I've been gone for two months now

Time is flying by! It doesn't even seem real that nearly three weeks ago we had our first launch team meeting at Russ's house and this week we'll be having our second. I'm definitely used to the area by now, but still dealing with the absence of friends from home. I miss them. There is a laundry list of reasons why I love living in the Northwest, but that's the one thing that makes it hard. Being away from friends and family is going to be a continual adjustment I'm afraid. However, my sister, brother-in-law and baby niece are coming to visit me this Wednesday. I'm overly excited to say the least.

Other positive news is that I scored an interview this past week. On the 20th I'll be heading up to Dupont, WA, about twenty minutes north of Oly, to the Statefarm building to chat with the AFC of the Pacific Northwest. Finally I feel like I'm getting somewhere! I'm really hoping and praying that Mr. Caldwell can help me get my foot in the door with the company by providing some sort of PR job or receptionist position. He oversees 46 agents in the area so I have a feeling he can help me out in some form or fashion. When Angie comes to visit we're going to hit up some shops and look for some business appropriate clothing. I can't wait to walk into the office with my heals on, all confident.

Throughout the last few weeks I've been seeking out various avenues in which I can serve and help other churches in the area. After hearing that two out of three churches in the Northwest fail, it's the least I can do. Click HERE to watch a video of Bobby Ball, Nathan Rayas and myself leading worship at the Vintage service at Sunbreak Missionary Baptist Church.

The service I attended last night in Dupont was amazing. It was just the encouragement I was needing for the week. The church is called Life Church Dupont and is the first church plant of the Surround the Sound project. They are two years into their ministry in Dupont and God is really providing big for them. They currently are meeting in the coffee shop downtown called Forza, and by the way this place makes awesome coffee, probably one of the better Sumatras I've had in my day.

Anyway, it was great to see how God is working through Pastor Kyle Lewallen, the leadership team at Life Church and the congregation. It's exciting to watch Life Church grow in Dupont and think about how God can use Sound City in Tumwater/Oly. Who knows how things will look as months go by, or even years. So glad I can be a part of it!

This past Wednesday I got to head up to Mount Rainier for the first time. It was an awesome day. The weather was beautiful. It felt so good to be outside in the sun. Standing at the bottom of Rainier at Pardise you can see Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, pretty cool. It was a great day and here are some pictures to prove it.

Stay tuned trusty followers. Who knows what will happen next!

Moving to Oly has brought about so many fun new past times for me including: getting coffee at Mud Bay, cold press at Café Vita, seafood at the farmers market, karaoke at The Clipper with deejay Starling and reading The Volcano Weekly. The Volcano Weekly is a newspaper that is distributed throughout cities south of the Puget Sound such Tacoma, Gig Harbor and Olympia. I recently read an article entitled Rise of the New Atheism- Godlessness Takes the Offensive ironically by writer, Christian Carvajal. Anyway, I read some interesting statics in it that I thought might interest you too.

In 2008, a Pew Foundation poll found the percentage of atheists in

America had risen from 3.2 to 4 percent in only a few years, and a

whopping 44 percent of Americans abandoned the denominations

of their childhood. Only the percentage of Catholics (23.9) out-

numbered the percentage of the “unchurched” (16.1). A year later,

almost a full quarter of Americans surveyed by the American

Religious Identification Survey professed no belief in a personal

God.

Washington is hardly the most fervently churchgoing state in the

union. Even in 2001, before the rise of the New Atheism, a full

quarter of Washingtonians polled claimed no religious affiliation

whatsoever, the highest fraction anywhere in the country.

These are some pretty serious statistics I’d say, but also not shocking. Anyway, I love this newspaper. If you’ve got a craving for some liberal writing this will indeed. You can check it out here.

Spending time downtown has been a blast. I met up with my new friend Carrie at Eastside last week. It was so fun getting to talk with her and meet some of her friends. This girl knows everyone in town too, no joke. It’s been awesome getting to chill with her. We have so much in common and some of our backstories are so similar. I feel like we really relate well with each other. We’re meeting up for lunch at The Bread Peddler, a little café downtown, on Thursday. This past Saturday one of my best friends from home, Tyler Parnell, came to visit Olympia and we all went downtown to the Clipper to sing karaoke. Carrie and I sang “What a Girl Wants” by Christina Agulaira and I sang “Private Eyes” by Hall and Oates with Tyler. It was a stellar time. We definitely made some great mems.

Tyler’s visit to Olympia was long anticipated, and I took some time to document our weekend to share with you all.

BBQ Sandwiches and live music at the farmers market

Hanging out downtown along the waterfront

Puget Sound and the capitol building

I tried to snap a shot of Mt. Rainier, but this doesn't do it justice. It was such a beautiful day!

It did my heart good to sit and talk with Tyler in Cafe Vita over coffee and Scrabble

After singing karaoke downtown we got hotdogs from Jakes. In Olympia, people put cream cheese on their hotdogs. Sounds crazy, but it's delicious! :)

Lehua, Carrie, Me, and Tyler