(central park, 6am)

Last Wednesday I jumped on a plane with 21 other people from our church and headed to New York City! This was our 2nd mission trip to NYC as part of Mission 1:8, and it was a very full 4 days! The first time we went this past Fall, we were there for 8 days with a team half the size of this past one, and served alongside 4 different churches that our church is supporting. This time, we focused on one of those churches in particular who just launched their first official service this past Sunday, on Easter! It was a great time, and our team was so fun! Here’s a brief overview of what we got to be a part of while in NYC (I took a ridiculous amount of photos that can all be viewed here if you’re interested):

Helping a church launch it’s first service means you have to let people know that the church is there. So, the morning of each day we headed to Brooklyn and passed out flyers to give everyone a heads up! So many of our team members got into some pretty cool conversations. It’s interesting because Easter Sunday fell on April 20 this year. On the flyer, it had the date 4/20 really big across the back. 4/20 also means something else (I’ll let you figure that out). Needless to say, we had some interest, and in turn, conversations with people who probably wouldn’t otherwise take the time to talk to us. God is sovereign, yes? :)
On Sunday, The Bridge Church had about 150 people in attendance! So awesome. Continue to pray for this church and the staff that are working so diligently in engaging their community every day!

(baby hulk? china town)

In the evening on the first day (just felt like I was quoting Genesis), our team went with a staff member from the MNYBA on a walking tour in China Town to pray over the human trafficking going on there. It’s crazy, once you know what to look for, to realize that there are people being treated like machinery and sold all around you. We know that Houston is a hub for trafficking (both sex trade and manual labor), so seeing this in another city definitely stirs up some heartache and deep prayer on behalf of those imprisoned in both cities. I encourage you to go on a tour, whatever city you’re in, and become aware if you are not already. If the merchandise you’re purchasing is ridiculously inexpensive, there’s a likelihood that the reason is because the employees aren’t getting paid (or the people who made the product didn’t get paid). Sex trafficking is a whole other story, which I could talk about forever. If you’d like to learn more, here are some resources:
Elijah Rising tours (Houston)
Porn Harms (why porn is a contributor to sex trafficking)
Free the Captives (organization in Houston that does lots of great informational conferences)
Texas Human Trafficking Fact Sheet

Definitely be praying for your city, and that Christ would redeem those imprisoned, whether it be to their own sin or the sins of others. We need Jesus more than we know!

On the afternoons of the second and third days, our team went to Long Island City and partnered with another new church plant, New City Church. Our group split up, and half of us did residential and spiritual surveys, while the other half did trash clean up along the streets, and the next day we switched. On the first day of surveys I ended up with the spiritual surveys, and got all kinds of different responses. We did surveys last trip too, which focused more on personal experience with spirituality. This time, the surveys were focused more on how people perceived religion in their neighborhood (more for demographic’s sake), and it was sort of surprising how many we encountered that seemed to have never even thought about religion in relation to their neighborhood before. We ended up talking to one really interesting lady who had a some intriguing beliefs about who Christ is and how we “get to God”.

The trash clean up was fun too, mostly because of our fun team. :) We wore these fabulous yellow vests which had the church’s name on the back, and ended up having some interest in the church simply because people were surprised the church would send people to pick up trash. We’re praying for New City Church and that many would come to know Christ because of their willingness to serve the community in the most practical and needed ways!

Friday night, Good Friday, I got to attend Hillsong NYC Church with part of our team, and meet up with my Jersey family! The service was so good, and such a great break from a non-stop schedule to reflect on Christ’s work on the cross.

After the service, we went to Sticky’s Finger Joint and had way too much food (some of us more than others for losing a bet). ;) So good to see the fam and enjoy great food and some good laughs, too!

The fourth day (Saturday) part of our team got to go to Astoria and help Connection Church NYC with their Easter Egg Hunt, while the rest of the group was in Brooklyn. These guys are seriously one of the best churches in NYC. They know how to do community. If you are in Astoria, I encourage you to check it out!

Sunday morning, our last day, we got to attend First Baptist Church NYC. Their pastor is an incredible preacher, and his message was one of the best Easter sermons I have ever heard. Pray for this church, as they are located right in the heart of Manhattan! Pray that they find ways to reach their community, and engage one of the busiest and largest cities in the US!

(central park, not 6am)

This trip was a bit of a whirlwind, and those 4 days passed so quickly, I’m still trying to catch up! But it was filled with so much joy, and I’m encouraged by what the Lord is doing in New York. Each church we worked with is so faithful in obedience, and their hearts for the people around them encourages me to love the people around me, here in Houston. I hope that you are being used by Christ to accomplish His work and love everyone you come in contact with. He is good, and He is powerful to provide the strength necessary to do great things in our world! Let’s believe that.

Lastly, here’s a video with footage from our first trip last fall. Just an idea of how to pray for NYC as people seek – that they would find Christ!

This weekend, Ryan took me on a date… or rather, a day full of adventures. I drew a popsicle stick at the beginning of this month from the Jar O’ Dates he gave me for Christmas, and the clue was, “AROO! AROO! AROO!” And anyone who knows Sparta knows that clue can only mean one thing. Ps. Most of these photos were taken with my phone, so sorry if some pics are blurry!

Here lie the tales of the adventures of our day (I do love that we can relish in this geeky interest together).

During my morning time with God, I found the first message of the day in my devo:

Note here: 300 + The Office quotes = guarantee of a good day

After breakfast, we geared up with snacks and drove to Memorial Park. There, I received my “Spartan Training”. Aka throwing a spear at a watermelon in an open field with bluebonnets nearby.

Ryan is a lot better at this than I am. Nevertheless, we both speared the thing, and I found the second message.

What is Wes Lands?
We put the spear back in the car, and started running. I did not know where we were running to, but we ran. We ended up at the Edwards Theater about 2.5 miles away from the running track. And guess what movie we saw???

You are correct, sir! We saw 300: Rise of an Empire! And yes, I did eat a Snickers Ice Cream Bar at 10:45a.
Apparently, Ryan’s first idea was to run to a movie theater on Weslayan St, which was 5 miles each way (explaining Wes Lands). I’m glad he remembered there was another movie theater half the distance away from us.

This right here is one of the many perks of seeing a movie at 11a. This and the ticket prices. Here I am in an empty movie theater with my ice cream in my right hand. Bliss.
The movie was great as expected, other than a really weird and kind of confusing sex scene. That with the violence, don’t take your kids to this movie, people.

After the movie, we ran back to the park, and were accompanied by these beauties:

Here we are with me eating a banana, which is totally picture worthy since I hadn’t had one in 3 weeks:

Aaaaand lunch:

All I can say is, praise Jesus for fruit and peanut butter

We purposefully relaxed for the afternoon, since we are so busy all the time and sometimes feel like our weekends wear us out more than help us to recharge!

I asked Ryan after opening this, “Hmm, how did you know you would think I would look amazing?” He replied with, “Had a feeling.” Smart man.

Note spear still in back seat. And in honor of Sparta, a hand-crocheted headband. Leather would’ve been more appropriate, but whatevs.

We got ready for dinner, and Ryan brought me to a place we’d never been to before but have wanted to try for a while. We absolutely LOVED it! The ambiance is in my opinion, to die for. Hearsay is a historic building built in 1889, renovated into an industrial restaurant with classy style. The chandelier in the middle of the dining area pulls in a romantic feel, and the decor is simplistic and clean. The food was sooooo good! Definitely will be back to this place in the near future. Oh! And sit in the balcony if you can.

And for all of you waiting for what comes next, because you know how much I love dessert (and might love it even more when I’m not able to have it for 3 weeks)…… We bring you Fat Cat Creamery. This was AMAZING. It’s an ice cream shop in the heights that uses mostly local ingredients, namely the cream, eggs, and milk. The texture was different than typical ice creams, and it wasn’t overly sweet, but sooo creamy! And the waffle cone is by far the best cone I have ever had. I had the hardcore chocolate and peanut butter, and Ryan had the milk chocolate stout. Guys, go check this place out. Some of the BEST ice cream I have ever tasted. And you know me and ice cream.

We were thoroughly stuffed after the last trip, and called it a night. This date was full of new things, and they all turned out to be some new favs of mine! Love when that happens.

What are some things you love to do, and who do you do those things with? It’s so fun to share common interests with my hubs, and have a whole day of enjoying those things together! Go find someplace new, and give it a try! Make an adventure out of your hobbies, even if they’re a little geeky! We had a blast, and I’m already looking forward to next month’s popsicle stick. :)

Today I had sooo much fun shooting some photos of some friends’ adorable twins. Josh and Jamie are some of my favorites, and their boys are so cute, I almost can’t stand it. Here’s a little sneak peak of our fun from today.

aren’t they the cutest?

Absolutely love this family. Jamie is also a blogger, and you can find her here and stay updated with her and her kiddos. Thanks so much, Jamie, for letting me hang out with your family today!

This weekend, my hubs and I set out to a campsite for a mini getaway. There are few things I enjoy more than being outdoors with the smell of a campfire, and a cup of coffee in one hand and book in the other. And that’s a lot of what my weekend consisted of (thank you, Jesus). The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We got pretty chilly at night time (literally, I brought 8 blankets and we used all of them), but during the day it was so perfect. Here are a few pics for you to enjoy. As always, I’ll put all of them on Facebook and link it here, but here are the highlights.

the hubs setting up our home for the weekend

I have no idea why we look so drowsy, but we were very excited to be there

 a little stroll by the lake before dinner

this

The week before our trip, we discovered that our friends, KJ and Elise were also camping this weekend at the same campsite! So, they invited us over for dinner and we brought dessert. So fun. Their view was also incredible… right next to the lake!

I mean, check out this sunset. There is no editing on this pic.

Ok, so this is the story of my life. Like I said, we decided to bring dessert over on Saturday night since KJ and Elise were making dinner for us. I found this brilliant idea on Pinterest for these campfire chocolate cakes baked in orange peels. Well, I clearly filled them up with way too much cake batter, and we enjoyed a 20 min show of the mini cakes exploding with oozing chocolate, like a volcano. That top one in the picture was shooting straight out, horizontally. They did turn out delicious, but looked horrible, and we ended up eating them right out of the campfire because they were too hot to pick up. But we had some great entertainment, and I haven’t laughed that hard in forever. You could probably find this under a Pinterest Fails blog somewhere. Keep an eye out.

This weekend my parents also came into Houston to volunteer at Passion 2014. They stayed at our place while we went camping, so we didn’t see them much over the time of their visit. We met up with them for lunch on their way out yesterday, which was a fun time of sharing stories from both our weekends. Aren’t they the cutest?

And I leave you with this picture of fire, because it looks crayzay.

I’ve been reading through C.S. Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain.” And it has been blowing my mind. I don’t know why I have not ready this up until now, but I’m glad I am. By the time I’m done I’ll probably have actually read it 3 times through, as I’ve been taking it slowly and rereading almost every paragraph multiple times. Packed with so much good. One thing that has really stuck with me a few chapters back is this. Sorry it’s a bit long, but it is worth the read:

“We were made not primarily that we may love God (though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the Divine love may rest ‘well pleased’. To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease be God: because He is what He is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character, and because He already loves us He must labour to make us lovable.“

My prayer for myself and for you is that we know God’s love as it really is, and that we do not fight Him or label Him as cruel in His making us lovable. It is good, and we are better for it. So thankful.

Enjoy your week! I hope you get to go on an adventure, even if it’s just a weekend away camping. Just unplug and recharge, and rest in Him!