The Final

This is a goodbye blog. My uncle (Doug) and I have decided we are moving on. Our primary internet time is now spent on Facebook. The blogshere in our family has become very week with the exception of faithful Grammie and the Baker baby updates. So, you no longer have to see the same page over and over again waiting for a new blog from me- feel free to remove me from your link list. And without further ado adios...chao...see ya later.

MY FIRST TICKET!

Well, its not quite what you think... On Friday afternoon, approximately 4:00, I arrived home at my new house to find the moving truck parked right in front. Having no place in the driveway or the side streets to park, I found a dandy spot across the street in an empty cul-de-sac. I went inside and didn't leave the house again until the next day around 4:45 because we were busy unpacking. It was then, that we discovered the ticket. It was for $25.00 from The Rivercut Community. To our surprise, you are not allowed to park on public streets during the hours of midnight and 6:00 am and an empty cul-de-sac is considered public property. So I was a little shocked given that it was our first night in the neighborhood, unaware of any community rules, and we woke up to find not a fruit basket and a welcome card but a $25.00 fine as our "welcome to the neighborhood" gift.

From an Iowan to a Missourian?

Wow, so much has happened since my last blog. The biggest things being that I have changed from:

1.) an Iowan to a Missourian
2.) a DMC lion to a NCA warrior
3.) a member of United Student Ministries to a member of Fusion Student Ministries
4.) the daughter of an representative/traveling preacher/coach to the daughter of the General Secretary of the Assemblies of God

The even crazier part is that all of those changes took place within the time span of about 2 weeks! However, despite the dramatic changes that have taken place in my life since August, I am EXTREMELY proud of my dad! I am also really trusting God and believing that not only did He call my dad to Springfield, but my mom and me as well. I know He has something great for all of us here in this city even though at times my emotion takes over and I can't imagine the next two years of my life without my best friends, church, and school in DesMoines. But God is good and in those times of sadness He gives us confirmation that this is the place we are to be.

O CANADA!

This past week has been a FABULOUS week! I got to spend time with my beloved GRAMMY as well as see my sixth foreign country: Canada. My mom and I drove to Adrian, spent a couple of nights there with the all famous Roy and Nonie and then, with Gram, we drove on to Cobourg, Ontario to meet my dad. He was the night speaker for Lakeshore Pentecostal Camp which is part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. It was a fun few days of services as well as site seeing! Here are a few of the highlights of the trip:

--Experiencing and learning some of the differences between the two countries. For instance, the spelling and pronunciation of some words and the packaging/marketing of some products. They sell their milk in plastic bags!!

--Feeding the pigeons BBQ chips outside of the dollar store and watching them fly out of no where to fight over them!


--Seeing Niagra Falls! I had never been and it was absolutely incredible! OUR GOD IS HUGE!

--Enjoying my father's evening services while realizing even more what an AMAZING preacher he really is!




There were also some quite "interesting" parts of the trip for instance:


--Eating a whole bowl of Penne pasta and marinara with my fingers, in the car, because the Fazoli's worker forgot to include a fork.

--Sitting through a full fledged southern gospel concert, "Jesus be a fence all around me everyday. Jesus protect me as I travel on my way. I know you can, I know you will fight my battles if I stay still. Lord be a fence all around me everyday!" Boy I wish you could hear me singing this right now! (smile)


--Traveling many hours with two of our most well known CLAYS! Need I say more? (However, they are rather fun and I love them!)

Chicago!

So I just got back from Chicago and there is a lot to share. I'm not quite sure where to start. But first of all, the trip was AMAZING! God really moved and I also met tons of new friends!

The first couple of days we helped out an intercity church that was moving buildings. We were only supposed to do this one day but we got rained out of our outreaches so this was "plan B". We loaded boxes, cleaned, painted, etc. It was fun, believe it or not, because of the group's attitude. It was such a fun group! We got along great and didn't have a single personality conflict the whole week! We also met lots of new people that were working with the ministry! The two I got closest to the most were Laura and Kim! They have been working with City Limits Ministry for four years but this summer they were interns or "summer missionaries". I love them and I feel like I have known them my whole life! They are amazing and so much fun! They even want to come to Des Moines to visit...like later on this week!

Then we dove into the outreaches and that was incredible! We didn't do altar calls because the main focus of the ministry is just loving on the kids and building a trust and relationship. Knowing what kind of homes these children came from made it really fun to see the kids smile and laugh! They come from fatherless homes filled with violence and drugs. Gangs are a huge problem in the neighborhoods we were in, which inevitably results in many murders. This kids long to be loved on and so it was fun to give them that for at least at hour! To see their faces light up was so fulfilling! Pastor Chris is going to look into getting First Assembly's outreach truck fixed so we can do the same type of outreaches in the intercity of Des Moines! I'm so pumped!

Another highlight of the trip was our devotions, worship, and sermon every morning. God really moved during these times and it was extremely good to start each day out with this time! One of the best mornings was Friday morning. Cory, the Pastor of the church we stayed at and Missionary Tim Thomas' son, preached on the presence of God. It was a powerful sermon and I think I had the goose bumps the whole time! Then that night at the church, after ministry and dinner, God showed up. We prayed for three hours and the presence of God was so strong. You could physically feel Him in the room! It was life changing for EVERYONE there that night!

Overall, the trip was great! It was eye-opening and life changing! God was there with us every moment...you could feel it. I also made lots of friends and I am going to miss them terribly! I am really interested in being an intern there next summer, like Kim and Laura were. I miss the ministry so bad and I am excited to see if that could be where God is leading me next summer! Thanks for all your prayes!

Still

Hide me now

under your wings

cover me

within your mighty hands

When the oceans rise

and thunders roar

I will soar with you

above the storm

father you are king

over the flood

and I will be still

and know you are God

Find rest my soul

in Christ alone

know his power

in quietness and trust

(Still, by Hillsong)

Fun Times!

Last night I saw Ocean'sThirteen with a couple friends and it was amazing! I think I need to watch it again to catch all of it, but it was really good. Then today was really fun because I spent the day with my lovely friend Honor! She came over and we walked to the neighborhood park and swang for a while and just talked. I would like to say it was sunshiney and very scenic, however, it was a rainy day and we watched a bunch of men tear up the other part of the park with big equipment. After that, we drove to Tropical Sno (only the best snow cone place ever)! I got this divine cremesicle snow cone and Honor got piña colada one. 'Twas YUMMY! Then we did some other fun things including running around in the rain and going out to eat. Im so grateful for all my friends...I love you!