Hey I've been noticing that its been a long time since I've posted...not even really sure how much i care...but i'm kinda in the mood to do a shorty right now so i will before the feeling passes. =)

Life here in NYC has been going pretty good...takes awhile to get the hang of everything, but the longer i'm here the better I like it. Also living with 2-4 other guys always keeps life pretty exciting. =) Not exactly sure where to start since i don't feel like pounding out an epistle. For the most part I enjoy the work but some days it can be really challenging, either dealing with difficult people or sometimes making dumb mistakes. Like the day I forgot my hand held computer and had to drive all the way back to get it (over an hour round trip) then realizing later that I didn't have my wallet and no money for gas...lets just say it pays to go to bed on time so your brain works in the morning...=) Another challenge that I face is making sure that I get to spend time with God...we get up pretty early most of the time and work long days especially since we are short of guys right now. Its so easy to let it slide...

One cool thing lately has been having one of my good friends, Marcel around for the past two weeks while he gets trained in for work in Miami and L.A. we've had lots of good times hanging out...

We are going through some exciting changes right now too. On Saturday we are finally moving into a larger house that is gonna serve our needs a lot better i think...we have been praying for something like this to happen for a long time...long before my time too. So its pretty cool. Its a long story how everything worked out,but I won't go into that now. Lots of ups and downs through the whole process...but God had it all worked out and knew what He was doing and a lot of good things have happened as a result.

Well this is short but I should go to bed...maybe I'll tack some random pics on the end here from this past weekend. Some friends came out from smbi and a bunch of us went to Manhattan on Saturday...thanks to Mullet for the pics.

central park...


after walking around and knocking on limo windows that were waiting by the side of the street or stopped at stop lights around Times Square, I found one guy who was willing to take a bunch of crazy mennonites for a spin...for a small fee of course...=P




the view from the brooklyn side of the brooklyn bridge...it was really foggy so you can't see the tops of the buildings...




well thanks for taking the time to read this. pray for me if you think about it...safety as I drive...that I would be able to become close friends with the guys around the neighborhood, clubs, etc. and be a positive influence in their lives...that I could be able to become the person that God wants me to be, i have lots of growing to do...

thanks and come see me anytime!
ben

*this post in no way covers all that has happened in the past age since my last post...and anonymous comments are lame...and don't run  with scissors or other sharp objects

Hey all. Its been awhile since I took the time to post...I thought about waiting until September 12 to post since 4 out of my 5 last posts have been on the 12 of the month. I don't know why. But if I wait that long I'm sure the updating mood will pass. Summer has flown by way too fast, but its been good. I'm just gonna post some pictures from some of the highlights. I actually worked *most* of the time...just don't have pictures to prove it. Like today for example, it was a holiday, it rained, it was cold, and we still worked. =) Actually it wasn't that bad. We did a job out on an island first thing in the morning and thats always kinda fun.

The first couple pics are from the trip to Oregon for Jenna's wedding. We had a really awesome time.

 


Sometime after that we had a pretty much spur of the moment family camping trip...it was great! =) (except for the fact that we forgot the tent poles...thankfully home was only about an hour away. It could've been worse)





Another fun thing was having a bunch of smbi guy friends get together in Sioux Narrows. I don't have pics of everything we did though. I think Benji, Darren, and Marcel have pics from then as well...



 
All of us minus Randy and my bro Joe



And last but definitly not least, pictures of my nephew. =) I haven't seen him face to face yet but hopefully I will in about a month.


 
Pretty cute eh?! =)

Okay thats about it...I'll *try* to post more frequently in the future, maybe. You should try facebook. I'm starting to like it, you might too. (they don't send xangan hit men after you for saying stuff like that on here do they?)

later - ben

 okay here goes the picture post finally...i'm not in the mood to write a whole so it'll be mostly just the pics. i had a grand time at smbi, making lots of new friends, taking really good classes, and making tons of awesome memories during term and tour.

first some pictures from term...

Dorm 3 on banquet night - Kevin, me, Daune, Benji - our dorm rocked! Our dorm hung out with dorm one alot after dorm time...if one of us came back from a late night and nobody was in the room we could usually find them in dorm one. =)

Singing at the great divide one night. It was awesome!  Hanging out in the public lounge

              

Sean and Scott juggling - was a favourite activity for some reason. One weekend some of us went to Bald Eagle Boys Camp where Daune Horst gave us a tour. 

Must have been a very intense chess game...                   ...hanging out at dennys

singing around the campfire one night............and the spur of the moment camp out that followed. by the next morning 3 of the guys who had inadequate bedding had gone inside due to the cold so Sean, Marcel, Benji, and I raided the kitchen and made breakfast for ourselves before heading off to class.

at the lookout on a Sunday afternoon....

now for some random  tour pictures...

waiting for our first flight out of Washington D.C........on our way finally...mucho suduko on this flight. =)

  

all i can say is it must have been pretty early.....................a park in...uhhhh...a park in Costa Rica!

a very tired (or drunk?) character at the same park........some kids in the slums where we sang

we came up with many ways to pass the time on the bus...one afternoon it was the honesty game(left) and many times Justin would entertain us with stories (right).

 

sorry about the angle, i would upload it again but its not on this computer...Marcel and I were discussing the pros and cons of using leaves as clothing...we definitely came up with more cons than pros as I recall. a group of us guys that volunteered to help varnish someones house.

Michael and I took a mug shot for whatever reason....i think this is the first snake I've ever held, it was boa constrictor...I really dislike snakes but it was kind of cool.

me with our really fun choir director =)                        an awesome sunset one evening...no I'm not kidding it happened in the evening

our day at the volcano....Marvin, Sean, and Micheal were really excited about the risk involved...

at one point on the way to the volcano we stopped to take pictures of it...I thought everyones expressions were pretty funny. 

on our way home Darren, Sean, and I stopped in iowa to hang out with Anthony and A.J. and some of Anthony's friends...we had a blast!

yeah definitely had good times. going to another country and experiencing another culture was really neat. i'm very glad I was able to go...seeing God work in different ways in our group and in my own life was really cool too. I have a ton more pictures but i need to go to bed...(did I just hear a sigh of relief?)

peace and stuff to all of you who bothered to look at this post and....

PURA VIDA!!!!!!!!!

ben

p.s. i really really really miss all you 4th termsters and toursters

p.s.s. there are a few more pics on the photo blog thingy, but i don't have captions as of yet...maybe tomorrow =)