A huge gift

See the big crack on the right side below the bridge? Yeah, not a good thing. Greg's Ovation has been having some BIG problems lately, and the poor sound techs at church have not had fun working with it either.

Well, here's his new guitar!!!

We bought it in New Hampshire today! God provided in unimaginable ways for us to invest in this, and it's such an exciting gift! We trust God will use this as an instrument for His glory...

Greg has hardly put it down since we got home... It sounds amazing!

Tufts at Pops

Through the generosity of Tufts, Greg & joined some of my co-workers for Tufts at Pops last night. The famous Boston Pops lived up to their name! And Conductor Keith Lockhart was quite the entertainer! We meant to take a picture of us in front of Symphony Hall, but it was really windy and cold. Maybe next time. ;)

Annual Zombie March

Greg & I had one of those "only in Boston" moments last weekend. We were walking in Cambridge with our friends Dan & Ann, actually on our way to an Arts Festival at our church. And a guy runs past us looking really disoriented and with a huge spot of what looks like blood on his shirt. The four of us look at each other like "What the heck just happened to him?" And then we see police cars a couple blocks ahead and a massive group of people with signs walking towards us. Next thing we know, we're about to run into a crowd of hundreds of "zombies" who are making their annual march for who-knows-what. Let's just say we quickly crossed to the OTHER side of the street and waited until the long line of marchers had dwindled before attempting to continue on to church. Words cannot express the peculiarity of this scene. They'd painted their skin white, tattered their clothes, covered themselves in "blood", were walking slowly and limping, chanting odd things... One word comes to mind - CREAPY. Though Greg & I have encountered many an odd scene here in Boston, this definitely topped the charts!

Barista?

So I promise I don't work at Starbucks, but I sure do look the part, don't I? :) Greg and I laughed that my work outfit fit the Barista role perfectly this day! (Ang gave me one of her Barista aprons since I could never find one I liked.)

New Friends

Manali (Ethiopia), Mamuna (Somalia), Ruksana (India) & daughter Namira, Jesmin (Bangladesh) & daughter Atkiya, Cece (Libya), Rachel (Haiti), & Fizola (Bangladesh)... We had a room full of women tonight at Rindge Towers English Conversation Class! And four women volunteers came to help as well! What fun! I was happy to see that six of the ladies returned from last week. I'm thrilled to have their friendships and excited to see how they develop over the summer...

Conversational English Class!

Tonight was a refreshing night. Our church, Hope Fellowship, is hoping to partner with a nearby apartment complex in providing various community services. One of those is - drumroll please - English language help! Yeaaaa! So after praying over this opportunity and meeting with our community outreach guy at church, I decided to help out for two weeks with their new English Conversational Class. It was so much fun! Other than showing up and having the coordinator ask what I wanted to do with the night (let's just say, I was thinking, "What? I was supposed to prepare something?!"), it was a wonderful time to be with internationals who desire to improve their English skills. (And the coordinator, Scott, did end up facilitating the time. *sigh of relief*) Barely over a year ago, I returned to Michigan from a month in Denver carrying with me my TEFL Certificate and wondering how God would use me in the years ahead. Hopefully, this is one of those answers. On my way home from the class, I felt God giving me passion and vision for how He can use me, Greg, and our church in the lives of these people and their families. Oh that they would know the God of Glory... That they would live lives of wholistic worship to the King... I love what God is doing in Boston!

I haven't committed to leading this conversational class yet, but it sure seems God is leading me to that. I'll facilitate the time next Wednesday evening; I'd love your prayers for Greg & me as we make this decision.

Worship

I was reading a book this morning our pastor gave Greg. It's on worship. Actually, the writing itself was quite dry. But God really spoke to me through it (or rather the 30+ pages of it that I've read), reminding me of an essential perspective -- His character. The author states that worship is our necessary response to God. It's true. How can we know what we know about God's character and not worship Him? Good reminder for me. I've been pretty overwhelmed with my own repeated sinfulness recently. And I just needed reminded that looking at God is the better way to live. Just a little comment for ya tonight...

Greg & I went out for dessert this afternoon, and I meant to take a picture and forgot. Oh well, I promise we'll have more pictures of people! (If you want to see adorable baby/kid pictures, there're a plethera of choices to the right.)