my mind is blown

I'm overwhelmed here... it's a collection of things really... I'll attempt to give you a taste of things that are blowing my mind.

First of all, I'm listening to Copeland off of purevolume.com, and I think they're great, so that's a start. Add to it that I'm at the new nicer, internet place that I mentioned last week, where tons of Chinese males (and like one girl) are playing video games that I can't imagine playing, or watching movies that would be seen as totally goofy and a waste of time in the states, but the four people to my left at computer 33 are thoroughly enraptured by it (and I won't lie, I'm watching it too). Throw in the mix that the Father has once again proven himself faithful and awesome and like Mr Provider 2005 once again this week, and that He totally healed my knee last weekend, and that's kinda where I am. Oh, and lest we forget the people who left me comments in the past few weeks, for you, I have a paragraph (it'll be the next one) and some shout-outs.

Those who left comments: you have no idea how warm my heart was these past two weekends when I've come home to see you sexy people leaving me messages. Every one of you. I kid you not, I was happy as a lark. It is a huge honor to call you people friends (or families), and y'all are seriously, no exaggeration, at least 5 times sweeter to me than I am back to you, and I really do thank Father for y'all, and for putting people in my life that I do not come close to deserving.

Now for the story of the week. Wipe your tears away from the previous paragraph, and get ready for the tears that are to come from the current one. That may not be true. I still haven't decided what story to tell... thinking... ok. We entered into the town I will call "Town 3" which was the last town we needed to visit for the week, and the last one for the trip as far as some things are concerned (I have to be vague for security purposes). We, as always, immediately draw a crowd, and the majority of said crowd was distracted by Jon and I throwing the frisbee. The frisbee is an amazingly powerful thing here in China. After about an hour in Town 3 we hear a lady yelling at us from the roof of a building, and beckoning us to come up there. I thought she wanted us to go up there so we could get away from the crowds (I think I have a small idea of what JC felt like when he drew crowds everywhere he went). It turns out that she has rooms that travelers can stay in, and she was extremely persistent about us taking advantage of her offer. Not long after going upstairs a man ran upstairs and was yelling for us to go down to the po-po station. This isn't the most desirable place for anyone to be, especially us whitey's. After the officer offered much questioning and looking at passports, and made a few calls, and during the same time us lifting up some serious pr's to Father, we walked out of the room safe, and allowed to stay in the town. After getting settled in our room we went down for dinner, where we ran into the po again, and we shared dinner with him. Father certainly has a sense of humor. That's why he let Jamz break the chair he was sitting in and fall to the ground with no injury. Sorry for the choppy story, I'm slightly scatterbrained. Theme: Father is good, and better, and best, all at once.

Now for a few shout-outs, everyone's favorite part (except for the people who don't get mentioned... dang it):

- those who birthed me - I'm glad to hear camp was nice. I don't know that speaker of whom you speak, but I'm sure he's just fine. On a more important note: Pop's... final three in kajobee can-can? that's amazing. I'll have to think about it, but I don't know that I ever made it that far. I mean, I probably did, but it's not coming to mind right off the bat. Congrats. The Y must indeed be paying off.

- L.O. - I love you a lot, but you don't get a very big shout-out this week, because you failed to leave a message last week. I hope you're hanging in there with your grown up job and all. lata.

- Misty, David, baby Abi - thanks for the collective comment last week. y'all are real sweet. I look forward to seeing my great cousin Abi and seeing whether or not she's scared of me this time around. She has no reason to be, I'll tell you that right now. I'm not scary. Period.

- Uncle Stan - I won't lie, I figured that you'd make your way around to these parts of the web. Thanks for the encouragement, and for letting me borrow your hairclippers. No offense intended with the "po-po" comments earlier, I promise.

- BRAD - pony, thanks for trying to win the contest. I might give you the title of winner whether you win or not, because you're getting stinkin' married! are you kidding? You're going to be grown up in like 5 months or something. Dang. I guess our days of fun are over. Well at least they will be in 5 months, until then, we'll be tappers together and we should moon lots of people. peaces.

- Beth - thanks again for the comment and the pr's. You are indeed far to sweet. I imagine you're heading off to camp pretty soon, and I know you'll have a rad time there, and I pr that you learn lots of wonderful things about Father and how cool he is and how cool he thinks you are. Until next time.

- La La - I won't lie, I always thought it would be nice to receive a comment from you, but I never thought it would happen because you're all wrapped up at LLYC, but you managed to find a way. You and I will surely share many-a-story come the second half of summer. Probably pictures too. And maybe even some ice cream. Or cookies or milk or handshakes or something. Oh, and speaking of pictures, I looked at your CO pics on webshots... I think you've got lots of things to teach me now... oh how the table has turned.

- Mallory - girl, you are so tight!! (not that everyone else mentioned isn't, don't be upset other people, if you knew Mal, you'd understand). I knew you'd appreciate my singing in a barber shop. I promise that you didn't appreciate it as much as I appreciate it when you sing. Not a chance. I've told a lot of people here about how cool you are and how you sing like an angel. It always seems to come up when people are looking at my pictures and they get to yours.

- Kelly and Nutterd - you two girls like each other, and so I thought I'd pair you up for this shout-out. I think that you two are two that I shouldn't be allowed to call friends. Clearly you are cooler and sweeter than I deserve. I covet your pr's, and Nall, know that I'll be doing the same for you when we swap. Nutter... what the heck are you doing this summer? probably being tight. See, that's the kind of stuff I should know. This is one reason why y'all are sweeter than I.

- Matt Graham - bro, that's a good number of states in one week. I'm pretty sure that you have beat my record. By two to be exact. Dude, I won't lie, I really miss hanging out with you and other local CS rockers, and I miss listening to y'alls music. But fear not, I've sung Matt Graham songs, Cody Kimmel songs, and thought about Jimmy and Faith, while here in China.

- Mrs T. - thanks for leaving me a comment. Don't you worry about Jon's hair, it looks just fine. I thought about stretching the truth and telling you that he dyed it black, but I decided against it. He's doing just fine. Fear not.

- SamB - I know you're over in the Motherland, but I thought I'd leave you love anyway. Because that's what you do when I'm D.O. and you're SamB.

- Roomies (all 9) - I love you dudes a lot, and I know only 2 of you read this, but that's just fine. Actually, I think only one of you do. So it's your job to make sure all the others know I love them. Just kidding. Have fun in C town/ville/city whatever.

Ok, I hope I didn't forget anyone. I'm gonna throw out some lifting requests, mostly the same as the usual ones, but still important.

- that Father will keep providing, showing us where to take our steps, and keeping us safe in this crazy land.
- that we will have safety in traveling next week, as we plan on taking a pretty long bus ride, and the buses here are crazier than the land is.
- security protection for us and the other team that's here. We've had a few scares so far, so this is a big one.
- for Father to till up the soil of the hearts of the people here.
- (not related to the trip) that Father will bring healing in an amazing way to David Gilbert as he battles lymphoma

On that note, if anybody knows anything about David Gilbert's current state, I would LOVE to know. If by chance any of you will be contacting him, please tell him that I love him and that I'm lifting him up. He's staying at Arlington something... dang it... I guess MCOA, that one or the other one. Anyway, yeah, this dude is amazing, so is his family, and his sweet girlfriend, so lift him up man, cause I hear he's not doing too well.

Alright, sorry to end on a kinda sad note, but fear not, because David is a bro, and whatever happens is good for him, it's a win-win for us bro's and sis's! Alright guys, I love you all, I mean that, and I'm sorry I don't love you the way you deserve to love, but at least JC does a pretty amazing job at doing that where I, and every other human, falls short. lata.