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Saturday, August 02, 2008

Arizona
Part 3

Here's the last installment from our trip to Arizona. Tons of pictures of all the cute, cuddly animals at Pastor Albert's house.

Princess, Stewie and Nikki's dog

Caveman, because they found him under a rock

I must have caught him while he was shaking his head. Or could it be.....a skinwalker?!?

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Arizona
Part 2

Returning to the Navajo Reservation this year was bittersweet. It was good to see so many of the people that I have grown to love over the years, but at the end of the week, I was a bit sad to have to leave again. Our church has been going out to the Navajo Reservation for many years now, even long before I went out there for the first time my sophomore year of high school. Every summer we partner with Twin Mesa Bible Church in Hardrock, AZ (about 2 hrs northeast of Flagstaff) to hold a weeklong VBS for the kids, teens, and adults out there. It's a small church, with limited resources, so over the years we've also helped the church with various projects to help maintain and improve the facilities, from refinishing the pews to painting the church to installing new outhouses.

The Navajo Nation has long been torn by the effects of alcoholism, gambling, witchcraft, violence, and abuse. So many of the kids come from broken homes and families, and fall victim to the seemingly never-ending cycle of alcoholism and abuse. That's why the ministries of churches like Twin Mesa Bible Church are so important. It broke my heart this year to see some of our former students show up the first day intoxicated and wanting to pick fights. I felt so disheartened and discouraged seeing this, and wondered if anyone was having any impact out there. Then halfway through the week this Navajo man showed up, thanking us for our ministry, and sharing with us the awesome news that his father had just accepted Christ two days before! He then shared with us this verse that was such an encouragement to me: "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

Here are some pictures from our trip. I didn't get to stay the whole time this year since I had to get back for a wedding, but I am really grateful I had the chance to serve again this year.

About to embark on the 11+ hour drive. Love the flare from my 17-40!

We slept out in tents that we set-up in Pastor Albert's backyard. Here's my tent. I don't know how I managed to get a tent all to myself while there were 6 senior guys crammed into a tent smaller than mine.....haha. =P

But if you think I was living it up, check out Pete's tent...

One of the many beautiful sunrises I woke up to.

Face painting

Lesson time!

Memory Verse time!

Craft time!

Play time!

Our 3rd/4th grade class

How we cook

Toasting some pop tarts

Washing the dishes

Our showers

I live off this stuff when I'm in Arizona

My brother and "Peanut"

Haha.....I thought this series was pretty hilarious.

A lot of the families out there own horses. In fact, there was supposed to be a big horse race at the end of the week that one of my former students was riding in.

One night the horses at Pastor Albert's house escaped from their coralle, which put all the dogs in quite a frenzy (pictures of the many dogs coming up in another post). The dogs were running around and howling like crazy all night long, trying to get the horses back into the coralle. They eventually managed to get all but one horse back in. The white horse you see below ran off and refused to come home. Late the next day, the white horse eventually made his way back along with two other random horses, and quite a dramatic chase ensued to wrangle the horse back into the coralle. It was quite exciting to watch!

It took two cars and seven people, but eventually the family was able to surround the horse and grandma yelled for the horse to get back into his coralle.

Repainting the pews

Burning our trash

By the end of the week, our car was pretty dirty. Would you believe that under all that dirt is a silver Jeep?

And this is how our car got so dirty.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Arizona
Part 1

I'm back from Arizona and, as always, I have plenty of pictures to share! I split all the pictures up into three posts, and this first post is of all the random, cool, abandoned, decaying, interesting things I found all around me. Since we had Andy come along as the official historian for the trip, I had a chance to shoot for fun and shoot whatever I wanted. In all my years of going out to the res, how did I never notice all the cool things that were around me?

I love rainy, cloudy days! Makes the sky look so much more moody and ominous.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Adrienne + Chris
engagement

I am at San Jose airport right now waiting for my flight back to LA, and it's been great because they have these laptop stations along with free wi-fi. So I have been getting so much done while I've been sitting here waiting! To prove to you my productivity, here is Chris & Adrienne's engagement session that I just finished editing. I'm so glad they have free wi-fi here so I could upload these and share them with you.

I had a great time hanging out with Adrienne & Chris at the Griffith Observatory. They recently finished remodeling the observatory and it's open to the public again. In all my years of living in LA, I don't know if I've ever visited the Griffith Observatory until this year, but it's a really beautiful place with great views of LA and the Hollywood sign, lots of hiking trails, and some pretty cool science exhibits.

Chris & Adrienne....thanks for a great afternoon and session! Can't wait to shoot your wedding this weekend!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Out of the Office

I'm heading out to the Navajo Reservation in Arizona tomorrow with a group of high schoolers from my church. They'll be holding a VBS next week and I'll be helping them out.

So I will be out of the office until Thursday, July 17th, and I'll be replying to emails when I get back. Thanks for your patience!