amateur writings

My stories from small towns, many thanks to Ike

2008-09-11T14:30:00.002-05:00

We left this morning at 5:45 to evacuate to our farm in Floresville from Ike. And it’s been quite the adventure already. First of all, let me say that I love small Texas towns, and I speak the truth in love here. I wish I could’ve taken pictures of some of these things, because they’re just so unique. Here are some of my small town experiences so far (I say so far because I’m sure I’ll have more before this trip is over.)
My first small town experience from this trip was when we stopped for a little second breakfast at a small bakery in Hallettsville. Let me just say that they have awesome kolaches at all these little Czech towns. So while I was standing in the bakery, I heard the local radio in the background of the restaurant. (Note to self: Always listen closely to small town radio news. You won’t fail to be entertained.) So, as I listened closer, I discovered that the sweet old man on the radio was reporting the large list of closures in the area. I thought it would be “The schools in our district are closed on Thursday and Friday,” or something like that. Well, I was pleasantly mistaken. They started out like that, but in a couple minutes they were more like “The Parker’s family reunion will be postponed until next Saturday,” “The annual picnic at First Baptist will be canceled until further notice,” and “Joe and Mary’s wedding scheduled for Saturday will be held in two weeks instead.” Oh, how I love small towns.
We started back on the road to Floresville and after a few minutes we passed through Shiner, TX. Another lovely small town. I’d love to swing at the swings in their city park. They look like high quality swings. Anyways, back to the point. Driving through there, I was stopped at a red light and there was a bank there with a scrolling marquee. At banks they’re pretty standard, you know? The time, temperature, and date will scroll by. Well, this town was showing their feelings toward the hurricane in the Gulf. After the date scrolled by, another line showed up: “Take a hike, Ike!” Another note to self: Remember that scrolling marquee’s always produce quotable lines.
A couple signs I saw on the way were quite awesome. “Watermelon Jubilee” in Stockdale. “Children will play chimes in both services Sunday” at one of the local churches in Floresville. I also found some really cool product names at Wal-Mart: a gummy snake at least 3 feet long called “Big Fat Hissee Fit,” Universal Bike Tires…that come in 16”, 20”, 24” and 28”. (What?) And a couple salons: “Curl up and Dye,” and “Hair I am.” (Now I know for a fact that you can find names like that all over the place, but I’m just reporting these now, because they were a part of my experience this trip. But when I was in Uganda we came across the “Heavy Duty Bakery.” Wow, really?) And while we were setting up the lawn mower here at the farm, the instructions warned us “Caution: Gasoline is flammable.” Good to know. One thing I do salute them for here is one of my biggest pet peeves: the spelling of y’all. It’s a contraction of you and all. Not ya’ll, y’all. That’s one thing I do appreciate about small towns.
I thought my exciting experiences were done for the day after driving here, Olivia’s (a really good local Mexican restaurant) for lunch, and then driving around looking for a lawn mower for sale. But no, they were far from over. So I get back to the farm, and I had to go to the bathroom. So I go in, open the seat, and there, curled around several times, just making himself at home was a very large black snake. I’m not exaggerating, it was a very large snake. I’m not really a big fan of snakes. Especially when they’re locked in a small room with me. Needless to say, I haven’t used that toilet again.
So here I sit on the porch. Fixin’ to go down to the local Mickey D’s to get free wifi. Looking out over the farm, listening to Nanci Griffith sing “I wanna ride the waves down in Galveston when the hurricanes blow in, cause that Gulf Coast water tastes sweet as wine when you’re heart’s blowin’ home in the wind,” waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. I’m sure I’ll have more stories soon. I love evacuating.

Life as an Intern

2008-08-25T16:39:00.001-05:00

So this summer I worked as an intern in the Multimedia department at my church. My main project was working on interviews with the mission teams from our church. I used a CD recorder and, as the teams got back from various trips all summer, I did a short audio interview with a few people from each group. Then I edited those down to be audio for usually two short videos, collected the pictures from the group and put those behind the audio. Throw in a few lower thirds, some background music, an intro and outro and *tadah!* you've got my summer project. I got to use Final Cut Pro for the editing and Digital Juice stuff for the background music and graphics. It was a great experience. From interviewing the people who went on the trips, seeing their passion and how excited they get when they get to talk about their trip, to finishing up the videos and seeing how far they came and how all that work really paid off...it was all good. Hopefully some of them will be up on the church's website soon, so I'll be able to put a link to them on here. Along with this main project, I learned how to use about a million different programs at the church. Great experience. Well, that's all I've got for now. Hope you enjoy the videos and I'll have some more stuff up before long!

Jenna

2008-07-13T15:05:00.003-05:00

My group from Camp Wild...

Sound Foundation...

Brad always takes my guitar...

Sophomore girls building our awesome octopus...

After the fact...

Self-explanitory...

Ninja power-ranger white rafting crew...

My "friend" for 80's friend night at camp...

I'm such an 80's model...

Yes, I do know all the words to Jesus Freak, thank you very much...

UBC!

Friends... : )

80's friends... : )

Hiking a freaking mountain...

HIKING!

Summertime...

2008-07-13T14:45:00.004-05:00

I realized I haven't posted on here in a while, so I figured I'd do a brief summary of this summer. It's been crazy busy. It all started off with working at Camp Wild in Galveston again. I worked there last year and I still had a blast this year. Those kids are so fun! Right after that I worked at Basketball Camp at my church. I was so exhausted, but it was still really fun. And I was filming the whole week, so that was fun. Straight from Basketball Camp we left for Highlight Choir Tour in Corpus Christi. That was so relaxing and laid back. Really nice after two weeks of working with elementary schoolers. Chill at the largest pool in Texas, hang out on the beach, build sandcastles, try to skimboard, play guitar, sleep in. It was so nice. After that I had a week "off." Off of traveling that is. I still had to work.
The next Sunday we started our 23 hour bus ride to church camp at Silvercliff, CO. Beautiful. The bus ride was really long, but it was still good to talk to all my friends and such. And then the camp. It was just awesome. Best camp yet, by far. I don't even know where to start. There were about 90 kids from my church and we met up with kids from FBC Rockwall. Don Vanderslice was the pastor and he was absolutely amazing. I had to sit back and process everything he said after each talk. Fike and Dana were the worship leaders and they were really good. Then the atmosphere just couldn't have been better. I mean, it's Colorado. 80's friend night. Hiking a freaking mountain. Awesome. Then this last week was Master's Singers. I wrote about it last year, so if you wanna know all the gory detail you can read that post. This year was really good. A lot different than last year, but still really good. I learned a lot from it. Both musically and otherwise. It's just an amazing experience.
So that's my summer so far. I've still got a trip to Oaxaca coming up in August and then a little rest before school starts back up. Ugh. I love summer. I love rest. Anyways, just a little update from me. Oh, and I'll put up some pictures from the summer so far. Enjoy!

Jenna

YouTube

2008-04-05T09:33:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I went to this Transforming Culture conference this week. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it inspired me to put some of my videos I've made/edited on YouTube, SOOOO...now I have a youtube site. Go here, watch some videos, comments would be nice. Hopefully I'll get more and more up as time progresses. Well, I just thought I'd start gettting the word around! Check it out!
Jenna

Oh, I am wrong and of these things I repent...

2008-03-31T12:38:00.003-05:00

I repent, I repent of my pursuit of America's dream
I repent, I repent of living like I deserve anything
Of my house, my fence, my kids, my wife
In our suburb where we're safe and white
Oh, I am wrong and of these things I repent

I repent, I repent of parading my high liberty
I repent, I repent of paying for what I get for free
And of the way I believe that I'm living right
By trading sins for others that are easier to hide
Oh, I am wrong and of these things I repent

And I repent of judging by a law that even I can't keep
Of wearing righteousness like a disguise
To see through the planks in my own eyes

I repent, I repent of trading truth for false unity
I repent, I repent of confusing peace and idolatry
Of caring more of what they think than what I know of what we need
Of domesticating you until you look just like me
Oh, I am wrong and of these things I repent

So this last weekend a group of about 15 or so youth and sponsors from our church went to this thing called Poverty Simulation in Waco, TX sponsored by Mission Waco. We had no idea what to expect and I have to admit, I was quite skeptical. But by the end of the weekend I had learned and been made aware of so much more than before I went.
One of the many things I learned was how much stuff we take for granted and how much we really don't need at all. By the end of the weekend I've never been more grateful for my toothbrush, my bed, my car and other little things like chapstick and sunscreen. To get sunburned not because I forgot to put on sunscreen or because I didn't want to, but because I didn't have any was a completely new thing to me that I'd never really thought about before.
Another thing I learned that I'd never really thought of this way before was that we're here in America with all this stuff not because we deserve it, but because this is where God put us. He could have just as easily made me be born in the slums in Africa somewhere, but he put me here. He put us all here in America. We're not just lucky. We're blessed. And that's not to say that those born in the slums in Africa somewhere are not blessed, because it says in Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor." Andrew Peterson says it well in his song Land of the Free:

"'Cause I'm just a little jealous of the nothing that you have, you're unfettered by the wealth of the world that we pretend is gonna last. They say God blessed us with plenty, but I say you're blessed with poverty. 'Cause you never stop to wonder whether earth is just a little better than the Land of the Free."

So those are just a few of the things I learned this weekend. And the Derek Webb song describes a lot of the other things I discovered and I'm sure others did as well. If I described all the things I learned it would take way to long and you would get bored of reading by then, so I'll just stick with that. Oh, and I have to mention that Church Under the Bridge was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. I'm not going to describe it because as I said before it would take way to long and you'd probably get bored reading. Oh, and I'm headed off to the Transforming Culture conference in Austin this week, so maybe I'll post on here later this week about that! So many writings, so little time. So I guess that's all for now. Maybe I'll write another time about more things from this weekend, but for now I'm signing off.

Jenna

I am still running...

2008-03-08T17:40:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I've been loving Jon Foreman's new EP's. Fall & Winter...check them out. Anyways, somehow I found this video on youtube where someone has set clips from Forrest Gump to Jon's song "I am still running." It fits perfectly and it's really cool. I liked it, so I thought I'd share it with everyone! Here you are:

That's all for now!

Jenna

Dude...

2008-01-10T21:58:00.000-06:00

Check out the video at about 1:15. You might see some people you recognize. : )

Gotta love Switchfoot! They're awesome guys. One of the best nights ever.

Jenna

It's 2008...

2008-01-04T16:26:00.000-06:00

Oh, I guess they'll say I've grown
I know more than I wanted to know
I've said more than I wanted to say
I'm heading home
Yeah, but I'm not so sure that home is a place
You can still get to by train
So I'm looking out the window
And I'm drifting off to sleep
With my face pressed up against the pane
With the rhythm of my heart
And the ringing in my ears
It's the rhythm of the southbound train
...
Oh, I guess they'll say I should've known
Or maybe I'm just feeling old
Like a lawyer with no one to blame
I'm headed home
Yeah, but I'm not so sure that home is a place
That will ever be the same

That's selections from Jon Foreman's song "Southbound Train." I've been listening to this as I reflect on the last year and a half. On how many things have happened that I never could have guessed; how I had no idea what was going to happen between July 2006 and January 2008, and I had no control over a lot of it. In the same way we really have no idea what's gonna happen in this next year, nor is it up to us at all. We're just here to make the best of what we've got. Sometimes that's harder than others, a lot harder. I'll admit that I've failed at that lots of times over the last year. A lot of times I wish I was just at a different place and a different time, with different people, under different circumstances. But I can't be in two places at once and I can't teleport (even though that would be sweet) or freeze time like Hiro Nakumura. I also found that when you just let go and go with where God's put you at this time, it turns out so much better than you could've hoped or imagined. So, anyways, that's the lesson I'm trying to learn and put into practice in 2008. I'm here, it's now, I'm with who I'm with, and it's good.
Jenna

P.S. Check out this link for a youtube video of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngqmcdgpY7o&feature=related

The day we met Switchfoot...

2007-10-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

It all started last Saturday night...okay, well, the chain of events actually started like 6 months ago, but last Saturday night was Switchfoot's Houston conccert. They're on tour with Relient Kand a band called Ruth. The concert was AMAZING! I don't know about the venue, I kind of like the small, family feel Warehouse Live had, but...the guys of Switchfoot and Relient K made it feel that way anyways.
Ruth started out the show and they were good, but I didn't really know any of their songs, so we just kind of sat and chilled . Now that I've listened to them on Pure Volume I'm a fan. Check them out. So then there was a like 10 minute break and out came RELIENT K! I've wanted to see them in concert for many years. All I've ever seen them play is like one song, so I was pretty excited for this. They played quite a wide variety...let's see if I can remember what they played (they're not in order at all)...Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet, Sadie Hawkins Dance, High of 75, Give Until There's Nothing Left, Be My Escape, I Need You, The Best Thing, Must Have Done Something Right, Forgiven, Devastation and Reform, I So Hate Consequences, In Love with the 80's(Pink Tux to the Prom), they did a rendition of the Office's theme song...it was awesome, Sleigh ride (yes, the Christmas song...and there was snow!), and they ended the night with Who I am Hates who I've been. They were so good. I can't wait till they come to Houston again! I'm totally going!
Then there were 10 minutes of anxious anticipation...and out came SWITCHFOOT! Even though it was the third time I've seen them, the quality never changes...they were awesome. Let's see...they played...Meant To Live, This is Your Life, American Dream, Oh! Gravity., Awakening, Gone, On Fire, We Are One Tonight, Stars, Shadow Proves the Sunshine, Dirty Second Hands, they called Relient K and Ruth back on stage for a song called "Rebuild" that they wrote specifically for this tour because it was supporting Habitat for Humanity. Shortly after they wrote that song Relient K's bus caught fire and they lost their equipment, and now , while they're on tour, Switchfoot's home town of San Diego is on fire. So, to say the least, the song meant more now then it did when they wrote it. Also, it's just a good song...I had it stuck in my head all day Sunday, but I only knew like 4 words to it. Oh, and maybe my favorite part of the actual concert was right before they played On Fire (when Jon came out into the audience in the section next to us) Jon Foreman was talking on the stage and he was like "So we got the word today that someone flew Oh! Gravity. in space for us? If that's true, I really want to meet that person." Then the rest of the crowd was absolutely silent and I screamed as loud as I could. People just looked at me like I was crazy, but I don't care.
They did do another song, I think it was Dare You To Move, but I wouldn't know, becuase me and my friends were walking around trying to find out where to meet for the MEET AND GREET WITH SWITCHFOOT! We were so excited, we were running even though it wasn't necessary. We ended up sitting in the stands after the concert was over, waiting with some other people. They were taking people in 5 at a time to meet them, so we went the three of us with these two other guys. We were walking to where they were and the leader lady who was taking us there was like "Okay, so I ask everybody this: how did you get the passes?" So I was like "Well, actually...I got Oh! Gravity. flown in space." She was like "Wow, that's definitely unique!" So then we walked through the door and ...*AHHHHH* there they were. Switchfoot. Chad came up to us first and he was like "Hey I'm Chad. So, do have anything you want us to sign?" So I gave them the CD and said it had been in space. He called all the other guys over there and they were like "This is the one! It's been in space! Awesome!" They were so funny. They were touching it like it was holy or something. We were all laughing . It was so cool. Then they brought this video camera out and got it on video! So maybe I'll be on the Switchfoot Podcast! It was a dream come true. Oh, and then we got Andes Mint Shakes from Jack in the Box, so that just added to it.
So now I want to thank you who made this possible, mostly Mr. Forrester. Without you we wouldn't have been able to do this, so thanks! And Switchfoot, y'all are amazing. So here's a compilation of pictures summarizing the night.

Thanks for an awesome time! More posts soon!
Jenna : )

P.S. Switchfoot mentioned this meeting on their tour blog, The Daily Foot. Go to their site, click on the Daily Foot link on the home page, go to the Houston, TX post and read the last paragraph! Bah! That was me and my friends!

October 17th

2007-10-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, I promise I'm not dumb, I know it's only the 15th now, but just hear me out. I thought I'd let you know that on October 17th people from all around the world will be advocating for the people living in extreme poverty. Yes, October 17th is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. There are many ways that they suggest to show your support (see this website), but I thought I'd let you know you can show your support by wearing a white band. They say it really doesn't matter what kind, but the One Campaign has white bracelets. Anyways, I just found out about it and I'll be wearing my Product (RED) shirt and white bracelet to show my support. You should wear a white band and show support of the campaign to make poverty history. Off of that link I gave you earlier you can find out about the history of this day and why they chose it for this. Anyways, just thought I'd let y'all know! Post more later.

Jenna

New Site!!!

2007-07-02T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody,
I just got a .mac account and there's this feature where you can make your own website, so I've been playing around with it and I've got a new website. It's http://web.mac.com/jccreech. It's fairly simple right now because I'm still playing around with it. That website's more like my blog or something. It's got pictures, blog and some links and stuff. I've also made another website that's kind of like my portfolio. It's got samples of all the videos I've filmed and edited and stuff like that. It's http://web.mac.com/jccreech/iWeb/Site%202/Home.html. It's got videos I made for Africa, Church and for fun. Anyways, I'll probably still post on here for a while but after I've for sure got that site set up I'll most likely just use that as my blog and retire this one. So stay tuned for updates!!!!
Jenna

Texas Baptist All State Master's Singers (aka best trip ever)

2007-06-15T21:57:00.001-05:00

Just a warning: this post is long, but well worth the read because it was an amazing trip.
Last Wednesday a group of about 20 people from our church started heading to Abilene. The sun hadn't even risen yet, but we were on our way. We picked up a girl in Katy and were in Abilene by 1. Our group was the last one there, but they had waited for us. As soon as we got there Dr. Hawthorn (or as he will be referred to in this blog, Doc) greeted each one of us personally and we headed up to the Music Hall for rehearsal. I have to admit, by the end of the first night, when all we had done was sing, eat, go to a service, and sing some more, I was feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering why I had come. But then again, that's what everyone said it would be like. They also said it was the best trip ever, so I knew it had to get better than that. And it did.
By the second day I realized that I was not in control, which is a weird thing for me, because I'm always in control at church activities. I just had to accept that I was not an expert at this stuff by any means. By the time the third day had come and gone I had met some amazing new friends from Amarillo, Midland/Odessa, Andrews and Anson and was completely comfortable being my weird self around them. We had bowled, played a game of around the world ping-pong with our hands, and eaten some pretty gross food (eww!). Friday night we had a pizza party and scavenger hunt. I have to say that my team should definitely get the loser prize, because we were the last team in that night, we got hit by the sprinklers, we got the wrong thing (a petrified tree stump is definitely a place where time stands still), and none of the pictures turned out because we couldn't get the flash on. I know, we're amazing.
The first three days all we did was basically eat, sleep and sing. Saturday we headed out for Dallas/Arlington on two coach buses, checked into our hotel and went to a Rangers game. We mostly played cards at the Rangers game. Actually, we didn't watch the game at all. After the game an unfortunate accident happened. One of the kids bumped into Doc's wife, she fell and had to be taken to a hospital. I'll go ahead and give you a preview into the future and tell you that she's doing okay now. We usually sang two concerts a day in the Dallas area from Sunday to Wednesday. Throw in a trip to Six Flags Over Texas and the Dallas Art Museum and you've got our schedule.
At all the concerts we sang some combination of the following songs: Antiphon , Our God is God, The Majesty and Glory of Your Name, The Conversion of Saul, There is No Rose (girls only), The Awakening (guys only), Eternal Life (our commissioned piece), Restore My Joy, Recollection of Joy (our "theme song"), Beautiful River, Sit Down Servant, and Let Mount Zion Rejoice. The ensemble sang some combination of the following: My Lord, My Life, My All, It is Well with My Soul, I Go to the Rock, and Ask the Watchman. There was also a piano violin duet by Ashley Johnson and Renee Wang. Man, that's a lot of music. I totally didn't realize there was that much.
Thursday, our last day together, we drove back to Abilene for our final concert at FBC Abilene. We had a great time together, but the hardest part of the whole trip was saying goodbye Thursday night after the concert. I never realized how much I hate saying goodbye. Especially when you've gotten so close to these people over such a short amount of time. I'm pretty sure everyone cried, whether it was in public or not, I'm pretty sure they did.
I don't think I've ever been around more committed people, more committed Christians, more committed musicians, or more committed leaders. Thank you so much to everyone who was involved in Master's Singers this year. It was seriously the best camp I've ever been to. I met so many amazing people, and if any of you ever read this (you know who you are) remember this, and I quote, "I thank my God when I remember you for he has blessed my life with yours. In every prayer of mine for you I'm filled with joy for I hold you in my heart. And I pray that your love may abound yet more in knowedge and in all judgement; that you may approve excellent things. That you may be sincere being filled with the fruits of righteousness unto the glory and praise of God. Grace to you and peace to you from God our Father, Christ our Lord. I thank my God when I remember you for he has blessed my life with yours. In every prayer of mine for you I'm filled with joy for I hold you in my heart."

And to end on a less sad note just look at this picture.
That's Bailey, me, David, Bethany, Elliott and Chris and Chad in the background. Great pic, huh?

This too shall be made right

2007-05-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

People love you the most for the things you hate
And hate you for loving the things you can't keep straight
People judge you on a curve
And tell you you're getting what you deserve
This too shall be made right

Children cannot learn when children cannot eat
Stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
Children dream of wishing wells
Whose waters quench all the fires of hell
This too shall be made right

The earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
Wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
We say we're just trying to stay alive
But it looks so much more like a way to die
This too shall be made right

There's a time for peace and there is a time for war
A time to forgive and a time to settle the score
A time for babies to lose their lives
A time for hunger and genocide
This too shall be made right

Oh, I don't know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore
I'm trading comfort for human life
And that's not just murder, it's suicide
This too shall be made right

On Wednesday night there was a special on American Idol, it was called Idol Gives Back. American Idol teamed up with the ONE Campaign to raise money for Africa. At the end of it they had a video clip where Bono came in and talked to the six contestants left on American Idol. One of the girls asked bono a question that went something like this: "What was the defining moment for you when you knew you had to do something about what's going on over there?" He answered with a story about when he went to Africa and a man asked him to take his child back with him because he knew his child would have a better life in America. Bono said he didn't take that child, but he has in so many other ways. That got me thinking, "What was my defining moment? When did I start to really care about what's going on over there?" I knew exactly when it was.
First we have to rewind back to the first time I went to Africa. I was 10, so I'm pretty sure I didn't get the full idea of everything that was going on around me. But there were these two kids and I kind-of became friends with them because there weren't all that many people my age there. Their names were Geofferey, who I think was my age, and Moses, who I think was a little bit younger. They are the two kids in the picture at the end of the post. One of them is HIV positive.
Now go back to about a year before I go to Africa the second time, so it's like 2004ish. The Peppers were back on furlow and they were over at our house visiting. I asked how Geofferey and Moses were doing and the answer wasn't good. His sponsor had stopped paying his school fees when he found out he was HIV positive and now the medicine was too expensive. The Peppers weren't sure if he would be there when they got back.
Now it's summer of 2005 and we're in Uganda. Geofferey and Moses are both still there. The reason they are still there is because Dr. Pepper (yes, that's his name) had gotten a lot of free ARV's from different organizations in the US. That's why they're alive.
I think that's when it hit me. When I found out that this disease could have lethally affected someone I met. That made me want to do something about it, to help these kids and all the others like them that have been orphaned by AIDS and now suffer with it themselves.
Derek Webb said in one of his podcasts something like we're supposed to bring the kingdom of God to people. For example, if there's no hunger in the kingdom of God, then we're supposed to bring that about here and feed the hungry. If there's no sickness in the kingdom of God, then we're supposed to heal the sick. If there's no war, no crying, no pain, we're supposed to bring that about here. In the kingdom of God, everything shall me made right. That just opened my eyes. I had never thought about it like that. We have no excuse for not doing anything about it. We join the oppressors of those we choose to ignore. I want to do everything I can to help, but most of the time I get content sitting in my nice brick house in a nice little suburb where everything always comes off as fine. I forget about the hundreds of people dying over there everyday. We trade comfort for human life. Well guess what, this too shall be made right.

Jenna

Uh...

2007-04-20T12:08:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to post a new blog lately, but I can't come up with anything to write about. Nothing. I'll try a song and see if it inspires me, but no. Then today, while I was doing math, I felt something on my toe. I thought it was just a little hair or piece of paper or something unimportant like that. So I look down to shoo it off and it's a caterpillar!!! In the house a random caterpillar! I tried looking in a butterfly book to see what it was, but it wasn't in there. I tried looking online and the only thing I found close to it is a Corn Earworm (do you think it looks like that, because I do), but it's not supposed to be around these parts this time of year. I have no idea what it is. Someone help!

If you know what kind of caterpillar/worm thing this is please comment. It's going to drive me nuts. I'm all paranoid right now. I really hope it's not poisonous or anything, because ya know it was on my toe! It's about an inch long. Meanwhile, I'll keep researching online to see if I can find out what the meh it is. It only moves a little bit every 5 minutes. I think it's almost dead. I would just leave it, but it's on my Driver's ED book and I have to do Driver's ED. So now I'm gonna go take it outside and maybe it won't die. Hopefully there aren't others in the house.

That's all for today. No deep intellectual posts (not that my others are, but...). Just a bug. Maybe next time I'll be inspired by something a little more uh inspiring. Until the next post.

Jenna

Amateur Lovers...

2007-02-14T11:21:00.001-06:00

Everyone I know needs love like drugs
Like a common cold we could never shrug
My baby and me we’re missing the same stuff
We’ve all got a disease, deficiency of love

Every day we still try every night we still cry
Driving home on the 805

We don’t know what we’re doing we do it again
We’re just amateur lovers with amateur friends
I can tell you what you’re thinking now
Before you think it you can settle down
We don’t know what we’re doing
Let’s do it again!

Try to play it down but it never stuck
I tried to bail this town I’m getting no such luck
When nobody’s around I keep my eyes on the clock
There ain’t a cure I’ve found In all my times around this block

Everyday we still try, every night we still cry
We drive it home on the 405

I can tell you what you’re thinking now
Before you think it you can settle down
Our lovin’ isn’t gonna burn us out

Professional!?!

With it being Valentine's Day and all I decided that this would be just as good a day as any to post a blog. And one about love would be even more appropriate. So here's my post about amateur lovers.
I thought I'd start with the etymologies of amateur and professional. I got these from the Online Etymology Dictionary:
Amateur is from 1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from Fr. amateur "lover of," from O.Fr., from L. amatorem (nom. amator) "lover," from amatus, pp. of amare "to love." Meaning "dabbler" (as opposed to professional) is from 1786.
Professional (adj.) is first recorded 1747 with sense of "pertaining to a profession;" 1884 as opposite of amateur.
So then, in simpler terms, professional is like your job, but amateur is just for the love of it. That's why this is one of my favorite songs on the new Switchfoot album "Oh! Gravity." (Along with Faust, Midas and Myself and American Dream, which I'll probably write about later.) I love it because that's what we are. Amateur lovers and amateur friends, none of us really are professionals. Loving people is not our job, although as Christians we are supposed to love everyone. We're not forced to do it. We should be friends, love people, because we want to. We should do it because that's what we love to do. A lot of the time we act like professional friends or lovers when we should be amateur friends or lovers. I know most of the time I feel like I have to love everyone, or it's my job to love everyone, but I need to think about differently. I need to think of it as that's what I should love to do. So that's my goal for a while, love loving people. Sounds simple, but it should be quite a challenge. I'm willing to at least try it. Are you?

Jenna

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love is not against the law

2006-09-29T21:46:00.000-05:00

Politics or love can make you blind or make you see
Make you a slave or make you free
Only one does it all
It's giving up your life for the ones you hate the most
It's giving them your gown when they've taken your clothes
It's learning to admit when you've had a hand in setting them up
And knocking them down

Because love is not against the law
Love is not against the law
Love, love, love

Are we defending life when we just pick and choose
Lives acceptable to lose and which ones to defend?
Because you cannot choose your friends, but you choose your enemies
What if they were one, one and the same
Could you find a way to love them both the same?
To give them your name?

Because love is not against the law
Love is not against the law
Love, love, love

Last Sunday I went downtown to Ecclesia for a Derek Webb concert. I was totally excited about going. When we got there and went up to buy our tickets, they said they were sold out. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't all that bummed. I mean, I was, but I'm just a new fan, so I figured I would have some other time to see him. In case any of y'all didn't know Ecclesia is the church where the Robbie Seay Band leads worship. So anyways...we were standing there where they told us to wait to see if there were any people that didn't show up and lo and behold, there was Robbie! He started talking with us and he said that he would do what he could to get us in. Turn out, he did! We ended up getting into the concert. Sandra McCracken opened for him, and she was amazing. Kind-of country-ish, but not too much. I liked it. Then just Derek came out and had the audience yell out songs for him to play. As far as I can remember, he sang the following songs by himself: "I Want A Broken Heart," "I Repent," "Dance," "The Rich Song," and "Wedding Dress." I had only read the lyrics of most of those songs on his website, because I obviously can't go out and buy like 5 CD's. They were amazing. I'm definitely a big Derek Webb fan now. After he sang those songs, he talked about freederekwebb.com (which you should all go to right now and download Mockingbird) and blood:water mission (www.bloodwatermission.com). You should all go to both of those sites and find out about everything there is to know about them. They're great. Then there was a short break and his bass player and Sandra McCracken came back out and they played through Mockingbird. Yes, the entire album and no, it was not too long. At all. Actually, I quite enjoyed it. Artists should do that more often. Just play through the whole album, it's a novel idea. But anyways, Mockingbird is about mostly social issues, while his other albums were mostly about the church. For instance, Mockingbird has a songs on it about poverty, non-violence, love songs, songs about the church and several others. They're just astounding. You have to hear it for your self. Anyways, I just thought I'd put it out there that you should all at least give Derek Webb a try. Oh, and by the way, I'm really really really really glad that we didn't leave before we got in. It was amazing. And on the off chance that Derek Webb or Robbie Seay ever reads this: Thank you so much, it was amazing.
Amo, Jenna

we remember

2006-08-23T22:45:00.000-05:00

Houston, Texas -- The Work of the People, World Publishing, EMI Christian Music Group, CNN and Highway Video have produced a provocative music video that help tell the story of the displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina. The video is available as free download at www.theworkofthepeople.com for organizations to use to help tell the story of those effected by Katrina.

The Work of the People is defined by it's name. They are a community of artists, storytellers, filmmakers, poets and theologians. They are Christians, defined by they're common calling and hope in the Father to save the world through His Son and unite His people through His Spirit. They're work is to tell the story they share and to ask poignant questions through film, literature, art and music.

I've posted these videos created by The Work of the People in rememberance of the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I saw the first video at Ecclesia Church in Houston and I loved it. The songs are both from the relatively new CD "Songs From The Voice Volume 1: Please Don't Make Us Sing This Song." It is a part of The Voice Project headed by Chris Seay. To learn more about that go to www.hearthevoice.com. If you'd like to learn more about The Work of the People read the paragraphs below.

like summer break is gone...

2006-08-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

She told him she'd rather fix her makeup
Than try to fix what's going on
But the problem keeps on calling
Even with the cell phone gone
She told him that she believes in living
Bigger than she's living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards
And upside down
Don't say so long, and throw yourself wrong
Don't spin today away
Cause today will soon be

Gone, like yesterday is gone,
Like history is gone
Just try to prove me wrong
And pretend like you're immortal

She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every day we borrow
Brings us one step closer to the edge (infinity)
Where's your treasure, where's your hope
If you get the world and lose your soul
She pretends like she pretends like she's immortal
Don't say so long
You're not that far gone
This could be your big chance to makeup
Today will soon be

Gone, like yeterday is gone
Like history is gone
The world keeps spinning on
Your going going gone
Like summer break is gone
Like saturday is gone
Just try to prove me wrong
You pretend like you're immortal

We are not infinite
We are not permanent
Nothing is immediate
We're so confident
In our accomplishments
Look at our decadence

Gone, like Frank Sinatra
Like Elvis and his mom
Like Al Pacino's cash nothing lasts in this life
My high school dreams are gone
My childhood sweets are gone
Life is a day that doesn't last for long
Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash,
Life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred dollar bills
And roto-tom fills
Life's more than fame and rock and roll and thrills
All the riches of the kings
End up in wills
We got information in the information age
But do we know what life is
Outside of our convenient Lexus cages
She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every moment that we borrow
Brings us closer to the God who's not short of cash
Hey Bono i'm glad you asked
Life is still worth living, life is still worth living

Summer break is gone. School has started up again and it's going strong. Most of the other activities are starting up in the next week. My schedule's back to normal. Kinda busy. This summer was great though. Africa, Student Life, Mexico, Mission week. Wow. Plus all the extra parties and movies and I've got myself a summer. I think it was the best one yet. But it's over now. That's just a reminder to live life to the full. Don't cheat yourself. And I quote another Switchfoot song "Don't close your eyes. this is your life, are you who you want to be?" I'm gonna try that this fall. Usually the first few weeks of school just fly by and you don't remember anything special about them. I'm gonna make them a blast. I don't know how yet, but there's gonna be somthing special about them. I've got so many great memories and lessons learned from this summer. I hope I never ever ever forget anything about this summer. I hope the same for all of you reading this too. Anyways, thanks for all of you who were here this summer, you're the ones who made this summer amazing. Love you!

Jenna

You said...

2006-07-29T22:11:00.000-05:00

You said, "Ask and you will recieve whatever you need."
You said, "Pray and I'll hear from heaven and I'll heal your land."

You said Your glory will fill the earth life water the seas
You said, "Lift up your eyes, the harvest is here, the kingdom is near"

You said, "Ask and I'll give the nations to you."
Oh Lord, that's the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands will see Your light as it rises on earth

That Shane & Shane song is a great song to start off anything having to do with missions because it's just such a great prayer. That was how we started off this past week, with Billy singing "You Said." This week was the Intermediate School's Mission Week. It was amazing. Starting Monday morning all the way through Friday morning we were at the Church at 8 in the morning and at Emerald Pointe apartments to play with the kids by about 9. When we got there we just played with them for about half an hour, then we got started with a Backyard Bible Club there. Inside the Dream Center we sang some amazing songs.....such as "The Shark Song," "Romans 16:19," "Waves of Mercy," "Arcitc Edge," "The Beaver Song," "Gorilla, Man, Gun"(If that counts as a song), and you can't forget "Jesus loves me" in English, Sign Language and Spanish!!!(Go Haley!!!!!) After that was story time. We told the stories of Creation, Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale, Christmas and Easter. Next, we split up the older and younger kids and some went to do arts and crafts and some went to rec. We played some pretty sweet games of 4-square. I'm pretty sure nearly every one of our youth had at least one kid at Emerald Pointe that they hung out with a lot while they were there. Mine was a little girl named Cheyanne. She was adorable. That was about all we did at Emerald Pointe. After Emerald Pointe we went either to someone's house for a pool party/crazy fun water day at the church or we watched a movie on the 3rd floor depending on the weather. Those were pretty exciting. The afternoon's were free to do whatever you wanted until 7. Then we went up to the church either on the 3rd floor or in the Chapel (depending on avalibility) for a worship service. The worship services were led by two of Courtney Chapman's friends from Auburn University: Billy and James (James Taylor that is!). They were absolutely amazing guys. Billy led the worship with his guitar and James preached some awesome sermons. They were just amazing. We usually didn't get home until a little after 11 because of parties and such. I really did have a great time this week! I'd like to thank Courtney for doing such and incredible job planning it, to all the other interns for helping out so much and to James and Billy for coming down....I mean over...to help with this week. It wouldn't have been nearly as good without any of y'all helping out. And all the students that participated were great. I love you guys. Well, I'll be posting more later!
Jenna

In the economy of mercy...

2006-07-17T14:40:00.001-05:00

Theres just two ways to lose yourself in this life, and neither way is safe
In my dreams I see visions of the future, but today we have today
And where will I find You? Where will I find You?

In the economy of mercy, I am a poor and begging man
In the currency of grace is where my song begins
In the colors of Your goodness, in the scars that mark Your skin
In the currency of grace is where my song begins

These carbon shells, these fragile dusty frames house canvases of souls
We are bruised and broken masterpieces, but we did not paint ourselves
And where will I find You?

Where was I when the world was made?
Where was I?

I'm lost without You here
Yes, I'm lost without You near
I'm lost without You here
You knew my name when the world was made

This Switchfoot song fits really well with one of the many many stories from this past week in Saltillo, Mexico. It starts on Thursday of last week. It was our "free day" and so we went to the mercado in the center of town. As we were walking around there most of us noticed this guy holding out a cup, leaning on his little stick, begging. He looked really bad health-wise and he didn't really look like he could see very well. To tell you the truth, I didn't really think much of it, but there were others in our group that wanted to help him. Diane, Stacy and Faith bought him a Coca-Cola and pretty much shared the gospel with him, which is awesome. While they were talking with him another guycamee over andtriedd to distract them and kept saying all this mean stuff, but he eventually went away again. I never really heard exactly how he responded, but I'm pretty sure he didn't accept it. Later on in the day, actually pretty soon before we were supposed to leave, Chris saw him and really wanted to help him. So he bought him this really nice new cane. Hand-carved, hand-painted, the whole schabang. He went over to the guy with one of the missionaries there, Wendall, and through translation he offered him the cane that he had bought. He stood there and talked to them for a while, and they found out that his name was Carlos, he had probably done drugs in the past, and that had affected his vision and his speech. Eventually he rejected the cane and decided to keep his old duct taped stick. Wendall and Chris went and bought him a loaf of bread and water, which he accepted. Chris was sad that the guy didn't accept his cane, but he realized that he could use the cane as a memento of that day and that special conversation with the man.

On Friday night we were all sharing our stories with each other, and after Chris, Stacy, Diane and Faith shared their stories about Carlos my mom got up and shared a little insight with us. She realized that we can exactly relate to Carlos. If we put ourselves in Carlos' place, how many times does God try to give us a beautifully made cane instead of our old duct-taped stick. But we're content with our old faithful stick, no matter how beat up, worn out or pathetic looking it is, we won't accept God's free gift. But he keeps trying. Over and over again. He loves us and feels compassion for us, so he keeps offering us this free beautiful gift. We don't usually think of ourselves in the place of the dirty, blind beggar, but that is so us a lot of the time. In the economy of mercy we are poor and begging people.

Poverty...

2006-06-29T15:40:00.000-05:00

There's a power in poverty that breaks principalities
And brings the authorities down to their knees
There's a brewing frustration, an ageless temptation
To fight for control by some manipulation

But the God of the kingdoms and the God of the Nations
The God of creation sends this revelation
The the homeless and penniless Jesus the son
The poor will inherit the Kingdom to come

Where will we turn when our world falls apart
And all of the treasures we've stored in our barns
Can't buy the Kingdom of God?
Who will we praise when we've praised all our lives
men who build Kingdoms and men who build fame?
Heaven does not know thier names
What will we fear when all that remains
Is God on His throne, with a child in his arms,
and love in his eyes
And the sound of his heart cries


This is a song by Jason Upton on his album "Faith."  I was listening to it
on my iPod on the way home from Uganda and it was like "wow."
I think it pretty much speaks for itself.  Especially after you've seen poverty.
Real poverty.  So, for those of you who haven't had the chance to see real poverty yet, here's some pictures
that don't nearly do justice to the real thing.   













These are some kids that were at the petrol station on the way to Entebbe. 













These are the ladies that cooked the food for the pastor's conference the first week we were there.




















This is Mrs. Forrester and the kids from Sunday School at University Baptist Church, Mbarara.

Phroneo Christou

2006-06-25T15:01:00.001-05:00

The attitude of Christ. That was the theme for this past week's Student Life camp. It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the best year of Student Life so far, at least for me. The worship was led by Steve Fee and his band. They were awesome and very talented. My story about camp, well the main story about camp from me is this. The first night we got there Steve Fee led us in Chris Tomlin's song "How Great Is Our God," and as we were singing I started realizing that no matter what happens, God is still great. I didn't really have any time to recuperate after Africa and finding out that my dog died when I got home on Saturday, I was really like not all there. But when we sang that song I realized that God is still great no matter what I'm going through. Different things throughout the week kept coming up and reminding me of that. Even until the last sermon on the last night. Greg quoted Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Still emphasizing that same fact. I thought that that was pretty awesome. Greg Pinkner was the speaker and he was really really good. He got to the point and told really good stories. It actually turns out that he knew Jerry Ball and he had come to speak at our church before!!! What a small world?!?!?! Speaking of a "small world"......I saw this girl and her brother that I recognized there and after a couple days I realized that I knew them from sometime in Oaxaca last year. So when I got back I asked Courtney Johnson about them and it turns out that they were the Johnson's COUSINS!!!!!!!! How crazy?!?!?!? Oh, and our family group was SWEET!!!! Usually they like mix churches and stuff, but in ours it was just me, Elliott (because we were roommates), Ryan Horne, Weston Waldo, Michael Asp and our leaders. Our leaders were these 3 people from a church in Lake Jackson. Alissa, Nick (they were brother and sister), and Grant. They were pretty awesome people. Ha, we had a cheer because on the first day we made up a name by saying random words and picking them out of a hat. We ended up being Peanut Bubble Love. Our cheer was.....drumroll please...."We are peanut-peanut-peanut-peanut, we are bubble-bubble-bubble-bubble, we are love-love-love-love, we are Peanut Bubble Love! Yeah." I think that family group was probably my favorite part of camp. Just because we knew the youth, so they knew what we were talking about, but we didn't really know the leaders, so it gave us a chance to get to know some people. Yeah, so the whole camp experience was pretty awesome. Oh yeah, and most of our church was on the orange squad, so to end off this post I'll tell you the cheer and post some pictures. But first you have to know the motions. *make an o shape with your arms above your head* ORANGE! *throw your arms out.* ORANGE! ORANGE! ORANGE! YOU DON'T WANT NONE! ORANGE! YOU DON'T WANT NONE! ORANGE! YOU DON'T WANT NONE! ORANGE! *guys* YOU MIGHT WALK OVER! *girls* BUT YOU'RE LIMPING BACK! *guys* YOU MIGHT WALK OVER! *girls* BUT YOU'RE LIMPING BACK! *guys* YOU MIGHT WALK OVER! *girls* BUT YOU'RE LIMPING BACK! O-R-A-N-G-E CRUSH!

This is the speaker, Greg Pinker. He was great.

This was our orange squad leader. He was quite energetic.

This is Steve Fee and his bass player. Sweet.

This was our family group. From top left in a clockwise circle: Ryan Horne, Michael Asp, Grant, Nick, Weston Waldo, Elliott Marsh, Alissa, ME!!! Awesome people.

So, that's it!!!!! If you want more stories, you'll have to talk to me personally.

Amo, Jenna :-)

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

2006-06-10T12:34:00.000-05:00

Agandi! (greeting in Run-Yan-Kore)

So, a couple of hours ago we got back from Queen Elizabeth Game Park. It was sooooo cool!!!!! We got there yesterday and we went on a game drive last night, a game drive this morning and a boat ride through the Kasinga channel (I'm not exactly sure how to spell it, but that's close enough.) While we were on all of those game rides we saw lots of Warthogs, Uganda Kob, Monkeys, Hippos, Elephants, Water Buffalo, Water Bucks, Mongoose, Birds, Forest Hogs....I think that's it. In between seeing all of those amazing creatures we ate some amazing food!!! (If you know me then you know that food is a definite highlight!) Oh man, there's too many details to remember. Anyways, let me back track a few days and update y'all on what's happened since I last wrote.

Let's start with Wednesday. When we got up we went with my dad and Mr. Forrester to the pastor's conference to hear and participate in their worship. It was awesome! The pastor's were sooo passionate when they worship! They dance and sign and everything. Of course when you hear that music I have no idea how you can't dance. Anyways. After that we went prayer walking with Spencer, a journeyman here, into a University area that he's ministering in. We split up into groups of 2, so Courtney Johnson and I were in a group walking inbetween the others. That was a great time. It was so cool to be walking there and praying for the people. I hope it has an impact on that area. After prayer walking we continued and we climbed up this mountain!! I think that was my favorite part of Wednesday. After we got to the top and talked for a little while we just sat in silence. Never underestimate the power of silence. It was awesome. We could sit up there and look over all of Mbarara! After getting down the mountain, we went back hom, cleaned up and went to a women's conference that Pamm Muzslay was leading. It was really cool! At the beginning we had a time of worship that was beautiful. After all that we came back home to the Peppers and had dinner and such, then we went to Rihika(????)

On Thursday we got ready and Courtney and I went with my mom over to help with the card making. If you've been around my mom at all the past few weeks you've probably heard her talking about it. A group of HIV positive people called "Go and Make Disciples," are making cards with line drawings and african fabric as a source of income, and my mom is helping them. That was really cool. While we were there Courtney and I were taking pictures, and this one lady came up to us and said "You have 2 cameras?" And we said yes, because Courtney and I each had a camera. So she said "Tomorrow, you give me one. You have 2 and I have none, so you give me one." There was sort of nervous laughter. That's just how they talk here.You give me your jacket. You give me your camera. It's difference, that's for sure. After card making we were on our way home and we got a call from Larry Pepper and he said that they got a flat tire, and there was no spare tire in the car. So that was a 2 hour ordeal. Trying to find them and then get the tire and everything. It was interesting. After that we went to Friends Corner and had local food. Of course it was like 3:30 by now, so they were out of a lot of stuff. I had Chipati, rice, goat stew and a Stony (really strong ginger-ale) to drink. From there we went to the womens thing, then home for dinner.

Friday we prayer walked through the new AIDS Clinic at the hospital. I was with Larry, Pamm and Courtney. That was really cool just being with Larry as we walked through there, because he knew everything that was going on inside the walls of the wards. He really knows. From there we got our stuff and headed out for the game park. See beginning of the post. So, that's the news for now. This is Jenna Creech, reporting to you live from Mbarara, Uganda!

Amo, Jenna

AFRICA!!!!!!

2006-06-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

HEY EVERYONE!!
So sorry that I haven't gotten on sooner, but with 9 of us, one computer and only electricity half the time, ya know it's a little difficult. So, we made it here safely and everything. There was one little mishap in London, but that's just because the bus that was supposed to pick us up came a day early. Just my luck. Then our plane was delayed and yeah, it was interesting. But since we got here it's been great! While we were trying to load our suitcases into the cars at the airport, there was this crazy rain. Then it took us 6 1/2 hours instead of 5 to drive from Entebbe to Mbarara. But today has been amazing. Like amazing. Kelli and I went on Words of Hope visits with Naboth driving and Peace translating. Kind-of. It was amazing! As we were driving along I was looking out our windows and I saw that if I looked out the window, smiled and waved, most of the people smiled and waved back. Smiling, the international language. Even if we can't speak each other's language, we can smile. So smile y'all! Well, I'll have some better updates later, as I get more awake. Considering I've only been here one full day. Talk to y'all later! And comment! Please!!
Jenna

Micah 6:8

2006-06-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

You could feed the whole world with the crumbs of old bread
Spread the good news through dreams and stones
With a breath of your wind you could raise up the dead
But you ask us to go

Help us love mercy
Help us do justly
Help us walk humbly with you, God

Forget not the widow, the orphan and slave
Oh, God, please remember the helpless today
Call on your children repairing the breach
There's no place too far, where your mercy can't reach

Help us love mercy
Help us do justly
Help us walk humbly with you, God

For the children who sleep beneath cities at dark
Let love come and touch them with your father's heart

That's Charlie Hall's song "Micah 6:8" off of his CD called Flying into Daybreak. Okay, so now it's less than 8 hours until we leave for AFRICA!!!!!!!! I'm all packed and just hoping I remembered everything. My niece is over now for one last time for two weeks. The most disgusting thing I thought this morning was while I was taking a shower, I thought that this is the only shower I'll take until Monday afternoon at least. Ew. Anyways, I'm so excited about going. You know that feeling where you're just ready to go? You're tired of waiting and getting ready and everything and you're just ready to leave? That's right now. In like 4 hours we'll be at the church leaving for the airport. I've still got time to kill. But, back to that song. I found out about that song after the Student Life Conference (see previous posts.) Since then it's become on of my favorite worship songs to play and to listen to. So now it's my prayer for myself and for our group. That we would love mercy. That we would do justly. And that we would walk humbly with our God. Keep us in your prayers as we go. For a safe plane trip. For a great and effective mission while we're there, and for a safe plane ride back. Love you guys, and I'll be in contact every other day, because the electricity's only on every other day, so e-mail me. And for goodness sake, COMMENT!
Amo y'all
Jenna

Uganda or bust!

2006-05-29T18:41:00.001-05:00

Margie won't you listen to an old man's wish
They say it's mighty pretty in Alaska
Well, my daddy used to talk about those deep sea fish
So there's something, darling, that I wanna ask you
So don't you turn me down
In the morning we would listen to the cattle calling
Lowing in the land of Okeechobee
Where it's flatter than the cardboard on the carport floor
And the cattails seem to wave just like they know me
Ah, but Enoch in the tackle shop goes on about the salmon caught
The time he and his brother sailed to Juneau

So, get in, I'll do the driving
The bag's already packed and in the truck
So, Margie, get in, put down those dishes
The town will see us go if we're in luck
So come on, it's Alaska or bust

I've been holding down this farm that daddy left me, darling
The kids have married off and moved away
And the doctor says I'm healthy for an old man dying
Well enough to sieze a few more days

So, get in, I'll do the driving
The bag's already packed and in the truck
So, Margie, get in, these bones are dry
Been running but the cancer's catching up
So come on, it's Alaska or bust

There were days when I imagined that the clouds were mountains
Towering above the rolling ocean
And I was sailing on my tractor, turning hay out in the pasture
Catching salmon of my own while I was mowing

So, get in, I'll do the driving
The bag's already packed and in the truck
So, Margie, get in, there's not much time
Been running but the cancer's catching up
The town will see us go if we're in luck
So come on, it's Alaska or bust

That was an Andrew Peterson song called "Alaska or bust," on his CD Clear to Venus. And that's about what it's like right now. It's just about too late to be seriously worried about anything, but too early for any of it to really be real. The traditional summer drama's starting here at church and I'm glad to be getting out of it. Even if I don't have a packing list yet. Even if I'm not sure how to edit the videos. Even if I am not completely ready. It's just that time. The town will see us go if we're in luck. So come on, it's Uganda or bust! Jenna

Let my shadows prove the sunshine

2006-05-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I forgot to post last week. But doesn't 2 posts the week before count? I think it does.

Well, as we're getting ready to go to Uganda I'd just like to let you know that as of now (9:54 on 05/23/2006) it's 11 days 9 hours and 6 minutes until we leave for Africa. I'm so excited!!! Everything got really hectic here for a while, but now it's all slowing down. Piano recital's over. One dress rehearsal down, one to go. School's basically done. After concert on Thursday, I'll have nothing but time between me and Africa. I guess all of this is a good thing and a bad thing. David Yeary's leaving on the first. I've known him basically my whole life! And Aimee already left for Louisiana. Sterling's leaving for New York. This summer's going to be very different. very different. That's all I can really think to write about now, so I guess I'll post some more song lyrics! This one's called The Shadow Proves the Sunshine by Swtichfoot of their newest album "Nothing is Sound".

Sunshine, won't you be my mother
Sunshine, come and help me see
My heart is darker than these oceans
My heart is frozen underneath

We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine, the shadow proves the sunshine
Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the brink of daylight
When the shadow proves the sunshine, the shadow proves the sunshine

Oh Lord, why did you forsake me?
Oh Lord, don't be far away
Storm clouds gathering beside me
Please Lord, don't look the other way

I'm a crooked soul trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine, the shadow proves the sunshine
Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the brink of daylight
When the shadow proves the sunshine, the shadow proves the sunshine

Yeah, yeah, shine on me, yeah, yeah, shine on me
Yeah, yeah, shine on me, yeah, yeah, shine on me

Oh, we're crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine, the shadow proves the sunshine
Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the brink of daylight
When the shadow proves the sunshine, the shadow proves the sunshine

Yeah, yeah, shine on me, yeah, yeah, shine on me
Yeah, yeah, shine on me, shine on me
Let my shadows prove the sunshine

Later, Jenna

Directions for Singing

2006-05-14T17:01:00.000-05:00

I. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
II. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
III. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
IV. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.
V. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
VI. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing to slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
VII. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

--From John Wesley's Select Hymns, 1761

I came across this in a Methodist Hymnal once. I thought it was funny.

Made to worship

2006-05-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

First off, I'd like to start with a song...

Before the day, before the night
before the world revolved around the sun
God on high stepped down into time,
and wrote the story of His love for everyone

He has filled our hearts with wonder,
so that we always remember

You and I are made to worship,
you and I are called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
When You and I embrace surrender,
when You and I choose to believe
Then You and I will see who we were meant to be

All we are, all we have
is all the gift from God that we recieved
Brought to life, we open up our eyes
to see the majesty and glory of the king

He has filled our hearts with wonder,
so that we always remember

You and I are made to worship,
you and I are called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
When You and I embrace surrender,
when You and I choose to believe
Then You and I will see who we were meant to be

Even the rocks cry out, even the heaven's shout
at the sound of his holy name
So let every voice sing out and let every knee bow down
He is worthy of all our praise

That's Chris Tomlin's new song, "Made to worship," on the Passion '06 pre-release track from iTunes. As Sterling was talking last wednesday on Romans 12 and being who we were meant to be, this song came to my head, and I was thinking about what that means. You wouldn't go out and buy like a plasma screen tv and use it as a door mat. That's not what it was made for. You wouldn't buy a Razr and only use it as a flashlight. It wasn't made for that. You wouldn't buy a digital camera and use it as a clock instead of a camera! Or maybe you would. But that's not the point. If you wouldn't use those things for something they weren't made for, why would we do anything but what we were origianally made for, worshiping God? That seems outrageous! But we do it everyday. I do it everyday. It's human nature. But you and I were made to worship. You and I are called to love. You and I are forgiven and free. When you and I embrace surrender, when you and I choose to believe, then you and I will see who we were meant to be. Well, that's my thoughts for this week! Definitely not saying that I have any of this at all down, or ever will, but I'm trying. Talk to y'all next week!

Jenna

Last weekend.....

2006-05-04T13:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I was sitting here thinking about what to write about and then I thought to myself, "Oh, duh! Last weekend!" I'm so smart. So, it all started last Friday. Ballet exams. Ugh, I was soooo stressed out about it. So, I went at 2:15, our exam was at 2:45, that is Jaclyn, Deanna and me. I took my exam, and then was sooo relieved after it was over. I wasn't sure how it went, but I was pretty sure you couldn't fail two years in a row, so I was pretty confident that I'd passed. After exams I went home, took a shower, got ready and went back to the studio to run music for some level 1's exams. Man, does Ms. Sonya like her coffee!!! She had 3 cups while I was there for like an hour! After that I chilled at home with dad while my mom was at a Bible Drill thing (which I had to do the next morning, but I wasn't even thinking about that). We watched King Kong. It was way too long. Hey that rhymed!!! Anyways, slept, then woke up at 7:00 AM to go to Bible Drill. We drilled at 9:30. Then I got Starbucks. Tall Caramel Macchiato. After all that, I went home to finish packing and stuff for CHIOR TOUR!!!!!! Went by Subway to get some lunch and I saw Weston, Skylar, Waldo dad, and Tyler and his dad. Then we got ready and went out on our way to Baton Rouge!!! 5 hours seemed a bit long, but it was fun. By the time we got there we were tired and cranky and hungry, but it was all good, because we were there. And then we ate beignet fingers at Coffee Call. O man they were soooo good!! After we were fillled to the brim with beignets, we headed on the church, Sharon Baptist Church. They said we could eat dinner (hamburgers), but we were all too full to eat anything else. Oh, and meanwhile, ever since we left Houston, it's been pouring down rain. So, after "dinner," we went over to the church's other building for a worship service. We didn't even know there was gonna be a worship service! So we were there for like 2 and a half hours. No joke. Singing most of the time. We were all hoping that we would still have somewhat of a voice to sing with the next morning. After all of that we went to our host homes. Well, actually, Elliott and I were supposed to go to these other people's house, but the wind from the storm blew their electricity out, so we stayed at some other people's house. Nothing super interesting there. Then we sang the next morning for their service, and it went quite well, if I do say so myself. After that we had dinner on the grounds and then the long ride home. Have youever noticed that the ride home's always longer than the ride there? At least that's what it felt like. So, that's pretty much it for that weekend. Tah-dah! And I'm still alive! Oh and by the way, we got our tickets to go to Uganda yesterday. Exactly one month from yesterday we'll be on our way to Entebbe!!!!!!!! Woot woot!!!! Well, I'll see y'all later! Jenna

Please, don't make us sing this song...

2006-04-27T16:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm trying to stick to my promise, so here's my second post. Except that I have no idea what to write about again. I got this new cd yesterday. It's called "Songs from The Voice Vol. 1: Please don't make us sing this song". It's really really really good. I love it. The CD's based on psalms from a new translation that's coming out part by part called The Voice. You should check it out. But anyways, the CD has this one song on it called "Please don't make us sing this song" and when I first listened to it I knew I had heard it somewhere else before, but I had no idea where. After I thought about it a while, I realized that when we were at Ecclesia, a church downtown, they had done a video to it, with pictures of Hurricane Katrina as the background. I realized how absurd it was that I could remember that so vividly from like August or September, or whenever it was. I guess that's what I get for being an auditory person. But anyways. I was looking for the album art of this CD and I came across that video!!! How crazy! It's by this place called "The work of the people."I tried to post it here, but that didn't work, so you can go here to view it. The song's based on Psalm 137. I've posted the words below. Well that's about it for now. I have a TON of stuff to do this weekend (Ballet exams, Bible drill state semi-finals, Shout! Chior Tour...) so I won't be posting until sometime next week. And if I don't then you can come yell at me. Or not. Later.
Jenna

Please don't make us sing this song by Lori Chaffer

By the rivers of Babalon we sat and wept
And thought of home so far away
On the branches of the willow trees we hung our harps
And hid our hearts from the enemy
And the men that surrounded us made demands
That we clap our hands and sing

Please don't make us sing this song
We used to be happy
When we were free and home
If I can't remember
May I never sing a song again

I can't, I won't
I feel so far away

Please don't make us sing this song
We used to be happy
When we were free and home
If I can't remember
May I never sing a song again

Getting ready...

2006-04-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed, I changed the title of my blog from "Summer 2005" to "Summer 2006!!!!!" Not so drastic, but the one number and the five exclamation points make a world of difference. But back onto my origianal topic. I was thinking that I should get back into the habit of blogging. Like last summer I was pretty consistent, but over the school year I kind-of got...ya know....really busy. (Actually I still am really busy, but that's not the point.) So as we were planning our trip to Africa again, I was thinking that I should start again. Except that I don't know what to write about. I guess I'll just write about random stuff. Upload random pictures of me and my friends. Hmmmmm, maybe song lyrics.....yeah song lyrics! Or maybe I'll write a bunch of stuff that doesn't make sense and put it in a bunch of different bright colors to fool you. Yeah, that sounds good. Or maybe not. But whatever I write about, right now I'm committing to blog something once a week. There. Well, I guess this would be considered my first post. Or actually, I'll post these lyrics to one of my favorite songs. It makes me want to go back to Africa.

Land of the Free by Andrew Peterson

Little Elba, how's the sun in South America?
Does it shine upon the faces of the poor?
Do they see in it the brilliance of the place that's been prepared,
and dwell upon the hope of what's in store?

Or are they just like me?
Do they only see an opportunity to complain about the heat?

And little Elba, how's the rain in South America?
Does it fall upon the rooftops of the sick?
Do they thank the Lord for coming up with such a great idea,
and dream about a place beyond all this?

Or are they just like us?
Do they gripe and fuss about the rain and mud when they've had too much?

Cause I'm just a little jealous of the nothing that you have
You're unfettered by the wealth of, of a world that we pretend is gonna last

Well, I'm weary of the spoils of my ambitions
And I'm shackled by the comfort of my couch
Well, I wish I had the courage to deny these of myself,
and start to store my treasure in the clouds

Cause this is not my home
I do not belong where the antelope and the buffalo roam

And I'm just a little jealous of the nothing that you have
You're unfettered by the wealth of, of a world that we pretend is gonna last

They say God blessed us with plenty I say you're blessed with poverty
Cause you never stop to wonder
whether earth is just a little better than the land of the free

Well, I hope you're safe and dry in South America
Cause I'm feeling pretty good in Tennessee
May you never be so happy that you forget about your home
Your home in the land of the free

Madison...

2006-03-07T15:15:00.000-06:00

So I just got a link to this slideshow of portraits that Kat and Alan got taken of Madison. Yeah, they're pretty much the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Go see them right now. Like right now. http://www.goodlightphotography.com/madison/
Jenna

Chasing Daylight......

2006-02-26T15:38:00.000-06:00

If birth is sunrise and death is sunset, then inbetween we're all just chasing daylight. That was the theme of the Student Life Tour this past weekend. It was absolutely amazing. Charlie Hall was the worship leader, and I think I'm gonna have to add him to a list of my favorite worship artists. Definitely. And I've got a new song to add to my favorites, it's called "Running with your heart." And Erwin McManus. Wow. He was great. So there's like way too much stuff to say about it, it was just so great. But now I'm tired from this weekend and I don't feel like writing, so here's some pictures I took:
This is a picture of all of us (minus Haley, Kelly and Kaylee) at Starbucks on Saturday after lunch. Yummy Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Mmmmm!!!!This is me, Elliott, Jaclyn and Courtney sometime......I think it was Saturday morning at Champion Forest Baptist Church This is just a random bus trip picture, but I love Courtney's face!!! Isn't it awesome?!?!

So that's about it for now. I'll post another time when I get some more interesting stuff to write about. I don't know when that'll be though.....oh well. So-long. Farewell. Alvedersain (or however you spell that). Goodnight. Mucho Ahava!!! (wow, spanish and hebrew all in one phrase....that's impressive!)
Jenna

my nieces.....

2006-02-12T15:21:00.000-06:00

madison eating a dog??.....
madison is intent on the strings....
mmmm....stuffed animal things....yummy....
that's ava at christmastime.....

so i went to visit my niece in corpus christi this past weekend. i didn't get to take any pics of her when i was there this time, (cause i was playing with her too much) but she's so cute!!! she turned 6 months old on the 6th. how crazy is that?!?!?!? these past 6 months have flown by! and the other niece will be 6 months on the 20th. man, time sure flies when you're having fun. well, i just thought i should post some pics of the babies. later!
jenna

pictures from the holy lands.....

2006-01-12T14:32:00.000-06:00

i tried to post some pictures, but it didn't work........so here's a link to some pictures: http://www.rrcreech.com/synapse/PhotoAlbum/album_view.cfm?albumid=6044&website=rrcreech.com/jcc ahava!
jenna

israel and greece!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-01-12T14:29:00.000-06:00

so guys,
i'm back from israel!!!!! safely! i didn't get bombed or anything! we went to some really cool places though! and i had a great time........even though i missed everyone back home. i saw the mediterranian sea, the sea of galilee, jerusalem(supposedly we saw the exact spot where jesus was buried...???), the dead sea, masada, bethlehem(we supposedly saw the exact spot where jesus was born...???), caeserea, tiberias, nazereth, cana, caesarea philippi, the jordan river,jericho, qumran, and that's just in israel!!! israel was all kind of surreal though. it was like "am i really here? like walking where jesus walked?" ya know? neways, after we went to israel we started our journey to greece. i woke up for the first time in my life at 12:30 am. that was our wake up call. crazy. our plane left at 6:00 am. we got into greece at about 8:30 or so, and started touring when we got there. it was quite funny, because we were all falling asleep. the tour guide lady was like "now over here to you left side is a greek theater from 2,000 years ago.....does anyone want to get out and take pictures?" the bus was pretty much silent except for a few grunts. then like an hour later we were driving through athens on the way to our hotel and the tour guide lady was saying all this stuff and then she was like "and over there's a starbucks." the whole bus was cheering! it was great. our tour guide lady in greece sounded like the guy on my big fat greek wedding. excatly. that night we walked around athens for a while, found the hard rock cafe in athens, smelled coffee beans while they were roasting, shopped.....a lot.....and found a place for dinner the next night. i've got tons more stories, so if you want to hear them we'll have to get together sometime. i'll try and post some pictures, but i have to fighure out how to first, sooooo. see y'all people later!
ahava!!(that's hebrew for love)
jenna : )

pictures....

2005-08-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

beach pics from durban, south africa
btw i just made my xanga: www.xanga.com/jccreech

<3 jenna

hmmmm.....

2005-08-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

hey, i kno this is a lot of posts for today, but i just had to post the lyrics to the chorus of a new switchfot song called "my lonley nation." i'm sooooo excited about the new album and the concert!!! yay! neways, here r the lyrics:

singing without tounges, screaming without lungs
i want more than my lonley nation and i want more than my lonley nation
desperate we are young, seperate we are one
i want more than my desperation, i want more than my lonley nation

sweedish!!!!! haha....if you want to hear a sample of the song go to www.switchfoot.com. the media player will come up and it's the second track. all the other songs on there are really awesome too, but i especially like this one. i can't wait til the cd comes out!!!! september 13!! ehee!!!!!! well i g2g2 bed!

jenna

2005-08-09T09:52:00.000-05:00

ava and taylor, ava, me and ava!

hey guys!

2005-08-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

hey!!
thought i might need to bring you up to date......left for corpus christi friday afternoon. stayed up all night.....ava lynn creech was born at 5:45 AM! she's a big baby....8 lbs., 11 oz. she's 21 1/4 inches long. stayed there with taylor and amber til sunday at like 1, then we headed home for the sabbatical thing at the church. amber went home from the hospital yesterday morning i think. amber's mom's down there with her now, but my mom really wants to go back down there. yeah, so that was a very exciting weekend. yesterday me and my mom went shopping: i got a pair of jeans from aeropostale, a shirt from there, an new purse, and a pair of american eagle jeans. fun fun fun. yesh, so band practice last night.....it was pretty good. not much today. i guess i'll just chill at home for now. yeah, well i'll see if i can get some pictures of ava up. g2g! ttyl,
jenna

Yo

2005-07-31T01:54:00.000-05:00

hey guys,
so what's up? nmh. sry i haven't posted in a while, but i've had dance camp for the past week from 9-2, and then i'm pooped. yeah, well.....i'm really excited about the dc*b, shane and shane, and rsb tour coming to houston. fun fun fun. and i just found out that switchfoot's coming on november 7!!!!!!! i have to go!!!!!!! yeah, well, sometime this next week i'm going to make a xanga, cuz i want to be able to comment on all my friends, so yeah. well that's it for now. talk to you later!
jenna

hey

2005-07-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

hey everyone
how's it goin'? not much is going on with me. jaclyn elliott and kathryn spent the night last night. man that was fun. we watched the grudge this morning. it wasn't that scary, but i guess that's because it was like 1 in the afternoon when we watched it. yeah, well jaclyn's still over here and we're just waiting til time for church. yeah, pretty boring. well we got a new computer yesterday. it's a mac. and it's awesome. our old computer has been like freaking out whenever i get on it, so we had to get a new one. and whenever we got the new one the old one stopped freaking out sooo much. isn't that how it always goes. well if you're going to church tonight i'll see you in about an hour,, and if you're not cool and you're going on sunday morning......well i guess i'll see you then. cuz i'm not cool like that too. yeah. talk to you all later.
jenna
p.s. check out the chicken.

o yeah....

2005-07-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

just so ya know.......you should all go check out switchfoot's new album "nothing is sound" releasing september 13th. there's a sample of one of the new songs on thier website(http://www.switchfoot.com.) and you can't forget about david crowder band's new album "collision." just thought you might want to know about those. yes, you're welcome.
jenna
p.s. i know that was pretty random, but ya know that's me.

I'm baaaaaaack!

2005-07-16T13:09:00.000-05:00

hey you guys!
how's it goin'? i got in thursday at like i dunno 4 or so. it's good to be back. i've heard sooooo many stories from mission trip and high school camp.......man, have i heard stories. well i can't wait to see all of you who i haven't seen yet. hopefully i'll see all of y'all tomorrow night at church. i'll have a whole picture slideshow thing for youth pretty soon. okay? well i sure have had a good time this summer. the prices say hi to everyone. yeah, well i don't have much else to say right now, so i'll just leave it at that. talk to you soon!
jenna

the last few days....

2005-07-12T12:01:00.000-05:00

hey guys!
i'm so stoked to come home! but ya know i really love it here in south africa. i can't wait to see all of y'all again! you have no idea how much i miss you all. well, i just came back from WINTER CAMP yesterday......winter....it's JULY! how wierd is that?!?!? it was sooooo much fun! it was like pre-teen camp........but for teens!!!!!!!! ya that sounded pretty stupid, but it's true. i can't wait to tell y'all all the stories i have! i'm at the pavillion right now waiting to see madagascar......it's supposed to be really funny. well i have to go.....soo....the next time i talk to you it'll be in person! how wierd is that?!?! can't wait!!!!! luv ya!
jenna

hey y'all

2005-07-06T05:33:00.000-05:00

hey everybody!
how's it goin' back in the good old US of A? how was the fourth of july? i really missed seeing some fireworks. we haven't been doing anything particularly interesting lately. we went to see batman begins last night. it was good. my mom has started on a mini banner for the prices, and i think it's gonna be really cool. i'll definitely bring back pictures. ya, so, this keyboard i'm typing on is way messed up.......you have to press super hard on the keys to type, so i'm getting tired. my dad left for thailand a couple days ago, pamm muzslay left for the US yesterday, and my mom moved into the prices house yesterday. ya, i'll probably be back to write soon, so i'm gonna go for now! talk to you later!! i miss y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jenna
p.s. "i'm all alone, there's no one here beside me........."
everyone's leaving me!!!!!!! elliott and kathryn: when are you getting back?!? keri: when are you getting back?!? jaclyn: i dunno, i just wanted to say hi.

wuz up?!?!?!

2005-07-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

hey guys,
i'm back at the internet cafe with steven, david and caitlyn price. fun fun fun. well, i don't really have enough time to write anything about being in first class on the plane ride from johannesburg to durban, or about the AMAZING game park experience last weekend. we have to go back to church tonight for thier evening service. it's kind-of like our saturday night service, but even more contemporary. yeah, so anyways, i miss all of y'all and i can't wait to see y'all again! i don't know how i'm gonna make it another week and a half!!!!!!!! haha we just watched the shout chior dvd from this year. it was.....uh........interesting. it made me laugh. it reminded me how much i miss all of y'all!!!!!!!!!!! hey, so i have to go! ttyl. luv y'all!
jenna

hey guys!

2005-07-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

hey everyone!!!!!!
yes, i am still alive, but the prices computer broke, so i don't have internet access at thier house. right now i'm at an internet cafe at this giant mall called "the pavillion." it's pretty awesome. yeah, this past week we worked at this vbs kind of thing at the prices church called "funky fishbowl." it's for 6th and 7th graders, so i'm just saying that i'm in 8th grade. the forrester's are leaving us today. sadness!!!! you have to get them to tell you about africa. make sure they don't tell you everything though...i have to have some stuff to tell you! yeah, neways. the beach here in durban is AWESOME!!! the water is like....BLUE! and the beaches don't have any seaweed on them!!!! there's a surfing competition here called the mr. price pro. it's pretty "kiff" as they would say here. kiff means cool, just for those of you who don't know all the south african lingo. yeah, so, i took over tim's room at the prices house. for those of you who were in bible drill last year.....he has that calender up in his room. haha. oh yeah, the prices cousins are here from dallas, tx. they're awesome. i think elliott and i met them one time when they were visiting the prices in houston. they came to church one saturday night. her name's caitlyn(sorry, i don't know how to spell it...) and his is david. all the people here make fun of our american accent. haha, they call addidas(a-DI-das), addidas(AH-di-dahs). isn't that sooo rad! haha. man, i have a zillion stories to tell all of y'all when i get back!!!!! i miss you soooo much! i don't know if i can survive another week and a half!!!!! i don't get back until the 14th! sadness!!!!! hopefully i'll get back to another internet cafe soon. oh yeah, elliott: mr. price's computer's broken, so we can't watch the chior dvd!!! that stinks. yeah, i can't wait to see all of y'all again!!!! actually i think i grew a couple inches on this trip! ryan, maybe i passed you up again! haha, i laugh. well i have to go!!!! ttyl,
jenna

last day in mbarara, uganda!

2005-06-25T03:15:00.000-05:00

sadness y'all! this is my last full day here in uganda!!! i can't believe that those two weeks went by soooo fast! so anyways....i guess i'll post about what i did thursday and friday:

thursday i chilled at home and helped andrew, adam and mr.forrester work on the benches. a couple hours after we started sarah and emily wilks came by to help us work on them. we sanded a bunch and then we put a couple benches together. we were supposed to make twenty for the church we went to last weekend in nakinombe. TWENTY!!!! i was sure that we weren't going to get it done. but you'll have to wait until i tell you about friday for the rest of the story. at like 3:45 kari picked me up to go storying with her. storying is where they go out to a village and they have a set of pictures that tell a bible story and someone tells it, someone holds the pictures and someone interprets the story into the people's language(run-yan-kore). we told a story about the creation of the spirit world(angels and demons). it was pretty interesting some of the questions that the people were asking. anyways, we got done with that at about 6:30 and kari dropped me off at the church, where adam and andrew were teaching guitar stuff. that was really funny, cuz andrew and this other guy(dennis) were playing the blues, and then dr.pepper started singing!!!!!! o man, good times good times! then, i don't know if you all know the story about amanda harris' baby blanket in oaxaca, but neways, here's the story about melissa russo's bunny rabbit: a lot of kids were doing that "a call to grace" bible study by david nasser and it advised you to give away something that was very important to you. so melissa decided that she should give away her stuffed bunny rabbit. since we were going to africa, she gave it to us to give to some little kid here. so we found this one little girl, and when i say little i mean little! this girl was named gift, and we decided that that was the little girl we needed to give it to. so thursday night we gave it to her. we got some great pictures. then, thursday night we did the bible study thing, and yeah. so friday........

we got up and started working on the benches. and we worked. and we worked and we worked! and surprisingly we got all twenty benches done! sanded, built and varnished. well actually we only got 11 of the second coats on, but that's all we have left to do! after we finished the benches we chilled. worked on the banner, ate dinner, then we went to the church for tgif, the friday night students program. we played guitar for a while. me and emily taught this one guy some of the stuff we knew. fun fun fun. at tgif mr.forrester spoke about being an astronaut and stuff. after tgif while we were waiting for all the adults to come andrew and adam decided to play basketball. lets just say, they only made a few baskets in, and i laughed. the sad thing is that i was probably just as good as them. haha, not really. well neways.

today we are going to do some last minute stuff and pack for tomorrow. we're leaving the pepper's house at 6:30 AM. fun fun fun. well i guess i should go!!!! i miss you all sooooo much!!!!!! ttyl!!!!!
jenna

Hey!!!

2005-06-23T00:57:00.000-05:00

hey everyone!
this may not be my best post yet, cuz my mom woke me up at like 7 this morning, so i'm just killing time until we get to work. sorry about that last post......i don't know how only half of it got on there! neways, to finish the story: yeah, we slept on the ground, then we woke up, had breakfast(a boiled egg, a banana and.....something else, but i can't remember what it was.), did clinic work(dispensing medicines) until lunch(classic ugandan food), more clinic work, ended at like 5, two hour drive home, and...ahhhh....sleep!

the rest of the week summarized: church sunday morning, chill sunday afternoon, bible study sunday night. i'll just put this so i don't have to put it everyday.....we're having a bible study called "understanding the bible" every night this week, so yeah, it's about understanding the bible. monday morning i think we did some home visits or something, forresters arrive!!!!! start work on banner from 12-3 everyday, chill, mr.forrester speaks at 5, chill, bible study, dinner, sleep. tuesday: home visits, work on banner, chill, bible study, dinner, sleep. wednesday: hospital tour, counting pills, work on banner, chill, guitar stuff at 5:30, bible study, dinner, movie called "invisible children" about the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda(i'll post it's website later), sleep.

that was really basic, but ya know, i don't really feel like writing anything special, so........neways.......adam and andrew are working on these benches for a church and i think i'm gonna help them sand the wood, also the wilks kids are coming over to help, so i g2g! man, i'm still tired! bye!!!!!!! i miss you!!!!!!!
jenna

the weekend

2005-06-19T13:23:00.000-05:00

hey!
sry i kinda left ya hanging in the last post, but you know how i am about eating. neways. after we got there, we started the clinic at about 11:00 or so, and i was working with the kids at first, but it turns out that the kids either spoke only lugandan or only runyankore. so i decided, since there were some other ladies there that spoke thier language, that i would go see what my mom was doing. she was working with the dispensing, out of the back of the van, but no one had come all the way through. first they had to go to registration, then triage, then to see the doctor, then to the evangalism tent where they shared with the gospel with them, then to us where we gave them thier medicines. we saw about 175 people on friday. oh yeah, i almost forgot about food! yum yum yum. for lunch we had samosas(we ate these last time. they're like fried meat pies, but i don't think they had meat in them. actually i'm not sure what they had in them. i don't really want to think about it.), some kind of tortilla thing, but it wasn't called a tortilla and some other kind of bread. for dinner matoke(see previous posts), posho(see previous posts), rice(it was very grainy), beans(those were pretty good), g-nut sauce(see previous posts), and i think that was it for friday. other interesting things. the choe(i think that's how you spell it). that's a toilet. actually a wanna-be toilet. a hole in the ground. fun fun fun. also interesting. the guys. apparently the peppers girls(megen and kelly) have had quite an experience with the african guys too. an age range of i dunno a 9-year-old to a 16-year-old was hitting on me the entire day. that night we showed the jesus video and the worship team sang some songs. before the jesus movie me and my mom were being surrounded by those guys. one of them actually asked my mom "when is the time that an african boy can come to america to get a wife?" my mom said that they should finish school first. they did get my phone number and my address. the oldest one said that when he came to america he would find us. we couldn't even pronounce his name though. neways, friday night after the movie we found our tent and slept on the ground. sleeping wasn't that

an interesting weekend

2005-06-19T04:40:00.000-05:00

well actually, i never posted about thursday so i guess i'll talk about that first. thursday(after i posted, thought i hadn't posted, so i posted a post about how stupid i was, then i found out that the post did post, so i felt really stupid about posting...) adam pepper and i went to a pool with the minks(the other missionary family) kids: emily, 13, jared, 12, sarah, ?, and anna, baby. yes, there is one pool here. it's at a nice hotel kind-of place, and it was actually clean! i've heard that sometimes it's kinda green and it's not very good to swim in when it's green. neways, we swam, ordered a pizza at the hotel's resturant, waited an hour, got our pizza(yum.), played some pool(me and emily vs. adam and jared. we lost. majorly.), then walked back to the minks house. after we got back to the minks house mr.minks(aka barry) took us back to the church, because our parents were there for a meeting about the coming weekend clinic. after the meeting was over(it was relatively short.) we headed back home and packed up some more meds for the clinic, put stuff in the car, ate dinner and went to bed. that night was radically different than the next night. so about friday...........

everyone who was going on the clinic thing this weekend(my family, mrs.muzslay, larry and sally pepper(adam was sick), barry minks, carrie, debbie and a bunch of college students) met at the church at around 7:30 or so. we were supposed to be headed out at 8:00 on the dot, but naturally we didn't get on the road until about 8:15 or 8:20(hey, somethings are the same all over the world!). it was a two hour drive to leontonde, or more specifically Nakinombe (nachee-NOME-bay) where the clinic was going to be held. so we got to nakinombe at around 10:15 or so, set up all the stuff and in a couple hours the clinic was underway. there is no way i can describe this place. the church wasn't even made out of bricks. it was mud and straw. we were handing out the meds in the back of a van. dust everywhere. you can only imagine. i hope some of you reading this get to have an experience like this sometime. it was an amazing experience. i have lots more to write, but it's lunchtime and you all know how i love food, so i'll get back to you after lunch. ttyl, i miss you all!
jenna

tuesday, wednesday and so far..thursday

2005-06-16T09:10:00.000-05:00

hey everyone!
i don't feel like typing in caps today, so sorry if that gets on your nerves. neways, so the last time i wrote i was up early cuz of jet lag, well that sure did wear off quickly. i definitely don't have jet lag anymore. in fact i would sleep late if i could, but i can't cuz we're too busy. tuesday(after i typed my last posting,) we went to go on some AIDS home visits. dr.pepper's church has an organization called "words of hope" where there's a group of 2, 3 or 4 people consisting of at least one doctor and one counseler. first they talk to the person to make sure they have all the right medicines and they know how to take them, then the counseler talks to them about thier faith. they said we got lucky cuz, even though we only got to visit two people in two days, both of them spoke both english and run-yan-kore. most of the time we could understand them, but you all know how the prices sounded when they first came, especially stephen, and how we couldn't understand a word they said, but gradually we came to understand them? yeah, it's like that here, except you don't gradually understand them, you just hope you can get what they're saying. anyways, tuesday we went to a lady's house where her husband had died from AIDS, so she got tested and she had it also. i'm pretty sure she was a christian though, that's good. we also talked to her daughter a lot, and she was a christian also. so we shared some encouraging verses with them and went on our way, but not until after they had given us a papaya. they did that in oaxaca too, everyone is just so generous. no matter how poor they were, they would want to give you something, no matter how small. we looked for other patients to visit, but either they weren't home, or they didn't give us proper directiones to thier house. after the visiting tuesday, we came home, had lunch, chilled with some other missionaries filling pill bottles for a clinic thing we're doing this weekend, they went home, chilled some more, had dinner and yeah that's about it. of, btw mrs.pepper's a GREAT cook!

wednesday: woke up at 7:30, got a shower, ate breakfast(yum), went to the church to meet some other people to go on some AIDS visits. more about that. first we dropped off this other girl, debbie, to work at the AIDS clinic. we got a tour of the place, not that it's big. it used to be just this little tin shack thing, but now they've been able to build some buildings around it and stuff. also some great news, dr.pepper has been able to get almost unlimited medicine for treating AIDS! and they have free testing avalible at thier hospital, so lots more people are getting treated then have been before. after dropping debbie off at the clinic we went to a small village trying to find some patients to visit. finally we found this one lady, they called her mama phillip because she was the mom of phillip, who was a very nice lady. she had been taking her medicine, but she just didn't understand that you had to take it everyday, and she had run out of it, so we gave her some more. we read to her out of the bible and found out that she had become a christian in early 2003, just before her husband died of AIDS. after we talked to mama phillip we went back to the church. o yeah, did i mention that my dad has been leading a pastor's conference this week, not doing the AIDS visits? yeah, he's going to go with them on some AIDS visits next week. so we went back to the church, met my dad and my mom decided that we needed to eat lunch with the pastors, that is, the local food. matoke(they look like banana's but let me tell you, they do not taste like bananas at all, they kind-of taste like potatoes, except i like potatoes.), posho(a corn meal kind of thing. it was ok, but i wouldn't eat it if i had a choice.), rice(duh), beans(duh), g-nut sauce(isn't that such an awesome name?!?! it's like a peanut sauce. it's pretty good. haha g-nut, i think julie would like them. you get it? hahaha..haha..ha..ok maybe not.), i think that was all we had to eat. it was ok, except for the fact that we had to eat with our hand. yes i said hand. no untensils. also, note the singular of the word "hand". you could only eat with your right hand. for those of you who know me well know that i'm not that talented! neways, we came home, filled one to many bottles of cough syrup for the clinic this weekend, and had a women's thing here. mrs.muzslay taught the women's thing. she did a great job! i think the women had a great time. after the bible study we ate dinner, told many a funny story, haha i laugh just thinking about the tales we told last night. just imagine a story about canoeing with two guys named win and chin. yeah, they were funny. neways, after story telling we went to bed and slept.

thursday: so far i've woken up, ate breakfast and sat here checking my e-mails and stuff. i'm not doing the AIDS visits thing today. actually i think i'm gonna go hang out with the other missionaries kids here. they have a 13 year old girl. hallelujah! i thought i wasn't going to have contact with some girls my age for a month. wouldn't that have been awful! well anyways, that's pretty much it. we're going tomorrow to a clinic thing all weekend. sleeping on dirt floors. the whole shebang. well i g2g! ttyl! i miss you all!
jenna

i'm stupid.

2005-06-16T01:44:00.000-05:00

i just wrote a whole big long thing about tuesday wednesday and so far today and i clicked the wrong button and deleted the whole thing. ah, evil computer. well, i'm not rewriting the whole thing right now, so you'll just have to wait until tonight.
jenna

Uganda!

2005-06-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!
We made it here safely! I miss all of y'all already. Hope y'all have a fun time at VBS this week. Well anyways, yeah. We got here after a 2-hour flight from here to Chicago, stop in Chicago(we didn't get off the plane there) for about an hour or so, fly for 9 or 10 hours from Chicago to London, 8-hour layover in London, fly from London to Entebbe for another 9 or 10 hours, and man am I exhausted! After we got to Entebbe, though, it was a 4 hour drive from the airport to the Pepper's house in Mbarara. When we got to thier house, I was pooped and I went to my room and fell asleep for like, I dunno, a long time. Got up, had dinner, went back to sleep, and the jet lag caught up with me. I got up at 4:00 this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep, so at about 5:00 I came and sat and read my book(Message in a Bottle by Nicolas Sparks) for a while, actually until now at like 7:45. Well, today we plan to go on some AIDS visits and work on the banner and who knows what else. Oh yeah, just so you guys get it straight(*cough*Jaclyn*cough*) I'm in Uganda for two weeks, the Forrester's come the second week, we all fly down to South Africa, the Forrester's stay for another week, my mom, Mrs. Muzslay and I stay in South Africa for another week, while my dad goes to Thailand. Just making sure you all knew my schedule. Also, on our 8-hour layover in London we went to a service at St. Paul's cathedral. That was pretty cool, except for the fact that I was doing everything I could to keep my eyes open. Well, I obviously have internet access at the Pepper's house, so y'all can e-mail me or whatever. I miss y'all! ttyl,
Jenna

We're safe!

2005-06-12T12:49:00.000-05:00

hey guys,
i gotta be quick, cuz we're fixing to board, but anyways.....we traveled on a plane for a long time to london, had an 8 hour layover in london, and now we're sitting here in the airport waiting to board. i watched the wedding date, the pacifier, some tom and jerry cartoons and went to sleep listening to David Crowder. well i g2g! ttyl,
jenna

The rest of Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday

2005-06-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry about that cut-off on the last post, but I had to get some rest. Yeah, I know it's summer, but rest is always good. Anyways about last Wednesday, let's see...where did I leave off? Ah, yes, Late Nite.....

Late Nite was fun and random as usual. After Late Nite we went to Church Group Time. That was the highlight of my day on Wednesday. We had an opportunity to share with the whole group of 98 people what God had been talking to us about in the past few days. That time was awesome. We had an opportunity to pray for people and be prayed for by people. Me and Jill and Jaclyn walked back to our dorms together, and actually talked about some serious stuff! After we got back to our dorms me, Jaclyn, Elliott, Keri, Kathleen, Aimme and Jill had some close friendship time, crying and all that stuff. After Mrs. Mobley came in and told us that we had to go back to our respective rooms we did, and we pretty much fell asleep right away.

Thursday morning we woke up, went to breakfast and then headed to QT with our church. After quiet time we went to Celebration. Jaclyn had sent in a picture of a guy with a 'fro and it said "If it's not a fro....it's gotta go!", but that didn't get in Action News Live's weather cast. While Agnew was singing(and talking) he advised for us to consider sponsoring a Compassion International kid. Nasser gave some wise advise that we might have a family member that we needed to sponsor before we sponsored a kid, though. Nasser didn't talk about an unfamous person this morning, because he felt that he needed to talk about Compassion International. After Celebration we went to our Family Group's for the last morning meeting time. Sad! tear! We talked about the story of Joseph making himself known to his brother's, and about how even in the bad times we can trust that God will work all things out for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Thursday afternoon we(me, Aimee, Keri, Kathleen, Jaclyn, Elliott and Jill) ate lunch with my family group, cuz they were cool. Oh yeah, I don't know if I wrote this already or not, but we were the Blue Jeans......yep, that was my family groups name. We had a flag and everything! Anyways, after lunch we went to Recreation. That was hot! It must have been like 103 degrees out there! gosh. We played some awesome games with our family groups. I wasn't very good at any of them, but ya know, that's ok, cuz I had fun! For free time on Thursday, me, Elliott, Jaclyn, Keri, Jill, Kathleen and Aimee went swimming. That was...uh.....interesting, to say the least. Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you! Wednesday me, Jaclyn, Elliott, Jill and Kathleen sneaked over to Varsity Bookstore to buy Aimee's b-day present, while Aimee and Keri were left with Ryan and Brandon to distract her. It was Aimee's birthday on Thursday! Anyways, after free time at the pool we went over to the cafeteria for dinner. After dinner we went to family group prayer time. When we finished praying our group exchanged e-mail address' and such. After that we went over to the Coliseum for Worship. Some kids opened up the service by singing "Come Ye Sinners." Good song. Todd sang, and talked. Tonight Nasser talked about how we should be the Light of the World, like Jesus commanded us to be. He also tied Martin Luther into it, because he didn't talk about him this morning. I realized while he was talking about him that I had watched a movie about him. Yeah. We didn't have Late Nite on that night, cuz I guess they wanted us to have a longer time with our Church Group. We all took a vow of silence while walking from the Coliseum to our Church Group place, which was a long walk for us. Church group time was amazing again. We all filled out a paper about what God had taught us in the past week. We also prayed for each other. When we got back to our dorms we(me, Elliott, Jaclyn, Keri and Kathleen) decided to go across the street to Pizza Hut and get a pizza. That was...interesting. After pizza we went back to our dorms and packed up most of our stuff. Ah, sleep. Finally.

Friday. Breakfast. Church Group Quiet Time. Celebration. The Blue squad won the spirit stick of the week! "You think you're cool, you think you're tough, but you ain't got that blue stuff. Blue! Shake it up, shake it up. Blue! shake it up, shake it up. When I say holla, you say blue! Holla! Blue! Holla! Blue! Holla, holla, holla! Blue, blue, blue! *blue squad cheering*" Yep, that was our cheer. After celebration we went back to our dorms, got our stuff and headed onto the bus. The 600 degree bus. With 55 girls and all thier stuff on it. Not fun. Sterling, just so you know, we all died about 5 minutes after we got on there. Thanks a lot. We stopped at Taco Bell for lunch again. By now I'm sick of Taco Bell. 3 1/2 hour bus ride home. In a 600 degree bus. With 55 girls on it. I love you too, Sterling. We got back at about 3:30, then I found out that I had to go straight to dance. Fun times, not. I wasn't quite all there.

Well, that 's all about camp! I have to go now. I'll write about Saturday through today sometime later, but probably not tomorrow, because I have dress rehersal for concert for a long time. Then Friday night is my big dance recital. It's going to be interesting this year. I can't wait to see the video. haha, I'm already laughing at myself. ttyl,
Jenna

Wednesday at camp...

2005-06-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I didn't get a chance to write about the last few days of camp when I got back, so I'll write about last Wednesday now........Wednesday morning:

It started with Kathleen's alarm clock waking me up with a "cock-a-doodle-doo!" at 6:15. Fun. Went to breakfast at around 7. After breakfast at 8:15 we went to our Church Quiet Time. When we were done with the Quiet Time we headed over to the Coliseum for Celebration. Todd sang. Nasser talked about Lottie Moon, born Charolette Moon. That was very interesting. After Celebration we went over to our Family Group Bible Study. There we studied about the Parable of The Prodigal Son. From Family Group time I met Keri, Kathleen, Jill, Aimee, Julie, Jaclyn and Elliott at the Stephen F. Austin fountain so we could all go to lunch together. After lunch we chilled for a while until 1:15, time for Recreation. Today we had Family Group Challenge. It was inside, thankfully, because it was soooooo hot outside. Actually, it wasn't as hot as it was last year. We had a whole bunch of activities with our family group in the gym. At the end of Rec the camera guy came by with a camera(duh, Jenna.) and they got us on film introducing the Student Life guy. They said that they would show it at late nite that night, but ya know, they never did. For free time today we just chilled at our dorms and stuff. About 5 'o clock we went to dinner, but by Wednesday night I was tired of cafeteria food. From the cafeteria we went to our Family Group Prayer Gathering. I thought that was a really cool time of the day. I couldn't find Kathleen or Keri, who I usually walked back to the Coliseum for the night worhip service with, so I walked back with some people from my family group. Worship was good tonight. Todd sang. Nasser talked about Jesus being the Light of the World. That was really awesome. Sorry, but I'm gonna cut you off in the middle of this story(yes, there's more), because I have to go to bed now. I have to get up early for an orthodontist appointment, fun times. Well, I'll write about the rest of Wednesday night tomorrow. ttyl,
Jenna

sfasu campus map

2005-06-05T16:26:00.000-05:00

sfasu campus map
Originally uploaded by jccreech.

The girls dorm(steen)-44, My family group meeting-20, ubc's church group-57, coliseum-84, rec field-49, water day rec field-between 46, 55 and 5, rec gym-67, the cafeteria we ate at-78. If you want to see pic's and stuff of the buildings you can go to sfasu's website and click on the numbers of the buildings you want to see.

Camp photos

2005-06-05T16:05:00.000-05:00

Camp photos
Originally uploaded by jccreech.

This is my family group. Clockwise: Lauren(UBC), Rachel(Mississippi), Tyler(FBC Deer Park), Me!(UBC), Ashley(Mississippi), Nikolaus(FBC Deer Park), Nikki(Mississippi). Ah....fun times family group. Oh yeah, there was another girl from Mississippi, but she wasn't there that day.

Camp stories.......

2005-06-05T14:31:00.000-05:00

Hey,
Sorry I didn't get around to writing yesterday, I was catching up on my sleep, and then I had to go down to the beach to see my brother's sandcastle championship. It's an architect's thing. So here I am, Sunday afternoon, nothing to do until 5:30, so I guess I'll start my stories from camp. I won't be able to write all of them today, but I'll at least try to get them started.

Monday we had to be at the church at 7:30, but of course we didn't leave until 8:30 or 9:00. Josh wouldn't put the stupid video camera down all morning! Gosh. Let's see....if we left at 8:30 or 9 and got there at like 12:30 for lunch then that would be like a.......3 1/2 or 4 hour bus ride! Oh well, it was fun. I sat by Jaclyn on the way there. Ah, fun times! After we got registered we just like chilled at our dorms and stuff for a while. I have horrible memory, cuz I can't remember what we did for orientation......oh well. We went to dinner at like 5:15, the cafeteria food was....uh.....interesting. It wasn't that bad. After that at 6:15 we went to meet our family groups for bible study. My family group was me, this other girl from UBC(her name was Lauren,) four girls from Mississippi and two guys from FBC Deer Park. Ah, fun. My family was loud, but they did listen, unlike my group last year. At 7:45 we went to corporate worship. Our worship leader was Todd Agnew and our speaker was David Nasser. Nasser was AWESOME! The first night we talked about John 1 and about how the beginning of God actually never began.....for those of you who were there, you know that it was rather confusing. At night we looked at some of the 7 "I AM's" that Jesus said in John. Ah, Late Nite! Man, you've never seen random if you've never seen late nite. They had the "Don't care Dave" videos(I know Sterling enjoyed those! haha), they had the "Unfailing ______" videos. The first night it was called the "Unfailing Toaster," the second night was "Unfailing Lightbulb," the third night was "Unfailing iPod." On the videos there was this guy dressed in a suit and top hat and there was the item on a table. He would turn it on, then turn it off, the turn it on, then turn it off, then he would say "Everybody dance!" And like 5 people would come out on the video dressed as the object and they would dance for like 5 minutes. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. haha. Then we had church group time, that was awesome. On Monday night we just prayed about the coming week and the adults and interns and leaders were up there and they were there to pray for us. That was cool. After church group time we went to our dorms and crashed.

Tuesday. We(me and Kathleen Doeling) woke up at 6:15 to get ready for the coming day. At like 7:00 we left with Elliott, Jaclyn, Jill and Aimee to go to breakfast at the cafeteria across campus. After breakfast we showed up(on time!) at Church Quiet Time at 8:15. QT was just a way to commit the day to God and open your heart to his voice for the day. At 9:00 we headed over to Celebration with our church group. At celebration every morning Nasser talked about people who weren't famous while they were alive, but after they died they became important people in Christian history. Tuesday morning we talked about Oswalt Chambers. Todd Agnew played some great music.......if you were at camp and you are reading this all I would have to say was "do do do do do do do do do do do...." and you would know what I was talking about. btw, just in case you don't know what I'm saying by that, that was how Todd and his band started the song "Rain Down." After Celebration we went to Family Group Bible Study. On Tuesday we talked about Hosea 3:1-5, and how no matter how many bad things we've done, how long we've turned our back on God he will always take us back. Also, something random.....look up Hosea 3:1 and read the last three words, you'll laugh, at least our family group did. It has to be in the NIV though, or else it's not the same. When we were done with family group for the morning we went to lunch and chilled until time for Recreation at 1:15, except that me, Jaclyn, Jill and Aimee decided to go over there early, but it turns out we felt really stupid, cuz we were on the wrong side of the coliseum. ha. Recreation on Monday was water day for us(the Blue squad.) Now that was FUN! By the end of Rec we were SOAKED! At least this year water day was on Monday and there was time for our clothes to dry. I can't remember what we did for free time......I think we just chilled at our dorms and got ready for Family Group Prayer Time and worship. After free time we went to dinner, then we went to Family Group Prayer Time. That was really cool, cuz this year there were people in my group that actually wanted to pray! We headed over with our family group to Worship at the Coliseum. Todd Agnew sang.......I'm not a big fan of his, he's kind-of judgmental of everyone. Nasser talked about Jesus as the Bread of Life, John 6:48. He told a story about a youth who wanted to go to a dangerous mission trip for a whole summer and his youth minister got a brochure about the House of the Dying in Calcutta, India. Population 13,000,000. 11,000,000 of those 13 million are homeless. 70% of the homeless suffer from a form of Tuberculosis. He told one story about how he and another new guy working at the House of the Dying volunteered to take out the trash there, because no one else wanted to do it. The trash included all the leftover food that the diseased people ate, all the used syringes and other infected stuff. These two kids took out the trash and all the homeless people from the city came there and were waiting for the trash, so they could have some food. They didn't care if diseased people had eaten it, it was food. That story really touched me, because I have seen poor. Not that poor, but I just got back from Oaxaca, Mexico and I've been to Uganda before. I don't remember much else about that night, because I was on the verge of tears then. Well, I think that's all I can write about today. Wow....that was a lot of stuff! And that was only Monday and Tuesday. I'll write about Wednesday, Thursday and Friday later, because I don't think I can stand to sit here any longer! See ya later! You(yes, I'm talking to you) better come to the BBQ and Ball game tonight at 6:30 on the ball field at UBC! It's gonna be fun. Later.
Jenna

Back from Camp!

2005-06-04T00:09:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody!
i just got back from Student Life camp in nacogdoches, texas....awesome, by the way. too many stories to tell for such a late time, but i just wanted to let you know that i got back safe and sound(although all the girls almost died on the bus ride back home!). the basics of camp: worship leader--todd agnew, speaker--david nasser, drama team--all things to all people, family group--74, the blue jeans, squad--blue. that was the basics. as i said before it's like almost 12:15 am now, so i have to go to bed, because i am soooooo tired! i'll post all my stories about camp tomorrow. oh, yeah, if you want to hear some really cool blog entries, you need to go to Sterling's blog site(stertle.blogspot.com.) it's awesome. if you want to see student life's pictures then you have to click here. i don't think there's any of my church, or my family group, but you can look at them anyways! yeah, well, i'll post more about all this tomorrow! and tomorrow's post is going to be LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ttyl,
Jenna

An update for the week......

2005-05-28T15:51:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I just haven't found anything as interesting as the last two weeks to write. I guess you'll just have to hear about my normal week. Monday: chilled at home, band practice, dance. Just a warning, I think the band's playing in two wednesdays. In dance I'm getting ready for our concert on June 10th, it should be interesting. Tuesday: went shopping for clothes for CAMP! I can't wait! Wednesday: went out to lunch with homeschool kids and told them all about Oaxaca, then we went to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Now that was a good movie! Any of y'all who haven't seen it need to go see it right now! After the movie we went to church, that was fun. Not much interesting stuff, just the normal church stuff. Thursday: chilled at home while my parent's worked on the last bits of our remodeling stuff, went to dance. Not much interesting stuff. Friday: went to the church to turn in more stuff for camp, went to a party at Bath Junkie(awesome, by the way.) I made coffee lotion and peppermint scrub stuff. Then at 8:30 I went to the end of school party thing at church. That was fun, except for the kids who were throwing the frizbee's at like 50 miles per hour! That just wasn't cool! Oh yeah! How could I forget, on Friday afternoon my dad went flying in this little plane. He wrote about it on his blog(ubcsp.blogspot.com.) It sounded cool. Friday night me, Elliott and Kathryn spent the night at Jaclyn's. haha, fun times! We watched Zoolander, well actually only like half of Zoolander. Then we got tired, then we got hiper again. That's how it always goes. We woke up today at like 11:30, then I went to Julie's graduation party thing. That was cool. I can't believe all the senior's are gonna be gone! It's so sad! I'm gonna miss them soooooo much! It won't be the same without them. The Lake graduation was at 9:00 this morning and the Brook graduation is at 6:30. Tonight I'm going over to some people's house, the Biford's, and we're eating shrimp and swimming. Fun times. fun times. Well, that's about it for this week. I'm sure I'll have some stories for tomorrow! btw, Monday morning at 7:30 we(99 Intermediate schoolers and sponsor's) leave for Student Life camp at SFASU!(Stephen F. Austin State University) For those few of you that are not going(btw, you're missing out!) you can go to http://www.influencestudentlife.com/ and I think you can e-mail me(and all those other people going.), but I can't find the place to e-mail. Maybe I'm just blind. I dunno. Well I have to go get ready to eat shrimp and swim! ttyl,
Jenna

I'm back!

2005-05-23T09:23:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody!

I got back safely yesterday on the plane! I didn't get a chance to post on Saturday, so I have to tell you what I did!

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at La Casa de Mis Recuerdas. At about 9:00 we headed out to Monte Alban with Rodney. That was so awesome! We climbed up the highest one there. Although it was hot there it wasn't humid, so when you stepped into the shade it got like 10 degrees cooler! That was nice. After Monte Alban we went back to one of the houses we visited in the village(the "pig-house") to deliver the blanket Amanda Harris gave to us to deliver. Saturday afternoon we went back to Mary Elva's(Rodney's sister's) house for lunch. We had tostadas that were about a foot in diameter! They were good. When we finished with lunch we watched The Incredibles......in spanish! But with english subtitles of course. After we were done with the movie we went with the Johnsons over to the orphanage down the street. That was sad. It wasn't very well kept up, but the kids there were so nice! Almost all of them had some kind of disability whether they were blind, deaf, or whatever. We brought them these little snack things and this giant bag of oranges. By the end of our time there the oranges and the snacks were almost gone. I know the kids enjoyed just having someone there to be with them. For example, there was one girl there that was blind and the had some music going on in the background, so I was just standing there and she took my hand and she just held my hand for the whole song. They just needed someone to really care for them. My mom did some oragami with the kids, while my dad taught them some magic tricks. The kids really enjoyed my dad, because they didn't really have a father figure at all in thier lives. Rod, Connie, Courtney and I just played with the kids, and they enjoyed that. When we were done at the orphanage we went with Mary Elva, her husband Viscente, and her kids Wendy, Kasia and Isais to Mixtacos. I'm gonna miss all of them! I'm glad to be back home, but I do miss all of them!

Sunday my brother, Alan, picked us up from the airport. We stopped by Antone's subs on the way to his house for lunch. Yum. We made our way back home, stopped by the Mobley's to pick up our dog and bird, then went to Aimee's party. After that we went to the Forrester's house for a meeting about the Africa trip. I can't wait! But first there's camp! Man, camp is going to be so much fun! Well I have to go! Hope to see you soon!

Jenna

Nearing the end....

2005-05-20T18:02:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all!

So, we're nearing the end of our trip to Oaxaca. Mixed emotions. Sad, because I love it here in Oaxaca, yet happy at the same time because I cannot wait to see all of y'all again! I'm not sure that I'm gonna last a month in Africa! Somehow I'll manage. So about the last few days....

Wednesday night we had our first real "homes in Oaxaca" experience. We had no water all afternoon, until really early Thursday morning. Wednesday night my dad and Rodney went to this guy named Phillipe's house. You can read more about that on his blog: www.ubcsp.blogspot.com.

Thursday we went to Spanish class once again. The second teacher got on my nerves again, but that's a different story. After class we went to Rodney's sister's house for lunch at about two. She cooked Red Mole. I didn't like it that much. It's not that it was bad, it was just way to rich for me. After that we hung out there for a little while, played Clue with Courtney's cousins. Then Courtney, my mom and I went to meet this lady named Maurie at Sam's. Maurie does cooking classes with women in the villages. We were getting stuff for the cooking class. Then we picked up her daughter, Lindsay, and her friend, Catherine, after we dropped off this other lady and her daughter. Sorry, but I don't remember thier names. Then we headed out to do the cooking class. When we got to the village it turned out that the cooking class didn't make becuase it had flooded in that village and there was also a funeral, so no one could come. After that we went to one of Marceleno(the person the medical mission team worked with)´s church members houses nearby. We stayed there for an hour or two just talking and praying and singing(yes, we sang in Spanish.) We only sang one song that I knew in english, that was Lord I Lift Your Name on High. Dosen't everyone in the world know that song? When we finished with that we met up with Rodney and we went by and picked up my dad, still at Rodney's sister's house. Then Rodney and Connie took us by our hotel, yes, we moved from the mission house in to a hotel, La Casa de Mis Recuerdos, and we went to bed. If you want to see pictures of our beautiful hotel go to http://www.misrecuerdos.net/new%20picture%20page.htm.

This morning we ate a wonderfully elegant breakfast at our hotel. When we were done with that we walked to Amigos del Sol for our last day of classes. We played some games in Spanish in the first class. In the second class we talked about random stuff for a while, but then our teacher started asking us questions. She asked Frank, the new guy in our class, how he celebrated Christmas in Alemania, then she asked my dad, then she asked Courtney how she celebrated Easter. We explained to her about holy week and she asked my dad if he'd seen any movies about Christ and what he thought about them. They talked about The Passion of the Christ for a while and then we started to talk to her about Christianity. Just a few minutes after we started talking to her the bell rang and we had to go. We did find out that she's friends with one of the active members of Rod and Connie's church. Hopefully we planted a seed. After classes we went out to lunch at La Escondida, a buffet with authentic Oaxacan food, with Rod's sister, Mary Ellen, the same one whose house we ate at yesterday, and her family. It was great! There were so many different kinds of foods! I can't describe them all! Well, after lunch we came back to our hotel and chilled for a little while. About 5:00 me and my dad decided to go to an internet cafe. Knowing my dad, we wandered around for half an hour trying to find one, but we finally found one and here I am. I think we're going out to eat nieve tonight. Yum. Well, this will be my last post in Oaxaca! It's sad, yet happy. I can't wait to be back home! See you all Sunday, hopefully! Hasta Luega!

Jenna

Another week in Oaxaca

2005-05-18T15:25:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody!!!!!

So....you want to know what's going on here? OK, Tuesday morning we had spanish class...lunch.....then we went out to the village. That was awesome! We visited 7 families total, but I only went to 6. The first place we went to was this older couple, then we went across the street to a place we went last week. There are like 4 kids, a mom and an abuelita(spanish word for grandmother.) The kids there are soooo sweet! All of them give you a hug, whether they know you or not! Then my mom, my dad and Rodney went down the hill to see another family, but me, Courtney and Connie drove to the top of the hill, cuz we didn't want to walk down the steep valley. After they made thier way back up to the top of the hill we drove to another family's house. There were a whole bunch of girls there(I don't remember how many...)and then the mom and the abuelita. They offered us a pepsi there and that cool drink was very refreshing! The kids there were sooooo cute! Then we drove down the hill to see this family, but only the mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law were there. One of the daughter in law's eyes had been decaying out of her head. That was the saddest thing we saw. Rod said that there was nothing we could do for her except for lead her to Christ. Rod tried to talk to her, but she didn't speak Spanish, she only spoke her dialect. We talked to the mother-in-law and she said that someone had come to talk to her in her dialect about God, but she had refused. The only thing we can do for her is pray. After that we went to an older couple's house, some of you might know them as the couple that fed Sterling the cactus. We talked to them for a little while, then Rodney read John 3 to them. They are relatively new Christians and the Johnson's gave them a spanish Bible, but they can't read so Rod has to read some of it to them. When we finished there we went to a house where there are 10 kids, but only 7 of them were there. There was also a mother and an abuelita there, but the grandfather just died. None of them are Christians, except for the grandfather that just died. That was an interesting story....this grandfather had been paralyzed his entire life, but the Johnson's had gone out there to talk to them almost every week. When the paralyzed man was on his death bed he reached out his hand to Rodney and said "I rememer everything you've told me." And he became a Christian right before he died. The mother sounded very interested in everythin we were saying about Christ, but the abuelita is vey hard-hearted and won't let any of them become Christian's. Please pray that there would be an opportunity for the mother to become a Christian! At each of these houses we delivered some rice, some beans, some milk, some chilies, some pasta and.....actually I think that was it. Also, all of the houses had several dogs, several chickens(BRCAWK!), several goats and a few had donkeys and pigs. Another thing I noticed at the houses was the differences between the people who know God and the people who don't. The people who know him are soo much happier than those who don't! By the time we were done visiting all of the houses it was about 8:30, time for dinner here. We went to this resturant where they bring some meat out on a grill thing and it was soooo good! While we were in the resturant it started raining, so we decided to make our way home(by this time it was about 10:30, and we still hadn't done our homework for Spanish class!) When we got back to the Mission house and were about to do our homework for Spanish class the next day the electricity went out! It came back on at about midnight or so.

Today in Spanish class in the second hour our teacher like didn't talk to me and Courtney the entire time after we got one answer wrong! Oh yeah, we got this new guy in our second class. His name's Frank. Anyways, today we're just kind-of chillin'. I'm going to call Kathryn Marsh tonight at about 7(between CPR and Shrink), so if you want to talk you better be there tonight! Well that's about it for now! Thanks for all your prayers and please keep praying! I miss y'all sooooooo much! Although I love it here in Oaxaca I can't wait to get back to Houston! Adios!

Jenna

Another update.....

2005-05-16T18:34:00.000-05:00

Hey eveyone!

Eveything is still going good! We are having a great time here, but I miss home soooo much! Anyways, so you want to know what is going on.....

Saturday night we went to the Solidad(the plaza by one of the many churches in Oaxaca) and had nieve, which is kind-of like ice cream. I had tuna and sorbete......no I did not have fish ice cream! Tuna is the cactus fruit, but it is really good! Then we went to the store and.....yeah that was pretty much it for the rest of Saturday.

Sunday morning was, obviously, church. We went to Rod and Connies church, where everything is in español. I could not really understand the music, or the prayers, or the sermon, but that did not really matter becuase I went with Courtney to help teach the kids. That was pretty fun, although the kids were very rowdy. After church we went to one of the church members houses to have a kind-of picnic thing. You bring your own meat and then you roast it directly on the charcoal. It had kind-of an ashy flavor, but other than that it tasted pretty good. We played some great games that I have to tell y'all about when I get back. After that we went back to the house to rest for a little while.

Sunday night we(My parents, me, Courtney, Rod, Connnie and the Johnson's cousins) headed back to the Solidad at about 7 or so to see the Oaxacan dancers that were supposed to be there. We got about halfway there and we ran into Rod's sister. She told us that the had moved it to the lleno(a giant park in the middle of Oaxaca.) So we all headed down to the lleno, which was quite a ways from where we were. Oh and by the way we were walking this whole time. When we got there, there were no dancers there. So we walked around the lleno for a little while and my dad bought a dictionary at one of the many little book stands set up. Then we walked over to a little taco place and had dinner. After that we all drove back down to the Solidad to have another nieve. Then we went back home and went to sleep!

Today we had school from 10:30 to 1:30 and then we walked all around the downtown market until 5:00. The part of the market that stuck out to me the most was the fresh meat. I don't mean fresh meat like pacaged and everything. I mean like fresh meat as in "Hey, do you want some fresh pig feet?" Yeah, kind-of disgusting and smelly. Actually, not kind-of, really. Also, if you are ever in Oaxaca you definitely need to try some chapulinas. I haven't tried them yet, but if you're ever down here you definitely need to try them. If you don't know what they are go look them up on the internet. Well I'm gonna go! I miss all of you soooo much! See ya later!

Jenna

Oaxaca!

2005-05-14T15:37:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

We are having a great time in Oaxaca! We ate breakfast at La Casa de Mis Recuierdas(I am not sure what that means in spanish) and it was good! They have so many fresh fruits here that are soo flavorful! Anyways, about our trip.....We went to the place where they make black pottery yesterday and it was awesome! I got some beads to make those bookmarks that I make...ya know? I am typing on this keyboard at an internet cafe about 3 or 4 blocks from the mission house where we are staying and it is in español. On this keyboard there is not an apostrophe, so it is kind of hard to type. We ate at a taco place last night called "Mixtacos"...it was good. Sterling, just so you know Connie said that we are going to try and out do you by eating at Glorias 3 times! My mom was sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, but she is all better now. I think that is pretty much it! I will try to write here again pretty soon. Please continue to pray for me and my family and the Johnsons as we work here! Thanks! ttyl,
Jenna

we're here!

2005-05-11T18:23:00.000-05:00

Que pasa? We made it here and I'm having a great time so far. As you all know Sunday was mother's day in the US. Well, in Oaxaca mother's day is always on the 10th, so it was Tuesday this year. After we arrived Monday night, we stayed up until 12:30, becuase the youth from Rod and Connie's church go around to all the mother's in town the night before mother's day and sing some spanish songs about mothers. Rod and Connie told them that my mom would be here and so they came by and sang us some songs. Of course we didn't know any of the words, but it was fun anyways!

Tuesday morning we started our spanish classes, but not before we got a healthy start to the day! The Johnson's took us my Gloria's....for those of you who haven't heard Sterling talk about it, it is like the most awesome breakfast place ever! The food was wonderful. Then we have our spanish classes from 10:30 until 1:30. We have two sessions and two different teachers. My dad, Courtney Johnson and I are in a class together. Today we had an opportunity to share our faith with the second teacher. We started talking(in spanish, none the less!) and she asked what my dad did, and it spread from there. She was raised Roman Catholic, so she wanted answers to lots of questions she had. The best part......she said she wanted to continue the conversation, and we're here for two weeks!

Yesterday afternoon we walked around the downtown area and saw the inside of some of the giant cathedrals. Oh, and btw lunch is usually around 3:00 here, and dinner is around 8:00. We visited with another missionary here last night until 12:00. This afternoon we went to visit a family that lives about 15 or 20 minutes outside of town that Rod and Connie work with. There were two girls there and one of thier birthday's was today and one of them was next week I think, but we just visited them both today. There were too many stories too tell them all on here. Hopefully I'll remember them all and be able to tell you when I get back.

We're going to pick up Libby Brown from the airport tonight. She's staying here through the weekend. Just so you know, obviouslly I have internet access now. Also, check out my dad's blog....it's a lot more detailed than mine...www.ubcsp.blogspot.com. Well, I'll be in touch with you later! Adios amigos!

Jenna

Leaving....

2005-05-09T10:27:00.000-05:00

We're leaving for Oaxaca, Mexico today! The plane leaves at around 7:10, but we have to leave the house at like 4-something. I can't wait!!!! Well, I have to get back to packing(I'm definitely a procrastinator)! Talk to you later!

Jenna

Just trying this out......

2005-05-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

Hey,
so this is my blog. I'm gonna try to post twice a week with the events that have happened, but that depends on our internet access...so yeah. I'm gonna be in Oaxaca, Mexico for two weeks, so check back often!
Jenna