Globetrotting

Alright, without my personal laptop and plethora of personal pictures this entry is going to be a bit verbose (and wordy). October was marked by the exciting road trip that was the Lone Star Tour 2006. The journeypeople included my boss, Jason, a young adult from FPC who already knew a lot of the students we were visiting, Ann, and myself at the helm of the church Blazer (the 4th man). Everything went without barely a hitch. We visited 11 students from 8 different Texas campuses, bought them meals, walked around their campuses and scoured for the coolest music/book stores in their respective towns. I had a blast getting to know my traveling compadres and reveling in the hardy laughter that accompanied every single meal on the trip. Good times.

So, I haven't necessarily traveled the globe but I still consider the past couple of weeks as a state-to-state canter at the least. Since December 12th I've been in five different states and functioned in four different time zones, getting to know major U.S. international airports very well. First I went to Denver, Colorado for a reunion with an awesome group of like-minded twenty-somethings that independently decided to put the corporate world on hold right after college graduation and explore what it's like to move to an unknown city and learn to cooperate with a large church, a boss and numerous stressed college students for one whole year. A.k.a. University Ministry Intern Retreat in the majestic rolling hills of the Rocky Mountains where the beer flows like wine. Listening to other people's experiences in their ministries really opened my eyes to see how lucky I am to be at First Pres. San Antonio and with the people that God has surrounded around me during this trying year. It was also nice to see some familiar faces and just get back to being me without explaining "me" first. I got a little nauseous from the altitude but nothing that two hours of 'Arrested Development' couldn't handle. The whole weekend was quite a time and here's a picture of my two roomies Jessica "what is office magic?" Lazdins and Emily "innertubing bunny" Fleming. This was a well needed retreat that I am very thankful for.

Next a short two-day stint in Seattle with my sister before we caught a plane to the beautiful Hawaiian Islands and I gained another two hours. The Adkins/Quezada clan stayed on the lesser-known Kauai island where the film makers go when they need a more 'prehistoric' look. We saw the production spots of such greats as 'King Kong', 'Jurassic Park I, II & III' and 'Six Days, Seven Nights'. It was an awesome week away from... land and I realized I couldn't have asked for a greater/funnier family to enjoy this gorgeous part of God's green Earth with.

So, one more extended set of days on Bainbridge Island with the fam to celebrate Christmas until it was off to the central time zone again. This year St. Louis was the host of the Urbana conference which is a missions conference held once every three years and put on by Inter Varsity ministries. I met Jason and one of our student interns, Jacky, there along with some of my aforementioned UMin intern brethren from Seattle, Chico and Berkeley ministries. Let me tell you what, if you have never seen a football field of 22,250 hungry college students empty out on city streets toward unsuspecting food vendors then you have not lived. There were so many people at this conference but once I got past the sheer humanity I actually enjoyed the seminars (especially on the American Christian's responsibility to be better stewards of the Earth) and the overall message of mission. It was another great experience and I am confident that God is working in the young people of this generation to save this ship before it's too late. Another worthwhile venture on my time away from Texas.

Which brings us back to now. Me in my parent's home enjoying the free food, internet, pets and love for another two days before I hop over the Sound to spend some more time in Seattle with friends before the departure back to the 'real world' that awaits me in San Antonio, Texas. So, I hope everyone is well but let me know how you really are and I'll try to do better about the frequency of entries from now on.
Go Hawks!