Monday, April 16, 2012

Rise & Shine Morning Show / Conference!!!

So, the conference happened! It was amazing and a total success. It was so amazing to see how the Lord blessed us not only just by Tati and I being able to travel around the country and invite people, but also to see many of those people again, and see them come together. We heard so many stories and got to spend time with so many people's families and churches. Ultimately, in order for revival in this country, there has to be unity in the Kingdom of God. BUT! Before the conference, Tati and I were on TV! We didn't exactly have really nice clothes to wear on set, notice my flip flops ;) But it was still really fun and crazy to be on the spot asked random questions. But Louis was great and he is naturally gifted at creating a comfortable conversation environment. 















































Travis, the pastor of the Awakening, teaching about the Father Heart of God.





Fernando Villalobos 






Our worship leaders Shelbye and Mark Anthony












Pastor Caleb and Jesse
















Shannon














Us at the very end of the conference acting like fools











The whole conference crew! Plus the Maganyas





















Me signing people in










































































I love this picture

























After day three of the conference, we wrapped it up, and all went out to eat together. The conference was powerful, and probably around 150 people came from around the country. It was so amazing



lol tati's face













please notice Shelbye!

















My constantly failed attempt to "shake my face"
















toasts all around the table




























Tati taught Jesse how to cook tortillas!!


All in all, the conference was a life changing experience for people that came, the conference ministry team, and for Tati and I who were so touched and affected by the people we had met in all different places of the country, coming together and fighting for revival in Belize. It was powerful to see pastors be prayed over, join arms and be anointed with oil and come together as one.










Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Conference Team Ahoy!

After a delightful few days with Shelbye and Jesse, we welcomed the rest of our team from the Awakening, and as we prepared our hearts spiritually and culturally, we also got to have fun in lots of ways! From worshipping together, to playing, cooking, exploring and traveling together! Tati and I rented a Toyota 4Runner from Pastor Henry, and it was so great!! With all seven of us piled into it for the week, two people always had to sit in the trunk/back but it was an adventure! For me it was weird because I had been just roughing it and been thrown into the culture pretty quickly, while Tati and I were living out of our car - but now that I had been in Belize for over a month, and adapted to the poverty and feeling like a Belizean myself, it was strange to then be with everyone and be a sight seeing tourist with them! 


















Shannon and Shelbye








We spent a night at Caye Caulker, a really beautiful caye off the coast, and this is us running into one of Tati's friends Neno who drove by on his golf cart 









The hotel we stayed at









It was weird going from true third world mentality, and then for everyone coming on the trip, taking them to such a nice place that was definitely geared toward tourists. It was fun, but it was a weird culture shock of its own.










Shannon, Shelbye, Justin, me!









Rooftop view of our hotel








Street view - very colorful!









I'm sure you can guess whose silhouettes you see!








Beautiful hammock pic!









This is a mountain called the Sleeping Giant - you can see his face!











Because the Lord provided ($3,000 in 4 days) for the conference like He said He would, we decided to do something for Him, to celebrate and rejoice! So we decided to make cupcakes, and go around the whole city of Belmopan and give them away and tell them what the Lord did!! It was really fun! Tati was driving the SUV, and she was like a little soccer mom as she would drive around town dropping us off in groups and picking us up in different places. It was SO FUN! I definitely want to do things like this more. People were so receptive and even confused, not understanding that these treats were totally free. Lots of smiles, lots of opportunities to share and even growing times together as a little family and team.





 








Tati and Justin had a grand idea to save the fish heads from one of the meals we ate at a restaurant, and to somehow freak out Jesse (the king of tricks and pranks like this) and so these pictures basically tell it all 
































Butterfly on our list of pastors and guests list










Tati cooked the most, but we all helped cook the meals and ate them on the floor.
When we left the Garcia's, the family in Trio Village, they gave us 8 HUGE pineapples, and a huge sack of oranges. Talk about awesome!!






I made some special johnny cakes gone sweet-tooth. Johnny cakes are like a mix between a biscuit, a bun and an english muffin - sort of. . . anyway i added lots of sugar and made them . . . well, "lauren cakes" . . . I like that sweet sweet ;)









Miracle on 31st Street!!!!!! but SERIOUSLY!! We got a new Compressor for our car!!! Hallelujah praise the Lord God Almighty - for the first time in the past month n a half, we got new motors for the windows and a compressor to fix the AC!! No more sweating like pigs!









This is us super happy in our new toyota 4runner








this is us kinda gross with no other than Nickoli! One of the guys who was in our caravan driving through Mexico! He has a business giving tours and he took us cave tubing!!!! (I tried eating termites on our jungle hike getting to the caves - we couldnt take cameras, otherwise I would show a picture - they tasted like minty sprucy flavor of some sort)




























Holes in the road as usual








The Girls!









Dancing on the pier!











Beautiful!









Justin and Shannon

























We are trying to lick each other!









This is a pig head! or actually a whole pig body!!!!






These next pics are all awkward and awful :) Being bored at a restaurant, we took turns blowing our lips, and shaking our faces . . . . I still can't do it! I keep trying though!

















haha tati's little fist



yes i look like a retard





















On the rooftop worshipping together 



Something really cool was that EVERY PERSON in our team was super musical. (besides me lol) Shannon is studying worship leading at her christian college in Toccoa, Tati plays guitar and sings excellently, Shelbye is like a stunna at everything music, Jesse and Matt are also up there with the rest!








cool pic of bartering for a hammock for sweet Shannie








Walking to the boat, leaving the kids behind, so that we can go ahead and get things ready for the conference - from paying our cook Maria, to setting up things at the church etc









Tati's car/sea sickness got us a front top seat behind the captain! I basically introduced myself and shook one of the crew-hands' hands, and said, "and this is Tati. She will throw up everywhere if she doesn't have air blowing on her" . . . they talked to the captain and he agreed to let us up top. Fun!





































so beautiful!










dolla billz






long day








piling up in the back







A little butterfly we tried to pray to life lol