¡Fiesta!

Ken educated us all in pupusa-making and pupusa-eating. They are thick corn tortillas made with a filling in the middle. We made them with cheese, with intentional cracks in the dough, so that the cheese oozed out.




You top them with curtido (kind of like Mexican saurkraut), some salsa (which Daniel-- the pupusa-flipper from above-- made from scratch the day before!), and a pinch of salt. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. They were a big hit!

Not as many students came as we had hoped, but Dave and Lily got a few quality contacts. Those students are amped about meeting together as Latinos, seeking to grow in their faith and multiply their faith!

And that's how Destino began at San Jose State!

Cross 09: Free tacos and pupusas

November 9-11 all campus teams in the U.S. are crossing cultures to launch ethnic student ministries in major cities.

Staff and interns from Berkeley, San Francisco, and Davis are joining the San Jose State team to launch Destino on the campus. (Destino is CCC's ministry to raise up Christian Latino leaders.)

We've been doing spiritual surveys and passing out flyers to a fiesta Wednesday afternoon. Free tacos and pupusas!

Monday morning I looked at the flyers and thought, "What are papusas??" Prime example of why I am not the target demographic of this party. (But when we hand flyers to Latino students, they exclaim, "Oooooh! Pupusas?!?!")

We've met with a lot of key Latino students on campus who further confirmed the fact that there is little Hispanic community at SJ State, and NO organizations working to meet their spiritual needs.

I learned that I am terrible at identifying Hispanic people... but I've gotten in some neat conversations with Persians and Filipinos!

Major highlight of Cross 09 so far: Having my wonderful friend (and bridesmaid!), Noemma, join us for some evangelism and flyering Monday afternoon. We enjoyed some girl-talk over sandwiches and then went sharing together. I love her testimony, and I love being a witness to how well she relates to people.

Tomorrow is the fiesta! We're hoping at least 100 students come, and from there, we'll gather interested contacts to start Bible studies and discipleship!

We're making pupusas tomorrow morning at 10:30 am. There, I will see firsthand what these things are.

Mumble and ET

Tonight, I've enjoyed some downtime at my parents' house. They're on vacation, and I'm helping take care of the dog. When ministry and wedding-planning can make me feel in over my head... it's nice to relax in my pajamas, munch on persimmons from our backyard, and carve pumpkins :)

Happy Halloween!!

Polygamy

I asked my good friend and pastor, Josh, to officiate Steven's and my wedding:

Me: Will you marry us?
Josh: Wow! No one's ever asked me to enter a polygamous union before.

"YES!!!"

Steven came out to the Bay Area for MPD (but not purely MPD, as I found out), so we made plans to go on a date on Tuesday. After a nice dinner, we drove to the top of this hill in Berkeley that overlooks the entire Bay Area, and you can see the city lights in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, the Golden Gate Bridge, the other bridges... it's beautiful! (But hard to capture on camera.)

As the sun was setting, he gave me a crossword puzzle he made. (We like doing crossword puzzles together.) This one was all from our inside jokes or things from our relationship. Certain boxes had asterisks, and when I was done, when I strung together the starred letters, they spelled "WILL YOU MARRY ME." I actually just read "WIL-- " and stopped and just looked straight ahead, kind of stunned.

He got on one knee, showed me a beautiful ring (and I backed away, pretty shocked), said some sweet words, and asked me to marry him. I said YES, and he put this beautiful, sparkly thing on my finger... and now we're engaged!

I love my fiance!

My face hurts from smiling so much. It's worth the pain. :)

New York trip: Heidi

For the last few days of my trip, I stayed with Heidi at her dorm in Brooklyn. She's a 1st year med student at SUNY Downstate-- she has a white coat and everything!

She was the SWEETEST hostess, and I'm so glad that she took some time away from her books to spend with me!

Friday night: We met up with Justine and Jillian, Heidi's childhood friends, in the Meatpacking District for dinner. We were early, though, so the 2 of us explored the area... commented on window displays, admired the goods in a florist's shop, and got a free hand-washing/exfoliating/moisturizing at a soap shop. We could NOT stop rubbing our hands together like praying mantises after that... our hands felt so goooooooood!

We also walked along the High Line-- a rooftop walkway with lounge chairs, gardens, and a great view of the water and city lights.


Eventually, her friends made it to the city, and we had a great Cuban dinner at Son Cubano. Tasty food, live music, and fun company!

We've missed each other :)

After dinner, I wanted to be a homebody, but Heidi suggested we go to ONE bar and then go home. I'm glad she said that because we went to a really fun place called 675 Bar that played good music, had a mature crowd, and we had a good time!

Saturday morning, Heidi and I hit up the local farmers market. I LOVE farmers markets!

Yes, farmers markets are high on my list of loves. Also on that list: used cds! A guy in the neighborhood was getting ready to move and was selling his cd collection on the sidewalk outside his house. I had a LOT of fun perusing his collection, making inferences based on his cd's, and talking with him to see which inferences checked out.

This was in Park Slope-- a cute neighborhood of Brooklyn where, in Heidi's words, "30-something-year-olds with cute kids and cute dogs spawn." We did, indeed, see some young families and cute dogs. There were also pretty brownstones, unique coffee shops, and an insanely affordable breakfast place where we each got an omelette with potatoes, toast, and coffee/tea for less than $6!! Of course, we supplemented this amazing brunch with our farmers' market purchases: cherry tomatoes, raisin walnut bread, and peaches.

What a sweet day that was! And a wonderful trip overall. I met with family and friends whom I hadn't seen in YEARS; explored some of the city, met some amazing NEW people, AND, before I got on the plane to come home, God brought in all the financial support I need in order to report to campus!

Last week was a beautiful mix of business and pleasure.

New York trip: the Village

On Wednesday, my aunt and uncle took me out for a delicious, garlicky lunch of felafel at a place called Urban Pita in Greenwich Village. It was the best, most authentic felafel I've had since STINTing in the Middle East!

They accidentally wore matching outfits. We joked that it was the family uniform :)


They pointed out the Empire State Building in the distance.

After some felafel and tart froyo, I met up with a friend and ministry partner for coffee. I love exploring local coffee shops. After a fun catching-up sesh, I sat at Washington Square Park and worked on some correspondence.

For entertainment, there was a homeless guy singing, some intense hackey-sackers, a djembe-player, and some little kids learning how to ride one of those swivelly-skateboards. I love people-watching!