Refuge!!

I have never led a Missions trip before and in one week or so, I will be leaving and that will no longer be true. I am really looking forward to it. I love leading. Its something I feel I was born to do. I don't always do it right, at all, but I want to.
Its been crazy trying to do the best job I can at bringing our team together as a family. I have told them I don't want to go do ministry together, I want to go together to do ministry. Our team is so great! They have so much spirit and are really coming together. We have all shared our testimonies, and had them interpreted, so they all could get practise using an interpreter. Also, I had them all get up and have questions asked of them by the team so we could all get to know each other. We all found out things that we didn't even know at all, it was really tight! Well, most of the money has been raised, we've prayed many times and asked God for His moving when we are there, and we've gotten everyone's passports in, which was no small task. I can't wait to see what we will all learn from Gods precious people in Mexico. Oh, and we already have so much team spirit...we have a call sign: Refuge: TU SABES!!! Oh yes, its go time!

My Birthday!!

The following events actually took place on the 16th of February, the day before my Birthday. However, I was informed that my Birthday was going to start a day earlier by Brenda...I figured I could accept that since she said so.

I got a phone call starting my day with an amazing message of how much I was appreciated by a certain individual. This was a great start to my day. I am on a trip to an orphanage into Mexico and so we had a practice that day to learn human videos and skits. We are doing some of the same songs and skits we did last year in Ecuador. After our practice, we went back to the apartments we stay at, and I was blindfolded (a key component to any Birthday surprise) and led away to sit and wait. We then got into the car and Amanda Seiser was with us. Brenda drove and I sat in the passenger seat.

Side note: being blindfolded requires a lot of internal fortitude. Its not for the faint of heart. I seriously thought I was going to have an anxiety attack right there. I worked through it though.
Thanks for listening.

We got to a resturaunt and I could tell what kind it was just by the feel of the tables (when you are a bus boy for 3 years and had to towel down those tables 5x's a week, you'd know the feel of the tile topped tables too). We ordered some chips & salsa and I ordered a water. Amanda Seiser ordered a water as well as Brenda. A few moments later, I had my water drinks delivered and had some very special guests deliver them...Bailey & Hannah!!! Yep, that's right! Thee Bailey & Hannah!!! They flew out to surprise me for my Birthday and I was SOOOO surprised. They even have the picture to prove it!

We had such a great time. Unfortunately, Brenda & I were both pretty sick, so we just chilled that night, but the next day was amazing. Brenda and the girls hung up signs all over the place saying "Christopher, today is YOUR day!" and then they put all these little notes from the students back home about my birthday up on my door and it was pretty amazing. Then we went to this really cool coffee shop and played a made up again that as Bailey said: "was intense!" We laughed and told stories.

We then went to a place called the "Flying Biscuit." The food was really good and we had a lot fun. We talked about Dreams and God and everything in between!! We then went back to the apartments and I met up with my Small Group out here, Torque, and we went bowling! It was lots of fun! I thought it was all over, until I got back!

So when I returned, I was given all these little clues that led me all around our different apartments and I had to perform all these little tasks: sing, dance, etc. Not only that, but I also had to wear a sweet looking Sombrero, a Mexican balnket, 2 Mexican shakers, and all the clues led my very cultured looking Birthday self to the surprise Birthday party they all had waiting for me.

They had all kinds of Mexican food, and I felt so fortunate to have people who love me like that. A lot of special planning and love went into making it all happen and I am so happy to be on the receiving end of it. I can't remember really ever having a SURPRISE birthday party like that, so it was really an amazing feeling. Thank you to all of you who made it so special, especially to you. You know who you are.

Writers Block!

It has been a VERY long time since I wrote about my day or something, & its because of that very wierd feeling many of us feel from time to time. It's the "I don't have the time to say all I really want to say, so I'll wait until I have that kind of time, which never comes, & so you don't want to say something small & insignificant, so you say nothing at all..." feeling.

Anyone else??

I tend to feel this way when I want to journal, but don't feel the time to write all I'm feeling, so I don't write. This feeling then begins to make you feel so guilty because you haven't kept this "unwritten" agreement between you and your blog, journal, or diary. This keeps you from just keeping something going and eventually, you haven't written anything substantial or at all since June 2007...even though lots of wonderful things have happened! So I'm going to again try to get at this thing and stay committed to it...more to come.

Pastor Chris