Hands Across The Border

Every year, the university I attend takes a group of people down to to Ensenada, Mexico on a mission trip. The group breaks into different ministries such as VBS, Women's Shelter, Orphanage, Men's Rehab and Construction. I did not have a very positive attitude about coming on the trip in the beginning. I kept thinking, whats going to compare to last year's trip? But at the end of the week, I was so happy that the trip slapped me in the face and turned out to be even better than the last. I was a part of the VBS group, later known as PBS- painting bible school. My team and I, lead by our fearless leader Michaela, painted churches all week. It was physically exhausting. At the end of each day we had a church service at local churches at which my team and I got to play with the kids and share bible stories. It was so cool to see that although we were so exhausted from painting all day, the kids gave us so much energy. They always wanted to be held and noticed, I'm such a sucker for the little bratty boys.  Although painting was not nearly as emotionally draining as other team's jobs, it was super awesome to hear the pastors of various churches that we were their answers to their prayers. These are churches that are extremely run down and the community does as much as possible to provide and help out but its a very very poor area. We painted in order for the churches to look good, for people to keep praising Jesus and the word to continue to be spread. Everything for the Kingdom of the Lord. Coming out of the trip, I can gladly say that I have 5 new awesome friends with whom I stuck with all week dancing around to We Can't stop and singing High School Musical while painting. I am so ridiculously thankful that we were all put together, PBS fo' life. The whole team was rad, seriously. These trips just keep getting better and better. Jesus is so freaking good!

SPRING BREAK 2014!

 the parachute that made the kids go crazy

 PAN DULCE!

chico

 serious painters

so much for a mug shot...

 momma Duck is the cutest

 "For God so loved the World he gave his only begotten son"

 working hard or hardly working?

 little Isaac

 thrifty ice cream 3 days in a row tehe

 my team leader is such a hottie!

13 tacos later...

 

 

 

 

thinking tuesdays

I cannot believe that there are only 8 weeks left to my fourth semester in college. Where does time keep going? It is in our human nature to try to keep everything around us in control. Control time, control life; it’s exhausting…seriously. I honestly can say for myself that I have been getting really caught up in planning what’s next for me, what’s the next big move for Alba? It seems as of lately, every time I make a plan for myself, God shuts it down, almost saying, “wait, there’s something so much greater for you, you've just gotta wait!” But to be honest, patience has never been my strongest suit. I feel like the remote on my life is in constant fast-forward and I want to hit pause so bad to stop worrying and live in the right here, right now. I’ve always thought it's so cliché when people say “Worried? give all your worries to God!” Yes, it is powerful, but being completely and brutally honest, it’s so freaking hard to do that!!! Definitely easier said than done. This has been one of the things I have been learning to do this past (school) year. Patience and trust go hand in hand. “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14. Our lives have already been planned out by our Almighty God, all we need to do is allow him to steer out boat into the right direction. There are so many decisions to be made during these next two months: where am I living next semester, am I studying abroad, who will my roommate be, what classes am I taking, where am I working during the summer. I keep avoiding all these questions because the thought of needing to have an answer so soon freaks me out!

But check this out-

“Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act.” Psalms 37:7

God will meet your needs according to HIS perfect plan! Doesn’t that bring peace into your life? He is so incredible!!

song that kept going around in my head while writing this:

the fear // Ben Howard

 don't take pictures and drive ok

my favorite visitors

Although I only live two hours away from home, I don't visit too often. My mom has always said that it is easier for me to come home than for all of them to drive up (hence why they've only visited me three times in the past two years…). My dad was at the races in San Felipe so he couldn't come but I was so incredibly happy to see my brothers and my sweet momma. I was home three weeks ago, but still this past week all I wanted to do was pack up and drive down because I really, really missed them. Anyways, they drove up Saturday afternoon and after settling in at the hotel, we headed out to the lab, shopped around and got dinner. The next morning, I took them to the morning service my home church, RockHarbor, and I was so happy that they enjoyed it. We got brunch at Summer House cafe (now I see why people have been raving so much about it) and drove down to Balboa Island. It was really overcast, but , surprisingly, it was not very cold! Elias is a camera wiz and is extremely talented at photography- most of the pictures where taken by him. My family makes me so happy, they're my safe place, they're home. We missed ya, daddy. 

follow Elias on instagram (you won't regret it)

@yesterdayss

here's our gloomy day pics

 

 

he's such a hottie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my mom loves her selfies… no shame