"Jesus take the wheel!"

Well its more like, "Jesus take the BRAKES!"

Friday July 15th I went to an auto repair shop for an oil change and free brake inspection, I could hear and feel my brakes were in serious need of help, I figure that driving through the Colorado mountains did quite a doozie, hence the brake inspection! They told me that my front brakes were 10 miles from being metal on metal, my front rotors were extremely rusted, my back brakes had about 300 miles left and the rear rotors were fine. Beyond my better judgement, having 2.5 years experience of working for an auto repair shop and understand the tricks of the trade, I told them to go ahead and repair the front brakes, replace the rotors and perform a brake fluid flush for just over $400.00... I know, I know, I should have driven around for more estimates but my argument is that this facility is ASE Certified! Don't ask me what that stands for, I just know it is supposed to mean that they take their job serious enough to become certified... So Friday I drove away with new front brakes, new rotors and had a brake fluid flush!

That very Sunday, July 17th I was following Jayne, my internship supervisor, to her house, where we have a group lunch after service on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month. It was not long after I pulled out of the church parking lot, headed down the road and as I came to stop light, I applied my brakes, the petal went to the floor and my car continued at full speed towards the light and my supervisor's car in front of me! My brand new front brakes had "GONE-OUT"!!! (it was seriously like from a movie!)

I looked down and knew that I had two choices to make, pull the emergency brake or pop the car into neutral... :-/ Sadly I have never practiced pulling the e-brake and was not confident with knowing how the car would respond. So I popped the car into neutral and was able, by the grace of God alone, to get the car to slow down and come to a complete stop before crashing into my boss's beautiful Nissan 350-Z! I took the opportunity to call Jayne and inform her of the possible life and death situation we were both in... she was more than amazing on the phone! She encouraged me to call the repair shop, since this is Las Vegas most repair shops have Sunday hours, again blessed by God that my particular shop was open on Sundays!! Jayne quickly got behind me, both to avoid the possible collision between and to follow me to the repair shop. We arrived safely to the repair shop, shifting into neutral the every stop light! To my dismay, the gentleman behind the counter had very little sympathy and understanding of why I was upset and shaking from driving across town with NO BRAKES!! Expressing his true Las Vegas mentality, he explained that it was "most likely" an air bubble in the brake line and that it happens to 1 in every 10 customers, he encouraged me that today must be my lucky day since I was the 1 in 10 and that I should run down the local casino and gamble! wow... Welcome to Las Vegas! 

Again, giving ALL glory, honor and praise to God, I was SO blessed that Jayne was right there with me and then able to take me to her house where I was greeted with hugs and love! The end of the brakes story is that supposedly my brake line was SO rusted that it broke and ALL of my brake fluid leaked out... the jury is still out on that one! Also, no one in the entire metropolis of Las Vegas, where there is indeed a Mazda dealership, has a brake line for my car, so on Monday they had to "overnight" the part from Phoenix AZ, all of Tuesday the part was "in route" and it finally arrived Wednesday morning. By 12:30 on Wednesday July 20th I had my car back and left the repair shop, to never return again!!!

To show the magnitude of the work that is happening at Central Christian Church, I want to point out that just before I left the church that Sunday afternoon, when my brakes went out, my team baptized 30 new Christians!!! Coincidence? I think NOT! Praise God!! 

My host family was terrific when I was car-less, they allowed me to use their Smart Car while they were away- it was SO much fun!! Check out the picture:

  

In Him and with LOVE,

Cariann 

There are NO Mosquitoes in Las Vegas!

I am almost done with my second day at my internship with Central Christian Church, time has flown these past two days... "time flies when you are having fun!"

Thanks for all the prayers, my first day was FABulous! I met a TON of people, walked all over the massive church building- a few times, and was blessed to have been apart of 10 adult baptisms and 1 child baptism after service!! Praise God for new family members!

Las Vegas is beautiful! Its hot but a dry hot... I am beginning to see and feel in my skin the affects of such "dry heat"! I am slightly afraid that from here it will only continue to get worse with my hair and skin. However the benefits of such heat is the lack of sweat! I later recalled my day spent on the Strip with my mother and realized that we didn't sweat at all! Its kinda weird, I have grown up with the basic principle that when you are really hot = your will most likely sweat... In addition, to this heat I am learning about the need for hydration... I am quickly learning that I need to be more conscious of my water intake than I have ever before! Please pray that I am reminded daily to drink TONS of water!!

This weekend will be busy! Saturday I will help with baptisms again (YAY!) and then Sunday I get to help set up Communion. Starting next Saturday I will be in charge of Communion set up for each Saturday night service, big responsibilities setting in early! On the main campus, Henderson Campus, we have 2 services Saturday, 4:30pm and 6:00pm, Sundays we have 3 services, 9:00am, 10:20am and 11:45am. I will often be stationed in the Guest Central room after each service, to meet and greet new guests! I have my own desk, 2 main keys, a fancy badge with my picture and a bar code, and a code to get into the building! I am feeling very "Central Official"!

Fridays are my days off, PLEASE feel free to call me!! Remember though, I am three hours behind all Michiganders, so please don't call me at 6am - 9am Michigan time!

In Him and with LOVE,

Cariann

Viva Las Vegas!

I made it! 

My mother and I completed the 31+ hour road trip in two very long days! We drove through the construction  of Illinois, "Recycling on the Road" in Iowa, the long drag of corn in Nebraska, the HUGE mountains of Colorado, the beautiful landscape of Utah, only drove a few miles into Arizona and then NEVADA! I was blessed to have had my mother by my side, both in the car seat next to me and emotionally as I mentally navigated each step closer to the huge leap that is moving to Vegas! Thank you Mom!!

Before my mother left we went to my new church, Central Christian Church, had lunch with a few new friends, she helped me arrange me new room and then we explored the infamous Strip! 

My room looks great, best part is that everything has a place to fit! Even if I did over pack ;-) 

We left my host home Monday around 1:30pm and with traffic arrived to the strip around 2pm, we walked down the left side of the strip, from Mandalay Bay/Luxor area to Fashion Show Mall, crossed the street and walked to MGM and back to the car around 10pm, seeing the sights and sounds along the way! We probably walked a solid 6-8 miles in the 90+ degree weather, the exercise definitely made up for the two days spent sitting in the car!!

Early this morning I dropped her off the airport... As I drove back to my host home, the reality of being completely "alone" in Las Vegas set in... 

Luckily I quickly bounced back and realized I have a whole new world a head of me, and more importantly was comforted by God's promise that, "Whatever I have, WHEREVER I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am." Philippians 4:13 (The Message)

As far as my internship goes, I am still unsure of many specifics... What I do know is that my first day is Wednesday July 13th at 1:30pm, 4:30 Michigan time. There is Wednesday Weekend Service that night, which explains the late start in the day! SO please be praying for my first day! From there I hope to have more of an idea of my tasks and a schedule!

At the very bottom of this blog you can see a slide show of my pictures! Look for more to come!!



In Him and with LOVE,

Cariann