Today when I got to Utah, the sky was blue and it was about 90 degrees. Then about an hour later, the sky was dark grey and the temperature dropped to 70 and the wind was something fierce. Then I saw a huge wall of water approaching me as I drove to the hotel. It was quite a storm. Lightning and thunder everywhere. Weather is sure exciting when you've lived in California most of your life, ha ha.

This weekend, I saw The Village. I like most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies mainly because they are really different. The Sixth Sense is his best, but I think The Village is a close second in my opinion. Some parts of the movie really freaked me out. It's funny how one movie will scare a person and to another, they aren't scared at all. What I say to that when I'm the one who got scared is that people who don't get scared in movies lack imagination, ha ha. Anyways, it's a great original story (at least I think it's original). I think some of the reason for M. Night's success is that he makes his villains a mystery. You don't really get to see them right away. He always keeps the camera focused on something else. Like there will be something way scary and you want the camera to pan around really quick so you know you're safe, but he won't do that. I hate that! But that's what makes it so good. Also by creating the mystery of the villain, you're not sure if the villain actually exists or if it's the delusion of the character. Then when you think you've got it all figured out, he'll twist the plot around and you'll be kicking yourself for never seeing it before. That's why M. Night makes such a great movie. He is a master at misdirecting the audience.

The Belarus team left last Friday. This is the first Belarus team without me which isn't saying much since this is only the third one. Hal really wanted me to go. I think it's cuz I'm good at watching the rear and it takes some of the stress off him for looking out for the rest of the group. Belarus is safe for the most part, but it's definitely far more dangerous than being a tourist in Western Europe. Anyways, I wish I could be on the team every year, but it's kind of difficult to do a missions trip every year especially when you get so little time off to do such trips with a full time job. It's not really a vacation which makes it more difficult doing a missions trip two years in a row. Before I did Belarus the second time, I always wondered why I was so interested in missions. Was it for the ministry or was it for the adventure? After going to Belarus a second time, I felt it was equally both. I'm not sure if that is totally the right way to think about it. It definitely wasn't as much of an adventure going to a place a second time. I've seen everything already and since it's not much of a tourist spot, I saw everything there was to see the first time. As far as ministry goes, I'm not really burdened for a particular people group rather I'm burdened for the souls of the lost in general. Some missionaries really want to go to a certain area of the world because they are burdened for the people there. I'm not really like that. I want to talk to whoever will listen. I think that characterizes me as a short termer. There are alot of other places I would like to go. I want the adventure of seeing places that a vacation wouldn't take you to, but I also think doing ministry in those places is far more fulfilling than just touring around. I like to get to know the people. I still haven't given up my dream of doing a longer short term missions trip. The Lord just hasn't provided a way right now so I'm content where I am for the time being. While I wait, there are definitely many things I can work on in my own walk. Perhaps that's why the Lord hasn't provided a way yet, ha ha. Anyways, pray for the Belarus team for the next two weeks. There are alot of unsaved kids that are coming to the meetings out of curiosity.