On the fly Imani, our choir director, was asked if we, the ACA choir, would sing for Sabbath School.
The notice didn't really get to everyone, so we had a quick run through on Friday, hoping that the guys would show up.
Early Sabbath morning came and it was just us girls again. We got up on stage to run through it and it was just crap to be honest. The key wasn't right, we were tuning with each other, everything was just off. Imani asked me right before if I would sing a solo. I didn't really want to, but I agreed to it anyways. As soon as we were finishing up, a couple more guys came.
Sabbath school started with a praise team. During that whole time, I was just praying that God would be with us as we sing and help me out. We all gathered backstage and Imani prayed that the angels would sing with us and remove the nervousness from within. A lot of us had a lot of doubts about how this would turn out.
I got up there and started singing with the mic, but I hadn't turned it on. Thankfully, I had a practice verse. But then I figured out you have to turn the ON button on. Haha. After that, I could just feel someone singing with me. It was an amazing experience because usually when I get up to sing, which is quite often, I am always nervous. No matter how many times I rehearsed the song, now matter if I know it by heart, basically no matter what my hands are always shaking and what not.
So here's the video below. It doesn't do our performance justice, but just know that the angels really WERE singing with us this morning.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Week of Worship
Week of Worship happened two weeks before we left for Brasil. I ended up planning most of it. It was stressful, but one of the most rewarding things that have happened to me since being here in Argentina.
I was one of the speakers one of the nights. Chris, our SA vice president, had asked me awhile ago to speak and I was flattered, but I had no idea what I was going to talk about. I started praying about it. Two weeks before the actual week, when we started buckling down to plan it, God spoke to me through my favorite movie, Extreme Days.
I knew exactly what I was going to talk about. It was a humbling experience getting up in front of my peers and teachers, opening up about one of the darkest times in my life. I was nervous before I spoke, but Paul prayed for Lisa (the other speaker that night) and I and my nerves were calmed. The second I got up there, I was so comfortable. I knew God was speaking through me.
This week was so awesome, I can't even fully describe it to you guys. God was definitely there every night. We had this poster Sabrina had made that said HE IS 'cause that was our theme. Every night, we would have a time where people could put down a word or a phrase of who they thought God is. It was so powerful at the end of the week to go through and read what people had written down.
Since week of worship, I've seen a change in people. They're reading their Bibles and going to church, actively seeking God. I pray that this will continue to happen and the fire will continue to burn long after we leave Argentina. The stories the other speakers shared were inspirational to know that God is continually working in our lives. I'm going to try and upload all the different videos so if you guys are interested you can watch them.
I hope you are blessed by my message. It's about 17 minutes long. So let it load, make a hot drink, curl up and God bless!
I was one of the speakers one of the nights. Chris, our SA vice president, had asked me awhile ago to speak and I was flattered, but I had no idea what I was going to talk about. I started praying about it. Two weeks before the actual week, when we started buckling down to plan it, God spoke to me through my favorite movie, Extreme Days.
I knew exactly what I was going to talk about. It was a humbling experience getting up in front of my peers and teachers, opening up about one of the darkest times in my life. I was nervous before I spoke, but Paul prayed for Lisa (the other speaker that night) and I and my nerves were calmed. The second I got up there, I was so comfortable. I knew God was speaking through me.
This week was so awesome, I can't even fully describe it to you guys. God was definitely there every night. We had this poster Sabrina had made that said HE IS 'cause that was our theme. Every night, we would have a time where people could put down a word or a phrase of who they thought God is. It was so powerful at the end of the week to go through and read what people had written down.
Since week of worship, I've seen a change in people. They're reading their Bibles and going to church, actively seeking God. I pray that this will continue to happen and the fire will continue to burn long after we leave Argentina. The stories the other speakers shared were inspirational to know that God is continually working in our lives. I'm going to try and upload all the different videos so if you guys are interested you can watch them.
I hope you are blessed by my message. It's about 17 minutes long. So let it load, make a hot drink, curl up and God bless!
Untitled from Lauren Brooks on Vimeo.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Brasil
In light of our finals for second quarter, we went on our last trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. We left Saturday night from the Villa around 11 pm and set for Buenos Aires. I sat with Ashley and we were about to fall asleep when James and some other people near the middle of the bus decided to have a rap war. Needless to say, there was no sleep on that 6 hour bus ride.
We finally made it to the airport around 4:30 am and waited...and waited. We sat around, talked, played solitaire and I tried paloma jerkey aka pigeon jerkey. I had no intention of trying pigeon meat since I hate those birds, but Jamel and Paul found it quite amusing to force it in my mouth. It was gross. But hey! When in Argentina right?
After about 2 hours of waiting, the check out lines opened. I've never seen so many people in one part of the airport before. We made it to the END of the line on the OTHER side of the airport. Literally, we waited in line for another 2 hours until we got our plane tickets.
We said goodbye to Jonathan Schreven who was going back to Walla Walla for third quarter, and made it through security. We thought we were gonna miss our flight, but we ended up waiting another 2 hours until our plane got in. Got a lot of reading done and learned a couple new vocab words, so I was somewhat productive!
The flight was nice. I sat next to Jamel and Ashley, we all passed out during the flight and almost safely arrived in Rio. I swear the runway was about 10 ft long 'cause as soon as we landed, the pilot put the brakes on HARDCORE. It was a beautiful day and I was excited to finally be in Brasil.
We made it to the hotel and checked in, which also took forever. Our hotel was literally right on the beach. It was beautiful. ACA took us to this buffet, which we pigged out and succumbed to a nap. Chelsea and I roomed together. We had to share a bed and our A/C didn't work for the first couple days.
The first day, ACA took us on a city tour of Rio de Janeiro and then had the rest of the day free. Us girls decided to hit up the beach, where we played in the water and soaked up the sun. We had the next day off so we stayed up all night. The girls went out to the beach with some other ACA people while I stayed in my room and ended up talking to Jamel until 5 am.
We all slept in until about noon then went to find lunch and head back to the beach. We spent the rest of the day at the beach with our guy friends, playing in the ocean and playing volleyball. Watching Paul and Adam frolick around in the sand and the water, was a fun way to end the night on the beach. Chelsea and I went with the guys to this chicken place and ate. It was good. They had the most delicious dessert I've had in a while.
We ended up staying up late that night again talking to people in our room withOUT A/C mind you.
The next morning we got up and made our way to Jesus. It sounds funny, but I don't know how else to put it. In Rio, there is a huge statue of Jesus up on a mountain and we went to see it. We took a train up the mountain. That ride was rather boring. We climbed 220 steps and took pictures for an hour. It was awesome to say that I've been there as well. The train ride down was so much more entertaining. A band got on our train and played music for us. My lovely classmates would yell out names of girls that would dance with the lead singer...I was one of those lucky girls. Why my name was yelled and everyone thought I should dance, I have no idea, but I boggied down for a bit and had some fun. Then Sandra, one of teachers went up..That was entertaining. :)
They took us to a restaurant. Another buffet. It was good, no the chicken was DELICIOUS. Half way through, the lights went out. So after being stuffed full of food, i took a small siesta because we still had half the day. After lunch, they took us to Sugar Loaf, which is a beautiful site. It came with more waiting and by this time we were all ready to just be back in the hotel and chill.
We finally got back to the hotel and were starving so we went to find food. Chelsea, Elisa, Paige and I found Domino's. We chowed that pizza down like non other. I don't think you all realize how much I miss American food. Anyways, once we got back we got a phone call that changed our lives. We were gonna go out on the town and check the night life out. So 10 of us girls, showered and quickly got ready and made our way to this samba club. That was a blast.
We slept in and then checked out around noon. We walked around town to buy stuff for ourselves, families and friends and then headed to the airport. We waited some more and then finally found ourselves on our way back to Argentina. A lot of people stayed in Buenos Aires for spring break so the bus back was quite empty. We finally got back to the la UAP around 6 in the morning.
Brasil is a beautiful country and since my visa doesn't expire for 10 years, I would love to go back and visit it, Lord willing!
We finally made it to the airport around 4:30 am and waited...and waited. We sat around, talked, played solitaire and I tried paloma jerkey aka pigeon jerkey. I had no intention of trying pigeon meat since I hate those birds, but Jamel and Paul found it quite amusing to force it in my mouth. It was gross. But hey! When in Argentina right?
After about 2 hours of waiting, the check out lines opened. I've never seen so many people in one part of the airport before. We made it to the END of the line on the OTHER side of the airport. Literally, we waited in line for another 2 hours until we got our plane tickets.
We said goodbye to Jonathan Schreven who was going back to Walla Walla for third quarter, and made it through security. We thought we were gonna miss our flight, but we ended up waiting another 2 hours until our plane got in. Got a lot of reading done and learned a couple new vocab words, so I was somewhat productive!
The flight was nice. I sat next to Jamel and Ashley, we all passed out during the flight and almost safely arrived in Rio. I swear the runway was about 10 ft long 'cause as soon as we landed, the pilot put the brakes on HARDCORE. It was a beautiful day and I was excited to finally be in Brasil.
We made it to the hotel and checked in, which also took forever. Our hotel was literally right on the beach. It was beautiful. ACA took us to this buffet, which we pigged out and succumbed to a nap. Chelsea and I roomed together. We had to share a bed and our A/C didn't work for the first couple days.
The first day, ACA took us on a city tour of Rio de Janeiro and then had the rest of the day free. Us girls decided to hit up the beach, where we played in the water and soaked up the sun. We had the next day off so we stayed up all night. The girls went out to the beach with some other ACA people while I stayed in my room and ended up talking to Jamel until 5 am.
We all slept in until about noon then went to find lunch and head back to the beach. We spent the rest of the day at the beach with our guy friends, playing in the ocean and playing volleyball. Watching Paul and Adam frolick around in the sand and the water, was a fun way to end the night on the beach. Chelsea and I went with the guys to this chicken place and ate. It was good. They had the most delicious dessert I've had in a while.
We ended up staying up late that night again talking to people in our room withOUT A/C mind you.
The next morning we got up and made our way to Jesus. It sounds funny, but I don't know how else to put it. In Rio, there is a huge statue of Jesus up on a mountain and we went to see it. We took a train up the mountain. That ride was rather boring. We climbed 220 steps and took pictures for an hour. It was awesome to say that I've been there as well. The train ride down was so much more entertaining. A band got on our train and played music for us. My lovely classmates would yell out names of girls that would dance with the lead singer...I was one of those lucky girls. Why my name was yelled and everyone thought I should dance, I have no idea, but I boggied down for a bit and had some fun. Then Sandra, one of teachers went up..That was entertaining. :)
They took us to a restaurant. Another buffet. It was good, no the chicken was DELICIOUS. Half way through, the lights went out. So after being stuffed full of food, i took a small siesta because we still had half the day. After lunch, they took us to Sugar Loaf, which is a beautiful site. It came with more waiting and by this time we were all ready to just be back in the hotel and chill.
We finally got back to the hotel and were starving so we went to find food. Chelsea, Elisa, Paige and I found Domino's. We chowed that pizza down like non other. I don't think you all realize how much I miss American food. Anyways, once we got back we got a phone call that changed our lives. We were gonna go out on the town and check the night life out. So 10 of us girls, showered and quickly got ready and made our way to this samba club. That was a blast.
We slept in and then checked out around noon. We walked around town to buy stuff for ourselves, families and friends and then headed to the airport. We waited some more and then finally found ourselves on our way back to Argentina. A lot of people stayed in Buenos Aires for spring break so the bus back was quite empty. We finally got back to the la UAP around 6 in the morning.
Brasil is a beautiful country and since my visa doesn't expire for 10 years, I would love to go back and visit it, Lord willing!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Rain + Fun = Mudfights
Sometimes it takes the simple things in life to really appreciate what you miss.
I miss rain. Every day here, it's hot. And not just hot, but blazing hot with little to no clouds in the sky. Pretty much from the moment I wake up until I go to bed.
It's rained a couple times, usually I like to take a nap because it's perfect weather, but today was a different story.
Sabrina, Chelsea, Katie, Elisa and I ran out in the rain. Solely to enjoy the coolness of it. Then we decided to run over to the boys dorm to find William and just hang out in the rain. More people started showing up. We ended up playing freeze tag on one of the courts.
Then we decided to have a mud fight. More like the guys decided to throw mud at us girls and force us into a mud fight. Here are some AFTER pictures.
Needless to say...When in Argentina ;)
I miss rain. Every day here, it's hot. And not just hot, but blazing hot with little to no clouds in the sky. Pretty much from the moment I wake up until I go to bed.
It's rained a couple times, usually I like to take a nap because it's perfect weather, but today was a different story.
Sabrina, Chelsea, Katie, Elisa and I ran out in the rain. Solely to enjoy the coolness of it. Then we decided to run over to the boys dorm to find William and just hang out in the rain. More people started showing up. We ended up playing freeze tag on one of the courts.
Then we decided to have a mud fight. More like the guys decided to throw mud at us girls and force us into a mud fight. Here are some AFTER pictures.
Needless to say...When in Argentina ;)
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Night Job: Killing Deadly Spiders
I was just about to sleep when I heard a knock at my door. I figured if I didn't say anything, they would just go away. I was sleeping in my bra and underwear so I was inappropriately dressed anyway. My door opened anyways and Chelsea popped her head in my room.
"THERE'S A TARANTULA OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR!" She said in her quietest screaming voice.
Well I couldn't just ignore this, because here in Argentina all the bugs are mutant sizes, so I got out of bed, put some clothes on and went to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, there was a spider outside my door by this plant flower decoration thingy. IT WAS HUGE.
Sabrina, Chelsea and Ashley were in the bathroom, hiding from it so I decided to take action. I went into my room and got my camera. So I took a couple pictures so I could put up on FACEBOOK to show my friends and family the monstrosity of animals we have here.
It started crawling towards me so I ran back into my room to find something to kill it with. I found a pair of flip flops I hadn't worn yet and my can of RAID®. (I highly recommend buying this in the summer down here. I might just sleep with it tonight, just in case.) I ran in front of the spider with my can of RAID® and one flip flop, while Sabrina was on the other side of it with the other flip flop. We were going to kill this thing. I glanced over and saw Chelsea and Ashley up on the sink counter waiting for the consequence of our attempt at killing this beast and cheering us on.
"KILL IT!" they softly yelled.
I ran at it with my RAID® and just kept spraying it. Sabrina was ready to squish it. We slowly watched it curl up and die. Now, I sound like a murderous, troubled, young woman finding some pleasure killing this thing--BUT IT WAS HUGE. I mean this kind of spider is one that eats small babies and can bite your toe off. I wasn't about to let that happen!
So we watched it die. I found a pencil and tried to unfold it 'cause I wanted to take a picture of how big it really was. Three girls from CLE (the other learning Spanish program) came out of one of the rooms and wanted to see what was going on. So I proudly showed them what I just killed. Pictures were taken. I found my handy dandy container and put the spider into it. You can see I am quite proud.
We spent the next 10 minutes talking about what had just happened and tried to figure out what kind of spider it is. I still have no idea...I would love to, but paging through page after page of spiders at 2:30 am won't help me sleep any.
So now it's sitting on my desk, all crawly and stuff. I'm going to bring it to my class tomorrow and show everyone. Hopefully, it'll scare my teacher enough she'll have a heart attack and we won't have class. No, seriously that's mean and I would never wish that on anyone. But I really don't want to have class.
Below are pictures that documented the night.
So the fun was over.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Come, Lord Jesus, come soon!
The one thing I hoped never happen did.
One of my close friends here just found out tonight that his father passed away. I found out through Facebook. I was just staring at the computer screen, when Krista came in wondering if I had read his status. We walked down to the other girls' rooms and all sat down in shock. We prayed for him and went our separate ways. While I was praying, I couldn't help but to fight back tears. "This could happen to me." I thought.
It's inevitable. We're all going to die. Not to sound morbid, but it's true. We're not meant to last forever...at least not on this earth. At first, I had a ton of questions running through my head. Why him? Why now?
My heart aches for my friend. I can only imagine what him and his family are going through. While I have never lost anyone close to me, I've known people through the years, losing one parent or even both. I can only cry and pray to God that He will comfort them in this time of need. I am always a problem solver, so I want to do something.
I'm sharing this with you to say this: Don't take for granted the things you have. I don't care if it's family or a hot meal on the table. We aren't promised tomorrow. So live each day like it's your last. Love the ones that are in your life no matter how rude or annoying they are. They're there for a reason.
There are things in my life that I regret. The way that I've treated people mostly. I can never take back the things that I've said or done. I don't want to constantly be living with regret though. I want to live in the moment. Knowing that one day, I'm going to see my Jesus face to face.
I don't want to take things for granted, but I will because I'm human. The people here that might get on my nerves are my family. We've gone through surviving (well not yet completely) a foreign country for a year. That's a bond I'll never have with anyone else.
In the wake of this, I will not blame God for putting my friend through this hard situation. I know that God has a plan for each of our lives. The road isn't easy by any means, but it's to bring glory to His name. I'm still learning and understanding that part. But God is good. That I know. And one day we will all be standing side by side, worshiping our Lord and Maker in Heaven. So as you read this, please keep my friend and his family in your prayers.
Come, Lord Jesus, come soon. I can't wait to see your face.
One of my close friends here just found out tonight that his father passed away. I found out through Facebook. I was just staring at the computer screen, when Krista came in wondering if I had read his status. We walked down to the other girls' rooms and all sat down in shock. We prayed for him and went our separate ways. While I was praying, I couldn't help but to fight back tears. "This could happen to me." I thought.
It's inevitable. We're all going to die. Not to sound morbid, but it's true. We're not meant to last forever...at least not on this earth. At first, I had a ton of questions running through my head. Why him? Why now?
My heart aches for my friend. I can only imagine what him and his family are going through. While I have never lost anyone close to me, I've known people through the years, losing one parent or even both. I can only cry and pray to God that He will comfort them in this time of need. I am always a problem solver, so I want to do something.
I'm sharing this with you to say this: Don't take for granted the things you have. I don't care if it's family or a hot meal on the table. We aren't promised tomorrow. So live each day like it's your last. Love the ones that are in your life no matter how rude or annoying they are. They're there for a reason.
There are things in my life that I regret. The way that I've treated people mostly. I can never take back the things that I've said or done. I don't want to constantly be living with regret though. I want to live in the moment. Knowing that one day, I'm going to see my Jesus face to face.
I don't want to take things for granted, but I will because I'm human. The people here that might get on my nerves are my family. We've gone through surviving (well not yet completely) a foreign country for a year. That's a bond I'll never have with anyone else.
In the wake of this, I will not blame God for putting my friend through this hard situation. I know that God has a plan for each of our lives. The road isn't easy by any means, but it's to bring glory to His name. I'm still learning and understanding that part. But God is good. That I know. And one day we will all be standing side by side, worshiping our Lord and Maker in Heaven. So as you read this, please keep my friend and his family in your prayers.
Come, Lord Jesus, come soon. I can't wait to see your face.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)