Pastor Justin
July 5 2008
This last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach my first sermon at a real church! I was very honored that they asked me after only being at the church for the last 5 months. All in all I think it went pretty well. I received some encouraging feedback anyway. If you want to check it out here's the link:
http://www.sermoncloud.com/realitychurch/love-is-good
I have a tendancy to talk really fast when I speak in front of large groups. I didn't realize how fast it was till I listened to the sermon. I think when I get nervous somewhere in my brain I think that if I just talk faster it will be more interesting. Really it just doesn't give enough time to think about each point. This will be the biggest thing I'll work on next time delivery wise.
This was the longest speech I've ever done (32:00). With shorter speeches it's easier to keep everything I want to say fresh in my mind; my notes are there just in case. This time I had to really rely on them. I ended up rewriting them after the first service from the sage advice of one of our elders.
I've also never done the same speech twice in one day before. I didn't think about this much beforehand but it was a little bit challenging to get into it the second time. I forgot to say some things in both services but I was more prepaired for the second so I think that one turned out better all in all.
It was a really good experience for me if for no other reason than that I got to think about love all the time for two weeks and telling the whole church what I'm working with regards to that will help motivate me to live it out better.
Moving... Again!
January 5 2008
It's time for our annual move. We've been looking at houses in Olympia for a week or so. We filled out an application and gave our notice, so unless the landlady backs out then we'll move in on February 2nd. She told us that she didn't want us to add or do anything to the flowers or yard, she has someone take care of it. She is in luck because we end up killing everything we try to plant. This past summer we killed eight plants! I am not exagerating, we are dangerous!
Everything is wonderful about this place with the exception of the carpet; it's a hideous blue-green from the early nineties. A quick stop to Ikea should fix that pretty well though. The neighborhood is awesome, behind us is a gated retirement community. We're really sick of all the loud neighbors we have now, so that will be a nice change of pace. And we should finally be able to get some people to play pinochle with!
We've been thinking of moving up to Olympia since before we were married. We're bummed we have to leave everyone here but we just don't care for Vancouver and Justin misses his hometown. And besides Justin works from home so there is nothing tying us down at all. Please pray that we will be able to get everything packed up and ready in four weeks, Dahlia and Valen have other agendas so this should be interesting.
How I love Japan
January 4 2008
Japan is crazy, and I say that with love. Here are some examples, enjoy.
Flash Mob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj0Ma2CsHME
Toilet Prank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsDbOMJOMgQ
Spa Prank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omu4G8igoVc
Rice Rice Baby
December 17 2007
Do you like people not starving?
Do you like improving your vocabulary?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, you should go to...
You answer vocabulary questions, for every one you get right, 20 grains of rice donated to needy people. It's fun and it makes you feel good inside, or at least slightly better.
