@ Home - Back from UCYC

The 4^th-6^th grade camp was pretty cool. Nick, Adam and Richie were doing the musical worship this week too. Amberyly Neese was speaking again. I haven’t heard her speak in probably 3 years.  

The group that I had consisted of guys that I didn't know, which was great, but a whole ton of work. They didn't really band together either, but that's alright because I didn't expect perfection. I did my best to be a counselor that listened and did everything that they wanted to do, but this year my guys weren't really adventurous like every year prior... whatev. My 25th birthday up at UCYC was perfect. It wasn't really a big deal which was nice and there was a UCYC staff member named Julie that also had the same birthday, but she turned 19. I also spent some time contemplating and just thinking that night about what was going on in my life and it was much needed. I spent that time at night on a rock, looking up at the radiant stars that were blaring that night. Camp was magnificent!

@ Home - After Ab Ripper X

Every time I do the P90X’s Ab Ripper X program I am reminded of why I am pursuing this Kidney transplant. I have a Father, who needs a kidney. The more I think about the future, the selfish I get. I want to be normal, but the circumstances that I am in don’t allow me to be. I am selfishly afraid of the consequences of only living with one kidney. I need to provide for my family, even if I don’t have one of my own yet. God has provided for me, so I must provide for those around me. I just hope someone meets me who can understand that and still love me. I want to carry out a love revolution.

@ Home - After a quick run

Is it weird to say that I enjoy the smells that I pass through when running. I just got back from a run at 10:30pm with 86 °F air surrounding me. I guess what I think is so magnificent about running here in Arizona... at least where I run is the different experience you get from other places. There are different things about different places, like firefly's in the midwest and such... and on that subject I thought I saw one tonight and giggled, but it was just a big flappidy bug mesmerized by the streetlight. When running I enjoy the smells that the houses laundry vents blow out into the air, the cows, the trees, or the smells rolling out of car windows late at night. It's an interesting combination that I can't really describe, you just have to do it. So go out and run, it makes you feel good, you can learn a lot from the run, and even spend a quiet time with our maker, thanking him for our blessings.

@ Home - Homeless & Holy Spirit teaching

Today we served the homeless breakfast before service and it was a really neat experience. I didn't know that some of them spoke a little English, so next time i'm going to try and have conversation with them and hear their stories.

There has been a lot of learning on the Spirit lately and I really have been liking it. Relying on the Holy Spirit's power inside of ME is crucial to focusing on God. Just a quick realization that I thought as Romans 8:26 was read, the Holy Spirit takes an internal inventory of what we need, and speaks it to God.

I'm just amazed right now. There are still no job interviews yet for me, but I have been talking to people to earn extra money outside of Target doing audio and house sitting.

The challenge for this week at service was "Do something you can only do with the Holy Spirit." So basically do something that only scares you that the HS will get you through.

@ Home - What do I do now?

Can I give up??? I don’t mean giving up praying for my Dad to come around to Christ alone, but with giving my all to donate my kidney. I have arrived here in Arizona with the mentality that everything will work out. That I just need to get the medical imaging done so that we can be sure that I can donate a living kidney to my dad. The very thing that I was originally afraid of has happened; my dad has now refused to take my kidney. He told the case matcher this, so there is nothing that they can do to reverse this unless he says that he is willing to take my kidney. My dad has also not been “all” there these past few days and I am worried that has had some influence in his drastic decision. I understand giving excuses on why he doesn’t want to “take” my kidney, because he wants me to have a “normal” life. That is not who I am, I am not someone who can be selfish and say that I don’t want to have a small sacrifice for someone’s quality of life potentially being drastically improved. I want to help my parents live out their dreams of vacationing in Europe together; this is tough to do when you’re on dialysis 3 times a week. Ughh… now I must regress back to the point. What he can “receive”, he sees as a “take.” He is not taking anything from me that I am giving as a gift to him; he just has to be willing. There was a verse that cut straight to my heart more than I can remember any verse being able to do. It was 1 Timothy 5:8. It was read to many, but it immediately broke me down and I lost control. It happened in the midst of getting tested for compatibility and I believe that this verse still stands. I am willing, but my dad is not. Why?

@ Home - After my first day at the Gilbert Super Target

Today was neat. Tyler Rice , Chris Gutierrez, Drew and I went for sushi at this place that has a conveyor belt to distribute it. I thought it was really fun. And tried a ton of things, Most of the rolls had the seaweed wrap in it, but it was always rice on the outside so it didn't hit my taste buds right away. It surprised Chris and Tyler that Drew and I tried so many different things. It was actually pretty good. It's nothing that I would ask for by name, but maybe some day I will.

It was an interesting day at work today. They have a much different setup than any of the others that I have seen. One of the first major differences I noticed is that they have music playing. It is because they are not attached to the Target Cafe, and are in a standalone part of the store.

I made this dude's drink wrong because I didn't see the letters correctly in the boxes and announced it like I saw it. Well he didn't think that was right so I got told "well lets get going, remake the drink, chop chop" and I looked at our team lead. It ended up being fine and he took it and left; Arizona people can be downright rude.

The Team Leader is a stickler and very nitpicky about certain things but I'm sure I can get along for now. There is a lot of change that I need to adapt to, so we'll see where I can go from here.

@ Home - VBS Day 3

VBS has been amazing the past few days. The first day we talked about Simon, and Jesus calling him whilst fishing (Luke 5:1-16). Jesus gave him a new name "Peter" and made him someone unique, while feeling accepted. The second day we talked about Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-33) and about having faith. We did water games to fit the topic of the day, and it was pretty sweet. Tonight we talked about Peter's denial of Jesus 3 times (Matthew 26:31-35; 69-75) and I'm not sure if it was good... more so strange that when I came back into B200 after eating some food that the speaker was leading ALL the kids in the Sinner's Prayer. I look at Angela and she looks back at me, and we are just in shock of what is actually going on. This was not right for the speaker to do that, so she got up after that happened and said that she agreed with what the speaker was saying but that it was their choice and they can talk to the leaders or herself, or Pastor Chris about what it means to follow Jesus. She went on to say that at Chandler Christian Church we believe baptism is the next step so there is a class for that as well. She gave me the wide eyes when she was talking about that... it was so strange to have the lesson end with the speaker leading everyone with the Sinner's Prayer... Well that was quickly offset by the mention of the pudding games that we had tonight. It was totally Awesome! I was all puddin'd up.

As we were walking to the field us male leaders were discussing how we were going to take down a kid if he wanted to dive into the pudding pool. One of the mentioned take downs was the "tickle them until they pee take down" I immediately laughed and thought that was a great idea. I don't know why law enforcement don't use that one :) Twas a good night for all, because there was much fun to be had. I mean who can say they had a pudding all over themselves from a pudding war. There were many cans of chocolate, vanilla, and tapioca used to make the pool full of pudding.

Also I got the job transfer to the Target Starbucks that I wanted, which is 4 miles away from my house... all freeway. And sadly tomorrow the Coquillard family (Joe, Lisa, and Traci) is leaving to Indiana for Joe's new Senior Pastor job. They will be missed here locally very much.