YAY!

Things lately have been pretty predictable: work, eat, sleap, repeat. Since this is a temporary thing, I am really looking forward to moving forward to where God is leading me. Frankly it's been wearing on me of late. Which is why I am happy to say that I recieved an invitation to the conference for the overseas program I applied to! I am really stoked! I get to go to Richmond in November for the conference to do interviews and work out some job requests.

I am really praying and trying not to look forward so much that I miss great opportunities to serve now, but I am still pretty excited. This is what I have been hoping to do for about 4 years now! My wish has come true!

Yay, it's almost here!

Crossroads

Whew, it's been a long week. After being a server for so long, this construction business can where me out! It's been fun and educational for me, and I'm grateful God provided a job ( He knows I need one). That's just what i do everyday, but there has been more going on this week. I find myself at a crossroads. The Merriam-webster dictionary defines a crossroads as "a crucial point especially where a decision must be made." I am at such a point, three months post graduation, where I must choose between opportunities for ministry. This is a difficult decision, and a trying one. I have changed my mind a couple times, but now I am just seeking God's wisdom and direction (I had not because I asked not). This decision pretty is pretty much what I am focusing on these days.

With this decision weighing on my heart and mind, I took a Sunday drive, just to have some quiet time with the Lord, and just some solitude for a while. I was going to take my own picture of a crossroad to put up here, but my battery ran out. But before it ran out, I was able to take these photos while I was musing...

I figured it was time to take a self portrait, so here it is...

Venezuela part Dos!

Ok, finally here's the rest of my photo-diary of the trip to venezuela. In the last Vene. post, I showed you some of the construction work and the party at the nursing home. Now I want to show you the carnivals we did in the street. We concentrated on loving on the children, we played music, games, painted faces, made balloon animals and hats, etc. It was a ton of fun, and a ton of pictures. Here are some of my favorites:


This is the Basurero (in english, the dump). 3 million people's trash living in and around Maracaibo go to this dump.

There are communities of people who are so destitute, that this dump is their livelihood. They find their food, things to sell, clothing, anything that can be used to sustain life in this dump. They have set up their communities as close to this dump as possible to ensure that they get in first each day to get first dibs on the trash. These are some of the communities that we ministered to.

Up next: The ninos!

Don't you wanna love on 'em?! We did too, here it is

And the staff:

McKenzie (a.k.a. Big Mac)

Alfredo and his wife Audia

Josue (a.k.a. El Juahito de Fuego) and his wife Dayana (a.k.a. Cabezona)

Kenny (a.k.a. El Negro de Muerte) and Adriana





Laurie the water nazi

Chris (a.k.a. El Gringo de Magico) and Isai and Sandra (whom I regret to not have a photo of)


Oh, yeah, and me (a.k.a. El Mexicano de Futbol)



The two weeks we spent in Venezuela were awesome. We had a ton of fun, enjoyed each others fellowship and hanging with our Venezuelan homies! It really was like coming home, and it was incredibly hard to leave...


It's impossible to summarize the trip in a blog, it helps to have pictures, but nothing replaces the experience, the relationships, the stretching of faith of actually going. Those of you who came know, and those of you who didn't, I pray that you take an opportunity to serve with our brothers and sisters overseas.