I have to say that I am excited for 2 reasons. One is that I am going to Catalyst for the first time. I’ve wanted to go for a few years now, and I have finally decided to make it out to the east coast in October.  I am also really excited because Eric, my bro, is coming with me.  We’ve never really taken a trip together, so it should be good times.  The speakers I am most stoked for are:

• Andy Stanley - Environments.  The idea alone has redefined ministry for me.
• Craig Groschel - One of the most creative, out of the box thinkers I’ve found.
• Seth Godin - The Dip changed how I view life, and I wouldn’t be where I am without getting out of the cul-de-sac I was in.
• William Paul Young - Haven’t read The Shack, but enough people won’t shut up about it that I am now excited to hear this guy speak.
• Tim Collins - Good to Great, again, I haven’t read it, but everyone is raving mad about it. (mad in a good way)

We also registered for the labs, and there are a couple names that I have to drop here:

• Perry Noble - I really can’t get enough of this guy’s passion and transparency.
• Mark Batterson - Best book title ever.  His vision for DC is amazing.  God sized.
• Reggie McNeal - His six questions have been formational in our church, and he talks so fast when he gets excited that I can’t help but get excited.  Missional Community.  Good stuff.

It’s still a ways off, but I am so excited.

We split up and some of us went to the church and some of us went to La Casa de Esperanza.  The group at the church just about finished the painting, but most of the day was spent trying to set up some walls for the shower.  The single most frustrating thing about this trip has been hardware.  When we go, we can’t talk to anyone about sizes, and they are out of at least half of the things we could possibly use.  It is at least 20 minutes in to town and then it is a shot in the dark as to whether or not they will have what we need.  So we have been trying to make it work, but it hasn’t been.  We also got most of the pipes in to connect up the hot water heater.  In the afternoon, one group went to town to get diapers and formula for La Casa.  In the morning while we were there, there was a toddler that had peed his diaper, but they wouldn’t change it until he pooped because they were so low on diapers.  It was so sad to see his face.  And with the language barrier, we couldn’t really figure out what to do, so we just bought them some more.  We also helped them make a bunch of tamales for a wedding, and just played with the kids.  The kids are so sweet and starved for attention.  There are just so many of them.

Some of the cool things that are happening at La Casa is that they are helping the battered women that seek refuge there to create businesses to become self sufficient.  They are using some of the sewing machines that have been donated to make uniforms because all of the school children in Mexico have to wear uniforms.  They are making tortillas and selling them, so we bought like 200 tortillas to bring home.  They are also getting licensed to run a day care to generate income and help out the community.  

The mission officially started yesterday.  We headed out to the church in the morning and Shawn connected with Pastor Walt.  He wasn’t there, but someone else was that had is cell number.  We jumped in quick and helped another group that was from Arizona to start painting the church.  The paint was the delicious color of nacho cheese.  Shortly after that, we sent one group to Costco to get food for the week and the other groups kept painting and started setting forms for one of the concrete pads.  There was also a lot of planning, figuring out what we need for each project.  We are going to pour a concrete pad for a propane tank, two outdoor showers, install a hot water heater, tile a bathroom, and paint the church building.

When the Costco group got back after many problems related to not speaking/reading spanish, we all returned to our villa to eat some sandwiches.  We stood around on the beach for a bit before heading back to the church.  When we got back, some of us dug a sweet ditch to provide drainage for the showers.  Another group finished painting the second wall and most of the third while one group went off to Home Depot to buy supplies.  That was one of the greatest adventures thus far.  There was the obvious language barrier, but there was also the lack of clarity in what exactly we were doing, the metric system in length as well as volume, and moving a bunch of bags of concrete mix into the truck and trailer.

After working in the afternoon we returned home and swam for a bit in our ocean.  The waves were so quick; there was never a dull moment.  An excellent birthday treat for Jesse.  After swimming we ate some delicious nachos and the Home Depot team finally arrived at home when the other two teams were finishing their dinner.  A little bit later that night we built a fire on the beach and sat around telling each other our thoughts on the trip so far and sang some worship songs.  One of the best comments, which was a definite shared sentiment, was the feeling that when it is all over, we are going to go back to life as normal, even though we don’t want to, and we hate that about ourselves.  It got quite introspective pretty quick.  We are all already being challenged.

Today, we woke up and had some pancakes.  We headed over to the church where we got a ton of work done.  One group poured the pad for the propane tank while another set the forms for the shower.  The third group took off to La Casa de Esperanza.  It is a shelter for battered women and children.  They helped out the staff there get ready for lunch and cleaned out some rooms for some teachers that will be coming soon.  That group returned, and we had some lunch while Shawn left to go buy more concrete because after the adventure yesterday, they didn’t get enough for both pads.  When he returned we finished pouring the shower pad with drains and pipes, and we almost finished the fourth wall that needs painting.  The water heater was also put in place along with some holes drilled to hook it up.  It was an uber-successful day at the church.

When we got back to our house, we swam in the ocean and ate our first meal cooked by Veronica, our Mexican cook.  It was amazing food.  We also went down the beach to our new Arizonan friends house and worshiped a bit and heard pastor Walt speak.  Afterward, the Arizonans prayed for us since they are leaving and we are staying.  It was a good time.  Now we’re back home and enjoying some down time.  I’ve tried to put up a bunch of pictures because that is the best part anyhow.

Well, we’re here, so that’s good.

The adventure began Monday afternoon in Oroville. We met up at the church, loaded all our stuff into a trailer that Shawn is towing behind his truck, and we all loaded into a van. By we, I mean Rhonda, myself, Desi, Lexi, Brenden, Sam, Caleb, Angela, and Justin. Shawn, Jesse, Joanna, and Destiny loaded into his truck. And we ventured forth.

Everything was fine for most of the evening. There was much fun and rejoicing in the van after dinner when Catch Phrase was being played. It was, however, so rudely interrupted when Shawn called on the radio to inform us that his truck’s battery light was flashing on and off and that he might be loosing power. So the rejoicing ceased momentarily while Lexi prayed for the truck. We got off on the next exit just to make sure that if the truck did die that the van could charge the battery. It could, but we were still 65 miles from Bakersfield, our first destination, so we didn’t really want to risk getting stuck on the freeway.

This is where Martha really comes into the story. Martha Garmin is the name of Lexi’s GPS system. We asked Martha for a Nazarene church in the area, and she gave us four withing 11 miles, including turn by turn directions. We thanked God for Martha, made a couple of phone calls, and Ben in Tulare at Wayside Church of the Nazarene became our new best friend. We quickly drove a short 4 miles to the church where we would stay for the evening.

After unpacking some luggage, we all gathered in one of the rooms to journal a little bit about our expectations for the trip and we sang a couple worship songs. It was our first time together as a 97% complete team, so it was good to just be together. In the morning, Ben gave us a phone number for a mechanic that goes to his church, and Shawn got the truck in first thing. It ended up needing a new alternator, which was replaced, and we got breakfast, and we left the Wayside and were back on the road by 10 am. It definitely could have been worse.

On the road again, we met trouble at the grape vine. Shawn’s truck started overheating on the way up. He used his smarts and popped his hood a little to cool the engine down, threw some water on the radiator, and turned on the heater. Then at low speeds and high RPMs we got over the mountain. After a quick lunch stop we started to make our way through LA, which was fine and dandy, but we did have a little hang up that added about 15 minutes. You can ask Shawn about that later if you feel so inclined.

In San Diego we picked up Angie and our team went from 97 to 100 percent. We made a quick stop before the border to get some Mexico Auto Insurance, and away we went. As we crossed the border, they stopped Shawn, so I stopped as well. The border guard looked at our trailer and in the back of the van, and they let us through. It had already been a very long day, so we tried to make it all the way to where we were staying, but we stopped at about 8:30 for some dinner in Ensenada. Let’s just say it was delicious and cheap. Tacos and Quesedillas and sodas and horchata for all of us for 54 dollars. I think that is the same amount I spent for lunch in a mexican restaurant in New York.

We finished our trek at around 10 pm. It was dark and foggy, so we couldn’t see much, but after unloading our stuff and choosing sleeping arrangements, we got our first night’s sleep in Mexico. We woke up to a foggy but amazing view out of our front window. We’re still trying to figure some logistics out, but we’re hoping to go to town and meet the pastor we will be working with today. Thanks to everyone that is praying. If you leave any comments on here for team members, I will be sure to pass them on. Until tomorrow….

Thursday:

We checked out the parade on Thanksgiving. It’s really hard to get to, and it is really slow. The balloons were quite large, but that was about it. After that, we went up to time square and had lunch with Stephanie, Bob, and Debby Cox. We had some NY pizza for our thanksgiving feast. After that, we tried to get onto a cruise that goes around Manhattan, but it wasn’t running in the afternoon on Thanksgiving. We went down to little Italy, which is actually quite little. We found where CBGB’s used to be, but there wasn’t anything really left there. We found that cube statue. It was cold and late and everything was closed, so we went home after some dinnerish snacks at Starbucks.

Friday:
Well, it was black to say the least. After getting up early, but not to shop, we went down to see wall street. They wouldn’t let us in the NYSE, but I did get a picture with the bull. We checked out Battery Park and a statue that used to be outside the WTC. We went to Rockefeller center, where Rhonda met Diedra Hall, a soap star from Days of Our Lives. We went ’shopping’ which was really just watching other people shop. The line outside FAO Schwartz was huge. Millions of people on 5th avenue spending over a billion dollars. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. In the afternoon, we went back to the Pier to take the cruise around the tip of Manhattan. It was a really cool boat trip, but it was freezing, so that was a bummer. Then we trekked up and over the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Huge. Ridiculously huge. Cool. But huge. After running 7 miles through the Met, we met up with some people at this Soul Food Southern Cookin’ place. It was alright. Then we found the restaurant from Seinfeld and went home.

Saturday:
We woke up late, and we checked out in the nick of time. We went to central park, which is also huge. It was in the 30’s so, we were pretty cold, but it is a beautiful area in the middle of a ton of concrete. The contrast was vivid. We had a last lunch with Marci and spent 49 bucks on 2 quesedillas, a burrito, chips and salsa. NY food = lots of money. We spent about an hour in the Guggenheim museum before heading back to JFK. The flight back was fun because it had the screens in each seat that tell you where you are. I saw Chicago, and I actually new what it was, which was cool. We got back to Oroville around 4:30. It was a trip we will never forget.

We woke up late. Our hotel is really nice, and so are our curtains, so it’s easy to stay in bed. When we left at about 1 we found this little eatery by our hotel with tons of food for pretty cheap. We walked over to the concourse at Grand Central Terminal to eat. When we were done, we took off uptown on the subway to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After 2 stops on the subway, Rhonda realized that she was missing her phone. It was in her jacket pocket, so it totally could have been stolen, but we went back to where we ate, just in case. To make a long story short, we talked to some people, dug through some trash, called at&t, googled triangulation, talked to more people, and finally found the phone at the lost and found. I can’t believe somebody actually turned in that phone. This kind of cut into our art perusing time, so we ditched that idea and headed to the west village.
We found the apartment that they used to film the outside of Monica/Joey’s building in Friends. That was pretty cool. Then we stopped by Marcy’s salon, and she went with us to try to find Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s apartment. She was pretty sure that they live on Charles Street, but we couldn’t find it so Marcy went back to work. Then, after some googling and walking around and sitting on the steps of a Jewish Temple, we realized we were only one or two doors down. We found their stoop and Rhonda got a picture. She was so very excited.
Then we went to Herald Square and shopped at Macy’s. Biggest store in the world. 9 floors, two city blocks, and 4 Starbucks in store. Actually, Rhonda shopped and I had Starbucks.
Then we went to the Angelika Film Center. We saw Lars and the Real Girl. The theater is so cool, and the movie was good too. Then we went back to the hotel to rest our tired feet.

Up and at ‘em. We got up early, packed up our stuff and headed downtown to The Roosevelt, a nice hotel on 43rd St and Madison Ave. We dropped off our luggage because our room wasn’t ready, and we went to the NBC store in Rockefeller Center. Now, to some of you, this may not seem like a big deal, but for Rhonda, this is a big deal. This is a very. big. deal. Rhonda got to meet Mary Beth Evans. Who? (Rhonda says, “That was the coolest part of this trip, right?”) She plays Kayla on Days of Our Lives. After getting an autograph and a picture, we went and got breakfast at Dean & Deluca. It was really expensive for just breakfast food, and the coffee was ridiculously weak. Never again.
We took the subway up to 86th st at Central Park and visited the Museum of Natural History. Really big dinosaurs, totem poles, stuff about how we evolved, alot of jokes pertaining to Ross (namely on the subject of paleintology), a life size replica of a blue whale, every animal you could imagine, the Cox’s, that dum dum want gum gum guy from A Night At The Museum, a part of a meteorite that hit Oregon, and a really big part of a sequoia. Oh, we saw Stephanie, Bob, and Debbie there and talked about our trips so far. We were real tired and real real hungry after all that museuming. We walked for a few blocks and took the bus down to Columbus Circle. We got some coffee and a gingerbread cookie and four hotdogs. It was a late lunch and kind of random, but it was good. Then we went back the hotel and checked in. Super small room, but really nice hotel. We fell asleep for about an hour when Stephanie called. So we got up, got ready, and headed down to the lobby. There was free hot apple cider in the lobby. That was nice. We went back over to Rockefeller Center to go ice skating with Stephanie. It was ridiculously expensive, but it was fun. You can’t go ice skating in Rockefeller Center whenever you want, so it was cool to do it. After that we looked for a place to grab a slice of pizza, but it was after 11, and once again, most places are closed. We got a chicken kabob from a street vendor, which was real tasty, and then went back to the hotel for the night.

Our feet hurt. We didn’t get out of the house until the afternoon, so technically it was a shorter day. But our feet hurt. That didn’t stop us though. Today we went to the Museum of Modern Art. Rhonda and I are less than art enthusiasts for sure, but some of the stuff seemed ridiculous. Especially when you look at something, and you’re like, give me an hour in home depot and a day to nail all that together, and I could do the same thing, and then along comes some artsy guy that has been coming to see this exhibit everyday, and he weeps when he sees it, and he just walks around it, crying, soaking it in, and being changed by the art. Beautiful, right? [note: sarcasm] It was really cool to see van gogh and picasso and monet, and the coolest was probably monet’s reflections of clouds on the water-lily pond. Rhonda and I had seen pictues of this before, but you would never guess how big it is in real life. That was really cool. Later we went to Rockefeller Center and watched them light the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue. It was a big to-do with media events and a bunch of people on bleachers that were all from old money, but it wasn’t that impressive. We saw Radio City Music Hall. Legendary. Really cool. Some guy proposed on the rink there, which would have been cool except for the fact that he had them play some cheesy cliche country song. Sappy, right? [note: if you're from NY, you have to say "right?" at the ends of most sentences]
We ate at this place called Bond 45, which was very old-new-york. We had a super thin pizza, a ceasar salad and a tiramisu, sharing them all, and it was $50. It is really hard to find a cheap place to sit down to eat here. We’re probably going to stick to street vendors and fallafals from now on.
Then we went down to Herrald Square and headed up the Empire State Building. That is the biggest tourist trap. But the last time I was up there it was kind of cloudy and in the mid morning. This was at night, and the lights were incredible. It felt like 20 degrees on the windy sides. That sucked, but the view really was amazing. Pictures can’t show it. After that we tried to find coffee, but it was after 11, and it was not to be. City-that-never-sleeps? Please.
It took about an hour to get back because the trains pretty much stop running late at night during the week, and we spent at least 20 minutes 9 blocks from our house, but our feet were tired, so we just waited for a local train to come by. Stupid express.

We woke up late. We had some bagels at H&H, which is supposed to be really good, but we weren’t all that impressed. We went to the 5th avenue Apple store, and that was really cool. We spent some time getting boots for Rhonda, because when in NY… Then we went to the Strand, this crazy cool bookstore with millions of books. It was really cool. But, the best part of the day was the Upright Citizens Brigade. We didn’t get tickets, so we stood outside for an hour and a half to get standby tickets. It was worth it. Full on improv for an hour and a half. John Krasinski would take a word from the audience and tell a story based on that word. Then people would jump in and act stuff out for 15 to 20 minutes that had to do with his story. By people, I mean Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Seth Meyers, Jack McBrayer, Paul Scheer, and a few others. We weren’t allowed to take pictures during the show, but it was hilarious. I took a pic of the theater just so you could see how personal it is. As far as I could tell, there were no mics used, except maybe for recording. It was one of the coolest things. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to watch do improv.

So we had a busy day. First though, I’ll tell you about last night. We got into JFK around 8:30, and after we got our baggage and traversed through the subways to Marcella’s (Rhonda’s friend from beauty school) pad in Harlem, it was 11:00. We hung out with some of Marci’s friends and ate fajitas. It was a good first night.

This morning we went to Greenwich village to see where Marci works. Then we just walked around for a while. We had breakfast at this place that was a cafe/communal table. It was really cool to see a very large table with a whole bunch of people who didn’t know each other sitting around and talking to each other while reading the paper and drinking coffee. We ran across the set for Sex & The City where they film Carrie’s apartment, and that made Rhonda happy.

Next we went to the WTC site and saw the giant hole. It is huge. They are still taking rubble out. It’s been over 6 years. Crazy. Then we went to Wall street. We saw where George Washington was sworn in. There were 2 different film crews taping commercials so we got some footage of that. One was for a financial something or other, and the other was like a cell phone/bubble ad. I’m really not very sure. From there, we headed down toward the water and saw Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge.

We ended up by the Staten Island Ferry, but we didn’t head out to see Lady Liberty. Instead we headed uptown toward SoHo. That was the plan, but we got side tracked and ended up looking at a sea of knockoffs in China Town. After some din din at some pizza joint in SoHo, we actually went into some of the real expensive shops. They were ridiculous. So we left. We headed up to Times Square. It was pretty nutty even though most of Broadway is dark with the strikes. We talked with some of the strikers, and hopefully it will end tonight. It seemed legit, and even though the timing sucks for us, it is well planned on the union’s part. They really do want to go back to work.

After that, we met back up with Marci and went to this little Italian place. After being there for about 20 minutes and a loud birthday song, the songs started coming consistently and we realized we were in an Italian/dance-party-bachelorette-style restaurant. When we left there, we were going to go to the Angelika to catch a film, but we realized we were tired, so we switched trains back uptown to Harlem. We’re still waiting to hear about the strike, but I think we will try to check out the Upright Citizen’s Brigade tomorrow night if we can get tickets.