Back to Jenkins!

Our wonderful Hall Manager, Demetrio, resigned a few weeks ago which left his position open. I applied and was hired on Friday, moved in on Saturday, and started my position as the Draper/Jenkins Hall Manager today. 

 He set such a great example and he is definitely missed!

I've been an RA for two and half years and it's a little bittersweet to leave that position. The hardest part was telling my residents that I would no longer be living on the wing with them. Here are some pictures of my favorite RA memories:

Halloween 2010. Tara and I were RAs in Sierra, learning the ropes.

Kelly, Shakshi, and me having a girls night in Fall 2011. We were RAs in Jenkins last year. Remember when I found out they were hiring me back for the first time?

Kaela, Tara, and I were the "Sierra Girls". We took a trip to Disneyland last Winter Break. Such a blast.

This fall, we had "Have Dinner With Your RA" during opening weekend. This is about half of the girls I had living on my wing this year. I miss them already...and it's only been three days.

When the residents are away, the RAs play. Once the residents moved out for Winter Break, we turned off all the lights, and played hide-and-go-seek. Crazy intense. Loved every second of it.

This is such a new experience and I am thrilled for this opportunity to grow professionally and personally. The Lord has definitely provided me with such a rich experience living in the halls and I couldn't imagine what life would be like without these experiences. I can't wait to serve my staff and Sacramento State Housing and Residential life in this position.

I couldn't post this blog without showing you this. I am not the most efficient packer. Oops. Thanks to everyone who helped me move buildings!

Go with the flow: Day trip to SLO

Hello blogging world! I am excited to tell you about an adventurous day I had with James. This was spontaneous and definitely a crazy day. We are partnering with Cru at SLO to take their students to East Asia. So fun, right?!

Monday at 3pm, I got a call from James and another staff dude, Jacob. They thought it'd be a good idea if we went to SLO the next day to go to their weekly meeting and talk to students. Here's the thing, I hate skipping class. But I figured, what the heck? I love adventure...and who wouldn't want to go to SLO? It's only 5 hours each way....no big deal to conquer in a day.

James picked me up at school and we started our journey at 10am. We wanted to get an earlier start but I had to get a TB test. Lovely. 

The drive was a whole bunch of fun. It was raining, and James seriously could not stop talking about how excited he was about his new windshield wipers. Thank you, Jacob, for buying them for James, so I could hear all about them on our drive.

We discussed business like things and probably everything under the sun. Our trip was filled with lots of bathroom stops. Sorry. I don't know what was wrong with me that day. I'm typically a good passenger, but James never complained about stopping. We would discuss the cleanliness and overall score of a bathroom...our favorite: the 7/11 in Stockton...off of I-5 (Ben Holt Drive). Exceptional!

We stopped at lunch at McDonalds and we made poor choices when ordering our food. Of course, our lunch stop was paired with a potty break. 

Someone please explain to me why there was a roll of toilet paper on the hook where ladies hang their purses? The normal dispenser was totally full. I was confused and laughed a little.

We also stopped at a fruit stand. James was not impressed with his peach. Sorry bro.

In addition to our conversation, we oftentimes broke out into songs about the drive, and yes, the bathrooms. Here is a really little taste.

We arrived in SLO around 4pm. It was pouring rain and we were bummed that the beach and walking around downtown were not the best way to spend the day in the rain. Luckily, James was able to get ahold of his cousin, Chris. We picked him up and went to coffee at this really hipster place. We loved it.

Seriously love it when my foam is artsy.

So delicious!

Next, we were off to have dinner with the ZagRodny's. They are on staff with Cru at SLO. They will be coming with us to East Asia! Their focus is on bringing faculty with us but they will participate in the project and we are excited to have them join us with their two kids. Molly made us a delicious dinner of macaroni chili, my first time having it and it was great! She also made brownies and served it with ice-cream. Mmm mmm good! 

One of my dear friends from Ocean City Summer Project, Sharon, joined us for dinner and we made sure to take a picture at the end of the weekly meeting. 

Sharon went to East Asia last summer so it was so good catching up with her and asking her lots of questions. She just kept telling me how much I'm going to love it...and I totally believe her. 

At their weekly meeting, James and I were able to tell the students why we were there and invited them to come with us. We met students after the meeting and got to answer their questions. The coolest part for me was getting to meet the girls that have already been accepted on our project. I've been talking to them on the phone to get to know them and discuss their applications, but it was so nice meeting them face to face! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with them...sad.

We left SLO at 10:30pm and arrived back in Sac around 3:30am. We're probably crazy for doing this in a day. But, I was a good co-pilot and stayed awake the whole time to talk to James. This is quite an accomplishment cause I'm typically the first one to fall asleep in the car. We had lots of sunflower seeds and James drank a ridiculously large Mountain Dew. We made it home safely and kept saying over and over how worth the trip was.

Well, that was our trip to SLO! We are excited and hopeful to see how God pulls our team together. Here's another thought: my blog's title is 100% sent...and that means 100%. Why do I only post when something with a project comes up? I want to start blogging more of my everyday life things because serving the Lord is not just about going around the world...it's about being sent into your workplace, classroom, housing, and having fun...just all parts of life. Hope you join me on this journey. Subscribe!

Embrace the blessing of adventure.