{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!

humidity, mosquitoes, and children

so as of tuesday, we officially were divided into our outreach teams! my team to colombia is composed of twelve students and our two leaders. Jenna, our fearless leader, is fantastic and fun, super passionate, and kind of wonderful. Joel is her assistant leader, and his passion is ministering to turtles. we have six guys and six girls. our team is wonderful. tonight we had our first team meeting, and one thing we had to do was share a few of our strengths and weaknesses. i was amazed how balanced our team is! it seems like every time someone said a weakness, someone had a strength to counter that! everyone is so strong in their faith, and just really loves people. it's going to be an incredible time, i can see that already. we've been praying about the theme of our trip, like what God's heart is for us in this time. and we got this verse that has become our theme verse for the trip.

"and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." -Romans 5:5

we were told most of our itinerary for the trip. we'll spend the first three weeks in Pereira. we will be working with a local church that is starting a new church plant. we'll be doing lots of things including going into orphanages and working around town. we get to spend christmas and new year's there, and i'm so excited to get a different holiday experience! then in early january, we'll head south to Leticia. our biggest thing while we are there will be working alongside a medical team to put on a medical brigade. we are basically handed all the kids for two weeks and get to do whatever we want! they're expecting between 80-100 kids that we get all day for two weeks! we'll do games, dramas, stories, face painting, even a soccer tournament! on the 26th of january, we will hop on a boat and go on a 6 hour ride down the amazon. we'll make our way in peru and spend a week in some remote villages. this is the only christian organization the villagers let in because they offer medical help. we'll be roughing it ywam style. no showers, no bathrooms, lots of mosquitoes! exciting, huh? we'll then head back to Pereira and do a few more things there for a week. it's an incredible trip to be had! 

and here is a team picture! it was an informal picture for our contact down in colombia, so we'll get an official one soon! from left to right, in the back we have jeremy, brady, taylor, caleb. the middle is emery, me, jenna, kelci. and in front is hannah, maria, joel, and kara. 

I'M SO EXCITED! 

i'm making bacon! would you like some fries with that?

Today I was in charge of weekend kitchen crew. That means there is a group of 4 or 5 of us who have to cook and clean up after breakfast and dinner. we get about 2 hours to make dinner. so when we showed up and realized that we were supposed to make roast beef (which takes 5 hours) we decided to sawp out meals! Unfortunately we had no meat thawed, so we made BACON! I was given the ok to make whatever, so we made a unanimous decision to make blt’s. they were delicious. And now I smell like bacon!

On Thursday and Friday we spent our days reflecting on the Acts 1 conference. We had different prayer rooms and large group times to just process all that we had been seeing and experiencing. It was super relaxing and renewing. Saturday we went to the mall. It was actually very fun. I just loved spending time with the 6 other girls that were in my car. So fun. Also we went to the ARC and I got two grandma sweaters for $3 a piece! So good and so warm. Perfect for this cold weather we have been having! The snow has not melted completely, and I’m sure we’ll be getting more soon!

This next week is relationships week. it’ll be good. Also we find out for sure who is on our outreach teams! Once that happens, I’ll be sure to let you all know more about it! But I am really so excited for our trip. The people that are interested are such good people, and we have an awesome leader!

Well, now off to watch “what about bob?” I’ll write more later!  

indescribable!

we just got back from the Acts 1 conference! it was an amazing experience. we spent three days seeking God's face. we had three three hours sessions each day. we spent that time following the Spirit's leading, worshiping, praying, teaching, ministering. it was seriously a powerful time. God was so faithful to me in His promise of "seek and you shall find". i sought His face so hard this past few days, and i FOUND HIM. it was an awesome time. i was so blessed to be a part of a group of this generation sold out for Jesus. there were times when i cried my eyes out. there were times when i was dancing with joy. so good.

i've also been getting closer to my family here. it's so good to be a part of such an encouraging group. i love my brothers and sisters! p.s. also, shout out to my small group leader mary. she's amazing. talks to me just like i need it. you're the best!

yes, this post is short. but i can't express what my heart is feeling! God is good.

is this boot camp?

there we were, all sleeping peacefully in our nice warm beds when all of a sudden an alarm was blaring and lights were flashing! the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night! (ok, so it was really 6:30. but it was dark and felt like the middle of the night!) we all jumped out of bed and scrambled around to put pants or a shirt or shoes or whatever we needed on. the girls were awesome and we all made it to the gym (our meeting place) super quick. it took about 20 minutes of just waiting around in the cold before the fire department came and let us back in the buildings. it turns out a light bulb was sparking and set off the alarm. everyone's ok. but it did feel like we were in some sort of boot camp!

last week was "Father Heart of God" week. our speaker took lots of time letting us soak up who our Father is. it was a good time of learning and experiencing Him more. today we leave for the Acts 1 conference. it's a conference for all the YWAM schools in colorado. we will spend three days together with worship and teaching and lots and lots of fellowship. {p.s. there's also chick-fil-a} it will be a fun time down in colorado springs!

saturday was a very productive day for me. i slept in. got lots of writing that i had to do done. i skyped my parents and a friend. worked on a puzzle. played some volleyball and pool. 

then, as i was wandering around on pinterest i saw this amazing dessert. i showed some guys and they got so excited, one of them bought the ingredients for it when they went out. so a few of us baked! it was so fun. and tasty! basically you take a pan and press chocolate chip cookie dough in the bottom, cover that with oreos, then pour brownie mix on top and bake it. SO SO SO GOOD. here's a picture from the blog i saw it on. they were gone too fast for me to get a picture! 

and then we finished the night off with 3 hours of murder in the dark. usually when i play this game i get accused as the murderer straight away, whether they suspect me or not. so i was really surprised when i was one of the killers the first round, my partner in crime got eliminated the next round, and i kept killing and my name wasn't even mentioned like at all! it was soo good! one time i killed three girls and then i thought two people saw me so i killed them fast too. and i got away with it! it was crazy! but that night was really fun. 

i am genuinely loving my family here. it's such a blessing to be so close to these people. 

and now it's time for lunch. p.s. mom, do you want to mail me a pizza???!! ;)

the character and nature of God

wow. i thought i would be writing more. i really did! maybe that'll change now that we're in a pretty set routine. :)

our first week of teaching was on the character and nature of God. our speaker was Pastor Blake Mattocks, from a church here in colorado. it was so good. Pastor Blake had such good information and truth about who our God is. and he made it so applicable at the same time. he didn't just throw a bunch of theology at us, but had deep information that was totally relatable as well. i'll try to sum up the 15 hours of teaching into a few short points, but i just might overload you guys.

the goal of Christianity is transformation. everything else flows from there! 

gifts are given, but character is developed. you will never rise above the limitations of your character!

courage is choosing conviction over compromise.

learned truth must become living truth. most often we learn things in "public" but master them in "private."

you live the testimony you choose! 

contentment is a learned behavior. it is a secret discovered through spending time with God. it frees you to enjoy what you have now. 

"when are you going to enjoy the process of walking with me?" -God (this hit me really hard)

Jesus will always identify Himself in the midst of a storm. 

changing the world is not always doing the great thing. being a world changer is being the best at what God called me to do. 

the smallest act of obedience is always greater than the greatest of intentions. 

one of the best ways to stop judging people is to show them kindness! 

celebrate the little wins as spectacular wins! 

and of course we had a teaching about "monsters in the dark" that were hiding inside of us, while we were hoping we would just "outgrow" them. it was a powerful time of getting into small groups and stating what those monsters were and declaring the truth over them and then praying for each other!

on monday i was part of a group that went around arvada praying for and reading scripture over important places in the city. we stopped at the fire station, police station, hospital, high school, and a middle school. aww man, when we pulled up to the middle school my heart just broke. i just love those kids. i miss highlife a lot. but it was a good reminder to pray for them on my drive back home! (which is 40 minutes each time we go up or down the mountain!)

i'm really loving my small group. we are such a diverse group of people. mary, our fearless leader, is a crazy woman of God who hears from God in crazy ways. did i mention she's crazy?!? alyssa comes from a rough background and has quite the testimony. she's dealt with everything you can think of and Jesus brought her out of it! shanteyl comes from a messianic jew background. emery is from a cow farm and is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. i know Jesus put us together for a reason!

oh, and i got two packages already! SCORE! :) one from my wonderful aunt and uncle that contained cookies cutters shaped like each of the continents! so cool! and of course my mama sent me cookies and rice krispies. i needed some sugar! i love you guys!

well, i should go to bed. it's officially and hours and ten minutes past my bedtime. :P

class time, old people, and brownies.

hey everyone!

well it's been a crazy whirlwind the last few days! we finished off our first week with more bonding stuff. we played a scavenger hunt/pictionary/charades games and my team totally kicked butt! it was so much fun. a couple girls and i also built a fort! seriously, we spent like an hour making it perfect! it brought me back to when i was younger and we would make forts and put blankets inside and listen to odyssey for hours. so much fun.

weekends we have it pretty much free. saturday there is always a "trip" that we can go on. this weekend some people took a trip to target. i stayed back and was going to go on a hike that was organized. unfortunately, the weather was cold and icy and we had to cancel our hike. so it was a super chill day just hanging out and doing nothing. on sunday we went into town for church. after that we pretty much did nothing. we've been playing lots of volleyball and pool. yes, we have had to read a book for a book report we'll have to do next week. but other than that it's been real fun.

monday started our "normal schedule". every monday we'll go down the mountain to the base in arvada and spend the day there. in the morning we have a group worship time, followed by small groups for a couple hours. after lunch we are given the chance to do some laundry. a group of us went to one laundromat and another girl and i walked until we found a grocery store in search for some ice cream. we bought a half gallon of ice cream and demolished more than half of it! also, it was really funny to watch the guys do their laundry! when we got back to the base guess what we did? that's right, more volleyball. :) after dinner we have community outreach. my group went to the care center. it was so much fun talking to the old folks there! they are so full of joy. it was fun just laughing with them. then we went back up the mountain to eagle rock. it was kind of weird going from "home" at eagle rock to the base down in arvada. i almost felt like a stranger! but it was good to get to know the students and staff down there.

today we had our first official day of class. it was good to get into a routine! our speaker for the first week is amazing. already we've learned so much. i can't wait for the rest of the week! oh and also, TODAY WE GOT BROWNIES! they hadn't given us any sugar yet and i was so craving so dessert! but that craving was satisfied and it was so so good. oh, we also found out our work duties today. i am on dinner prep. so i get to cook dinner four times a week! it's fun! so much better than having to do dishes.

right now, almost everyone is watching tangled. it feels like it's been a month already. i love all these people so much. but for now, time for sleep!

day three

well, so far my time at dts has been amazing.

i live in a room with 5 other girls. it's SO much more spacious than i thought. and yes, we do have to keep it clean as we have room checks. :) i really love the girls that i am rooming with. we are all pretty different, but everyone is so genuine that i think this is gonna work out well.














we have been doing so much already. today we drove up to estes park and went for a hike. it was crazy! either it was really steep or i'm really out of shape. probably a little of both. it was beautiful though. so many cool rock and trees. i just wanted to snap a million pictures, but i restrained myself! when we got up to the top we just hung out, ate lunch, and prayed a little for the countries our outreaches are going to. here are a few pictures of the sights i saw at estes.

this first week is very much a "bonding and get to know the camp" week. we've had to share a short little testimony and it's been awesome to hear everyone's story. i honestly really like everyone here. we've had a few worship times, and they've been so good. yes we have homework, but no worries. it's not due for another two weeks! you can pray for me though. today has been super tough. i'm struggling and confused about a lot of stuff. i just want to be open to whatever God wants to teach me during this time. but it's hard.

it's only day three, alex. there's so much more in store! i can't wait to share it all with you!

and I shall call you... Eagle Rock!

well, I MADE IT! here i sit, in my home for the next five months. a lovely little place in the mountains of colorado, called eagle rock. it's HUGE! there are three main buildings, plus a gym and a prayer chapel. it's quite nice.

the drive was relatively uneventful. we drove two cars because we drove our friends car out to them. (they left their car in washington when they moved to missouri.) one car held mama, hannah, and i. and the other was papa and maddie. books on tape, movies, and sleep made the drive go by pretty quickly. we stopped overnight in utah, and had to jump in the pool even for a few minutes before we went to sleep! a full house marathon was running. BONUS. :) there is one thing that happened on our trip that is most definitely news worthy. we were driving along and didn't really want to stop. however, maddie really wanted cream cheese for her bagel and all the cream cheese was in our car. so what else did we do but try to pass it in moving vehicles?! there we were, driving 75mph, windows down, both maddie and i giggling like crazy. but thanks to my AMAZING athletic abilities, i threw her a couple packages of cream cheese, no problem. i'm sure the old man behind us thought we were crazy, but hey! memories, right? so after another long day of driving, we made it to eagle rock. we're here early, as school doesn't start until monday. somehow we got it ok'd to stay here, and i'm super glad we did! i'm stoked! i can't wait until this place is filled with a bunch of crazy people who love Jesus. we're going to have some incredible times.

yes, i think i'm gonna like it here.

The Last Supper

ok, not the LAST last. i'm not dying or anything. but it was my last supper at home for five months! tomorrow i officially embark on this next chapter of my life. we leave at 4am. the drive is about twenty two hours long. so with a stop to sleep in utah, we should be arriving in colorado on thursday night. my stuff is all packed. goodbyes have been said.

i am ready.

will i miss home? yes, probably. it's a little scary going off on my own. (even though it's not really on my own at all) but it is away from my family, my house, my friends, my comfort zone. i teared up when my mom was giving me advice from what she learned from her ywam days. as excited as i am, i will miss my family. my dad's jokes. my mom's hugs. talking movies with zach. helping hannah and maddie pick an outfit for church. the good food. fun family fridays. ya, i'll miss it. but it's not forever, right? right.

and while i am a little sad and sentimental, i am also so anxious to just get on the road! i can't wait to meet new friends, (some that may be friends for life!) be in community with fellow believers, play some epic volleyball. i know God's got something in store for me, and it's going to be incredible.

i would appreciate your prayers for safe travel, and for all other things while i'm there! hasta la pasta!

The Beginning

i am not a writer. i have never enjoyed writing. math. i like math. but unfortunately solving an equation online will not let you all know what is going on in my life. so writing it is. i don't promise to be eloquent. i don't promise to have long posts. i don't promise to write often. but i do promise that i will write about what is important to me. if something happens that rocks my world, i will tell you. also, i promise a little humor. now all you have to do is promise to laugh with me. :)

the purpose of this blog is to let everyone know what is going on while i am gone in colorado and beyond. while i could skype each and every one of you and tell the same story over and over, i don't believe i will have time for that and i would just get tired of telling that story after about the second time. so blogging it is.

my last year of high school i found myself with the age old question "what do i want to do with my life?" i was torn between school, work, and doing this crazy thing called ywam. what is it? Youth With A Mission. {or Young Women After Men or Youth Without Any Money} basically a 6 month program where you do 3 months of school and learn how to do practical ministry, and then you go out into the world for 2 months and put it in action! i grew up knowing about ywam. my parents both did one back in the day, and i always thought it would be cool to do one as well. well, it didn't pan out to do one. God was taking me in a different direction. so after two years of it still being in the back of my mind, i was thrilled when God said "yes" and i got accepted! so now i am headed to colorado. i will be near denver. it will be cold. it will be hard. it will be so so so good.

this is the story of my adventures. it's only the beginning. God is good!