Reflection Time...

It's Good Friday. So many people wonder why it has the word good in it. I use to but I've come to decide for myself that no matter where the name truly came from or who decided to call it that, it is truly good. It should honestly be called "the greatest Friday EVER!" because the GREATEST person to ever walk the earth made the GREATEST sacrifice so we could have the GREATEST and most glorious eternity! That's my theory and I'm sticking to it! So no matter how hard today will be in seeing Jesus' suffering I know that He only had to die once.
       This is also a time of reflection for me on the past 2.5 months of living here to glorify His name. It's hard to believe that I will be coming home so soon. I just pray that I can bring some of what I learned here home. (hopefully not the super aggressive driving part!) I remember looking at my book from my small group at the beginning of this trip and thinking "wow, I have SO much time left!" and now I have only a few pages. It will be hard but I have the opportunity to come back this summer for about 5 weeks for summer camp. It wouldn't be a huge sacrifice but I know that I have to allow God to guide my choices. I'm excited to come home and I know this will not be the first and last time I will have been here!

"It's the Beginning of the END!!!" -Hannah

Indeed it is. As of this Monday I will no longer have a roommate :( Hannah is having severe back problems and she is going home . THIS WASN'T SUPPOSE TO HAPPEN HANNAH MARY! You were suppose to be the one here by yourself missing me, my how the tables have turned. Also, the two Bahamian workers also left so now it's just me and Ryan (who is leaving today for a week) so literally no one my age will be here with me. Hannah told me another Bahamian worker got hired and starts Monday so I wont be totally lonely! Since last time I wrote I've had a pretty busy full few days.
         In about 15 minutes I'm going on my way over to the centre to do another party (what we do at these parties is basically oversee everything and help out with what they need) I always love to help with the decorations! These Bahamians throw HUGE parties! The first party we helped out with was for a 1st Birthday and they had the works! It was Toy Story themed and it was well over $2000 I'm sure! Last Saturday I worked a birthday party and both Ryan and I got paid $20 each! (this is the first time I've been paid in over 2 months!) That night we saw the movie Source Code, it was pretty good. I cried, but that's me! It's suppose to be an action movie and I cried. It was a good cry though!
         We've been doing a lot of preparing for Easter Monday Funday (which is a fund raiser for the ALC since it's all non-profit) So the Monday after Easter we open and it's sort of a mini carnival and I'm in charge of over seeing the carnival games (and seeing if they are too easy) so I guess you can consider me a carny! Creepy...
         2 days ago I rode a horse and we galloped and it was awesome! (sore from that) and then yesterday I jumped off a cliff that was 35ft I'm proud of myself for doing it but I don't think I'll ever jump off another one that high again! I have the bruises to show for it! (I didn't land right) but all I'm still absolutely loving it here! But I think I'm more ok with coming home now! Love you all!

Well put...

Trusting God completely means having faith that He knows what is best for YOUR life.
                                    -Purpose Driven Life

It's been a while...

Sorry everyone, I knew I was going to be bad at updating this! But my mom did inform me that a lot of people read this! Which is very surprising on my part, now I feel like I'm going to need to write these more proper... which isn't going to happen anyways. BUT I thought about it! I keep reading on facebook about so many of my friends and their lives. It's amazing! I have friends having babies, getting married and getting jobs! It is all so wonderful and such a blessing! I'm also so very blessed to know that people truly do miss me! (which is awesome!) I do get down sometimes but I just need to remember that God is enough. Always has been, always will be. I've only got a month and 3 days left. So scary but if my season is truly suppose to end it will and I can't change that. I know in my heart that I will return here and maybe when I get older I'll be able to send someone down here just like Stacie sent me! and I wouldn't change that at all! I hope everyone is doing well and if anyone needs prayers please email me. I might not get them right away because my email is stupid but I will!

Well, I have been doing minor wedding planning and I've realized it's waaaay more stressful when it's your own wedding! But it's ok. I am so thankful my mom and my friends are all wanting to help me out it's such a comfort to know I have so many people supporting me! we pretty much decided on a date but we're still not 100% since I'm down here it's really hard to get everything figured out but being a Wedding Planner at heart I have a general idea of how I want things. Also, attention to anyone who knows how to use theknot.com PLEASE let me know how to make my knot website and stuff visible to my friends. I'm so lost! Jesse and I decided when I come back home we'll go register at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond! If there is anywhere better to register you can all let me know about that too! :) If you'd like to know YES I'M SOOOO EXCITED TO GET MARRIED!

The money has actually gotten really tight for me down here but God willing I can get a little more support. I'm still so thankful for everyone who has helped me out down here! I wouldn't be here without all your help!!! I Just hope God will move in a big way in my life down here, I've been reading "Lies Women Believe and Truths that set Them Free" and it's so eye opening and a lot of times VERY overwhelming! I look at every lie and think "wow, I've believed all of these lies at least once!" Like I say in every post please keep praying for me... I know we all need work but anyone that knows me knows how hard I am on myself. But I know God is good and in His time will do what He thinks is best. Thanks to everyone who reads this and is praying for me!

I'm engaged, 21 and I'm tan...

Jesse came to visit me from 3/24-3/29 and it was absolutely amazing to get to show him this wonderful place and of course he approved and everyone loved him. I'm sure almost everyone knows but I'M ENGAGED! He proposed at a restaurant called Poop Deck not the greatest name but it's not about the name it's about who I'm with :)  3/27/11, Greatest birthday present ever! so now I actually have a reason to plan a wedding. and no, we don't have an exact day set. but I am so happy :) and on my birthday Hannah was a good sport and took some pictures for  us and they'll be on facebook soon! I'm so blessed and I never want to take that for granted! Thank you everyone for the prayers and support you've all given me! I'm so sorry I'm not better about updating this blog!

He Has Finally Arrived!

JESSE'S HERE!!! Ahh! I feel like I don't even remember who he is! (but I do of course!) And I'm so happy he's down here! Everyone loves him and now he's getting to share in this new love I've found! He also brought down tons of goodies from my mom, Allie, Grandmas, Suzie&Bob and the Pyes! It's like Christmas when I get new stuff brought to me! It always reminds me of home :) I'm so blessed that he's here and I and just so thrilled that he is getting to see when I'm doing and what I love! I want to make it a goal of mine to have the ALC be one of my life passions! I just love it so much here! I really want to shine Gods light here for all the world to see! I want to do it for God and not for me. That is the prayer request of the day. I want this life to be lived for The Lord! I would never leave here if money wasn't an issue. But, God willing this will NOT be my only visit here! I love it too much to make it a one or even two time thing! Thank you everyone for all your prayers and love flowing my way! You all mean so much to me and don't worry, I really do miss all of you! :)

Video blog fail!!!

I tried uploading a video but it didn't work. I just think it's my computer. I just got out of church and it was good but they just really know how to draw stuff out down here. YIKES!!! I'm getting ready to feed the animals (it is our job on Sundays to feed all the animals in the farm) I always enjoy it just because you get to be so close to them unlike during classes where you just look at them in the cages. But anyways I just wanted to update a little so everyone could see that I'm still down here! I also could use some prayers for being a bold christian. It's not hard to be bold down here (everyone is) but it's hard to shine for Christ and sometimes i just get really down on myself wondering if I'm even working for him. But I need to have faith, and have hope in God, that's a good start... right?

on 3/17/09...

I met one of the most important people in my life and I wouldn't be where I was today without him...

 Jesse Tober: {jeh-see toe-bur} proper noun 

My boyfriend, the love of my life, my partner in crime, my comedian, my punching bag, the ears that hear me, the arms that hold me, the one who gets me, the one who loves me, Goldy, strong, dedicated, loving, smart, hilarious and down right wonderful!

I couldn't imagine my life without him! God blessed me to such an extent with this man and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world! So even though it's not exactly 2 years on the button I felt this was necessary to share this! Happy (almost) anniversary baby! You're the greatest thing that has ever happened to me! Thanks for being you, I never want you to change! I can't wait to see you in 12 days :) (btw our anniversary is exactly a week until I see you!!!)

sometimes your heart just needs to hurt.

I'VE BEEN HERE A MONTH! That's sooo scary! It's going too fast! I wish I could live here. I still feel it's for the wrong reasons sometimes but I know something has to give. yesterday we went to All Saints (AIDs camp) its was an amazing experience. I instantly had a little girl attached to my side (Sasha) and we were buddies the whole time.It really hit me being there more like "wow I'm SO selfish" there is a woman there named Ms. Moxie and she is so sick but she's still so happy and full of God's love. I'm jealous that's how awesome she is. and it just makes you think of how much we have and what complainers we are. Tomorrow is a new day though so we can always get better. Having Judson here has been amazing. it hasn't been quite so lonely and they are all so wonderful! we're going to have a bonfire again (third night in a row) it's so wonderful! I finally got to experience the WHOLE planetarium experience tonight. It's so hard to believe people could actually not believe in God, like at all. I mean look at all this around us! Everyday I'm still so thankful having Hannah here with me :) (hope she can say the same!) just keep praying for me please and of course I'm always thinking about you too! :)

I really have to get better about updating this thing...

This week has been pretty easy. We trained yesterday for 4th grade, we'll see how that goes because we had to walk through the forest and learn about different types of trees. For anyone that knows me, I'm not a plant person. I don't know types of plants unless it's super obvious, but, I'm trying.We're almost done painting the goats pen and I'll admit it does look better. The only reason it looks a lot better is because I'm really random when i paint things so you can see for a distance where I've painted and here I haven't. But that's the ONLY reason I'm saying it looks better. Because I'm stubborn. It's okay though. It is kind of relaxing aside from always wondering if I'm going to be getting a billion more flea bites. 

Also this week I've come to the conclusion that little creatures love to come to our house, and two out of three have died... we had Ernie (I guess we brought him here) and a little lizard died on our front stoop. Kind of sad because he looked so cute and just looked like he was sleeping and now it's this freaking solider crab (who I have named Oscar) that is  determined to get into the house. I trip over him every time I walk out the door. I mean I'd feed him if I knew what he ate! Anyways, I was reading my devotional (given to me by the amazing and beautiful Kate Beeman) and came across my favorite Bible story yet! Acts 16:25-34 about Paul and Silas in prison and the guard about to kill him self and then he was saved. It's so powerful! I think I got more out of that then I did the devotional itself. (and for me that's good!)By the way sorry my last entry seemed super depressing. I'm doing a lot better now thanks to all the prayers!

  Last night I finally tried conch salad mostly so everyone would get off my back about trying it! And it tasted just like I thought it would... HORRIBLE!! If anyone doesn't know what that is, it's conch (obviously) cut in tiny pieces with tomato, cucumber, possibly celery, raw onion (which I don't like),  raw green peppers (which I like less), and a little but of red pepper (which I HATE!) and (there is no lettuce which always bothers me... don't call it a salad if there isn't lettuce!) and it was all brought together in harmony with waaay too much lime juice... NOT! Pardon my dramatic side but I think a little part of me died after I ate that nastiness. I won't even begin to tell you how bad my breath was. I've washed my hands about six times and showered and my hands still smell like onion! I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH THE ONION!!! While I watched the guy as he was making it, I was saying to myself "Ya, I'm not going to like this." But that's my rant on Conch Salad.  My first and last time ever eating it!

 Stacie comes back today! YAY! she's bringing her Judson group and that hopefully means that I'll get to go to All Saints (AIDs camp) I've been wanting to go for since I got here! She's also bringing me care packages from my mom and Jesse! And I'm going to be a Blondie again! I'm so excited! Seriously, that was the last time I'm going brunette! And they did a study, blondes DO have more fun! ;) Also on that topic, with words like blonde I'm still never sure of how to spell it! Spell check is telling me I'm wrong. PSSH! 

My birthday is in less than a month and honestly before I came here I had a countdown going but I really don't care anymore. only two things I care about are 1. Jesse is going to be here and 2. I'll be able to legally drive. (yes they changed it again to where I have to actually be 21 again. Oh and I don't think I wrote about this yet but, last weekend when Hannah and I had the truck (which I am now changing it's name to Meanie) we were coming  back from Flipper beach and the breaks went out. (of course this would happen it's us driving) I literally said on the way to the beach "Wow these breaks are really good!" yea... funny. But we got home safe and it wasn't our fault so that's all that matters. It was just a belt (everything gets really rusty and corroded because of the salt and whatnot which I knew and was very proud of myself) Being Mr. Fix-it Tom had it up and running on Monday.

So, today Hannah, Ryan and I are working a birthday party that is taking place at the centre. We basically are just babysitting. So we don't have to do much! But I think I wrote more than enough for now! I'm glad people actually read this because I'd  be feeling like this is a total waste of time! Love and miss you all!

Something has got to give...

This week has been a bit of a challenge in the way of my faith. I feel like I haven't grown at all in faith. I need all the prayer I can get. I know that's a crappy way to start a blog but that's how I'm feeling. One of the other missionaries left this morning (His name is Blaise) he is from Switzerland and can fluently speak French, English and Spanish. He is an amazing person and I just know God has big plans for him! So tomorrow I'm being trained on working with 4-6 graders, I'm very excited! sorry this isn't going to be a very long blog entry but I'm just giving a bit of an update! Love and miss you all! as selfish as this may sound please don't stop praying for me. I'm just going through a low point right now. Thanks everyone!

Post numero 4

BIG NEWS FOR THE WEEK: Mark (the head of ALC) and his wife had their beautiful baby girl Ava Noel. (finally) and today Hanna, Jen (Hannahs long time friend who is super adorable) and I are going to flipper beach again! I'm really excited! and don't worry, I'll put on a lot of sunscreen!!! Now time for a recap of the week: In short, it was EXHAUSTING!!! we thought it was going to be easier because it was mostly preschoolers... yea, that wasn't the case at all. It's hard to believe when I was that age I was that out of it and in my own little world. None the less I am learning what it is to be patient, kind of. Mine and Hannahs chore for this week was painting the inside of the goat pen... don't ask. Apparently the goats truly appreciate having a nice white pen to look at. (I'm they could have cared less, they just wanted to eat the paint! Surprisingly Hannah and I weren't going allowing them to become paint chip goats) and while we were painting I got over 55 flea bites one my legs :( super itchy. Thursday was an eventful day. The mos important part was IT WAS MY DADDYS BIRTHDAY! :) It also meant that I'm going to see Jesse in less than a month. That afternoon, since the other missionaries went on a trip and we can't drive here until we're 21 for ALC insurance Mark told us that he might let us use the truck because he didn't want us to have to be stranded. It was confermed right after program that  he indeed let us use ol' reliable (a Toyota t100 with 270,000 miles on it and a driver side door that closes when it wants to) for the rest of the week/weekend!!! So that night following our flea ordeal and also celebrating about the truck Hannah and I treated ourselves to Chinese food and after we watched Toddlers and Tiaras! I loving having a lot in common! I've gotten a lot more money to live on so thank you for all the prayers.I just hope God starts showing me what I'm here for. It feel really good to know that I have people reading this :) But that's really all for now (sorry I really don't like writing that much!) I hope everyone that went on the college winter retreat is having an amazing time! I miss you all and can't wait to see pictures from it!

 and I also hope this is easier to read now!

Some things I love!

POSTSECRET

Burnt to a crisp...

I just want to let everyone know I'm not very good at updating blogs. I don't really enjoy talking about myself that much so bare with me if I don't post very often. Also, I think I might start a new blog because I checked out Hannah's and it is waaay cooler than mine! Don't worry I'll put the link up here if I actually do change it! Any who, around 5:00 today I will be here for a week exactly! and I can say that I'm not upset about coming at all! I'm still not quite sure why God brought me down here but I trust Him to know that I'll find out in His time. So, Friday was the first day I was on my own with a group (Hannah was shadowing me) and I'm just going to say this now, I don't know how teachers do it. I am trying so hard to be Godly and understand where these kids are coming from but I literally want to drop kick some of them! But I'm sure this God testing my patience, which I need. But also on Friday I did the puppets and their voices. It went a lot better then I thought it would (things usually do but you know me!) And that was the day Hannah and  I also tried to nurse a dying baby chick back to life. So sad. And we named him Ernie he was so cute. But he died that night and we buried him in our backyard. Thursday night me, Hannah and two other missionaries went bowling and we did alright but the lanes were kind of confusing and they would add the scores from the first game to the next game and it was just kind of messed up; but, we had fun! Then Saturday afternoon we (me, Hannah and the same two missionaries) went to Flipper beach (where Flipper was filmed) and it's was amazing and so peaceful! God really knows how to wow me! We went snorkeling and the boys (Blaise and Ryan which are the other two missionaries) were spear fishing. which is SO cool! and their third time around they caught a spider crab (or something like that) Literally no one was on that beach but us! I don't know why! It was amazing! and the marine life was even better and the water was so clear! The only downfall of that day is my sunburn... I put sunscreen on 3 times and my back is SOOO red. but its ok because I had a blast! I just hope I don't peel... I about to go to a Bahamian Church service and I'm really excited! It is one of the facilitators churches and I'm sure it will be awesome!

Well I just got back from Church. It was.... a cultural adventure lets say.

My first entry

WOOO! first entry! I've been here a full 3 days (feels like 3 months already) it's not as emotional for me as it was in the beginning. God has strengthened me a lot even in these few days. No matter how far away you are from the ones you love they're still always so wonderful and feel so close! I'm getting to know everyone more and more so it's making it easier to loosen up. Everyone is awesome and Godly and I really couldn't ask for anything more!

   Right now it's pouring and the sun in out. ahhh... only in the Bahamas. Stacie and I went to Paradise Island (P.I) and walked through Atlantis. Honestly, after being around the REAL Bahamas for only 3 days Atlantis just makes you sick! Which reminds me... ATTENTION: IN CASE YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO THE BAHAMAS... 1.DON'T DRIVE CARS, MOPEDS OR ANY OTHER VEHICLE UNLESS A BAHAMIAN IS DRIVING YOU! YOU WILL GET HIT BY A CAR AND DIE! SERIOUSLY... DON'T DO IT. A LOT OF TOURISTS HAVE DIED. 2. DON'T GET A HAIR PLOIT (hair braided) UNLESS YOU WANT TO SPEND 3 TIMES AS MUCH AS A FRIEND DOING IT FOR YOU! AND NUMBER 3. WHY DON'T YOU GO JUST A LITTLE PASSED WHERE THE SHIP DROPS YOU OFF. YOU'LL SEE WHAT THE BAHAMAS ARE REALLY LIKE!!! Anyways... I'm still shadowing someone everyday so far so I can get an idea of what to do to actually lead a group of children around. but on Friday I'm playing as the puppets (YIKES!) I'm sure everyone has been praying for me but PLEASE never stop praying! I still don't have enough money to even live yet so if you could be praying about that in particular that would be great! Now that I'm more comfortable I want to be able it work on my relationship with God. To the girls of my small group: I want to thank you all so much for this book! I look forward to reading it everyday! To my mom and dad: Thanks for supporting me so much! You're so wonderful and I'm so lucky to have you! and To Jesse: you know how I feel, but I can never stop saying it!!! I love you so much and you are so wonderful! God has blessed me with one of the greatest men I've ever come to know. I wont say you're perfect but babe, I wouldn't ask for anyone else! :) But if we were talking about perfect, You're perfect for me!!! :) I'm done for now I'll try to update in a few days! Love you all and hope God is working in your life like he is mine!