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litoparakeetpie
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Name: Amanda
Country: United States
Birthday: 10/6/1989
Gender: Female
Interests: i enjoy....being a BANDO,
Music (though i don't practice much) *guilty look*,reading (???),playing free cell for HOURS... until i can beat the game,typing in my xanga when I'm bored,eating,sleeping,summer!!,my birthday, Christmas, New Years..... traveling... (especially to CHINA!!!)
talking to people.
Expertise: ?? lots of stuff i guess....
Occupation: Government
Industry: People's industry.
Message: message me
AIM:  parakeetgurl9801
MSN: flutesrawk106@hotmail.com
Yahoo:  b4ndo43v3r
Member Since:
1/31/2004
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| "God is so clutch." as per word use of my brother. I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, and I really DO have to agree. God IS really clutch. He really comes through and uses us in situations when we least expect it. Up until before I went to Mexico during the summer, to me, God was average-sized. However, the more I think about things, the more I see how LARGE and MAGNIFICENT He really is.
For the longest time, I've wanted to be "noticed". I wanted to take some leadership role, I wanted to step into some BIG shoes. I didn't want to just fade into the background. Senior year during band COULD'VE been my moment. I SHOULD'VE been section leader, SHOULD'VE gotten some recognition for at least sticking it out, having the guts to be the only senior in my section. But God's plans were bigger than that. I knew I was good at playing flute, but at the time, that was the only thing I thought I was good at. Summer 2008, I COULD'VE gone to Mexico, but I was in Europe at the time. I COULD have gone on my first missions trip then, but God had better timing. Funny thing: last spring, I was still thinking of being a music major, but summer 2009 was when I decided for SURE that I was no longer going to pursue music. I wanted to be a Spanish major. Summer 2009 I was finally able to go to Mexico. Not just as a member of the Mexico team, but as a translator for our team--during my FIRST trip there. Why did God choose the Summer after I decided for sure that I was going to be a Spanish major to enable me to go to Mexico? You think it's coincidence now? I don't.
I really believe God's there when we least expect it. There's a picture that sticks out in my mind as the days and weeks continue to go by. I remember one morning before heading out to our sites, we were given a time to have our own devotional time alone. I remember as I was sitting on top of a rock reading my Bible, I took a mental picture of the landscape around me. It was the feeling of being on a mountain top and looking around to the valleys down below me and the mountains to the side of me that I was able to grasp just a tiny bit of how magnificent my God really is.
Why I'm writing about this right now, I really don't know. It's been a journey these past few months with all the trials I've been though, but each time I open the word, I am reminded of how his promises really come true and that his timing is always better than mine. He always knows more than I do. I think about these incidents that I go through and the more I think about it, the more I want to "get connected". I want to go back to Fellowship. If not my own church's fellowship, I want to be able to find a fellowship group on campus or elsewhere. I want to be able to share with others the exact feeling I have. I think I'm at the point of my spiritual walk when I think I have so much passion bottled up inside of me and just want to let it out.
My savior is MIGHTY to SAVE!
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| As of today, I have donated a gallon of blood. While that may sound disgusting to some just hearing and imagining a milk carton filled with blood, to me, it's a way for me to be able to contribute to my community. Some people stay active in their communities by doing community service-cleaning up beaches, serving at soup kitchens, tutoring young children, etc. etc. etc. I feel that taking some time out of my day every 2 or so months during the year is my way of contributing.
Everyone, I'm sure, has heard of the Red Cross saying "Every pint you donate, you can save up to 3 lives". While, yes, I do wonder whose body my donated blood has gone into, it didn't really occur to me how much blood I had donated until I got a little pin from the Red Cross workers today.
I'm hoping I have many more years of eligibility in front of me, and that one day, I'll be able to do the apheresis donation as well.. (:
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| I was going to write a happy-go-lucky entry this morning, but now, I'm not too sure... Just saw ELAINA CANER a few minutes ago...man.. I had my hopes up that I wouldn't have to see her all semester. Efffff.. Anyways. 372 days until I turn 21 :D which means.... ONE WEEK until I turn 20? :] | | |
| I have a bracelet on my hand that reads "XICO OUTREACH". At one point, it read "MEXICO OUTREACH", but with each shower I take, each swim class I attend, and each wash of my hands, the words on my bracelet fade a bit more. Last week, one of my friends at school tried to tear it off my wrist, because she initially thought that the bracelet was from the hospital and needed to be removed immediately. When I told her what it was for, she responded nonchalantly "Well, it's just a bracelet..." As I fumbled with it yet again that evening, it reminded me that this bracelet is not just a bracelet. It represents a week of change, a summer of change, and hopefully a life of change. I don't know when I'll take the bracelet off--perhaps when all the color fades away and I go back to Ensenada in November/December or in August.
Although my summer's been long gone, and all my luggage from my Mexico trip has been put away and all my laundry has been washed, I still wanted to share a bit about what I did during the summer, if not for my Xanga audience to read, then simply for myself.
I decided to go on my first missions trip this summer. Initially, I was really excited about the whole trip. The last time I had gone to Mexico before this past August was when I was 10, and back then, the only words I knew were "uno" "blanco" and "casa". I was particularly excited because even though I wasn't going to be an interpreter or play a large role in the team, I would be able to understand the language to some extent. With each team meeting we had, my life became more hectic. I started summer school and had another person on our team help me finish the preparation I had started. The week before our team left for Mexico, I was going crazy. It was finals week, our team had not finished rehearsing our first skit for VBS, let alone begin preparing our SECOND skit. I was worried about all the normal problems (showers, bathrooms, "girl issues", etc). I felt overwhelmed a few days before leaving because I was not prepared with ANYTHING. I hadn't sent out any prayer letters to my friends and had not even begun to think about packing yet. Two days before the trip, I began to buying items for my trip, and sent out all my prayer letters. Our team also underwent troubles. A few weeks before we left, we found out that neither of our previous translators were able to go, so we had Dennys, a translator provided by APU, aid us. Since I was the only other person with more Spanish experience, I was enlisted as a "backup" translator. When my pastor told me the news, I was speechless. How would I translate if I was not fluent in Spanish?
I left Friday, August 1st with our Mexico team feeling very unprepared spiritually, physically, mentally, etc. How would I cope without Facebook for a week? How would I survive without having a hot shower every night? What would the bathrooms be like? How would I tent with a bunch of other girls? Every little detail became a fear for me. Those fears eventually subsided that first night. The staff at APU had installed flush toilets at our campsite, and by the end of that first evening, I did not even have a single thought about what was occurring in everyone's lives through Facebook.
The week only got better with Church the next day. I woke up WITHOUT an alarm at 5:30 AM, and was still running around with a "tank" full of energy Sunday night. On Monday, when the other team was leading VBS for the day, our team had to go to a local Costco and WalMart to buy supplies. It was Monday afternoon when we realized that our Mexico Team had left the craft box back in Rowland Heights. Eventually, we found other teams at our site who were willing to let us use their supplies. What a miracle seeing that occur!
In addition to seeing God work through our team with the craft box situation, I saw God working in my life that week as well. No, I cannot claim to have seen someone raised from the dead or anything of that sort, but I truly experienced God. It began Tuesday morning with Barna-nominations. Barna-nominations were given out as an "encouragement" to team members from the different churches who exhibited enthusiasm or went above and beyond team leaders' expectations. I was given the first barna-nomination that Tuesday morning because I "jumped in" at the last minute to be a replacement translator when our team had lost both our translators. I had not thought much about it at first because I was merely using the gift that God had given to me and not done much that week. But I think God showed me that I could still be noticed and used by Him. I had been praying for a while to be noticed and to lead at church, but nothing happened. It was only those who attended church on Sundays and Fridays weekly who were part of "leadership" at church. In Mexico, the team leaders, prayer coordinators, and translators were all part of "leadership". Doing something I had a passion for (speaking Spanish & helping others understand it) enabled me to take a leadership position while serving down there. I still don't know exactly why the Barna-nomination changed me, but it enabled me to take a step closer in my spiritual walk. I knew that if God could answer that longing of mine, and use me to some capacity, he was still working in my life.
It took getting out of the comforts of my Southern California life with hot showers daily, glorious high-speed internet, and unlimited text messages. It took getting away--going to a mountain top where I could actually see the STARS--and living in the 'dirt' and just loving the kids daily--to really experience the magnificence of what my God could do. Seeing him lead children to answer altar calls, watching the locals with such spiritual energy at a Sunday morning service despite no padded pews or air conditioning, and even seeing him use me as a vessel to communicate between the two cultures was life-changing. Coming back, I've had my stumbles. I sat at my computer and did absolutely NOTHING except sift through my email messages and use Facebook that first night I returned. I've missed days of doing devotions, but I now have this fire that I didn't have before. I may stumble in my walk with God, and my fire for Him may diminish, but one thing is never going to change: remembering that experience of God working in my life.
One verse I can use to sum up my experience in Mexico:
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the
Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant
because he had spoken with the LORD.
Exodus 34:29
I know my God is MUCH more powerful that even what he revealed to me down in Mexico. If he could do this much to me in one week of my summer break, I am excited to find out about his plans for the rest of my life!
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| This semester has been my most challenging and emotionally trying semester thus far at Fullerton College.
Here are just some highlights:
-Got KICKED OUT of orchestra by some n00bs who apparently had an "incredible" audition last week.
-placed 3rd chair in band. I swear, during Spring semester, I was 10,000000 times better than Marina. Now, she's section leader. D:
-not included in the "top" ensemble for "woodwind ensemble". mmhmm. sux. cuz we have 1) a self-taught flutist who has an amazing vibrato. The guy sounds like James Galway, and he's never had a flute lesson in his life.... =/ oh, and he's a freshman this semester taking applied. D: 2)a girl who graduated USC as a PIANO major and only played flute for .... oh 3 years? and she's MUCH better than I am as well... Oh, and there's me.... I've been taking lessons for the past year, and where's my increase in improvement....?
-can't find parking on Tuesdays to save my life.....oh, but what else is new?
Yup. That about summarizes my pitiful existence this semester.
I just hope Emo Amanda isn't back... :'( cuz that would suckkk..
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function confirm($msg)
{
echo "";
}//end function
and call it like this:
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