annual mission trip. this year we chose to go to new orleans. the whole trip is planned, organized, and facilitated by us, the students. it was a wonderful experience. i will, just like with Israel, refer you to Matt's blog (www.lantzfam.blogspot.com). his descriptions will be better than mine b/c he updates during the trip.
affectionately called "the Teal Dumpster", has no more of our affection. it broke down multiple times. it wound up actually just being funny when we eventually had to push it back to the church one afternoon. don't worry... it made it all the way home after some mechanical genius from a couple of the guys.
his mother routinely takes him to the voodoo temple. he is a normal, sweet little boy who enjoys his starbursts and his Chuck Taylors... and he's living in saturation of lies. evil is all around us, but this little boy, Falon, gave me a face to see how real it is.
there are lots of pictures for this one, b/c they're just fun. one of my dear friends, Jesse, hosted a formal dinner last night. he recently a book about the art of dining and has wanted to practice his new skill. we were glad to help him out. he served a 5 course meal. the china was beautiful, the table elegant, and the food was wonderful. the gentlemen stood when ladies left or came to the table, etiquite was explored/corrected, and matt and i of course took the chance to take pictures with the large pine cone.
it was such a treat to allow him to teach us what he has learned and to see him be an expert with something he enjoys so much. it seems random to want to serve and dine with excellence, but we are called to work with all of our heart (col 3:23). jesse is inspiring me to want to be excellent at many things that i'm simply interested in. if you care about something, why not do it well? how about: photography (which i'm already working on), cooking, maybe piano or tea parties... the sky is the limit.
7:00 am on week days: P2. the 2 Ps are Prayer and Physical training. as a discipline we start each day by working out together. yes, that's good for our bodies, but we're also learning to pray during the routine of life. by intentionally focusing on prayer while working out we're training ourselves to commit our thoughts to the Lord and think about things that are true, excellent, praiseworthy. how amazing is it to actually dwell in the privilege of communing with the Creator of the universe!
this semester we each get the chance to lead a week. when cecily was in charge she opened the opportunity for us to help the wranglers for a morning. after helping with the horses we were able to play like campers and ride. what a treat!
