Well let's start countin'...

The title of my blog is "Life of an Intern" and what you are about to see is truly that. I had been out of laundry detergent for a few weeks now, and was down to my last few clean shirts. After siphoning off detergent from a few other roommates, I figured it was time to buy some of my own. Armed with three rolls of quarters ($30) I was off to Target to buy some detergent and dryer sheets. Now, I may be poor, but I don't skim on my detergent. I buy the good stuff.
As I'm approaching the checkout line, the thought crosses my mind, "They have to take quarter rolls, huh?" As I check out and proceed to pay, I humbly hand over my rolls of currency and I get the look. You know the look. It says, "You've got to be kidding" without words - its all in the eyebrows. The cashier says that they won't take rolls and I would have to pay with bills. After some discussion about the quarters being all that I had, along with some loud sighs from the couple behind me, I had come to one conclusion - I was going to have to count out $25 worth of quarters at Target during peak hours. I was later told that my exact words were, "Well let's start countin!"





Thanks to Paul Musso, Wii Pro, for the quick photography skills. Actually, it wasn't so quick. I counted $25 bucks worth of quarters...

Nkobe

The video below represents yet another reason I am so thankful and honored to be a part of what God is doing through Healing Place Church. Not only in Baton Rouge, or even Louisiana, but globally - all for Him.




What means so much is that this isn't just stock footage of African orphans. I've held, played and laughed with these children and helped these women prepare the meals. They are real people with real stories, hopes and dreams. The kids are being fed and given medical care and education and their village is being changed from the people and sacrifices of HPC, Children's Cup and so many others. The people of Nkobe are being shown the love of their Savior. Isn't that what its really all about?

Twisted

Last night, was the Refuge Christmas party - Twisted. It was slammin. It was Asian-themed and there was tons of sushi, from Hello Sushi, fan-dancers, break dancers, a DJ with some sweet beats, red fortune cookies, Chuck Norris, Most Extreme Challenge and a big dancing dragon. The students loved it. It was a great night.

wow...

I stumbled upon some more interesting cuisine today in the creative room.



This was Mei Fun, from China Chef, with a little kick from some Taco Bell hot sauce. I promise I won't post any more of these because they are actually starting to gross ME out.



That is one thing I never want Aunt Sharon to share...her FOOD.

What NOT to get me for Christmas

Going through some of the donated toys for the Christmas outreaches I noticed something strange about this one...

Yes, my friends...it POOPS!


I believe it was called "Trainer Barbie" and comes fully equipped with a pooping pooch. Please, don't get me wrong. We are very grateful for ALL of the toys donated . But this one is almost as good as the "Potty Putter" from the Elevate garage sale, last year.

Russian Delicacy?

You may be asking yourself, "What is this disgusting looking concoction of food?" Well, dear bloggers - meet my friend Katie.



We have been friends for a long time. Since 5th grade, actually, when I saved her shoes, and life, in Mexico. Ask her about it one day - she would love to share the story. She's always sharin' a story, thats why we call her Aunt Sharon. Aunt Sharon also has very strange eating habits. She blames it - and everything else - on being raised in a foreign country.



The other day, I stumbled upon Katie making this interesting dish. It consists of processed lunch meat, taco sauce (which she will put on anything) and pepper-jack cheese. I almost threw up. Then she microwaved it! The one thing I knew was that I had to share this with the world. Enjoy -

Get ready - I'm back.

I know...I'm sorry. I promised myself when I started blogging, that I would never have one of these posts. But here I am. I have been a blog bum the past month or so (or two). Things have been so crazy - but I wouldn't want it to be any other way. I LOVE what I get to do and the people I get to do it with. Life is great.

Pics will be coming soon (still working out the picture issues with the new phone) and I will return to the blogging world. It's on.

Vision Night 2007

Everyone definitely needs to come to Vision Night, this Sunday - October 14! It's gonna be an awesome time where Pastor Dino shares the vision of Healing Place Church for the next year. Be sure to wear yo' LSU jersey, because it's a sports-themed night and 'dem Tigers are #1! Yeah, its ok to wear your USC jersey - because what are they ranked now...12? 13?

Pre-game starts at 6:00! See you there.

Africa

Africa

I have been doing some research on Social Justice organizations and every time I come across an organization that deals with Africa, I find my heart wanting to leap out of my chest. As I am sitting here reviewing these websites, fighting back tears, I came across some of these statistics that I thought I would share.




I came across another statistic today that really hit me hard. In Mozambique, if the spread of HIV/AIDS is not reversed, life expectancy will drop from 50.3 to 36 years of age by 2010. Thats less than 3 years away. Wow.

Honduras

Photo from the Cooking for Christ team, from HPC, that went to Honduras to work with Ernie and Robyn Breaux. (Robyn is in the overalls)

Just talked to some of our missionaries in Honduras, Ernie and Robyn Breaux. Hurricane Felix went through Honduras last week, but thankfully they only experienced a little rain. Another Cooking for Christ team has spent the last week in in Honduras, with the Breauxs, cooking for hundreds of children and families in the area. Ernie and Robyn have a great ministry, ER International, that reaches out to displaced children and provides them a home. Keep these awesome missionaries in your prayers. They are doing so much for the kingdom.

Good 'ol Bamboo

I just got this text from the team of men in Peru, titled "Good 'ol Bamboo". They have started to work on the roof of a local church that began to cave in. There were still aftershocks for days after the initial earthquake. The men have been hauling bamboo to the church site to repair the roof. They are also nearly done repairing the local sewer system - God bless 'em - and began framing up the site for one of the relief camps that Camino de Vida has taken on. Keep these guys in your prayers and continue to pray for the relief effort - that supplies, finances and help would continue to pour in!

Forty Days of Prayer for the Children

If you haven't been praying with Children's Cup tomorrow is a perfect time to start! Be sure to make your way over to the website tomorrow at fortydays.childrenscup.org to check out who is prayin. Its gonna be good!

Peru Relief

As most of you already know, Peru was hit with a 8.0 earthquake about two weeks ago. Camino de Vida, Pastor Robert Barriger's church in Lima, has been asked to be responsible for building and taking care of three relief camps in the city of Pisco. That definitely speaks volumes about the integrity of a church - that the government would ask for help during a time of crisis.

Last week, Mark Stermer, Jeff Rentz and Emily Morrow traveled to Lima to assist Camino de Vida with the relief efforts and immediately saw the need for much more help. In true form, HPC had 14 men who volunteered to take off of work and leave their families for a week to go to Peru and be a healing place for a hurting world. Church of the King, a great church in Mandeville, are also sending 10 men along with 3 men from Our Saviors Church, in Lafayette. We also had numerous people who weren't able to physically go to Peru, sponsor someone else's trip - wow.

The team of 27 men left this morning from New Orleans to travel to Lima and on to Pisco to help build the three relief camps. Please keep them, Camino de Vida, Robert Barriger and the people of Peru in your prayers.

Money Money

My dear friend, Natalie Spera, has recently posted some quite hilarious videos on her blog, which reminded me of this gem that I ran across about a year ago. I have watched this countless times and still find myself DYING of laughter. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

L.A. Mission Team

I had the honor of driving a team of crazy Refuge kids to the New Orleans airport this afternoon. They are headed out to the L.A. Dreamcenter to do some outreaches to the community and represent Jesus any way they can - which I know they will do a great job of. We all need to be praying for them and the team that headed out for Cambodia today. I am so thankfull to be a part of a church that is reaching out and taking action locally and globally.

Submerge rocked my face off

Thats right, I don't even have a face anymore after Submerge. It was that awesome. Many of you may know that there was a family emergency before camp even officially started. The devil really didn't want me to be there. I had a hard decision to make, but after prayer and talking to my family, they wanted me to stay. There were times when I wanted to be home for my family, but after seeing hundreds of kids making decisions for Christ, I knew I made the right decision to stay. It was amazing. The spirit of God was so thick that I can't even describe it. It feels like I have a holy-ghost sunburn that I just cant shake. But, like a physical sunburn, a holy-ghost sunburn will fade with time. The only way to keep it is to spend more time in the SON! Come on somebody...
I really do want to thank everyone who has been and still are praying for my family. All the calls and encouragement has really helped a lot. God has put such great people around me that I am so thankful for. So thank you all - your prayers are pulling us through.

Submerge

I will be at Submerge Summer Camp for the next week, in Sandestin Florida. Please pray for the staff, kids and all of the churches traveling to be a part of it. Over 900 junior high and highschool kids from 18 churches are coming to get away and experience God at a new level. It's gonna be awesome.

Quite a reminder...

I wear a bracelet from Africa that I bought from one of the Care Point cooks. It reminds me to pray for Africa, the children and the missionaries there. Now that its been about a month since Africa, the passion and compassion that I felt there and when I got home has become a little dull and my memories of the kids a little fuzzy. But when I read this on Dan's blog it's like everything came flooding back. -

ezekiel 16:49 tells what God sees as the ultimate sin of sodom. you know, the city that we all remember for its debauchery and vulgarity and all? well, here's what ezekiel 16:49 says:

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

Wow.

Be sure to visit the new Children's Cup website.

Live from Pamper Night

So I am blogging live from Pamper night right now. I am one of about 5 guys here in the middle of 400 women. HP Women has put on the pamper night to provide free haircuts, facials, pedicures, massages...all that girl stuff. I am in the sound booth with Blake, Toby and Brian. There is also a lot of girly food and some punch, which they serve in those tiny little plastic cups. So Toby decided to take things into his own hands. He takes my empty coke bottle downstairs and, to the shock of all of the women, fills up the entire bottle in the punch fountain! It was great. It was our "man cup". You gotta do what you gotta do...

A good laugh

This really cracked me up. The best part is the crazy lady laughing as the kid is holding on for life!

Summertime and the livin's easy

Sorry for all you faithfull readers out there (if there are any) - summer has really taken its toll on my blogging. I am really enjoying my summer, having a little time off and being able to spend some time with family and friends. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I am a counselor at HPC staff kids Summer Camp with 17 of the funniest kids I have ever met. Angela Musso has the great honor of being a couselor with me. (It's really the other way around - she brings lunch every day!)
Having time off has been great, but I honestly miss Elevate, the structure it brings to my life and the other people in it. The first year of Elevate has honestly been the best year of my life and I'm really looking forward to the second year. It has its ups and downs, but thats life.

Pastor Dino on lifechurch blog

I am so thankfull, every single day, to be a part of such a great church that is really making a difference in the community, the world and all for the kingdom. A part of that is being under such a great pastor, Pastor Dino. I happened to catch this video on the lifechurch.tv blog, Craig Groeschel's church (really great church). I thought it was really cool.

Ms. Susan

I recieved some sad news today that I just cannot get off of my heart. Pictured above is Ms. Susan, a cook at one of the carepoints we visited in Swaziland. This was the first Children's Cup carepoint and Ms. Susan was one of the first cooks. She even took in a child from the carepoint to live with her and her grandchildren, whom she raises because their mother died of AIDS. She was dedicated and when the Elevate team was there, she took us on a community walk to hand out candy and show some love in the village. One of the last things we did was give her a brand-new big, soft blanket for her bed, which she was so thankful for.
I got the news earlier today that Ms. Susan died last night of the same disease that is ravaging so many lives in Swaziland, the same disease that took her daughter. If you can, please say a prayer for her family and for the carepoint, GiGi's Place.

Nkobe

These are the kids who come to get their one meal a day at the Nkobe Carepoint. The cooks lead them in a song and prayer before the meal.

More pics from Mozambique

An HPC SERVE shirt in the food line.

Abrahim, the coolest kid in Mozambique.

Makulu, the builder. He is also a grandfather-type figure to the village kids.

Back Home

Africa was amazing. Simple as that. Words cannot express what I experienced there, but if you want to know more, please come talk to me about it. Over the next couple of days I'll be posting some pictures and videos from the trip. Some serious, some funny - just to give you a better idea of how the trip was. Thanks so much for all your prayers and support.

This is Africa

We are still in Mozambique, and as I am writing this I am drenched in sweat because the computer is in a tiny little room in the hotel that is BURNING UP! We have gone out to the village of Nkobe every day. So far the guys have dug a 40 ft trench, installed a water tank on top of a tower, removed an onld hand-pump from a well and have attempted to install a motorized pump -we're still workin on that one, TIA (read below) and all the time still playing with kids who so desperately need some love and attention. They come to the Care Point to get their one meal a day, but also get fed spiritually and emotionally....this trip has been amazing...Everyone needs to come to Africa and leave a piece of themselves here - EVERYONE. I have plenty of pictures and stories for when I get home. We leave for Swaziland in a cople days, which will be great as well! Please keep praying for us - we are relying on your prayers!

TIA - This is Africa

This pretty much sums up everything here. When something doesnt go as planned - "TIA", when you see something just downright crazy - "TIA". You just have to take a deep breath and say...TIA.

Holla from AFRICA!

We just checked into the Hotel 2001 in Mozambique. Yeah, I know it sounds like a nightclub. Its hot, crowded, busy and crazy but its AWESOME! Everyhthing went smooth getting here, we overnighted in South Africa and even had some KFC chicken. It's gonna be a great trip!

Elevate Pics

So with the first year of Elevate coming to a close, we got dressed up and had the great David Song take some pics for us. I'll post more as I get them, but here is a seek peek.

Christ is Risen

I was in Starbucks this morning, and happened to catch the cover of this mornings Advocate. On the front cover, was the headline "Christ is Risen" with a picture of a cross. I was so fired up to see that! A major newspaper proclaiming the news of the risen King! What a great weekend it's been at HPC.

"The tide is turning, and this is redemption's hour..."
-Hillsong United

I hate geese

If you have spent any time at HPC, you know that we have some feathered friends who like to spend time in and around our lake. Well, this group of Canadian geese leave nice little surprises behind them everywhere they go! We are constantly washing geese poop off of the sidewalks around the lake.



As I was leaving the church, yesterday, one of our little friends was in the middle of the driveway. Honestly, my first instinct was to hit the gas! But, as I slowed down to let it waddle out of the way, this crazy goose decided that my truck was a predator, worthy of fighting. It puffs its feathers out and CHARGES at the truck! It starts incessantly pecking at my truck and HISSING! Who knew geese hissed?! I finally had to get out of the truck and chase it off as it is trying to peck me!

Garage Sale

Last weekend, we had our Elevate Garage sale, to raise money for our trip to Mozambique. Its only 28 days away! Well, word spread that we were having our garage sale and people just started coming from all over the place with donations! We even filled a truck and trailer full of furniture from ONE house!
We began organizing for the garage sale on Friday around 3:00 PM. Little did we know what was in store for us... The stuff just kept building up. We ended up staying the ENTIRE NIGHT, forgoing any thought of sleep, just to organize the stuff and set up for Saturday morning. People were stopping by at all hours of the night, buying things. Before Saturday morning, we had already made over $200! By the time 5 A.M. rolled around, we had finally finished setting up and had our first official customers (the hard-core garage sale-ers) stopping by. Our very first customer even bought THIS item!

No one knew what this was. NO ONE. It was a mystery. But Our very first customers bought it for $25. We asked what it was and I think she made something up about birds...she didn't know, either.



We were all verifyably insane by 4 A.M. Our gymnast friend, Gabi even performed for us.




You never know what you will find at a garage sale. This is an OLDSCHOOL HPC Christmas CD. I snatched that one up, baby!



Just about every time we turned around, Blake was wearing a random item of clothing. I think this was the school marm look.


We ended up making even more money than we thought, worked harder than we ever have in our lives and actually had a lot of fun. When I finally got to bed on Saturday night, I had been awake for 39 hours! It will all be worth it when we are in AFRICA!! I also have to give a shout out to all of the people who volunteered their time to help us out, especially Ms. Shiela!! We could not have done it without ya'll!

Let the games begin...

I dont have much to blog about, it's just a pretty busy week with Elevate stuff. So here's a little peek into the real life of an elevater...

What happens when you dump a cooler of ice-cold water on your roomate in the shower?




You get a bathtub full of pinecones, redbugs and spiders. I'm not even gonna lie though, it was really funny.

If you weren't at Amplified, you should have been!

Amplified was great. Friday night we packed out the Annex. Obed Edom was great and Chad spoke a great word to our students. Saturday night only got crazier when we had a barbecue and a No Talent Show in the back of the Annex, after the students spent the day renovating some Baton Rouge high schools.


Saturday only got crazier when Amplified joined Latenite at HPC's Highland Campus. Our own Refuge Band did worship and Chad spoke again. It was great! We even had some on-the-spot baptisms in the HPC lake! No, we don't have a baptismal at the lake - it's just a muddy lake! Old school, baby...


This was my view of the Amplified service from the sound booth...


God showed up (as if we doubted he would) and it was slammin. It is so refreshing to see a bunch of crazy kids on fire for Jesus, ready to change the world.

Amplified weekend!

Here is a pic from our Pre-Amp service, this past Wednesday night. If you don't know, Amplified is a weekend where Refuge (highschool) and Pathfinders (j-high) come together and pursue God like crazy. It all starts on Friday night with some worship from Obed Edom (Christ for the Nations) and a message by Chad Daniel. You never know with Chad - it could go all night long. Saturday everyone will go downtown and renovate some local highschools and it all culminates on Saturday night, when Amplified joins Latenite (college and young-adult) for service. It is gonna be a crazy weekend!

Sanders

Last week, Full-Time Elevate (and Mrs. Susan) went to Mercy Ministries, in West Monroe. On our way home we were all starving and hit a long stretch of highway with NOTHING in sight. So, our fearless leader, Michelle, decided the absolute next resteraunt we see, we are going to eat at. That place would end up being a fine dining establishment called Sanders. I was not very happy about stopping here, but decided to make the best of it. Little did we know it would end up being one of the highlights of our entire trip! The food was great, the people were very friendly (it was in a town with a population of 80) and I think we were thier biggest rush in years! They also had a soft serve ice cream machine that Kaycee got a little carried away with.