Who Are You, and What Are You Doing Here?

22 02 2008

I’ve been looking at the stats for my blog lately and I find them really interesting. I can’t tell who is coming to my site, but I can see what people were searching for when they got here. I can also tell how many people read the site everyday.

Now I don’t get a lot of readers. My highest day was right when I got back from Africa and that was just over 100 reads in one day. But what’s funny is that I’ve been getting a steady amount of reads lately that is much higher than I normally get. So I went and looked at the search terms to find out what people are looking for, and apparently my post on The Public House is bringing in a lot of traffic.

I find this hilarious. Who would have thought that despite all my highly entertaining, craftily written posts, my post on beer would be the most popular? LOL!

Ok, on a different note, I have consolidated all my Africa posts into a new page which you should see at the top of this blog called “My Africa Trip”. I’m still getting a lot of people asking how the trip was so I figured I’d link all the posts on one page to make it easier to read about the trip. Feel free to pass along the link to that page: http://danapellerin.com/my-trip-to-africa/


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Step Into Africa, World Vision Experience: AIDS

10 02 2008

So you’re wondering what you’re going to do with your Sunday afternoon? Wondering what to do after work on Monday? Well, you came the right place my friends, because I’m gonna tell ya!

There’s an outstanding exhibit running right now at the Campus Bible Church and it’s called Step Into Africa.  It’s a stunning look into the African AIDS epidemic through the eyes of children who live in the center of it. Some of our team members from our Africa trip went through it the other day and they said it was outstanding and very moving. So if you’ve been reading about our Africa trip, or want to help a great cause, or just need something to do today or tomorrow, check this out.

Here’s a blurb about the event from the Campus Bible Church website:

“World Vision Experience: AIDS was launched in fall 2005.  In the first year, nearly 20,000 people in 10 North American cities visited the Experience.  The Experience was featured at the 2006 Global AIDS conference in Toronto.  The national tour of the World Vision Experience is traveling to 72 cities in 2007 and 2008.  Approximately 3,000-4,000 visitors are expected to visit the Experience in each city.

The Experience is a 2,500-square-foot, interactive, walk-through exhibit driven by individual audio players and headsets issued to each guest.  The stories profiled in the Experience are inspired by real children touched by the work of World Vision, and are based on actual events in their lives.

Participants leave the Experience with a better understanding of the impact AIDS has on children, and they are given the opportunity to take action in response to what they have learned and experienced.”

There’s also some great worship music to be enjoyed every night at 7pm. Tonight it’s Jon Shabaglian who’s an outstanding performer, and then tomorrow, yours truly is playing with the rest of the Clovis Hills band to rock some serious worship.

So come on out and support this great event. Here’s a link to the Campus Bible Church for complete information. I will see you there!


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Thanks

9 02 2008

I just wanted to post a quick note to thank those who have been reading my Africa blogs and have told me they enjoyed them. The common thing I’ve heard is that people felt like they were on the trip themselves and that’s exactly what I was hoping would happen.

It’s not easy to put a personal journal out there for everyone to read. The first inclination is always to “clean things up” for public consumption. But I felt that if people were going to get a glimpse of what it really means to be on a mission trip then I would have to leave everything in. So I tried hard to do that and be as transparent and descriptive as possible.

I think maybe that’s why God presented this opportunity to me. So that I could write about what we saw and felt. And maybe for some of you that will mean that when God presents that particular challenge to you, and you’re asked to step out in a way that seems really uncomfortable, or even crazy, that you’ll take Him up on it.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement and the kind words.  God bless.


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Ethiopia Video!

7 02 2008

My bro Paul has taken the time to put together this little montage of our time in Africa. Enjoy!!!


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Ethiopia Trip Blog: Final Thoughts

6 02 2008

So that was my trip. I hope by me sharing my daily thoughts, as screwy as they may be at times, you got a feel for what it’s like going on a trip like this. I have to honestly say that it was the most personally rewarding two weeks I have ever experienced. There’s never been a time when I’ve been surrounded by so many impressive believers, experienced so many new things, and met so many new and fascinating people.

I just want to thank every single person on the trip for holding it together and making our team a cohesive and focused unit. Despite all the warnings beforehand of “conflict resolution” and this and that, other than some expected homesickness, this team really exhibited a Christian attitude through every situation and I’m proud to have been influenced by these folks. I especially want to thank my band bros and bunk-mates. Without you guys, this trip just would not have been the same.

I want to thank the folks who work there full time. I’ve never met a more incredible group of God fearing folks in my life. Folks who have put aside their own comfort, their own desires to live their lives by Christ’s example, serving others. You are all amazing.

I also want to thank my new friends in Ethiopia, who I’ve already been emailing since I’ve returned. I’ve honestly never met so many strangers who have welcomed us like we were family. These people fed us, opened their homes to us, led us around, let us teach their kids! I’ve learned that the Ethiopian people are an amazing people. Proud yet humble, extremely kind and gracious.

And I want to thank God for opening this door and changing my life forever.

So where to next? Antarctica!!! Ok, just kidding. I’m going to stay home for a while and since it’s our 20th Anniversary this year, Michelle and I are going someplace romantic together this year. But next year, who knows? Maybe I’ll go back to Ethiopia to visit my new friends, and take my family next time.

Thanks for reading.


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