It has been TOO long!

Holy Moly... It has been 2 weeks since my last blog.  And Mrs. Haigler definitely called me out on not updated my blog, so I guess it means its clear that I have had no time to do so!  But now that I am laying in the comfort of my bed (because the internet cable man decided to grace us with his presence today!!)... I shall update my lovely blog :)

So I am sitting here thinking of what has happened in two weeks.... Wayyyyy too much lol.  So much that I don't think you all would sit and read a 20 page blog from me. Ok, hit the main points, and that should only be about 15 pages long... that's readable right?

I am officially 22! SAY WHAAAAT! For the record, nothing cool happens on your 22nd birthday... except when you live in Miami and get packages and letters mailed to your house, and especially when you get a bouquet of SUNFLOWERS delivered to your work!  It 'twas a great birthday, thank you everyone :)

Church hunting has been going great.  Last week I went to Florida City (1 hour away.. yikes!) and worshiped there.  SFLUM staff (aka all my bosses) were at this service, because the Florida Conference Bishop Timothy Whitaker was there.  I was very excited to see familiar faces, meet new people, and worship with the Bishop.  It was a wonderful wonderful experience.  Too bad FL City is so far away :(
Today I went to First United Methodist Church of Coral Gables. This church was truly amazing.  It has so many wonderful things, new and familiar, that I am searching for.  It is more contemporary music (the singer in the band has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard.. It sinks deep into the soul), but more of a traditional fellowship vibe, and the pastor gave a great message.  I am definitely thinking of going back next week!

Work has become more and more wonderful.  There are definite ups and downs, but the ups have definitely been more frequent than the downs.  I am slowly but surely finding my niche within Project HEAL.  Working with the clients has been great.  3 of our clients in the past week have become American Citizens!  Our Project HEAL staff went to a Naturalization Ceremony this past Wednesday.  It was very empowering.  There were over 300 people who were being naturalized that day.  At first, I was expecting this to be long - especially since we were standing - and not exciting at all.  But I was completely wrong.  It was absolutely fascinating.  The government listed off all of the countries that each person was from (there was about 20 countries), then everyone gave an oath, said the pledge of allegiance, and all this fancy stuff.  Then POOF! They were citizens :)
But what really hit home was once they were official citizens, the music video to 'God Bless America' came on.  At that instant, this woman from Cuba who just became a US citizen burst into tear while singing.  She was overjoyed, overwhelmed, and whatever else feelings one could be feeling at that moment. That is when I realized the impact that the process of becoming naturalized in the US has. That point in time for all of our brothers and sisters in that room is something unreal, something that many of us will never understand, nor will ever truly think about.  To work through all of the obstacles that the government presents, that life presents, that even God presents are things that many of us do not even have to consider.  Immigrants have to go through this tough process to get to the point that this woman was at. To be that woman who is just full of relief, happiness, and accomplishment... That is what we are striving to do for our clients.  Project HEAL is a stepping stone to our Haitian brothers and sisters to get to this point.
Seeing this woman was an eye-opener.  I was so proud of everyone receiving their citizenship... Because they all worked to their most ability to get something that many of us are just born into.
I could go on for a while on this, because the more I learn about it, the more of an opinion I am forming.  So once I have a pretty awesome opinion on this, I will let you know.

My house life is pretty cool.  My three-times-a-week feeding the goats, turkeys, emus, and pigs is a stress reliever for me.  They listen to me gab about work, friends, California, or whatever is on my mind... And the greatest thing about them is that they just listen.  I love our backyard... especially Pumpkin! :)

I am becoming close with many of my fellow DOOR members.  DOOR is a networking housing organization.  They place Young Adult Volunteers (or Young Adult Missionary in my case lol) and young adults who are doing work in Miami - and 4 other cities across US - in intentional Christian communities.  That is how I got placed in Little Haiti.  Anywayyy... I am making great friends through the DOOR program.  We all meet together as often as possible, and lately we have all been having house warming parties.  Last night, the theme to the party was 'Open Mic Night'.  There will be a video up soon of what my roommates and I did for our performance.  But I told jokes as a solo act.  Thank you Alex Devoid for the whale joke, everyone loved it!

(The picture above is many of the DOOR folk! This was at our open house a few weeks ago!)

In addition to reading books.... Which by the way, Princess Bride was a great book!  Nick (who I read the book with, who is - by the way - in Ukraine doing mission work through the United Methodist Church and General Board of Global Ministries -YAY GBGM! - also) and I really enjoyed it.  If you have ever seen the movie, it is great to read the book because the dialogue is pretty verbatim, which I thought was awesome. I recommend it to everyone.  Now I am currently reading Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.  But anyway... In addition to reading, I have found therapy by taking trips to the beach.  Well, more like 10 minute drives to the beach.  I actually went running along the beach the other day.  And I am really out of shape, cuz my abs hurt after.... is that normal? hahaha.
But the beach is a great place of zen.  So come visit me and I shall take you!

I am on the search for guitar lessons, and maybe even a zumba (or salsa dancing!) classes! That is the fun fact of the day!

Ummmmmm.... I think that is it for now.  Thank you to everyone for your support, love, and guidance!  I love everyone very much and you all mean the world to me.  Especially mom dad and brother <3

Till Next Time!
Love Always,
Meeeeeeeeee :)