Opportunities

A lot has passed but it's so good to look at what God has given me.

Mexico Outreach over Easter break was amazing. In fact it was quite confirming in what I want I am passionate about. I was wondering if going on the Mexico trip would take me out of my comfort zone but in fact I was put into a comfortable place.

My job on the Mexico Outreach trip was to be on Team Barnabas, the encouragement and prayer team. A lot of it was hanging out with the high schoolers and finding out about them. There was even a church that I grew close to. St. Francis was definitely the most outgoing group but also I could see their great community. Each person seemed to want to grow in Christ and their leaders seemed just great. The Barnabas crew is even meeting up with two people from that church next week, I'm so excited.

Next thing is being an Alpha Leader. We already had one meeting and it looks like it is going to be a fun time together. I'm really excited for the retreat we're having this weekend. The biggest thing I'm excited for is the training in the Summer because we'll share our life stories and grow together. I can't wait to have a small group.


Things on my plate:

Summer job at Ojai Valley, Forest Home
Discipleship Group Leader?
Volunteer in the Pomona First Baptist Youth.

I'm so excited.

Summer Plans

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I should be doing this summer.

Last year I really enjoyed doing Day Camp but I think that ship has sailed. It seems it's going to be a very different program.

This year summer begins early,a whole month earlier actually. The first month will be spent in Hawaii though, which will be an amazing experience.

When I get back May 25th, what am I supposed to do?

I interviewed for Hume Lake but it seems like a lot of time commitment, a lot of regulations for not a lot of money. I know that it would be for the experience, yet I don't feel called to go.

I might want to do some volunteering for a youth group. Since I am thinking about going into it (and taking an Intro to Youth class in the fall), I would love to get some experience. Yet I don't feel like South Hills is the place for me to be.

The doors will open, I'm trusting.


Also, I'm building up walls, and I need to break them down.

29 days. 1 outfit.

It was decided late into January that we would try an experiment for an entire month. The whole month of February was spent wearing one outfit. It was to experience what many people in countries have and also a lesson in simplicity. Even though we did have exceptions because sometimes clothes are demanded for certain things, I learned a few things while going through the experiment.


1) The hardest part (which in reality wasn't that hard) was putting on the dirty clothes right after a shower. It just felt gross to be putting on something that I have been wearing for a week (I did laundry pretty much every 7 days).

2) Change in weather really sucked. I wore jeans in my outfit because it was very cold. When it was very sunny though, it was annoying not to be able to put on shorts. I think of the fact that changing into various things is quite the luxury.

3) People don't really notice. I now bring up the fact that I had been wearing the same outfit for an entire month and people are flabbergasted. The only people who noticed were either doing the experiment as well or were told. It's interesting to see that not that many people notice what you wear. This is different than a high school setting but still I would expect some people to notice.

4) I look in my closet and notice that I don't need all the clothes I have. Very soon the closet is going to be cleaned out.