Traveling.

So it's been awhile since I've updated, all the days have begun to blur together. We went to Portland, Oregon, and then further down Oregon. And now we are in Oakdale, California. We have been really enjoying ourselves. We visited a Wildlife Safari/Zoo type place. We saw many types of cute animals. :)

Our drive today was quite exhausting, and we were very thankful to get to Josh's home in Cali. I have been sick for a few days, so that's been quite frustrating. But God has been good, and I'm getting over the sickness at a pretty good speed. My right ear is plugged right now, probably from the different climate. But I'm sure it'll return to normal soon.

We have two more services, and then we head home. We are unsure of how it will work, but we are hoping our van will be ready. We really miss our suitcases and the things we left behind in Idaho.

Whoops.

We figured our van would be fixed by today or tomorrow, but now we have found that they have to look for van parts, and that it won't be ready until next Wednesday. We are borrowing a church's van, which is a real blessing, and because of it we have been able to get from Idaho to Oregon. But, we left most of our belongings behind in Idaho, and we only packed for 2-3 days. However, now that we won't have our van until next week, we are stuck with only 2-3 outfits, and no bathing suits. Whoops.

Oh well, the real mission's trip begins now. I have only a few dollars left, and so I won't be able to get a bathing suit before we go to california. But, there is a chance we won't be able to go to the beach. But it's all good, it's really helping us to bond well with one another. I love my team and I love how unified everyone has been. Everyone has been loving and patient through all that we have gone through. It's a great testimony :) Love you guys!!

On the Road Again?

All day today we were unsure of what would happen with our van. In the end, we have discovered that the van is not fixed, and will not be ready for 7am tomorrow. We had many thoughts of how we would get to Portland. Our main idea was to rent a van and head down to Oregon. But we realized that it is to hard to do, especially on such short notice.

But God provided for us. The church we are staying at right now is lending us their van, so that we can get to Oregon. It is a much smaller van so we have to pack all our necessities into a small backpack each. Then we're driving to Portland. When our van is fixed and ready to go, a woman from Boise is going to drive it to Portland, and do a great van swap. She is so sweet for being willing to do that. This church has been very kind to all of us. They have provided us with houses to stay at, and food for all of our meals since we arrived. It's very sweet of them :)

Despite van troubles, we still had a good day. Me, Josh and Sam got hair cuts at a beauty school. The haircuts only cost $4 each, but the lady who drove us ended up paying for all of our haircuts. So sweet :) The other half of the team went to the mall. We also played a game called Bang. In the afternoon Sam and I handed out flyers at a local park.

This evening we did a service at the Treasure Valley Church. It went really well :) The audience was very responsive, and laughed lots and were very interactive. Afterwards I had the privilege of singing the song for the ministry time. It seemed to go well. I enjoyed being able to sing and use that as my prayer over the people. Then we transitioned into prayer time, and I got to pray with a sweet group of youth girls. It's so amazing to be able to speak truth and life into people's lives. :) But yes, the evening went very well. Now Lana and I are back at our homestay's house. We have to be up in 6 hours so we probably should go sleep.

Van Trouble.

We left Idaho Falls today, and ate a nice breakfast at Shari's. I wasn't very hungry so I didn't end up eating my entire meal. We headed out on the road, anticipating a 4-5 hour drive, therefore arriving in Boise by about 3:00. But, this was not the case today. At about 1:30, after a few pee and gas stops, we were on cruise control on the big highway. Suddenly the van began to slowly decrease in speed and it was as if we were in neutral. We pulled over to the side of the road, and it just stopped running. We tried to restart the van, but that did not happen. The van would not turn over.

Josh called the next church that we were staying at to let them know about our situation. They referred us to a towing and transmission company (as we suspected that we were having Transmission problems), and we called the company. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. The time seemed to fly by, and we kept occupied. We played games, recorded videos, read my seventeen magazine, took pictures, created pee shelters for the girls who really had to go, layed in the grass, played music, and basically just chilled. The only person who stopped was a police officer, wondering if we were okay.

At about 6:00, 4.5 hours after our van died, the tow truck arrived. They loaded up our dear Willie, and put him on a big flat bed truck. We took pictures of the team by the van, as it was on the tow-truck. Two of our team members, and the tow-truck driver, piled into the tow-truck cab. Then the remaining 8 of us went into a tiny mini-van with another tow-truck driver. We were packed in that little van (be aware that we documented our day very well with pictures. Be on the look-out for pictures that I'm tagged in on facebook... those will be up in the next few days to week).

We drove one hour to Boise, and then waited at the transmission/auto place for about half an hour. Then the pastor of the church we'll be doing a show at tomorrow came and picked us up in the church 15-passenger van. It's smaller then our regular van, and it didn't have the roof rack. But we packed that van full with all our suitcases, sleeping bags, backpacks, pillows, props and musical gear. We went to the church and at an amazing dinner, and then got dropped off at all our billet homes. Lana and I are at this elderly couples house, they are so sweet! We hope that our van is fixed sometime tomorrow, but we can't guarantee. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Over and out.

Goodbye Montana, Hello Idaho.

Last night was such a blast. We all stayed up really late (asides from Josh who had to get sleep so that he was awake enough to drive us), and watched movies and hung out. I watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs with Kramer and Dawn-Marie, and I love that movie. It's super cute. Afterwards I got on a laptop and skyped Nic for an hour and a half. It was so nice to be able to actually talk to him and hear about his life. :)

Today we cleaned up the beautiful house we were staying at, and then headed on the road to Idaho. I had left my purse at the last church we had been at, but thankfully the pastor was at the church so I was able to get it back. Today we arrived in Idaho early, so we went and saw Iron Man 2, and then bummed around for awhile. Now we are at a church, eating strawberries, hanging out together, watching veggietales, ad getting ready for tomorrow's drive. :)

Yellowstone & Wyoming

We visited Yellowstone National Park yesterday with the other tour team. Oh my word, I did not realize how massive it is! It borders 3 different states (Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming). It is gorgeous! I love it so much! We saw Old Faithful, and huge waterfalls, and geysers and lots of animals! Amazingly, we saw 4 bears in the park! Along with many bison and deer and longhorn animals. It was so beautiful :) It snowed at part of the park, and it was actually so pretty with all the snow and everything haha. Definitely cold though, I did not pack for this cold of weather.

Today we did a Sunday morning service in Cody, Wyoming. It was a really great service, and God was definitely moving in and through each member of our team. The past few days we have really focused on our team's unity. We have been praying specifically for each other, and just loving each other like God wants us to do. It is so great, and I love every person on my team. They are all so gifted and I love seeing them work in those giftings. :)

We had a great lunch at a place called Bubba's Barbeque. It had delicious food, and we definitely ate lots. Later in the evening we did a youth service, and had a blast with the 10-15 youth that were there. It was a great time of working together, and meeting new people.

AND, God totally blessed us with a rockin' place to stay tonight. Last night we stayed on the cold floor of a church basement (which we were grateful for). But today at church, a man came up to us and said he wanted to bless us. He and his wife own a vacation home on a big ranch, and they said we could stay their for the night. Oh my gosh, this house is HUGE! We are seriously spoiled. This house has 18 beds, 5 huge bedrooms, a massive projector screen tv with dvd and wii, a flat screen tv upstairs, a huge kitchen (probably as big as half of the upper floor of my house... if not bigger), 6 bathrooms, 5 showers, a jacuzzi tub, and a beautiful plot of land overlooking Wyoming mountains and ranches. We are SO spoiled!! It is so nice to just relax and enjoy each other's company. We have watched a few movies, played wii, played games, caught up on computer time, eaten food together, and really had a good team bonding time. We are so blessed and so thankful for this opportunity.

PS. if anyone wants an amazing vacation place to stay at, go to Bull Moose Retreat. It is the bomb!!! :)

Yellowstone, Montana

We are off to Yellowstone together :) 20 people, all together. I'm excited!