deck the hills--beverly hills!

There was a ton of awesome activity today. Here are the top 10! (in chronological order)

#10- 5:30 surf lesson. I didn't surf worth a crap, but Bob brought his underwater case for his camera, and we took some fun shots. I'll put them up for you to see as soon as I get them!

#9- a rousing Jacob's Well Bible study--talking about money is always fun!

#8- eating leftover Rascals for lunch

#7- taking a much needed afternoon off and driving up the 405 for the first time ALONE! I'll admit, it was a little nerve-wrecking, but I did it!

#6- finding an amazing deal on Craigslist to get my hair done at Nelson J salon in Beverly Hills.

#5- arriving early to the salon, allowing me time to walk 2 blocks over to Rodeo Drive!! to snap some cool photos and walk around like a big wig!! Their Christmas theme is "Deck the Hills" in Beverly Hills. Pretty funny!

#4- seeing my first celebrity! The guy who hosted the MTV reality show From G's To Gents. Fonzworth Bentley.

#3- getting my hair cut and colored (a $295 value at this salon) for $30!! An apprentice cut part of my hair, but an expert came and did all the major cutting. I got to sit under the dryer a few times, got my hair washed with Aveda products, and was treated like a celebrity! I even had Nelson J himself touch my hair. Man, that's the life.

#2- waiting in a parking garage for 15 minutes (still not sure what was going on below), people were getting annoyed, but I just sat there and talked to Kevin while we were waiting. When I pulled up to the teller to pay she said, "It's FREE for waiting." (It would've cost me $14.)

#1- arriving back at church to find a package sitting on my desk from Kevin. The journal, some play foam, a finger trap, and earplugs. Still not sure what they're all about, but it was a nice surprise!

The long drive home took about 2 hours. Grr...but it was a nice chance to slow down, proudly show my MN license plates and be nice to fellow drivers! :)

my first cut back

Wow, it's been an awesomely challenging day. Do you ever have those days? Hard: because tough issues got raised, tears were shed, and pain escaped--but relieving: because God created an opportunity for openness and humility. That was today for me.

Bob and I went out surfing at 5:30 a.m. (I'm starting to like the morning), and were among a sea of other surfers. I was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic. Every wave I went for, 5 other people paddled into as well, so I constantly chickened out--for their safety. I cannot predict where my board is going to go. However, one wave today saw the wrath of Amber. Slowly, my feet made their way up onto the board, and I even cut back into the wave a little. The amazing beauty of God's creation has me itching to get back in the water, whether I catch a wave or not. Though, catching a wave always helps! :) I saw some beautiful dolphins riding the waves with us, watched many rainbows emerge in the backspray of the waves, and felt myself chewing on sand at one point. Ah, the beauty of creation.

We're planning another outreach event here for December called Santa's Workshop (I still can't believe a church event has a title with the word SANTA in it!) :) The idea is for parents to drop their kids off for 4 hours while parents go shopping for Christmas presents. The kids play games, sing songs, eat lunch, and make crafts. Today was the first planning meeting for that event. It's about the closest thing to VBS I'll be able to be a part of (since I'll be done interning by the time VBS rolls around here), so I'm really excited to contribute to the event.

A few days ago, there came a letter of great surprise. The women of First Lutheran in Brookings apparently had a no-bake bake sale, and sent me a gracious financial contribution from the event. Words cannot express my gratitude for these women who so selflessly give to others! Thank you all so much. Maybe now I'll go get the timing belt fixed on my car. It's way overdue.

A couple of great sermon prep/supervisor meetings today got some great ideas flowing for my sermon next Sunday. I'm slowly checking things off my list. Ah, there is satisfaction in all of this madness!

Kelly and I hit up Rascals for supper tonight. I love their chicken teriyaki bowl. MMM...rice, chicken, and lots of sauce! Great for the diet! NOT! :)

Oh, and the best news of the day: KEVIN IS COMING AGAIN! Nov. 19-22. My heart has been hurting lately. I miss him. So, it was such an awesome surprise this morning to receive an e-mail with his flight itinerary attached! I was literally jumping for joy when I read this!! YIPPEE! One week from tomorrow!

kingdomopoly

Dear diary,

Another Sunday packed full of church, friends, and tiredness. Church this morning went well. Today was the start of our new series "kingdomopoly: a better way to play the financial game." Greg preached about debt, and used some awesome video clips to support the fact that we are ridiculously addicted to spending--especially on credit cards. The ambient arts team put together this amazing 10 x 10 foot kingdomopoly board display for the series. It's awesome. When I wasn't staring at the beauty of the display, my role in church today was to lead the prayers, the creed, do announcements, and the blessing. I decided to try to do the prayers extemporaneously today, and only used notes when it came to listing the names of people, so that was a big step for me today. It went well. As some of you know, I've had a long list of word vomit moments in church, and after last week, decided that I was going to try super hard not to say anything stupid this week. Key word: TRY.

It was at the 11:00 service that I was doing the announcements and was telling people about the kingdomopoly cards in their programs (which they take and give to someone who may be interested in coming to church) that I began to say, "If you were really moved by Greg's message today, or perhaps you just want to bring someone to see this kick...(internal dialogue that turned in to external dialogue) can we say "butt" in church?" (Bob looks at me as if to say, "you just did.") "Ok, this kick butt ambient art display. Oh gosh, next slide please!" Of course, the congregation erupted in laughter, my face got super hot and red, and when I tried going to the next announcement slide, people were still laughing, so I picked out a person I knew who was laughing in the congregation and said, "Kelly, stop laughing!" Yeah, this is all happening while I'm on the mic giving announcements. Once I said the word "kick" there was no where to go...well, I can think of another word that would follow, so "butt" seemed like the right choice in my mine. :) So much for a NO WORD VOMIT Sunday! When I went back to my seat Bob leaned over and said, "Those were some kick butt announcements."

After a serious sermon about excessive spending, Kelly Rodono and I loaded up the car and headed into LA to do some shopping in the fashion district. I was really hoping to find an inexpensive COACH bag, but found that there were very few down there. Apparently, the police raided that area a few weeks ago, and took all the knock-off purses they could get their hands on. It looked to me as though people were still recovering from that. But, the rest of the stores were alive and kicking! People, people, people everywhere! I found a cool gift for Kevin (our year and a half anniversary is this weekend), some $5 COACH sunglasses, and 2 scarves. Santee alley is the cheap zone of the fashion district, and it's 4 blocks of alley vendors and stores. Shoes, clothing, sunglasses, jewelry, purses, toys, and even electronics are jam packed in these little stores. We had a great afternoon!

We made it back in great time! There was very little traffic, and it only took us about 30 minutes each way. Now that I know how close it is, I might have to go down there more often! So, I ran home for a bite to eat, and ran back campus for our 7:00 service. I didn't have anything to drink while we were out shopping, so by 7, I had a massive headache. It was a long church service because of it. So...sleepy time came at 10:00.

Sincerely,

Ambrosia

game night = success!

After all that planning, it's over. The game night was a great success.

We got a wii and xbox hooked up to jumbo screens & amps, and had a great time playing. For the non-video-gamers, Jenga, Clue, and Pictureka were all played as well. A great crew of people showed up to help set up, and an even greater crew showed up for the main event. 17 people! I put a sign-in sheet right by the door, so was able to collect contact information from all but one person there! After all the responses to my Craigslist ad, I was a little bummed to see only 2 of them actually show up. But, two is better than one, thank you God!

I got to play Rockband tonight for the first time ever. I must've been a drummer in another life, because I rocked it! :) So much so, that I accidentally broke the foot pedal while playing! And it wasn't that I was mashing on it...I'm not that hard core. I was playing barefoot, so maybe that had something to do with it. I hate breaking things that aren't mine. I'm definitely going to pay to get him a new one, but since it's not mine, I won't get to enjoy it. Let's just hope I don't break a surfboard while I'm here, that would be even worse!

Today was a great day of fellowship. Our Saturday morning young women's growth group was awesome. I think there were 8 of us, and Alicia brought some amazing cinnamon streusel muffins (no nuts)...Holly makes those for me when I stay at her house, so it was a nice little reminder of home. Tammy Famularo graciously welcomes us into her home every other week. We've been focusing on the bad girls of the Bible these last few weeks, and have really had a chance to get to know eachother on a more personal level. I love being in community with other young women my age.

This afternoon, I met Ellen at the plunge to swim. It was 85 degrees here today, so I was fortunate to get some serious sun while swimming. There has been far too much going on today. Errands, sign making, moving tables and walls, computer junk. I'm ready for bed, and hoping tomorrow won't be another exhausting Sunday! Nighty night!

i'm so excited!

Holy cow, 4 more people just e-mailed me and wanted information about the game night! I just went to Albertson's and loaded up on pop, chips, cookies, and candy! I may have to go back for more! This is so stinkin' exciting!! YAY!

fliers, fliers, flying higher!

Wow, this morning was incredible. Amy, Melissa, and I went to El Camino College in Torrance and handed out 300 fliers this morning for our game night! That's all I printed. I thought for sure it'd take us forever to get rid of them! Boy was I wrong! Next time I'll know better! It only took us about an hour to hand deliver them! We stood on the bridge that connects the parking lots to the school. Almost every student who goes to class passes by us! Two evangelism highs in one week! Unbelievable! We got approached by the El Camino Police Department 3 times while we were there. So, we invited the officers, and on our way out were told that we'd need a permit to continue to hand them out. Amy replied, "Oh well, we're done anyway!" Maybe next time we'll get the ok before showing up! :)

I enjoyed a lunch in the sun with Amy Luhmann. We drove down to Redondo Beach and had lunch at Ruby's Diner. Chicken strips and a caramel shake! YUM! As I was running Amy back to her house, we saw a sweet Christmas tree sweatshirt in the window of Goodwill, so I went back to check it out. :) Though I didn't buy the shirt, I did find a pair of white COACH shoes! $7! Ah! That's a steal! I have no idea if they're real or not, but shoot, I don't care. I took a picture of them so you could see just how cute they are.

My day off has been quite action packed. Sue Labate (from my intern task force) invited me to join her and a few of her friends for a card-making night. I love making crafts, so obviously, I jumped at the invitation to join them. What a lovely bunch of women. One woman prepared 5 cards for us to do, so we assembled, stamped, embossed, colored, and taped them all together. They turned out great! I can't decide if I want to actually give them to someone, or if I want to keep them for myself! :) Our hostesses also baked up some yummy spiced tea and chocolate covered cream puffs for our enjoyment. I'm so thankful for these opportunities to get to know GS people on a more personal level. Thanks for the fun Sue!

Late night Friday: Brian Stearns and I headed down to the Hermosa Pier and put 325 fliers on the cars down there. Holy cow, on a Friday night, that is definitely the place to be. Honestly, it took us longer to find a parking spot than it did to pass them out! I gotta say, 625 fliers in one day: Not bad. My poor little tootsies are tired. Oh, I also put another ad on Craigslist tonight, and when I got home, 6 people had replied that they were coming! Wow. I am really excited to see who actually comes tomorrow night! Please be praying for these people that God will work mightily through them and bring them to the event. Good night!

d2 learner

Good Shepherd is holding weekly "ordinary hero leadership classes" on Wednesday nights. There are a whole host of wonderful people who attend in the hopes that they will someday lead others. Last night, we learned about the different phases of a learner. d1=excited about learning, but definitely unconsciously incompetent. d2=not so excited, because now they are consciously incompetent. That was me on a surfboard today.

Gosh, you'd think that after 2 months, I'd be getting better. I didn't stand on my board at all today. Instead, I got the crap beat out of me numerous times. This is how rough it went: I walked into the water with a tight pony-tail on the top of my head. An hour and a half later, I walked out of the water with a loose/messy SIDE pony. That has never happened before. Dang.

I spent the whole day trying to recover from (not only the early morning), but the royal butt whooping I received in the water. My eyes are drooping as I write this.

Tonight I was graciously invited over to Camille Bunch's house for supper. How wonderful to be asked to share a meal in her home. She cooked meatballs, mashed potatoes, skim milk, and NUT FREE brownies! YUMMY. I also got to meet her son Mark and his new wife Sasha. What a lovely couple. I also got to play this awesome Japanese game that hangs on the wall, and is sort of like a pin-ball machine. I had never seen one before, but had so much fun playing it. I haven't laughed so hard since I got here. The pronunciation jokes and dictionary dives made my stomach hurt with joy! Thanks for the fun Camille!

I'm heading to bed, and excited for tomorrow: more evangelism. We're heading to El Camino.

evangelism high!

My heart is racing, it's happy, warm, and extra fuzzy right now. I can hardly sit still, I'm so excited about the happenings of today. Fact: I am an evangelist extraordinaire! :) I put a few ads on Craigslist (an online site for selling/advertising things) for the Young Adult game night event that's happening on Saturday. I got two people who replied from that who said they are interested in joining the group! Then, today, I looked through some of the personal ads (no, not for personal reasons) because sometimes people place ads which say they are looking for new friends. I replied to a few of the "normal" ones and had 4 people write me back to RSVP that they are COMING!! Thank you God! It's working!

The game night consists of video games (wii, xbox), board games, cards, and snacks. We'll be playing the video games on the large screens in the Community Life Center. So, not only are the other young adults going to be there, but we'll be joined by some new (non Good Shepherd) folks as well! I could pee my pants right now, I'm so thrilled!

Monday & Tuesday, Bob and I were at the Southern California internship cluster at a retreat center in Palos Verdes. Luckily, it was only a 15 minute drive for us. Some people had to drive over 4 hours. There was an incredible view of the whole LA city from the edge of the retreat center, so I snapped a quick shot last night. I got a chance to see a few Luther folks, and meet some new friends as well. I was constantly reassured through the stories that other interns shared that God had Good Shepherd in mind when the internship process was developing! I walked away from one of our meetings today and almost burst into tears of joy because I felt so overwhelmed that I was the one chosen for Good Shepherd. Bob affirmed to me last night on our drive home, "Well, those are all nice interns, but we got the cream of the crop!" Man alive, all I can say is the feeling is mutual!

I could tell that the other interns were really fascinated by Bob, and I felt like a proud little intern as if to say, "Yup, he's my supervisor! Lucky me!" One of the other male interns even joked and said, "I think I have a man crush on your supervisor!" That cracked me up! I’m so thankful to be part of the Good Shepherd team, and honestly wouldn’t trade this place for any other site. Other interns talked about giving into the powers that be and choosing sites for the wrong reasons. Back in February, I had that option too. Some supervisors contacted me (when they were told not to by the CLI office) and offered all kinds of things: a possible first call opportunity, a fridge packed full of groceries, a car to drive around in. There was something to be said about the fact that Bob never contacted me following the interview. He was honest and didn’t try to scam the system the way a few other internship supervisors did. I thank God everyday that I didn’t get swayed by food, cars, or jobs. Don’t get me wrong: it was all very tempting. The devil was certainly working in that situation: internship selection. Sad. But, I’m happy to say, I’m quite glad, content, challenged, loved here in Torrance. What a blessing!

After a quick trip to Target last night with Kelly (we found planners for $1), I found myself glued to the TV to watch Barack Obama give his first speech as the new President of the United States. History.

finding focus

It was a strange sound this morning to hear rain pinging & panging the roof of the house. I wasn't surprised: I scheduled an outdoor fellowship event in the no-rain zone, and it's raining on the day! :) Luckily, it cleared up by 9:30, and was dry enough for our Focus Finders outing this afternoon.

Today was the final day of the Fantastic Five sermon series. We commissioned each member to step out in faith and take on their new role from Ephesians 4 as a pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet, or apostle. I'm excited to see how each person takes on their role to build up the body of Christ on earth. My prayer today has been that each man, woman or child who may be doubting their importance would confidently trust that God is gifting them to be part of the team.

The Focus Finders headed down to the Redondo Pier this afternoon. God blessed us with such lovely weather, icecream in every flavor, and great equipment to shoot with. There were 15 of us who tromped around the pier with our cameras proudly dangling from our necks. It was the bigget group of tourists I've ever been a part of. As you can see from the photo: I befriended a sea lion and a fish today! The ocean-critters are really growing on me! I also had my love language spoken to today. Rebecca surprised me with two sand dollar shells she found in a gift store, Dena & Morgan got me these two adorable surf stickers, and then I came back to my desk this afternoon to find a deck of Batman trading cards on my desk with a note that said, "Just because I love ya! -Kim" Ah! My love tank is overflowing! Thank you all for speaking my love language!

I finally got a chance to put up a few photos from the trip to MN. Check them out below. Also, my last sermon is posted online too if you'd like to hear it. It was funny to get feedback on this sermon and hear people describe it as better than the last. I didn't have that sense after it was over, but there's evidence that God is working through me even when I don't expect it. Halleluia for that!

54 days!

Is it over already? Man, this trip home went WAY too fast. We packing in a whole host of fun activities. I had never been trick-or-treating with Presley before, so, why not fly all the way back from CA for it? Say cheese! Today was our annual family photo shoot day. (Ok, let’s face it: we have about 5 a year, but this is really the big one—Christmas card photo!). I was faced with my biggest challenge this weekend: Paul had to work this morning, so I had to take a picture of him last night and insert his body in the group photo. I’m not thrilled with it, but it’s the best I can do at two different times of day. The girls all looked adorable in their bright red dresses. We snapped a few pictures inside, then went outside and smiled until we couldn’t feel our fingers anymore. It was a chilly one this morning! Hugs goodbye, a quick breakfast, and we were on the road again.

Dave & Lynda Bergeson (Kevin’s parents) welcomed me back when we arrived in St. Paul. We took their family Christmas photos as well (650 pictures taken this weekend), and went out for a yummy lunch at the St. Croix Broiler. I’m writing this portion of my entry from about 100 miles in the air on Delta flight #4551. It’ll be good to get back to my normal sleep and food patterns. My eyes are sagging and my heart is sad. Only 54 days until I am home for Christmas.

Kelly Luhmann picked me up from the airport and greeted me with a hug and a "welcome home Amber" sign. I'm confused...where exactly is my home?