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Sedona
Tuesday we headed to Sedona, “Red Rock Country”. Boy, are they right, I have never seen so many red rocks, well actually mountains in my life. Once we arrived we immediately stopped at the Church of the Holy Cross. It is a Catholic church that has been built nestled between red rocks. The view from the church was breathtaking.
After that we drove into the busy streets of Sedona and found a nice place to eat lunch. We ate at the Cowboy Grill. (something like that) After that we decided to do some hiking. Our first stop was Cathedral Rock. It wasn’t much of a hike because we got so far and the path just kind of ended. We were able to get some good pictures, but then just felt beaten that we couldn’t find our way. So then we decided to hike to the Devil’s bridge. To get to the trail head of this hike you had to drive 2 miles along a dirt road. Actually it wasn’t dirt, it was rock and boulders in this road. I barely did a mile an hour because of the bumpiness. We finally made it to the trail head and made our ascent to the top. It was a pretty steep trail and for a split second I knew that my mom and I should be making noise in case any mountain lions or other friendly guests were awaiting our arrival. But due to the elevation change our breathing could not take hiking up this mountain and talking! We go to one point and we ran into this couple who was setting up their camera to take a picture. The woman looked at us and said you’re here look up and this is what we saw:
We finally found our way to the very top of the bridge where you could stand on top of it. It was another steep climb, lifting yourself up steps and over rocks but it was well worth it!
After that we made our descent back to the bottom and got to our vehicle…now it was the hard part getting to the main road. We made it with a little help with a little thing called 4 wheel drive! Thank goodness for rental vehicles!
A New Rafting Experience
Yesterday day started out with a light breakfast from the Hualapai Lodge. After patiently waiting in the lobby, it was time to board the white school bus. We stepped outside and it was chilly. Chilly meaning, maybe if the wind hadn’t been blowing I would have been a little warmer but not by much. We drove on a dirt road only stopping once to stretch our legs and catch some quick photos of the scenery. I was freezing during the bus ride. The couple in front of me didn’t put their window up and the wind blew in my face the whole time. I was thinking to myself…I’m going to freeze on this rafting trip. We finally made our descent to the bottom and my eyes gazed upon the mighty Colorado River. The temperature at the bottom of the canyon felt wonderful….it was hot! While waiting for the guides to get everything in order, I walked over to the shore line and stuck my foot in…wow it’s cold. It was time to board the raft. My mom and I were with 2 other couples. The guide’s name was Clint, in his early 20s if not younger. He gave us the run down of safety and the schedule for the day. Ok, it’s game time lets do this. You should know that normal rafters know that the grade of a rapid is 1-5. Well the Hualapai measure their rapids on a scale from 1-10. The first rapid, was a 4 (more like a 7.5 f you ask me) and I thought that I was going to have to ask the guide to turn around in his motorized raft and drop me off. 
I felt like my right side of my face was going to fall off. The water temperature was around 46 degrees! It wasn’t so much the roughness of the rapid as it was the shock my body was going into! Okay, we made it through the first rapid and I’m freezing. But we end up going through 5 or 6 more. I can’t believe I didn’t fall out of the raft. There was one where I just went flying straight up in the air and just honkered down until we reached the calm of the river! Rewinding a bit, we stopped at this waterfall. We had to climb over rocks, pull ourselves over large rocks with a rope, climb two rope ladders until we made it to the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. The water was warm too, so I made sure to keep my feet and body in that water to try and warm myself up. On the way down, mom and I slid down one water fall and then rappelled off another to get away from having to go down those rope ladders. It was awesome! We had lunch on the river and then enjoyed a lazy afternoon of drifting down the Colorado, taking in the scenery and listening to stories of Hualapai people.
Our guide Clint was careful not to tell too many stories, because according to custom and tradition, he was not allowed to share some aspects of his people. Although, I froze to death and am pretty sure my body went into survival mode multiple times due to my body temperature plumpting numerous times, it was an amazing experience. At the end of the trip they drop us off and we climb up some rocks steps and come to a helicopter landing zone. They weigh us, put us into groups and then load us into a helicopter that takes us to the Skywalk and unloads us. At the Skywalk we are able to look at pictures of taken from the day. To conclude the day we board a charter bus and than drives us 2 hours back to Peach Springs, Arizona. What an experience!
Vegas & West Grand Canyon
Well, it feels like I have been gone a lot longer than 2 days. Mom and I were up for over 24 hours yesterday. We got to the airport around 4am and our flight took off at 5:55am. Both flights were smooth with the exception of the turbulance landing in Vegas. Getting to the car rental place and getting the car was quite the hassel. After we checked in they told us to go to row 7 and pick out whatever SUV we liked. When we went outside we asked 2 employees where row 7 was…the first walked away got into a Ford Focus drove it to us and said, “Here’s your rental!” We just looked at her and told her that were to have an SUV. So then a man came by and he told us to just take this one that was parked in the cleaning area. So weird!
Vegas was…interesting! My mom and I walked around while the sun was out and it was a lot of fun. My favorite casino is still Caesar’s Palace! That place is just awesome! Once the sun went down the freaks came out. People were drunk, loud, and crazy…th
ere are people on the street handing out sketchy stuff. Yikes! I also 4 homeless people at 4 different times! They were holding up signs, the first one I saw said, “Why lie? Need booze!” The second one said something like “Why lie, I need drugs, marijuana contributions will remain confidential.” The third was a woman with her small child and their sign said, “Homeless need help” and the fourth said, “Why lie? I need a whore.” That was probably the saddest most heartbreaking thing I have ever seen in my life.
I’m not big on Vegas…parts of it are neat, like the lights, buildings and the G rated shows! 
My mom and I went and saw the Blue Man Group. It was pretty neat.
This morning mom and I got up early and peaced out of sin city! We headed towards Hoover Dam which was a dissapointment. We couldn’t see it from the road we were on…we just went over this bridge and boom it was gone! But we kept driving on and arrived to the Skywalk. This was awesome. I was a little worried that I would be too scared to walk out on this glass bridge…but it ended up being one of the coolest things I have ever seen. We got to see the Grand Canyon and hike some. It was a really good day!
Tonight we are in Peach Springs, GA and we are staying in the Hualupa Lodge. We will be going whitewater rafting tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Ram sightings…
This post has nothing to do with my trip to the Grand Canyon…but I wanted to put this up here just because it makes me laugh. For graduation this year, I dressed up in the ram mascot outfit. I did this to get a student back because she is terrified of mascots. I was in the back waving at her as she walking back to her seat after receiving her diploma. Then I ran up to her to give her a hug! The pictur
es te
ll the rest of this story! Enjoy! 
Mom & Daughter Grand Canyon Trip
I’m busy getting my bags packed for a trip that my mom and I have been planning for the last 2 years. We will fly out of Richmond Saturday into Las Vegas, Nevada. We will spend our first night in Vegas then hit the road to the Grand Canyon. We have a lot of things planned for our trip…some of those things include visiting the Skywalk, whitewater rafting, and a mule ride into the canyon! I will be posting pictures and updates of our trip while we are gone, so stay tuned…
Hourly Weather Forecast for Bluefield, VA (24605) – weather.com
Lots of crazy weather in Bluefield, Bland, and Greenbrier! Everything at BC seems to be okay! Looks like a couple of tornados have been confirmed in these areas. Lot’s of rain, wind, lightening, thunder, and hail!
Hourly Weather Forecast for Bluefield, VA (24605) – weather.com
Light switch
The building that my office is located in is an old house that has been renovated and turned into offices. We use the “back” door as our main point of entry and that leads you into the waiting/kitchen area of our office. The light switch in that room does not work properly. There is a short in it, so you have to turn the switch on and off many times before the light will actually stay on. It’s important that this light is on when we are in the office so that students know we are actually in the office. Well this morning I stood there for a good 5 minutes flipping the switch up and down and it just kept blinking. So finally I stopped rested my head on the wall above the switch and just prayed to God for about 10 seconds…I said hello, asked to him to make the light work and that I loved Him and AMEN! What do you know, God answered my prayer and I flipped the switch and the light stayed on.
It’s amazing the little things God does to get our attention. He wanted me to slow down, stop what I was doing and acknowledge Him and let Him know that I needed Him over something as minuscule as turning a light on. I’m thankful for those moments, because it reminds me I cannot do this on my own, I need Him for every obstacle, even turning on a light!
Italy
This is Naples...
Italy was amazing. I walked a lot, saw a lot of things, met some awesome folks and for the first time in a long time felt peace and contentment. For a while now I have been struggling with many different things, but it all comes down to trying to find my confidence in Christ again. I wasn’t able to find any definite answers, but God was definatley working in my life and heart while I was away.
We are too cool!
While we were in Naples, we worked with missionaries that have been on the field for quite sometime. Our main contact was a journeyman with the IMB Connections, Grace.
Grace and I
She was amazing! She was with us the entire time leading us around Naples, ordering food for us, translating, praying, laughing, and just building relationships left and right. It was such a blessing to have her with us as well as our other contacts there, the Worthy family, and Abby (she worked with the group teaching English).
Our mission in Naples was to build relationships with Napolians in the neighborhoods as well as work with children, teaching them english as a second language. We broke up into groups and went out. Charlie, the missionary that has lived in Naples for 7 years used Luke 10:1-12 as our mission passage. (Read it-it’s good stuff)
Abby and I
New friends
You're still the man!
Me, DT and 3 students were in a group, but we broke down into smaller groups. So, DT and I went around the neighborhood and talked to some Italian folks in different businesses and coffee bars. We finally had a really good conversation with two Italian girls that worked in a coffee bar. We had a really good conversation and went back Tuesday and Wednesday to visit with them. On Wednesday were able to share Jesus with them and invite them to church. They were so much fun and I really wish I could have had more time to spend with them. On Wednesday we had translators with us and in the morning we stood in a Piazza and sang praise songs while the translators talked to passerbys. That day 5 souls were saved-AMAZING! It was so neat to see the Italian believers talk to these hungry and thirsty people. They needed to be filled with something more powerful and more filling than food or water. They needed the Holy Spirit and they were filled! Glory to God!!
During our time in Naples we were also able to attend a Gospel concert, visit Grace’s church and sightsee Naples and Rome.
Riding on a vespa with Joel
God is really using those on the field in Naples and it was such a blessing to witness to the lost and fellowship and worship with believers. Even though we did not speak the same language we serve the same LORD!
“And how can they preach unless they are sent? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.” Romans 10:15
The team
Wordless Wednesday
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