Simple.

Hello, kind blog readers! I hope you are having a wonderful summer so far!



I just got back from church camp. Ahhh, it was so much fun! We went rappelling and spelunking and we did a high ropes course and shot arrows out of bows. I met some lovely new people. It was great. Our speaker was so amazing; I learned so much. It was so cool actually meeting people instead of just Facebooking or Twittering them.
I compiled a list of all the inside jokes:

1) Michael's eye trick.

2)Everyone nearly dying on Pirate's Crossing.

3) Popsicles.

4) The Hike.

5) Rule #9.

6) Not shaving. haha.

7)No PDA/PDF/PDFWB

8) Cold and sleepy.

9)Boy stories with Kayla.

10)Cheez-Its on the porch.

11) Praying aloud/in groups!

12)Disgusting food and everyone getting sick from it.

13) Everyone moving to the other side of the cabin.

14) My eyes being half open while sleeping.

15) The "thinking" pose.

16) Not knowing anything about the speaker.

17) "It's camp. Who cares?"

18) Globe volleyball in the dorm.

19) The "in-crowd"



Good times, good times.



So, lately I've been pretty much obsessed with TOMS. I'm going to get the ash canvas ones as shown at the top of this post. They are so beautiful. I smile every time I see them. Haha.





I got a letter in the mail from Samaritan's Purse today. It was talking about the Lord's Resistance Army and how it's moving into the Congo. It makes me really sad. I'm definitely going to be praying that it will END. You should join me.




Much Love,
Marissa

Update! (Dallas, School, Israel, etc.)

Hello, wonderful readers! It has been so very long! I hope all is well in your world. 

Oh goodness, where to begin? Let's see, I went to Dallas! It was right in the middle of the swine flu scare, so it was pretty much a ghost town, but, man, was it lovely. We got to get all dressed up and went to this symphony. I'm not gonna lie, it was really boring, but it was a nice experience. We (as in the school band)  were going to do a parade, but the city was pretty much closed, so it got cancelled. We got to go to Six Flags! It started pouring rain when we were there, so we were all completely drenched for the remainder of the day. We went to a rodeo! It was pretty wild. They had this inhumane calf-roping competition in which they had to lasso the calf and then tie up three of its legs. It was rather sad. 

We got to go to this super cool church called Gateway. They didn't really present the Gospel at all, but aside from that it was lovely. I definitely got to experience some more of what's on StuffChristiansLike.net.  On the way home, I caught some terrible virus. Actually, it wasn't that bad, I was really scared it was the swine flu, haha. Thankfully it was not. 

Ah! Today was the last day of school! I'm not going to know what to do with myself this summer. I'm going to try to take some music lessons, get ahead in math for next year, paint my room, volunteer at an animal shelter, and work at the library. Fun fun. I'm going to this cool camp the week after next...I'm pretty stoked! Oh, my family got this inflatable kayak a few weeks ago...it is so fun! We took it to a local park last week and just paddled it around...it was delightful. Man, I am so stinkin' disappointed in my exam grades. I've stayed up till midnight or one everyday this week to study, and I still didn't make preferred grades. Boo. 

Cory and I broke up last week, and that's all I have to say about the matter. Haha. 

Oh man, they had this event called Israeli Fest this past Sunday. It was so fun! My sister and I bought these really cool hats (hers was a fedora and mine was this other thing, lol), and they had a Jewish band; all the lyrics were in Hebrew. Haha, and they had Israeli ice cream and everyone was wearing these super cool Yamikas(that's definitely not spelled right, but I don't know how to spell it). I have a new love for Jewish culture and I really want to visit Israel. 

Revival was this past week! It was so awesome; I definitely learned a lot. We had this black preacher one night and he brought his choir...oh man, everyone was getting pretty crunk. All these little old white ladies were dancing and clapping and singing. Hahaha, goodness, it was amazing. 

The school year is over and we all know what that means... lots of yearbook signage, so I thought it would be appropriate to give awards for all my favorite notes or whatever they're called.

My Top 5 Favorite Yearbook Signatures (in no particular order)

1. "I'll miss talking to you about politics."-Ryan.

2. "Marissa!  You're so sweet and funny. Oh, watching all those tennis matches. Fun. 'I look like a panda.'"-Katherine.

3. "If I didn't have you as a lab partner then I'd be screwed."-Jami.

4. "Marissa! You need to speak up."-Jake.

5.  "Marissa, you're cool. You should try out for bass drum next year. You sat by us on the bus in Dallas. And we hung out at tennis matches."-Daniel.

Congratulations, folks. I know it means so much to y'all. haha. 

I guess I should go clean my room.

Much Love,

Marissa.

Perhaps God Wrote A Love For Mystery On Our Hearts.

"It's amazing how they can be so happy with so little."

That is something I often hear from people who come home from trips to places like Africa and Mexico. It doesn't make sense, yet it's intriguing. Or maybe it's intriguing because it doesn't make sense. To most Americans, contentment is a foreign concept (both literally and figuratively). We buy when we don't need anything. We eat when we're bored. We brag about our possessions. We spend money on Starbucks and vitamin water simply because they're status symbols. We buy expensive cars. We like to be seen as rich, powerful, and attractive.

But what if we were content with what we have. It's not a radical idea, really. It's in the Bible. We are merely temporary inhabitants of the Earth. We have our own culture in Heaven.

Love doesn't make sense. Peace doesn't make sense. Forgiveness doesn't make sense. The Holy Spirit doesn't make sense. The fact that one man can die and save the entire human race doesn't make sense.

God is intriguing because He doesn't reveal Himself to us all in one sitting. We must follow Him. We must read His words. He is mysterious to us.

We are made in His image.

Are we not supposed to be like God?

Perhaps we were reborn as mysterious creatures. Perhaps we are not supposed to make sense.
Perhaps people are supposed to look at us and how we live and wonder. Perhaps. Perhaps we shouldn't be the path to enlightenment; perhaps we should show and preach the Path. Perhaps the Lord has spoken and we are to obey. Perhaps we should be intriguing. Perhaps merely following God is a mystery in itself. Perhaps a basis of worship is mystery.

The Bible says that Jesus is the mystery of God.

Let's be like Jesus.

Let's let His words change our lives.

Let's follow God and, in doing so, become enigmatic.