Oh. Well. Following newspaper style, I'll put the most important information in the first paragraph so that it won't get lost further down when people stop reading or the editor trims it to fit the space. I got a one-way ticket to Mexico City; I'm leaving next Tuesday. Anyway, my trip was fantastico. I won't give you a blow-by-blow, but a big highlight was definitely our trip to Merced. My friend, Sharon, is working and living in Yosemite, which is two hours away from anything. She wanted to do some shopping and we both wanted to go out, so we left after some hiking and rock climbing for the thriving metropolis of Merced (yes, that is sarcasm). It was an amazing night; we ate four times, not counting the 100 Grands we got at Wal-Mart. We were both excited to find both a Sonic and an In-n-Out in Merced, so we ate at both. We had decided to forgo our original Mexican food plans to go to the other places so we stopped by a little Mexican place for flan afterwards. The guy who got our flan told us about a party at his house after work, and then told us about the band thats coming there after the show they were playing. We decided to hit the show and see what the Merced scene's about; BAD BAD BAD. We actually stood there with looks of horror on our face, then looked at our watches and said "Sonic closes at 10, if we leave now we can make it there in time to use the 99 cent mozzerella stick coupon we got earlier." Yes, Destrukto Bunny and Project One, you lost out to mozzerella sticks. Also, my first night at Yosemite, no less than ten Colombians were in our tent cabin. Two of them are Sharon's roommates, but as the night progressed, more just kept coming in. I couldn't believe it after a while. I was laying on the floor in the corner, because we were just about to go to bed when the first wave arrived. This cute Colombian boy named Arturo (rowr) flirted with me and touched my guitar case a lot. hehe. Good to know I can draw 'em even with dirty hair and no makeup, wearing a sleeping bag. Oh and yesterday, my church commissioned me. It was really incredible. They laid hands on me, anointed me with oil, etc. But the crazy part was when the pastor had me sit in a chair at the front and opened the mic up for people to come and "speak life" over me, affirming and encouraging me and stuff. I couldn't even believe it, I was so surprised at so many points . . . the first person to come up was this woman who is the mother of two of the kids in the youth group I led until last week. We were always kind of wary of each other; I guess it was a lot of me being afraid that she'd pull out her ultra-conservativeness and get mad at me. She was the first one to come up . . . then she cried and hugged me, thanked me for what I've given to her children, prayed for me, and told me she'd miss me! And another lady came back up and told me that my "warmth" when she comes was one of the big things that's kept her coming back. It was so amazing to hear that the things I do actually impact people. Nearly everyone in church came up. By the time it was over, the pastor just dismissed church without giving a message. I think he had a feeling that would happen anyway. Also, they took an offering that raised $4000 for my trip. That. Is. A. Miracle. Our church is small. When I went to Russia, I did about 7 months of fundraisers and support letters to distant relatives to raise the $3600 I needed. $4000 in one offering is just beyond my cognitive abilities. I should have at least some internet access while I'm down there. If anyone is interested in posting my email updates here for me, that would be really cool. Otherwise, I'll just hope this is still here when I get back. Peace. : ) |