it's a college life for me!

on april 1st, 2013, i started classes at oregon state university. being april fools day, i was hoping it was some sort of joke, however it was not. after almost 3 years of being out of school, i was back. back to homework and taking notes, heavy backpacks and long walks from my car to class. i am majoring in computer science and was quite nervous about programming. while, yes i am good with technology and i enjoy learning, i have never programmed in my life. i didn't even know the different programming languages. honestly, i had no idea there was more than one! why doesn't every use the same one? wouldn't it make life so much easier? but i won't get into that.

why computer science, you ask? honestly, i don't know. being the logical person i am, i had a list of qualifications that my major/future career had to have. things like a good job market, able to do full and part time, and something that i am interested in. after much research, computer science it was! what do i want to do with it? who knows. i have some ideas, but really, i don't want to be a career woman. so i'm just taking it one day at a time. we'll just have to see what happens!

so there i am, in a class of about 150, with maybe 10 other females. woof. talk about a man's world! but it's honestly not so bad, and i can always find someone who is willing to help me! it was good to get back into a routine. i've always liked school, well i've been good at school which is about as close to liking it as i think i'll ever get. computer science has been ridiculous, trying to figure all that out. it really IS a whole other language. but i cannot describe the sense of accomplishment that comes with figuring out how to make my program work! and boy, can i do some cool stuff. i can guess a number that you are thinking within 5 guesses. and i know that is going to come in VERY handy in my future. (sarcasm intended)

i took a speech class spring term. i had taken one before, but it didn't count for a computer science degree, so i "got" to take another. actually, i wasn't worried about speech at all. i've always liked to talk. (for one, i'm a girl, and for two, i get it from my dad) i became especially comfortable with sharing my thoughts during my DTS. i was actually excited to maybe share some of my passions and beliefs during my speeches! i did learn one thing, i say "umm" ALL THE TIME. especially when i am not sure on what i am talking about. so i had to learn to correct that, and correct it fast! i was able to talk about my time in colombia, as well as homeschooling. it was cool to share some things that ordinarily don't just jump up in conversation!

i did have to take summer classes. (insert sad face) i was very upset to find that i would have to spend 5 hours a day in class and at least another 3 doing homework! but i got through it. my dad helped me see that it was really only 8 weeks, and that in the scope of like, 8 weeks is really nothing. and one thing is for sure, i learned a lot in that short amount of time! plus, if there was any summer to have to take classes, it would be one where i was recovering from a broken ankle! yes, i did brake my ankle at the end of april, but that's another story for another post.

so now i'm on "summer break" which is a whole six weeks! i plan on living it up, and soaking in every second! classes start again on september 30th, but let's not even talk about that yet...

i am alive!

well hey there everyone! i know what you are thinking. and yes, it has been a very very long time since i have written anything. see, i was in colombia for two months with only access to an ipod. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO TYPE A BLOG POST ON AN IPOD? trust me, i tried. then i gave up. and when i got back, it was all to emotional and stuff and i told myself "i need to process." then life picked up speed and honestly? i forgot. whoops. but guess what? i remembered! so here's a little bit about the past three months. some things i may go into great detail and others i might barely mention. it's just what my brain deems important for today. :)

i left for colombia with a team of 14. we came back with 9.... and a half......

JUST KIDDING. it was really safe. but i do think we all left a little bit of our hearts in colombia. the people are the nicest. the kids are the cutest. the weather is the most humid. the oranges are the sweetest. the language is the most spanish. ok, enough of that.

we were first in a city called pereira. we stayed at the ywam base there, and got really close to those who live there. the base just started up and they only have a few on staff. yury, the director. her sister, paula and paula's 10 year old son, andres. and a guy on staff named sebastian. oh, and of course, our translator, steve. they were all so nice. even though we didn't speak the same language, i really do consider those people family. here's a picture of our main "living room" at the base.

we did a lot of street ministry in pereira. we would just go to a park and start doing some dramas and testimonies and people would start to gather. we ended every time with a prayer time, and we SAW God move every time. sometimes it was hard because we didn't speak spanish well enough to talk to people and we only had 2 translators for our entire team. but one thing we learned, is that if you are faithful to step out, God is faithful to reward you. there were so many times on this trip where we would look at each other in shock that we actually talked to this person, or prayed with this person when we speak two different languages! i was able to pray with this girl to accept Christ on Christmas Eve of all days! it was incredible.

while we were in pereira we also did a lot of other things. we did some prison ministry. we played with orphans. we went to a drug rehab center, and a home for abused girls. we did lots of prayer walks and went to a lot of youth groups. it was an amazing time of MINISTRY every day. we learned the importance of constantly filling up on God, because you can't pour out if you are on empty!

after 3 and a half weeks, we flew down to leticia. it's on the amazon river, literally a 5 minute walk form where we were staying to dip our toes in the amazon. not that we dipped our toes in. we wanted to keep them. :) it was also a 10 minute walk to brazil and a 10 minute boat ride to peru. it was fun to be in and out of all three countries in one day, like it was no big deal. our time here was a big character developing time for ALL of us. we stayed at the ywam base again, and were working with an organization called MMI. (medical ministries international) they were putting on an eye brigade, where people would come and get their eyes checked and even get different surgeries for dirt cheap. it was a really cool thing and we were anticipating running a kids program! they told us they expected 100 kids every day, for two weeks. this was going to be our time. we all love kids and couldn't wait to just play with them. well, it so happened that the turnout was much less than they expected. we didn't have very many kids, and most of them would be gone by noon. we got discouraged fast, but like i said, we built character. we were able to put into practice things we learned in lecture phase. things like "spend quality time with God" and "you can choose your attitude." that was our theme. "I CHOOSE TO HAVE A GOD MOOD!" the opportunities that God provided us with were amazing. we were able to go to the island 4 times, and we really got close with the kids and this one family there. it was a time of just loving on them. not needing to see them ALL get saved, but just showing them that we care. this is a picture of two girls on my team playing games with the younger kids. we played a LOT of pato, pato, gonso. a.k.a. duck, duck, goose.

later we went for a three hour boat ride down the amazon river to a village. we stayed there a week and did all sorts of things. we played with the kids a lot, did some prayer ministry at houses, painted a medical clinic that MMI is trying to set up there. we also bathed in the amazon river. AND WE DIDN'T EVEN DIE! it was delightful. but it was so cool to live with the natives and just live so simply. here's a picture of me with a bunch of village children.


overall, my time in colombia was amazing. i learned so much about who God made me to be. i was able to step out and take a leadership role. i was the "official" photographer and i led worship. but more than that, our leaders wanted us to take charge of our own trip. they said we were only going to get out of it, as much as we put in. and i didn't want to come away with regret. God was able to use me to motivate and encourage the team, and i love that He grew in me discernment for when to say things and when to not.

it is so hard to be away from my team. i grew to love them so much. but i know that God has a new exciting adventure for all of us!

i start full time at Oregon State on april 1st. i'm excited to start doing something. i'm praying that God will give me a huge heart for the campus and everyone on it! it's a wide open mission field that i have the chance to impact for God's kingdom!

isn't that what life is all about? living THIS day, for THAT day? that day when we'll finally get to see God face to face? and that's one incredible adventure, if you ask me.

{operation hot cheetos and takis} colombia 2012

tonight is my last night in the united states of america for two months! tomorrow thirteen of my fellow ywam'ers and i are heading to colombia! we will be there for 8 weeks doing all sorts of ministry. we leave monday night at almost midnight (so almost tuesday morning) and will be arriving at our final destination about 11 tuesday night. it will be a very long day of traveling for us, including an eight hours bus ride in colombia! i am so excited to go and see all the crazy things God has for us to do! i just want to leave already!

seriously, i had a whole blog post planned out, and now i can't remember a thing because i am just so excited! i truly can't wait. here are some things you can be praying for:

• safety for our team
• flexibility, as we are not sure of all that is going on, especially when we first get there.
• that our focus would be seeking God's face. if there is anything we want to come back from the trip saying, it's that we encountered God like never before. 
• that encouragement among the team would reign supreme!
• for help with the language! a lot of us speak a little spanish, but pray that we would pick it up quickly.
• for our team leaders, Jenna and Joel, that they would have wisdom and strength! 
• that God would stretch each one of us on the team!

thanks to all who have supported me with finances and/or prayer. it is so greatly appreciated! i will not have internet access much, but will try to keep everyone updated as much as i can! we will be sending out a weekly update to the ywam base in denver, and they send it to whoever we request. so if you would like to get the update, just let me know! 

alright, COLOMBIA HERE I COME!!!!!! 

10 more days!

i only have ten more days in the wonderful state of colorado before leaving for colombia! i can't believe it's gone by so fast! we only have 6 more days all together, because one of the teams leaves early friday morning! i have so loved living with all of these people. i know tears will be shed when we head our separate ways, and i don't even want to think about how we'll cry when we graduate in february. but no thinking about that now.

last night we had a "girls night." everyone got all dressed up and we went to a little restaurant and got dessert. there was some miscommunication about the room we reserved, but as we waited we did lots of fun stuff. we took pictures by the christmas tree, and even had a mini dance party in the hallway! it was a good night with all my girls.

today is love feast. it's a tradition for every dts. our's is christmas themed, so we all get to dress up super fancy and eat a good meal. one requirement is every room has to give an "offering". it can be a song or dance or skit, just something that brings entertainment and joy to the rest of the group! my room has been working on it for awhile, and it's gonna be SO GOOD. i seriously can't wait. there will definitely be pictures, and i'm hoping someone will record our bit so i can show you all!

until next time! adios!

information overload?

twelve days until we leave for outreach! i can't believe that in three weeks i will be in colombia. and even more so, that i will be there for two months!

two weeks ago, our speaker was Donna, who is our "mama" up here at eagle rock. her husband mark is the director of the school, and they are both the sweetest and coolest people ever. she taught on "hearing the voice of God" or more like "discerning the voice of God" because in all reality we hear Him more than we think. we just don't always recognize it's Him. all the information she taught was so good to hear. it was helped me to realize that i am actually hearing God's voice more than i ever thought.

wednesday afternoon started our official thanksgiving break! it was a time where all curfews were lifted. the wii and xbox were brought out. and we feasted on food galore. it was such a fun weekend, doing a lot of nothing and spending quality with those who also stayed up here. we did go black friday shopping. we left at 10:45 on thursday night to hit up the mall that opened at midnight. we didn't get back until 4:30ish. it was a crazy, fun time! watching all the crowds. i love being a part of all the hustle and bustle. the rest of the weekend was so chill. i did miss my family, but i am so grateful to have a family up here at eagle rock that is so loving!

last week was outreach prep week. BEST WEEK EVER. let me tell you what happened over the week. i got married, had three kids, became super greedy, partied hard, and became a marionette like thing. haha crazy week, right? basically we learned dramas and puppets and kid's ministry stuff, like make balloon animals! i'm also in a dance to the song "shackles" which is so much fun. we were divided up into our outreach groups to learn all of these. so it was kind of our first heavy realization that we would all be splitting up soon. but it was great. i am so excited for outreach.

saturday was our big shopping day, where we got a bunch of stuff we need for outreach. we went all over the place! a group of us decided to stay in denver for the parade of lights that was happening that night! so we walked around this huge outdoor mall, and ended up finding a great spot in a parking garage to watch the parade from. guess what? we even saw some colombian dancers in the parade! it was so cool! everyone who was going to colombia was cheering so hard for them! but it was a fun day of just being with friends.

on sunday i went to one of the churches called bridgeway. it was what they called "ywam sunday." one of the staff members spoke and another gave a testimony, and then we had a ministry time where all of us from ywam went up to the front and prayed for anyone who wanted prayer. it was a really sweet time. i was able to pray with 3 people, and then last lady i prayed with was so encouraged by it, and in turned i was encouraged. it was an awesome opportunity to practice for outreach, and also practice hearing God's voice!

monday was our day down the mountain. our small group had a photoshoot! it was so much fun. we shared our photographer with another small group, and one thing we learned about ourselves is that we love to get our picture taken! haha we could have spent three times as much time doing different poses! it was a delightful day of laughter.

this week is the life of Jesus week, taught by all the different staff up here at eagle rock. we actually missed most of class yesterday because the colombia team had to go get our shots for outreach. it was the fastest two shots i've ever had in my life! our nurse lady was a pro! but when we got back, mark rounded all the students that were around (most of the africa team went down a little after us to get their meds) and gave us an assignment. we were to split up into our outreach teams and create a drama or a skit or something about the life of Jesus. we were only given 40ish minutes and the first 15 of those the boys spent goofing off on rollerblades and such! we needed for everyone to be involved, so i mentioned that maybe we should do the story of Jesus' death and resurrection, but to music. so we played with that idea and a few other ones, until one of the guys mentioned the song beloved by tenth avenue north. so it just all came together really fast of a girl who is broken and hurting and Jesus going through His story, all the while doing it for her. it was a genius idea that i got so excited about. well by the time we talked through it we were able to only run through it two times before we had to go present in front of everyone else. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD. seriously, we did amazing. (not to brag) but God totally gave us that drama. i'm hoping we can perfect it and maybe even use it on outreach!!! :)

well, i need to head to class now. thanks to everyone for your prayers and support! i am so blessed. God is good!

so many things!

wow the last ten days have been so crazy! the weekend after the musicians left we got about 4 inches of snow. it was one of the laziest weekends we had since i've been here. we sat around and watched movies and did nothing all day long. i did get restless, so i rounded some people up and announced a photo shoot! it was so fun. we did a bunch of random stuff, and then it started snowing really hard, so we all had to run inside! then on sunday, we did more movies and games. over the weekend, a couple of us girls managed to get 5 of the guys to get a pinterest! it was so funny to help them figure it out, and has been even more funny seeing all their pins that they keep on pinning! we had lots of laughs that weekend. :)

this last week was "Holy Spirit" week. our speaker was a pastor from a local church here in denver. it was an interesting week for sure. it was a little rough. some of the stuff that went on was crazy! but i did learn a lot of stuff i didn't know. we had one day where all of us students were prayed over, and that was really encouraging. thursday we had outreach prep, and it was spanish lessons! it got us all really excited for our trip! on friday, the guys and girls split up and we just had a big group talk. it was really good to talk through some stuff with girls that were dealing with the same things! it's so true when the Bible says that no temptation has overcome you that is not common to man. it was a sweet time.

this weekend four of us girls came down the mountain. holly's sister heather was so kind to let us invade her apartment and hang out! we had lots of girl time watching movies and laughing and eating ice cream. i am so going to miss these wonderful friends that i have made. but no thinking about that now! we still have lots of time to be together. :)

next week is thanksgiving. it will be so weird not being home! i'll miss all the food you make, mama! especially all the dessert! we will be having a big thanksgiving dinner party up at eagle rock. and i've heard it's pretty amazing.

outreach phase is coming so soon! i was given the job of "worship leader" for the team. it was the one thing that makes me nervous! God has a way of stretching us for sure! our team is getting so close. i know it's going to be a super productive trip. we're going to do CRAZY cool things for Jesus. i have about 9 days until the remainder of my funds are due. i'm hoping to raise $1000 in support! if you would like to help me just send me a message on facebook or an email. alexandra.price.5941@mail.linnbenton.edu
of course i covet your prayers as well! pray for us especially the week after thanksgiving as that will be our outreach prep week where we learn all our dramas and do intensive prep!

well, hopefully i won't wait so long before writing again! love you guys!

rest

this last week we had the musicians dts come up to eagle rock. they stay down the mountain, but came up for  week and saw what it was to live up here! it was spiritual warfare week, and there is no doubt we were getting tested. it was great to have them up here, but there were so many people around that it was easy to get annoyed at someone. i really saw how close knit of a family we are up here. we had to get over ourselves and remember to love on everyone else! it was a stretching week for sure, but very fun. we also had some epic games of volleyball go on. (i'll tell you more about what i learned later.)

also, today we went to the graduation of a dts that just returned from outreach. it got me so excited for my outreach. but i started tearing up at the thought that we will be in the same place in three months. having to leave everyone and say goodbye! i don't want to even think about it! i love this place so much!

hopefully this weekend will be one of rest and relaxation. i'm so looking forward to some chill time!