The Adventures of Darcey & Watson

Hey everyone!

So, I figured it would be good to write a quick post to let you all know I’m still alive and loving life. Things have been rather busy lately with getting married, living in a hotel with little Internet access, moving an hour east with Gospel for Asia to our temporary home with NO Internet access, adjusting to life in the country, and many projects in the Web Department.

My hope is to continue writing blog posts on a more regular basis once we move into our real house and get our Internet hooked up. Then I can share with you the ins and outs of how I viewed my wedding, about our amazing trip to Sweden for our honeymoon, the chaos of moving to Wills Point, Texas from Carrollton, TX, and what it’s like to be a Zink.

So much to look forward to!

As for now, we would really appreciate your prayers. Things are starting to become a bit more “normal” as far as ministry goes, but it’s a major adjustment that we are still trying to get used to. Please pray for grace, wisdom, and an abundance of joy.

Thanks!! God is Good

Source: Long Time No Write!

Saturday March 1, 2014, started out like a normal day. Darcey was serving at a women’s conference running the Prayer PC and I slept in and got some chores done. At about 1:30pm, I drove over to GFA to pick Darcey up and grab some much needed sustenance at my favorite fast food place: Chik-fil-A. It was such a nice warm day, so we decided to go to a park and swing some before going back to the Ferson’s to watch the IT Crowd with a few people.

The park we went to is in a neighborhood called Castle Hills which has many MANY parks in it, though we have nicknamed them according to what the park is “themed” after. This one was the “Castle park” because there are four pits all connected by a tunnel that leads up to a round opening that looks like King Arthur’s round table. The opening looks like part of a castle, hence the nickname “CASTLE park”.

We started off swinging, and enjoying our time together, and then I went down one of the slides leading into a pit. Darcey said “I’ll meet you in the castle!”, I said “alright!” and proceeded to race through the tunnels to beat him there. Apparently I’m a bit more out of shape than I thought because when I got into the castle and didn’t see him there yet, I plopped down on the ground and caught my breath. Soon he walked over to me and I gave him my hands to help me up.

As I stood up, he hugged me from behind and said “So, I have a random question for you, well, it isn’t so random”. At this point, I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary because our relationship was founded on asking “random questions” to each other. So I said “alright?”

Then, before I knew what was happening, he knelt down on one knee and said “will you marry me?”.

I said “WHAAAaat?!”, as my heart rate sky-rocketed.

So he put the ring in front of me, and I took it and said “is this real?!”

I placed it on my finger and jumped into his arms in a tight embrace. Then we sat down, me still hugging him, and he proceeded to tell me that he had had permission to ask me for about a week prior to this moment. I looked at him in disbelief, amazed that he had contained that excitement so well without me finding out. Though I do tend to be a bit oblivious to these kinds of things.

When we got back to his apartment, we shared the news with his roommate Sam, and then called/texted our families to give them the news. My cheeks were sore towards the end of those calls from smiling for two hours straight.

And so, Darcey and I are now engaged and are planning our wedding for either June 20th or 21st!

EXCITING TIMES!

Here’s some preview photos from the engagement photo shoot.

Source: He Asked, I said “YES!”

On February 4th, I woke up earlier than usual to make a 45 minute drive to Denton County’s courthouse. Why? Because I had been summoned to appear for jury duty. When the letter first arrived in the mail, unlike the majority of people who groan in annoyance, I jumped for joy. I had never been called upon for jury duty before and so I was excited to see what it was all about. I took time picking out an outfit to wear, trying not too look too professional, but not look like a bum at the same time. Made sure to leave a half hour earlier than needed to make sure I’d arrive on-time (I’m notorious for being late to everything, and getting lost).

As I drove to the courthouse, a sudden wave of panic arose within me. It took me by surprise, so I turned off the music I was listening to and started to think and pray about why I was having this fear rise up from the depths. Then it hit me. The last time I was at a courthouse was when I was 18 years old, terrified, on the verge of crying, and testifying against my dad. Back then, I had a small army of believers and family with me, praying me through. So I prayed “Lord, please use this time of jury duty to further heal me from the scars of my past.”

This was a very unexpected turn of events. What had started off as a fun venture into the unknown became a series of flashbacks, sweaty palms, and a strange sense of accomplishment. I hadn’t had flashbacks like this since the year following the moment I finally released the pent up story of my past. The Lord has healed me so much, and I had forgotten that the road to being fully healed is a long one. That is, until I started reading Mary DeMuth’s “Not Marked”. Praise the Lord that He has reminded me that I am still dependent on His grace and healing and I can’t do this on my own.

The first few steps I took across the parking lot to the courthouse building were rather timid, but as I released my fears to the Lord I entered the doors with confidence, knowing that I am not alone. Jury duty was rather boring at first. I walked into a big room with hundreds of chairs and not that many people. So I checked in and then made my way to the very back corner of the room so I could get a better view of what was transpiring in the jury selection hall. Soon the room filled to standing room only and a man came out and said that we only needed 244 of the crowd to stay to sit on jury.

After a short video to explain jury duty to those who were newbies like me, the guy came back and started to read off names of those who would be staying. One Indian guy who was sitting next to me asked if I thought he could get out of jury duty because he travels every week, I told him I had no clue. Then we came to the last list of names and my name hadn’t been called yet so I was thinking, “Alright Lord, I guess You just wanted me to trust You to get me through this section and I can go back to work.” Then my name was called, “Alexandrea Wessner” and I quietly said/wimpered my “here” and waited for more instructions. As I made my way to the hallway to collect my red “ticket” that told me where to go next, I saw a familiar friendly face. One of the ladies from Gospel for Asia had been summoned too! Unfortunately she hadn’t been called like me, so she went home after we exchanged hugs, but it was nice to have a friendly face in the crowd of strangers who didn’t want to be there.

After about 20 minutes, the bailiff came in and took the 32 of us to the courtroom we where we would be questioned and eliminated. Walking to the courtroom, I felt like my feet were like lead. So I kept praying “Lord help, Lord help, please help.” We all gathered outside the courtroom and they called our names in the order we would be staying in for the elimination process. I was first. So I got to walk into the courtroom first and find my seat to the far front right as the lawyers stared, not smiling, judging me and the other jurors the entire time. I felt so small, till my row slowly filled up. An hour of random questions later, and a few jurors making ridiculous comments and claims to get out of being chosen, we had a break for lunch.

I ate at Wendy’s because I couldn’t find anything else around. I don’t think I will ever eat out alone again… was so lonely! I was tempted to ask the elderly group a few tables away if I could join them just for company. Though, the kids meal toy was entertaining.

After lunch we all piled back into the courtroom to be bombarded by more questions as the lawyers tried to feel us out and eliminate those they felt wouldn’t help their case. Soon, it was time for the elimination process. As we were waiting in the hallway for the lawyers and judge to eliminate, I saw this elderly lady, who was one of the jurors with me, reading a book by Charles Stanley called “Finding Peace”. Again, I felt the Lord encouraging me through even the title of the book she was reading!

Filing back into the courtroom, I had a feeling that I would be picked to sit on the jury. I don’t know how, but I somehow knew. Though I wasn’t prepared for them calling my name first. That was really weird. Walking through the door that divided the floor of the courtroom from the seats we were sitting in, following the bailiff to the jury box and finding my seat first. I couldn’t help myself, I was shaking a bit. Had to bite my lip to stop it from quivering as I sat there waiting for the other jurors to join me.

The rest of that day was a lot less stressful. The bailiff took us back to the juror room and we got the low-down on what was expected of us, we got our juror badges, and then went back into the courtroom to hear the first part of the trial. It was a case that was really low in Civil court, so it wasn’t a murder case or theft, it was a lawsuit. One lady was suing another lady for injuries that supposedly occurred in a car crash from late November 2009. Which I found interesting because 2009 was the year I sat in court against my dad. Coincidence? I think not.

We listened to both sides for about an hour and then were dismissed to go home for the evening, but since it wasn’t over, we had to show up bright and early again the next day. So I went home and the next morning dressed a lot more comfortable than I had dressed the day before. This time when we got in the courtroom, it went a lot faster and before we knew it, we were back in the juror room discussing all the evidence that we were presented. It was a very easy decision on most of our parts, but we took a little longer discussing it than needed to ease the minds of those who had entrusted this decision to us as a jury. After about an hour of discussion, of which I’m surprised how much I spoke my opinion, we had 11 to 1 voting against the lady who was suing.

Back in the courtroom, we said what we believed the evidence showed and the lady came away with absolutely nothing. I kinda felt bad for her because she was obviously in pain because she had a degenerative disk disease, but she was not injured in the accident itself. So we were released from our jury duties and dismissed to the jury room again. In came the bailiff and the judge as they told us stories from prior cases and answered our questions.

Later, in the hallway by the elevators, the lawyers met us and asked us how they could improve in what they do and what we all thought about the case. I was tempted to tell them that each time one of them spoke I started to believe their side of the case even if what the other said right before made so much sense. Talk about tricky lawyers! Either that or I’m just too gullible…. Which could very well be the case.

As we took the elevators down to the parking lot, one of the lawyers stopped me as I was exiting and asked me about my mission work. He was like, “Hey! I wanted to ask you. Where do you work?” I said, “I actually work at Gospel for Asia out of Carrollton.” To which he said, “Do you travel places?” I responded, “Well, I went to India once but that was more of a ‘vision tour’ to see what is happening and such over there.” Then he asked, “Do you know any other languages?” I laughed and said, “None that I’m fluent in, but I do know a few words here and there in other languages.” Then he said thanks and walked away. I smiled and walked the other way thinking to myself “that was a tad odd, but cool at the same time.”

And so ended my jury duty experience. I later got $46 in the mail for my services, and my heart has healed significantly from the Lord walking me through that adventure. I look forward to my next journey to jury duty, if I ever get called on again. It’s cool how God really does use everything to grow you closer to Himself and to heal you from past pains.

Source: How the Lord Used Jury Duty to Further Heal Me

Along with the new year of 2014, my role at GFA is also slowly shifting to something a bit more in my area of enjoyment. I am being trained to help our Web Designer! With that training comes Photoshop and hours of watching videos on Tree House. I’m actually enjoying this so much that I find myself not moving for over an hour causing my legs to go numb and people being able to sneak up on me easier. In high school, I actually was leaning toward becoming a Graphic Designer and a missionary. Meaning this new role is right up my alley (Pun intended)! I am still working with Social Media marketing (for GFA and the new documentary coming out in March, Veil of Tears), Emails, web writing, and other various projects, but once our new School of Discipleship student arrives, I will be doing less Social Media and more web design and Photo of the Day. I’m so excited!!

Since I’m not quite a full fledged web designer yet, I am spending time practicing in Photoshop CS6 and creating random graphics as well as editing random pictures. Here’s one of my graphic images. Let me know what you think it means in the comments below!

Source: Exploring Photoshop CS6

On Saturday I bought a new friend. He was the most beautiful betta fish in Petsmart, so uniquely colored and fit my personality quite well. I brought him home and was thrilled to put together his new “home” with a soft leafy plant to rest on, and some barrels to hide in if it got too bright in the apartment. He seemed to like the stylish environment and swam around like a spaz for a few minutes, so I named him Zippy. Everything looked great!

Tim and I then decided to go watch Despicable Me 2, a great movie! When I came home that night, I went to the fish bowl to see how my little Zippy was adjusting. Something seemed off. He was sinking to the bottom of the bowl, so I tapped on the glass (I know… cruel) to see if he would move. He did… after about 10 slow taps. Good he wasn’t dead. Then he rose to the top of the tank and was struggling to swim down into the water. “That’s not a good thing”, I thought. So I pulled out my phone and searched Google for what might be wrong with Zippy.

I found a lot of answers to the problem, and then noticed that Zippy had some white fuzzy stuff on him. First thought was “That’s kinda gross…”, second thought was, “Uh… that’s no good.” and back to Google I went. Google was saying that I should probably go to a pet store ASAP to get some anti-bacteria meds for Zippy, and replace some of his water with warmer water, as it was rather chilly in our apartment. I wasn’t about to run to Petsmart again, so I decided to wait till the morning.

I wrapped a blanket around his bowl to hopefully help the temperature of the water after I added some warmer water to the bowl, prayed that the Lord would somehow spare Zippy, and then went to bed.

Sunday morning I woke up to find Zippy drained of almost all his color, covered in fuzz, and dead. POOR ZIPPY! Guess I’ll have to go get another Zippy, and this time look for fuzz on the fish before buying him. Was a rather rude awakening for a Sunday morning before church. But no worries, I won’t add him to my wall of dead animals in my bathroom. He will get a proper burial in the porcelain fishbowl.

The Ocelot skull I have on my bookshelf

two of the four dead things in my bathroom

At least Manibu/JD/Bait is still alive and thriving on my desk at work. 2.5 years and counting!

This is Manibu/JD/Bait all happily floating in his bowl

Source: RIP Zippy

Heard from David Sedlacek yesterday at church and he mentioned something about a nationwide launch of the Alpha course which starts today I believe. The Alpha course is a 10 week course that the entire church in the Czech Republic is putting on to reach their nation for Christ. Regardless of the denominational background, they are uniting as the Body of Christ to break the bond of darkness that has swept through and closed hearts.

This is the video that David showed in church that they are showing in the Czech Republic. The phrase at the end of the video poses a question to the viewer, “Is this all there is to life?”

As well, here is a link to David’s blog to find out more about what he is doing

Alpha across Czech.

Please join in prayer for the lost in the Czech Republic, as well as the other nations around the globe that are closed off to the Gospel.

Another thing this video prompted in my heart was the curiosity (yet again) to find out from you all what you believe. So, if you don’t mind, could you vote on this poll and maybe start a discussion in the comment section (a civil discussion please) about what you believe and why?

Source: Does God Exist?

I love listening to music. Many people are probably like me where they listen to music wherever they go, and even if music may not be playing, they still hear a tune in their head. It’s almost like going through life with your own soundtrack. The music is customized to each situation, each conversation, even the dreams you have at night. This comes to a point where even if the music playing is intense as you go through some tough trials in life, there is still some comfort in knowing that the song will end at some point and there is hope that the next tune will be a happier one.

This reminds me of my walk with the Lord. I feel that He has given me the music that orchestrates my life. Where I can see Him in everything. The nature around me, the busyness of the people in Carrollton, the anticipation of what will happen next in the story of my life. He is there, always faithful to guide me where I need to go. Regardless of what may happen, I know He will be there to help me through. He is my comfort, my help in time of need, my joy in every situation. He is the orchestrator of the tunes that make up my soundtrack in life.

Source: The Comfort of Tunes

“Why can’t you see that freedom is sometimes just simply another perspective away
Who could you be if your lens was changed for a moment,
Would you still be the same” – Kutless, Perspectives

Source: From My Perspective

Last night was a rather interesting night indeed. It started off with having to do laundry, so I went to Tim’s place to start a load, and then we streamed into prayer meeting with Patrick, Tim and I since we all weren’t feeling the best. Patrick also brought over some food that we cooked, and we enjoyed each other’s company while praying and watching prayer. After prayer was over, we started to discuss old songs that we used to listen to. Everything from 60’s music, to Alan Jackson, to Green Day, and 80’s Metal. As we were discussing the memories attached to these songs, one came to my mind but I couldn’t remember the tune, the words, the title, or even the band that went with the memory. All I could remember was the voice of the guy singing. So we proceeded to go on a wild goose chase to attempt finding the “winey” voice that I remembered from an oldies CD my dad had in his car that my brother and I would always ask to listen to.

About 2.5 hours later, we still hadn’t found the song, but I was pretty sure Guns N Roses was the band. Still trying to wrack my brain for the song itself, or something that would prompt my memory, I grabbed my laundry, said goodnight to Tim and his roomies, and headed home. This is around 23:30. Before I left the apartment complex, I had a wild idea to text my brother to see if he would remember the song that was eluding my brain. Sure enough, he texted back with the song name, and some of the lyrics to the song. BINGO! He remembered! Thus proving that I wasn’t losing my brain, and that the song did in fact exist. The song was Paradise City by Guns N Roses. Brandon saved me from pulling an all-nighter trying to find the song because my brain wasn’t letting me rest till it was discovered.

I arrive home, and then I find that my toilet is clogged… so I asked my roommate Brenda to see if she might have a plunger, but sadly she didn’t. Though she did find a solution that was worth a shot online. Put a few drops of dish soap and hot water in the toilet, and Huzzah! it’s fixed! I decided to take a shower to let the soap have time to work it’s magic, and when I tried to flush it after the shower it started to overflow onto the bathroom floor… GROSS! By now it’s about 00:10 in the morning and I needed to get my toilet fixed because of my frequent trips to the bathroom at night (probably part of the reason I don’t sleep so well). So, in my mountain dew PJ’s and a green shirt, I go out to my car and drive to Walmart.

On my way to Walmart, this bright light appears in the sky drawing my eyes upward. A meteor! How cool is that?! Maybe this trip to Walmart is worth it after all. I pull into the parking lot after waiting at a long traffic light (with no one coming the other way) and park by the entrance near the “Home and Pharmacy” side. Walking up to the doors, I find that they are blocked off, so I walk to the Grocery side and enter. Walmart parking lots are kinda creepy at night when you’re alone… Just saying… I go into Walmart on my quest to find a plunger. I feel a little embarrassed to be getting just a plunger, so I got a curtain rod (which I needed to get anyways), and another towel (since I also needed one of those) to conveniently cover up the fact that I have a clogged toilet and needed a plunger.

I couldn’t find a plunger anywhere… I tried in the bathroom area, nothing… I tried the cleaner isles, nothing… so the last place I checked (after texting Tim for help) was the Do-it-yourself section. THERE IS WAS!!  So I grabbed the cheapest plunger I could find and made my way to the cash register (the only one that was open). As I put my stuff on the belt, this nice elderly lady asks if I am redoing my bathroom. I replied that I was just picking up a few things that my roommate and I were lacking, since we just moved and our other roommates had these things, not us. She looked at me and started telling me about her roommate experiences in college. Apparently she had a spoiled girl for a roommate. The girl was an only child and her dad would send her money every week, and since it was her first time on her own, it wasn’t a good combination. I was glad to explain that since my roommate and I are from the same ministry, and are Christians, that we have it pretty good and get along quite well. The lady looked at me like I was crazy, so I proceeded to insist that I wasn’t lying and that God really had blessed us here at GFA. Just then another customer came to the register and stole her attention from me, so I bid her “good evening” and went on my way.

With plunger, curtain rod, and towel in hand I proceeded to my car and then home. By the time I unclogged my toilet, brushed my teeth, and got in bed, it was about 2:00 in the morning and I was welcoming any sleep that would come my way.

Thus ends my rather interesting evening. Have any of you had evenings like this? What are your stories?

Source: Late Night Walmart Run

I’ve been wanting to post this for a while, but for some reason, whether it be fear of what others will think about me or not, I have only touched vaguely on this in past blog posts. So I will just say it.

I was sexually abused in my past, but that is not WHO I am. I am NOT defined by my past. The Lord has healed me and I am His daughter. I don’t want people to view me as a traumatized girl who’s childhood has been ripped away from her, but rather see a young woman who radiates the Jesus who she is so in love with.

That’s all. I am still who I say I am in the post: Who Am I?.

PS. Im not saying the will never be more healing to go through, but right now I am as far along the process as the Lord wants me to be. There may be times of more healong later down the road, but as for now, and even then, I am not defined by that and never will be. I am redeemed and Satan can’t take this and use for bad what God promises to use for good.

Source: I Am Not Defined by the Past