BRAZIL

I guess all I have to say is:

Deixei meu coracao no Brasil.

(I left my heart in Brasil)

And that's it.

It was completely amazing and definitely a LIFE-changing experience.

God taught me sooo much!!!


-Danielle

2 weeeks until BRAZIL...AHH!!!

ok so this past week was filled with busy-ness and loss of sleep..which has led to exhaustion.

The alpha and omega is an annual campout that my youth group has. It is for incoming 7th graders through outgoing seniors. The SMITE team also plans and runs it.

Emily and I stayed up until 4ish on tuesday night/wednesday morning making programs/schedules for the alpha and omega. We then proceeded to arise the next morning at 7:45 and go and have a work day at Bethany farms, the place where our campout was going to be. I got home at like 12:30 on wednesday and crashed...well outside in the pool that is. I then went to SMITE at 5:00 and then went to an evangelism class at 6:30 and then to an open gym at 7:30. We played volleyball and it was fun. There were a lot of skaters there playing too.

Then after working from 4-10 at igloo on thursday, I proceeded to the church for another work night with my fellow smiters. We were there until about 12:30 along with PW. As Brianna, Emily, and I were making our way out to my car, Brianna accidently dropped her glass plate right behind my car. Glass went everywere. So emily and I ran all the way around the building to knock on PW's window. He came outside and helped clean up the glass. As we were sweeping the parking lot at like 1 o'clock, a ranger/cop car pulled up and asked us what we were doing b/c I guess there were some drunk people on the other side of the parking lot....interesting. Sylvia, Rachelle, Brianna, Emily and I then went to Rachelle house for, yes, more planning.

Me and Emily stayed up until 5:30 am on thursday night/friday morning planning for the alpha and omega that was on friday. We decided that since we had to get up at 7:30 anyways that we would just go ahead and take a shower and spend an hour getting ready. We then went to MEijer and got a donut and some hodge-podge of coffe/hot chocolate/cappacino.

Friday was hectic. Hannah Rausch and I took on like 16 boys during a game of capture the flag. I went to bed about 2:00 am.

Saturday we got up at 6:00 am and it was raining i guess. So we went to Danny Little's house (which was on the property) and cooked breakfast.

I have like 3 blisters on my face from where grease splased up on me while we were making the french toast..



Oh man Brazil. It'll be a blast. Only 2 weeks and a butt load of more stuff to do.


But I can't lose sight of the REAL reason that I'm going on this trip:It's about God and HIs work.

Stuff hurts. But sometimes you just have to step back and realize that God in all of His glory and holiness is the ONLY one for you. He never fails you, lets you down, or makes you cry.

Jesus IS my firm foundation.

-Dani

HEY everyone... I haven't posted in like forever. I haven't really had that much time what with school. And now I am like overly obsessed with facebook. It's sort of addicting. Anywho... I'm still working at IGLOO. There is only 25 days left until I leave for Brazil. I'm super phsyched(I dunno if I spelled that right) about going. It's going to be a blast. We're staying with the Yoders, who are awesome. Regina is going to be there too. Mr. Yoder is such an awesome guy. They just had a youth fair for a church with 1 and a half families in it and over 200 youth ended up coming.. Yep that's COMPLETELY God. Just like last night... sort of got in a wreck... I wasn't driving, but we were fine.. the car wasn't. But someone we knew pulled up by us like a minute after it happened. God's pretty cool. He works in mysterious ways, but it's good to be surprised once in a while.

I'm so glad that summer is FINALLY here. I love swimming, swimming in the rain ...at night, synchronized swimming, and laying out... nothing beats that...nope nothin.

-Dani

Happy Easter

hmmm.... okay so last Monday I started at Igloo, and I have to say that I love it. I'm still learning how to make everything, but hopefully I'll get better. I worked Thursday and Friday too. Friday though...haha..... well there was a lot of storming going on. I was working the drive-thru and all of a sudden the tornado sirens went off. HOLY COW -- (ok i absolutely HATE storms and tornadoes are even worse) so I just went on as usual; although my heart was beating like so fast. We finished with the people going through the drive-thru. There was this one guy though who came through with his son and he asked me if I was scared. I told him that I hated storms and then he said that it's okay because they were storm chasers or w/e. He was obviously joking, but it calmed me down a little bit. We ended up closing early, but we still had to stay until 9:15. I had fun...haha....

SO anywho you should come and visit me at Igloo.

Oh yeah and Happy Easter to everyone... I'm so sad b/c I didn't get to have a easter egg hunt this year... and it's rainy outside... :(
BUT HE IS RISEN.... so of course I need to be thankful for Christ rising for the grave.

-Dani

TOUR

Well... FMT tour is over, BUT it was AMAZING! God allowed me to meet a ton of cool new people. AND to everyone on FMT - I love you guys; you are so crazy and so much fun. The bus rides were a good time to get to know some people better that I've known for a long time. From "Catch Phrase" to musical chairs and even Joel crawling like a spider all the way up the bus(which mysteriously left a trail of stench..hmm), we definitely know how to have fun and keep ourselves occupied.

The first day was full of "good times". First thing was the first truck stop that we stopped at. All was going well until we see this fat guy(of which I thought was a pregnant woman in labor or something) on the ground with his belly hanging out. I guess he had stolen something and this guy had ran after him and tackled him. And then a police car pulled up. Second thing was that we had to change into our formal outfits at a GAS station. Just picture 13 girls with huge duffel bags in a bathroom with about 4 stalls. Let's just say that we got done getting dressed before the boys did! And then we got to the Lietdke's church(God once again blessed us with really be-a-utiful weather)ate supper and then sang there. Then Sonnie, Rebecca, and I went and stayed with this awesome girl, whose name was also Danielle. I'd have to say that "Danielle" is the coolest name ever! Anywhos that day was a lot of fun.

Thursday we was also really fun we got to meet Mrs. Lietdke's class. They were adorable. One of the little boys even started to cry when Joey left b/c he got so attatched to him. We then preceded to sing for their school's chapel. After that we ate a quick lunch and hurried on to a yellow school bus to get a 30 minute tour of the Benning military base. Abbie and I also met an army man(he was sorta grumpy or maybe he was just shy!?!?). Then we left for Shiloh hills. WE arrived and I got chased by a worm and then Joey ate the worm for $2. And then we witnessed their grand play. Needless to say it made me thankful for our play. And then we found out our residences for the night. Amy and I stayed with the Johnsons; they had 2 daughters(a freshman and a 7th grader)and a son(a senior). I was very happy b/c they took us out for ice cream and they were sports fanatics just like me. WEll that day was good.

Friday was our last day. Mrs. Johnson took Amy, her kids, and I to Dunkin Donuts to get some breakfast, which was really sweet of her. WE got to school and then we sang for their chapel. All of us were so tired when we got their. And we really needed to get the right focus on God and his power to work through us. I just pray that God not only worked in our hearts, but in theirs too. We then changed into jeans and left for Mammoth caves. This is where we took a guided tour and SANG IN THE CAVE, yes we sang in the cave at Joel's request. Then we left for home and arrived back at midnight.

IT was short, but sweet. I really do believe and pray that God worked through us. Furthermore, He taught me so much: To be thankful for my school, to not take people for granted, and that some people, as different as they may be, are worth getting to know.


-Dani

El Bano

So on Saturday a bunch of girls decided that we would "hang out". It was fun. We sang on Ashley's karaoke thing and ate popsicles. And then we drank a lot of pop and ate a lot of popcorn. Oh and we also decided that we would watch Mean Girls. Well, then things got a little crazy and we decided to go drink our "wine" in the bathroom (Really it is just sparkling red grape juice). But of course we had our fun.... in the bathroom. Odd I know. And we toasted to...something...don't really know what. And then we started to take pictures.

-Dani

Relaxin

HALF-DAYS .... They're amazing... and soo relaxing, especially when you have no hw. I went and got 2 applications afterschool (Igloo & Subway), I also got a sandwich from Subway... And then I went tanning... And now I'm home and i feel as if I have spent this day well.

-Dani