Summer Expectations

Can I just say that I am super-excited about this summer? Oh, it will be such a joy. Every summer I fall more and more in love with God and I can't wait to learn more about Him and be around people (like the two pictured below) who make me want to be more like Christ! I also get to hang out with Audrey, Aaron and Julie's daughter, this summer. That's going to be awesome.

Hot. (I know he would hate me, so that's why I put it up! Plus the reflection on his glasses is pretty sweet.)

Seriously, summer is the time when I am the happiest. I get to hang out with my absolute favorite people in the whole entire world. It's actually kind of like One Tree Hill (allow me to explain before you tune out). In real life people don't walk around town going to different people's houses to chat with them but at camp I can go find someone and we can talk for 30 seconds or 3 hours. It's so wonderful. We build such awesome relationships because of the time we spend together!

We also have lots of fun. We play games of "The Game," Gotcha, and random made up games like bouncing Nalgene bottles to each other. Oh, and we also dress up sometimes.

This summer Breehan and I are going to be kicking butt and working out. I'll update you on how awesome I'm looking throughout the summer!

God has blessed me so much with these people and this camp.

Jealous?

The Dump

Ecuador, For Starters

Well friends, I have lost my journal (gasp) and I'm going on a trip, thus I had to start a new blog. I know what you all are thinking. "Hooray! I get to read about Tori!" I would be excited too.

But seriously. Tomorrow morning at 4:35 a.m. (gross) I am leaving my house to head off to Ecuador and since I can't find my journal, I plan on writing here instead. Plus, I already had a Tumblr blog, which in theory is pretty cool and sleek looking, but on the downside none of my wonderful friends could comment. Needless to say, I wasn't all that into it.

Awesome news: God is ALREADY working in our trip to Ecuador. Randomly some guy emailed Reggie (our totally amazing Pastor at our totally amazing church!!!) and told him that he was moving to Jonesborough from Quito, Ecuador sometime within the next few months and wanted to get involved with a church who needed a missions pastor. Um, hello?! My mom and I are going to Ecuador tomorrow! Soooo, we have emailed him to see if we can do any missions work with him while we are there (no reply yet because it's only been about an hour since we emailed). Also, my mom googled him and it looks like he may work at a Christian radio station on the same road as the guest house we are staying in! Whoa! So we are definitely praising God for being thebomb.com as He always is by presenting us with this opportunity. I can't wait to see what else He will do this trip.

What can you pray for, you ask? Please pray that we stay safe the whole time (and don't get stuck in the country forever now that the Ecuadorian government has passed a law that says the president can abolish the congress, thus making the government a dictatorship). Pray that we can minister in any way possible and that we would be able to overcome the language barrier easily (I can say "I have a bycicle" and "to the left", but that's about the extent of my Spanish). Pray that I can see my Compassion International kid at the Aposento Alto Compassion site (and that we would totally hit it off and be instant friends--by the way, her name is Lady and she will be turning 9 on October 17th, yeah girl!). Pray that I diligently study for my upcoming midterms. Pray that God would open our mouths when we need to speak and close them when we need to be quiet.

Here are a few pictures from the last time my family went to Ecuador in 2006.

Warning: CUTEST CHILD OF ALL TIME

I asked repeatedly if I could take him home. Mom said no.