That weekend I drove back to Orlando, where I was attending college. I went to hang out with my friends and to a few parties. I had the strong conviction to return home. I had no clue why, but I just knew I needed to go home. I tried to explain this to my friends at the time, but I could barely understand it myself. I remember one of my friends asking flat out, is it a religious thing, it kind of blew me away because I hadn't mentioned it. I was wrapped in a year long lease for my apartment. I went to the office to prepare to sublet my apartment. Within days it was sublet. What an answer to my first prayers. Soon, I was on my way home; for what I had no clue.
I went home and my mom was in the choir. I went with her one night just to watch rehearsal. No clue why, weird to think back now. Who just goes to watch choir rehearsal. After choir rehearsal one of the ministers approached me about baptism. I had no questions or hesitations, I said sign me up. The rehearsal I had attended was for a special midnight service because it was Y2K that year. I was going to be baptized into the new millennium. It was kind of special. New Years Eve was days away. I remember going to church that Sunday and sitting on the front row and crying my eyes out. From that day on, anytime the door was open at church I was there. I know now that the Lord wanted me to learn as much as I could because he had great plans for me. Side note - the night that I was baptized my mother introduced me to her Sunday school teachers daughter - Jenny Walters (Towner). This was pretty crucial. I was a really social person, and knew that my old lifestyle wasn't going to cut it if I was going to be a follower of Christ. When I would try to explain it to my friends they didn't get it. Jenny gave me her phone number, telling me later she never thought that I would call. I called her I think the next day. Little did I know that she would become like family to me, a best friend, a partner to literally walk along side in my new journey, and one that would stand along side me on my wedding day.
So, I was at church every time the doors were open. Volunteering for whatever came my way. Little fact (can't remember if I mentioned this in part 1) - my church was seriously across the street from my house. Over the next few months I learned that Jenny was going on a mission trip after the school semester was over in May. I so bad wanted to go. This was a first for our church so they had selected a few people for this endeavor. There were five, the only 2 girls were Jenny and another girl named Shayna. (How crazy another girl that said her name the same as me, well she spelled it differently though). Well, Shayna was at college and soon called home to our ministers saying she didn't have a peace about going. Since the planning was so far along they needed to replace her, they prayed about who would fill her spot. Another Shana! Kind of crazy. At that point, I had 2 weeks to raise my funds and get a passport. NO JOKE! I was so excited for the opportunity.
During the process to figure out how to get my funds and my passport I met another friend that would become a mentor, a sister, and friend to stand beside me on my wedding day as well - Heidi Neumann. Heidi was the financial secretary at our church. She helped me know all the rules for raising my support and in the process we built a friendship and soon a discipleship relationship out of it. We met every week to read through the old testament that summer. Needless to say I grew a lot in God's word, it was the first time I had ever read the old testament. I had all kinds of really dumb questions. Heidi embraced them all.
You are probably wondering if I raised all my money and got my passport in that short of a time. OF COURSE CRAZY! It was a time in my walk with the Lord (as early as it was) that I knew that I was supposed to be going on that trip. I seriously got a passport in 1 weeks time, which is unheard of. Obviously, God was in the midst of it. I also raised all my support.
So now you have met Jenny and Heidi. Two friends that God has put in my life and walk that have been instrumental even today. Both were my maids of honor on my wedding day, and I can't thank God enough for their love, friendship, and influence in my life, even as we have lived miles and states apart. They are more then friends they are sisters to me. God used them to teach me what it meant to be a follower of Christ those first years.
Mission trip soon came and Jenny and I were on our way. I was ecstatic. This was my first airplane trip as well as my first mission trip. It was an 8 hour flight to Argentina. When we got there, I learned how to share my faith, pretty much all week that is all I did. We went to orphanages and danced on the streets of Argentina in order to build a platform to share the gospel. It was an awesome time. Lord again revealed himself to me to teach me new and marvelous things. During that week, God revealed to me that he wanted me to return for a more extended period of time. When I returned home from this week long trip to tell my mom that I needed to go back, she was excited. My new church family was excited for me as well. Soon after returning home, I learned that Jenny had that same call. I was thrilled that we would both be returning in August. God had given me a partner to walk through this journey with.
That summer I had my self-induced lesson on finances. Like every other college student I got a few credit cards in college. I learned really fast when I got home from Argentina, if I make no money I can pay no bills. That meant the debt I had accrued needed to be paid off before I left or I couldn't go. This was one lesson that has stuck with me every since. I never again wanted to be bound by owing someone money because that meant I robbed myself of the freedom to do whatever God wanted me to do. I worked hard that summer to pay off my credit cards, working 2 and sometimes 3 jobs. Prepared myself to live out of 2 trunks for a year. When August came, Jenny and I were once again on an 8 hour plane ride back to Argentina, but this time for 12 months.
To be continued...
Truett Dean with Big Dean
We heard that eggplant parmesan does wonders to send a woman into labor, so tonight we gave it a try. Not knowing where to go around town I looked online for places that had this dish. Other than the chain restaurants there wasn't much. So I called this place called "Volare." The guy spoke with a thick Italian accent and said that they normally didn't have the dish but he would speak with the chef. He said they would make it for us so that's where we went. We couldn't have picked a better place. The service was fantastic and the food...whoa. So great. It was pretty pricey but this is probably our last "date" for a while. And in this case we really got what we paid for.
There's a movie theater here in town that shows movies on Tuesdays for $5 all day - new movies. A few weeks ago we saw Harry Potter (Shana's pick). I thought it was just ok. Kinda boring actually. Today we saw Transformers 2 (my pick). Maybe not my best choice but we pick our movies on how good they'll be in the theater versus on our T.V. (the "wait and Netflix it" technique). I went into Transformers 2 with the lowest of expectations. I almost didn't even go see it (which is why it took us so long), but I figured it was about the only thing out that I want to see - except The Hurt Locker which looks great. So since my expectations were very low the movie was actually pretty good. Although the Sam's parents were utterly annoying and the twin robots were unbelievably stereotyped and pretty racist. Other than that and Megan "too much collagen in my lips" Fox, the movie was pretty good. It was a good fun summer movie. The story was better than the first and it kept moving. There was lots of dizzying action which is very typical of Michael "story? what story? just blow stuff up" Bay. But, low expectations coupled with the fact that Optimus Prime is the man... er, robot?, I enjoyed it. I think Shana did too. Now if that baby will just come out! If we have time I want to see G.I. Joe (which is getting great reviews), Hurt Locker and Sherlock Holmes when it comes out.
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