The Chronicle of Ashley’s Journey to Pheonix Arizona 3-19-2009 at 8:00 a.m.
I began the trip to Phoenix at 3:00 a.m. this morning with my normal aplomb at 5:00 a.m. this morning I realized what dolt I can be. It dawned on me that I did not even know the airline I was flying because I had not looked up my flight info last night. Thankfully I did have enough money to switch to a later flight and so I am now leaving at 8:45. I am disappointed that DI A does not have a Starbuck’s in the C – concourse, I was looking forward to a delicious skinny cinnamon dulce latte, instead I ended up with a slightly disgusting latte from TYBC.

3-20-2009 at 11:40 a.m.
I’ve arrived safely at my friend’s house in Pheonix, AZ. After a 50 minute Flight to Salt Lake city I transferred to an overbooked flight, which thankfully I got cleared to go on. Both flights were pretty smooth although the landing into phoenix was very choppy. I waited for an hour at the airport until Serena got off early from work and then we ate at Rubio’s a Mexican restaurant. It was delicious and fellowshipping with Serena and her mother was very refreshing. We then went shopping and I bought a pretty white skirt and a yellow and pink top from Ross as well as some pillows to match Serena’s couch as a gift. After shopping we came home to Serena’s very pretty house and I crashed on the couch. 2 hours later Tiffany, Serena’s sister was home and we went shopping at Wal-mart to supply ourselves with snacks for the duration of my stay. When we got home we played the piano and sang and had a prayer meeting. This morning we had a delicious breakfast. Serena and I made omelets with toast and an apple. It was fun cooking together.
Serena has been having trouble with her AC and so had a guy come and look at it this morning. He said it had been unplugged and looked as if someone was going to steal it! Thankfully, God has protected these precious girls form any harm and the AC is plugged back in and everything has worked out fine. We are now on are way to a park to go hiking.

3-22-06
Wow! I never really expected to have such an eventful trip. You may well wonder at how long it has been since I wrote last; well there is a story to tell. After hiking on Friday Serena and I had a late lunch at Subway and then wandered home to get ready for youth service. We arrived and sat talking for a while and then we both kind of hungry and so we decided to have a snack to hold us over until after service and then we got ready and went to church. Youth Service was great and the preacher preached about what can influence people and how we can influence others. After service we decided to go to Wendy’s to eat. Nellie decided to ride with Tiffany Who had driven over from work. So we start driving and we eventually pull up at a light right next to Tiffany, so I rolled down the window and opened my mouth to say something to Tiffany when …Wham, Crash, Shatter, Bones jarred, in the intersection, pulling over to the side, Dear Jesus we just got rear ended with a full impact. In complete shock I sat while Serena cried. People whirled around us calling the police and then checking on us. “Are you ok?” “Does anything hurt?” Oh yes it hurt all right my upper back was screaming and Serena’s neck was definitely hurting. So they load us up on backboards and haul us off to the hospital. Thankfully nothing was broken just very strained. After 6 hours in the hospital waiting for some food and rest we finally got out at 3:30 and then were so hungry we went to Denny’s for ummmmm Breakfast or late dinner or uh well for something to eat. Next morning we are extremely sore but ok. Took it pretty easy most of the day. We did make a banana pudding with nilla wafer desert and some guacamole. After we went to prayer, which was almost more than we could handle, we came home and ate pizza with our guacamole and then went to bed. This morning Tiffany has done my hair and I am wearing my new white skirt with a new Blue blazer that Serena is giving me.

Down from his Glory

This song says what I feel in my heart today.

Down from His glory, ever living story,
My God and Savior came, and Jesus was His name;
Born in a manger to His own a stranger,
A man of sorrows, tears and agony!
Chorus
Oh how I love Him! How I adore Him!
My breath, my sunshine, my all in all!
The great Creator became my Savior,
And all God's fullness dwelleth in Him!

What condescension, bringing us redemption,
That in the dead of night, not one faint hope in sight,
God gracious, tender laid aside His splendor,
Stooping to woo, to win, to save my soul!

Chorus
Oh how I love Him! How I adore Him!
My breath, my sunshine, my all in all!
The great Creator became my Savior,
And all God's fullness dwelleth in Him!

Without reluctance, flesh and blood His substance,
He took the form of man, revealed the hidden plan;
O glorious myst'ry sacrifice of Calv'ry!
And now I know He is the great "I AM"!

Chorus
Oh how I love Him! How I adore Him!
My breath, my sunshine, my all in all!
The great Creator became my Savior,
And all God's fullness dwelleth in Him!

I am not feeling all that well today I’ve had a wisdom tooth coming in for the past week and this morning it has given me a an extreme headache. Anyway I have just discovered another expensive taste in Naked juice. I really like them but, man, are they expensive. Oh well for someone who loves Five-Bucks and likes the Elephant bar I guess this is just in line. Expensive tastes are one of my weaknesses. I’m working on it.
I have some prayer requests today for any of my readers who know how to pray. Bro. Dyer an older gentleman in my church has bacterial meningitis. Thankfully he is doing much better than was predicted but he still is in need of our prayers for complete recovery. The main thing we are worried about now is that his brain will not be damaged.
Then I am asking for prayer for Bro. Thiel and his family they are really going through a rough time right now due to the fact that Bro. Thiel’s dad is dying. They are only giving him a few more weeks at best. Yesterday Bro. Thiel said goodbye and I know he is in a lot of pain as well as his family. Please keep them in your prayers.

I am sitting at the elephant bar for lunch. The décor here is so refreshingly different. The myriad animal prints, the Elephant pictures and the beautiful fans make this eclectic restaurant very interesting. Bamboo walls and palm trees add to the overall ambiance of this expensive restaurant. The food offered is varied although fish, chicken, and shrimp are the most common meats. Their salads cater to any taste and are often a little exotic.
Today I am looking forward to going to see my friend Serena in phoenix. I am so excited to think that I will see her for a full 11 days. I truly miss her and I know that I will have tons of fun and relaxation while I am there. I leave early Thursday morning in fact I must be in Denver at 5:00 in the morning. I leave there at 6:00 and then I have a layover in Salt Lake for an hour. I finally arrive in Phoenix at 9:00. Sis. Friend, Serena’s mom, will pick me up there and then I have no clue. I have left it to Serena and her family to surprise me with whatever plans they have lol.
I am also extremely excited about the revival we are having at church. 4 people were baptized yesterday. I am so thankful for the revelation of Jesus name baptism. Knowing that my sins have been put under the precious blood of Jesus for all eternity is such an assurance.

Late Night Ramblings

I wouldn't normally post at 1 o'clock in the morning but I wanted to post earlier and as I was on my way home from a late babysitting job, I was inspired. The moon tonight is so big and bright and it reminded me of how the Church is to reflect God's light in this dark hour. It amazes me that the light is so small but yet so bright. I pray that I am reflecting the glory of God every day. I know I often fail to do things I should but I pray that I can become all God wants me to be. I pray that everything I do points to Him and that I don't take glory in anything but always give it back. Goodnight and God bless.

Ok so as we all know I am horrible at posting here lol. I guess I am not really a blogger just an occasional rambler. I have been doing well though for anyone who is wondering. I am loving my new macbook. I have so much fun just playing around but not only that it has an awseom calendar app and mail box checker so much better than outlook. I absolutely have fallen in love with it. I also like i-web ok and i-photo is great. 

I have finally gotten an answer from the lord for which i have been seeking since last november. I'm not exactly sure why He timed it the way He has but I know that He is an on time God. Maybe I wasn't ready to listen until now. Anyway, I should start at the beginning. As anyone who has stayed with my sporadic ramblings for long knows last semester was a little interesting for me. I got a job I thought was going to be great which turned out to be not so great. In fact it was traumatic. Because of the havoc reeked by my decision to take the job i ended up having to withdraw from two classes. During this time I started to question whether or not I should be going to school at all. I prayed about it and talked to my Pastor's wife and came to the decision that I should continue, but I still had a disquieting feeling about becoming an accredited teacher in a public school. I never really wanted to teach in a public school and after taking the intro to Ed class last semester I was even more turned off by all of the politics and strings attached to doing so. My main aim in becoming an accredited teacher was to be able to have a cover in order to do missionary work in whatever part of the world the lord sends me to in the future. Since deciding on this I have found that I don't need accreditation in order to teach english in any country. Another aim in becoming a teacher was to be able to learn and teach spanish in Christian schools. I don't need to be accredited in order to do that either.  So the long and short of it is I had last my desire to become an accredited teacher. (Hang with me here I know this story is a bit long.) So to make a long story a little shorter I started praying for direction and I continued going to school in the direction I had started. This is where a really far out thing happens as many of you may know I have been a part of the Sign Language Team at my church for the last 2 and 1/2 years. I have learned a lot and I enjoy signing songs and have even started trying my hand at interpreting some small parts of sermons. Unfortunately we have only had 2 deaf people actually come in the last few years. The interesting thing is both times I was the only one there advanced enough to interpret the service. The last time this happened was 2 sundays ago. This is when God spoke to me. As I tried to explain salvation to a deaf girl and encourage her to ask the Lord to fill her with the Holy Ghost, God was speaking to me. It went something like this

Quiet Voice of God "Ashley this is the second time that a deaf person has come in the last two years and both times you have been the only one here to interpret"  

Ashley "I know and I am not good enough to do this. I need Bro. Geist here."

Quiet Voice of God "If you became an interpreter you would be able to do this"

Ashley "Became an interpreter I've never even thought about it"

Quiet Voice of God "There is a program at the college which will teach, trust me I will help you to do this"

Ok so all this is running through my mind and all afternoon I struggle with whether or not it is just me or if it is God talking to me. I pray. It is definitely God speaking I have learned to recognize His gentle nudges. So I have decided to become an interpreter for the deaf instead of an accredited teacher. Wow what and experience.