Where The Wild Things Are...

Simply amazing, it is seriously pure genius. No, there aren't really any happy parts. Yes, it is dark, but I love it. That's how the book is, it doesn't get happy until the end. I can now appreciate the sound track. My roommate saw the movie and bought it, and then came back and made us listen to it... a lot... Maybe it'll be better now... Although children singing is just creepy.

Christmas Eve.. day...

I can't believe it's already Christmas Eve. Well, day anyway. I'm so stoked, but I must admit it doesn't feel like Christmas. I've only been home for like three days. Hmm...

Happy Christmas all, may you enjoy your family and friends. Have fun ripping through wrapping paper. Have a plentiful, wondrous, feast. Make good choices ;P

Home sweet home...

I'm back in Seattle for the holidays. I know it's been a while, but I have been terribly busy and the internet was down for like a week.

The 20th (which was last Sunday) the Dream Center had this HUGE event at the Sports Arena in LA. They gave away over 20,000 presents and 8,000 bikes. It was incredible. I must admit I found myself sitting in the nose bleed section looking out at the great expanse of people and tearing up at the thought of how amazing it was that we could bless all of them. Like the magnitude of it all got to me. It was truly a beautiful thing. Even blessing one family would be incredible, but this was, wow just marvelous.

That's about all I have to say atm.

Rainy Days

Mmm rainy days in Los Ageles don't occur very often. But I quite enjoyed today's rainy day. Not that much has really happened today. I swear I had this really awesome thought I wanted to write about but I can't remember what the heck it was. I am not going to lie to you. Well I have to go... Sorry that was so horribly boring and uninformative...

Hmmm

Sorry about my atrocious grammer in the last blog. Thank you to someone very close and dear to me for pointing that out... I shall now check and re-check them before I post.
In my own defense though, I was in a hurry. There were small children running around the halls and didn't feel like getting trampled or having the laptop getting damaged.
Tonight whilst at church I had someone steal gum from me. Well not directly. I had bought gum, and given it to Brittany to hold, she actually has a purse... So she pulled out the gum and goes to get a piece. This random guy, neither of us has ever seen him before, reaches over her shoulder and helps himself to two pieces... Who does that??
The message was really good though. He was talking about the names of God.
He was talking about how Moses asks God who he should tell the people of Isreal had sent him. God answers I Am. The original word is Yahweh. In the Hebrew it means I am redeemer, delieverer, and savior. I know crazy right. No, it gets better. The Hebrew language is symbols, so there's two meanings. There's the meaning of the word, and there's the meaning or picture that the symbols make. The picture meaning of Yahweh is the hand of grace, pierced by grace. Just keep reading this gets better. Yahweh in the Greek and throughout the New Testament means there's always been the one and there's no other. Yeah, just let that soak in.
Here's another random thought for you. When Moses was on the mountain talking to God and asked to see his face, God covered his face with his hand while he passed over him and showed him his back. The word in the Hebrew for his hand was Yahweh; the hand of grace, pierced by grace. Then the word back from the Hebrew in this context translates to where God was. So God passed over Moses, covered him with his hand of grace so he wouldn't die from seeing God's face, and showed him where he was. Imagine how great it will be when we get to heaven and can see the full glory of God, not just where he was. Now chew on that for a while...

Thanksgiving Recap

Sorry it's been a while. I've been just a wee bit busy and apathetic about posting this because it seems like so much to type, but I know once I get it done it'll be super short... or maybe not...
Wednesday Night: I left to go to my roommate Chelsea's house. It was me and three other people that went home with her, quite a fun group. Anyway, we took the train to Aneheim. Well, we missed our stop and got off in Orange. Taking the train was an adventure. We almost missed our train. We were sitting next to it not knowing it was our train. Thankfully Chelsea asked someone if it was the right one like five minutes before it pulled out of the station. Regardless we arrived safe and sound. We went to go see the Crystal Cathedral. There was camels there. They were practicing for their Christmas play, which we snuck in and watched part of (the camels are in the play). We watched Moulin Rouge that night. GREAT MOVIE!!!
Thursday: Turkey Day! The normal was to be expected. Nothing too exciting. We watched Grease. One of the kids that came had never seen it. I mean it's pretty much an American classic, I don't know how you can not have seen Grease.
Friday: We went kayaking. Pretty much I wish to invest in one someday. It was so much fun. We also went to Huntington, and ate on the pier. One of the guys went down and waved for the Hollister cam so his friends where he worked back home could see him. If you ever want to know where it is I know someone who can show you. That is if you wish to have your fifeteen minutes of fame in Hollisters all across America.
Saturday: We woke up. Drove to the mountains (they are really more like rolling hills around here, yes I do know they have legit mountians... somewhere...). We took another train to a Christmas tree farm. We cut down the tree. You know you're in California when there are palms and orange trees growing alongside your pines. Then we all attended their family reunion get together. Then I came home.
That was my Thanksgiving. It was amazing. So much fun. But I'm excited to be heading home. 20 days!!!! :D yay

Flannel...

I have this love for flannel shirts all of a sudden. I can see why my grandpa wears them so often. Not only are they warm and comfy, but just down right amazing looking. I bought a new one today. It's green. (hint hint for Christmas mom, I wear a small...)
Today in the cafeteria they were serving meat loaf. It was... well I did not partake in it. I tried, but I just couldn't.
That's about all I can think of lol
Peace...

Busy, busy...

Alright here's some blogging ADD... Get ready go...

First order of business: bought a homeless woman some 3 Musketeers tonight. It was my kind deed of the day. She's crazy, but I figured what the heck.

Next: I had the most amazing pizza today for lunch. It's this cute little place called Three Boots. It was so legit. The first one you see is the Earth Mother. The second is hmmm The Cleopatra I believe. Earth Mother is better. BTW: mom, I did eat dinner. I mooched some pizza off of some people ;P

In other news: This guy Steven skateboarded down suicide hill. Here's pictures of that... This guy who say him said he was the craziest white boy he's ever seen... Well there was some other words in there, BUT we won't repeat those. (my mommy would wash my mouth out with soap for those ones) That is him riding down the hill, and a picture of the hill... I know it is pretty tough to figure that out huh...

Last order of business: Today was a good day. Two of my roomies are gone for Thanksgiving already. So, it'll be quiet tonight, and weird. Here's one last random picture... This is on the menu at Rodeo. It's a fish... I know someone who asked them what it was... The lady looks at the picture, looks at said person, and says "It's a fish..." True story.

Kitchen Duty

I had kitchen duty for a couple of days a couple of days ago... I filled in for someone. Here's how this works... You wake up around 4:45 hastily throw on some clothes, and head over to the kitchen. My first day I cracked eggs for a couple of hours, then I got the pleasure of frosting some cakes. My second day I go to cut lettcue, assemble that lettuce into salads, and cut some honey dew mellons. It wasn't that bad really, it's just an un-godly hour of the day.
Second thought, I've noticed that they can make anything spicey here. Eggs, beef stroganoff, mashed potatoes, meatloaf... Anything can be made spicy.
Today I met a homeless woman. She was very nice. We were going around asking people if they could fight for a cause what would it be. This was her response, I don't know what I would fight for because I'm homeless. No one cares what I have to say. It was kind of heart breaking really. They're people just like us.
Next thought. Last night was Thursday night church. I was so excited because Benny Perez was preaching. This man is hilarious. Anyway he was teaching about when Jesus calmed the storm in the boat. But he made a great point about when Peter walked on the water (I know different story). Anyway he was talking about how at least Peter tried, even though he took his eyes off Jesus and fell. Here's the best quote ever... I'd rather be a wet water walker, than a dry boat talker. Don't let anyone get down on you for throwing yourself after God, and trying your hardest.
Last thought. Playing paper plate frisbee in the hall is challenging and a blast. Not to mention a cheap way to entertain yourself.
That is all I wish to convey to you at the moment.
Peace...

Ahhh...

So the more I'm in LA the more I miss Tacoma. The leaves don't change colors here. My family and friends aren't here either. It's weird, but I still love it. Maybe I just feel horribly nostalgic because the holidays are coming. Well, Thanksgiving. Is this how every young bird who has finally flown the nest feels? It's not necessarily sad, just odd. Spending Thanksgiving without my crazy family.
*sidenote* The sunset is pretty. It's due to all the pollution *sidenote*
*random fact* When you are in the sun your body realeases dopamine, the same chemical that makes you feel like you're in love. Therefore, when you spend lots o' time in the sun, your body feels physically in love. *random fact*
*cool quote* It's the challenges and obstacles that give us layers of depth and make us interesting. - Ellen Degeneres *cool quote*
*word of the day* collision: to come together with solid or direct impact *word of the day*
Those were all my random little thoughts hee hee

Pictures

Here is the pretty sunset over LA. It's taken from the window in the hallway. There are people here who do have this veiw.

Here are the kickin' sunglasses I bought today!!

Here are the kickin' glasses my roomie bought today.

The time travel store. Yes, it's a legit store. Where those awesome glasses were bought. But they sell dinosaur eggs.

Palm trees in Santa Monica.

This sculpter in Santa Monica. It's made out of boat chains.

So here's some pictures. I'll post some more later. My rommate wants to check her Facebook now lol

Been A While

It's been a while since I've posted. I really need to put some pictures up or something. I'll put some up by the end of the week... if I remember that is... So, I totally love the kids from my AAB. They are so sweet. Yesterday one of them followed me around while I had to go knock on doors. It was good she did because she translated for me. Then we prayed for a lady. It was funny because normally I'm pretty timid about knocking on those doors, but she just marches right up and bangs away. Ah, to be a fearless child again...

ugh I'm tired of thinking of titles

So really I don't even know why I'm posting I seriously have nothing important to say. But I would hate to dissappoint my whole two faithful follwers... one of which is my mother... thank you mommy for your support... Tonight I had a lovely candle light dinner with my roomie... The other one was sleeping, hence the need for candles. It was a lovely meal consisting of Subway and Arizona Green Tea for me and Brisk Iced Tea for her. I have found a new lovely sandwhich combination. A foot long ham and turkey on Italian herbs and cheese. Which is topped off with American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, green bell peppers, mustard, and mayonaise. It's delicious.
All my roomies signed up for this Christmas pagent dancing thing. They all have dance pratice tonight with practically everyone else. Tonight will be a lovely evening alone??? I don't remember the last time I had one of those... What shall I do with myself???

What a Week!!!

So we had our second traveling service on Saturday. It was amazing. This one was like a full blown production including stomp, step, and spoken word. It was powerful. Sunday was awesome. I rode the busses to my AAB site. Man those kids are amazing. Hmmm, what else is going on. I think we're going to this awesome Mexican restaurant for dinner called Rodeo as a room. I've been listening to a lot of Jesus Culture today. If you don't know them, check them out. That and Jason Uptin, he's an amazing worship leader guy. The skies are clear and pretty today. Which is uncommon in LA hence my noting it. O!!! You know you have acclimated when 60 degrees is freezing to you. Like really I've been cold for days and I don't think it's dropped below 60. hee hee...

1st Traveling Service

So I had the honor of being on the first traveling service. WOOT WOOT!!! I personally think it was amazing, it wasn't a full production like we normally do but God was definitely there. We did a chapel service for the school, and did the youth service that night at the church. Our job was just to hang out with the kids then pray for them at the end. I have never prayed for anyone before, but it was so amazing. Like I could seriously do this kind of stuff everyday. It was so nerve racking before the alter call though, all through Justin's sermon I swear I was about to puke. But once you get up there, and that first girl comes to you to be prayed for. Yeah, nothing beats it. I'm not the most eloquent pray-er or anthing but hey God works through anyone. That be me awesome story. Until next time...

A Poem

Life is like an hour glass
We sit and watch our minutes tick
We know we'll never get them back
Yet we sit and we wait
What we're all waiting for
My guess is as good as yours
To belong to love to live
Maybe if we accepted a lil more
Loved a lil more freely
Lived a lil more radically
Then maybe just maybe
We'd find out what it was
That we were all waiting forAnd realize that
Instead of waiting we lived
If even for a moment...

My Apologies

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy and the Internet has been down lol. Anyway the most exciting thing currently is I got picked to be part of the first traveling service... Which happens tomorrow!!! Ah I'm scared but super stoked so be praying that that all goes well. Peaces y'all. Remember if you've never be faces with the decision to quit then you've never known success.

Untitled

So today someone from our group, Vijay, got up and shared a testimoney. He went to a missions trip in Jamaica. While there this lady shared her testimoney. I'm sharing this with you because she wishes for it to be shared as an encouragement to others. She had ovarion cancer. So severely that the doctors wanted to rush her into emergency surgery. She told them no and said she was going to a church camp, and she would reasses the situation when she got back. The first day at the camp she spent from sun up to sun down in the chapel praying. The next night she felt this scratching in her stomach. Three times this happened. Three times there were no marks. She went to the doctor when she got home. She made them retake her x-rays. On her x-rays there were two hands with holes in them imprinted on her ovaries. Not one sign of cancer.
Phil Wagner spoke today. He said one quote that stood out to me. No one person can change the world but you can change the world for one person - George Hoffman

Stronger

I just worked out while listening to stronger. My word working out sure makes you feel good. I can feel my arms getting stronger and I'm getting more endurance whilst running. Not that this matters to most. I'm just proud of myself.

Creppy...

Alright, as many of you know the Dream Center used to be a hospital. Story time... Me and two of my friends were playing basketball outside. We called it ghetto basketball. Basically there was a crack on the side of the wall and if you hit it you got a point. Anyway, tying it all together. The building we were playing against turned out to be the place where they burned the dead people (the creamatory, creamatorium???). If you look down the steps you can see the gurney that they wheeled the dead people through the tunnel on. Then we walked down the stairs and saw this window that was in a horror movie. So eerie cause it was all dark. I looked down the tunnel where they wheeled the dead people through. It looked like it was never ending. So that was my cool story.

OMG!!!

Alright so nothing totally awesome to report really. I went to Santa Monica yesterday. Karine (she's from Norway) bought a long board andlet me ride it. Jensen now wants one. Soooo bad!!! Anyway maybe tomorrow I'll post the pictures.
Random fact: today I saw Danny Gokey from American Idol. He's here at the Dream Center doing something or other. I don't really know. So be jealous, very jealous.

Just Another Sunday

So today we had a guest speaker at church. I feel bad cause I can't for the life of me remember his name. Anyway he has this website called invisblepeople.tv. What this guy did was drive around the country interviewing the homeless to bring their stories to the public. What's truly amazing about this ishl he did it all with just $45, an iPhone, a video camera, and a back pack full of socks. Through blogs, and social websites like Twitter he has brought attention to their stories. He has inspired change because he saw a need and wanted to help fill it. What are your passions? What gets your blood pumping? What are you going to do about it? Don't look at what you don't have, look at what you can do. What talents and skills do you have? I encourage you to think outside of the box and so something to fix the problem. Don't look at the obsticles but look at how to be a solution. I know it's overused by people all the time but, "Be the change you wish to see." You don't have to have it all together just some time and a cause.

Blam

Mmmm... Nothing too exciting to put here. Everything is going good. Did AAB today, just sat and talked to this lady for a couple of hours. She was so nice, totally made me and the other people I was with feel at home.

So this is my knee, and it's wonderful case of floor burn. I was running away from Sasha (one of the many people who reside on my floor), and bit it. Like BIG TIME. I was running full speed, and got to the end of the hall. I pivoted (forgot I was in socks), and WHOOSH I was down. It was pretty exciting.

Went grocery shopping last night. Thank the Lord for that random lady who knew where the bread was. PB&J is a staple in our room. So me and one of my roomies were running around like mad women trying to find the bread. I'm sure it was awesome to see.

Well that is all of my exciting stories for the moment.

Peace y'all

Recap

So nothing too exciting. Took the bus to go to Venice, but we ended up going to the Santa Monica Pier. I never saw the beach. We ate dinner and rode the bus home. I spent like two hours or more on the bus for nothing lol. It was fun though. I don't really know of anything else that's super exciting. I'll put something up when something happens.

1 Cor. 13

The love chapter. I never heard of doing this before but someone chllenged me recently to this simple exercise. All the characteristics of love in this chapter should be evident in your own character. So here take the time. Dust off that Bible and insert your name every time it says love. It should look something like this (with your own name of course ;P)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.
Jensen is patient, Jensen is kind. She does not envy, she does not boast, she is not proud. She is not rude, she is not self-seeking, she is not easily angered, she keeps no record of wrongs. Jensen does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. She always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jensen never fails.
Kind of puts things into perspective eh??

Van Gogh

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Just mull that over for a while. It's pretty powerful when you think about it.

Just Another Saturday

Sooo... I'm really supposed to be working on my Scriptures atm.... But eh they aren't due till next week anyway. Why be proactive?? Jk jk (I will get them done mom). Anyway, we did Adopt a Block today. I found out my permenant site. I'm pretty stoked. We got the chance to pray for a couple of people, and invite them to church. I really felt like I was doing something. It was so exciting. I really did have something exciting to write about, but now I have no idea what it was. There's some show about sperm whales on the tv. Its throat is big enough to swallow a grown man, and it's just a baby. Jonah anyone?? It's pretty hot today. It was rainy the past couple of days, reminded me of home, bleh. Well seeing as I'm just rambling I'll go back to scriptures now. Peace y'all!

Whoo!!

Alright so last night I did the bus ministry for the first time. Basically we go to the projects and give people rides to church who normally wouldn't be able to come. This kid sat next to me on the way back, and pointed out the sites. Where the new police department was, where the classical music for the Disney movies is made. It was pretty awesome. He also shared some crazy stories with me. Truly eye opening. It was cool to see LA through a locals eyes.

On another thought, I got told what track I'm in for the next three months today (which ministry I get to help out in, we call them tracks). I get youth ministry!!! I'm totally stoked about it. We're starting this whole thing over, we're building a youth ministry from the ground up. And I get to be a part of it! I'm so excited for all the amazing things God's going to do. Because I have a feeling that this is going to be CRAZY.

Last thought for you all today... Here's some pictures of my dorm lol :P

Here's the view from the window in the hall. You can't tell here but you can see the Hollywood sign and the Observatory (which is amazing, I went there yesterday)

This next picture is the lovely view from my window. I know it's an excellent cement wall.

This is my room. Pretty bare, we're working on that. That blue bed is mine. That's my shirt sitting on it. Exciting I know.

This is our awesome sink. Everyone comes in to see it. No one else has one like it. But most of them have actual bathrooms so there you go.

Why LA??

I forgot in my first post to put why exactly I'm in LA and what exactly I'm doing. I'm in LA at a church called the Dream Center. I'm in a program called The Movement (similar to Master's Commision to those of you who know what that is). Pretty much I'm taking a year of my life off to devote it solely to God and serving His people. Sounds a little cliche I know. But it's amazing. I get tbe involved with pretty much every ministry in the Dream Center. I'll explain more in detail later when I know a little bit more. It's all still new and crazy but I'm lovin' it! Plus my battery is dyin' :O

Whoa

Alright, so this is my first blog while in LA. I've been here about a week and a half. It's been completely amazing, and eye opening. I love this city. It's movin' and busy, not to mention sunny. Except the past couple of days it's been raining. We haven't been doing too much, just a lot of orientations and meetings. We did have Hell Day (appropriately named if you ask me). They woke us up at 2 a.m. to wash our feet like Jesus washed his diciples. All the while I'm thinking o man we aren't going to ge to crawl back in bed after this are we? No, we didn't. We then went and put on shoes and socks (and normal clothes for those like me who showed up in their p.j.'s :P ). Then we were locked in a dark room for a time of prayer and worship. Which was amazing once I got past the point of practically sleeping standing up. Time to go to bed yet?? NOPE!!! We went outside and did team building exercises. We also walked to the Bonnie Brae House (sorry if that is horribly misspelt). That is where the Azusa Street Revival Started. Talk about incredible. Lunch time finally. (I snuck a quick nap in there) Up again and time to walk to Hollywood. That's about 10 miles from the Dream Center (about 2 1/2 hours one way). But there was a reason behind all this madness. We knelt down and prayed on the stars on the walk of fame. I was by Britney Spears and Destiny's Child. One of the most tiring days of my life. But one of the most amazing. When you think that you don't have any more to give, that's when you rely on God to keep you going, keep one foot movin' in front of the other. Without Him I never would have made it.