missionaryMAC

(I'm writing this from St. Louis, where I am once again on short notice--this time because my godmother passed away yesterday afternoon.) Friday was YLMHC's 3rd Annual Golf Tournament. I titled this blog the same as the article that came out about the tournament in YLM's quarterly newsletter a few weeks ago. I was really excited when I came up with it! Most of YLM's supporters are not local, so instead of traveling to El Paso to golf, they sponsor a soldier from El Paso's very own Ft. Bliss. The man who is essentially the brains behind the whole production, a member of Zion Lutheran Church, is a military veteran himself. I thought the gesture became especially meaningful this year as our nation commemorated the events of 9/11. I spent a few hours at the country club where the tournament was held in the morning--taking pictures and encouraging golfers to buy mulligans--and then came back in the evening for the buffet dinner and program featuring Mariachi San Pablo.

AAAAHHHH!!!! The Cardinals just won their 11th World Championship in '11 and I am WAY too amped up to sleep right now. So, I figured I'd share a little about the past week of my life. I was thrilled to have a group again since the last one was in mid-August. I kept calling them "Barrington" since all but one of the 5 guys originally came with a group from St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Barrington, IL, but in reality they traveled to El Paso from Barrington as well as Albuquerque, St. Louis, and Atlanta. Their task was a home for the Cardona-Contreras family of 7 near Pastor Hernandez (Pepe)'s San Pedro y San Pablo mission site. We brought out the big guns! Maybe it was because he got them back in August and had yet to play with them, or maybe it was because the group was small and had to finish the house in 4 days since they left today, but for whatever reason Chris let us use nail guns! Boy, did it make a difference on certain tasks! I sincerely enjo

I promised I would keep you updated on my job situation, so here goes. I heard back from the first of my leads today, and it wasn't the news I was hoping for. LCMS called right after lunch to tell me that they went with another candidate for the job I interviewed for in St. Louis earlier this week. It's definitely a blow and I'm pretty bummed, but I guess it's a pretty clear statement that God has another plan for me. I still have two awesome leads out there--CPH and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Weston, FL, so hopefully I will hear back from one or both of them next week. All of this uncertainty is beginning to wear on me. Today's verse of the day, consequently, is one I happened to hear on the radio when I was coming back from Hobby Lobby (scrapbook shopping therapy!): "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..." (Psalm 37:7). I am terrible at that! Until next time, blessings!

My exciting weekend kicked off Friday night with the this year's Annual Banquet for our local Thrivent chapter. It took place at Great American Land & Cattle (a steakhouse), and was mostly a success. I booked for 80 people, and we maxed out the slots! (Side note: there were TVs in the banquet room so I could get my fix of NLCS Game 5!). The meal was chicken or steak tampiquena + sides; I had the chicken and thought it was delicious. We did have some frazzled servers, but apparently it was the kitchen's fault and they made it right on our bill. Not that I'll be here, but my feeling is that they will go back there next year. We chose to provide our own dessert, so two others from the board and I made cookies. I made a double batch (7 doz. ish) of gooey butter cookies, and they turned out to be a HUGE hit! They ALL disappeared, and then people started asking for the recipe. I scribbled it down for a couple of them until the Communications Director approached me and said ma

My apologies for the lack of blogs this month. I suppose not even I have something enlightening to say all the time, although a few job hunt updates did take place this week (one of which involves a surprise trip to STL!) and I have plans today and tomorrow. I received a call at 7:20 on Wednesday morning regarding the application I filled out for an Administrative Assistant position at the LCMS International Center. When I told the HR lady I was currently in El Paso I was expecting her to suggest a phone or Skype interview, but she asked what the chances were that I could be in St. Louis next week! Later that day I booked some airfare, which LCMS is reimbursing me for. Bonus! I get in Monday night, have my interview (and a test on the Microsoft Office suite) on Tuesday at 9:00 am, get to see my sister play volleyball on Tuesday night, and fly out early Wednesday morning. At least that is my plan right now...although I am keeping a VERY close watch on World Series Game 1 tickets on stub

One of those blogs that gives you a general update on my life as of late... Job news: The head of the call committee from St. Paul in Weston, FL, contacted me today. First off, they revised the job description to be much more to-the-point. I have until next Wednesday to look it over, because I have a phone interview at 6 pm. They are conducting phone interviews with 3 candidates, after which they will invite 2 of us for in person interviews. Cardinals: I watched 6 hours of ESPN a week ago Wednesday, the night the Cardinals won the Wild Card by virtue of a win and an ATL loss! IF the Cardinals win game 5 of the NLDS vs. the Phillies tomorrow, game 3 of the NLCS would be next Wednesday, which will hopefully not interfere with the timing of my interview. I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch...but we do have the Rally Squirrel!!! Spanish classes: They are going well, although I haven't had all 4 of my students together in probably a month. It's hard remembering what