New Wedding Pictures

Hey Everyone,

Right now I am on my honeymoon at an awesome beach resort in Cozumel. I have one picture to upload as of right now, but there will be more later. We haven't gotten our professional ones back yet. Enjoy!

Wedding Pictures

Here some of the pictures as promised.

Cute wife huh?

Massive Summary

It sure has been awhile since I have posted. A lot has happened since the last time. Well, maybe not a lot, but what has happened has been BIG.
First off, I got married. Yeah, in case you are one of my 3.5 readers (no I didn't forget to put million), and I don't ever talk to you, I got married on April 17th, 2010. Kelly and I are still going to have a ceremony in Lima, Peru, on July 30th, but since we both know that in reality we are married (before God and man) we are both more excited about the next time we will see each other than the wedding. Hence, the countdown says what it says, in case you were scrutinizing it enough to notice.
Secondly, I graduated. No summer school, no fees or school bills, I am completely graduated. Oh, that was May 6th. If you didn't get an invitation, don't feel bad, no one did. I got married a couple weeks before finals, then worked on getting my house (which I will be closing on the 15th of June) lined up.
I hope to get the video of our wedding posted in just a couple of days, but don't hold your breath. There is a lot more, I am sure, but it will have to wait until later. Hasta pronto.

When love disappoints you.

Have you ever loved someone? I'm not talking about a romantic type of love specifically, however, that could apply to. Just an honest to goodness love for someone. How do you treat them? You pour everything you have into that person, your time, your talents, possessions, emotions, etc. You also spend time in prayer for them. What happens then, when you find out that your love means nothing to them, or in the least, their love in return does not match what you give them?

I think that it is safe to say that most anyone that has spent some time in the Ministry has experienced this. Even outside of the ministry, young people experience this in "crushes" or even steady relationships that end up sour. When it happens to you, you know how you feel, it hurts. That is a very real pain, you wonder why in the world someone can mean so much to you and they never even seem to respond to it. What do you do? Obviously, you don't want to live with that pain all your life, but for this moment, it seems like it's never going to go away. Let's take some time to notice some things:

1. You started like God started. 1Jn 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Just like God, you started to love someone, even when there was no return or maybe even a realization that you loved that person.

2. The same thing has happened to God. Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

And not only has it happened to God, but is happening to Him about 7 billion times right now. No matter how hard you try, you cannot love God as much as He loves you. Don't you think sometimes God craves for that sweet and strong relationship?

3. True love continues through the hurt. Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

When Jesus died for us, we had already rejected Him. We need to learn to continue in our love, even when we are hurt.

4. There is One that will never dissapoint you. He will always love you more than you love Him. 1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Don't get bitter when that one you love fails to return that love, instead, continue to show that love and trust the One that will always love you more. What a gross understatement to say, "God loves you." Yet, it is so true.

We love to see you smile!

Mercedes has been riding Bus #9 for quite a while now. When she first started riding, she annoyed me because she would never smile and she would never talk to me. After awhile, I learned to appreciate her more because she would actually sit still and behave on the bus and she would encourage her siblings to do the same.

Until last week, I never took the time to notice something that was pretty much staring me in the face. Her brother was an absolute terror last week. The whole way home on the bus he screamed because he didn't get a piece of candy. He is probably about 8 or 9 years old. It was pretty pitiful. The rest of the bus was relatively quiet because they were shocked I think. While he was being very unruly, Mercedes was getting her other sisters and brother away from him and was making sure that he was leaving them alone.

After we got back to the church that afternoon, Caleb and myself were discussing what we might do about a situation like that in the future when past events finally registered in my mind. Every Sunday when I would go to their door, Mercedes was making sure her brothers and sisters had their nice clothes on, their hair was brushed, could find their shoes, were keeping the dogs inside, and who knows what else. Things were starting to register....she more than likely takes care of herself and her siblings throughout the week. Why doesn't she mess around on the bus? She's really frown up for her age. Why does she not smile that much? She is living with a lot more pressure than any one little girl should have to.

My heart was touched like it hasn't been in awhile. I instantly called up Linda (one of the new workers on our bus) and told her I wanted to talk to her later about a bus kid. Later, we discussed this and she agreed to take her visiting with her on Saturday. I thought that she deserves a chance to get away from that house for a little bit.

When Saturday rolled around, we planned to meet at McDonald's for lunch. I now take a sack lunch to save money, but this week I decided to buy lunch for myself and for Mercedes. When we got there, I asked her what she wanted and she told me. Of course, I did what every kid dreams about and asked her if she wanted to get a milkshake instead of a drink. Her eyes lit up and a huge smile crossed her face. After we got her food and ate, I asked her if there was anything else she wanted (I was thinking ice cream). She wanted more actual food, so I got her another sandwich and ice cream for myself. I think that was the most I have ever seen her smile.

Why was she happy? Maybe it was because she didn't have the pressure of taking care of her siblings right then. Maybe it was because she got to eat at McDonald's and she got a milkshake. Maybe it was because she got to horse around with Bro. Jorge. All these things could have made her smile, but I think the biggest reason was because she was surrounded by people that she knew cared about her, and she knew that someone had taken time to show her how much they loved her.

What about sports?

Tonight I was talking to an aquaintance of mine about his football game. He was benched the whole game, so I was able to sympathize with him a bit, but I purposly moved the conversation to basketball. He was pretty adament about not playing, but I was going to do my best to convince him otherwise. After I talked to him, I started thinking about what effect playing sports had on me. This is just a short list that I will probably make up as I go, so it won't be in any special order:

1. Sports can drastically improve your coordination. Before I got invovled in any kind of organized sports I probably looked to everyone else like an ostrich trying to play ping-pong. Although I don't have the greatest coordination now, I know that it has improved greatly.

2. Sports can build your self confidence, even if you are no good at the sports you play. There is something about getting on a field or court with a group of guys or friends that makes you accepted. I don't want to sound like an overly psycological nut case, but throwing yourself out there, proves to yourself and others that embarrasment isn't going to stop you from doing your best and improving on what your best is.

3. Sports can be very enjoyable. There isn't anything quite like getting a good workout while you are enjoying every second of it. It's like being entertained and when you are done, you don't feel bad about having wasting your time, because you spent that time keeping your body in shape. You can't do that in front of a computer or TV. Wii's don't count. :D

My battery is about to die, so I might continue the list later and I might not. I just thought of one more thing that I had to mention. I never set foot on a basketball court until I was at least 16 years old, maybe even 17. If you saw me play basketball today, you probably wouldn't think that. Not because I am good at it, but because I am comfortable doing my best, and I strive to learn more and do better every time. All in all, if I had it to do over again, I would have started my sports a lot sooner than 17 years of age.