¿Ayunda marra?

Ha... so tony is translating for us now ' a pastor here at La fuente... SOOO funny... I was playing hack with some girls who didn´t get it... so I asked him how to say "with your feet"... I said it, and they looked at me really funny.... he comes up to me laughing so hard and says, it´s actually "Con pieds" and I had told them to do it with farts!!!!! MEN!!!! So I hardly trust him now when I ask him how to say things!!! oh well.
Last night at church was one of the most amazing experiences ever! Worshipping God in Spanish ' all the young people go up front and "mosh" and it really was so great. The church here uses a lot of hillsong (a church in Australia that does a lot of sweet music) translated into Spanish... what an AMAZING experience!
My translator was Javier - a spanish american - he did a great job and wins the award for best translator I´ve ever had (and I´ve had a few...). I really was praying that I would hear from God ' just b-c I´m doing a "mission" doesn´t make me automatically close to God... As the sermon went on, it was about finishing what we start and also having patience, but doing our best to pursue what we´ve begun... I felt so strongly that I needed to listen to that and went up to pray - i wanted so badly for someone to come and pray with me, and just as I was about to get up, a woman from the church came and prayed with me and talked with me and it was so amazing. I still don´t totatly know what God´s up to in my life these days... But I know that I just need to wait and seek Him ' it is in relationship with Him that I have a reason to drag my butt out of bed. I hope you all get a chance to come down to Mexico and stand in this church with them as they Sing sometime ' it is the most amazing experience ever.
ONe of the men bought me two mangoes yesterday and they were SOOOOOO Good!!! I also ate some great ice cream, as well as got sufficiently burned! Í´ve been learning more Spanish and think I might try to get fluent! Our days start at 8:00 for team meeting, ministry at 9:30, lunch at 1:30, siesta, more ministry at 4:00 and Supper at 7:30 pm... we do a lot of item distribution and games and I am SO glad I bought a digital camera before we left!
So all of that said... pray for me that I will listen to God´s voice while I´m here. Last night I chose to submit everything... even my plans for Crow next year... I don´t know... maybe Í´ll end up in Mexico... that would be crazy!
Blessings you guys! Ayunda Marra is like saying ¨what´s up girlfriend! Good phrase eh?

Tango Ambre

Wow, so here I am in Mexico!
Unbelievable ' in high school, I totally didn´t even consider learning Spanish because I, in my infinite wisdom, KNEW I wouldn´t be going to a Spanish speaking place ever! HA! Guess God showed me!
So i´ve been eating incredible food and soaking in the scenery here and slowly learning Spanish ' I´ve made some pretty funny bloopers already and I´m looking forward to making some more. Yesterday was orientation-practice and a hike (AMAZING!) and we prayed over Tepic... today we´ve done one program already and I´m about to head out for lunch ' this afternoon we have another program and yeah... It´s so awesome. I´m blessed beyond belief and so excited about God and more in love with Him than ever before... Imagine One so amazing that the moment we turn our eyes back to Him (no matter how unfaithful we are), He accepts us!
So I think I´ll come back here...
They´ve been joking about finding me a nice Mexican husband b-c yesterday I was trying tolearn how to say ¨´I´m hungry´and ended up mixing it up to say "I want a man"!!!! SKETCHY!!! Ah well. WE have a translator named Huio who is absolutely awesome, we´ve had such a great time with him and his wife!!! They´ve been teaching me some great Spanish and he´s been driving insanely, but it´s been great!
And to Matt and Scott who strung my guitar for me so many times... my e string broke on the plane, and so I had to learn to do it myself the first night home... after putting a hole in the back of it andmuch blood, sweat and tears, I finally asked the pastor here to help me out and he finished what I couldn´t do... maybe next time I¨ll do a better job!
Rock on everyone!

Intertwined

At first, I wanted to make my blog something generic that anyone could read without necessarily being offended - you know, "no religion" - just thoughts. Stupid eh? The more I tried to express my thoughts with God as a third person, the tougher it got - that question I just asked is one that came as a result. God is the source of my being. He is my purpose for life, I can't separate Him from my thoughts or who I am or what I'm learning because there's no point in any of it apart from Him giving it to me.
The reason my blog is titled Forgiven is this: I am forgiven to the utmost because everything I have ever done wrong was paid for. I still have the consequences in my life, but I will ever live to bring gratitude to my God. To the only God.
In our world of open options, tolerance, and shades of Truth, I can't pretend that real relationship with God is an intuitive friendship that involves time spent, communication, and honesty. Without them, my life would be bleak. And so my blogs will be completely intertwined with spiritual things - the essence of who I am, not in a creepy spiritist way, but just in a reality of purpose, and joy, and life that brings light to my existance.

How Has God's Glory Changed Your Life?

Just Wait...

it's funny how things change with time. not like i'm old or anything but i've been thinking/remembering... remembering this time where i gave what i thought was all my love. i was so two-dimensional.
i was sure i had given all i had emotionally and mentally, that i had shared all my dreams and that my heart was lost forever when it didn't turn out how i planned. i remember so many poles of extreme emotions - funny how I was willing to tell myself lies b/c anger and pain were easier to deal with than lonliness and hurt.
in hindsight, maybe i did give all i had and maybe God has just given me more - and I say God because it's true, he's the one i turned to in my hurt and begged him to heal me and make me whole again - but i think too, that love is so much more.
it's a choice. an emotion, sure, but also a commitment. it's not a one-dimensional stamp thing... it's something that over time gets better and better... i think that a couple who's been married 50 years can easily be so much more in love than people who have only known each other for 1 or 2. the kind of love that selflessly sacrifices everything to see another suceed no matter what they've done to the giver is really intense and something that i think must start over a long time... turns my mind to God and how He had forever to love me, and yet, he also IS the embodiment of love. try to wrap THAT in a burrito.
as i get older (and hopefully more mature) i'm realizing that there's a lot more to life, to my dreams and goals, to who i am and to God than i ever thought possible two years ago. makes me wonder what i'll think and see five years from now. it also makes me want to hang out with people 20 and 50 years older than me.

so the point of all of that could be one of many... I think for me what it comes down to is that most things are worth waiting for and that all I think is so urgent now will come to pass when the time is so amazing that I can't help but cry.


(by the way, that guy is now married to one of my good friends and i just have to sit back and laugh when i think of it all. i'm amazed and so glad for them and content with what God's done...)

why?

all these thoughts asault my mind and i thought - why not write them. in a place where people might read them or might not. it might save on me trying to e-mail everyone... or maybe it's just my way of conforming. hey, maybe it'll be fun. creative expression or something like that.