puddle jumpers

last night it rained. not the normal rain where it sprinkles for about 20 minutes, and the pavement is wet for only about an hour afterward. i mean, "its coming down out there," we could hear it on the windows, rain.
Kinsley loves the rain, and she always talks about playing in it... but this winter it has been all talk and no rain. i had homework as usual, and i was diligently doing it in tot's room last night (eh semi diligently-- we had some visitors) but kinsley came running over and just asked if i was ready. so i hopped off the bed and changed into sweats, no questions asked.
o we puddle jumped i tell you. it got in my mouth. yeah that was a bit gross, but so fun. we laid on the pavement, closed our eyes and got officially soaked for about 10 mintues before we went back to our rooms and kept on with the work. it was a nice little break though.

FO PAR

i am not sure that i have let you all in on the fact that i am going to be a FOCUS leader next year. basically i get paid very little to teach one of the freshman orientation classes during fall semester. alot more is involved, which actually makes the job very worth while, as Focus leaders run freshman orientation, and they basically get to make sure new students get comfortable and acquainted with school.
the team is such a great group of people, and tonight was the night where we found out who our focus partners are going to be for next year. everyone is given a partner and the partners will be given a group of students to pray for, care for and teach next year. some people have all girl groups (our ratio pretty much sucks) and some have a mix (all depending on whether you get a girl partner or a boy)... my "fo par" is mr. daniel reyes. really neat guy, and if i had to describe him, one of the first words that comes to mind is "bro." (this term is used commonly in cali, but i may have to have a post dedicated to educating you on the terms/ styles of "bros" and their "hoes"). however, he is a really cool (definately does not act like a bro), and i think it will be a great experience.
over all, finding out your partner is about a two hour ordeal, since we have been getting clues for a week and they send us all over tricking us about who the person really is.
but speaking of long ordeals, i have a paper to work on, and it is definately approaching 3:00. lame.

tee shirts and tan lines

lauren (pokey), naomi, lauren (tot).

this weekend, i had a fabulous visitor, but the weather could not really be described as such. it was cloudy and it rained more than one time! it was pretty chilly (some might even say "freezing" as i think the temperature dropped below 50 at one point)...so much for the getting the "california experience."

most people here were in full complaint mode because "winter" has been here for around 2 months, and they have had enough. i was completely prepared for about one more week maybe. but wait no longer! the weather has been beautiful for the past two days. and so has our view. the snow from the cold weekend covered the mountains, but here, it was all sun and palm trees. yesterday i irresponsibly sat on the quad for an hour before work, basking in the rays and chatting with friends. i consequently lost some sleep last night and gained some freckles and a tan line, but it was completely worth it! we even ate dinner on the patio tonight, wearing only a light sweater.

take my hand

this should have been posted last night, but surprise, surprise, i got distracted and never finished...

mr shawn mcdonald lead worship at harvest tonight. harvest is a really large church down the street that has six services and its own bookstore. it is not exactly the church i attend regularly, but i was definately in a pew tonight. he ended with the song "take my hand," which is one of my personal favorites. love his voice and the cello.

though he was pretty good, this was not even the highlight of my weekend. the soon to be mrs. naomi few out for a short visit. it was not really planned, and neither were many of the other things that we did, but it was fabulous to spend time with her, chat over coffee and just have her experience this second life that i live. she left at an ungodly hour this morning (i was awake to see that it is actually light outside and 5:40 in the morning!) it was so worth it though. i love her bunches!

hope everyone is enjoying the snow in utah; appreciate it for me please

when she smiles...

erika truly is a great friend when she smiles... usually we both are grinning, as we make each other laugh until, say, i spit water out all over my desk (hey, its been known to happen).
however, i just got a stern talking to about how she is not too pleased with the fact that the same post has been up for days. she definately wasnt smiling. it probably would not have made her any more pleased had i asked her if i could take a picture of her face to show you all, but no fear! i have many pictures of her serious face. she does it all the time when i try to take a nice, smily, sunday afternoon picnic in the park sort of picture. i smile and she just looks terribly annoyed that i would even consider capturing the moment.
prime example of what i just encountered...

the cooks...

last night kinsley, janelle, and i made dinner for a bunch of friends. we all have different friends, so it was kind of a random mix of people, but it was fun, delicious, and super hot between the stove, oven, and apt. full of like 20 people.
the menu: 7 layer dip, salsa and cream cheese with chips, homemade enchiladas and tacos, with cookies and ice cream to top it off.
everything went smoothly for the most part, till we started getting a little lazy at the end. kins and i kept dropping things on the ground and counter... okay mostly i kept dropping things... but the winner had to have been when i got impatient with a bag of cake mix that would not open. i pulled a bit too hard and it went all over. but you know what? what can you do? take a picture and move on is what i say...
so here is the evidence











kins and me, a bit rosy after slaving in the kitchen, he he














tot (also know as lauren) giving me a little love







i would like to mention that we did miss a few members of apt 9 who were not able to make it (eh hem, robin, ash and ruth) but a lot of food, lot of people, lot of music, and a little dance party were some pretty nice ways to fill the evening.

panic buddies

should i panic while overseas, these are the people that will have to deal with me...
we are all very different, but it has been extremely fun getting to know one another (as most of us were introduced for the first time when we found out we would be living together for three weeks). from left to right: erika, ben, alisha, me, john, christie, and brett.

the nerves

did you know that if you hold a scorpion in your hand it can't sting you? well excuse my language, but how the hell would i get one in my hand in order to protect myself from getting stung?

this is the question i was asking myself on saturday, as i was sitting in a room trying to keep my eyes open. the man speaking made that a bit easier when he passed out a sheet of health risks that we might face when in Africa. like i said, the weekend was fabulous, and while i was definately reminded how unworthy and unnecessary i am for the Lord's ministry, i was also blessed to see that he is still choosing to use and humble me. the weekend was not making me scared, it was just making me more realistic about how tiring and challenging living in Rwanda for three weeks could be. its just three weeks though right? well thats what i thought until a man who has lived in Africa before came and handed out that stupid sheet. the nerves started kicking in, and i realized that for basically the month of May i will be covered in deet and sunscreen at all times while wearing some attractive skirts and tennis shoes. okay, not so bad i guess, but let me also clue you in on a few of the possible aspects of the culture that could be more uncomfortable:

- the aids rate is very high in Rwanda. Avoid contact with all body fluids.

- hepatitis can infect from dry, cold blood.

- mosquito nets must stay tucked under your mattress at all locations, no holes!

- mosquitos can give you Dengue Fever.

- Jiggers live in the dust on the ground and on the floor.

- fly bites can leave you with a worm growing under your skin.

- crushing insects may leave you with nasty burns. (apparently second degree burns are possible due to the poison that is in the bugs)

- get in the habit of emptying your shoes before you slide your feet into them. (this is about the time that he started talking about scorpions, and about that same time poor Christie had to deal with my panic face and faster breathing)

- this one is a kicker... millipedes, centipedes and caterpillars often have toxic poison in their feet and hair, you can see where they walked on you and you will itch where touched... apparently they crawl into clothes etc and then, naturally, have to crawl on you to get out if you put the clothes on...

- learn how to take a bath in a bucket of hot water

- and just in case we didnt know, we must leave snakes and spiders alone.

this is not even the entire list folks! umm, excuse me, how are people in other countries still even living?
i just have to keep reminding myself (and mom please start doing this as well, as im sure you have the symptoms for panic face and heavy breathing as well right now)

these are possibilities but the probabilities are another issue.

back from Ispland

so the font that i have but cant change makes my title look like it should read "lisp-land" but really it is "isp"-land...

We had a big training weekend for our International Service Project trip (ISP). We couldn't bring cell phones, we had to basically be able to carry what we packed, and when we arrived at our meeting point on friday evening, we were walking into the unknown. after all, how many of you have been to ispland? yeah, we went in blind.

ok maybe blind is not appropriate, but mute is. our first instructions were to go to the James building on campus, but we were told that we were no longer able to verbally communicate with our team. we had to go through customs etc, but total it took us 2 hours to get to the fourth floor, as we kept getting stopped or seperate or taken to rooms and interrogated etc. though it was extreme, they were trying to show us some of the things that could happen to us while traveling.
once on the fourth floor, we put our stuff on the floor. these were our sleeping quarters. the word sleep is being used loosely, as the only thing that seperated my hip bones from the cement base was a thin layer of hard, ugly, carpet and my sleeping bag. the first night was worse than the second because by saturday night i was dead tired.

and believe me, tired is also used losely becasue i was drained emotionally, physically, and mentally by sunday. i didnt think it would be bad at all, but we were definately challenged in alot of ways.

we did a ton of things but ill just brief you on a couple of them. we had to barter for food, we visited a nursing home that had people who were just old and could not walk, along with people who could do nothing but lay in bed with their mouths open and move their eyes back and forth. we watched movies about Rwanda, we ate food that i had never tried before, we prayer walked, we had underground churches, and we learned alot about the Islamic religion and culture (learned about and simiulated, which was alot more intense than i can even describe).

overall it was really humbling. that is the best word for it all. each session or activity taught me different things, but i think that was the feeling that made me a bit teary during our last meeting together as Kristen gave us time to pray. i had many more emotions and thoughts that i can share later, but most of them are not that important in the grand scheme of things.

sorry that this is just alot of general descriptions and alot of words, combined with absolutely no visual aids, but we were banned from having anything with an "on" switch, which unfortunately meant the camera was out...