Blogging again!!!!

well my fellow friends and family members. i am finally on the radar once again. i'm now going to try and be a better citizen by keeping my blog up to date (as well as i can) so that those of you who are either bored to tears or are interested in what i'm doing can having something to read.

in just 2 weeks i will graduate freed-hardeman university. i will be graduating with a BA in secondary education: History. i have been student teaching since january, and i'll be quite honest, it takes a very special person to be a teacher...i unfortunatley found out the hard way that i was not that kind of a special person. i have not enjoyed teaching and have chosen to follow a different path in continuing my education so that i can pursue a different career. it has been a long 4 years and i will be glad to move out of western TN and hopefully i will choose to live in a place with more than 4 resturants, a torn down water tower, and the biggest attraction in the town is a burger joint that doesn't even take debit cards whenever i get a job someday lol. after graduation i will probably spend a day or 2 with my girlfriend Kathryn and her family at their house in tupelo, MS. then i will make the 14 hour trek home to Dayton, PA. i will be working for a visiting nurses agency for the summer. my summer also will include a trip to nashville for a TORCH meeting, honduras trip, nate's wedding in Birmingham, Vacation in Destin, and Moving to Tallahassee, FL for grad school on August 1. i will be working on my masters for the next 2 years in the area of college student affairs which will enable to pursue a career in college administration within student activities, campus recreation, career development, judicial affairs, etc. i'm very very very excited about this opportunity!!! i have a grad assistantship in which i will be working with students and the union board to organize events on campus for the students while working with a very very very large budget. if any of you know of anyone who has a place for rent in tallahassee please let me know. thanks. so that is my plan for the next 2 years. my girlfriend kathryn will be attending the university of south florida to pursue a masters degree in art history. it's in tampa, fl which is only about 4 hrs away so hopefully i'll get to see her about once a month or so.

i hope this blog finds you all in good health. if you would, pray for me so that i may be successful and remain healthy enough to be successful in grad school and someday be able to attain a decent job, and possibly have a family. i love you all

Godspeed

TY

busy busy busy

sorry for not writing in quite a while but it's been crazy. after i came home from honduras i've been on the go non-stop.

upon arriving back in the states i got to go to erin's house for the night and get to see her which was amazing, then i flew home the next day. i then worked for 3 days. following that i packed up and headed to the beach (ocean city) at first i really didn't want to go b/c for me, being home is my vacation since i'm always away. but gradually throughout the wk i began to love the beach again lol. i bought some really awesome pictures of black and white sunsets for real cheap those who appreciate art would really like them. sis and i bought boogie boards and got to go boogie boarding a little bit, then i got sunburnt really bad, through the carpet...yeah it was bad lol. of course with my crazy life i couldn't stay in one place too long so i flew out early from vacation to nashville and erin picked me up and we went to a PKA officer retreat which was very productive, so after that we drove back to nashville and we both flew home to PA. throughout the week i got a lot of things accomplished, erin got to meet my family, she got stuck on a walk in a thunderstorm for 2 hrs in which mom and i went hunting her. idk how we could lose anyone in dayton, but we did for 2 hrs lol. then after a wk, i made mom cry again by leaving...ya know there's no worse feeling in the world than making your mother cry, and i feel like i do it more than most. and i'm even a semi-good kid...i can't imagine if i was a gangsta lol. j/k love ya momma! on that saturday, erin rode down w/ me 12.5 hrs to huntsville AL then Killen AL to her house. it was a very long day. the next day i went to church and ate lunch w/ her and her family, then i took off on a 2 hr ride to school. once at school i got mostly moved in on sunday, then the next day i finished my stuff and went to UPC retreat until wednesday. it was very hot but very productive. after that i came back, got more unpacked and settled in, on thursday we had to get interface pics for the upcoming opening ceremonies for the freshmen. friday we had interface retreat which was once again super hot yet informative. saturday we helped the freshmen move in all day then had opening ceremonies which was a mission impossible theme. sunday shea (my interface leader partner) and i took our kids to jack's creek for church, then had a break for lunch, then watched we are marshall w/ them, then had church and interface olympics out at MSYC, it was quite crazy. monday was registration day, aka, the most boring day of my life. then last night we went to jackson and showed our kids around up there. today we went canoing down the buffalo it was fun. once again i got sunburned lol. afterwards i came back and hooked up some electronics, cleaned up, went to the kickball tourney, and played soccer, and i'm about to go to devo. i hope everyone is doing well. lester i can't get myspace here so get facebook so we can communicate. thanks. love and miss y'all keep in touch!!

my most sincere apologies to those who've i have offended

To those that I offended with my previous blogs, I sincerely apologize, none of those blogs were written to offend anyone. I had a horrible day, and acted very irresponsible in venting. I’m not used to writing a blog for a lot of people. I love the work in Honduras no matter where it is. The work in mololoa is a great thing and the people who are working there or donating funds are some of the greatest people that I know, and I apologize to you for what I wrote. At the time that I was writing the blog, I had been misinformed throughout the day, by other emotional people, and at the time I was letting my emotions overcome my professionalism. I should have really put some thought into what I was thinking, and even more into what I was writing. I was a very poor Christian example, what I wrote was completely selfish, and all I was doing was having pity on myself because I was a little bit wet and tired. I didn’t think about all of those who had raised and donated money and all of the hard work they had put in to that. I didn’t think about how much time and effort the Kluges, the Palmetto congregation, and all those who have worked so hard to make Mololoa a better place with places such as the daycare, the feeding center, and the church. I know that most of you think that I have no appreciation for those who donate their time and hard-earned money to the work in Honduras, after what I wrote, but I want you all to know that Honduras is practically my home, and I love it there, there are very few places that I would rather be than Honduras. I hope that anyone who reads this can find it in their hearts to forgive me for my careless actions, and that you continue your hard work and dedication in Honduras. Once again I apologize to the Palmetto Church, the Kluges, to the donors, to the Reeves, to TORCH, to my family, and to God, and I ask you all for forgiveness and your prayers that I may be wiser in the future.

driving,driving,driving,driving,driving....

today started out w/ a lot of laughs. Anchorman was quoted a lot, and at 7:30 am it's even funnier that it is normally. after that we pulled a prank that has lasted 3 days now lol. tara and aliena shea had a bag that hadn't made it when they flew in. so ab and terry told them it was in caracas, venezuela. soooo then they told the shea's that it'd be at least 3 days before they got their bag. soooo this led to yesterday in which their bag came in (i must remind all of you that this bag only contained food, and give aways) but we let them believe that they couldn't even find it in the tracking system at the airport, that it was stuck in a warehouse in miami. she was so frustrated b/c the most expensive thing was the actual luggage the stuff was in lol. so we kept it in the truck until i went to bed i put it in our room. at 7:30 this morning, AB called erin on terry's phone, and pretended he was american airlines, but he was talking in spanish, so sara told tara that AA was at the end of the driveway, so she jumped out of bed and "speedwalked" to the end of the driveway. and as luck would have it, a car was pulling in the driveway, so she goes up to it and shows the driver her driver's license, and he just waves and keeps on going down the driveway. so she makes her way back down the driveway, meanwhile, rudy grabbed her bag from the room, sprinted out of the room and put it in the middle of the driveway, and sprinted back in, so we looked like the 3 stooges looking out the window laughing at her as she saw her bag and quickly grabbed it and sped back to her dorm. it was priceless. TO BE CONTINUED...

after all of that fun, we scurried around and got ready, ate breakfast and had devo at the rock. after devo, we got the vbs team ready and got them on the bus and out of here to the valley. then the Loco Gringos w/o their fearless leader jim (sick), headed back out to do concrete work at mololoa. and the rest of us stayed here to pack up a double load of food. around 11 terry, rudy, and i headed back to the water park to make our reservations for saturday. we had to go through 3 ppl before talking to the manager and he had no problem w/ us coming. we put 50% down and headed to didasko. once at didasko, we found rosa right away, then we sat down w/ Jorge and talked for about 45 mins-1 hr. during the talk jorge apologized for not being there on monday when we went there. we told rosa we were going to take the kids swimming, so jorge thought we were taking them to the pool in the valley, so terry told him that plans had changed and that if jorge approved that we wanted to take the kids to the waterpark...for 15 seconds jorge was speechless, and then he said "in my wildest dreams i never thought that they would ever get to go there. we always pass it and the kids just look at it with wide eyes of wonder, and its so heartbreaking that we will never be able to afford to take them there." and now that dream, is going to become a reality for jorge, rosa, their employees, and 35 children. jorge then told us about last year he went to a men's retreat in oregon with 400 men, and he was just a nobody, nobody was going to recognize him as anyone famous or anything, but the VP of the retreat, and some board members came and talked with him, and prayed with him. (and jorge said "idk if you believe in this stuff but") the men then prophesied that in the next year 4 men will come and provide and support him with everything he needs. and jorge doesn't exactly believe in prophecies, but he said that everything he needs is being provided for him by different mission groups. on top of taking the kids to the water park, tom is buying another load of food for them and taking it out there. it's just amazing how God works and jorge and rosa are so grateful for it, and i'm just amazed how He does things. after about an hr of an amazing talk and putting edwin to sleep on my lap, we left and headed to the airport to exchange some money w/ carlos (in which i felt like a drug dealer lol) then we headed up the mountain. once here, terry and i looked at stuff for costa rica, and AB prepared the best fake papers i've ever seen (referring back to the prank on tara now) he printed out a paper with all kinds of fees on from american airlines, and we found a stamp that said something about a deposit, and then he found a blank envelop and he used a typewriter to print the address here and return address from AA. then they put tape on the envelop and ripped it off, giving it the appearence that it had been opened. we then gave it to erin to give to tara. at supper then, tara came up to terry to pay him back the $40 he "paid" the AA guy. so she totally bought it and it's hilarious. we have yet to tell her that she has been PUNK'D!! hahaha...margaret, your type E blood is rubbing off on me a bit. lol. then we ate supper, SPAGHETTI!!, then ppl went to mas o menos, and then devo...so it was a relaxing evening....

p.s.- i guess it's that time on the trip where my stomach hates me. so please pray that it starts liking me again, and that it doesn't rain on saturday please!! thanks love and miss y'all

Why Being an Intern is Great!!

today started out as usual, wake up at 7, get showered, eat breakfast, devo, then we got everyone on the buses and got them out of here to mololoa & special needs/didasko. after they all headed out, rudy & i fell asleep outside the pulperia for about an hr. while terry was busy checking his email for an hr. after he finished we all hopped in the truck and headed to price mart (sam's club of honduras) and bought a ton of stuff for didasko: toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, and rice crispie treats. then we loaded that up and headed to Larach&Cia and bought plastic roofing for "terryworld" in didasko. we almost saw rudy beat up a guy there, b/c the guy was a punk. so we loaded up the plastic/supplies in the truck and headed to the airport, we ate at pizza while we were waiting for the flight to get in so we could try and pick up tara's bag...BUT, the flight didn't get in until 2:10 so we headed out to didasko and we decided to just pick the bag up later. we arrived at didasko around 2:30. we played for a few mins w/ the kids while terry talked w/ tom and rosa, after about a half hour, we unloaded everything from the truck and the 3 of us headed to the coolest place i've ever been in the tegucigalpa area. Agua Splash, the huge water-park on the way to didasko. while we were there we made reservations for saturday to take the kids from didasko there on saturday, we're hoping that jen's kids and group would come too. after that we headed back to the house, got ready for soccer. we got the ppl off the bus, got them a bite to eat. then rudy, AB and i headed down to victor's to make sure we had the court, we first played American Airlines, then everyone else showed up and we played winner stays from 6-8, my team: rudy, AB, Milton, Juan Carlos, & I didn't do too bad, but we didn't do great. when finished we then headed back up the mountain, had devo, then we relaxed for a while. i had to do PDA control...it's a pain, but it was kinda nice being the one to catch ppl, instead of being the one who gets caught lol...well we have another busy day tomorrow. so i'm hopefully off to bed soon. miss and love y'all

p.s- pray that it doesn't rain on saturday, so that the water park for the kids at didasko can become a reality, and be the most awesome thing that TORCH has ever done.

I Hate Rain!!!

well this blog is for yesterday b/c we didn't have internet the past couple of days.

Saturday was the SC's group, first day of REAL work. so we all load up on the buses, and head to Mololoa; now you would think i would learn after being out there several times that anytime that i go there that it's going to rain, to bring a raincoat or something to protect me from the elements...but no...(this is foreshadowing for those of you who didn't pick that up)...(i also hate being wet...another good piece of knowledge before i go on)...soooooo we all go out to the mololoa, first off the buses can't go to the soccer fields as usual to park b/c of the previous showers we had. so they have to block the roads and park there. we split up into 4 teams: 2 construction, 1 digging, and 1 kid playing team. i was on the construction "teams"...we get to the first site, o wait the only site w/ wood, and i ask randy where the site is...he just points "over there" he says, so louis and i head down past the sites that we built at last wk, and still can't find it, then some lady comes and points down over a 15 foot cliff to this little itty piece of flat land...i find it hard to believe that every site for us to build on is on less than desirable ground...but apparently that's all there is in mololoa. so we had both crews working on getting the wood down the hill and started digging the holes...which wasn't too bad, but getting the wood there was a little tricky. after about 45 mins - 1 hr later, the other site's wood finally drives by, so louis and i grabbed our crew and supplies and walked about 5 mins up the mountain to our site, which i guess wasn't as bad as the other one, but when the only way down to the "flat" ground, is straight down...it's not exactly easy. so not only did we have an interesting site, it was a drainage area in which we had to fill in 2 foot ravines just to build the house, not only that but we had to dig out a bunch of the ground in order to build the house, AND the site was to small so we built a 15x15 house...yeah, great start to a day lol. so we get all the posts in, start the walls, and floor. everything is going pretty smooth....BUT it's honduras, that can't happen. so at 3 pm, all but three of us left for a dedication of the daycare to the family who donated a lot of money for it. while they were gone the interns and i finished the house.

today we had church in the valley, then shopped, and rudy, AB, terry and i had a great lunch full of amazing meat and beans!!, then we went to the children's home right outside of the valley for a few hrs, then we went back to the valley to catch the end of the brazil/argentina game, then went to santa lucia for another amazing meal, then to santa lucia for devo which is the oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere...then back to the house...we have a busy wk this wk so keep us all in your prayers...miss and love y'all...

Relaxation!!!

today was a good day. we got up at 6:30 which was bad b/c of the wonderful guys working on the new chapel w/ a jackhammer...so we relaxed for a while then we took katie to the airport for her flight, then headed to Baxter for a while, then out to the valley of angels. we went out there looking for carlos the preacher at the church there. BUT as usual it didn't go as planned b/c we couldn't find him, so we found a children's home instead and planned a visit there on sunday. we then proceded to santa lucia and arranged everything there for sunday also. then we headed to the mall for the rest of the day. some of us made phone calls (which some ppl don't like to answer, i won't mention any names...ERIN!!!) lol :) j/k. and some of us did some shopping for things we needed/wanted. then we all watched die hard 4 which was awesome i thought! after the movie i made some more phone calls, then grabbed a bite to eat, then we all headed back to the house. taking an internet course on a mission trip puts a bit of a damper on any social life lol. so as soon as i got back i ate my supper, and got to work on my h/w. we have a busy day tom so we all have to get our rest. buenos noches

p.s.- kim congrats on your acceptance!! i'm so glad you're getting out of there, plus it's prob a lil bit closer to me!! lol

love and miss y'all

I Apologize

hey y'all i apologize for not writing on here in a while. but i'm writing the TORCH blog too so if you wanna know anything that i'm doing read that one until i have time to catch up on this one please. thanks, love and miss y'all!

"Get Off My Case!!" lol...

well today started out as usual, my alarm goes off at 7 and i glare at it hoping that my death stare will change the time and that i was just having a nightmare. then i realize that i wasn't dreaming and that i had to get up. so i got up, ate breakfast, had devo, then we split up into 2 main groups. both went to the valley of angels. but in the valley one small group "super group" went and built a house for a lady who had one of the last TORCH houses w/o a floor in it. originally we were supposed to tear down her old one and rebuild a new one, but instead we just built her a brand new one right beside it that has a floor. we killed it today, we had a full bufftruck crew today and built the house in 4 hrs. it was quite amazing i must say. once again though the honduran food got to me which is really unusual but both tricky and i had to make use of mountain facilities lol...after the house was finished we headed back to the mission house on elroy. meanwhile the other group had done some shopping in the valley in the morning and then headed to the blind school (which erin mann just loves) you'll have to ask her about her experiences there lol. then we all got back for supper, then we had until 9 to pack for choluteca. which for me wasn't enough time apparently since i didn't know that i was going to have to pack my stuff up just to bring it right back. we had devo at 9 which was interesting...then we packed up the busses b/c we have to leave the mission house no later that 6 am...well this may be the last blog for a few days b/c of choluteca, i hope everyone is having a good time at home!

Happy 4th of July

Today is of course Independence Day, and i kinda got my own freedom b/c i wasn't working as hard today which was nice, my body appreciated it lol. i hope everyone at home and in the states somewhere enjoyed some very nice fireworks, we had some cheap firecrackers here, but the neighbors called the cops on us and spoiled all of our fun lol.

Today started out REAL good lemme tell ya lol, i led singing this morning, or at least attempted to. lesson learned, don't try to sing new songs to an older group....i bombed big time and ended up just letting ben do it. ryan gave his first devo and it was really good. then we split up into 2 groups, one to Nueva Oriental & Mololoa, the other to special needs & didasko. i didn't go on either of those. i went w/ terry, ben, tricky, & taft to the hospital to pick matt up finally and to check on our other victim in the hospital. after that we all hopped in the trucks and headed to the store, then the bank, and finally to didasko. on the way there i thought i had seen my last sight of life...as we're going down a hill terry decides to pass an 18 wheeler just before a turn, we were about half way when another 18 wheeler was coming up, so we were part of a 3 car sandwich between 2 18 wheelers on a 2 lane road...what a rush!! we finally got to didasko and the bus had beat us there. ben, tricky, and i made some minor repairs on "Terryworld" and played w/ the kids. i love that place!! we gave them food and toys, and some girls even gave their only shoes away. we got back around 6, ate supper, played a lil ball, then had devo. tricky gave a really good devo tonight i was very proud of him. then we had cake, pop, and chips for everyone for the 4th of july. then i spent the rest of the evening doing computer work...what fun!!...lol...tom is going to be a busy day and i can't wait. pray for our safety and that we may guide others in the right direction! i love and miss you all.

Construction Sickness...

well today was Day 2...once again i was a leader of a construction crew...before i go any further, anyone who knows me is probably laughing while reading that, and yes i agree it is a bit amusing, but thats just the way the cookie crumbles...so today i got up a little later than usual, i suppose thats what happens when you stay up until 2 talking to a beautiful girl :) lol. so we ate breakfast, had devo, and tricky and i packed up as much stuff as we could find b/c the atlanta group took most of it...figures...and we headed out to mauna loa. we also had a crew of about 7 who worked at the feeding center there also. tricky and i split up our groups and i got the luck of the draw...or at least i thought so. i got most of the veterans, of course i couldn't have a perfect day so we got to our site, and first off, the wood was put in the wrong place, so randy gave my group a new site right beside tricky's group. so we have 2 different groups trying to haul lumber down one little bitty path...o it was interesting at times. and you know those hondurans, they loved to step in and help, the only thing is they have one gear...and it's fast. so while us gringos are trying not to kill ourselves, they're saying "beep beep" and flying by us...and yes they literally said "beep beep" lol. when we got to our site, the land wasn't even ready yet so they were still digging for about an hr after we got there to get it dug out enough so that we could build. the nice thing was there was no rocks...the trade off was the soil was so soft especially w/ the wonderful rain today that you had no traction, that's always nice on the side of a mountain. so we got our poles put in and everything was going as good as a honduran house can, then once again i start feeling woozy, but this time it's got a twist w/ it, not only do i feel like i'm going to pass out, my stomach hated me for some reason and was trying to destroy me from the inside out. so i had to take a break for a while, yeah i know..."what a leader?..." so i took my little break and i lost the wooziness but my stomach still hated me, i was pretty much worthless, i could barely hammer, i couldn't do much at all. so i handed wood and supplies to everyone who needed them. at this time it's about 3 or just after and my stomach was killing me, and we're not even half way done yet. meanwhile tricky's group is nearly done w/ their house. so as soon as they finished theirs ben, brett, tricky, and louis came and helped and we got our house finished. in all of the hustle and bustle of all the new helpers, i couldn't take it any more, the demon inside of me had to be destroyed. So Louis translated for me so I could use the facilities on the mountain, which consisted of a concrete hole in the ground surrounded by tin. I felt like Jesus casting demons out of men though…I was a new man after that so I went back, put the finishing touches on the house, and by that time there was only 7 of us left b/c we had sent the rest to the bus. The 7 of us then headed to Los Pinos to help the Atlanta group finish their house b/c they were having problems w/ theirs. So we got their even w/ louis’ horrible directions. Once there the 7 of us helped finish the roof, door, window, and 1.5 walls in less than 40 mins. On the way back down it was pitch black and elroy got stuck b/c a bus in front of it broke down, blocking the road, so both the bus and our truck had to turn around and head back another way, just another interesting part of the day. We finally got off the mountain and stopped at wendy’s for dinner, and got a bunch of free food b/c the lady messed up my order. Then we got back to the mission house, got a presentation by janet hines about Mi Esperanza, then had devo by jq, then chilled for a while, then did TORCH’s blog w/ my fellow intern erin, then I finally got cleaned up and ready for the next day…

P.S.- wearing a hat backwards in the Honduran sun all day = ridiculous looking sun burn line lol…

Airport Craziness & Construction

well i know today is monday but i didn't have time to write yesterday.

Sunday- today we got to sleep in, had devotional on the rock, then headed to the airport w/ 14 ppl in terry's truck once again...i think it's a record. so we picked up the FL/TN group BUT the FL group lost about 9 bags of luggage so we were at the airport until almost 3 pm. so after we all ate, we took the group to get groceries while terry and i filled up the busses w/ fuel, picked the group up, and sent them up the mountain for orientation. meanwhile terry and i headed back to the airport to get the PA group. we were there until almost 6 waiting for them. we finally got them, headed up the mountain, dropped off the bags, headed back to town, ate at tony roma's. i'm to the point where i'm sick of nice resturant food lol. then we picked up sara massana from el salvador at the marriott, and headed back up the mountain for the night.

Monday- we got up at 6:30, got ready, ate breakfast, had devo, and split up for the day. today i was leading up a construction team out by Santa Anna. Tricky Pat lead up the other one, in which they had no tools for the first 2 hrs lol...Welcome to Honduras...as we would say. on our way to our site, our bus broke down, luckily it was right by our site so it was easy to walk to. well i suppose easy is a relative term when talking about this site. the saying "over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go..." was put into reality today lol. our site was at least half a mile away from the road on a trail that my dog would barely fit on. so we eventually got there around 11 or so and the site wasn't too bad, not a whole lot of rocks. 3 of marc's interns were helping and they were awesome, the best interns i've ever worked w/ in 7 yrs. so we got all of the posts squared which took a long time but it was accurate and that's what matters, we had 14 ppl so we had ppl doing a lot of different things. we worked very well as a team today i was thrilled. i learned that it's very important to keep hydrated, especially when working on a roof, i blacked out on the roof and had to jump off and get rehydrated, it was a lil scary. i was worried for a lil while that we were gonna be rushed on time but God provided help and we got done at 5:30 and came back and ate supper, cleaned up, and headed to the jesus statue for devo. mark from OK spoke tonight and it was a pretty good devo, then we came back to the house and chilled for the night.

i'm so happy for 2 reasons today; 1 b/c my mom finaly got her bday gift i sent her, 2 b/c i got to talk to erin...yes it's been a very good day!! :)

Leaving Home

well it's that time of year again, yes, it's Honduras time! today is saturday June 30, and it's my mom's birthday so first off i want to wish her a most happy birthday. and i would like to apologize to her b/c her birthday present didn't get there when it was supposed to, but hopefully she will get it on monday.
it was very nice spending some time at home over the summer, it's something that i'm not quite used to. i would like everyone to pray for my friend jake, he's being shipped to Iraq for a year so he'll need all of our prayers.

ok now to my blog:
my last week at home was very hectic i taught and preached on sunday, worked monday and tuesday, painted on wednesday, and left the house at 3 on thursday morning. in leaving at 3 i decided not even to go to bed that night so i could pack and enjoy one last night at home...bad choice lol. mom and i left the house and i passed out in the car on the way to the airport. we got to the airport around 5. mom dropped me off w/o even crying i was so proud of her. it was the first time she's ever dropped me off somewhere for a long time that she didn't cry. everything went smooth until i flew to JFK, my flight was delayed 5 times and my gate switched 3 times...needless to say i don't like JFK airport. i finally arrived in nashville at around 1 or so and relaxed for a while before erin arrived back from Europe. that made my day. so i got to spend 5 wonderful hours w/ her and her family but then it was time to get to work. so her and her family drove me to terry's and i had to say goodbye to her once again. at terry's we did some last minute things to get ready then got a lil shut eye and headed out around 5 for our flight. it went smooth, we got to miami and met up w/ ryan and then we all flew out to tegucigalpa and had the smoothest landing i've ever had. after landing we had to make our way through customs, then we met up w/ mark tindall and janet hines and grabbed a bite to eat at BK. we then all headed to the new warehouse and were supposed to unload the trailer, BUT welcome to Honduras !!! lol...we waited 3 hrs for the customs guy to come and unlock the truck. by that time, Ken Ellis' group was there and we unloaded a 40' trailer in less than an hr...i'd say thats pretty good. after that we came back to the mission house, cleaned up a little bit then headed to pizza hut for supper. then back the mission house, and i finally got to get a shower for the first time in almost 2 days...i was pretty gross.

Today was an easy day. we got up around 9 or so, had a quick briefing then terry dropped jenny, lester, margaret, tricky and i off at the bodega and him, rudy, and ryan went to the airport to get ryan's bags and pick up ppl. meanwhile, my group met w/ mark and his gang to clean the bodega and transport all of it to the new warehouse, we cleaned in 2 hrs. then went to wendy's for a break, then back to the warehouse, where my gang completely organized everything. it looks nice, then terry came back, took most of the group up, trick and i stayed behind then terry came back and we went to the airport to find brett and judy. well we got there 2 hrs after they landed and they had called jen wright and was with her and so we went and picked up the group, and we all went out to eat at el coral! brett and judy ended up meeting up with us there. so it was a good day!!...p.s- if you know of any good pranks please let me know...lester deserves it.

God's Surprises...

well i got back from my "Crazy European Adventures" on Dec. 6 2006. I was more excited to be home at that moment than any other time in my life. i learned to never take my family for granted! as usual we had a wonderful Xmas then i went to school for new years because i had 2 short courses to take. well i had a pretty good semester, i got to cook a lot and that was wonderful, i also got to travel quite a bit. i'd like to thank ashley and the beavis family and also samijo and teresa for opening up their homes and kitchens for me to utilize. this semester i wasn't very involved in much other than my studies. yeah i played basketball, volleyball, and softball but i was in my room a lot which is very unusual. my basketball team was pretty good, volleyball team went undefeated for the 5th straight yr now, and our softball team won the tournament. also PKA had an awesome group of directors and a great cast which led us to not only win makin' music but to complete a sweep in every category which was amazing. i went to riverboat this yr with an amazing girl and a really great group of people. i'm also dating this amazing girl, whose name would happen to be erin haddock, which makes me a very lucky guy.

well plans for the summer: originally i was planning on working for the state (PA) this summer BUT God has a funny way of guiding us to what we really need to be doing. sooo after not getting the jobs i thought i was going to get, i was given the opportunity to go to Honduras for a month, so i took it. then i was given the opportunity to be the part time youth minister here at Ktown COC, so i took it. then i was praying that God would give me a job that pays well, and here came VNA with a good job, so i took it. God has really been good to me and i thank him everyday for all the blessings he's given me. i hope everyone has a great summer and keeps in touch!

the pix: 1 ashley and i cooking at her house, 2 the last supper imitation in europe on the last night, 3 erin and i at riverboat, and 4 me w/ the 1st place trophy for makin music!!

saving private ferg...lol

well the title only describes one day...the ones leading up to it are pretty boring...

Saturday- well after an exhausting wk in the UK, we got to sleep in til 8:55 then had history, i wasn't feeling good so i skipped the 2nd session and slept. after lunch i felt better so i worked on my journal for Miss Nan's class. and continued doing so the rest of the night. we did have a thanksgiving dinner though...although it was a southern dinner and not a northern one...no corn casserole, noodles, bread stuffing, fried turkey, home made rolls...but other than that it was ok lol.

Sunday- we got up, had church, studied, ate lunch, studied, slept, and studied some more, had supper, and studied til 3 am.

Monday- today we had to shots of history one w/ a test and one w/o. then we had chapel, then lunch...then my favorite class ever...world lit...seriously...who came up w/ this curriculum???...they should be tortured to death...ugh...then as soon as we got done w/ that torture, ev and i went to h&m and got some hats, got a phone card and chilled. we came back and studied, ate supper, then studied until i passed out on the table at 2:30 and apparently ev made me go to bed but i don't remember ever going to bed, i just remember waking up this morning and not knowing how i got into my bed lol. calling mom, dad, and gram and gramps always makes a day better...even if you do find out you have ZERO $$$ left in your bank account...i guess thats what you get for going to the UK...

Tuesday- well today ev and i were supposed to wake up at 7 and finish studyin for our wonderful history test BUT...that didn't happen so we got up at 8:30 for our 8:30 class. we went and miss nan had pity on us and she let us have an open book test. so i think i did ok, so i came back upstairs, shaved, cleaned up then took a nap til lunch. after lunch ev, ferg, and i hit a train towards spa and got off at Theux...well this apparently isn't the correct stop we were supposed to get off at according to Dr. T, so we spent 40 mins tryin to find the Chateau de Franchimont (old castle's ruins) so we finally found it and walked up there inspected it and walked around up there. while ev and ferg explored i took a seat then ev called to me from the top of this hill, so i head down to them and on the way down i hear ferg shout "NO!!"...they were making a contraption w/ their belts and ferg's camera to lower the camera into this hole we found in the side of the castle that must have been a ventilation hole in the castle dungeon. well while in the process of taking his belt off he knocked his ipod off on to the metal crate and it fell off the metal crate 25 ft to the bottom of the hole......soooooooo....we devised a plan to get ferg in and out of the hole safely to recover his ipod. we sent ev off to a decent sized tree to cut it down w/ his swiss army knife and ferg and i got our belts and camera bag strap tied together. i went down and help break off the tree then ev and i carried it up the hill, we thought ferg had ahold of it but apparently he didn't b/c he dropped it back on ev's head lol. so we put the tree down in the hole, and ferg climbed down to a ledge then jumped the rest of the 20 ft of the hole. he grabbed his ipod (which now has a broken LCD screen) and started climbing up the tree to us. he got up to the ledge and we threw him the contraption of belts and as soon as we could reach him we pulled him up to us. he was shaking he was so scared b/c the tree was bending so much and there was a bunch of rocks at the bottom of the hole. we got him out safe n sound, then ev tried climbing the wall, which was collapsing a little bit with every step, w/ every step rocks were flyin down at me and ferg so he climbed down but got stuck in thorn bushes so i had to go up and untangle him, then we all sat and chilled for a while on top of the hill overlooking the city, then we ran down the mountain at 4 and sprinted down the street to hit the train just b4 it left. we got back to verviers, chilled, ate, and chilled the rest of the night.

p.s- don't take a $300 ipod w/ you when you go exploring...bad decision! lol

2nd Freetravel...ugh...

Thursday- we had classes til 10, ate lunch, said our goodbyes and hit our trains to Bayeux. we got there around 8, watson and i set up our tickets back to paris for the next day. then the 8 of us: Than, Kim, Loren, Chad, Leah, Watson, Sarah, and I grabbed a hotel for the night, a cheap one so it was nice. and we walked around Bayeux for a while, we grabbed some food for the week, then headed back to the hotel. i ate supper, watched some tv, took some benidyl (bad idea) and went to bed.

Friday- well taking benidryl is not a good idea when ur only gonna get 5-6 hrs of sleep so watson and i were miserable for the first hr of our waking lol. we got up around 7:15, cleaned up and met the group by the trainstation for our tour of Normandy at 8. our guide was really cool and knowledgable, he grew up in Bayeux so not only did he have the local's stories but he had all the research perspectives also. our first stop was the german cemetary. they have black crosses on their graves. on some of their headstones, since some of the soldiers weren't 18 yet, their birthdate is not on there. there's also a mound in the middle b/c when the cemetary was built they messed up so they had to make a huge unkown soldier grave. we then went to the cemetary museum and our guide showed us on the map where all the cemetaries were and other interesting things then we headed to St. Marie du Mont. this is where the 82nd airborne landed on D-Day on accident. one man, john steele, got stuck on a church steeple and hung there acting like he was dead for 2 hrs b4 he was shot in the leg and taken prisoner. that church now hangs a manican of him from the steeple and has stained glass windows honoring the 82nd AA. after the church we walked over to the airborne museum. it had a sherman tank, half track, c-47 plane, a glider, jeeps and other WWII airborne memorabilia. we watched a movie there about the 82nd AA. then after the museum we headed to Utah Beach, this was the easiest beach to liberate, it was also the first beach to be liberated. the liberation was led by Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who was a general, this was rare for a general to lead the 1st charge; he asked 4 times to do it and on the 4th time the army let him. the reason it was the easiest beach is b/c they landed about 1 km to the west of where they were supposed to land and there was only 70 germans there facing 24,000 GI's so it was easy to liberate and to take the rest of the coast from behind and flank the nazis. i got to see an H-boat which was cool. then we went to Point du Hoc, this is where 225 rangers set out to climb a 100 ft cliff and take over a german fortification on the top. by the time they got to the top they only had 135 men and after 2 days of holding the fortification they only had 90 left. at first the rangers went to the wrong cliff but their ammuntion craft was hit so they turned around and went to the right cliff and scaled it (they started climbing the 100 ft cliff at 7:10 and the first guy up was there at 7:15 and all 135 of them were up by 7:35!!! amazing!) they would've had a more successful and less casualties if their timing was on but they were 40 mins late. the germans had a good fortification w/ mines and everything but our GI rangers were just too much to handle. after point du hoc we went to our guides hometown where once one of the allies' petroleum pipelines went through. then we went to where the allies had one of their artificial ports, then we went to Omaha Beach, the most difficult beach, where 30,000 GI's attacked. the reason it was so hard was b/c of the mountains w/ bunkers on it surrounding the beach and the 2 88's positioned on the beach and the snipers on the mountains plus all the beach obstacles. afterwards we went to the american cemetary on top of omaha. it was beautiful. we saw 2/3 of the medal of honor winners (for my national guard buddies: the one medal of honor winner was a "weekend warrior" he took 35 POW's by himself w/ a grenage and a bayonette...talke about a bad bad man) and when we left all the GI branch songs were being played it was really nice to hear something american again. after that we we went to another port and it was getting dark so we headed up to this 360 degree WWII theater. it was a really graphic and accurate movie of real WWII clips and pictures compared to what normandy looks like today. after the movie we headed back to the trainstation, paid the guide, grabbed our bags and were waiting at the trainstation by 6 for our 6:21 train to paris...ugh....the start of the worst 18 hrs of my life! soooo here we go:

the train didn't get there until 6:45. and once we all got on it went about 1 mile in 30 mins!! (note: we have only 50 mins in paris to get from one station to another one on the other side of paris to catch our train to brussels) all b/c of leaves on the track this is happening. so we finally start moving along and get to paris w/ 25 mins to get to the other side of paris. we sprint through the metros, and every sub has a 3-6 min wait. we finally get to the station just 10 mins late for our train...after alllllllll that...just 10 stinken mins....soooo we start callin around and getting info on different trains. i switch our tickets to the next morning at 6:50. then we sat down and tried to sleep at the station until 1 am when an officer came and kicked us out and we walked down the red light district and found the cheapest looking hotel and paid stinken 110 euros for 5 hrs in there...ugh...it was a long night...

Saturday-so we got a lil sleep, got up showered then headed back to the trainstation to catch our 6:55 train to brussels praying that we make it in time to catch our flight to dublin. so we get to brussels at 8:15, run off the train and out the door to find a shuttle or a taxi to the airport, so we find a taxi at around 8:25 or 8:20 idk, and we tell him that we need to be there at 8:50 and he laughs and says 9 is the best he can do. so he flies to the airport and we get there pay him 140 euros, and go to check in and w/ ryanair they close the checkin 40 mins b4 our flight at 9:30...i begged the lady and she said no...so we sat around depressed and thinking what we could do b/c we just missed our flight and pretty much screwed over our whole trip so we sat for an hr or 2 debating and thinking of what we could do. we go and talk w/ several ppl and get a bunch of information on trains, planes, and automobiles!...and even hostels and stuff to do...and we decide just to buy another ticket to glasgow, scotland. it cost us 37 euros a piece but now we have a flight to scotland and we don't have to lose all of our flights that we had. yes we're out of some money but after forking out as much as we have already i'm not too concerned. so we bought our tickets and headed back to the trainstation w/ hopefully all the necessary information we need to get there tomorrow. at the trainstation we go to Info and grab a schedule from verviers to brussels and we were able to come back to verviers for the evening so we don't have to pay for a place to stay tonight and can get cleaned up and all that jazz....mama T, and Lisa are amazing! they cooked us a nice hot meal and just boosted our morale all around! if it wasn't for them the whole week would have been miserable probably but thanks to them it wasn't bad. hopefully the rest of the trip will be better. don't worry bout us we'll hopefully be fine just pray that the rest of the wk goes smoother

Sunday-today we got up at 4:45 am, packed, grabbed a lunch, and headed to the station to catch our train to brussels. we got there around 7:10, and hit the airport shuttle at 7:30. we were at charleroi 3 hrs b4 our flight. at 2 hrs, we checked in, paid for our luggage, and headed in to the gate. it was about an hr and a half flight to Glasgow. i slept the whole time. we got there at 12:25. the ppl of scotland are awesome and they speak english!!! we grabbed a bus into the city and grabbed some info and left our bags off at our hostel then walked around for a while then it got dark at 4 so we were in bed by 8 after we had communion.

Monday- we got up at 8, got ready and hit a train to Edinburgh. we hit up info once there and got a bus tour around the city for 16$. its a beautiful city! we went and saw and toured the edinburgh castle and saw the scotland royal jewels. the oldest in the UK. then we hopped on the bus and toured around and went to shops. watson and i bought kilts lol. we went to the queens palace but decided not to go in so instead we went to starbucks and chilled and waited for the next bus then we headed back to the station. i bought a meal at KFC so we could all split it when we got back. we bot back around 7. it was pitch black and raining. so i heated up our meal, split it up and we ate and went to bed.

Tuesday- we got up at 8, ate breakfast and left by 9:30 for the bus station then to find our other hostel. it was a 30 min walk. we checked in and dropped our bags off and headed to the kelvingrove and transport museums for the day. there were cool. we went back to the hostel and chilled then watson and i took a walk. then we got back and i did some more research and we went to bed early around 8 b/c we had a long day the next day.

Wednesday- POP'S BIRTHDAY! at 2:30 we woke up b/c leah forgot to switch her clock. so we got up, and i called dad, and we chilled til 3:30 then we walked to the bus station and got there at 4 and waited for our 4:45 bus to the airport. we got there round 5:30, checked in, got starbucks, and hit up some souvenirs. then we boarded around 6:20 and arrived in london around 8ish. we grabbed our bags and bought a train ticket for 30$ ugh...english pounds are bank account killers!...we got to liverpool station, got some info, grabbed an underground pass, and went in search of wicked tickets...we got lost several times but after about 1.5 hrs we found the theater and bought tickets for 15 lbs. we then went in search of our hostel. we dropped off our bags and went to buckingham palace...our equivalent to like the white house kind of but not really lol. it was nice. then watson and i headed to chinatown...it was pathetic so we left in the rain back to the hostel. checked in, rested, cleaned up and headed out to our show around 6:30. we got there around 7 and relaxed and the show started at 7:30 it was an awesome show...#2 only to lionking in my opinion. then watson and i went and saw big ben at night. it was neat. afterwards we headed back to the hostel. i checked somethings on the internet then we went to bed around 12 or 1.

Thursday- we got up around 8:15, cleaned up and packed, ate breakfast, then headed out for st. pauls cathedral. it was really nice. there was alot of security b/c of all the different US thanksgiving services there. then we headed back to whitehall place and westminister abbey where all the parliament stuff is and a bunch of war memorials it was nice. then we went across the bridge and waited for sarah's friend sean. he was 40 mins late. so at 12:40 he got there and we took off to the london bridge (nothing special) then the london tower, where we had our thanksgiving dinner of fish n chips lol half cold...ugh...nuttin like turkey. the tower bridge is neat. then we went over to see shakespeare's globe it was cool. then we headed to the national gallery where van gogh's painting of the sunflowers is, and a bunch of other famous artists stuff i guess lol. we then hit an underground back to where sean was parked it took 45 mins to get there. and the london security are very nice, we should've had to pay $24 each to leave the underground but they let us go b/c we played the tourist card lol. but then we had another 30 min walk to his car up hill w/ all of our bags which we've been carrying all day ugh...so we got to his car and we started out...he's not good w/ road signs or directions. lol. he missed the exit to the airport 4 times lol...so we got a 32 mile detour. but we made it there just in time for the gate to open so no worries. we got checked in, grabbed some starbucks and souvenirs and the other 3 went to the correct gate and i did not lol...i took a tram across the airport so some unknown gate and finished my mocha ate a snickers and there was still no one there and it was dark an hr b4 take off so i asked a lady and she had to call security to come pick me up and take me back to my gate lol. so i got a free escort across the airport it was unique. and no i'm not the only one...he said it happens all the time lol. we we caught our flight to dublin at 9:45, got to dublin at 11, and found a cozy seat at the airport and attempted to get some rest...

Friday- after attempting to doze off for about a total of an hr and breaking my coffee cup, i gave up and we went up and checked in at around 4 am. and we chilled then hit our flight at 6:50 and got to brussels around 9. we got a shuttle to the trainstation and got back to verviers around 12:30. we bought the women flowers for their generosity last friday. we cleaned up and relaxed and i put on my kilt...its sooooo comfy and free!! lol...over all not a terrible trip....but only 10 days left til i'm back in the states :)

week between germany and 2nd free travel

Friday- we had classes alllll day...then chilled...and went to bed b/c we were all exhausted.

Saturday- today we had classes until 2, then a group of us went to Maastricht...it is November 11, Armistice day (SP) but over here in Europe it's a big deal. we got there and everyone was wearing these rediculous costumes, and wearing red, yellow, and green. there was a huge concert band playing all these songs etc. we walked around and just enjoyed the sights of drunk ppl in costumes making fools of themselves. we ate at a slightly mexican resturant, then we were all gonna watch a movie...but nikki got sick from her beef which wasn't cooked right...so watson and leah took her back and ev and i went and watched Borat...it was hilarious!! holland movie theaters are weird they have a 15 min intermission in the middle of them...then we came back, chilled, studied, and went to bed.

Sunday- today we got up, worshipped, studied, had a few tests, until 5, then chilled all night

Monday- today was our free day so we went with the taylors to Brussels and Antwerp. i guess the famous thing in brussels is a statue of some little fat boy peeing and it's a fountain...idk seems a little weird to me but w/e...i bought all my xmas gifts (chocolate) lol. i hope y'all like it! then in Antwerp it's famous for its diamonds. and some ppl bought some rings etc. for cheap. Ev and i went off and chilled the rest of the day, stopped at a coffee shop got a drink, read the USA Today (which is a rare nice thing to do). then we headed back to verviers. i didn't feel too good today...all this lack of sleep + cold weather + always on the go is catchin up to me.

Tuesday- today we had classes allll day but i skipped some of it to get better, and it helped a lot. then after class i planned our free travel, studied, chilled, and went to bed. i was gettin kind of tired of planning our free travel b/c i was the only one doing anything! so if you ever go travelling w/ someone, make sure they are capable of helping or at least some what productive!

Wednesday- today we started class at 9, and ended at 2, then we all got dressed up a lil bit and headed to a private park w/ a gazebo for our group picture. we lost a few ppl so while we were waiting for them some kids asked if they could play with us, so for the next 30 mins we played frisbee and soccer w/ some kids it was really fun. then we got our pictures, then ferg, ev and i stayed after and played frisbee for an hr. we went back, ate, got cleaned up, packed, had devo, studied, chilled, made some phone calls to some awesome ppl and family, and didn't go to bed til 6 am b/c i was so busy. bad choice!!

the pictures are 1 of ev sleeping in a huge hand b/c we were sooooo bored...then 2 me mocking the lil fat naked statued of the kid peeing lol

Germany/Austria wk!!

Day 1 of our germany trip- we rode a trip....ALLLLL DAYYY!!! then we got to our hotel which was really nice, ate an amazing meal...weiner schnitzel is AMAZING!! its breaded veal sooooooo good. then i went to bed.

Day 2- well due to Ev's ear-busting-snoring and the fact that our beds were touching each other, i didn't get much sleep. i've also been missin things at home and ppl buuut, thats irrevelant. so we ate breakfast and headed to the trainstation, but the trains were shut down for construction...soooo we had to take a bus to Berchtesgarden. we had gotten about 1.5 inches of snow it was really nice. we got to the salt mine and made a snow man along the road it was fun...then had snow ball fights in which my LCD screen on my camera was broke...not a happy camper bout that...but the tour was fun sliding down the huge wooden railings...we had to wear really funny clothes...HUGE clothes...afterwards we ate, looked at the shops, then went to Salzburg for a lil bit then back to the hotel and we ate gyros YUMMY! then bed

Day 3- we got up at 7...ugh...grabbed a quick bite then headed back to berchtesgarden. we then took another bus to Konnigsee. and got on a boat and took a very nice tour of a lake in between the bavarian alps. it was really nice and relaxing...we could see the eagles nest from the lake. then we got to some little place w/ a church and spent 2 hrs relaxing there. then we trained back to salzburg and walked through the park that was in the Sound of Music movie...it was really really nice i think if it was summer or spring or fall it would be the best one thus far....bbbuuuuuttt...instead it was covered w/ snow and everything was dead lol. o well...then we toured mozarts houses...i guess that was aight...i kinda just ran through both...then i used a computer and headed back and went to bed.

Day 4- today we got cleaned up, ate breakfast, and headed to munich to hit a train to Dachau which was the first concentration camp of WWII started way before the war in 1933. we toured the museum, watched a movie, and walked around the camp...it was very somber. then we had worship in the chapel...Papa T made a good statement. "this is a very good place to worship, seeing as there were probably more prayers said to God from this place than anywhere else in the world." i think this was an amazing statement...pictures nor books will ever do this place justice....no words can ever make someone relive the feeling of walking on the same ground the 60 years before people were tortured and killed on....afterwards we went back to munich, grabbed some super, went to the hotel, watched some more german tv lol, then hit the hay.

Day 5-we got up at 8, ate breakfast, and hit a train at munich. then hit another train to the neuschwanstein castle...(cinderella castle) we toured it...yada yada yada...it was nice...then Ev and i went for a walk and took some awesome pictures of the castle. then we came back to the hotel, chilled, and went to bed...we were on a train for a total of 8 hours UGH...not fun!

Day 6- today we got up at 6:30 GAY!!! then we hit a train to salzburg then another one to vienna for 3 hrs. we went to the hapsburg palace...toured it...blah...then we played hacky sack out in the gardens behind it...now that was fun lol. then ev, ferg, watson and i just chilled and walked around for a few hrs. then we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to salzburg and back to the hotel...i took a walk and got away for a while...it was SOOOo nice!!!

Day 7- Free Day!!! YAY! we slept in til 8:30 or 9, ate breakfast, and watched watson get new boots to go hiking (foreshadowing of unfortunate events for watson lol) we headed to berchtesgarden. than, loren, caleb and i went to a place and almost got a tour to the eagles nest but we couldn't so we found watson and met up w/ the guys and got a taxi halfway up the mountain that the eagles nest on....so after the crazy fast taxi ride we started our climb up the mountain...severely unprepared for a 10 mile hike up 1000 vertical meters...it wasn't an easy climb but than and i made it up just under 2 hrs. so we spent lots of time resting at the peak at the eagles nest...we didn't get to go in but we talked to a tour group about it they were really nice. then 30 mins later the other 5 guys came hobbling up. watson's heel was rubbed raw from his new boots so he was having to stop every 30 mins...we got a group picture and rested for a while then trecked back down...it was soooo beautiful at the top. i've now jumped into the swiss alps and climbed the bavarian alps its great. then we got down in an hr and 20 mins, grabbed a few taxis ate at an amazing!!! resturant...i got spare ribs, steak, and a baked potato for 10 euros. it was sooooooo good...then we headed back and went tooo bed we were soo tired...we also packed too. p.s- mom once again u were right...don't eat a 2 day old sandwich...it makes u really sick!!

Day 8- we rode trains...ALLL STINKEN DAY!! then we got back unpacked did laundry, ate, and chilled and went to bed...

HERE YA GO KIMMIE!! i hope u like ur pictures lol. miss and love ya bud! i never have ur number w/ me when i make calls home but one of these days i'll get to call ya. just think 24 more days then guess who's comin home??!!

wk between freetravel and germany

wellllll,
the day after we got back we had to get up at 8 and haver classes allllllll day....that was a blast!...not...at lunch Mama T told us this "story" that every yr she designates someone as her donkey... her and Papa T set it all up perfectly it was hilarious! i'll have to tell y'all the story later i'm too tired and have too much to do right now. but she gave me this donkey they bought in greece that is hand made its a really nice donkey i must say lol...so i'm officially the donkey of the trip!

sunday- after church we had a lit test and a paul test...umm...in the bible of Ty...thats against my relgion! but any way after classes finally ended 8 of us guys went to the park and played frisbee...it was a blast...i threw my arm out but it was worth it...then we came back and ate and relaxed. p.s-...i shaved half my beard off!!! :-O

Monday- (Amsterdam)- i planned to get up at 3:55am w/ loren and some guys to go to amsterdam early...so i got up asked them what time it was...climbed out of bed, asked evan if he wanted to go...he said no so i climbed back in bed for 2 more hrs...then we got up at 5 somethin and actually ended up catching the same train as the ppl who got up at unholy hrs of the morning. we got to amsterdam around 10 and got to harlem (Tin-Boom House) BUT it was closed...so we headed back to the city and headed for the anne frank house...it was really cool! then we just walked around the city til like 5:30 and got back round 10:30 and chilled.

Tuesday----classssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.....great way to spend halloween isn't it???

Wednesday....class, packed for a wk of germany, watched schindlers list! great movie!!... then went to bed...

FREE TRAVEL!! :)

well this is one of the greatest wks of my life! after all the stress of planning this trip we finally get to get out of belgium w/o papa and mama T or any other governing body for that matter...this trip is the epitomy(SP) of freedom! it was so nice to just make my own decisions about everything...nobody guiding me just finally being on my own! :)

Sunday- we got up, packed, went to church, ate lunch. i served at the table of a french church today...little awkward but it was good. then after lunch we hit the train to brussels....then it got exciting... the TVG train we were supposed to take got cancelled so we had to go to the Info and get new reservations to go to Lille France, they had to call the train and tell them we were coming. so we had an hr ride on the eurostar to Lille then had to run in Lille to catch the train to Lyon Part-Dieu and had to pay 20 euros just to ride it for 4 hrs. then we finally arrived in Lyon and hit a 2 hr train to geneva and walked about 10 mins to our hostel which was really nice and non-expensive and just chilled and went to bed...we got there round 11:30

Monday- we got up at 9, cleaned up, and headed out in the rain to tour geneva. we went and looked at shops then looked at the Jet d'Eaus (tallest fountain in Europe) 134 m high. then went and saw St. Pierre's cathedral and the Hotel de Ville where the geneva convention was held i think it was really cool...then we just walked around geneva til 6 then hit a train to sierre, then a train up to Bluche to stay w/ jess and alyson (our friends we met in athens that are from boston). so we chilled w/ them them went to bed...we had 5 ppl on the concrete floor and 3 in the bed....it was preeeettttty crowded lol.

Tuesday- today we got up at 8, got dressed to go sking, the girls skipped classes and came with us down the mountain to sierre...the sunrise was beautiful over the alps. in sierre we hit a train to brig then hit a train to Vermacht.....this is where i almost killed a swiss guy...(the french are still jerks!) so we get on this train that says "glacier express" regretfully we didn't know that its the ONLY train in switzerland that isn't covered by our eurail pass....sooooo the stupid jerk charges us 64 CHF for a round trip pass to and from Vermacht soooo we all paid it and took it like a champ...but he failed to mention that the slopes on the Matterhorn were closed...and we're carrying skis and poles and boots...and dressed to ski...soooo we get up there and find out the slopes and the glacier are closed....very ticked off at this moment...so we stash our stuff in lockers that cost us 9 CHF. and start walkin around to find something to do....we start toward a gorge and on the way stumbled by a ropes/ zipline course so for 29CHF we spent the next 2.5 hrs on it...it was sooooo much fun....then we got back down the mountain and went back to sierre and hung out in the room then just hit the hay.

Wednesday- today started out bad...i was supposed to call caroline (our skydiving planner) sooo i waited for some chinese chick to get off the phone then she didn't so i took a self-guided tour of Bluche that has a population of 196 and the school has 750 lol. so i get back and she's finally off and i try to use my card and its blocked...my blood pressure was sky high. so i stomp upstairs wake the guys up rudely and tell them we have to go now...so in 15 mins we caught a bus to sierre and called her from there and then we caught the train to brig then to spiez and we just missed the train to reichenbach which is where the airfield is to skydive sooooo i called her and she said just to wait that they'd pick us up there. soooo we waited til 12:30 then a guy came and picked us up in his audi...he was an awesome driver...it felt good to ride in a car again i missed it. so we get to the place around 1, do paper work incase we died lol, got 5 mins of training and then the first group went up. it was awesome watching the groups go up. we were the 5th group up...we could only go 2 at a time so evan went before us it was awesome watchin him come down from 13,000 ft high in the alps. then sarah and i went up. the view was amazing up there. we saw the 3 most famous mountains in switzerland. and the 2 lakes of interlaken. then.....they opened the door, sarah was first so the cameraman hopped out on the wing and she and hans were sittin on the doorway then she went to look over, he pulled her head back and then they were gone... this was when my heart stopped beating...i hadn't been nervous or scared at all til now lol...so i pulled my legs over the edge of the plane, leaned my head back and we launched.....OOOO MY it was the biggest rush of my life. the camerman was in front of me the whole time recording us free falling for 45 seconds....it was sooooo intense and the view was amazing...we were spinning around and just flying like a bird. then after 45 secs he pulled the chute and i pulled out my camera and recorded the fall down...we spun circles and did like cartwheels in the air it was awesome! then after 3 mins we landed on our butts got unharnessed and undressed then sat and waited for the last ones to go then we headed back to the train and went home...we played a prank on the girls it was hilarious!! i called the girls and told them that evan didn't make it and that we took him to the hospital but he's breathing hahaha...so we got back and dressed him all up in makeup and bandages and it really looked bad on his face and head and we laid him down and i made up this awesome story then they all believed it and after an hr i woke him up to get a shower and he washed it all off and came back out and it took them 30 secs to figure it out and oooo my it was great. then we chilled for a while and went to bed/floor lol.

Thursday- originally we were supposed to go to venice, buttttt....we didn't so we went back to interlaken for the day . but we walked round interlaken all day...nothing really exciting...then went back to Bluche to stay one last night w/ them.

Friday- today we got up and said our goodbyes to our awesome friends jess and alyson, packed up and hit a train to sierre, brig, basal, cologne, aachen, and verviers....all but 2 were on time but we were supposed to get back at 7 and didn't get back til almost 9 but thats ok...we got back and ate chili and told our stories and went to bed.

this was one crazy wk i hope everyone goes skydiving someday...p.s-my computer is broken so no pix til i get it fixed sorry y'all!! happy halloween!!! :)