Postcard from the Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre, or 5 cities in English, is a popular visiting place in Italy along the beautiful Italian Riveria.  Honestly, this coastal spot reminded me a lot of the coast of California, specifically Big Sur. Tourists are known to hike between each of these 5 cities along the cliffside.  Limited on time, my mom and I hiked and took a train between two of the "Cinque Terre" cities and stayed in a city right outside called Vernazza, and this one was my favorite.  

The one evening my mom and I stayed here, we lodged in a hostel and hiked quite a few miles up the mountain behind us to eat dinner at the top.  Despite the exhausting hike, this was one of my favorite memories from our whole trip as we got to experience an authentic Italian meal along with two other tourists from other parts of the world.  We enjoyed getting to know the two people and I was amazed that by simply traveling the world over the years had brought the four of us so many things in common, and topics to talk about.  The view from the top was pretty incredible too.  

My mom and I had planned on staying another couple days in Rome, but after seeing all we did, we took advantage of the freedom to hop on a train and spontaneously went to Vernazza and it ended up being one of my favorite stops.

Postcard from Bratislava

Spontaneously my mom and I decided to hop on a train and spend a day in Bratislava, Slovakia, because, why not?!  It was a small city with a quaint shopping center and this beautiful blue church.  I remember eating the best Caesar salad there for lunch.

Cal Bap Uni

Well, it's been a month and a half here at CBU- that's California Baptist University for you non-Riverside county folk- and I've been loving it!
My best friend, Maddy, and I are roomies in the Cottages in the center of campus with all other freshman.  At the moment I'm majoring in Film Production but who knows what I will add to that.  Knowing myself my major will probably change a few times...







As freshman they keep us busy with lots of fun events to get connected with our new school. I have been so blessed to have awesome cottage mates and have become close friends with a few of them!




I've also made some awesome friends in my freshman FOCUS group, and have had some fun adventures with them.  We hiked Mount Rubidoux












I just thought I would post an update on my life here at school thanks for checking it out!

Greater Realities

So I wanted to share something that I feel was neat and important for me to learn both here in France, and on my trip to D.C.  When I was in D.C., and even at the beginning of my trip here, I was really feeling like I wasn't doing enough.  I was feeling like I hadn't gotten to have any truly incredible and life-changing witnessing conversations, so I felt useless.  Instead, I began to notice that quite a few of the people I was talking to were Christians.  I found joy in meeting Christians from around the world, and was so encouraged by simply knowing that there are people out there that love the Lord!  Different people on the team helped me realize that encouraging believers is a ministry as well as sharing the Gospel to the lost.  It's been humbling as I have set or imagined expectations for myself,
but as God has showed me His plan, which has been different than what I thought- it has been so much better!
While I've been here in Strasbourg, I've been able to come alongside different believers and pray for, encourage and share meals with them; all have been huge blessings to me, and I hope to them. This starts wherever we're at.  Being at home some days you (I) might feel useless but if we wake up each day and pray, "God, what do you have for me today?" He says, "I have prepared in advance these good works, for you to walk in" (Ephesians 2:10).  If we are open and willing, God will direct our hearts to reach out to the people around us, in our everyday lives!  Don't think that God can't use you, or won't, because His will is so much bigger than what we can imagine!


What am I doing?
Is my service enough?
Shouldn't I be changing the world?

Here in the background,
I barely make a noise.
Just washing dishes and
organizing useful toys.
How is this helping?

If they don't hear, how will they know?
I just want to go share, (even though I'm not a pro).

Instead I speak to people who already know the truth.
I pray for and reassure them of the God who loves,
in return I am encouraged and told I'm someone they're proud of.

Sure, I'm being blessed, but what about the lost nations?
What impact am I having in these conversations?

A pastor, a mother, a tourist, all from around the globe.
Maybe they needed a push, to go share the gospel.
Maybe their conscience needed a probe.

Serving the Lord may not look like what we expect
regardless of what we see, if our heart is right,
great will be the effect.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works...encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Thank you for all the prayers and support they mean the world!

Across the World

Hey everyone!  I'm over here in France right now enjoying a piece of carrot cake that I got from this super neat café in downtown Strasbourg, called Oh My Goodness, where I am working for the next 3.5 weeks.  The café is owned by a local Christian pastor who is in the process of planting an Evangelical church.  I'm here serving the locals coffee and am going to be helping with worship at their church service the next two Sundays.

It's crazy thinking about how a little over a week ago I was in Washington, D.C. on our yearly mission trip there.  That was a neat experience as I was able to meet some neat Christian people from around the world!  I think of a pastor I met from South Korea, and a sweet lady from South Carolina who was excited to soon go on her first mission trip.  On the trip, tight friendships were formed and I'm thankful for that.  In total, our team of 32 gave out over 5,200 cds with Bible stories on them, in 119 different languages!  Thank you for all the prayers and support!  This lady we took a picture with didn't speak any English, but she loved our shirts and wanted a photo with us! (Our shirts say, "God speaks your language" in a few different languages...I had been on security duty at this moment).  On Sunday, we got to visit a neat Baptist Church in the area and sang beautiful hymns along with fellow believers.

Back to what I'm doing here in France, in the past few days I have made new friends everyday!  I've gotten to work with so many interesting and fun people in the café: three of those being, a Christian girl from Texas, a French hipster dude with a man bun, and a Muslim guy from Algeria.  It has been neat getting to share with them my reason for spending the summer here in France to serve in the café, and to hear their stories and backgrounds.  I'm looking forward to continuing these friendships and getting to talk to them more about their beliefs.  My lack of French speaking has been rough, but fun as I have been challenged to learn new phrases and use them!  Thank you for all the prayers and support! I'm missing California already, but not ready for my time here to be over.