. It's official! I have an actual license! =D

MarleneMedina . It's official! I have an actual license! =D http://twitgoo.com/3tvo3

Mother -Daughter

My Mom taught me how to use her sewing machine to help her sew some handkerchiefs she made for a woman's retreat. =)

Jerry Spinelli

I LOVE Spinelli's Stargirl series.

I recommend this book to anybody; especially young girls. Stargirl is a teenage girl who truly loves on people, and genuinely cares about others. She lives a life that is unlike anybody in her town; and the world for that matter. She always puts others before herself. She is the opposite of selfishness, pride, and greed.

I love these books. They're easy to read and understand. Through Stargirl, you're challenged to re-evaluate your love of material things. Stargirl is a good example of integrity, kindness, courage, humility, and a person who lives life one day at a time. When she starts going to public high school, she is faced with a high degree of opposition. At first, everybody wants to be her friend, but later when they realize that she is "uncool", everybody turns their back on her. And she's forced to decide if she's going to conform to everybody else, or live by her own convictions at the price of being liked.

the five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom

My 2007 fall semester at NSC, I saw a table labeled "FREE BOOKS" and you know that's enough to get my attention. They were all the same book; "the five people you meet in heaven" by Mitch Albom.
I thought, "Okay? I might never read this, but it's free, so what the heck."

It's 2 years later, and I finally read it! It turns out this book's a lot more popular than I first thought. But then again, if they're giving out free copies of it at a community college in Nevada, it must be popular (or horrible).


What I liked about this book:
1. Easy read!
2. Short!
3. Interesting!
4. It doesn't promote, or degrade, after-life beliefs. This book is more about the life of an old man named Eddie, and how people in your life who at the time seem insignificant, can actually turn out to have played a crucial role in your life.

This novel was cute. It was cool how everything unfolded; very creative.

Night by Elie Weisel

I first heard about this book in Hist 102 last year when it was recommended by my history professor during our WWII lecture.

At our student ministries Garage Sale, when we were cleaning up, I found a copy! I got to take it home for free! Score!

Everybody that knew I was reading it said things along the lines of:
'I love that book'
'I read that book in high school'
'It's such a good book'

and I really is a great book.
It's definitely worth reading.

What shook me the most was his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech at the very end:

"As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.
Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately."

All I can think of when I read that last sentence is:
"My life no longer belongs to me; it belongs to the One I need desperately."

Myspace

So I finally got a Myspace again... here.

I'm updating my blog on there which is called:

"17 going on 30... camera phone diaries"

That will have daily updates with pictures I take on my phone. ;)

Kitty Gets Baptized!

This last weekend I got to go to California with my family. My Dad was singing at few churches, including the church that my parents pastored for 17 years before moving to Las Vegas (our current location) to start a Hispanic ministry with South Hills.

My cousin/sister (we're connected at the hip) wanted my Dad to baptize her, and he worked it out so that he could do it this weekend, and I got to be there!! I was so excited, and so was she! 

Me and Kitty (the baptize-ee) hung out all day, everyday I was there, and barely slept because of all the places we drove to with my Dad. Here's a pictures of us (isn't she beautiful?). I was chewing gum in this picture:

Phil Wickham VS. Lincoln Brewster

On Monday (Sept 29) I went to a free, Phil Wickham concert!! It was at the Valley Christian Bible Fellowship in town. My phone was dying, so I couldn't take any pictures of him, but my friends got a bunch. It was an acoustic performance, and the crowd was about 70-90 people (I think). We got some GREAT seats down front, and I sat with all of my girlfriends. In between songs, Phil would talk to us and we even took a moment to pray for a Canadian girl in the crowd who was going to Sudan in a few days.

Later he asked if anybody was from California, and me and my girls all yelled saying, "Yea! Whoo hoo!". And he was like, "Okay we got a few people from California. Do you guys live here, or did you travel together? You're all sitting together". And we said that, yes, we do live in Las Vegas, but we all originate from California, and I said, "Yea, California girls find each other" He thought I said, "California girls fight each other" Hahahahah! And then we said we were sitting together because we're from the same church (South Hills) and he was like, "Wow, so the whole church moved to Las Vegas together?". Hahaha. It was funny. And I cried so many times during worship. Phil's songs really struck a chord. =(

The concert was awesome. Phil Wickham has a very special anointing that is completely undeniable. He sings with a heart that is very similar to the one my Dad sings with. It's been a long time since I've been around somebody like that besides my Dad. We stayed around after the concert to chat with him, and he was super-cool and chill. We didn't want to faun over him, we just wanted to hang out, and he allowed us to do both (we couldn't help it)!! All my friends and I cried during the worship, and I'm so blessed that I was able attend.

Yesterday (Oct 1), I went to a Lincoln Brewster concert at a local Central Christian Church. I had never been to Central Christian, and it's huge. We thought we were going to have to roam the parking lot for hours to find a parking space, but park-help was very organized and we parked almost right as we pulled in. When we walked in the "main auditorium", it was even HUGER (yea, I know it's not a word) than I expected. We took a long time, but found seats in the stadium-esque part of the room that is so FAR from the stage-especially compared to the intimate setting of the Phil Wickham concert.


Lincoln came out with his band (amazing) for a few songs, and then we were officially welcomed by a pastor, but it was hard to listen to him because there were loud people all over the place. But later on, Lincoln quieted everything down, and he really spoke out to everybody individually. So even though I felt like an ant, and he was the size of a mouse (from where I sat) he had a way of making me feel like he was talking to me. Lincoln totally rocked the house for Jesus. We had to sneak out during the encore because we didn't want to get trapped in traffic, so I didn't get to meet him (like Phil). BUT, I did get to snap some pictures (my phone was alive). . .

So all in all, I loved both concerts for different reasons. I have a new found appreciation for both Phil and Lincoln, and all talented, loving, and anointed worship leaders. They both expressed their gratitude to be able to worship with us, and it was a big blessing for me to be there. In their music, words, and character, they project so much praise to God, that it's totally undeniable to anybody in the room.

And by the way, yes, we are on a first-name basis. . . 

Tijuana, Baja Cali, Mexico

Last weekend, I went to Tijuana with my Dad, Edlin, and Kristy! We had so much fun.

My Dad sang at a few different places, and we ate tacos all day, everyday. Kristy, a super-white girl (hahahahaha) didn't even get sick (until the day she got home, anyway)! She was such a trooper, and she ate everything like a champ. This is a picture of a high-value salt shaker and toothpick dispenser they had at a local taco stand (they're Gerber food glass containers). I took so many pictures when I was there, and you can find some here, and here, but there are just too many to post.

What's on your face Dad?

The other day, I was looking for my Dad and I found him downstairs watching TV with Diego. The very first thing I noticed, was that he had a UFO (unidentified face object) and said: 

Me: "Papi, what's on your face?"
Dad: "Nothing"
Me: "Um, yes, you do Dad"
Dad: "No mija, it's your eyes"
Me: "Get up right now, and go look at yourself in the mirror Dad! And don't take it off until I can take a picture of it!"

When he saw himself in the mirror, he had all of this black stuff on his face! We were craking up because he had no idea. In this picture, you can't really see it, but it was way worse in real-life, trust me. We tried to find out where it came from, but we didn't figure out until it was night time. The culprit: our kitchen swivel-chair was producing black dust out of the paint in the swivel-piece. We cleaned it up, but it was so funny when I found him like that. He had no idea.

Questions

Last Thursday at Jacob's Well (college age ministry at South Hills), there was a night dedicated to asking any questions about God, or anything to do with beliefs, morals, church, or religion. We would text the questions to Chase's cell phone, and he would present them to 3 of our pastors: Pastor Neal, Bret, and Chris

(listed as pictured... and by age).
It was so great to have this event, and I'm down for having another one. It's such a great opportunity for any person to ask those burning questions.