Thursday, August 5, 2004 - Crystal       

Hey all…First off I want to say it’s great to be back up here and I hope everyone is having a great summer. The last time I updated was back in January.  A lot has changed  since that time with IPF, but the webmasters have done an excellent job with maintaining this site. 

I got back from one of the best cities on Tuesday – Houston.  We arrived there on the 26^th of July for our trip to Mexico. There was never a dull moment as I was with my DC girls most of the time – Damaris, Julie, Libby, Leti & Michel.  Whether it was my Indian accent, joking around, or just Michel R. asking the funniest questions, it was an awesome trip.

The drive to Mexico wasn’t bad, although we left much later than was planned (NTC time J).  However, there was some discrimination against skinny people  as we were all put into one van that was packed with items :-p.  When we reached Mexico I was surprised to find that we’d be staying in an air-conditioned motel.  We were taken care of quite well while we were there, but the guys weren’t so lucky as they had no A/C.  They had their revenge later on as I’ll tell you.  The first night there was a meeting to start things off as Pastor Idaway spoke to us.  The next day (July 28) we learned a couple phrases in Spanish and ways to witness to people and help them accept Christ. We then went door-to-door inviting kids to come to the Vacation Bible School. In the evening we had our first open air meeting in a place called The Plaza.  We sang in Spanish and English, and many people were able to hear the word of God.

The next day (July 29) we all went shopping at this indoor market-type place.  It was so much like India, and I could never decide what to buy for everyone.  We continued with the Vacation Bible School when we got back to the church. I was in the group that helped out the kids ages 0-5 (yes, 0-5 hahah) and we helped them make sheep ears to go with their memory verse that spoke of a Shepard and his sheep. Many of the kids accepted Christ by the end of the school.  The final open air meeting was memorable as many people came to accept Christ.  Each of us had to testify, and for some reason I wasn’t as nervous as I usually am.  I probably had the only one-liner testimony that night :-D.  It was amazing to see how well the people listened to us as we invited them to come to the meeting nearby us.  It was the first time I ever went out witnessing to people, but I had trouble with my Spanish.  I almost said things in Malayalam, which shows you my ammachiness :-p. At some points a certain someone, whom I will name as my twin, took some random pictures which should be destroyed.  You know who you are! :-D

The revenge I spoke of earlier was that us girls were stopped at the US-Mexican Border for almost 3 hours as some were questioned and so much time was wasted. The guys were stopped for a pretty short amount of time, and were then let go. I was getting pretty mad that we had to wait for so long, and I remember thinking about suing the officers for discrimination against us Indians :-O.  But we were soon on our way and had a fun trip back to Houston.  Overall I had an awesome time in Mexico, even though the heat was unbearable at times. Our time in Houston was also REALLY great.  We didn’t want to leave But it was great meeting many of you, who may actually be reading this update right now :)

·       Thanks to those who helped me take pictures with my camera – Ashley, Vidal, Yvonne, Julie, Damaris

Friday, January 23, 2004 - Crystal       

It's been a month since I was up here, but I wish everyone a great year.  Finals are FINALLY over and I'm sure a lot of you are drained.

Ok now on to the title of my update.  You're probably thinking, "What the heck is she talking about?" No David isn't running for President...and THANK GOD he isn't!  Just check out the link below, sent to me by Anil from Philly.  When you open up the link, it takes a bit to load but you'll soon see a gray box, so be patient.

Imagine if you saw George W. or some other candidate releasing something like this! I couldn't stop laughing the first time I saw this!  I don't know if this was meant as a joke, but I'm sure you noticed the craphics and those how-did-he-do-that  flying stunts...oh and we can't forget the blue screen backgrounds and the HOOGA CHAKKA?  What about that alien thing bobbing up and down, or the jumping from Africa to Alaska in one jump...Poor guy :-D

I felt bad for him, since he hasn't really done much...or maybe he feels forgotten? He's not a bad singer, but if you want to make a comeback don't use other people's songs and AT LEAST make an effort at it hahah.

Hope you all got a good laugh out of this, but don't expect to hear "And the Grammy goes to......"

-Icy :)

Here's a great excerpt from Lord of the Rings~

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by frost.

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