The Adventures of Darcey & Watson

Last month I took a trip to Alabama. Why Alabama? Well, my birth-dad and his family lives there! Now, I had only ever seen my birth-dad, Danny, in the summer of 2011 when he came with my little brother and sister (Ethan and Elizabeth), Patricia his wife, one of my older sisters (Ashley) and my niece (Kylee). That visit went very well, read my blog posts titled “the start of a new chapter” and you will get a walk through of the day by day with them.

So I visited Alabama this time to meet with them and a lot of the rest of my family on his side. It went REALLY well! I love each of them in their own ways. All the quirks, and their accents, and how they interact with each other. I count them all as my family, and that’s saying something. I would totally go back, and I look forward to building these relationships with the family I never knew I had.

Some highlights of the trip:
– Playing catch with Ethan in the hot sun (he’s really good!)
– the pet squirrel, Bama, and playing with her (even if she attacked us)
– beating my dad in Guitar Hero and just spending time playing games with him
– meeting the family
– sight-seeing and seeing the beauty of Alabama
– off roading in my dad’s truck while me and Ashley were in the bed of the truck trying not to fall out
– the cats! (they had about 13 cats. 5 of them were full grown and the others were kittens)
– the laid-backness of Alabama
– the small town feel
– Spending time with Ethan, Elizabeth, Kylee, Ashley, Patricia, my dad, and my grandma and grandpa Lemieux

Over all it was a nice time, and if you’d like to hear more about the trip, I’d be happy to share them.

Thanks for reading! God is good, and I’m so blessed to have this relationship being built between me and my dad.

Source: The Adventure Continues in Alabama

This post will take a bit of a deeper, more personal look into what the Lord has been teaching me and showing me as of late. If I can find the words to express it. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.
Abba Father, the Comforter, the Creator of everything, my God, and my Savior. The past few months have been quite an interesting adventure, with the notorious highs and lows that are usually involved. However, something I never expected happened. As is often the case, the Lord has different plans than me, and if I’m patient enough to wait on Him and be content on where He takes me, then I will see that all the trials I go through were well worth it. Just like Romans 8:28 promises.
For those of you who know my past, you know it has been rather rough, yet through it all God has proved His overwhelming love for me time and time again. Without Him, I truly would be destroyed by the enemy, but in Christ, there is victory! That being said, I have had my share of struggles, and even though I know they are all lies of the enemy, for years I have entertained those lies until they became “truths” I believed in my heart. These lies have plagued my heart and my mind for many years, and even though I knew they were lies and I the Truth of God’s promises, it was really hard to let it all go and trust the Lord.
That being said, here is just one story of how God has been ridding my heart and mind of these lies: (note: I am not trying to brag through this story, I am only trying to share with you what God revealed to me.)
I have always had issues with my self image, thinking I am ugly, no one would ever think I’m pretty, and if they say so, then they only said that because they are trying to be nice. I would
read Psalm 139:14 “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” That whole chapter would bring me comfort for a short time, but I never truly believed it and tucked in my heart as Truth.
Now, God has been working on my heart ever so gently, and I have been gaining self confidence and am beginning to view myself the way He created me. He has given me friends who compliment me a lot (it’s really hard to accept compliments when you don’t believe they are true…). Then one day, after I got a little frustrated with a few of my friends for complimenting me so much, I was a little convicted and God told me to write apology letters to them, and to thank them for their encouragement. This was before a Tuesday night prayer meeting, and when I got home from that I was really tired (like most nights), so I got ready for bed.
As I was getting ready for bed I heard clearly “Alley, you’re beautiful”. God told me I was beautiful?! I guess I can’t argue with Him, so I said thanks and then went to bed. The next morning, however, He said it again. “Alley, you’re beautiful.” This time I believed it in my heart. God made me, if He says I’m beautiful, then I must be in His eyes, and His opinion is all that matters. That day I dressed up just for him.
This story is only one of the many that has been happening lately in my life. God has been restoring my heart, and my mind so much in the past few months that honestly, I’m not even close to the same person as I was before. I’m closer to the Lord in our ever growing and deepening relationship, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anyways, thanks for reading this semi-different, more deep and personal newsletter. I’d love to hear your stories of God’s restoration in your lives! Just post them below in a comment, or send them to me in a message or email.

Source: God Restores and is Healing

Dear brothers and sisters,

Something has been tugging on my heart for a long while, and I feel that I should share it with you all. See, I believe and have a relationship with the one God who loves, heals, and delivers. Through my walk with Him, I have gone through valleys, and mountains, but in all of it I can see His faithfulness, and He has never once failed me. He is the only One on whom I can depend in any circumstance, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love the Lord.
The Lord has been with me through rain and shine, and has never left my side. Yes there have been times when I have been so focused on myself that I couldn’t feel Him with me, but in faith I pressed on and sure enough, once I refocused on Him, our relationship dove deeper than before. God is love…and because He is love, this means that He fits the description of what love is from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevered. Love never fails.” (NIV)
Now, you may be wondering, “what about that has been tugging on your heart?” Well, I’m glad you asked! For one, I may have discovered this life-changing (not to be cliché) relationship, but SO many others have rejected it. Now, I’m not writing this newsletter story to condemn any of you, or to make you feel guilty, but what would I be if I didn’t share this with you? It would be like eating your favorite dessert in front of you, and not offering you any of it. Or if you had cancer, and I had the cure, but was selfish and kept it for myself instead of helping you. That would be wrong wouldn’t it?
So what brought on this topic, at this time, after so many previous newsletters that I’ve written? Recently I have had the opportunity to share my faith with my friend back in Pennsylvania (I’ll name him Freddy) who was/is going through a rather difficult time. See, he is looking for love, for someone to be there for him, and since there seemed to be no one who fit that idea, he wanted to end hislife.ThiswasthefirsttimethatIhadeverbeenthrough something quite as life/death as this. But you see, God used me and another friend here at GFA to reach out to Freddy and because Freddy finally listened, he is still alive today. No, he didn’t accept the love of Jesus who is right there waiting for Freddy to open his heart to it, but I do believe that he is close.
Much like with Freddy, I want to share with anyone who will listen of the hope found in Jesus, and the love that He offers. Just looking back on my life and all that the Lord has brought me through, I honestly wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for Him stepping in and guiding me through the darkness. Instead of trying to convince you of this truth, dear friends and family, I encourage you to take a look back at your life. Look at what you have gone through, what are the things that the Lord has brought you through?
Anyway, I am praying for you all. I pray for those who do have a relationship with the Lord, that they will dare to dive deeper than ever before into His nature and His presence. Oh how we should study and get to know those that we love, and even more so the Lord who loves us even when we don’t deserve it. I also pray for those of you who do not know the Lord. That your hearts will one day be softened and your eyes opened to the glory that is God. Embrace His love, because it is so great, that He sacrificed EVERYTHING just to give you the opportunity to live and commune with Him.
Love, Alley Wessner

Source: Don’t Hesitate to Share Christ

(second day to the Easter weekend 2012, spent in Colorado)

Today (the Saturday before Easter) is the day we are going to celebrate the birth of the most adorable toddler named Wesley Hewitt. However, before this glorious occasion, Josh took our gang to the far end of Boulder to the foot of the mountains that you could see from the parking lot in front of the Hewitts household. Because of the altitude, and the very dry air, walking, let alone climbing a mountain, although an easy task, was not very easy this time around.
We started our trek up the mountain, and took quite a few photo breaks to attempt to capture the mountainous terrain (something you won’t normally see in Texas), and those breaks served very well to help catch our breath as we made our way higher and higher into the mountain. After a while, we stopped for a longer break where Katie and I decided to climb some of the natural rocks there in the mountain side. She went up one way, and I went up another. It was very relaxing to sit by myself in a rock crevice, as I overlooked the landscape of Boulder, the lower parts of the mountain, and sit in awe of God’s creation.
Sooner than I would have liked (I was enjoying sitting there in the mountain side) we all decided to head back to the cars because we were quite tired and there was still a LOOoooong way up the top of the mountain. Maybe next time we will get a chance to go all the way to the top, I’m curious to see what it would look like. As we made our decent down to our cars, I decided to fall back behind the group so I could have some alone time to think. So, I took lots of pictures of the nature around me, took time to just be silent in God’s presence, and prayed a bit as well. Was nice to have a bit of quiet in the hectic, yet fun, weekend.
Before heading back to the Hewitt’s, we decided to stop yet again at Jax. A few of us got some stuff like… military pants, I got a ninja star (which I’ll practice with tomorrow at the Bale’s house), Josh got some sand for the sandbox, and then some Cream Soda in a cool bottle. Then it was back to the Hewitt’s house where we decorated for Wesley’s birthday party, met Josh’s sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids (Aiden and Chloe), and celebrated Wesley turning two. At this point we had given Wesley the Giant, red, crab sandbox with the huge eyes on the front. He and Annie loved it! Of course, more sand ended up outside the sandbox, and the wood chips that make up the Hewitt’s back yard ended up mixed in with the sand in the box.
All too soon, it was time for the kiddos to go to bed, while the adults (and Aiden and Chloe) played some Catch Phrase. After Josh’s family left Tim, Katie, Josh, and I played Settler’s of Catan together. I won! Mwahahahah! After my big victory, we all headed to bed (at least the girls did, I’m not so sure about the guys, they may have been up all night playing video games… hehe).

And so ends day two of our adventure in Colorado. Stay tuned for Day three (Sunday, Easter 2012) of the journey.

Source: Climbing Too High in the Mountains Near Boulder

This past Easter weekend Katie, Tim, Patrick, Jessica, and I went on a road trip to Colorado from our home in Carrollton, TX. You see, we were going to visit Josh and Christy Hewitt (Katie, Patrick, and Jess’ family, and former staff members of GFA), and their two adorable children Annie (3, almost 4) and Wesley (just turned 2). The week before we left, Wesley had a birthday, and we were going to celebrate it on the Saturday before Easter. So as a surprise we bought him a gigantic, red, crab sandbox with great big eyes on the front of it. But fitting it in the Volvo we were borrowing from another staff member was not going to happen. Thankfully we had rope, so the guys tied it to the roof of the car, and the Thursday before Easter (right after work, at around 5PM) we were on our way towards a road trip we will never forget.
It started off great with Tim and Katie up front, and Patrick, Jess, and me in the back. Was quite cozy and our intent was to drive till we got to the Hewitts 14 hours later. On we went with a few of us falling asleep periodically (I was drugged with Benedryl for the first few hours because I had a slight allergic reaction to Coconut towards the end of the work day, so I was rather sleepy), and some wonderfully interesting music playing. As we were passing through New Mexico, we saw SNOW on the side of the road! I was rather excited, considering I hadn’t seen ANY SNOW this entire winter. After a few shifts of driving between Katie and Tim, I was getting antsy and was wide awake (at 2AM?). Since Katie and Tim were exhausted, I decided to drive the remaining 5 hours of the trip.
As I was driving, we entered very VERY thick fog. So, insead of going the speed limit of 75 mph, I had to stick with 40 mph since I couldn’t see more than 5 ft in front of me. After a while the fog started to clear up a bit and I was able to speed again (80 mph in a 75 mph… so no worries, no craziness at this point in the trip. hehe). As I was travelling at about 80 mph there was all of a sudden a huge THUNK! and the car swayed a little and gone was the giant red sandbox that had been strapped to the top of the car. Needless to say, I stopped on the side of the road and we all got out to assess the damage and to see if indeed we lost our dear companion.
We had. So, Patrick and I took a flashlight and started walking back along the interstate looking for the sandbox. After about 5 minutes of walking, we figured it must be pretty far away, so we ran about half a mile more, and it still was nowhere to be found. But considering it was 4AM, on a dark interstate, with semi’s and other vehicles rushing by at 75 mph or more, we kept walking looking for the sandbox.After about 5 more minutes I saw a dark shape sitting in the middle of the right lane of the road. THE SANDBOX! We ran over to it and after Patrick picked it up we started our trek back to the car whose hazard lights we could see blinking in the distance. It took FOREVER to get back to the car that seemed to not grow any closer (we had to have been at least a mile away), we tied the sandbox back to the roof of the car, a little more securely this time, and continued on our way.
After a few more hours it started to get light outside and we were ever nearing our destination. Pulling into their parking lot we were greeted by Christy and it was COLD outside! And there were mountains in the distance, and we were all exhausted. After taking a quick nap, we all hung out for a bit, played tiredly with the kids, and once Josh got back from work he took Tim, Patrick, Katie and me to this awesome store named Jax. Jax is a store that has all sorts of weapons, camping gear, military surplus, outdoorsy stuff, etc. I LOVED it!! The first day we went to Jax, we pretty much just took a tour of the store, and then headed to a grocery store to get some needed items for Katie, and then went back home to rest some more.
After our return to the Hewitts house, Josh pointed out that there were a whole bunch of Prairie dogs out in the fields by their house. So Patrick, Katie, and I took our cameras and attempted to get close enough to the prairie dogs to get their pictures. Sadly, these animals are rather skittish and have a very reliable security system. As soon as we reached the closest side walk to their field we heard this chirping alarm coming from the prairie dogs that were acting as the sentries. Needless to say, we didn’t get close enough to get close up pictures of them, but hopefully if we zoom in to the pictures we got from a distance, then it will work well enough.
I honestly don’t remember most of that first day in Colorado…we were all so tired, that I’m surprised that I remembered all that I just wrote about. I do remember when Annie first saw me again, and she said “Alleeeeey! I like you, and I like playing with you. Do you want to play?” Was cute to know that she still remembered me, and was quick to give me a hug hello. Wesley took a little while to warm up to everyone except Jess (he snuggled with her most of the weekend). After a while, I ended up falling asleep on the couch and got sent to bed by the rest of my companions. So I headed down to the basement where the girls were sleeping, put my headphones in and set my ipod to my “sleep” playlist, and promptly fell asleep.

So ends the first day of our journey to Colorado, stay tuned for the rest of our adventures.
(a heads up, the drive back home is quite interesting)

Source: The Adventures of the Red Sandbox

Here’s another quick update of what I’ve been up to, for those who are wondering. Since I haven’t written much lately. Hopefully soon I’ll have some deeper stuff to write about. Next week I’ll write about my easter weekend, we’re headed up to Colorado and I’m sure there will be lots to write about. ANYWAYS, here’s the quick version of the Bales camping trip I went on:

A few weekends ago, I had the amazing privilege to go camping with the Bales family. The Bales family includes the people that they mentored and Katie, as well as their immediate family. So… Wendy (my mentor), David (her husband), their kids Jesse, Kim, Alia, and Gabe, and then those they mentored Steve, Alex, and me, and then Katie Quite a unique family, but I wouldn’t trade being “adopted” by any other family down here.

The camping trip was spent at Daingerfield state park, complete with tenting, hiking trails, and a freeeeeeeeezing cold spring-fed lake. We had lots of fun spending time in God’s nature, and had some great conversations, and worship. Was an over all refreshing weekend. Praise God for the break.

Source: Camping with the Bales – March 2012

Yesterday was a very momentous occasion. You see, GFA was having a Hog Slog (A race that includes Running, Biking, and multiple opsticals including a big mud pit at the end). Katie and I decided to participate, so we spent a few months training. This past week however, we both weren’t doing too well health-wise, so we weren’t too sure how the race would go. But the weather was decent (raining and overcast, slightly chilly), our costumes were obnoxious (Blue body paint with green clothes and capes), we were excited to be participating in the race with friends (so it didn’t really matter if we won or lost), and there was great fellowship afterwards!

So, I guess the purpose of this post is because I haven’t written in a while and thoght I’d just give you a quick update on an event that recently happened.

Katie and I got in third place in the Piglet Bracket number 1, which consisted of about 5-6 other teams. Yay! we placed! next year will be great, and we’ll be sure to train even more!

Source: The First Annual GFA Hog Slog

Today started off with waking up from a great night sleep, and I wasn’t sick anymore! Made me excited to head out with Tom to the full fay of conferences at Caesar’s Palace. It was a lot of the same information, and I was finally understanding what was going on with all the email lingo. I even met some people and smiled and talked, as opposed to when I wasn’t feeling well and was trying to not have a coughing/sneezing fit on people.
As Tom and I walked around the lunch room at the conference trying to visit each of the booths, we collected some free goodies to bring back to Texas. Everything from mints, bouncy balls, inflatable dinosaurs, to bright orange sunglasses. After our looooong lunch period, we had a one-on-one meeting with a professional to talk about the layout of our weekly digest. Trying to figure out how to optimize it enough that will resonate with the prospect (person receiving the email) so that they will read it all and click through to the landing page. We got some good feedback on it, and will be doing some case studies of our own once we get back to Texas.
After the one-on-one meeting, we had the last leg of the main conference (tomorrow is when we take yet another test to become certified professional email marketers, not sure the difference between the two tests). Was a great conference, and I learned a lot. I also figured out that there is a LOT that I have to change and implement when I get back to the office.
Once the conference was finished we met with a few people as the booths were being torn down, and then headed back to our delicious smelling chocolate restaurant to eat dinner. When we were there our waiter looked like a younger Jim Carrey, and was kinda flirty. He pretty much watched me and Tom as we ate the entire time, and was very attentive. And he would try to make eye contact with me and smile and such. It’s hard to be nice and smile at people, yet not lead them on when they’re acting like that.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I was glad to find that the walk back was a lot more tame than the night before. I was also recording the walk from the hotel to the conference center on the way there in the morning, and then took another video of our walk back at night. That way I can create a video of the walk so that people can see first hand what happened, and the difference between the Strip at night, and the strip in the morning.
Once back at the hotel we packed our bags and I took a shower and went to bed. Thus ending the fourth day of my journey in Vegas. Tune in next time for my last day’s adventure.

Source: Las Vegas: From Where I was Standing (day 4)

Today started off with Tom and I waking up earlier than the day before, which technically wasn’t all that early if you count in the time-change. But if you consider the fact that I didn’t sleep very well at all, it was an early morning. This was to be the longest conference day, so being alert was pretty much a necessity. However, I had amazing friends and family praying for me as I was there, so I wasn’t all too worried about remembering all that I needed to. I knew God wanted me at this email marketing conference for a reason, so I was determined to give it my all so I can best serve Him when I’m back at GFA.

The walk over to the conference was pretty much the same as the day before, not much else to share there, so I’ll just skip straight to the conference itself. Moved to a bigger room, with way more chairs and tables, due to the vast difference in the amount of people attending, we found some seats towards the back of the table section. I’d also like to mention that I was at about 70% of health, and was just sniffling and coughing a little bit. But I was able to talk without having to constantly clear my throat, so that was a major improvement. Especially when being asked what I do, and where I came from.

After about 2o minutes of the first session, a guy named Marcus sat next to me in the empty seat that previously resided there. He was really nice, and when I shared about Gospel for Asia (which was a very common occurrence, since people were all trying to get to know the other marketers in the conference and what they might be able to gleam from their experiences to use in their marketing tactics.) he commented that he’s glad we’re working over in Asia because “they need the Gospel very much”. I was happy to see that he was totally understanding. After a few sessions, someone else came over to talk to him and mentioned that he knew that Marcus would do great when he taught his session the next day because of when he heard him speaking in church once. So Marcus knew the Truth! I’m not 100% sure he is a believer, but this is the first time I’ve heard mentioned anything about the church since arriving in Las Vegas. Other than from Tom and myself that is…

Now, the conference kept going on, and on… and on. All the while we were consistently being flooded by a water hose of information about emails, value propositions, clarity trumping persuasion, etc. So I was very glad when lunch was announced and we got an hour break to gather up as much energy as we could with food, in preparation for the next 6-7 hours. As we finished getting our food (chicken, salad, and tater tots), there was no more sitting room at the tables. So we stood to eat our food at a standing table with a few other people. Made for some quick eating. But it was great food.

The next sessions were break out sessions, where there were two different sessions going on at the same time, in different rooms. So Tom and I split up so we could get all the information possible, from both sessions. I was praying the whole time, that maaaybe I’d be able to retain the information I heard. The first guy wasn’t all that interesting, and most of the stuff he was talking about didn’t really apply at all to what we do. The second guy that spoke was a very dynamic speaker. He had grown up in the church and used to be a baptist pastor. He owned a music company (hearandplay.com) and I learned a lot about him about making automated emails personalized.

After these sessions, we had a break and I decided to take some pictures of the conference center, the booths of the different Email Service Providers (ESP’s), and such. Lots of booths had free stuff, where I got the bulk of my souvenirs. (my bouncy ball was taken away at airport security.) After break I was able to concentrate a lot better, my head was a lot less fuzzy, and I was beginning to understand all the email lingo being talked about. And to top it all off, it ended way earlier than I thought it would! So Tom and I wandered around Caesar’s Palace looking for this photo exhibit that was being talked about. They were BEAUTIFUL photos! And when Tom asked how much they cost (thinking postcard size) they started at $3000. $3000!! FOR A PICTURE! Crazy…

The pictures were amazing, but there weren’t that many to look at, so we left the exhibit and decided to explore a bit more of the Forum Shops inside Caesar’s Palace. As we went deeper into the “mall” it was beautiful inside. The ceilings were huge domes painted to look like the sky outside. With clouds and such. The architecture was astonishing as well, with intricate fountains, and statues galore. As we walked deeper and deeper into the shops, we were stopped by a delicious aroma in the air. Drastically different than the smokey smell of the casinos, we were met with the smell of chocolate. It was so thick, it was like I stepped into a cloud of edible air. We discovered that it was a restaurant, AND a chocolate store in one. Needless to say, we decided to eat there that night and the food was delicious! I’ve never had chocolate ranch dressing with onion rings before, but boy did it taste delectable.

After dinner, Tom wanted to look in the chocolate shop for something for his wife, so I decided to take a walk around taking photos. I discovered another fountain, and as I was taking pictures of it, I noticed a blue light near it. Trying to get a better view of the light, I saw that it wasn’t a light, it was an aquarium full of fish! So I decided to take pictures of the fish and as I was taking pictures of the fish, I saw out of the corner of my eye a manta ray swimming happily into view. It’s almost like it saw the camera and wanted me to take pictures of it. So I did. Lots of them, as it kept posing nicely for me.

After this, Tom and I walked back to our hotel. It was an interesting sight walking through Vegas at night. With all the lights and smells and sounds. It’s almost overwhelming the sin that covers that part of the city. People handing things out, announcers announcing the next game of strip poker that will take place right inside the door of a bar, the people staggering drunk in the street, the billboards, the drummers on the street trying to earn tips, a guy making crosses and roses out of palm tree leaves.

Now we’re back at our hotel and it’s time to rest and go to bed. And so ends day 3 of Vegas.

Source: Las Vegas: From Where I was Standing (day 3)

So, I didn’t sleep very well the first night in Vegas, but that’s alright, I had the adrenaline of the time-change messing up my internal clock and not knowing what to expect with this email conference. I have never been to a work conference before, I had heard plenty about them from my mommy, but that’s nothing like experiencing on for yourself.

Before I get into what this day was like, I’d like to say that I don’t think Satan wanted me to attend this meeting. Which is strange because you would think he would want me to go to Las Vegas, and endure all the darkness that he has fabricated here. But alas, the weekend before I was leaving, I got a very bad cold and wasn’t sleeping well at all, and my car’s brake fluid decided to start leaking. Was a rather interesting start to the week. But Praise God I have friends and family who pray because I got the best two nights of sleep in a long time, the two nights before I left, and my car was being taken care of by some of my GFA family. So Praise God for that provision. He really does know what He’s doing. I also can’t help but think, maybe He made me sick for this week because he knew there would be people here that might possibly take advantage of a young single girl who has no clue what she’s doing. So, it was kinda a blessing in disguise, one might say.

So, Tom and I met out in the hallway to head over from the Harrah’s to Caesar’s Palace, I recorded this walk for you all to see, but I’m not home yet, so you’ll have to wait till I’m back to see it. Just ask me. It’s not all that fancy, but it includes having to walk through the smoke and alcohol filled casino of the Harrah’s, walk down the street past bars, tattoo parlors, clubs, etc, Cross the street called Strip st. up till we encountered Caesar’s Palace. This first day we took the walkway into the casino area. It was a series of squishy moving walkways that took us into the heart of Caesar’s Palace. We wandered the casino floor till we found someone that could direct us to the Conference Center, and then made our way through the winding corridors that make up the palace. This place is HUGE! After following the signs for the Email Marketing Summit through the maze of hallways and escalators and such, we found the email summit.

Once we were all signed in, we found some seats at a table and waited for the sessions to start. This first day was rather boring as I had no clue what they were talking about at first and it took a while to catch onto the lingo that I was unfamiliar with. Slowly but surely it started to make sense and the speakers were getting slowly more animated as they got more into what they were talking about. 8 hours go by and they present us with a test. Yes, you read that right. They gave us a test.

Now, when I finished my final exam in Highschool, I thought I would be finished forever with the loathsome Scantron Tests. You know, the ones where you fill in the bubbles according to the question’s answer? Apparently I was wrong, because two and a half years after I graduated from Owen J Robert’s Highschool, I took yet again, a scantron test to see how well I listened to the lectures, with the notorious number 2 pencil. Praise God it was an open book test because I barely remembered what we rushed through in the sessions. Thankfully we only have to pass with an 80% to be considered a “Certified Professional in Email Marketing”. I personally think they should have waited till the end of the third day, or fourth day, but that’s okay. We’ll see if I’m a professional when the results come back.

After our test, Tom and I headed back to our hotel for some grub and rest. The journey back from the hotel was more interesting than the journey from the hotel in the morning. You see… Las Vegas comes to life at night. So the night life was just starting to get under-way when we were headed back. There were stalls and vendors open, people were setting up for that night’s show, there were people out and about on the streets, there were people handing stuff out on the streets to go see the “show girls”, etc. Let’s just say, Tom and I started walking a little quicker to get back to our hotel rooms.

When we got in the elevator that would take us to the third floor of our hotel, we realized just how tired we were. Both of us, with bags under our eyes, agreed to meet an hour and a half later to go find dinner. Giving us some down time to rest. I ended up watching Fox and the Hound II on my laptop. We wandered around the Harrah’s trying to find a decent place to eat, and we settled on this steak-house type restaurant. There was even an elevator to get up to this fancy restaurant. But once we arrived, we discovered that the prices were EXPENSIVE! so we went back to KGB.

This time at KGB we had a guy waiter. He was very obviously gay and was very flirtatious. But he mainly paid attention to me. Smiling, giggling, talking, etc. It was rather interesting. For me, I’m used to hanging with people like this, coming from a public school background, and from the various mission trips I had been on. I felt bad for the guy, and will continue to pray for him. Seeing how “open” he was to communicating to me, I was reminded of how we are supposed to be approachable. Like Jesus was. Not agreeing with the sin, and not encouraging it. But not condemning to the point of people not wanting to be around believers. Praise God for Him loving this waiter through me. I just hope that he will see that and not be turned off to any believers he may come across in the future.

After dinner we went back to our hotel rooms, and as my form of resting, I watched another movie (Oliver and Company), read my bible outloud (as a sort of prayer for this city), prayed, and then went to bed.

And so ends day 2 of my trip to Las Vegas. Stay tuned for Day 3!

Source: Las Vegas: From Where I was Standing (day 2)