I guess I must update sometime...

And now's just as good as any!

**edit**
Pic's are now up!
(what few I have)

We had a great trip to Nogales and Tucson.
It was filled with blessings
--and sometimes, the battles that go with them.

For instance--my father's van.
Which overheated on the way to Birmingham. Which caused my temper (Lord, please forgive me...) to overheat, because we had a plane to catch. We drove from Commerce to Birmingham sans AC.
But--as usual, when things go wrong--Daddy rose to the occasion. Thank you, Daddy--when I returned to the van the following week, the AC was working, and the van was no longer overheating.
The van, which was previously known as ?_thevan_? has a new name.

I have now dubbed it "The Hump-backed Whale".
It sure gave us a whale of an adventure.

We arrived in Tucson, our time, 2AM. Needless to say, there was some adjusting to be done.
We traveled to Nogales the next day.

You know, sometimes it doesn't matter if a place is dirty, smelly, and below our standards of living. Sometimes we need to see that--not only to see how blessed we are, but also to realize that the people--especially the Bride of Jesus Christ--shines out that much more. I met some incredibly precious brothers and sisters, and saw the Glory of God in them.

One wonderful testimony from the trip: While at the end of the service, the Holy Ghost fell, and a little boy (our best guess was 6-7 years old) who had never spoken, spoke for the first time. His first word: Gloria.

I was pretty amazed at my ability to catch--at the very least--the context of what people were saying. Lol-- I went in wanting to speak what little French I know at every turn, and ended up wanting to speak what little Spanish I know instead...

And I had some great people to help me out! Thanks to Sis. Norma, Sis.Bernice, Sis. Ellie, and Sis. Bertha especially! And to the brother that made us feel so at home that first night--much thanks also! It was such a blessing to meet you all.

This (when I post it) was my last photo of the trip, because--alas--being the accident-prone person that I am, I dropped my dad's camera. ( I woulda had mine--but that's another story all together...) I thought it was going to work at first--but nope. The lense would niether go in nor out. So--all the sights I saw after that were sans camera. So, I've decided I need to go back sometime. But--not in the summer.

I thought--being from the hot and steamy South--that I'd be able to tolerate the heat. But lemme tell you-- I've now discovered just how balmy the part of the world where I live really is!

You guys that live in Tucson-- I still don't know how you survive the heat.
I came home, grateful for my wet heat that's not so hot. (And when I heard someone complain about the heat today--I compared the dry 114 to our wet 85/90--and thanked God!)

After we got back to the states, we went to Bro. Pearry Greene's church (but Bro. Luke preached). I really enjoyed the service, as well as meeting and hanging out with the people there.

(I think I took this at Bro. Greene's church--someone please correct me if I'm wrong...)

The next few days, we went to Sunset Mountain, where I got to do something I'd wanted to do since I went last time:

Climb to the top.

(Oh, for a camera... ) Lol--

It was wonderful, as was Sabino Canyon. Unfortunately, I wasn't feelin' so swuff on Tuesday, so I couldn't hike much. But the gift shop/learning center at the base of the canyon had a great place to zonk out (it had a theater)--so that's what the majority of our sick crew did.

Afterwards, the people who wanted to act young went and played v-ball. The people who wanted to be older and sophistocated went to that infamous steakhouse (where they cut off your ties...) I was among the young and innocent.

Last Wednesday, we left Tucson at 6AM. Our time, 10AM--but that didn't help much, since by then we were used to the time.

I was basically worthless the next day... but after that, I feel like I've been going almost nonstop to get ready for another school year.

**end of edit**

One last word about the camera: After I'd realized it was officially broken, I prayed that God would fix it. I tried it a couple more times after that, and then let it go. It laid in my suitcase 'till I got home, and my mother asked about it. A few minutes later, my dad came up to my room with the camera in his hand--and it was fixed! He said that he'd pressed on the lense as he was turning it on, in order to "mesh" the gears together again--- but my mother said it looked like he'd just laid hands on it. Lol--God most certainly answered my prayer, even if it was by a different way than I'd thought it would happen!


On a more serious note:
Someone asked earlier if this was a Missionary trip to Mexico. And in truth, I have to say no. First, because I'm a girl. And secondly, because I went to get blessed myself. And through God's grace, I was. Through my Lord and Savior, and through His people.

~God Bless.

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