one encounter

apologies for the long silence... and i greet you all with a belated everything... though i confess... a few weeks of this long silence is dedicated to the prompting of Gods calling to missions in cambodia and thailand. its a long story of how it became, but basically, i went on a missions trip with my young adults group from my church in san jose for a couple weeks... talk about unexpected! i take a look back and if someone were to say to me that i was at home for this very reason to go to cambodia... i wouldnt argue one bit. i know that it was all in the divine plan of God... and i just fell in love with cambodia...

im still overhwhelmed and feeling all the post-outreach re-entry hoopla... and as i sort out my thoughts about cambodia, i settle to share with you this quote that almost became a theme for this outreach... "never underestimate the potential of one encounter."... we saw hundreds of kids in the villages, people everywhere walking or riding bikes on the streets of Siem Reap, busy people in Bangkok bound somewhere.... and yet, i realized, that no matter who they were, every encounter i had with them was a chance for the Lord to impress Himself through me and the Jesus in me. and it would happen during that 'one encounter.'... theres nothing like the unseen and what happens when eternity is altered for the glory of Him...

there goes another one...

i can't count anymore... they're going one by one. another one of my good friends jamie bartley is no longer a bartley, but a Whittmore. it was a beautiful sight, to witness their wedding, a dream in the flesh. to see jamie and dan together... in love... in commitment... *sighh* im stoked that i got to go to medford for the wedding... or you could say reunion. well those of you in ywam could agree the beauty of a ywam wedding is that, not only do you go to the wedding, but it disguises the event to a big ywam reunion... faces you thoughts you'd never see again and then you open the door, and bam, theyre there and next thing you know, you find yourself laughing together like there were no years or months in between that you've been separated. so this 'ywam- its a small world' ordeal thing- its true... you say 'see you later' cause your bound to see each other again... just look at us, half Brazil outreach team was back together! ... ohh, and jon hans.:) ... good times guys....

thanks day happy giving

in other words... happy thanksgiving everyone! wherever you are in this world... whether you do the traditional sit down turkey-yam-pumpkin-pie dinner thing with family or not... whether your an american or not... whether you celebrate thanksgiving or not... i say lets just get on the same page here and just stop where you are and say a little horizontal 'thank you' to the ONE who has provided for everything and anything we ever needed... so with that... thank you Jesus. you rock my world...

now go stuff your faces.... cheers.

i bid adieu...

its been almost a month since the school has ended but since i'm such a closure person... i have to acknowledge the school of design that i staffed in burtigny, switzerland. 13 creative, unique minds and personalities that looked at everything through a cheese grid... (really) ... and they have ended well and i have been honored to have worked with them... my friends... who have taught me more than they would know. (okay, sounds like im writing my thank you's in my debut cd) ... but anyhow, it only took a matter of a few days for us to spread out all over the world to return 'home.' ... i bid adieu to beautiful switzerland and once again have left a piece of my heart in another part of this world and hope to return there one day... sante to all i've come across these past 6 months... good times in the great land of cheese...

love at first bike

love at first bike... i know, cheesy. but it was true.... i went to visit some friends in amsterdam last week and right when i got there, i was pulled in by the city. amsterdam is famous for its free-spirited liberalism, diversity and tolerance and is the most bicyle friendly city of the world... yes, bicycle... a friend had an extra bike so we cruised around the city like it was our own. (thank you jesus that i didn't get run over)... and the whole city is like its being hugged by these canals. of course, seeing good friends always warms my heart, but to have amsterdam as the backdrop just made it all the better. in all the uniqueness and creativity of this city, i left utterly inspired...

(literally) writing with light

one clear night in the village of burtigny, there was once three friends named peter joanna and cliff... just when they thought summer was over, there came a warm bright night that inspired some photography experiments. it was mostly led by cliff (while peter and joanna were merely the subjects... also known as really really ridiculously good looking models) so for this particular random journal entry, joanna must commend cliff from jersey for being the photographer that he is... and for (literally) writing with light... and for taking joanna back into the school of photography for a second...