cozumelian symphony

how much fun is it to leave home and live outside of your usual character, right? my evidence comes from this quote from my extremely conservative, sunday school teaching, silver haired father: "why in sam hail would they not play the ymca right now? i mean i just think that sounds like the exact opposite of a great idea." it was a brilliant idea, much to my dismay, my dad had been bouncing around our snorkeling boat with a couple of nice young texans named quinn and scott, that happened to be very enebriated at this point in the tour (4:30pm). it's just not normal what these people do here. i can easily consume 10 ice cream cones a day, my dad doesn't.
that being said, i've daily snorkeled and woken up with the sun. i know right? it's probably sinful on vacation to not sleep in, but if you've seen a caribbean sunrise you know the view redeems itself. the infinite expanse of placid, royal blue and turquoise water combined with phil wickham's "because of your love" is teeming with the essence of our Creator. as i've discovered this aquatic fantasyland, and my immense enjoyment and delight in it, filled with fish of every rainbow color and even a shark, i'm utterly amazed. as my bro-in-law dave and i flippered around, i simply marveled in the beauty of this "whole new world". more deeply in my life i found a too unfamiliar "new world", and brotha/sista is it hard. my man hunter challenged me to memorize 1 john3:16 with him, essentially nothing is greater than laying down your life for fellow people. exhibit b: as i've read this dale carnegie book on how to make friends, i've ran across countless quotes saying "people are genuinely interested in us, when we are interested in them"-billy shakespeare.
as i was caught on to some subtle hints the Lord had been dropping, i started talking to the workers here at the cozumeleno and i met edgar at breakfast yesterday. a strong believer in Christ and i got to encourage him multiple times and i've experienced great joy from it.
if you're my friend and reading this, i'm sorry. i haven't loved you, depending on the person, even close to as well as i should have and i hope you'll forgive me. i love you even if i don't show it well. it'll make Jesus look so sweet as i love people more and i can tell people it was him.
it's almost as if i can say "i see you God. i know what you're doing with me." and it's hard, boy is it hard, but i absolutely love it.

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 corinthians 4:6-7

drawing near to him-sdsp 09'

As I unwind and process the experiences of this sultry season, I find it a sweet taste in my mouth. I feel like a top 3 list will best describe the epic journey and will satisfy my compartmentalizing tendencies. I hope that you will enjoy knowing me more and just to see how I’ve known life and God this summer

3. San dog for a summer.. can’t be beat. surfing, longboarding by the ocean, la playa’s cali burrito and the Jesus flowers at UCSD just to name a few. a summer littered with trips to scripps, laguna and huntington beaches, eating the best corndog and having the best nap of my life, working a beth moore conference with 3200 moms and kevlar, seeing the Albuquerque city lights backed up to the sandia mountains with my best friend from project, and capping it off with 2 days at the happiest place on earth leaves me at a loss for words.

2. the people from project are just priceless. on paper, people from virginia tech, new mexico state, st. louis, okstate and the dakotas (to name a few) wouldn’t seem that compatible but it’s amazing how our deep love for Christ bonds us. late night trips to in-n-out burger and hours at the pueblo, condo g and the banana boat made for some of the deepest friendships I have in life. sharing a barely queen sized bed and life with a bro all summer gave me my best friend from project and a trip to va tech is in line in the fall to sustain some of the dearest friendships I have. my growth group consisted of 4 of the hungriest and best men I know and I can see nothing but great things coming for these men of faith. as I met multiple women, I was deeply encouraged by the beautiful faith and trust they have in our Lord, especially by one sister like figure I will miss dearly. my discipler k.g. made enormous deposits of wisdom and affirmation into my life that I still feel the fx of. the appreciation I want to portray to these men and women can never be truly put into words, but i like how paul put it in Philippians when he said he “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” because our relationships were just that, centered around Christ and deeply enjoyed.

1. lastly I can’t be thankful enough for what the Lord did in my life this summer. i joked about never hearing the gospel last summer, but i truly heard it this summer. i never really got what Jesus was talking to the woman at the well about living water like I do now. as I sat on the banks of the rio grande yesterday, true love was again revealed to me. God’s undying, compassionate agape love for me consistently stirs my heart and allows me to live and die for him daily. only with Christ at the center can i live a satisfied life.

I’m excited to be back in God’s country with my family and other sweet friends that I miss, but I know that in my heart an Ebenezer (1samuel7:12) has been constructed that will always remind me what the Lord did this last 8 weeks.

-mandy candy

1st grade journal, revisited

in an effort to express the current state of affairs in my life, which i would say are at more of a low tide, footprints disappear in the sand stage, this sophomore address will be in a simple form.

i like california and if you're not here, i'll straight up mourn for ya. i like chicken nuggets and i like what happened to the denver thuggets. i like to eat ice cream with a blueberry and i don't think that having some sprinkles makes me a fairy. i like the banana boat and i'll take milk and cookies any day over a root beer float. i like to smile with d1, after long days of talking with ladies in the sun (that's my boy gettin it done!) i like to listen to michael scott, or maybe dan allan, they both drop it like it's hot. i like sunny days and cool water on my feet and talking with newman, that boy don't miss a beat. i like to think about my baby niece/nephew even if your months old is less than two. i like to think about my dog titus and my main man rudy lee and know that you both miss me. i like to put my hands together and pray walking out by the bay after a typical project day. i like that i share a bed with kfed, he's just my bro and i know that we'll be tight wherever we go. i like to run and play and just know that i can't be stressed, i'm blessed and i'm followin He who's best. i like to play with my friends even if we don't ride in a benz, we enjoy just living a life where Christ paid for our sins.
good night friends, much love
-mandy candy

magical classification

so i've been thinking about who i am a lot lately and it's led to soul searching and the sort. this manifested itself last night in a deep conversation with my good friend jon newman, who also designed my blog page (thank you for that again, you're the best!), and we discussed what houses we would belong to at hogwarts. jon is a very shrewd character and as expected he was put in ravenclaw. surprisingly, the briggs-meyer test resulted in my placement into ravenclaw. i decided that i would most like to be in no, not the stereotypical gryffindor, but rather hufflepuff. but please hear me out, i have my reasons that are revealing about my character. i am primarily drawn to the house of badger because of the good hearted nature of it's inhabitants and more importantly, the imminent opportunity to lead with the recent departure of cedric diggory. this is telling of my character in that i'm not drawn to people because of their intellectual capabilities but rather the goodness of their hearts. i also enjoy the God given desire to lead others successfully and i feel like those characters are generally moreso drawn to the likes of being a gryffindor lion. nevertheless, i would really enjoy the personalities of those that roam the earthy den that is the hufflepuff common room as oppose to the pompous slytherins, cerebral ravenclaws or even the valiant gryffindors. it's really just biblical to be around those who are good in heart, i mean look at this.

Psalms 37:1
1Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

i rest my case.