Monday, May 31, 2010

Downtown Sharing, got a job, and Monday Night Live

Ok so the day started off with a challenge for me. We were gonna go downtown sharing the gospel to the locals and possibly tourists of Juneau. I was pretty nervous about it if I was honest! I don't really like street evangelism because I like to get to know someone and build trust before I try to evangelize. But having said that this experience was pretty awesome. Talked to about 7 different people. Most of the people we just showed love instead of talking about God. I just kept repeating in my head "its about the holy spirit, its not about me". That really helped me calm down a lot. So the experience was pretty good overall but hard and a good step of faith.

I did find a job today which was good...I am gonna work at safeway in the deli. Hopefully I get a discount on meat and I will be having ham sandwiches everyday!! The hours might not be good but I think I can work my way to more hours. So that is just a God send. I really find myself not being thankful enough for it. Its crazy to think that I got a job by walkin around for a few days. I need to work on not taking anything for granted.

Monday Night Live is our weekly meeting on mondays where we plan our week. We split up into our ministry teams. I chose to be on the cru meeting team. We basically plan the weekly cru meeting on Wednesday. So its gonna be awesome. I might play guitar if they need it our maybe emcee if they need it.

So overall a good day and I will start work on Wednesday at 9 am and hopefully work on thank you letters and service projects tomorrow. Thanks for your support as always. Love ya'll

Ginger out

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Church, hangin with Kaitlin, and frisbee

Today was an awesome day that I really needed.

First we started off by goin to church in the morning. We split all 32 of us into 6 seperate churches around the Juneau community to try and help as many churches as we can. I went to Glacier Valley Baptist and it was really old school baptist feel. They have a pretty big college aged sunday school class that was cool. Kind of awkward because we didn't know half the people but it will definitely get better next week and for the rest of the summer. The preacher was pretty cool too. He was real old school as well. He cracked a few jokes but kept it pretty simple and preached on giving. I thought it was funny how the first sermon we heard was about giving haha.

Then we went to a local church families house. It was the Buck family that they were incredibly hospitable and welcomed us in like family. The wife of the family has a scent allergy so we had to wash our clothes in a specific detergent, couldn't wear deodorant, cologne, shampoo our hair, or wear body wash. She apparently gets migraines from a lot of artificial scents. Bless her heart though because I can tell from being around her for a few hours that she still loves to have people around!! We ate some hot dogs then the best chocolate cake of my life. After that we played volleyball with the Bucks for 3 hours. That was also fun. We also quoted some movies with the boys and I think our church group is gonna be a ton of fun!

Then I got to go meet Kaitlin's dad which was good. I wanted to make a good impression so I was nervous but I had a good time and I hope he did too. I already met her little brother and he seems like a pretty chill kid too. We had some pork ribs and hung out. It was great to see Kaitlin for a few hours!!

Then we went and played frisbee. That was a ton of fun as well because I hadn't played frisbee in a long time! I really had fun when I got to beat the KU girl and rub it in her face. That is always fun...haha.

Overall a great day and we are gonnna go share the gospel downtown tomorrow. I'm kinda nervous but I know its gonna be a learning experience. I just need to learn not to be ashamed to talk about my beliefs. Being bold in my faith is something I need to work on and I hope it happens tomorrow. I'll keep you updated with a post tomorrow

Ginger out

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Roadtrip videos

Sorry this took so long but I am gonna try to post some of the vids from the roadtrip. I am gonna upload some of the highlight vids. I have more but some of them are very similar.

This first vid is called Rams in the road. Kind of sell explanitory. There were a bunch of rams in the middle of the alaskan hwy and we couldn't get around them

Rams in the road

This next video is quite possibly the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. This lake that we stopped at was clear as could be and surrounded by mountains. The first time we thought we were getting into the good scenery.

Muncho Lake

This next vid is the sign post forest. People put up signs to show where they were from

Sign Post Forest

The next vid is a bunch of vids put together. It the scenery on day 5 of our trip. The landscape is absolutely incredible. It might be kind of long but the image of lakes and mountains just kept coming up so I had to document it. Enjoy

Day 5 Scenery

Thanks again for everyones support and I'll update the blog tonight about my week at Echo Ranch Bible Camp.

Ginger out

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Really tough day but God showed up in the end

So day 2...we started off with orientation and learned about how to defend yourself from a bear attack and what we don't do in the housing here. The talking of bear attacks kinda scared me a little bit I'm gonna be honest but I think its gonna be fine. I will never travel alone now!

The tough part of the day was the job hunting. I thought I had a job at Glacier Gardens which is a tour guide job in the mountains. But the lady there kinda didn't live up to her word and gave my job away. I wasn't mad at the guys who got the job I was just a little upset at Tina (the lady who told me to interview when I got there). So after that I was really discouraged and angry. And the day had only just started. Then I went around to every shop and store in downtown Juneau that didn't have jewelry in the name and asked if they were hiring project guys. I think I went to at least a total of 30 places. I filled out about 5 applications but I don't remember where because I went to so many places. It was just a day of a lot of failure so it seemed.

Then I went to the weekly cru meeting and I feel like God just showed up. He brought an awesome feeling of grace over me and the other project guys helped me to be in a good joking mood. One of the guys named Alex from George Mason has really been a good guy to get to know. He is a big jokester so he usually brings my mood up. And meeting some of the local Juneau college kids was great too. I got to see Kaitlin as well which is always a plus. I would be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed that.

So the day basically started off horribly but God really showed me that he has the job thing under control and I shouldn't let it ruin my mood. He just brought peace and a calm to me that I have really come to appreciate. I get way to stressed out so God being there for me has been great.

Pray for me that I would really be able to focus on the task at hand for the project and not my personal struggles as much. My mood and attitude have been bad lately so I want to improve upon that. God is really testing my faith in him and my will to focus on reaching the people of Juneau. Also pray that I wouldn't think about Kaitlin too much. I would be lying if I said I don't think about her everyday. I need to once again focus on building relationships with these guys and bringing the gospel to the people of Juneau. I want to make sure that Kaitlin and I's relationship is glorifying to God and not what I place my value in. She is a great girl and I hope that God guides me in our relationship. Also just pray for the people of Juneau that we would be able to reach as many people as possible through our movement. (On a side note we heard a local christian radio station give us a shout out on the radio...it was awesome!!) Pray that I wouldn't be nervous or feel awkward talking to people about the gospel.

Sorry for the long post again!! I just feel like God is tugging on my heart and working on me to improve my relationship with him and the people around me. Oh and I will try to post some videos if I have some spare time on Sunday. I am going camping for the next two days so I will update the blog on Saturday. Thanks again for your support and prayers and I'll update this bad boy on Saturday

Ginger out

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Whats up 907

I finally made it to my home in Juneau. It was a long ferry ride and getting up at 4:30 am is not something I want to do everyday. It was cool to meet almost everyone on project today. A few of the guys are flying in tonight so we will meet them later. I can definitely see that I'm not the typical Juneau guy. There are a ton of outdoorsy type guys here which is obvious but it will be interesting to see how I coexist with these guys. Just from first glance we don't have as much in common as I would like but thats ok. Hopefully God will show me how to coexist and show these guys unconditional love even if we aren't the best of friends. I have had some trouble relating to these guys so far so I can definitely see God working in me to teach me patience with other people.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and just getting the day started. It will be nice to get into the swing of things and not feel like a hobo who lives out of a truck. I'm gonna go check out jobs tomorrow and make sure I have a job lined up at Glacier Gardens.

I got to see Kaitlin today which was nice. She seemed really stressed out from work so I hope she doesn't get too stressed out before she goes to New York. I just hope I can keep my focus on Juneau this summer and make sure that our relationship is glorifying to God and not something that will distract me. I've found that to be really hard to keep God in front of people here on earth including Kaitlin. Its amazing how easy it is to live your day without even thinking about the God that created the awesome mountains that I'm looking at. This project should teach me how to keep God in prospective through daily life.

Well anyway God is already teaching me things about living in community with other guys who are a lot different than me. This is could be a really long summer but I thing that once I meet all the dudes and get to know them well that I will really enjoy this summer.

Ginger out

Monday, May 24, 2010

Canada is not my favorite country but the Alaskan Highway is mind blowing!! Oh and Skagway is kinda boring

So I finally have interwebs so I can update the blog. Where should I start??

The last time I updated you I was in Alberta sleeping in a motel that was actually nicer than some of the hotels I've stayed at in the States. Well that day we drove from Whitecourt, AB to Ft. Nelson, BC. The day was pretty cool we arrived at the famous Alaskan Highway at Dawsons Creek, BC. The drive just got much more scenic after that. I don't have time to upload all the videos but the scenery was out of this world!! Imagine mountains on one side and lake on the other while you are driving through the Rockies.

We ran into a lot of wildlife too. We saw about 10 bears total and about 5 to 10 moose. We actually drove right next to a bear who was about 10 feet away from our car. That was pretty awesome. I only got about 8 total hours of driving in on the Alaskan Highway but they were awesome! At one point we had to come to a complete stop because a group of rams were eating in the middle of the highway. My buddy Austin proceeded to get out and run at them making noises. The video is hilarious but once again I don't have time to upload it now. It will get on the blog once I get to Juneau hopefully.

We also hit the sign post forest in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was gonna be. There were easily thousands of sign posts. It was a pretty cool sight and video will be posted soon.

We arrived at Skagway last night around 11pm local time. Which is about 2 am my body time so I was needless to say a little tired! We then proceeded to drive around for about an hour and a half trying to find a campsite to sleep in. Everyone kinda got a little frustrated with one another but we eventually figured it out and stayed in a valley for free which is awesome.

The worst news of today is that our ferry got delayed. So if it didn't get delayed I would currently be heading to Juneau but since it did I'm sitting in the Skagway library hogging their interwebs. So we are kinda stuck here for the day and this town is boring! We are gonna eat some local cuisine tonight then camp out again. Our ferry leaves tomorrow morning at 7 am so we will have to be there around 5 am which is real early but I will be motivated to get to Juneau so its all good. I just want a room so I don't have to worry about where I'm sleeping the next night.

I will be posting a lot of video when I get to Juneau because it takes forever to upload then onto youtube and I don't have 4 hours to sit here and wait on the videos. I promise they will be good and hopefully entertaining. Well I am tired of sitting in this library and I will hopefully be updating my blog next from my permanent room in Juneau, AK.

Driving 60 or so hours with these 5 other guys has been an interesting experience. We are all different and its interesting to see God testing my patience with different personality types. That is part of the reason I went on this trip was to learn how to cope with different people. So I can see God working in that and its encouraging. Even though I might not get along with everyone all the time.

Ginger out

Friday, May 21, 2010

Canada part 2 and.....SNOW!!

So we started the day in Regina, Saskatchewan. The drive started off well cuz the weather was beautiful. It was about 70 degrees F and sunny. Started the day off with a group prayer like yesterday and started off on our journey.

We made it to Alberta which was awesome because Sasketchywan was a pretty lame province. We unfortunately hit Edmonton, Alberta at around 5 pm (rush hour traffic). It was not fun at all. Gas is also ridicuolous here!! Its about $4 dollars a gallon when its cheap. not cool at all...

Well the highlight of the day which will be the next video was a snow blizzard when we almost got to Whitecourt. (Which is where we are staying for the night). The snow was comin down really hard so I got kinda crabby because I realized that I would be camping in this real soon. And it also may have been because I drove about 6 hours today. I guess I was just ready to stop.

SNOW in May!!! (I'm cranky in the video fyi)

So overall a good day and we are just gonna hang out in this semi nice motel for the night. Got in early and its still light outside at 9:40 pm. So overall a good day and we are gonna be in Juneau soon. Had a really good convo with the boys from Mizzou about the trip and expectations so I'm really excited to see what God is gonna do with my life and the life of the other guys on the trip. Maybe I will realizee that I get crabby to easily after a 6 hour drive haha

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Oh Canada!!

Well so this is day 2 and about the same amount of miles were driven. We started our day in Watertown, SD and we made it to Regina, SK. ND and SD are the most boring states in the country. I would dare to say that they are a little more boring than Kansas. They do have windmills like Kansas though.

Canada is not what I expected so far. Its basically Iowa part 2. Incredibly boring and flat. Hopefully the landscape will be a little more hilly or mountainy tomorrow. We are gonna do our best to drive around 600 miles each day. Oh and I have to listen country music the whole time. Kinda terrible...

We ate at this delicious local place called Humpty's. It was delicious!! I had a potato, egg, and cheese meat lovers dish that was fantastic. Enjoyed hangin with the guys and gettin some good Canada jokes in. Really lookin forward to meeting all the other guys cuz this is gonna be an awesome summer!!

The motel we are staying at tonight isn't as sketchy but its a little more expensive. I'm just ready to be in Alaska right now to be honest. I'm currently trying to load my vid from the border so you will see whats up. This is the entry into the Canadian border!! Enjoy...kinda long but mostly audio of us bein weird.

Pre Border Patrol

This is post Border partol. Basically we got put into this sketchy garage with our cars. They took all our luggage out and searched it. They check all our pockets and brought out the drug dog! It was kinda ridiculous and this vid is directly afterwards.

Post Border Patrol

Sketchtown, SD

We met 3 dudes who are goin on project in St. Joseph, MO. Colton, Weston, and Drew were the three guys they go to Rice and K-State. Colton drove all the way from San Antonio, TX (ridiculous). They seem to be some cool dudes and we will obviously get to know them better after 4 more days of driving. Next I will tell you about the more eventful part of our day.

We had a good day of about 9 hours of driving yesterday. We tried to stop at a campsite in Watertown, SD but it turned out to be some huge sketchy building so we stopped at a Budget One Motel. Basically I wish I could post the video that I took cuz its hilarious!! This motel is straight out of a horror movie with a cereal killer as the main character. Oh and we slept 6 dudes in a room for 4. Only $10 a person. Not bad!! I'm currently updating my blog from the lobby with an all you can eat buffet of weak sauce coffee ahaha!

We plan to drive to Regina, SK today. Which is about 9 hours or so. Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog tonight and maybe post some videos. Stay posted

Ginger out!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Da Pigs

Video of my pigs...took me about 15 tries to get this dumb video to load

Enjoy!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Church this past Sunday

I was interviewed about Juneau in front of my home church in Blue Springs for about 5 minutes and it was hard to describe. Everyone from my hometown church showed me so much love and support and I haven't been there in multiple months. Its amazing the bond between fellow Christians. Really humbling experience...this Juneau trip is bigger than just me. God is gonna do some awesome stuff.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Reppin the 907

Hey everyone

I figured writing about my experience in Juneau would be beneficial so I'm gonna give you guys a little insight into my daily life on summer project in Juneau, Alaska. Hopefully I will be able to update this almost everyday. I am gonna hopefully have a camera and possibly video camera to post pics and vids of my trip. Its gonna be epic and I'm glad you decided to follow along.

Keep it classy

Ginger