the coolest thing happened today!

so. today. mom and I had our monthly mother-daughter thingamy.

all this I-need-my-India-fix finally came out. about a month ago, we talked about it and she let me pick the place we were going to eat lunch at, and the "beauty treat" thingy afterwards. I'm like - Naan 'n Curry all the way! they have THE BEST Indian food I've had besides in India. the manager dude there is really cool, and the second time I came in he remembered me, because I was wearing a selwar kameez each time. we've talked (rather guardedly) about my trips, and India. today he was there again, and I asked him where in India he was from; he said Bengal, which is North Eastern India, like where Calcutta is. He told me he'd worked for a long time with Mother Theresa. well I thought everyone in this place was Muslim so that surprised me a little, but we talked more and he told me he'd been in Gujarat in 2001 when the big earthquake hit, helping with relief work, and that Gujarat is where his heart is. Then, he said he'd met a teenage Sikh girl who converted to Christianity and got all kinds of trouble and persecution from the government, and he'd told her if she came to America to find him - she did make it here and now he's helping her get settled in and stuff. So we're like, "are you Christian?" I totally thought everyone there was Muslim because they make a big deal on their website about how they only serve "halal," or "lawful" meat. (basically like Kosher only an Islam term instead of Jewish). But he said, "yes, I'm a Christian." and it was just the COOLEST thing ever!!!!! I now know an Indian Christian at my favorite Indian restaurant, not teribbly far from where we're trying to move to. I want to go back really soon and talk to him some more. I'm actually thinking about trying to get a part time job there when we move..........perhaps. but I was just thinking, God is so amazingly good to bring us together like that, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for that relationship!



In other news, my horrible youth group worship team that has been playing worse and worse, loosing people, and falling apart at the seams, had a meeting last night instead of practice, and we just hashed things out. It was wonderful. we talked about communication issues, apathy issues, leadership issues, musical issues, south dakota team issues, and figured out some consequences for not showing up and not calling. and we got everybody's contact info too. AND, today, Friday, we already have the music for next Thursday, ready to be practiced all week!!!!!!!!!!!!! Things are already so much better since we just all agreed to face the problems and fix them. I'm so happy.
However, please continue to keep my youth group in your prayers. outside of the worship team getting better, there's still lots of stuff going on that needs healing. we're loosing people in really weird circumstances, and apathy is extremely healthy here. but hopefully, the healing will start with those of us on the worship team and spread through the rest of the group through our example. lots of weird guy-girl stuff going on that's not good. everyone says it's spring, which it may be, but I hate to see it happening, especially in what are supposed to be healthy Christian relationships. and these people are all my friends, so it's slightly awkward. I'm just trying to be there for everybody, because I don't know what else to do. just keep praying.



tomorrow, I'm going to henna myself!!!!!!!! at least, I will try. I've never done it before. that's my beauty pampering treat. we bought two cones of henna paste, so I can do all sorts of amazing pretty stuff. each cone cost $5.00, which really isn't that much; you get a fair bit. however, we got back in the car and I looked at the cones, which have English and Hindi stuff on them. there's a little price that says "Rps. 10.00" ten Rupees per cone. I'll do the math for you - that's about 25 cents a cone in India. 5 dollars here. I was really sticker-shocked by that. of course, there is shipping to take into account.....

so what kind of design should I do? something in Hindi? something LotRish and pretty? something just kind of....somethingish? I haven't decided yet.





oh and by the way, it's now officially settled. I AM coming to Camp Hope, through Thursday morning. sometime Thursday my dad will pick me up, and then we'll meet my youth group in Eastern WA for the South Dakota trip. but at least I am coming for more than half of camp!!!!!! sent in my registration thing today......yay!!!




and Father/Daughter Camp is this coming weekend. In less than a week we'll be on our way there!!! PLEASE keep my grandpa in your prayers. As you probably know already, he isn't a Christian, but he has a Catholic upbringing and he's fairly open to listening. well he's coming to camp with me and my dad, and I'm really praying for his salvation - if not this weekend, that at least he will get even closer than he is now to learning the Truth. he's so close I know - it just needs to be covered in prayer.