Showing posts with label OR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OR. Show all posts

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Our Important Dates

- Our romantic beach walk, when I realized I liked Duane (24th)

- Flirting on the beach (26th)

- When he told me he liked me and I said, "I thought so" (28th)

- We started dating (3rd/4th)
- Our first official date (5th)
- I was given a carnation (24th)
- God told me that the carnation, romance and Duane were all from Him (28th)

- We drove to Moab to go camping with his parents (28th)

- We "accidentally" looked a rings, and played a joke on our friends, telling them we eloped (1st)

- Duane gave me carnations (5th)

- Our engagement pictures (15th)

- My good-bye party where Duane was given a certificate to take 1 staff member of his choice to Colorado (17th)

- A hike in the snow to the train tunnel to take cute pictures (22nd)

- The day Duane proposed and we got engaged (15th)

- And of course our wedding, which will be on May 21st

Friday, December 17, 2010

Duane & Becky's Story

Once upon a time, there was a man named Duane, who loved India. So he came to Cascade, Idaho to work with more people who also love India. That's where he met a cute dread-head named Becky. Together they had fun, hiking with friends, and soaking in the hot springs.

Then their team went on a Faith road trip, which ended up being 3 weeks long. That resulted in suspicious things such as: Duane getting really protective when the home-sick NYC kid gave Becky a hug, because she was from his state. “Sorry” the boy said, “she must be your girlfriend…” Well, not yet, but it sure did appear to be true…Or in San Francisco, when Becky had the worst sinus infection ever, took nightquil and slept for two days. Duane was really concerned…you would have thought she was dying…

Then in Mendocino, California, there was that long walk, barefoot on the beach, watching the sunset, and talking for hours. It was the most romantic date ever, except for the part where Becky didn’t know if Duane liked her, but she knew she was falling for him.

A couple days later, in Discovery Bay, Duane said to Becky, “would you like to go down to the beach and watch the sunset with me?” The response was a smile and a nod. As the sun set he confessed that he liked her, and she said, "I thought so" and awkwardly left him hanging, so he had to ask, "um, do you feel the same way?" "Oh, yes!!!"

After a long, flirtatious drive back to Idaho, the couple talked to their leaders, and officially started dating.

At last it came time to meet the parents on a camping trip in Moab. The couple had fun, mountain biking, hiking, and sleeping outside in hammocks! As a joke they took a picture of them wearing rings, and e-mailed it to some friends. This is referred to as the time they “accidentally” looked a rings… but it worked out conveniently for Duane. Dresses as pirates they returned to their excited friends. It was rather disappointing to admit, it was just a joke.

As they prayed about what their future would look like, rather than Duane stay in Idaho, it seemed that it was time for Becky to move on. At the pirate/hippie good-bye party, Becky was given a “thank you” so big that it didn’t fit on the card, and Duane was awarded with the right to take one staff member of his choice to Colorado.

The day after Becky arrived in Colorado Springs Duane insisted they go for a walk in the Garden of the Gods. She put her camera in her pocket, and noticed he had something in his pocket, which didn’t look like his phone, but it wasn’t a ring box either, so she wasn’t too suspicious.

As they walked, he talked about how this was his playground, and finally it was going to be a romantic spot, now that his princess was here. As they rounded a corner of “Twin Spires” Duane talked about how the 2 different colored rocks somehow merged into one, like a married rock, if that is possible. There were flowers and a card on the ground. Becky figured he must have had a friend put it there. Since he is a romantic guy anyway, this might just be a “welcome to Colorado” gift.

The card had pictures of them on the front and inside a picture of Duane with…her mom and step-dad? Duane said, “I just had a crazy weekend in Pennsylvania, and I called your Dad too,” as he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring and put it on her finger. She kissed him, for the first time, (since they weren’t going to kiss until we are engaged), and now they were engaged!

A distant voice yelled, “so, is that a yes?” That’s when she noticed our photographer stalker, and discovered that the random thing in Duane’s pocket was the voice recorder…so yes, they have it all on video…

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

What we learned...

Three weeks into the school, God got us out of our comfortable classroom to teach us about pioneering, leadership, and hearing the voice of God. We learned it as we lived it. Our little faith journey ended up being 3 weeks long. I could tell you everything we did, but more importantly I would like to share what we learned.

First off we learned not to be presumptuous, but to keep asking God what His will is in every decision we made. Later we recognized the gifts God had given us and how we had used them on the road trip. We also encouraged each other and acknowledged each other’s strengths.

I grew in boldness - whether speaking up in team meetings or later going to a leader and offering my advice on a situation. In seeing how God sometimes gives me insight, at one point a leader pulled me aside and asked, “what do you think about...”. I was also hurt when after I took initiative, I was told “you can’t say that; you’re not a leader.” Actually we are all leaders, that’s why we’re in a school about leadership. I may not always say things as nicely as I should, but I am still proud of myself for growing in being assertive.

Last week, as we debriefed the trip we realized underlying tension in the team because of poor communication and misunderstandings. We apologized and found reconciliation. Although the road trip was amazing, I feel if we had a chance to do it again, it would be even better...

Friday, October 1, 2010

Day 18: Ending at the Begining

Today we went back to where we started. The wonderful city of Portland. We set up a meeting with Women and Children's Advocacy Centre, saw their new office and had a picnic with them in the park.

Our picnic lunch was at the same park, but a couple blocks down from where we prayed and called Matt on Day 2 of this trip. I'm pretty sure that while talking to him, I was looking across the river at the building in which is their office.

Now we are again staying at our friend's house, and returning their cooler :) and tomorrow, we go home...

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Day 6: Moving Forward

One of the volunteers we meet at Bridgetown Ministries, invited us to his church today. I checked it out on-line - last week's sermon was "Apostle's Among us" and this week is "Clear Vision to Move Forward - Glorifying God through Your Gifts.” Sounds like the right church for our team :) and it was pretty sweet!

Let me just say how incredibly blessed we have been. For the past few days we've had a great house to stay in, good food to eat, and an honorary team member and local tour guide.

The plan for today/tomorrow is to head to San Francisco...which makes no sense because we don't have enough money for gas, food, and housing...

Then we just found out that someone gave us $800...Praise Jesus!!! Let the Faith Adventure continue!!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Day 5: Downtown Compassion

The day started early...we were going to leave at 6am, but at 5:55am we said, "has anyone seen any of the guys?...maybe we should wake them up." But there was very little traffic, and Nelson drove, so it totally made up for the late start...
As I said before Sasha + Marina did childcare. The rest of us we spread out around the Coliseum (isn't that where Christian's were eaten by lions?). Abraham found a corner at which to stand and direct people to where they needed to go...Nelson, Troy, and Menke served in "follow-up" praying with people and signing them out.
Nate (our host and honorary team member), Duane and I decided to see if they needed help setting up the Chiropractic/Physical Therapy room ;) They did, and we became the secretaries - signing people in, helping with their paper work, directing them to a doctor, and then guiding them to "Follow-up" or their next appointment with Vision, Foot Care, Dentist, etc.

I'm glad I had a job at 1 location and not running around the building - it was great fun getting to know the Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, and the other volunteers in our room. I even saw the lady who I talked toThursday night at Bridgetown Ministries.

It was also very fulfilling to me, because I have always wanted to be Chiropractic Secretary - I love secretarial work, and with as much as I go to the Chiro, it has always seemed like a smart idea to get a job there. Most of the Chiropractors serving today were interns and needed the hours/patients, so towards the end, when things started slowing down, the Chiropractors blessed the volunteers ;) praise Jesus for free Chiropractic...

The Story of The Day:
While signing people in to the Chiropractor I met a guy from NYC. For the sake of conversation, I said, "I grew up near Rochester." His response, "someone from my home, give me a hug." It was an incredibly awkward bear hug from a giant guy who kissed the top of my head! Duane and Nate were standing right there and instantly got protective. Mr. NYC said, "oh, one of you must be her boy friend"...that just added to the awkwardness... Just then a Chiropractor came over and said, "Sasha left her cell phone here." So I had to go return it to her in the Children's Room and I took way longer than necessary getting back to my room. When I returned Mr. NYC was crying on Nate's shoulder... awkward... better him than me...I guess Duane + Nate had a good time of ministry and prayed for him...

After the event ended, we headed downtown to the Hippie Saturday Market, where I at last found a couple beads for my dreads, then we stopped by a coffee shop (and I got coffee this time), and then Powell's Bookstore...and we were "home" by 7pm for dinner and a team meeting...

Friday, September 17, 2010

Day 4: Preparation & Hearing the Voice of God

A couple days ago, after praying, someone said, "we need to call Matt"

"Matt who?"

"I don't know"

Me - "I know a Matt in Portland - he works with WACAC"

The Women and Children Adacacy Center is something someone else had gotten when we were praying about this trip, which confirmed that we need to go to Portland. They are also the people who we wanted to come speak this week on Justice and Pioneering, so it is rather odd to be stalking them...

Me - "should I call him? why am I calling him?"

So on Day 2 of the Faith Adventure, while we were praying/meeting in the park, I called Matt...and that's how we found out about Bridgetown Ministries, which we worked with last night. Through serving with Bridgetown Ministries we found out about Downtown Compassion, which we will be working with tomorrow. Tonight we have orientation for tomorrow's event.

Today we also prayed about how long to stay and what's next...still don't actually have answers, but a few different options...I'll let you know later...Please be praying for us as we're fighting colds and spiritual stuff...and need to get up early tomorrow...Thanks a bunch!

Day 3: Team Stuff

We spent the morning at the Salem campus, debriefing yesterday, and I'd say team building, but that's probably not the right term...more like working through stuff, learning from our mistakes, and figuring how to work better as a team...

We were given some groceries, and enjoyed coffee/hot chocolate at the home of one of the Salem staff. I also befriended a dreadhead...because that's what we do - complement each other's hair (it's more exciting small talk than the weather), and then move on to other topics. I also met a couple who want to pioneer a School in Downtown Portland, and that is what brought them to Salem.

Through a friend of a friend, we found a place to stay for longer than one night, which means we no longer need to spend each day trying to figure out where to sleep...what a relief...the house happens to be on dirt road - and during our prayer time someone had a picture of a dirt road - confirmation we are at the right place :)

On the way back to Portland we followed a truck with a Wash Machine in the back...that's funny because when we were praying about the road trip someone got a picture of a Wash Machine, and then there it was...random...

This evening we worked with Bridge Town Ministry's "Night Strike." They met at a church downtown for prayer and orientation...and our School theme verse was on their bulletin board:
“Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations” Isaiah 58:12
We spent a couple hours under the bridge, met lots of interesting people, had some good conversations, and prayed for people...and some nice person posted a youtube video for me to borrow, that way I don't have to explain things...

We arrived back at our host home around midnight and enjoyed a delicious hot dinner...kind of feels like outreach in India...now I need to go to sleep...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Day 2: Exploring Downtown Portland

Somehow we slept in till 9am. After freshening up in the rest-stop bathrooms, we started the day with Jesus time and coffee at Starbucks...
when I say "we had coffee" what I mean is "they had coffee", because I don't usually drink coffee...

Then we headed downtown. At first it was exciting and beautiful - old stone buildings, a nice park by the river, and a good time of prayer and team building. And part of our team had the chance to talk to a random homeless man...
We then walked around town looking for ministries to get involved in as well as a place to stay. We talked to people and made calls to friends who knew the area.

We found a “man if peace” – the cook at Salvation Army, who gave us a book listing all the ministries in Portland, and gave us advice about where to go and where not to go. Every two hours a couple of us had to go back to the van to put more quarters in the meter, and each time we passed by Salvation Army. A couple times our new friend happened to be outside and asked how we were doing, and a couple times chased us down the block to talk to us.

The romance of downtown wore off fast as we wandered in and out of Rescue Missions, passing by homeless people, and hearing sentences filled with more swear words than real words.
As it started to rain we gathered on the patio of a pub, hoping they wouldn’t mind us sitting at their tables. Only to be criticized by a homeless man, “why is a Christian group, sitting at a pub?” By 5pm, we were pretty depressed and ready to just get out of here, and get some real food…

As soon as the drove the van across the bridge, we felt so much lighter…I had gotten a call earlier that someone from our campus had deposited $ in my account (you can do that in small towns), so we went to Subway for dinner…our first hot meal in 2 days…it was wonderful...

Then on to the Salem campus to take a shower, spend the night, and get ready for a busy day tomorrow, serving with Bridgetown Ministries and Portland Rescue Mission.

Day 1: On the road.

We hit the road with bread, meat, cheese and some fruit, along with $200 for gas/food/housing, and about $250 which we were given for ministry money (not to use for ourselves). I have heard so many great stories about these faith journeys, so I am excited to see how God will provide.
On the way to Boise there was a rock slide on one of the curves, so we were stuck in traffic. That’s where we ate the amazing peaches which Carrie bought at the farmer’s market. Yummy! We also met some nice Utahans who were in the car in front of us.
As we drove we prayed about where to stay the night, and felt we were not to call our friends or make anything happen.

We arrived in Portland around 10pm. We had heard “Stanly” earlier in the day. Duane looked it up on the iphone and found Stanly is a specific dot on the map of Portland. We got out of the van and prayed by a barbed wire fence in a rather ghetto area of the city. Still have no clue what exactly is Stanly?

As we prayed about where to spend the night, it felt like a wild goose chase. A guy named George? Maybe he is at Subway? Closed. Go left at the stop light – yep there’s a light. When we stopped for gas, we read the employ's name tags looking for George or Staley. We didn't find them, but we did get to pray for one of the guys who worked at the gas station.

We were getting increasingly tired and goofy, especially after adding some coffee and a dozen doughnuts to the mix.

At last we felt released to call Nelson’s friend…


but we didn’t have his phone number.
So we laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and then we just showed up at Nelson’s friend’s apartment. He didn’t have room for eight of us.

So we found a rest stop and slept in the van…it was cozy...