignoring them when you see them out on the town. I have a servant heart, I want to help people, I want to see them smile, I want to see them be successful. I knowingly let those around me use me while I was in college. I called them friends, but really they just needed me around to get them to class or help them in class or get their next meal. I bent over backwards to get them to their peaks and their highs while ignoring my needs and passing up my opportunities to succeed in college. I answered every phone call, every text, every Facebook message to help them when they needed it. I never felt full, I never felt happy while in college. I had temporary moments of happiness, but I was focused on the wrong things in college. I ignored those who truly cared for me because I wanted the ones I pursued to care for me. I in turn used people. I only called on some people on Thursdays to go to FCA with me or I only called my small group co-leader when I needed spiritual help. I only called some people for school work help but then didn't call them on the weekends or in the week to hang out and have dinner with. Its a vicious cycle of using one another.

Do you know we some times use God? I realized this morning that I've been using God. I've only called on Him when I'm real real low or when I needed help on my next test that I didn't study for or when I didn't have a friend around to really talk to. I only acknowledged Him while I was at FCA or at church or small-group. I didn't acknowledge Him in the good times, I only asked for help in the bad times. Can you imagine how broken His heart was every time I was happy and didn't thank Him for the joy in my heart? Or how excited He was to hear me cry out, only to know it was because I was sad or in trouble? There's a song by Hillsong called "All For Love" and the chorus says, "Oh how many times have I broken Your heart, But still You forgive If only I ask. And how many times have You heard me pray 'Draw near to me?'" He continues to draw near to me, He continues to forgive me because He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

Did you know that God uses us? IN A GOOD WAY! Amen, I'm so thankful that He has a plan for me to "prosper" and a plan for me to draw people to Him and make His kingdom bigger. God is never going to call on us when He needs us. God doesn't need us, He wants us, to be a part of His plan. He includes us in His work because He wants to be around us and He wants to know us. I am an ordinary girl from Arlington, Texas, but I'm going to do extraordinary things in my lifetime because He is going to use me. I don't want to use God anymore. I want to be His genuine friend who calls Him just to say, "Hi, I love you. I'm thankful you're in my life. Thank you for being who you are." I want to smile at Him daily because He woke me up to see another day. I want to acknowledge Him in the good, the bad, the pain, the joy, EVERY MOMENT of life because I'm His creation and I'm living a out a life He has already planned for me. In a Kirk Franklin song, "Everyone Hurts," he says, "Not for everything but in everything, give thanks." That's sooo true! Thank you for my joy, thank you for my smiles, my laughs, my sorrow, my pain, my tears. Thank you for always being there. Thank you for being my genuine friend who is there for me always. I wanna be that best friend to you, God. :)

This was a heart post, something I wanted to write about. There will be more of these as DTS goes along. I'll be processing a lot of things, so most of them will be written to the public. I hope what I'm going through can help you, too.

LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Love Brings Change

Random: This week I was clipping my fingernails and all I was thinking about is when my old roommate Elizabeth Foshee Brannock was cutting her toenails and one of her nails got into her eye. It was like our second week of living together and she came running into my room screaming, "Get it out!!" So I had to get really close to her and find the nail in her eye. Scary. I just finished week 2 of living with these girls, so I was hoping no one would have to come get a nail out of my eye. I miss you, dear :)


Soooo Thursday was a great day! David Hamilton spoke about being hungry and thirsty for God. The more you read His word, the more thirsty you get. Start small, he read 30 minutes a day for 3 months, then another 3 months then another and worked up to an average of 3 hours a day now. That's over like a 30 year span, but you just have to start small in your reading and you'll get thirstier (is that a word?) everyday. He has just published a Bible, called the Source View Bible, where each book of the Bible is written like a script; the narrator is one color, the Lord is another, Jesus is another, and then other speakers are a different color. My roommate got one and it looks so interesting! The Bible was meant to be Spoken, so this format is meant to be read by many, so order one and read it out loud with your friends or family! God wants us to read, speak, and listen to His word so we digest it easier. We get to know our Father better by spending time with Him, through reading His word. I never heard it put so simply. Like the way you get to know your friend better is by spending time with them, so you have to spend time in God's word to get to know Him better. He's your friend, get to know Him :) I had my second small group meeting on Thursday. We gave our testimonies and our expectations for the six months. This was just my group of 7 that's going to both OC and NYC. My leaders are Stephanie and Kristina (she's from Dallas!) and my other group members are Alex, Danielle, Matt, and Donald. I'm the oldest person in my group by at least 2 years. It seems weird to be the oldest because I've always been the youngest person at family gatherings and what not. Time to grow up and act like a big girl being the oldest in my group! Ah! I enjoyed getting to know my group a little bit better, this is going to be a fun and stretching experience. God's placed me with younger people for a reason, so we'll find that reason when it comes! Thursday was our Ohana Gathering which is open to the public. We had worship and then a man from the Philippines spoke about changing his city in the Philippines. People are making such an impact in their city just by praying everyday for the city. It's too much to post, but this city was dedicated to God a few years ago and then when new governmental officials were elected they rededicated the city and it's just amazing to see how prayer can change a negative situation to a positive one. For instance, their city jail can hold 1500 inmates, it currently only has 500. This man made so many jokes, he had us rolling the whole time, but all while telling how his city has changed for the better because of prayer and action.

Friday was our last day of Corporate DTS week. Sean Murphy spoke about leading a DTS in Port Au Prince, Haiti. He included Loren's talk about laying down rights and Darlene's message about grace. He had great stories about the students, the staff, and the native Haitians. But to be honest, the highlight of his talk was the break. Please don't judge me :) We had Junk Food Friday and we made Nutella S'mores. NUTELLA!!!!! Here is a picture of a man describing how to make the s'more (for the non-Americans in the audience) and below that is a picture of my roommates Amber and Gabby with their s'mores.

My day was completely made. I love Nutella.

Friday afternoon was prayer room with my CommTrans group from 1 until 3. That time is always a great time. The first hour is singing and praise, the second hour is directed prayer and intercession. So we first prayed for personal revival, then for revival on the campus and for it's leaders, and then for revival in Kona (the city that I'm in). We pair up a good bit during the prayer room, so when we were asked to pray for Kona, a girl named Chloe was my partner. We didn't pray for Kona. We had hung out on Wednesday, so I don't know her very well, but I can tell she's an amazing woman of faith. So I was slightly intimidated by her, and I told her that! I said, "I just want to let you know, I'm intimidated by you, because you're you and you're amazing." and her reply was, "Ok, let's pray that off." "Do what?" was my reply. She said, "Let's pray off the spirit of intimidation that you have. You aren't inferior to me or anyone else. So you say out loud what you are and how God sees you and I'll agree and pray for you." WOW. Then I felt bad that instead of praying for Kona we were praying for me and I said so, I said it was selfish. She replied, "OK, let's pray that off too. You're important, you deserve time, so let's pray off that as well." I've lost my confidence throughout college, so I'm praying for my confidence and strength in the Lord. I am not an inferior person, I'm a bold, beautiful, important, smart woman of God. Amen. Breakthrough is happening in my spirit and I'm happy with that!

 Friday night, I had dinner with my leader Kristina for my one-on-one. We had a great conversation about the first 2 weeks here and what has been going on in my heart and how I feel about DTS. I really enjoy Kristina. She's sweet and intelligent and has a heart for breakthrough and change. She has an amazing story. I'm really blessed to have her as my one-on-one :) We'll be meeting maybe every week but definitely every other week. So I'm excited to learn from her and share with her my experiences. I met up with some of my roommates at Outback after dinner with Kristina. I ate some of an Awesome Blossom. It had been forever since I had one of those. It was yummy yummy yummy. Then we came back to campus for Open Mic night at the Cafe. There  are sooo many talented people here on campus. My roommate Amy performed a song she wrote that morning. Yes, she performed a song she wrote that morning. It was beautiful. This is a picture of all the roomies :) Amy was definitely the best performer, if I say so. I may be a bit biased though. She has a wonderful voice and can play the guitar very well.

this is from Melissa's phone, sorry it's not perfect!

Today, Saturday, I got to see my friend Emily's beautiful face right when I woke up! We skyped for about an hour and that was a great way to start the day! Melissa and I watched Tangled together. That movie is superb. Racheal, Gabby, Melissa, and I walked down to the beach and laid out for a bit. I put on sunscreen, don't worry. Melissa and I walked back together. I enjoy her company. She's sarcastic, which I like! 

Gabby, Rachael, Melissa, they're real cool.

This week has been a great week. I'm excited about next week being back in the classroom and hearing a new speaker. It's gonna be a good week, like all of them!! I miss you all!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

"You'll Never Know if You Never Try.....

... to forget your past and simply be mine.
So I dare you to let me be your, your one and only
Promise I'm worthy to hold in your arms"
- "One and Only" by Adele

I was listening to that song while reading the book of John last night and it hit me. I have to let go of my past so that God can be all mine and I can be all His. He's worthy. And I'm worthy to be His. No more worrying about rejection because I'm His and that's all that matters.

This post is going to be backwards :) I'm starting with today, then talking about yesterday, then talking about Monday. Sound good? Great. Moving right along......Today was a glorious day :) I got up at 5 AM with my roomie, Melissa (from Nebraska), and worked out. Just did weights and abs because my knee is still messed up. Then I did 2 loads of laundry, made a protein shake and coffee, and read 3 chapters of John. ALL before 8:30 am. WOW. Then went to Ohana Court for lecture. Darlene Cunningham (married to the founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham) spoke to us today. She gave a message that she has given many times around the world entitled "Grace Ticket." Oh man, I wish I had recorded it so everyone could hear her knowledge and belief of what God can do. She talked about what we should do when we are in trouble or in need. We REMIND ourselves of God's character. We REMEMBER (and are thankful for) what He has already done. And we HANG ON to the Word of the Lord. He is an ACTIVE RECONSTRUCTIONIST, He will take your mess and make something beautiful. She told a story of when you are going on a train ride, when do you get your ticket for that train? Right BEFORE you get on the train for the trip. God gives you your Grace ticket right before He sends you through something. He will always be there and will always get you through what you are going through. 1Corinthians 10:13 is what she based her message off of. Such an amazing statement of truth that God will be with you while you are being tempted and he will get you through it. A man who was projected to win the IronMan race this past Saturday is here on campus, Chris Leitto. He was first off the bike and while running fell back to 10th place. He said he is still processing why God didn't let him win for God's glory. Darlene then says in her talk, God didn't promise we'll win every race that we're in, BUT He will be there, right next to us, for every race. I'm thankful for that! She also talked a bit about self-pity. Self-pity is rooted in pride. I never thought of that. "I deserve much better than this!" Compared to who?? Be thankful for what you have and where God has placed you, be thankful you aren't getting what you actually deserve! After lecture, we broke up into our schools (after lunch) and we learned about our electives for this semester. We have 4 options to take: Water, Healthcare, Media, and Prayer Room. Water and Healthcare teach about basic things to help the people where we go. Media will start later in the semester and will be about graphic communication, photography, and technology stuff and how to use those for God's glory. Prayer Room is learning more about prayer and intercession and students will be praying during that time. I picked media because I would like to learn more about technology and how to use it for good. We had community outreach this afternoon. It went well, I sat with one of my leaders, Kristina, and another girl, Chloe. We had a great time learning about one another. We didn't get the chance to reach out to anyone, but it was still a great time. Then the Heavens opened up and it poured on us while we walked home. Have you ever been caught in the rain? For some reason, I love it. I don't mind getting wet. I love the rain. So now I'm sitting here writing another novel for you all :)

Bored yet? no is the correct answer.

Tuesday. Loren Cunningham spoke to us! He is the founder of YWAM. An amazing man and has an amazing story. He truly knows what it means to listen and obey. He spoke about giving up your rights. Your right of freedom (missions may take you to places where you might be put in jail), your family (you may be separated), your finances (God WILL provide), your reputation (you'll lose it eventually because of something you do that people may not agree with), your food (Loren has eaten dog before. gross.), your bed (get out of your comfort zone). Such a great message. Even if you aren't a missionary, giving EVERYTHING to God and knowing it's all going to be ok. He's going to protect you and keep you safe. Be bold and just do what He has called you to do. Loren has been to every nation or territory on Earth. Now that's a goal for me!! I want to visit every place on Earth. I want my passport to look like my dad's! I enjoyed hearing him speak, because I know he's lived what he's talking about. After lecture was lunch, then SMALL GROUPS! We finally learned where we were going for outreach (keep reading, I'll tell you how in a minute) so yesterday was our first time meeting. We went around the circle (just girls, guys were with the guy leader) and we said what we are passionate about and what our expectations are for the DTS. I enjoyed listening to the girls and learning more about some of them! I'm one of the oldest in the group, which is different for me. My leaders are all younger than me by 2 years. (I'm old.) But I'm super excited about being with these people! Ah! Then 4 of my roommates and I hitchhiked toWal-mart and back. (We got picked up by super nice women on the way there and the way back, it was great). Wal-Mart is 1.2 miles away, but I was thankful for the ride home because it started raining as we left AND we had groceries. Not fun to walk home with. Then we just hung out for the night in the room. I love my roomies. I'll do a post about them next. You'll like them too.

MONDAY. This week is Corporate DTS week. All the DTSs are meeting in Ohana court and listening to the Cunningham's and David Hamilton speak. Darlene Cunningham spoke today (Monday) and gave a history of YWAM. This mission was founded on Faith. God just keeps answering prayers and keeps providing for this organization. We read about the history of YWAM in Loren's book, but it was good to hear the actual stories from Darlene, who lived through it as well. After lecture, my school had prayer room. Two hours of prayer for others. I'm really learning to like this intercession stuff. Then we went to the Mahalo (Thank You in Hawaiian) Party for the IronMan race. It was a huge dinner for all the volunteers. Some people have been volunteering for over 20 years there. Crazy. Dedication right there. THEN we (my school) met in our classroom to find out our outreach locations!!!!AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We have little envelopes on the back wall with our pictures above the envelopes. There was a piece of paper with a part of a map in the envelope. So we had to make a complete map to figure out where we were going and who was on our outreach team. I AM GOING TO THE OC AND NYC!!!!!!!!!! Gah, I can't be more excited. I'll post about my group too. There's only 5 of us (plus 2 leaders) going to both places. We will meet up with a group of 11 that will be in NYC for the whole 12 weeks. It's gonna be awesome. So we are going to be hanging out with the NYC team all this semester preparing for outreach. I do not know what I will be doing on outreach yet. Repeat, I do not know yet. I will fill you in when I find out :) just start praying for the OC and NYC. Thanks.

OK, I'm done. I've updated you on everything.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

It Ends Tonight

Second post today because I thought the other one would be too long. I'm trying to be considerate of your time :)

Friday was good day, like all the rest of them! We spent the morning going over some reading we had done out of a small book (booklet?) called "Salvation Encounter."

I just realized I didn't do my normal read-through and change words to add emphasis on my last post. My apologies, add your own emphasis where you think necessary.

Salvation Encounter is a really small book about many different topics. We read about encountering Jesus, asking Him into your heart, what it means to be saved by grace. On Friday, we reviewed all that we had read plus went on reading in groups of 4 or 5. We read about a "Clean Breakup" - when we choose to follow Jesus completely turning away from our old life and those desires. The longer you hold on, the more painful it is to end it later down the road. We read "Clean House" - cleaning out your heart so that Jesus can fill it, giving it all to him and letting him invade your heart. After, we worked through 3 different work pages, about Forgiveness, Rejection, and Anger. That was all great to work through. I've dealt a lot with rejection, not being able to forgive people, not being able to forgive myself, and a little bit of anger. I don't really deal with anger too much, I get irritated easily, but not angry. Reading through those paragraphs and I realized I need to let go of things, people, situations so that I can fully concentrate on Jesus. I also realized that if I can't forgive people or myself, then I can't be forgiven by God. Wow, um I don't know about you, but I want God's forgiveness. If he doesn't forgive me, I go to Hell for eternity. If I don't like the heat in Texas, then I'm probably not going to like the heat in Hell. Thank you, Jesus, for your forgiveness!! Amen!

After lunch, we had 2 hours in the prayer room as a school. In my journal, I wrote 6 pages of Prayer throughout that 2 hours. I had a lot to ask for and a lot to be thankful for. The time of worship was great. Intercession is a powerful thing. I really enjoyed just being able to sing and write and read the bible for 2 hours straight.

Then I had my first work duty assignment from 4 until 6:30 that night setting up the breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Saturday. Since IronMan was Saturday, the campus had no food service because the majority of us were volunteering at IronMan. We had to set up all this food in the Ohana court, basketball court, for people go through lines and pack huge bags of food. Blah, it was slightly unorganized at first, I was super confused as to what the people in charge of set-up wanted, but then once I figured it out, I was the one kind of giving directions and making things clearer for the fellow students. The lines went well, we ran out of breakfast food :( sad day. But it was interesting. We cleaned up and then the IronMan meeting started!! Ah! Watch this video. They showed us this and it almost makes me want to do one! Almost. After the IronMan meeting, my roommates Rachael and Melissa and I went to get Frozen Yogurt. Then we walked home and we went to bed.

I got up at 2:30 am to take a shower and get ready for IronMan. My school left at 3:30 to walk down to the hotel where things we headquartered. I was assigned to checking wristbands at the Pier. I was at the bike compound where the bikes were set up for the racers to get on after they finished swimming. There was millions of dollars worth of bike equipment on that pier. Crazy. Body marking and check-in for athletes started at 4:45 am and I got to see every single athlete come to the pier. Amazing is what I have to say. The body types, 99% muscle, the ages and the different nationalities represented was so neat to see. I was at the checkpoint until my shift ended at 10 am. My forehead got burned a bit :( oops. But it was a fun experience. I didn't go back at night to see the finish line because I was so worn out. I do regret that, but who knows, maybe I'll be able to see the race next year! I came back to campus and did some laundry, ran out of quarters, so had to stop doing laundry. Then I hung out with my roommates and whatnot. Then I had a 2 hour phone conversation that was so encouraging.

This morning I had work duty in the Kitchen. I will be making oatmeal every other Sunday for the rest of the term. Exciting. And I'll be washing dishes (pots and pans) after the oatmeal is made. I have to go back for dinner setup in an hour, so I'm going to sleep for a bit before. I hope you all are enjoying the mainland!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

When I'm Covered in Rain

Have you ever just sat and listened to the rain falling? I fell asleep to rain on Thursday night AND I woke up to the sound of rain. Beautiful. I'm thankful my bed is next to the window. But I'm not happy that I picked the top bunk. I really want my bible and journal right now, but I don't want to get down. Dilemma....

I also really messed up my knee on the wonderful run I went on Tuesday afternoon. See, that's why I don't exercise, I hurt important body parts when I do. Just kidding. But really, pray that my knee fixes it self, because it's a pain to deal with. Ok, I'm done complaining.

So my parents told me to stop making them cry while they read my posts, so I can't talk about what I wanted to in this post. This is the end of it. Haha just kidding! Get your tissues out Trina and David!! Thursday morning, John (school leader) talked about the Father's love. He described his father and how everyday he told John how much he loved him, gave him a hug every day, and told him he was a great man (was going to be a great man). He spoke about how his dad was so encouraging and uplifting, just how great of a dad he was for him and his siblings. The dad he described reminded me of my own. Most of you know how great my dad is, he's really the best person I know (up there next to my mommy). He told me he loved me, was proud of me, picked up my broken pieces many times, and still wanted to be my dad after many disappointments. Does that sound like someone you know? Was your dad like that? I thought everyone's dad was like mine, but I have learned, in my 22 years, that not everyone is spoiled like I am. With a great dad, not spoiled how my brothers think I am. God's love is just like! He's proud of me, he loves me, he picks up my broken pieces every day. He has my best interest at heart, just like my daddy. He wants to protect me, just like my daddy. He disciplines me when I need it, just like my daddy does! I'm thankful my dad is a part, and active, in my life and I'm thankful he tries to be Christ-like in whatever he does. I'm also thankful that God loves me 1000 times more than my dad could ever love me. Cause that's how much God loves all of us. After break he continued talking about the Father's love, but now His intimate love for us. I'm going to have to work on this part of the relationship. How He's captivated by us. Most people say that Songs of Solomon is a book between a lover and the beloved, I totally agree, but we read SoS 4:9 "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of you necklace." and that's how God feels about us. He likes us, like a crush when you're in the 7th grade, he gets giddy when we look at him, he misses us when we aren't around, his heart flip-flops when we look at him. He loves us. Just like a man loves his wife. Ephesians 5:25-31 talks about Christ loving the church and that's how husbands should love their wives. "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word," God washes us of our sins because he loves us. He wants us to be presentable. I'll be working on that relationship while I'm here, just to let you all know. After speaking about this, John had us pray and ask God how he much he loves us and how he has been pursuing us lately. The music came on and this song was played. (this is a youtube video and the song is cut up, but you still hear what I heard.) It's a song by Rick Pino, he is a wonderful songwriter/singer, I'm thankful I know who he is now! But just imagine hearing that song while asking God how much he loves you. He loves you enough to restore your innocence AND enough to let you call him daddy. I'm thankful, are you?

Thursday night was worship for the whole campus. We will have it every Thursday night, so you'll hear more about it over the next 11 weeks. Thursday was our first time night together of the quarter. Loren Cunningham (the Founder of YWAM) spoke about listening to God and basically told the story of how this school came about. He was a great speaker and super funny. We had to read his book over the weekend, so we already knew the story of how YWAM started and how the school was started, but it was cool to hear it from him. Here's a picture of him speaking to us:

After worship we went back to the room and went to sleep. The End.

I'm thankful I'm covered in his love, it's like rain, it washes everything away :)

LOVE to you all!

Don't Stop This Train

Today I got asked if I was the PR person for In-N-Out. No, but I'm that in love with their burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes. I should look into working for In-N-Out.......

So where were we... Oh yes, BEACH DAY!! Monday was a fun day in the water, on the beach, and grilling out with the school. We had corporate worship that morning and it was great to have an hour of complete worship with the WHOLE campus. Beautiful time. The beach. I spent the day with my three other roommates, Amy, Amber, and Staci. Here's a picture of us on the beach:

I didn't get burned!! I put on sunscreen. It's a wonderful thing to not be burned after 2 hours in the sun. I think I'll start putting sunscreen on more often. :) We swam for a bit, laid out, ate lunch, then paired up and went around a HUGE circle to introduce each other to the group. We had to say our partner's name, where they were from, and a funny/crazy fact about them. It was pretty interesting to learn some things about people in our school. We have fun group of kids! Monday night was optional worship with the school. Mind blowing, basically. Its amazing to see the change already taking place in my life and in the lives of those around me.

Tuesday was technically our first day of class. We start off every morning with an hour of worship, so we picked up from where we were on Monday night and kept singing beautiful songs and praising our maker. Then we were introduced to Liturgy. I have never heard of this. Praying an organized, scripted prayer. We will do that everyday, based on this site. (click the word "site"). It is a site of prayer based on the Christian calendar and if you read the verses listed, you will be reading the whole Bible throughout the year. I have really enjoyed this form of prayer. It's different, but very rewarding. After liturgy, John (my school leader) gave his testimony and how he came to know the Lord. I think I am going to really like him and his wife as our my leaders. His has great story and one I can relate to. After break, he shared the Gospel. Starting with Adam and Eve, he basically went through stories of the Bible, old and new testament, showing us how God stepped in and sacrificed something every time someone messed up. It's so great to know that whenever we looked for a way to get to God, HE made the way for us to get to Him. We were assigned work duties and had meetings with our groups after lunch. I got Weekend Kitchen Duty, so I'll work every other weekend in the kitchen. Early mornings :) yay! We had the afternoon off so I decided to go on a run into town. It was 1.2 miles there and 1.2 miles back, so I ran and walked it. It felt good to get some exercise! Then a nice COLD shower after. Refreshing. Then we met again for some more orientation (healthy lifestyles, dating in DTS, living in community) and we took our pictures. My face was still red from running. Embarrassing. I ended the night writing thank you letters, to those who have sent financial gifts, and spending time with my roommates. I LOVE the girls I'm living with. Thank you, God, for blessing me with the opportunity to live with these girls. We have great conversations about everything. Even on clipping our toe nails (gross. gross.)

Wednesday, we don't have worship in the morning, so I had a slow morning of getting ready. Then we began class with liturgy again. John went over where we stand with God after we've accepted Jesus into our lives. We are at the Right Hand of God, in case you were wondering. Ephesians 2:19. I never knew that. We are citizens of His kingdom, He is going to rescue us whenever we need it, because we are His. Yes and Amen! Thank you!! Then the second half of the morning we talked about hearing the voice of God. Then we practiced :) A word from God on what is for your life. I heard, "You will go into the nations, you will be kind, bold, compassionate, and live with passion." Then we asked God how He sees us, I heard, "You are worthy, beautiful, and a daughter of MINE." Amen. I felt He was proud of me when I heard those words, which made me start crying. (I'm so much like my daddy) Then we got to pray, with a partner, about what God has for them. My roommate Amy and I were sitting next to each other, so we paired up together. That was good to bless someone with words from God. THEN (I'll try to think of more transition words, sorry) we got to pray about OUTREACH places. I'll tell you were I'm going when I find out :) We had community outreach tonight, so I went with the group that was supposed to play with kids and feed people. Well we got to the school and there were no kids. So we played basketball, volleyball, and a great game of kickball! I was 2nd base. I played for both teams. Awesome. Come to find out, there wasn't school today, that's why there wasn't any kids to play with! HA! Dinner was sandwiches, then I came back to my room to write thank you notes and now I'm here writing this novel for you! 2 days of learning have taken place and it's been amazing. Thank you for this opportunity to learn and grow, I'm hungry for more knowledge!!

Oh and this is how me and roommate Madison (she's in the Compassion DTS) eat a mango :) we already love each other! haha

LOVE to you ALL!! Remember, you're at the RIGHT HAND OF GOD!!

Our Love Was Comfortable

Last night's Meet and Greet went well.... Hold that thought..

CLEMSON IS RANKED #8 IN THE NATION!!!

Ok, just had to get that out incase anyone was wondering. As I was saying, the meet and greet was a good time. I enjoyed hanging out with my roommates and some other girls. I'm still feeling really shy, so it was hard for me to just go up and talk to someone. I got to speak with some staff members and play Uno for a bit with my roommates. We also had "Video Confessionals" set up in the bathrooms in the cafe, so we had to go into the bathroom and answer 3 questions. These videos will be given to us at the end of DTS so we can see how we've grown over the 6 months. The 3 questions were: Who is God to you?, What are your expectations for the next 3 months?, and Where are you now spiritually? Those were pretty tough questions, but good questions to reflect on in 3 months. I know my expectations will be surpassed and my spiritual maturity will grow, but I know who God is to me and that will never change. More describing words will be added to the list :)

Today was a beautiful day. The title of this post is "Our Love Was Comfortable" because comfortable is the word that best describes my time here in Hawai'i with the family and friends I made 6 years ago. Here is how I got to church this morning:

It was a 45 minute drive to Kohala, so Kirk Franklin was playing through my iPad the whole time and I enjoyed the sun shining on me. And here is the church I attended today. It is the church that Tom is the pastor of.

 

He gave a great sermon today about Rosh Hashanah (click on that, it's a link about what RH is) and how where you are that day is how your next year will be. On Thursday, I was checking into DTS, so I have a feeling this year will be a year of growing, learning, and serving however God wants me to. After church we went to Makapala (basically a YWAM base where I was 6 years ago) to have lunch and a surprise birthday party for Liz. I can't describe the feelings of being back in that place and with those people. Six years is too long to be away from them. Such a loving group of people and a fun group of people. The New Zealand vs. Canada rugby game had been recorded, so we watched some of that. That's an interesting sport, very entertaining to watch the strategy that takes place. We drove back to Kona, I was in the cab of the truck this time, and the Fernandez's (Tom and Becky) dropped me off at the university. I had a building meeting and then read for a bit, now I'm here. Since I'm done typing now, I'll go read some more, I'm almost done with the book! Tomorrow is a beach day for our school!!! PARTY!!! I'll try to hide my dislike of sand while I'm ON the beach.....

love love love. be comfortable :)

How Sweet the Sound

So yesterday, Friday, was orientation day. An amazing day, to say the least.

We started off with the protocol, for the Hawaiian's to invite us in to their land. If you have never heard the Hawaiian language, go try to find it on youtube or somewhere. It's gorgeous. Especially when sung (sang?) or chanted. That's when my guac was given to the staff members of Island Breeze who did the protocol for us. (Mom, Becky said everyone loved it and that you have to continue the tradition when you come) At the University they run a preschool and those kids sang a prayer for us in Hawaiian, it was beautiful! Then we had all the different nations stand up so a person could be selected to carry their flag at a ceremony later last night. I'm truly at the University of the Nations. There are 43 different nationalities represented here on campus. Amazing. After protocol we split up into our schools and went to our classrooms, where we'll be meeting everyday for the next 3 months. My Community Transformation school is staffed by amazing people. The leaders of the school introduced themselves and each staff member introduced themselves. The leaders, John & Jenni and Steve & Diane, then went down the line of staff members and affirmed them (gave compliments and told us a little bit about them and the gifts God has given them). Steve then prayed for the school and we ended with singing "Amazing Grace." Ummmm WOW is really all I can say about that. 104 voices lifted but all you could hear was a beautiful melody. Then we broke for lunch....

We came back to the ComTrans room after lunch to have more orientation. John started off by saying, "Well apparently, the requirements to be in this school are to have amazing voices and look ridiculously good looking and you guys all meet those. Great job." Guess we'll be doing a lot of singing together :) I don't mind! John and Jenni went through campus "rules" and guidelines. Then we received our schedule for the 3 months. Meow. I won't be able to see straight for a while. We will be reading 3 chapters a day from the book of John so that we read it 6 times, then we will be reading 4 chapters a day from the book of Acts so that we read it 6 times, as well. We have to read Is That Really You, God? by Loren Cunningham by Monday night, so I've been busy reading that today. Its great so far! And we will read 2 other books by the end of the lecture phase. It's gonna go by fast!! We are volunteering for the Ironman race at the starting line next Saturday. Let me say that again. Volunteering at the starting line. Our shift is from 4 am to 10 am. (Don't worry, I haven't really told anyone expect my roommates that I'm not a morning person). But seriously, I'm super excited about seeing that race and the athletes that are participating in it. Its gonna be fun!! After orientation we had a short break until dinner, which was traditional Hawaiian food (yum, basically) then at 6 we had a worship service that introduced all the countries (one person ran down the isle with a flag from their county, very fun) then we had a time of singing. I was worn out after that. Such great songs to sing and so much fun worshiping freely, because we are free in Him. This quarter is a bilingual quarter because there are 2 Korean schools going on on campus. So there was a girl on stage who got to sing some of the songs in Korean, that was very cool to hear. Worship in every language is worship. I'm happy to be apart of such a diverse group of students and staff, just wish I was from a cool country. haha I'm kidding. I like being an American.

We got back to our rooms and the 7 other girls I live with decided to make a chore list so our room stays clean. Then we went through the room with prayer requests and everyone prayed. Its the 2nd night and we're already praying together and praying for each other.. what??? I was blown away. These girls are going to be fun :)

Today has been a day of reading and internet. I tried to watch the Clemson game, but no luck :( thank you to Allan for keeping me updated :) I'm gonna miss not watching football! Weird? I don't think so. I got to speak to Preston, Allan, Adrianne, Uncle Steve, and Kelly this morning after breakfast. Couldn't have asked for a better way to start my day! I love my family and hearing their voices. Tonight we have a ComTrans Meet and Greet at the campus cafe. Tomorrow I will be going to church with Tom and Becky! Yay!!

As promised, here is a picture of my corner in the room :) Sorry this post was so long! You guys know I talk a lot, so I guess you're used to lengthy conversations.

Love to you ALL!