Beach Day!

I was so very excited for the Olympics, and I thought I was going to be able to watch them all live, but since we do not have cable I can't...which does not make me very happy but I will get over it. I still try and stay as in tuned as possible without being able to watch any of them. Anyway today we (meaning a bunch of people from church) went to a private beach owned by a friends father. It was so beautiful and relaxing. A bunch of us made a fairly large size sand castle with a mote and we even got the boat to float! We went swimming, skipped rocks, and just laid out in the sun and relaxed. :) That is what I call a bum day! Tomorrow I have my all day clinic with the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center. Which I am soooo beyond excited for! Being able to see first hand the clinic that I may very well be taking within the next few years. Well that is about it for tonight. I will update tomorrow when I have finished with the clinic.

A Few Jumbled Words

I don't really have much to blog about tonight. So I will start with the Wake service that I went to on Sunday night. One of my friends Alan, his grandmother passed away from a heart attack about a week ago and so to support him a few of us went to her service. It was a really cool experience as they held a small service in which they sang and spoke a little. It was very spirit filled and as much as the people were hurting, they were definitely praising Jesus for the time that they had with her.
Tonight Olivia, Lauren, and I went to dinner and had a wonderful time just chilling, laughing, and relaxing :) I have so very much enjoyed getting to know these women and how they are becoming prominent people in my life. I may one day leave but these people will always be in my heart!

Love Buffalo/Breakout

Well lets just say that I have a hard time remembering that I am supposed to be blogging my experiences. So, to catch you up on what has gone on in the past month or so, I am slowly but surely getting used to the city. Buffalo is growing on me, no that does not mean I want to live in the city permanently, but I finally think I will survive until March. This past week I have been really struggling with homesickness as my family is having a big family reunion this weekend so I am trying to surround myself with friends to try and take away some of the feelings. I did have a really good day Monday at the BTRC (Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center) as they asked if I would be one of the volunteers to help out with one of the early clinics. So I felt very honored as they said they need people who are very good with the riders and with the horses. :) So being around the horses helped a little bit with the homesickness. Anyway an update on my work.

I just got back from what is called Love Buffalo/Breakout. It is a week missions trip group that has about 300 people coming to "overhaul" the West Side. We worked on roofs, porches, painting, picking up garbage, and evangelism. We were able to bless many and were blessed by many. I took 3 girls who live/hang out on the west side to give them a missions trip experience. So it started on Sunday, picked them up from the church and we headed for a church in Tonawanda. I have to admit it went pretty smoothly, which was a blessing! Monday morning hit and I got a few grumbles and I had to remind them that they chose to come on this trip! To make a long story short, I had plenty of good moments, but I also had plenty of really rough ones. Rough enough that I wanted to pull my hair out...their hair out and threaten them with being sent home. But through it all the Lord was at work in their hearts and in mine as no I did not send any of them home. I could tell that both the Lord and Satan were working on all 3 of the girls as so many of the things they were doing were so conflicted. I could see that they really did want to do good, but Satan just kept feeding them lies and they (like the rest of us) had a hard time to distinguish what choices they should make or what they should do. Thursday roles around and I am praying very hard for all 3 of the girls. They had the best day working that they had had yet so it was a good day! Thursday night rally hits and this is where Jesus really displays himself :) At one point during worship one of my girls turns and gives me the biggest smile and in my heart I knew that tonight was the night she would accept Christ. So the song ended and someone prayed and I took her back into the foyer and sat her down. I asked if I could pray for her and she said yes. When I was done praying I looked at her and said, "Are you ready to accept Jesus as your savior?" and she said yes! :) So we prayed together and there was a lot of tears but when we finished praying she looked at me and just started smiling and giggling :) She was experiencing the peace that only Jesus can give! We went back in and listened to a man speak (which is one of the best messages that I have ever heard!) and at the end of the message he asked all of the non-believers to take a step of faith and come forward if they wanted to accept Christ. All three of my girls went up and accepted Christ (by this point I am like almost weeping for joy!) To have worked with these three girls for almost 5 months and then to see them all come to Christ was an experience that I will never ever forget. If this is the one reason that I did come to Buffalo for, it will have been well worth it. No I am not leaving yet, I still have about 7 months left, but if this much has happened in the 5 months I have been here...I can't even begin to imagine what the rest of this time has to hold.
To those reading my blog, if you have read this and you want that peace that I was talking about go and find a Christian friend and talk to them. Why wait when you can have Jesus? What better reward could we ever want?

Home

It has been a few months since I have last posted anything. It has been a crazy last few months to. At this moment I am home sick and missing my horses. I am trying hard to get used to living in this city but it has been hard, really hard. At times I feel like I have been here long enough and it is time to go home and other times I feel like I need to stay all year like I said I would. Today happens to be one of those days where I am wishing I was home and with my horses. I guess everyone doubts something at some point in time. So in my attempts to cure this feeling I went to Gander Mountain. The one in Buffalo is about twice the size of the one in Erie. So obviously being in a store where one is totally surrounded by camo, guns, and bows...well you can guess how my mood changed quite quickly. :) The feelings of missing the things that come with the meaning of the word "home" are still there but they have been dampened. The Lord will always provide something that we need in time of our need!

A little bit of catchup.

Well, these past few weeks have been so crazy! Aunt Tam is now home, praise the Lord! and Dad is doing much better. He has been doing liver treatments which he feels are helping him. It has been very hard being in Buffalo while everything has been going on back home. Miss my family tonight, but I did have a wonderful time with Olivia and Lauren watching Sense and Sensibility. Love that movie! It is such a wonderful romance! Monday I am volunteering at the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center so I will be posting about that...until then, I bid thee farewell :)

My First "non" Blog

So my plan was to do this really long and "wonderful" blog tonight...but that isn't happening...I am really tired tonight and I have an even more eventful day tomorrow than I did today...so that being said, goodnight :)

Palm Sunday

Today was pretty cool because...I went to my first Mass. It was very interesting. It was also very nice because the lady that I went with (Lori, Olivia's best friend) wants to become a Nun! It was very helping watching and then asking questions to really understand what was going on. I think it is very important as Christians to be knowledgeable in all different denominations so you know were they are coming from, and so you will be able to relate in some sort of way and not just coming out of left field having no inkling of what they are talking about. I also baked my first blueberry peach pie in my new home yesterday and tonight Olivia and I took it to the men's house where it was devoured (I might add that I am happy they enjoyed it as none of them had ever had tapioca in a pie before)! I must say that I feel so blessed and glad to have a room mate like Olivia. Today Olivia, Cameron, and myself had a really good talk for most of the afternoon. It was very nice to be able to get to know both of them more. As of right now I am feeling quite ambitious for what is going to come tomorrow. My plan is to get up early and start the day with a good dose of cleaning, ie., bathroom (including tub), scrub all floors, dusting, and just other little tasks. I am also planning on doing lots of baking! I have found that it is soooo therapeutic! It is wonderful to put your time and effort into something and come out with a small pastry masterpiece. :) Anyway, I will let you all know if my ambitions hold true when morning comes and the task of cleaning awaits...

Wow....today has been crazy! I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with everything that is going on, but I finally got two major (at least in my mind they were) projects done today. So I feel like the world is finally moving back to a "normal" pace. I spent the first part of the morning shadowing Brittney and seeing what all she does with volunteer coordination. Then came home to do some emailing and admin stuff. Then went to after school program which from now on will be referring to it as ASP, so I went to ASP,  then came home and worked on admin stuff again. I know it really doesn't sound like much...at least it doesn't on "paper" but it really was quite a bit. I am just happy that I feel like I have finally caught up on some work and that I might be just a tap bit ahead of the game. Disappointed that I didn't go to Home Group, but I knew that I would have just been obsessing there knowing that I had a bunch to do and it wasn't getting done, so I am now off to eat some dinner and do a Bible Study of my own.

Day Two

I took an hour nap today! It was so nice sitting in the chair with the sunlight coming in, there was no way that I could resist! Other than my wonderful nap today, my day was fairly uneventful. Got some emails sent out, ate some Southwest Quinoa salad. Now I am at the Schenk's watching the kids. They are all so adorable and lovable! Read them each a Disney story before they went to sleep. Zoe wanted Mickey Mouse, Zane and Aidan got to hear a part of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and a part of Mulan. Nothing like a good ole Disney story! My favorite was always Beauty and the Beast :) Anyway I am listening to some hymns done country style and reading When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett. It has been really good so far. There is a lot to what they are saying. I would recommend it to anyone who is working in the ministry...and anyone in general. This morning in my personal Bible study I was reading Titus and thought I would share what I feel to be a very powerful verse. "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ or Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Titus 3: 5-7. I just think it is so incredible the price He paid for sinners like us. That He gives us hope when there are so many times we feel hopeless. Well, that was a little long winded but oh well :)

First Blog

Well, this is my first blog that I have ever done, so please bear with me. This blog is going to be about my year here in Buffalo, NY. For those who want to follow me, I will be blogging about how I am growing in relationships with others, myself, and most importantly with Christ Jesus. So off to the races we go! My blog journey begins now!