Meant to Live for so Much MORE

Hello Peeps!

So this past weekend I went to Schlitterban at South Padre Island.  The last time I went was like 7 or 8 years ago... see I can't even remember when. It was a great time and I am glad I went and I also got in for free! Thanks to one of my friends :). During the drive back to Brownsville we were listening to some music and talking about life. I seem to always be talking to people about life. I think its because of our age. Well we were listening to Switchfoot and one song just got me, it was Meant to Live.

"We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?"

Out of the song this verse stuck to me. We get so consumed in what society throws at us. That we forget about why we are to be here and what we are to live for. We get sucked in and we don't know how to get out or we feel like we just stay here because its okay here and we are use to it. Just to let you know that God wants us to live an amazing life and he gives us the tools to live it! He will not leave us hanging, he says "Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,"(Hebrews 13:5 The Message) How comforting is that to know God is there :) even when we feel we are lost.

Just my random thoughts.... till next time CIAO!

I found it!

Hello World! I have been so lazy in my blogging. I have had lots of themes to write about but I have just been lazy. A lot has happened. I moved to Brownsville in June and had a job designing houses. But soon that job disappeared because there was just no work coming in for me to design, I also worked for a small business. I was kind of glad it did not work out because I really didn't like it. It is sad because I study Architecture in college. It is what I know and what I like. I still love architecture but I am glad I know that is not what I want to do. So I ended up struggling in what I should do with my life. I had no job and I didnt know what my career would be. It was a real tough time this summer. What I realize at my age is a lot of us struggle, we wonder what to do with our life, why are we hear, what is our purpose? I know what my purpose is hear in this world. And it is that I believe in Jesus and that we are to proclaim who he is. But I struggled in what I want to do with my life. As I thought about what I learned working for Destino I realized that I love counseling young adults. The more I prayed about it and thought about it. I realized that is what I want to do with my life. So I enrolled myself into school YAY! And now in the process of doing applications for grad school.... MASTERS HERE I COME! I am now so excited to know that this is where God is leading me.

I had planned years ago that at my age I would be an architect working at a firm persevering Historical Buildings and that I would be married. But of course God has other plans. We all have plans and try to make sure they happen the way we want it to. And when it doesn't happen that way we ended up feeling lost. We end up feeling discourage, miserable with all the life responsibilities that come with it. but I would like to give you some advice if you feel this way. Stay positive and encouraged that everything will be okay....Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9 NIV)  Also another verse that I liked that helped me is....Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this. The Very Tree of Life. (Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message). I hope this helps if you are struggling with where your life should be right now. Just remember you are not alone and a lot of us struggle with what we should be doing after college. 
Well its time for me to get back to studying :) till the next time bloggers. CIAO!

MY NEW HOBBY!

I just love hair accessories!!! Now that I have short hair it just adds to it yay! The only thing is I did not want to keep spending money on them. So I decided to try to make them. So I went off to hobby lobby to see if there was fabric on sale :). I am a bargain shopper :). Indeed there was of course... Hobby Lobby is my store. So I made one and it came out great, then made a headband and that came out great too! I love them and they are made by me even better! So I began wearing them and I got lots of complements on them and it made me feel good that people wanted to buy them. Though I started giving some away ( I am so nice). I love my hobby and love to accessories my hair :).

some of the hair accessories I have made

 

 

my anthropology inspired headband. That store is pricey and mine was free :). I reused a headband I already had and just added my fabric I already had :).

Next step in life and Reflecting on Destino

Wow so much has happened in this last month. I have had ups and downs but I am thankful for the Lord bringing people into my life who support me :). I am now taking a new job drawing houses. My last day with Destino is in the end of this month, sad day :(.
Destino has taught me so much. As a student I learned how to share my faith, disciple others, love others, trust the Lord and so much more. I also made some amazing friends. Destino played a huge role in my college life. Then I worked for them for two years. It was a fun, up and down roller coaster with this movement. I got to see people trust Christ that was exciting. Not only did I grow so much in my relationship with the Lord but I learned a lot about my ethnic identity.I am thankful for what I have learned. I am now ready for this next step it is going to be exciting!!!

I am me for a reason :)

Working for a Latino Ministry has brought up so much stuff about me being Hispanic....it got me thinking a lot about my ethnic identity and who I am in this world. I at first never really thought about my "skin color" or my last night name until I went to college. I grew up in a Hispanic community and in college I went to a school where the culture was majority white. I knew I stood out! But I made myself fit in. I went out to the events they had for freshmen and tried making new friends. I totally assimilated to the dominate culture just to fit in and make friends. I knew I was different from them because of my culture but I wanted friends and to fit in. In college I had more white friends then I did hispanic friends until I became involved with Destino. Then that is when it hit, and the fact that my family was making fun of me because of how I would say tacos or enchilladas. My mom once said " crees que eres un gringa." I knew I had to get back in touch with my roots. But I never left my white friends. Through out college I continued having two sets of friends but never did it hit me to now that I played a very unique role then and now. I saw that I was a bridge builder this whole time. Well people explained to me that I play this role in my life. I had a unique role to bring two cultures together :). So now I think back and see that God has made me so unique in the fact that I can be the same person in two cultures and understand people. But what is hard about this is that it can get tiring.....jumping culture to culture. Just my random thoughts as I continue to search about who God had created me. 

PORN NATION!

Porn Nation... eww!!!! This was the reactions we had this past week as we were out on campus passing our fliers and wearing human sandwich boards with words saying Porn Nation really big.
Destino this year hosted a huge event called Porn Nation- The Naked Truth on Monday Feb. 7th. What is Porn Nation you ask? Porn Nation is a multimedia presentation that blends TV, movies, music, and advertising into a presentation designed to help students examine their own attitudes regarding pornography and sexuality. Michael Leahy is a recovering sex addict who tours college campus talking about his experience. He has appeared in television shows like ABC's 20/20 and The View, and newspapers talking about our hypersexual culture and how it impacts our lives. His presentation is a two part, the first part explores the effect that our culture is having on our opinions and attitudes. Then after a 4 minute intermission, the second part is about sexuality and spirituality and he suggest how to develop a healthy relationship and attitudes on sexuality.

Our amazing poster that cause people to tense.

It was a great presentation but the promotion for it on a conservative school was entertaining. We started promoting on campus Wednesday, Feb 2nd. Our mission was to have a huge buzz going around campus, so first task put up posters EVERYWHERE! Next task put a flier in the screen savors that show all across campus on computers. Next write on chalkboards and white boards about our event in all the class rooms. Little by little the buzz was starting. Thursday started the fun stuff.... standing in different locations on campus passing out fliers. But not only were we passing out fliers we were wearing amazing attire.... human sandwich boards :). I was outside in the cold weather wearing an amazing sign. It was great seeing people look at me and give me weird looks. When will I ever have an oppurtunity to ever wear a sign that says PORN lol. Never! Best quote of that day was one guy he stopped and ask me "what is this all about, I have been seeing this all over campus. " Me thinking, YES! It worked we are all over this campus. I proceed int saying that we are having an event on campus about how Porn effects our society. He says "Yes! Porn in America I am there." I thought umm okay whatever gets you there, you go. Though I was entertained by the comments and looks people gave me I was sssoooo cold! The next day we could not publicize :( sad day, due to the crazy winter storm that decided to roll on in the university had canceled classes.  But it was okay. We publicize on Facebook! Thank you social network for your service. We had so many people click our ad that day.

Monday came around and its game day! okay event day :). It was a successful day. A little over 300 people came out to our event. And people loved it! It really did make an impact in peoples lives and made them think about the real definition of Porn is. It is just not the XXX stuff we all know is porn, but in today's society pornagraphic pictures are everywhere and that is what Michael was talking about. It is not on HBO channels like we would think but its on basic cable like MTV and Vh1 and we are watching those channels, Its on shows like the Real World or Jersey Shore. It opened my eyes on what porn is. I am thankful that this event came to A&M and opened college students life's. Another thing is it sure did put Destino on the map on campus :)

If you would like to know more about Michael or Porn Nation go to http://www.bravehearts.net/ Also check out the sex survey http://www.pornnation.org/sex-survey/

20/20 Vision

This past weekend I went to National Destino Conference! It was so much fun. We had some many college campus represented and we had about 160 students come. This was the first time we had this many students there. I have been to the National Destino Conference since 2007 and man this one was the best one! To many fun moments and I just can't share all of them because there is to many. One moment I will not erase from my mind is on the last night a group of 40 students from different campus gathered together and started sing songs of praise, a destino band formed. Not only did they sing and praise the Lord they also shared the gospel with 3 high school students. This lasted to 3am in the morning! Oh it was amazing to see these students just loving the Lord.

New Year New Me

It has been awhile since I have written and I told myself to continue at least once a week. Well it is a new year so now its a new me. So the new me recently donated my hair to Locks of Love. I was so nervous to cut off my beautiful long long hair. I donated about 12inches. 

This is me in my beautiful long hair in December 2010

I am at the salon and holding my hair in 2 ponytails. That is how long and thick my hair is.

My new cute hair cut!! I actually love it :)

I think everyone should donate their hair. Donating your hair helps children that are financially disadvantaged who have loss their hair due to a medical illness and Locks of Love will make high quality hair prosthesis with the hair you donate :). If you would like more information check out Locks of Love website: http://www.locksoflove.org/index.html