What a wild journey I just completed. I do not know where to begin with the amount of anxiety I endured along the way, but it was full of trusting God at every turn. It seemed to have such a profound effect on my faith that I feel 10 feet taller after everything that occurred. I took a leap of faith beyond any fear I had ever faced and the result to be sitting here at home full of relief about all the fears that I faced. When you grow up with your mom, she tells you not to talk to strangers, and most of all do not go stay with a stranger in another city.
So, one day I am sitting in my room playing hundreds of hours playing Fortnite as usual when I found myself playing creative mode with some of the most hilarious kids. They started asking questions like what you do for a living, and I told them I have a website the Metalcore Church, and they started going to my website and checking it out. I started thinking to myself when I was their age what was I doing, and Hume Lake came to my mind a Christian Camp up in Northern California where I had a very intense encounter with God. I broke my wrist snowboarding at Hume Lake which forced me to spend more time reading my Bible and seeking God. I met God in a very powerful way during a very radical worship band that performed during my stay at Hume Lake. I thought you know what, why do not I put a link to Hume Lake on my website. So, I went online to Humelake.org and was trying to snag a hyper link and maybe screenshot a few of their picture just so the kids might see Hume Lake on my Heavy Christian Metal website kind of a weird thing to put but I wanted the kids who were visiting my website to see where a valuable seed was planted in my heart. I got prompted to make an account before I could scroll through the Hume Lake website. I made an account and it finished with a message saying you are signed up for Spring Volunteer Week you can stay for 4 days for free meals included. I kept asking what the catch is right, nothing, come on down and work by cleaning up around the camps and replace some of the giant campfire seating so that when the kids come, they don’t get all splinted up during their campfire worship sets. I asked my grandma if she could give me a ride up to Hume Lake, and she told me to make some friends up there. I went up to Hume Lake with my grandma and we took the path listed on the website not to take. It was a nightmare. I got yelled at the whole way up, and we got the car stuck in sand 3 times trying to get to Hume Lake. I thought for sure my trip was ruined. My grandma expressly told me that she would never do anything like that again for me. I finally made it up to Hume Lake for the Volunteer Week. When I arrived, I got a keycard for my cabin, and I have not been to the camp since the early 2000s, but we did not have key cards and when I got to my dorm room man that room was so amazing. Beautiful clean restrooms, 10 bunk beds, a safe, and we each got a keycard to the room. There were two toilets in our room. I thought they will probably give us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we are up here for free to work, but no they fed us straight Urban Café meals for every meal, unlimited soda, and coffee, and during work we got gourmet snacks like beef jerky and crackers with fruit coffee, and it was just such a good feeling to be treated like royalty while I stayed up at Hume Lake. There were only a few people I had a problem with, and it just so happened to be my roommates who were…I do not know…not really sold out to Christ as I was, and it made it difficult for me to communicate in my dorm room. I got up early before them and went to walk the lake and spend time with God. I eventually had to switch jobs because my roommate was spewing all kinds of double meaning speech about drugs and talking down about me to others. But I will always remember this one group I was with I sat down with them to eat, and these two Mexican ladies overheard the conversation of these guys doing this double meaning foreshadowing and putting me down at the table when they participated in the foreshadowing and turned the tide in my favor it was the most redeeming feeling I had ever encountered. I had to hold back tears because I wanted to jump up and hug them for defending me like no one had in the past. I made quite a few friends when I first arrived but after the incident with my roommate, I began a 4 day fast up until my time at Cleansing Streams. I drew very close to the Lord and when I finally ate again it was a moment in time, I was thankful that God brought me through the hardest part of my stay at Hume Lake. During my 4 days at Hume Lake though I met 2 wonderful guys Keith and Ron who prayed for me my first day and we ate almost every meal together afterwards. Ron was so fun and full of Joy it was contagious to be around him, and Keith was so full of love that I was naturally drawn to sit with them and talk about their mission work in Mexico. Ron and Keith invited me to stay at Hume Lake with them after the Volunteer Week, but I was nervous about getting a ride home and had already made plans for my mom to pick me up at a certain time and I was having issues with my roommate, so I wanted to leave immediately after the incident happened, but God made me stay. Ron and Keith stayed in the Dorm room below me. I was kind of jealous because I wanted to switch dorm rooms because I wanted to be in a room with strong men of God. My roommates were just enjoying a free vacation and good food. I wanted to draw close to God because that is what Hume Lake is about disconnecting from the world to spend some quality time with our Heavenly Father. So, upon leaving Hume Lake Ron said here is my phone number if you are not doing anything this summer give me a call and you can come stay in my guest bedroom in Oceanside and go to the beach everyday because I live about a mile from the beach. I have some work for you too and I will pay you. So, I said goodbye and went home.
I was back in my home routine shooting a bunch of rounds of Fortnite, studying, playing music, and selling stuff online like always. I get a phone call from my uncle who is down here from LA helping my om do a backsplash on her new kitchen and wants to take me out to dinner. So, we hang out, eat, and I tell him about my business I have been building called the Metalcore Church and he asks well what I can do to help. I said can you give me a ride to Oceanside to stay with my friend that I met at Hume Lake, and he said yes pack your stuff we are leaving tomorrow. I called Ron to see if that was still an option to come stay for a couple days, he said yes, and I left on a whim. I get to my uncle’s house, and he lets me stay the night. During my stay I realize I did not pack any boxers lol, and my uncle says it is too far to drive me to Oceanside, so he puts me on the metro. I was excited to ride a train for the first time in my life, but I had no idea what that encompassed. First thing I did wrong was I packed way too much stuff to be riding the train. I packed in a way that was bent towards a ride, but I managed to get off the metro at the right spot. When I arrived in Oceanside Ron picked me up and took me to one of his apartment complexes in Vista where we stayed in one of his vacant apartments and worked for three weeks during my stay. He and I stay in a one-bedroom apartment where I stayed on an air mattress in the living room. He decided to move into his apartment because he had some tenants that were being evicted and they were having people sleep in her car and invading the personal property of other tenants. I was apartment maintenance for three weeks. Pretty cool except that I never done any apartment maintenance my whole life lol. He showed me what needed to be done and I did the best I could. I guess there was a little bit of miscommunication because the way it was worded was that I was coming to do some yard work. I had no idea he owned several properties in the San Diego area and his properties needed repairs. I would have suggested my several friends who are the best repair guys ever. I am just an average trade apprentice. So, I learned how to use a variety of saws, nail guns, caulking gun, mini jack hammer, drills, and the table saw. Tuesday and Wednesday night after work we would eat dinner and shower before heading to Calvary Chapel Oceanside where the have a massive food ministry that works every day sorting out food donations from Trader Joes. I helped Ron pick up donations and sort food. Then after we sorted the food Ron and I got to take a box of food home with us. So, for 3 weeks I ate free food from Trader Joes. I met so many wonderful men and women of God at the Calvary Chapel Oceanside Food ministry I am probably going to miss them the most. They were so wonderful to me. It probably helps that they spend zero amount of time on social media to find out who I am, but still just loved me like Christ. I really appreciated the warm welcome from the family of believers there; my heart will always be with them. During the working hours of the day, I met two military guys who were staying at Camp Pendleton, and they were cool. I rather enjoyed working with officers of the law. It was comforting to have an opportunity to work with them and hopefully give them a sense that I am not an enemy of the law. They were rather reserved but friendly. Understandable considering, he said she said massive rumors they just got to work right next to me all day lol. Every Thursday for the 3 weeks I made it a point to head down to the sunset market to get some bomb food, walk the pier, and go swimming before I jumped on the Sprinter back to Vista. Two of the 3 Saturdays we went to Encinitas where Ron worked in the Healing rooms at Beach Chapel. I attended a prophetic drum circle, and Prophetic sessions. The Prophetic sessions at Beach Chapel was so amazing I just absolutely fell in love with the girl who spoke a word over me. She was so beautiful she made me super nervous, but I regret running out of there so fast because she is completely invisible across social media ugh…anyways I also went into the Healing Room I cried so many tears in those healing rooms it was just breakthrough after breakthrough. They had me fill out a form and then prayed for me. They just took one look at me and read all my mail and just dug up so many painful roots that were weighing me down. I would not have made it 3 weeks without the healing room. So, the first time I attended Beach Chapel I met a guy named DJ Pastor Larry’s son and Ron said if DJ had any work that I would come help. So, we exchanged numbers and DJ said give him a call. So, I ended up working with DJ redoing Pastor Larry’s house and I really enjoyed working with them. I especially enjoyed the men’s breakfast where I got to meet that family in charge of Beach Chapel. Pastor Mikah really has a heart after God.
Ron kept borrowing tools from his other friend Ron, and during one of the tool exchanges Ron asked if he could use me to help him on a job. I got a chance to visit the city Cardiff by the Sea probably my favorite City in the area, and I helped tear out a bunch of tiles at Nick’s house. A wonderful guy, a bundle of energy, more of a professional but man he could run a circle around me on a job site. A very beautiful house and redid his upstairs bathroom and tore out carpet stairs and replaced them with laminated stairs. Hauling a new kitchen sink up those stairs was a mission, but Nick was very hospitable. 4th of July came around and Ron and I got on the coaster and headed down to Downtown San Diego where the USS Midway was and I got to watch the Big Bang Boom, which is like the biggest firework show in California. It was massive an experience to remember. I have a very good memory of visiting the Sunset Cliffs it was on my bucket list to see them at least once in my lifetime. They were a sight to behold a dream come true. Ocean Beach was eh, but they have a punk rock store called The Black. On Sundays Ron took me to North Coast Church in Vista where they have several venues on the church campus and every venue has a different genre of worship, but they broadcast the service to each venue. I attended the hard rock worship service called the Edge while I was there it was rocking for the first time, I got to experience licensed Pastor approved double bass worship during a Sunday service. Then I managed to squeeze a few days into dragging the boogey board on the Sprinter to hit as many waves is I could and not miss the last Sprinter back to Vista. Man, my muscles were super sore from work and Boogey Boarding then I was not getting a whole lot of sleep lie at all, but God gave me the strength. I had to keep my emotional stability under control where I am tired and sore like that it really pushed the boundaries of my mental health, but I stayed calm and text my mom and she walked me through how to manage my anxieties and fears.
We eventually met John a missionary from Mazatlán Mexico who came home for a little while before he headed back to the mission field. 30 years serving the lord as a missionary trusting God for all his needs and at 80 years old still willing to go back out through Horizon Christian Fellowship. During his home visit we had a small get together at Keith’s house down in San Diego. Several missionary men from the area came together laid hands on me and prayed over my ministry here at The MXC and that God would have his hand on what this becomes. The wanted me to volunteer for 2 weeks at the YWAM Base Tijuana base in Mexico. I think the doors is closed for me, but my mom said I am free to pack up and do missionary work anywhere I am sent. I sent some emails to see if there was an open door, but I did not receive the response I was hoping for, so I am waiting on God to point the direction. I met a woman named Nancy about my age and she prayed for me. I have been crushing on her since I left San Diego, but I hope we bump into each other again serving God. When you finally make headway against your pornography addiction you will have to deal with increased testosterone so if I seem a little girl crazy it is just the overflow of like a month without porn. You can begin to make headway against sexual sins with fasting from food and spending time in prayer when you feel hungry.
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