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.

Taste the Rainbow...

On our drive home to Vegas (from Salinas, CA) I spotted my first rainbow in a very long time! I hadn't realized that in Las Vegas, I don't get to see rainbows often (or EVER). So when I saw this one, it nearly took my breath away.

Then I realized that it started/ended on the hill next to us!! I didn't spot a pot of gold, but it felt like I had.

My Kitty...

When I was in Salinas (talked about in previous post), my cousin/sister, Karina (or Kitty) came to the last day of the tour to San Jose with us!! I was happy to have her there because I hadn't seen her in over a year, and I love her so much!! We got to spend time together at the concert, and I was able to spend the night at her house my last day in California! We couldn't stay up late (like old times) because it was a school night for her (and me, but I missed my first day of school for that trip), and I was pooped from traveling, so we just went into comas at about 11pm. Still, it was amazing spending time with her, and her family. We tried to take a picture of us, but we (mostly, I) hated all of the ones we took. This one is the best one because I don't despise it completely. =(

Los Hermanos Medina's Legacy Lives On

Last, last, weekend, I ended up being able to travel with my Dad for the very last time before I got tied down with school. It was a bitter-sweet trip, but more sweet than bitter!

On Friday morning, my Dad and I went to pick up my Tia Elvia and my Tia Pati. At around 7am, we left for Salinas, CA for Celebracion 2008 where both my Dad and my Tia's (Grupo MEDINA) would be singing (be cool, or carpool). Later, I found out the weekend would be a 3-day-mini-tour with:

MEDINA, Gilberto Medina, United by 3, Yvette, and Lali Torres. click on name for websites
The whole concert was so awesome!! All of the bands were super-cool, talented, and chill. The first night was in Salinas, second in Watsonville, and the third in San Jose.
It was kind of weird being back to the county where I grew up. We drove up to Salinas a million times when we lived in King City. We stayed at a Best Western in Salinas right next to the only In&Out there, where my Dad used to take me after every dentist appointment . It was nice visiting, but I don't miss living there. I love Las Vegas. And I loved traveling with my Dad and my Aunts for my last trip. We all shared a suite, and my Tias are such awesome singers, and women of God!

In Watsonville, my Dad invited my Aunts to sing a song with him like old times: back in the day before my Dad became a pastor in King City, they were "Los Hermanos Medina" in their teens, and had a lot of success in the Hispanic Apostolic church. They were a christian band ministry when it was still unheard of to do something like that full-time. There weren't any young, Hispanic, Christian singers recording any type of music in the 1970s, so their music was the very beginning of that. They recorded LPs and 8 tracks (old school!), and we have them hanging in our family music room at our house (come and see!). Yyvette and Lali Torres both recognize this, and throughout the whole weekend thanked and recognized my Dad and his sisters for paving the way for Hispanic, Christian singers around the world today.

The church they sang at in Watsonville knew Los Hermanos Medina from the 1970s, so when they sang together again like old times, the poeple went NUTS. There were people crying, and cheering. When the concert was over and it was time to sell CDs, the congregation came out and flooded our table for hand shaking, purchases, and testimonies. Some people were saying, "Your music has blessed me so much! When I first became a Christian, your music is what I would listen to. Thank you for singing your old songs!". My Dad re-recorded some of their old songs for that purpose: to provide even more blessings for those who still treasure the ministry of Los Hermanos Medina. It's always my honor to support my Dad and his ministry because it has been, and continues to be, such a precious blessing to the Hispanic Christians everywhere.

When we got home, I was so super-sad that it was over. Celebracion 2008 was so awesome! God worked in the people who attended, those who participated, and me. I hope I can go to something like that again!!

Right when we arrived in Vegas, we met our family at Chuck E. Cheese!! My nephew, Diego, was so excited! The Chuck E. Cheese we went to in Henderson was a lot smaller than the one in San Jose, CA (which is probably as big as a football field, or at least it felt like it when I was little), but we had fun anyway. We took so many pictures at the photo booth there. It only cost 1 token, so we went a little crazy.