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I may or may not be demolishing these while laying out in the sun this week...happy reading!

New City. New Blog. Still Loving Jesus.

Today is officially my second day in the beautiful city of Dallas, Texas and my first day of work at Vickery Place Animal Hospital. It's hard to believe that I'm actually here. I've been looking forward to moving here for so long and it's so weird to actually be here to stay. Since I moved away from the desert, I thought I would change my blog up a little bit. It's a new phase in my life and I wanted my blog to represent that.

For those of you who don't know, "Pressing On" is a song by Relient K and it's one that I've always loved. It's based on Philippians 3:12-14 and talks about not looking back, moving around adversity, and finding joy in Jesus. It's about keeping your head on straight so you can press on towards the beautiful goal that is Jesus Christ. Now, I don't think that the past can be severed from the present or the future. I believe in learning from your mistakes because they glorify God, and being confident in the knowledge that God takes you through the tough - and stupid - times in life to draw you back to Himself. However, I want to leave sin in my past and look to Jesus in everything I do. That is why I am pressing on. I'm also pressing on through the pain of leaving my family and many of my friends in New Mexico. I want to be here, but I'm having a hard time reconciling that with the fact that I don't get to go home at the end of the day and pick up my wonderfully crazy mom from her daily 10-mile run. I don't get to come home and have my dog Fudge wag his little nub of a tail with excitement. I don't get to see my beautiful sister and be super weird with her everyday. I don't get to play tennis with my dad or go visit him at Noodles. I don't get to see my brothers kick a** at their concerts. It's so hard to sit here and think about all of these things I left behind, knowing that I have a life here now and I have to press on through the tears and the pain of my own decision. Ok, so I know that is super depressing, but God is making me stronger through this. He is drawing me back to Him and I am relishing in the glory of that fact alone. I love that I want to get up in the morning and spend time in the Word! I love that I'm praying more and worrying less! I'm loving that I am stepping into a whole new phase of my relationship with Christ! I will miss every single person and thing that I left behind in NM every single day, but if this is what I need to be closer to Jesus, then I say bring it on! The goal is to keep my head on straight through this transition and in clinging to Jesus, I am doing just that.

In addition to Philippians 3:12-14, I am loving another verse in chapter 4. It says:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." -Philippians 4:6

I love this verse because right now, there is a lot for me to be anxious about. I'm trying to budget my money so I can figure out what I can afford, looking for an apartment, getting ready to go to a new church, trying to make new friends, and on top of all of that - thanks to many of my Zeta sisters and some family members - I am now anxious about meeting a guy. Yup. This verse is so helpful when I get overwhelmed by all of these things. I am turning my anxious feelings into prayer for the first time in my life and I must say...it's pretty stinking awesome!

Oh and I'm going to do my best to finish the Greyhound stories after this post since it has been 6 months since the last story. It's crazy how time flies, but the stories are too funny not to tell!

Until next time...Go Mavs! :)

Greyhound #4: Shreveport, LA

This is definitely one of the craziest parts of the trip. Katie and I arrived in Shreveport around 6:30AM and Katie's awesome phone needed to be charged. We walked into the station and found the charging station along the wall so that she could plug her phone in. Little did we know that we were about to have a very interesting conversation with the next two characters in our story. Katie was wearing a New Mexico State hoodie, even though we didn't necessarily want people to know where we were from. Keep in mind that we have been on the bus for almost a full day at this point. We are gross and still in sweats and so tired because we were fast asleep before we stopped in Shreveport. All of a sudden, this guy (later, we would find out his name was Michael) said, "Y'all are from New Mexico?" We looked up and said yes and he goes, "I f***ing hate that state." This is the conversation that followed:

Me: Why?!

Michael: It's so ugly! It's brown and flat and ugly.

Me: It's beautiful!

As we talked, we found out he had spent a year in Socorro, NM.

Me and Katie: Well that's why you don't think it's beautiful!

Me: The sunsets are so pretty and the mountains turn the most beautiful colors!

We continued to argue about the beauty of New Mexico. At this point, another guy had joined in the conversation (I'm pretty sure his name was Shawn). Anyways, Michael just kept asking questions and the weirdest thing was that most of them were directed at me. Where are you going? Why are you going there? Where are you from in NM? How old are you? What are you majoring in? Then it got really interesting...

Michael: So you're like hispanic right?

Me: Um yea (with a very shocked look on my face).

Michael: But only half. Because you act like a white girl but you look hispanic.

Me: (look at Katie thinking, "Is this guy for real?") Yea.

Michael: So your mom is hispanic and your dad is white?

Me: (laughing) No, it's actually the opposite.

Michael: So what's your last name? Mendoza or something?

-At this point, all of us laughed. I knew that was the one question I would not answer. The sweatshirt I was wearing had my first name on it so I definitely didn't want anyone except Katie knowing my last name.-

Michael: What? That's a popular name!

Katie: No, Gonzales is a popular hispanic last name! I don't know anyone with the last name "Mendoza".

Michael: Ok, so what is your last name?

Me: (laughed nervously, but didn't say anything)

Then, I'm pretty sure Shawn changed the subject and I don't remember much after that. Michael introduced himself to me when we went to get back on the bus. I just got back on the bus, not believing what had just happened, when Katie told me that Michael had a tattoo of baby feet on his neck with a name next to it. Katie couldn't believe he was talking me up when he had a baby. I never spoke to Michael again, but Shawn has at least two more stories in our journey.

Moral of the Story: Be smart when talking to characters in a bus station...you never know what they'll try to get out of you.

Greyhound #3: Sweetwater to Dallas, TX

After hitting Big Spring, we continued on toward Sweetwater, TX which is actually where my grandparents live! It was so weird driving through the town and not stopping to see them, but it was 11PM and we stopped for about two seconds when no one was at the bus stop. Before we got there, we passed my grandparents church (shout out to Lamar Street Baptist Church) and we passed the Dairy Queen my Grandpa always takes us to for treats. We even passed the hospital my brother had to visit years ago when he was infected by poison ivy and his eye swelled shut. Oh the memories. Anyways, once we hit Abilene, we changed bus drivers and drove straight through to Fort Worth over the next 4 hours. I was so excited to see the bright lights of Dallas when we finally got there! And then it was time to transfer buses. Katie and I got off the bus, grabbed our bags, and went to the bathroom. It was there that we met another character. Let's call her Shirley. Shirley was probably younger than she looked, and she looked to be about 55 or 60. Most of her top teeth were missing and her blonde hair was stringy and thin. she was wearing a dirty long sleeve shirt, jeans, and a vest and I think something was wrong with her mentally/physically because she kept rocking back and forth on her feet and she was holding onto her left wrist with her right hand and her left palm was turned up. Katie went to the bathroom while I stayed with our bags and Shirley was almost crying as she asked us for money. She told us that she had no money and she just needed a little bit so she could get some food. Unfortunately, I had just given all of my change to a Salvation Army red kettle outside of a Las Cruces Wal-Mart, so all I had for the trip was my debit card. I had absolutely nothing to give her. It was my turn to go to the bathroom since Katie got out and Shirley continued to talk to Katie. When I got out, I fully intended to buy her a sandwich from the shop, but when we left the bathroom, we found out our bus was loading. Katie and I had to run to the terminal and out to the platform. We were at the end of the line, but we made it, checked our bags, and boarded the bus. We sat right behind the bus driver and fell asleep as soon as we were on the road. It was about 3AM and we were exhausted and just happy to be on the bus.

Moral of the Story: Always take the time to help others out in every situation, unless your means of transportation is about to leave you behind in a big city. Then, I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's safe to just catch the bus. :)

P.S. I had to take the picture through the bus window and it was far away so I had to zoom in...not the clearest picture, but I liked taking these at the stations that had them.

Greyhound #2: Big Spring, TX

When you do not take an express bus, you make a lot of stops in small towns on your route to pick people up or drop them off or whatever. Katie and I did not take an express bus, so we stopped in Pecos, TX and Midland and Big Spring and Sweetwater and Abilene until our driver who got on in Abilene said we wouldn't stop again till Fort Worth. Anyways, by the time we got to Big Spring, Katie and I had fallen asleep, but were woken up when the bright overhead lights came on and the bus driver shouted where we were over the PA system. We woke up and after everyone got off the bus for their smoke break, we stood up and stretched for a bit. We had no intentions of getting off because it was 10PM in a sketchy part of a small town and also because of the truck in the picture. It's not a great picture because I took it with my phone through the bus window, but this truck had a sign on the side of it that listed different food products for sale and a single flashing yellow light. Oh yea, and if you wanted to order food, you had to go into the truck where there were no lights. Are you kidding me? I believe that is the definition of sketch! On top of that, the truck operator had a PA system of his own and was shouting, "Hamburgers! Hot dogs! Tacos! Burritos!" over it. The whole thing was so ridiculous and I was so tired that all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Finally, everyone got back on the bus and we were off to Sweetwater.

Moral of the story: Avoid sketchy trucks that try to sell you food. Especially at 10 o'clock at night.

Greyhound #1: El Paso and Border Patrol

Recently, I had the pleasure and honor of being in a dear friend's wedding in South Carolina. How I got there was a totally different story. My friend Katie and I decided to take a Greyhound bus to South Carolina because it was by far the cheapest route. The bus was $189 for a round-trip from ElPaso, TX to Charleston, SC while everything else was $400 and up...including the train. So on Wednesday, December 15, we departed from El Paso on the bus heading to Charleston. These next few blog posts are about all of the crazy characters we met and events that took place on the 2-day bus ride there and 2-day bus ride back.

We left El Paso at 12:40PM on the 15th and it was a trip from the beginning. Katie and I got our tickets then headed into the terminal to wait for our bus. Keep in mind that we were both in sweats with our hair all wet because we had just showered. All of a sudden, this guy starts hollering at us. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey!" We ignored him until he came over to us. "Hey, so, uh, we just were wonderin' if we could take a pitcha' with y'all because we just wanna have some proof that we know some models." Katie and I looked at each other and I wanted to roll my eyes so badly. I mean, we seriously looked like crap and this guy is saying we're models? Please! So I laughed and told him no thanks, then he says, "Come on girl! We need the curls!" I laughed again and said no thanks, then we decided to go back out to the parking lot and wait in our friend Tori's car. Our bus finally got there and we loaded our luggage underneath then got on the bus. By the time we got on the bus, everyone had taken their seats and there were no double seats left. So Katie and I made our way to the back looking for some seats and a guy asked us if we wanted to sit. We got excited until we realized that he was moving over so that one of us could sit there. I didn't think it was a big deal, but I wasn't thinking about the fact that we would have to sleep next to these people we didn't know. Don't worry though...Katie was thinking about it. There was one girl sitting in the 3-seater in the back so we decided to just sit with her because at least we'd be together. However, she told Katie she was waiting for someone. This is how the conversation went.

Katie: Hey, we were just wondering if the two of us could sit back here with you.

Girl: Oh uh well I'm waiting for someone. Uh, I think he's in the front.

Katie: In the very front seat on the right?

Girl: Oh yea tha's him. You can send him back here.

Katie: Ok, what's his name?

Girl: Psh, I dunno.

Katie: (makes her way to the front) Hey there's a girl in the back who says she's waiting for you.

-Guy looks to the back. Girl in the back waves and yells, "Heeeeyyyy!"-

Guy: (turns to Katie) Don't touch my s***. (Heads to the back to sit with the girl)

So finally, Katie and I are able to sit in the front together and relax. Our bus driver then began to make his announcements which included announcing that there would be no smoking, no drinking, and no sex on the bus. Definitely a good way to start the trip.

Now for the next part, I have to give a bit of a back story. While I was packing, I decided to lock my suitcases while on the bus. I already had 2 luggage locks, but I didn't have keys for them. So my roommate, Olivia, and I looked up how to pick a luggage lock on the internet. We made a makeshift key out of a paperclip and I decided to use it on my backpack that I would be carrying onto the bus. I bought 2 locks with keys from the store for my other 2 bags. As we're heading east in the bus, we were stopped by border patrol. Two officers came on the bus. Apparently a lady in the back of the bus got up because one of the officers firmly yelled, "Sit down ma'am! Everyone remain in your seats." They walked through the bus, got off, then came back on and asked to see everyone's ID's and tickets. Unfortunately, I had decided to take a nap before we were stopped and stuck my wallet with my ID and my tickets in my backpack, which I locked and was planning to unlock with the makeshift paperclip key. Of course, for the first time on the trip, the makeshift key decided not to work, preventing me from opening my backpack so I could present my ID and ticket to the border patrol officer. I looked up at the officer in front of me and asked if he had anything that could pick a lock.

Border Patrol Officer (BPO): Why would you need to pick a lock?

Me: Well, I don't have a key for my luggage lock on this bag so my roommate and I looked up how to pick a lock on the internet last night...

BPO: (looks at me questionably)

Me: Ok this is coming out poorly. My wallet with my ID and tickets is in the bag which I locked with a luggage lock. My other 2 bags have locks with keys, but I needed one more lock for this bag and this lock was on another bag and I didn't have a key for it. So I picked the lock with a paperclip and put it on this bag and it has been working all day until this point.

BPO: (looks at my luggage tag) And your wallet is in here?

Me: Yes.

BPO: (takes out his knife and pops the lock off my bag)

Needless to say, the lock was broken after this and I did not lock this bag again. After this happened, I was able to get my wallet out and prove that I was who I was and show him my tickets. After that, Katie and I could not stop laughing.

Moral of the story: Sometimes I'm smart and sometimes, I don't quite think things through...it's generally better to be smart.

This is only within the first few hours of the trip. I'll try to keep the other stories short, but be prepared for some interesting and entertaining stories and maybe a few pictures!

Just remember to stay smart and don't lock your luggage when you don't have a key!

Crazy Love

Wow! I can't believe it's already almost August! I have not written in forever so here it goes! This past month has been so fantastic! I got home from San Diego, worked a bunch at Nothing but Noodles, and got to attend our college small group at Sagebrush Community Church. We read this book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan and it was seriously an incredible book. It was extremely convicting, but at the same time, extremely encouraging. It was so good to learn about God's crazy love for us. I know that God loves me as an individual, but I don't think that I ever thought about the depth of that crazy love or what it actually meant. I also never thought about what my response to that crazy love should be. Tonight, one of the things we talked about was what kind of legacy we wanted to leave when we died. I immediately thought of the song "Legacy" by Nichole Nordeman. I thought about putting my favorite lines on here, but I really think the whole song speaks volumes, so I'll just type the whole thing on here. :)

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me
And I enjoy an accolade like the rest
You could take my picture and hang it in a gallery
Of all who's who and so-n-so's that used to be the best
At such'n'such ... it wouldn't matter much

I won't lie, it feels alright to see your name in lights
We all need an 'Atta boy' or 'Atta girl'
But in the end I'd like to hang my hat on more besides
The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

I don't have to look too far or too long awhile
To make a lengthly list of all that I enjoy
It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile
Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon enough destroy

Not well traveled, not well read, not well-to-do or well bred
Just want to hear instead, "Well Done" good and faithful one...

I really do not want to rely on the temporary trappings of this world. I want my funeral to be a night of worship, because in the end, it's not about me - it's about Jesus. I want to be obsessed with Him. That's the legacy I want to leave. I want to be so obsessed with Him that people look at my life and are pointed directly to Jesus. That may mean that I spend the rest of my life overseas or it may mean that I live on mission in the corporate world. Whatever I do, I want to serve and love others with the heart of Christ. I want to have a crazy love for Jesus.I want to think of eternity (the other world) so that I can be effective in this world.

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this." -C.S. Lewis

Killing Giants

It is tradition on the San Diego Summer Project to have a week that is titled "Killing the Giants." Basically, this is the week where we share our faith multiple times every day and tackle the uncomfortable situations in our lives. This took place last week, but now that it's over, I have taken time to reflect on it and realize how great it really is. The passage we look to for this week is found in 1 Samuel 17:45-47 were David is telling the Philistine about the LORD and how He is David's help and strength and is stronger than anyone or anything. However, the verse that struck me from the overall passage was verse 48 which says, "Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine" (NASB). I just was so impacted by the fact that David RAN QUICKLY toward the battle line. What a great picture of what we can do in the name of the LORD Almighty! Last year, I viewed Killing the Giants week as a pain in my behind. It made me uncomfortable and I'm pretty sure I made up some fake "giants" in my life or the "giants" were real and I just chose not to do anything about them. This year, with the vivid picture of David running toward the Philistine, I was able to tackle my giants, or at least begin the process. It felt so great to trust God in these areas where I had never really done so before.

As the project continues, I am continuing to process through many things as God continues to refine me. Not gonna lie - it has been pretty rough because I have been believing some wrong things about God and drawing life from wrong places. However, God is so merciful and gracious to me and He continues to pour His love on me and He blesses me with great days out here in San Diego. God is just so good and I just don't deserve it, but I am so thankful for His love and mercy and grace.

"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." -2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB

By the way, I am loving the World Cup and Wimbledon! It's probably not the best thing because the TV in our condo is always on, but it has been so much fun bonding with the rest of the staff over watching the USA team play at 7 in the morning! And now that Wimbledon is on, I do all of my work in front of the television! Ok, that is definitely an exaggeration, but I am watching tennis as I am writing this. As a matter of fact, Soderling just beat Ginepri in 3 sets in the first round of the tournament. Just thought I'd throw that in. The World Cup has also inspired the soccer players on project to play every week. It has been so much fun, except that I don't have my cleats! I play in running shoes and it's a big bummer, but I have so much fun! I also play some tennis out at the rec center and I love just goofing around as well as playing seriously. That's how I relax: by exerting more of my energy through sports. It has been a crazy time out here so far, but it is also insane to think that we only have 10 more days here before we leave! Then we are in Disneyland for a few days and then it's home to Albuquerque on the 7th! Until then, I have a lot to do,but it's going to be great!!!!

Peace and love from Sandy Eggo! (See what I did there? haha)

Splenda

No, this post is not about my love for artificial sweetener...I just didn't feel like titling it "Sweet." Anyways, I'm just loving life right now. God is doing some pretty sweet things and I enjoy soaking them up day after day. The first thing that comes to mind is my relationship with Jadee (the Chi Omega in the picture). She is awesome. God has orchestrated both our lives so that we could find each other in college and learn and grow from one another. The whole thing just blows my mind! I met her at church through a friend and then she was in my recruitment group and then we just started meeting and before we knew it, I was discipling her! The semester has been so cool and we'll both be in San Diego this summer so I'm super pumped for that. I know that I'm supposed to be mentoring her, but God has used her to show me so many things as well. I've learned to be fearless because I know who I am in God and I am confident in Him. I've learned to listen to others more and ask questions instead of selfishly talking about myself. I've learned to laugh at myself...even more than I already do. Last, but not least, I've learned to care about others and to be compassionate. Jadee cares so deeply for others and it blows my mind! Seeing how much she cares for others caused me to examine my own thoughts and my heart, and I realized that sometimes, I don't show compassion and I don't care about others. I may act like I care or put on a smile, but my heart will be ugly. Not cool. Jadee emulates God's love and compassion for others. That is where I want to be and I am so thankful that God has shown me this. He is constantly preparing me for this summer and it makes me so happy. I made her a vision plan for the summer and if I may say so myself, it's pretty cool. I used a pink journal and used some stickers to put her name on the front, then I went crazy on the inside with stickers, pictures, and colored pens. It was fantastic. We went to breakfast this morning and I gave it to her and it was so much fun! We talked for hours about this and that and I loved every minute of it. I am so thankful and blessed that God has placed her in my life! I know that there is still so much to come for the both of us.

On Friday night, we had Crown Ball. It was my first date party since fall 2008! The theme was prom so I got all dressed up and I did my makeup all pretty and stuff. The truth is I hate wearing that much makeup. It was fun for the night, but I was so glad to take it off. I just feel gross when I know there's a ton of makeup on my face. My idea of enough makeup is bronzer and a little blush. My crazy days are when I actually put on mascara! Anyways, my dress was short, strapless, and red with flower/ruffle things at the bottom. It was so cute and I borrowed it from one of the other Zetas. I guess expanded closets are a perk of being in a sorority. I also got to wear my black and silver glitter heels which I never get to wear! I think that was the most exciting part for me. Oh, and my date actually matched me! I didn't tell him what I was wearing because I didn't think it was a big deal, but some of our friends intervened and found him a nice red tie to wear with a black shirt. The night was pretty interesting, but a lot of fun. There was even a chocolate fountain!!! You can never go wrong with a chocolate fountain in my book.

And now, it's finals week. Time to spend every waking hour of the next 4 days studying. Oh, and on top of that, I have to pack for the summer. Craziness. But, it will all be worth it when I go home to see my family and then go out to San Diego. I just want to be done with school...right now. I will end by saying that if you don't hear from me in the next week, it is because I am buried in my notes, so don't worry. See you in a week...or whenever.

Oh Dear...

Let's see...where do I begin? So much has happened this past month and it all just runs together in my brain. Spring break was forever ago, but it was so good to go home and see my family! I'm such a homebody when I go back and I love spending time with them. They refresh my life. That week was needed because the weeks following spring break were devoted to greek sing and greek week. April is probably the most stressful month of my entire year. It's so much fun, but I am always glad when it's over. The first 2 weeks were spent practicing for greek sing. Our theme this year was the roaring 20's and I got to act! It was so much fun and we put on an amazing show! We got third place, then went straight into greek week, which was filled with activities. Greek olympics was last Saturday and all of our practice paid off. We won tug, which never happens!!! I'm pretty sure the last time Zeta won tug was about 8 years ago. We also won pyramid and chariot...so awesome!

Another update: I have officially raised all of my support for San Diego this summer!!! It has been so amazing to see God work through His provision and it is so reassuring for me. I know this is where God wants me this summer and I am so ready to go. I will leave on May 19th and drive out to San Diego with some friends. On the 21st, I fly back to Albuquerque for a wedding, then back to San Diego on the 23rd. I will be there until July 7th. I honestly cannot wait to get out there. God has moved in me and changed me so much this past year. I am not the same girl that went to San Diego a year ago. God used San Diego Summer Project to change my life and I cannot wait to see how God uses it in the lives of students this summer. We are going through Luke and I am actually responsible to write one of the studies we'll be doing with 2 other student staff members. I'm nervous for this because I don't think I know how to properly study the Bible in the first place, but I know God will use this to teach me something.

We had our last Sagebrush-Las Cruces service last Sunday. Todd, the senior pastor at the church, came and spoke live and it was so cool! For the first time in a while, I was able to completely let my guard down and just praise Jesus for all that He has done for me and is doing for me. It felt so good to be reminded of the freedom I have in Christ. On that note, I'm working through a Beth Moore study right now on Daniel and it is incredible. I have learned so many things from it, but I guess an underlying them is to live for Jesus-no matter what. Daniel always did, even when he was exiled from Judah to Babylon. He continued to love the Lord and serve Him and he prospered in all that he did. Plus, he lived in Babylon and there are so many connections to the Babylon of the Bible and to the world we live in today. We are living in a modern day Babylon, and I want to live in it like Daniel did.

Now, it's time for the end of school. Tomorrow is a biology test, then El Paso and date party on Friday, then study time this weekend so I can ace my finals next week! I feel like the end of school is crazier than this whole past month has been, but it will all be worth it when it's done!

Motto for the week: Love Jesus. Love others.