Weekend: Liberti Fairmount, Public Transportation, Center City and Rittenhouse Square

Alright, so it's been a few days since I've written a blog. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! I sure did :)
So, Saturday I had the morning free to explore. However, I ran into two problems. One: it was real rainy and cold. Not good weather for walking around and exploring. Two: I didn't have exact change for bus fare...
Needless to say, I didn't go exploring on Saturday. I did, however, drive around Philly. Yeah, crazy. Justin came and he rode with me while I drove the prayer tour in his car. Driving around the City Hall on a Saturday is no fun. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. When we left the housing site I had predicted that I'd get honked at at least 3 times because I'm not much of a city driver. I only got honked at twice. Score! :)

When we got done I just chilled at home. I had a webcam date with one of my best friends and that was a grand time. Me and Mr. Sanchez enjoyed some nummy nummy tea.

And yeah, it was just an overall good evening.

Yesterday morning I went to church with Kelsey at Liberti. It was a solid contemporary worship and I really enjoyed the message! Mr. Sanchez didn't come along, but I did catch him taking a peek at the bulletin.

Got home from church, chilled a little bit, then I walked down to the corner store and bought a soda so that I would have exact change for the bus. Then Mr. Sanchez and I ventured in to Center City and I wandered down to the Barnes and Noble in Rittenhouse Square. Yesterday it was so beautiful outside. The sun was shining and just, aw! It was lovely. I got on the right bus, got off on the right stop. I am familiar enough with the streets that I didn't just completely wander around having no idea what I was doing. It was some solid exploring, even if I didn't stay very long [about an hour and a half]. I love how electrifying being in the city is. I love all the crazy little things you see that you generally wouldn't see in a small town...like, for example: I'm walking down Chestnut St. in Rittenhouse Square, on my way back towards the City Hall. I'm looking around, taking everything in...and I see this guy, walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the road, with a coffee table under his arm. Haha! He just looked so casual about it. It was great.

Here are some pictures that I took before I got the bus back home. [They are in no particular order whatsoever] Mr. Sanchez napped during most of it, but I woke him up for one picture.

"Way to disrupt a wonderful nap, Emily. But hey, City Hall is nice."

The bus ride home was good. There was this really cute little girl with her grandma a few rows up from me and she was just so adorable. "Grandma, how do you spell strawberry?" "Hey Grandma! I can spell too. C-A-T. Do you know what that spells? CAT!" "Grandma, this tooth is loose, but this one isn't." "Give me a word to spell." She was just so cute. I love kids. Love how filled with joy they are. Love the light they shine with those bright eyes and those huge grins.

More relaxing when I got home...wrote some letters, because snail mail is the bomb diggity.

Anyways, that was my weekend. I'm going to write a seperate entry about today. I'll probably write it sometime tomorrow, cause I'm tired!

Remember that you are loved <3

 Hugs and love,
Emily and Mr. Sanchez

Philly Cheese Steak!

Tonight I experienced my first Philly Cheese Steak :)

It was DELICIOUS. I suppose I got a pretty generic one...I only got provolone on it, but...it was soo soo good. So, if you're ever in South Philly around South St and 4th St, go get a philly cheese steak from Jim's. Granted, that's the only place I've ever had one. I do believe I'll be going to Geno's at some point and I'll let you know my final decision on which one has the best, but Jim's set the standard pretty high.
Mr. Sanchez didn't come along for the ride. He will experience philly cheese steak eventually. He did, however, enjoy the rest of my Ting from Carribean Delight [the Jamaican restaurant that we ate lunch at yesterday.]

Ting! Ya Man!

Today I also went to a few more of the different sites we go to. I didn't go and talk to anyone at these sights, I just gave Justin directions to each site so that I could see where they're at, where we go in at, all that jazz. The afternoon was filled with "classroom" time where we talked about debriefing groups, conflict resolution, and I took a personality type test and we talked about characteristics and which are really helpful to have as a city host. We were supposed to be eating at the Malian restaurant tonight, but they're currently waiting to open their new location, so Kelsey and I headed down to Jim's for philly cheese steaks instead :)

Tomorrow I have the morning off, so I'm going to brave public transportation and take the bus to Love Park and wander around Center City and just..well..be a tourist, haha. Mr. Sanchez and I are going to take some pictures. I'm also going to go to the Barnes and Noble over in Rittenhouse Square. Then I'm meeting Justin back at the housing site and I'm going to practice the prayer tour for awhile. So, maybe tomorrow night I'll post some pictures of mine and Mr. Sanchez's time spent exploring the city.

I hope that you are all having a splendid day/night!

Hugs and love,
Emily and Mr. Sanchez

First few days in Philly

I'm officially in Philly!
So, last weekend was counselor reunion, which was fabulous. It was really great to see a lot of people, a lot of my "family." We had some beastin bible studies and worship, which was uber refreshing before leaving for this adventure. Sunday night I got to hang out with Martha, Sarah and the munchkins, which is always a blast and a half. And then Monday morning, the adventure began!!!

We left for Nashville pretty early in the camp van. Gotta love the camp van. I took a cat nap on the way there. Mr. Sanchez enjoyed the ride.



Got to the airport. Checked my bags. Helped an older man get the knot out of his shoe laces so that he could take his shoe off to go through security. Didn't get selected to go in the body scan thing [yay!]. Then I just chilled for a good 45 minutes until time to board the plane. Now, I haven't flown much. I flew to NYC and back in Fall of 09. But I love it so far. I managed to snag the last window seat on the plane, which was fabulous. It was rainy in Nashville when we took off, but soon we rose above the clouds and BAM! Sunshine :).

Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again

This was the first time Mr. Sanchez had ever flown anywhere before. He liked it a lot, and spent some time looking out the window.

"I wonder if they have any bananas...I don't really like peanuts"

It was a rather uneventful plane ride. My left ear was not being very cooperative at all and wouldn't pop or anything like that, which was a tad uncomfortable. They gave us two bags of peanuts instead of one, and I mostly just read and looked out the window. I saw a few jets go by. Like, those fast ones that leave a trail behind them. That was really neat. 1 hour and 55 minutes later, we landed. It was amazing seeing the city from up in the air.

This was probably where a lot of the nervousness started kicking in. The "what ifs" started filling up my head. What if my bags got lost? What if I couldn't find the person who was picking me up? What if I told them the wrong day? On and on. But, I found my bags just fine and right after I found my bags, I found Kelsey :)

The drive to the housing site was nice. She took the scenic route and we just talked a little, found out a bit about each other. Upon arriving, we took my things up to my room on the second floor [which I share with my lovely roomie, Mo.] I unpacked and went downstairs. They gave me a bag of goodies, which was super duper nice. It had my staff manual, my map, some pens and highlighters, hand sanitizer, lotion, chapstick, peanut m&m's, cookies, pita chips, sweet tea and my keys in it. Mr. Sanchez approved.

Monday and Tuesday I just hung out. Monday night I went to the grocery with Kelsey. Tuesday morning I went to Freshgrocer with Mo to get groceries for breakfast and lunch during training. Both were fun times, and really gave me my first glances of the city. Aside from that, I mainly just read in my manual and things like that. Tuesday I joined Justin, Kelsey and Mo for Bible study and I got my schedule and folder for training.
And then yesterday, the fun of training began!

Yesterday, after eating breakfast, Justin, Kelsey and I got in Kelsey's car to head out to go to our first site visit of training [at Salvation Army.] I got in the car only to find out that I was in charge of giving directions! Woo, crazy stuff. Luckily, the manual has directions from the housing site to each place, so that's helpful. They weren't too hard on me :). So, we went to the Salvation Army and talked to one of the guys there. Talked about the work that groups will be doing there, a little bit about the different things that they do, things like that. Afterwards we had some time before going to our next site, so Justin and Kelsey took me on the prayer tour. The prayer tour is one of the first things we do with groups. It's a 2ish hour tour that goes all over the city. Going on the prayer tour really let me see a lot of the city. It was rather foggy yesterday morning! During the prayer tour we stopped to visit another site. The lady we talked with was so passionate, and you could really tell that she cares about the kids she works with. After that we finished up the prayer tour and headed back to the housing site. We had lunch and then we had some "classroom" time. Talked about cultural differences, language learning...got to know eachother a little more...all that good stuff. Then off to supper at one of the restaurants we take groups...an Indian restaurant.

Now, let me just say this...I am a picky eater. It isn't something I'm proud of or anything. I have gotten more adventurous the older that I've gotten, but I am still super picky. So, aside from learning how to get around Philly, I think one of the things I was most nervous about coming into this was the food. Taking groups to a ton of different ethnic restaurants, eating food I never would have dreamed of eating. Last night was a definite step out of my comfort zone, haha.

The Indian restaurant has a buffet. I went up and got food and started to come back to the table when Justin laughed at me and told me to go get some of the two things on the end. The two things on the end? Definitely not anything I had much of a desire to eat. But, I got them and sat back down. They were both kind of like...stews? I don't know. One was a redish color with chicken in it, and the other was brown with lamb in it. The other things I'd gotten? Rice, some bread, a fried chicken thing and some fried vegetable thing. So, yeah...if he hadn't told me to get what I did, I probably wouldn't have ventured very far. The red chicken stew stuff was quite spicy, but it wasn't too bad. And I actually really liked the lamb. I'm pretty sure it's the first time I'd ever had lamb, haha. Then we got dessert. I got something called Gulab Jamun. It's milkballs in a honey syrup. Um...can we say DELICIOUS?! It was so good. For real.

Anyways, when we got done we got in the car and I had to give directions back to the housing site [I had given directions there as well]. Justin told me I was doing really well at giving directions, which was really great to hear! It's really been a lot more simple than I expected it to be. Not that it isn't still hard. Just...I feel like I'm getting the hang of it a lot better than I expected.

When we got back, we debriefed and then I had a date with Google Maps...going through the prayer tour, trying to take note of landmarks by the different turns and things like that. Then I had ice cream with my amazing roomie and wrote a letter to a super lovely person :)

Today was similar to yesterday. We had a devotional this morning and then Justin and I went for two site visits. Both were really amazing and I'm looking forward to working there more. Then we met up with Kelsey at the Jamaican restaurant that we take groups to. Yeah, that's right....another eating adventure. Brown stew chicken, jerk chicken, and chicken and beef patties. Oh my! Oh, and more rice, which is always lovely :). I was a little unsure of the patties, but I really liked the brown stew and jerk chicken. I even brought home leftovers because the serving size was rather large and I couldn't eat all of my chicken and rice. I also got some yummy Jamaican soda called Ting. It's kind of like Fresca. After lunch, Kelsey and I went to another site and talked about the Chinatown tour [where we let groups explore some of Chinatown]. After the site visit, I practiced the prayer tour for the first time [giving directions] and Kelsey gave me lots of pointers. I got to see the skyline of the city and it was absolutely beautiful [I'll post a picture eventually.] We went back to the housing site, debriefed, and then headed out for supper at a Thai restaurant. Yep, another food adventure! Tonight I had wonton soup, chicken dumpling stuff, and tilapia with some crazy sauce on it. And rice, of course. Oh! And I tried some thai iced tea. I can't even describe what it tasted like. It was definitely very interesting, but I loved it. I actually really liked all that I ate tonight. Although I felt miserable afterwards because both lunch and supper were super filling. Now I'm just chillin. Been looking over the prayer tour and my manual some more.

That's about it so far. Tomorrow I've got more site visits, some "classroom" time and tomorrow night I'll be eating at a Malian restaurant [I'm kind of nervous!]

It feels like I've been here so much longer than I have been. I'm absolutely loving it! So is Mr. Sanchez!

Haha, I stole Emily's keys. She'll never find them now :)

Well, I've written a short novel for you guys. I hope that this finds you all well.
Remember that you are loved and that you are cherished!

Hugs and love,
Emily and Mr. Sanchez

Long Overdue Update!!

Alright blog, so I epicly fail at writing entries. It's something that I'd like to be a lot more...disciplined in. And and and! I think I may have the motivation now. That is my hope, at least.
So, the last time you and I were united was just after I'd gotten another "no." Boy do I have lots of things to catch you up on.
Naturally, I was bummed about getting a no from Chicago, but they were really positive about everything and I continued searching and I knew that if I hadn't found anything before then, that they'd be hiring for the spring. Wellll, I ended up reapplying with them for the spring and I was invited for a site visit in Chicago at the end of November.
Let me just tell you, the work that CSM does is amazing. I fell in love with the work that they are doing the first time that I checked out their website [back in Novemberish of 09, after a lovely friend told me that I should check them out]. The site visit to Chicago just made it that much more REAL. I had such an amazing weekend...I still can't accurately describe it in words. There's just something about being in the city [the meaning any large city] that makes me feel so...alive. I'm a small town girl, and I love living out in the country. The stars, the crickets, the smell of tobacco barns and friendly neighbors that wave at you every time you drive by. Those are just a few of the things that I love about the country. But the city...oh goodness. I guess it still holds a bit of magic for me, but it's not even that! Walking down the streets, surrounded by all these people that you don't know a single thing about. Buildings towering over you...watching over you. You'd think that you were more likely to feel alone with all the people and all the buildings. But I don't.
Anyways, rather than sit here and ramble about how much I love cities...I'll go back to rambling about how amazing CSM's work is :)
The site visit was incredible. I even enjoyed the lengthy drive there and back. The group that I shadowed was an amazing group of junior high kids and wow, did they shine! They had such an outstanding attitude the entire weekend, and I really miss the "party van." I was so glad that they were the group I shadowed! They immediately welcomed me and Sunday came too quckly! We went to 3 ministries on Saturday: a food pantry, a soup kitchen, and senior housing. Ah, but they were so much more than that! Outside the food pantry stood a long line of people, some who had been out there since 1:00am. All had smiles on their faces, smiles in their eyes, as they told us thank you as we walked towards the house. Greeted us with good mornings and compassion. The soup kitchen, a community of people who all had lifetimes of stories to tell. Stories that matter. Two men, joined together, changing the world. Changing my world. One of these men made me blush more than I ever knew I was able to. Talking about my smile and the hope I was bringing people. Grabbing the whole room's attention to introduce me, the girl with the bright smile, to everyone. Not realizing, that while he was telling me that I was making a difference, that it was him that was making the difference. His smile that shined so bright. Senior housing, a community of people from all over the world, brought together to be dedicated at bingo. Their excitement and enthusiasm.
We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant that night. I'm a fairly picky eater, so I was a bit hesitant, but it was good! One of my favorite parts of the weekend was Sunday morning, when we went to a local church. There was so much passion in the worship!
There's no way that the words I type in this blog are going to do that weekend justice. I loved it.

Anyways, I got an email from Chicago a few weeks later letting me know that they were still interviewing people and that it may be February before I found out if I was hired or not. They also told me that I may be contacted by other cities with CSM. Sure enough, I was asked if I would be interested in being considered for the same position in Philadelphia. Of course I was! So, we planned to talk on the phone that coming Friday. Friday comes, and about an hour before I was supposed to talk to them on the phone, I recieved an email from someone with the GBGM, telling me that a school in New Mexico would like for me to come work with them. It was a tad overwhelming. I'd gone from zero [known] options, to 3! One was a definite yes, and the other two were still possibilities. Craziness, I tell you. I love how God works. His faithfulness never ceases to amaze me. Anyways, I talked to Philly and they told me they would let me know early next week [just before Christmas!!] Lots of praying followed. Do I accept the offer at New Mexico and don't wait to hear back from Philly or Chicago? Do I wait, and possibly have to give up the offer with New Mexico? I decided to wait to hear back from Philly and go from there. Well, I got the best Christmas present I could have ever received. So, blog...

EMILY IS GOING TO PHILLY!
To be a City Host with CSM. In 5 days, in fact. The last month I've been filling out paperwork, getting recertified in CPR, reading, and packing, amongst other things. Right now most of my things are packed away. It's so close! I can hardly wait! I'm flying out on Monday. This weekend is counselor reunion at camp and I am SO looking forward to that.
I'm just so blessed. I don't know any other way to put it. This opportunity, wow. God showed me the door to walk through, and you better believe I've walked through it.
Now, I need to introduce you to someone...

Mr. Sanchez [who doesn't have a first name]...and some crazy girl named Emily holding him ;)

He will be headed to Philly with me, and he will be assisting me in my blog writing adventures.

So, blog, I hope that I won't neglect you anymore. I'm going to try really hard!
More later, hopefully :)

Absence

Hello blog!
It has been so long since we have joined forces to talk about my life/thoughts.
I really don't think anyone reads this, except for me.
Maybe I'll post the link on facebook or something. Haha.
I went back and read my other entries and it's weird how a lot of the things I said I still think about now.
I'm still wondering "Who is Emily?"
Maybe that's something that everyone wonders about from time to time.
I may not know exactly who I am, but I know that I am a loved, redeemed child of God. And that's the most important part to know about!

This summer was amazing. Not that I expected anything less than that.
Being an RC was a lot different, but it was a lot of fun. God blessed me with so many amazing campers, VCs, program teams, and fellow staffers. It was just an overall great experience.
I'm so thankful for camp. So thankful that God has let me be apart of the ministry there, and let it be a ministry to me, too. Camp is home and I absolutely love it. Love the community that makes camp what it is.
I'm going to camp tomorrow to facilitate ropes. Wooo!

Since the end of the summer I haven't been very busy. I interviewed for a position in Chicago with an urban missions organization. I didn't get it, but it was still really promising and I hope I get an opportunity to work with them in the future. I'm still actively pursuing mission work. You'd think it would be pretty easy to get hooked up with something, but it isn't. I've been doing a lot of searching, and a lot of waiting. Sometimes that's what you have to do. God has blessed me with patience and I know that with every door that closes, there is another door out there that is open, waiting for me to find it and walk through it.

I will write more later today!
If anyone's reading this, I hope you are having a fabulous day. Love!
-Em

Community

Yesterday I was thinking. Ya know, I do that a lot.
Anyways, I was thinking about peaks and valleys. Brokenness and community.
I want to lead a life where, amongst the brokenness and chaos in the world, I strive to hold on to community.
Community is a necessity in this world. Without it, where would we be? We weren't made to go through this life alone.
So then I was thinking...throughout life we travel a journey plagued with valleys and graced with peaks. They both make us appreciate the other and help us learn from each part of our journey.
I was thinking though...there are so many people in the world that are in a valley they don't feel they can climb out of. It's too steep.
I want to climb down from my peaks and help people out of their valleys. Help them climb. Give them that extra push or a hand to hold onto for support. Carry them if I need to.
Isn't that part of community? Supporting and encouraging one another? Helping when it's needed?
Not to be cheesy or cliche, but I think that's what Jesus would do.
I hope this finds you on a peak, overlooking the beauty that is life. But, if this finds you in a valley, I hope you know it's okay to accept a helping hand to emerge from the darkness that surrounds you.
May God's love be with you. Always.

Faith.

Sooo, today I was thinking about faith.
About how faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Which made me think... If faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, what could faith the size of mountains move?
Just a thought.
I think it's amazing how God works through us. How He uses us daily. But...we have to let Him. So, I think it's cool that so many people allow Him to work through them. I don't know...it's just....nifty.
Our God is indeed an AWESOME God.

Hugs and love.