I didn't dress up as anything for halloween...but i did pass out some candy and take some candy from kids :)

Massage Therapy is going well...i just got my massage table in today, so i'm one step closer to being official.  I have an interview on Thursday about coaching volleyball at my old high school...i pretty much have the job, just need to jump through some hoops.  I also start training for my new job at Beaner's Coffee Shop on Thursday...yay!  And i'm helping out with the youth group at my church, which is really fun...mostly working with the 6th grade girls--they crack me up! 

It's kind of fun, i feel like i'm doing the things that i've talked about wanting to do for the past couple years...i'm considering it a transition year.  Graduate school could still be in the future...but for what, i do not know.  I have a feeling life will get very busy in the next month (vball and the Beaner's job haven't started and so haven't had to be worked into the schedule yet)...but i've not done a whole lot the past few months, so it's about time to get busy again with life.  :)

The Church in Garbage Village

Well, it took me a little longer than i had hoped, but this entry will be about my trip to the church in garbage village in Cairo.  The most beautiful place in Cairo can only be found by traveling through the most filthy.  There is an area where a group of people with coptic backgrounds live, on the outskirts of the city, next to a mountain.  These people collect trash from the city and then sort through the trash (recycling and whatnot) in the bottoms of their houses.  The whole neighborhood is dirty and trashy and extreme poverty.  One man had a calling from God to go to these people and minister to them.  Now, within this city, is a huge complex with multiple sanctuaries carved out of the mountain.

This is the first thing you see on the mountain when you drive in:  The inscription reads "will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory."  All around the area in the side of the rock were carvings such as these with bible verses written in both arabic and english.  One of my favorites was one that read "if they keep silent the rocks will cry out."  it was so fitting to have that written in a place where the rocks literaly cried out God's word from the bible.

Here is one of the main buildings of the church, and below is the largest sanctuary that holds 20,000 people...crazy!

The group of people that you see in the picture was just some visitors who wanted to see the church.  One man is sharing with them about his own story of faith and all about the church and the ministries that go on here.  The man himself was once a trash collector who did not care much for anything but drinking and a good time, but then met Jesus and his life has been changed.  I'm not sure if he is still a trash collector, but the way he lives his life is very much different.  He often gives tours to guests at the church and from what i hear, is always telling people about Jesus. 

This is a picture from my recent trip to Egypt...yup, i went to Egypt!  My roommate and Jocelyn and I had a grand adventure.  We flew from Istanbul to Budapest, Hungry, where we went into the city during a 6 hour layover for dinner, then flew to Cairo, Egypt late that night.  The next morning we talked with a travel agent from our hotel who hooked us up with tours to the pyramids and sites around the city, and even got us tickets to take a train ride down to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings and Queens and other temples there.  We had 5 full days in the city, and we took advantage of all of them!  The first day in the city we visited the museum with all the artifacts and statues and papyrus scrolls and old sarcophoguses...amazing!  We visited a couple other places, but neither were that interesting...

The second day in Cairo we saw the Great Pyramids and the Sphynx, and even rode camels!  Below is a picture of Jocelyn and me in front of the Great Pyramids :)

Here is a picture of me on the camel i rode from the place the above picture was taken from to the tallest pyramid in the above picture: (Camels are harder to ride then they appear to be...holding on and staying on while the camel gets up and down is probably the hardest part...)

Me kissing the Sphynx...or making funny faces at the girl across from me...

Hardees and Pizza Hut in the middle of Cairo...Pizza Hut i can handle...but Hardees?!?!?

I don't think i ever got excited about a twinkie...until i saw one in a small convenience store in Cairo:

This was all in the first few days in Cairo...soon i'll try to post more pictures from the cool churches we saw and our trip down to Luxor....and share some of those stories!  Stay tuned....