Faith Hope and Love

Engagement Photos

2008-06-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

The guy, a fellow World Impact missionary, that is taking our pictures for our wedding wanted to practice for the wedding day...so here are some of them!!

Long Over Due!!!

2008-06-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

I guess I have failed at "being good" about keeping up with this blog:)

Good news...for those of you who haven't heard!! Manolo proposed to me in April, and we're getting married August 8, 2008!!!! We're busy planning the wedding...God has been so faithful to us and has provided so much help and resources for our big day!! We will be getting married in Burbank, CA and we still are not sure where we'll go for our honeymoon.

We have other exciting news too!! Manolo and I will be leading a new church planting team in the new neighborhood where we'll be living. A couple of weeks ago at the church service at the Watts Powerhouse church they commissioned us to plant a church in a new area. We have an amazing potential team, who we are praying with and we are so excited to see what God does!!! God has given us vision to plant simple, organic house churches and it will be in a neighborhood in South Los Angeles! Please pray with us as we prepare for a new and exciting season!!

1 YEAR

2008-02-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

Manolo and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on Saturday!! I can't believe it's been a year!! Our actual anniversary was on the 21st, but we went out for it Saturday. He brought me a home-made card (which I cried the whole time I was reading it) and some amazing flowers in the morning!! He went to the flower mart in Downtown LA EARLY Sat. morning and picked them out himself for me. What I mean by "picked the out" (for those of you who DON'T live in LA) I mean he put together his own bouquet for me!! 24 red roses and some hot pink gerber daisies and some babies breath (that's what it's called right?)!! He didn't even know that Gerber Daisies were my FAVORITE!!! Their beautiful and I loved them!! We went to Outback for dinner, watched a movie, and then went to ColdStone for dessert! Even though I love Outback and the food was so good...my favorite part of the day was for sure the card he made for me!!

Reflecting over this year with Manolo has made me very thankful for many things and people...but has made me especially thankful for one friend in paticular. She has been super faithful and more available than I think I've ever had a friend be to me...she's committed to praying for me each day, a consistent prayer and accountability partner, and most recently exercising partner!! I remember when it was like three days after she had her little girl, I came to her house and despite all reasons to not have time for me..she STILL made time to talk and pray with me! Thanks Laura for being such an example of Christ to me, and of true friendship! You have taught me so much about what it means to be a woman of faith!

Check out the pictures of my flowers!!!

Candidate Calculator

2008-02-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hey!! I just heard about this great website that will help you know which candidate you should vote for BASED on your own beliefs!! It gives you a list of Presidential issues, you mark YES, NO or UNSURE to say whether you support them and also can mark how important each issue is to you. When you're done it tells you which Presidential candidate you should vote for based on what answeres you marked. If you don't know much about some issues you can click on it, and it gives general information on the issue and then a paragraph or more that supports and well...doesn't support each issue. It's great!! Check it out!!

Here's the website: http://www.vajoe.com/

Another Hollywood "star"

2008-01-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness!!! So today I was doing the normal thing...walking into the juror line to walk through the security area and I heard one of the officers say something to the man who was 2 people in front of me. He said something like, "they got you here too?" "I've seen everything now". My first thoughts were....maybe he is a judge or someone like that.

Then I saw the side of his face...and it looked just like CHANDLER!!! (Okay, yes his real name is Matthew Perry) At the risk of being judged by some of you, I will admit that one of my favorite all- time shows is FRIENDS. So you can imagine my excitement. He started to walk towards the snack bar or whatever its called, clearly disappointed (as he should be), he walked back towards the elevators. When I saw him walking towards the snack place I figured I could play off looking for a snack....so I started to follow him, so I could be sure that it really was him. And then not so smoothly pretended like I wasn't actually noticing him/following him!!

THEN we ended up in the same elevator...he was headed to the juror floor, looking grumpy and um...just not very good! Nobody really noticed him, and if they did, no one said anything except that one security guy at the front. It was insane. It's so weird living in LA sometimes!!! Chandler?!?!?!

Okay, and for all you haters, I know he's just a "normal" person and blah blah blah...but it's still fun to see people you normally only see on TV, ok?

Boooo....

2008-01-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

After another three hours of trying to find a "fair" jury...and despite all my efforts of not being picked while still being honest...I got picked. The judge took a few of us to his "chambers" with the two attorneys and the lady that writes everything down...to ask us questions...one at a time. It was scary! Maybe now that I don't have the hope that I'll be excused, I'll be more ok with serving. There is one hilarious 76 year old teacher lady is serving also...so at least I'll have her to make me laugh:) Oh yeah...guess who else is serving with me...Abraham Benrubi...he is in Men in Trees...was on ER (as Jerry)...plus movies like Without a Paddle...anyways...he's been in a lot...and I KNEW he was in something...just had no idea what. I thought he was someone from the show "Head of the Class" from way back...and then I thought he was in that show "Night Court"....I was WAY off! So finally today I just asked him:) Recognize him from the picture??

Jury Duty

2008-01-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

I always thought that jury duty would be SO fun...until I actually had to serve for jury duty. I almost made it through the very boring, very uneventful day on Tuesday, until about 4pm (about 1/2 before the rest of the room was excused from their jury duty - duties) I was called with a group of 35 people to go to this court room. Only to be told to come in the next day...only to spend three hours to end up in the "alternate" jury seats...being questioned (I was so nervous....my heart was beating out of my neck!! I hate talking in front of people...) and then LEAVING again STILL having to go back today....and STILL they have not picked a jury. You would think after 3 HOURS they would be able to have a jury. Oh no not yet... I really hope they just don't like my sweater or something today and excuse me for it. The first day...I had a pretty good attitude and was kinda annoyed with all the grumbling...but after the second day...I left the place grumbling. I should be excited about serving my country in this way....right? If only I were...today I'm gonna try and make the most of it...

I don't understand how to put the pics. where I ACTUALLY WANT THEM....

2007-12-05T12:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas at THE OAKS

2007-12-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas at THE OAKS this weekend. There were 47 of us all on the big fancy bus from Watts! We actually left around the planned time of 8am which was a miracle in itself!! It was freezing cold there, but I loved the cold!! Sadly, after living in LA for 4 years, I really like the gloomy, rainy or cold days (that we get like four times a year...)! Anything different from the normal 75 and sunny, is actually kind of nice:)

Our friend Maria and her six kids went and I think they had a lot of fun. I guess as much fun as a single mom with six kids under the age of 9 could have, right? They made a lot of crafts, ate two meals together around the table, and hopefully (depending on level of sleepiness!) all heard the Christmas story!

The sad news...Michael, a fourth grader, whose family just lost their son who was in the 9th grade, lost his $250 Ipod while he was there. I guess he left it somewhere, and someone (who goes by the rules of "finders keepers, losers weepers") picked it and kept it to theirself. Sad news #2...a woman from Watts, who has only come to church a few Sundays, was able to come with us for the day at THE OAKS. Sunday, the day after, she came to church hysterical telling us that she had left her wallet with $700 in it (including her rent money) up at THE OAKS. We have heard NOTHING from THE OAKS as far as finding the wallet or money.

I have more sad news...but before I get into that. Why can't anyone lose anything at THE OAKS, and actually get it back?? Why is the lost and found at THE OAKS full of old crafts, dentures, friendship bracelets, but never actually things that people care about finding?

Okay...but some more sad news...maybe the worse news of it all. Maria went to cash her check for the month yesterday. After she cashed it, she was mugged...and whoever it was stole all her money. This might not be quite as tragic for someone who has a savings account...or even someone who isn't supporting six children (7 months old is the youngest) by herself. So...what does she do during this Christmas season without the check that she uses to buy food, medicine and whatever her family needs? (the obvious and very true answer is that God is always faithful and never fails us!!)

Some good news is that for Christmas (as far as presents go) this family is well taken care of!! There are already a few churches/small groups that have "adopted" her family in blessing them with gifts! So that'll be nice for them!

Please pray that during this time that Maria will put her hope in the Lord. She has a very new relationship with God, but pray that during this trial that she will depend on God and see His faithfulness in it. Pray for Manolo and I as we continue to minister to her, and try and encourage her during this time. How scary, too, right, to be mugged?

The picture is a few months old, but it's a picture of Maria after Manolo baptized her...about a week after she accpted Christ as her Savior!!

Babysitting...

2007-11-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

I babysat for Elijah today!! (Don't be jealous Danielle!!) We had a fun time together!! We played connect four about forty two times, and we spent a lot of time coloring. At some point Elijah managed to color all of his hands completely...and make a mark on the rug...oops...I guess I'm not such a great babysitter!!! He's adorable...thanks for letting me watch him Dave and Laura!! Oh yeah...and he only talked about Manolo about five or six times, I think he missed him:)

Thanksgiving in San Francisco!

2007-11-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Here we are...Manolo, his Great Aunt Bea and I driving down the 110 North at the beginning of our very smooth, very nice 7 hour drive (which included a stop at Carl's Jr), all the way up to the Bay Area!! Overall...we had a great time with his family! His sister was visiting from Wheaton, IL, and it was super nice to hang out with her and get to know her more. Thanksgiving dinner was super yummy!! I made (well Taroh and I) cranberry relish, with my Grandma's recipe, except we had to make some changes!! But it turned out really good:) We spend some time in the city the day after Thanksgiving, and walked around one of Manolo's favorite areas called The Haight.

We had to get away from some drama with the family...so we drove like fifteen minutes away from his Grandparents house and this is where we ended up. AMAZING, right? It was so beautiful and so peaceful! Why don't we have any place like this to drive to near LA?? Oh well.... We were able to just pray, talk and reflect on some things that God is teaching us.

Okay...anyways, here's a really cool story I want to share. Manolo's grandparents live in a pretty small city, that is surrounded by all these other small cities, that make up this county called Marin, right outside San Francisco. It's a cute little place, and seems sort of "fairy tailish". But...there is this massage parlor (and probably more...) that is involed in human sex trafficking by their house. One night we saw a street fair, and we went to a couple of booths, but then went over to the parlor. We started praying outside of the place, and singing praises. We started praying that God would send out one of the women. About fifteen minutes into our prayer time a woman came out. Our hearts were both beating like crazy, and we started talking with her. We asked her if she was okay (For those of you who don't know there are many many massage parlors and other places like this one all over the world where girls are held against their own will, many who were tricked into coming to the U.S. being promised a good job to earn money for their families at home and are made to have sex with men that come into the parlors/clubs...it's modern day slavery) and she said she was fine. We talked to her for about five minutes, Manolo told her about Jesus and we made sure she knew that if she wanted to get away we could get her to a safe place. She said no she was fine, but we did ask her if we could pray for her, and she told us to come back tomorrow. We came back tomorrow, a little nervous not knowing who would be there that day and knowing that our lives could be in danger. We ended up talking to one of the men who work in the parlor, maybe as a driver, and he told us his story about how he went to seminary and had given his life to Christ about ten years ago. He told us that he had gotten caught up in sin, and desires a restored relationship with Christ. We prayed for him, and Manolo got his number in order to keep in contact with him. The craziest thing is that we were expecting to help a woman or two escape to a safe place. Instead God brought us two of the men who work in this sex industry to talk and pray with. We pray that God would change the life of this man, and through the man the parlor will be shut down and ALL the women in that parlor can be rescued! Please pray with us for these women, this parlor, and all the others across the world.

First Blog Ever...

2007-11-19T23:45:00.000-08:00

I officially have my first blog!! I was against having a blog for so long, and so I tried the Myspace thing...that got old pretty quick. But now I'm SUPER excited!! WooHoo!!! Manolo and I leave for San Francisco on Wednesday! I can't wait to go!! It's so nice and so beautiful up there! It'll be nice to get away. His grandparents live in Marin County...their street name is actually Butterfield Rd. Sounds like a fairy tale place, right? It looks like one, too!! I love it!!

Here's a pic. of Manolo and I...it'll be the first of many pics!!!

Welp....see ya later:P