Travels, Easter, and the 8 Week Challenge

So I looked at the date of my last post and realize it has already been a month. Time is flying by extremely fast. Probably part of it is because of my now full-time job, which by the way is going great. I really do love my job and the consistency in my schedule has been a huge plus. Anyways, my weekends have been extremely full. I haven't been in Princeville for one Sunday this whole month, and to be honest, I'm pretty excited to have the month of May cleared. I love my church and church family, and there is just something special about worshipping with just your church family. The first weekend in April we had communion, which is such a special event and its an amazing time to bond and grow as a church family. That night after communion, Jaylyn, Lisa, Rhea, and I drove out to Oakville for their invite-a-friend. I was invited by Alyssa Lanz. I had a wonderful time, and I always enjoy being with Alyssa. She was a former bank teller, so it's kind of fun swapping stories and such. It also so nice being in Oakville. I realized that I have been invited to Oakville's invite-a-friend every year since I started repenting(which has been four) and I have never been invited by the same person. How great it that? Its good to have so many friends out there.

The second weekend, I went to Kansas City for an invite. I went last year too, so I thought why not again. It was definitely a lot smaller this year with about 50-60 people(17 from Princeville/Bradford-way to represent!). I must admit that I rigged the system so that I could stay with Tressa Sinn, but we had a great time getting to know the other girls. And on Sunday morning, the girls' mom was telling some awesome stories of how the Spirit has worked in her life and through her. It was such a challenge for me to become more in tune with the Spirit and His leadings. I of course did not take any pictures, so I stole the picture from Tressa's blog, so if you have already seen in, sorry.

So here is the group that stayed at the Meyer's. It was great getting to know each of these girls.

Last weekend of course was Easter. We went to Bradford for the day, and then had supper at Uncle Ben and Aunt Katie's. I absolutely love being with the family. It was a nice day, so we played some games outside like volleyball. There's a reason I don't play that game all the time. I tend to get yelled at a lot. "Come on Dean, why'd you hit it out?" Sorry, I'm just not as athletic as my sisters. And yes, my nick-nickname is Dean. You may ask why well let me partially explain. My uncles like nicknames, and mine is Nellie Dean, which I have no idea where is came from and then they shorten it to just Dean. One of the best parts of being with the family is just sitting back and watching all the activity. All the kids are just running around and there are moms getting their kids off of dangerous things, older kids riding the four-wheeler, my dad, my uncle, and my cousin trying out his new gun, and people playing games. Never a dull moment with the Endress family. This Easter I did something I've never done before. I watched The Passion of the Christ with some friends. Honestly, it's something I've wanted to do but never have had the guts to do. It scared me. I was glad that I had friends who encouraged me to watch it and watch it with me. I haven't cried that hard in a long time. We were audibly sobbing the whole time. And it was neat to talk about the different reasons we were crying afterwards. Some cried because of Mary the mother of Jesus watching everything that was happening to her son. For me, I sobbed each time they whipped Jesus. All I could think about was, "That is me whipping Jesus, that is ME!" My heart was so heavy at that thought, but my soul rejoices that He loves me enough to die but more importantly to rise so that I can one day be with Him in eternity. What amazing love our Saviour has for us! I apologize for the lack of Easter pictures. 

 In their Easter outfits. Aren't they adorable? And doesn't Sophie look so grown up? sniff...

You may wonder what this is, so let me explain. Tess likes to organize things. She also likes candy, so her candy is organized in a make-up kit. She keeps us laughing:)

This past weekend, I went to the Bluffton World Invite. I worked on Saturday, so I couldn't leave until after that. I rode up with Holly Funk and we got there at around supper time. It was a good evening. I'm bummed I missed the talks and the work projects, but I was thankful to be at the candlelight singing. It was definitely a first for me, but hopefully not a last. I enjoyed every moment of it. We went to someone's shed for the singing, and for about half of it we sang in the dark. So half way through, the person in the front lights his candle, and then he(or she, I couldn't tell) passed their flame to the next person and the next and the next, you get the picture. Pretty soon the whole shed was lit with everyone's little light. I think there were approximately 300 people there, but I could be totally wrong, all I know is that there were a lot.It was such a good analogy of how each little flame is important, and while we can make a bright light altogether, it is more important to make a bright light in your own world so that the light of Jesus may shine bright throughout the world. It reminds me of a song called Go Light Your World.

Go Light Your World

There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a Spirit who brings a fire
Ignites a candle and makes His home

So Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

Frustrated brother, see how he's tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister, she's been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame

So Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, the tired and worn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

Cause We are a family whose hearts are blazing
So let's raise our candles and light up the sky
Praying to our Father, in the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times

So Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, deceived and poor
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world

Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world 

And of course I didn't take any pictures really in Bluffton, but I took some traveling so here they are.

 The fearless driver. She's such a great travel buddy:)

 We laughed at the Huggy Bear Motel. Looks pretty legit if you ask me;)

 So the room we staying in had a sauna. How awesome is that.

And this is who we put up with on the way home. Just kidding, she probably actually was the one putting up with us:)

I left my car in Morton, so we got there around 5:30ish. We decided to eat at Monicals and met up with Holly's brother and some of his friends. I had a fun time, and it was a great way to top off the weekend.

Today was our first day of this thing called an 8 week challenge. My mom is making(yes making) everyone who is 16 yrs old and older in our family do it. I call it a diet but she prefers challenge. So basically we have to eat 2 servings of fruit, 3 servings of vegetables, eat no sugar, drink 64 oz of water a day, keep a food journal, and exercise 30 minutes a day. Now most of you who know me pretty well, know I don't exactly do any of those things. This whole, don't-eat-sugar thing is going to be the death of me since I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Even though I don't exactly want to admit it, I am glad mom is making me do it, because I know in the end it will be good for me. It made me sad when I had to go to the grocery store today to but new snacks to replace my sugar ones. And, I'm absolutely starving!! Hopefully I can keep you posted on how well it is going.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, and a lovely April since it's coming to a close. Until next time....