As Of Late...

So, I'm still in the middle of moving to San Francisco, California. I moved out of my house and am crashing at a friends for a bit. Nothing solid for living situation in S.F. yet and got denied my transfer to the store in S.F.! Was told to try again in a few months. It is in a high tourist spot and thus is very slow outside of the Summer months. I may have to try and get a transfer to the nearest store right below S.F. in Daly City, California. Keep me in prayer. I know God will get me through and He has a plan. But I am being stretched loads!! That's a good thing, but also very difficult to go through at times. Thats it for now.

Around The Bend

Well, I am officially moving out of the house that I have been living in for about 6months. My last day is November 1st. I still do not have a place to live, sorta?! And my transfer for my job is getting complicated. I have a meeting November 1st in San Francisco with the Manager at the store I am trying to transfer to. A bit frustrating since I need to be transfered by then. A couple guys I am looking for a place with sent me a message that they found a place in Inner Richmond. They told me that more details are to follow. Not enitrely sure we have it or not by their message?? I pray we do! But this would be for November move in date. God has taken care of me every step of the way so far. But I do wish it was all over and finalized already!!
Moving in November also means I don't have that luxury of saving extra money. So I am still strapped for cash and will be short on my half for rent in this new place for a bit and somehow have to stretch it between that and bills I owe my current roommate. Crazy time right now. Exciting, scary, frustrating and confusing. Almost there peoples!!! Keep praying!! I really need it in the next few weeks and on coming months!!
Reality S.F. prayer meetings have started in the city at the begining of the month. They are awesome!! I am so blessed and encouraged every sunday at these meetings!! It's sweet to see what God is doing and seeing how He works in His people and in this NEW fellowship of Reality S.F.!!

I need a room!!

I write this sitting in Modesto, California…….still. San Francisco is around the corner. I gave notice to my job here in Modesto. All I need to give them is a two week notice for my transfer to San Francisco. My roommate is currently making his own preparations for when I leave this house we share rental duties. Just waiting to hear from a possible roommate situation with some guys from Reality Carpentaria, California. The church where Reality San Francisco is being planted by. Praying on what I should do room wise. Which at this point is my only real obstacle in moving to the City. Shooting for October/ November for the move date….but November is looking more realistic. I am starting to wonder if I need to move on from this possibility of roommates and start looking at Craig’s’ List again? Starting to wonder if having Christian roommates is an option?? I’m totally fine having non-believers as roomies, but the question is “Is that what the Lord wants for me right now?”. I am just praying and seeking the Lord in the meantime. Working on spending more time with my Lord. I am still serving in the High School Fellowship at my church; Calvary Chapel Modesto. We started Small Groups up again. I am very excited about this year in this ministry! I have a special group, of amazing guys, designed to be ready for my departure, whenever that may occur?!
Reality SF is the fellowship I believe the Lord is calling me to team up with and make my church home in San Francisco. The prayer meetings for San Francisco, that were taking place in Carpentaria, are coming to an end. Which means the prayer meetings for San Francisco and Reality SF will be taking place in the City now!!! First prayer meeting in the City is on October 4th, Sunday evening!! I’m so excited!! We as a church are shooting for the first Reality SF church service to be held on January 10th, 2010!!! The day after my birthday!!! I’m really thrilled about this!!!!! If you are praying for me and perhaps find interest in this church plant, please check out the link to the web-site for Reality SF!! http://www.realitysf.com/ I also have a Twitter account to add to my list of sites, (i.e., MySpace, Facebook and email. Also see the link. http://twitter.com/pipcityrockers
Most recently I visited Oregon and Washington, to see old friends and family….but centered around a friends’ wedding I attended. My friend Sarah Henderson (now McFarland) from Scotland married a man she had met in our years at Bible College. It was an honor to be able to take part of this joyous occasion! I also got to see quite a few old classmates and friends while I was in Seattle for the wedding. I love Seattle, a very cool place! I stayed with a friend I graduated with in York, England at Calvary Chapel Bible College; John Anderson. I got to met his sister and parents, whom are some of the coolest katz around!! Even got to see my dear friend Michaela Madden for a bit. She is also another class mate from CCBC/CCBC York.
I also got to see my cousin Debbie and her husband. Her husband I never met. While I was away at Bible College they got married, so I didn’t even get to go to wedding! So it was very cool to see her after over five years and meet her husband for the first time! I got brownie points because I was the first on our side of the family to visit them in Seattle. Haha.
I forgot to mention, I dragged my buddy T.J. Gates up there with me for the road trip. Also whom I met at CCBC and did time at the York campus. Also got to see my friend Emma Rees (from England) for little bits here and there….who was the Bridesmaid, so her time was quite consumed with the wedding. But it was still a blessing to see her, even for that small amount.
But before T.J. and I got to Seattle, we of course had to travel through Oregon. I had the chance to stop and see an old friend of mine from Southern California but now resides outside Portland, OR. My dear friend Rich Carlstedt, who runs Shanty Town Records and Distribution and is the brains behind the Ska/Rocksteady/Reggae band; The Israelites. Stayed at his house for a few days. It was a very blessed trip, but I spent way more than I desired. And now I am a bit hurting money wise. Haha, but it is all good. God is my provider…..and is never broke!
I also, shortly after my trip, was able to return the favor to my friend John Anderson and his sister Kristina for letting me stay at their house. I was able to house them for a couple days on their way down to Southern California. They are accompaning our friend Jessica Lindsey (from Newcastle, England) on one leg of her US visit. I was able to take them to San Francisco for the day. I was truely blessed by all three of them and was refreshed after their visit!
While I am waiting for this next chapter in my life to unfold, God is showing me about faith. The subjects of Faith and of Abraham, the father of faith, keep coming forth. I pray I hear what the Lord is telling me?! Pray I get a room soon in San Francisco! I so desire to be involved with this church plant from the start!! I hope to keep this updated more often and especially during this exciting time in my life!!

T.J. and I at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Under the Space Needle, in Seattle, WA.

(L-R) T.J.Gates, Michaela Madden, John Anderson, and me!! Seattle, WA.


(L-R) Kristina Anderson, me, John Anderson, Emma Rees, and T.J. Gates.


(L-R) Jessica Lindsey, Kristina and John Anderson. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

Wow!

Sorry for the long silence!! I have just been working at In-N-Out Burger in Modesto, CA and serving in the Sr. High (UNITE hsf) at Calvary Chapel Modesto. I am currently on a mission to move to San Francisco, California. I plan on transferring with INO....but not sure what the Lord may have instore?? Money is super tight also. Currently trying to get my budget figured out and my taxes done. Life is being very overwhelming.....I am not going to lie!! :( I just got back from Seattle for my dear friends wedding. It was amazing!! :) So happy for them! And I also got to spend some time with sweet friends!! Very blessed!! But now I am feeling the effects of that trip and reality is slapping me in the face. :( I could use those prayers!! :) I am working to get this updated, proper!

Prayer for San Francisco!!

I was just involved with a prayer tour with Reality Carpentaria, Reality Los Angeles and Reality Stockton for the church plant of Reality San Francisco!! You are all aware of my desire to move to San Francisco?! Well, since I made the decision to move to S.F., I heard about Reality taking trips to the city to pray about the church plant and over the city. So I decided to take my own trip to the city and pray about me moving there. After meeting up with a dear friend from Bible College that now lives in the city and a taking a long walk on the beach with just me and the Lord; I checked out some more on the church plant by Reality. I came to realize I could not survive the city unless I had a solid church body to be involved with and one that I can really connect with.
The following Sunday at the Sr. High Leadership meeting, I shared with my peers about my desire to move to S.F. and my plans. Through a series of events starting with one dear friend to talk to another dear friend that has been following the church plant, which lead to another friend that is currently down south at Reality Carpentaria. That got me in touch with the pastor of Reality S.F.! Then another dear friend that attends Reality Stockton told me to contact someone in their fellowship in Stockton that is teaming up with the S.F. church plant. Which led to me joining up and filling the last spot on the Reality Prayer Tour with all three Reality churches!!
This trip confirmed my decision to move to the city and also revealed my new church body!! I connected with everyone I met! I already feel like family to these people. This trip was to educate us on the history of the city and to know how to better to pray for people and districts. We prayed the whole three days over the city and visited different districts of the city such as; Haight-Ashbury, Pacific Heights, Chinatown, North Beach, Mission and etc. It was a very fruitful trip. One man that we met even gave his life to Christ!!! We even prayed over a possible location for the church!! All the Christians we have come in contact all say there is something going on in the city and they don’t know what it is and are all very excited Reality’s arrival!! There is already another Prayer Tour planned and we can’t wait to see what is in store!! You can check out the church for yourself at http://www.realitysf.com/! So please keep me in prayer and more importantly keep San Francisco in your prayers!!
I am currently still working in Modesto and serving at Calvary Chapel Modesto in the Sr. High Fellowship. We have some events planned that are coming up soon. Please keep those things in prayer too. April 3-4 is an event called “The Weekend“! Since everyone’s wallets are tight, we will not be hosting the Northern California Calvary Chapel High School Summer Camp. Bummer, I know. Things are different this year. This means Winter camp is different too. “The Weekend” is our Winter camp this year. It will be held on the CC Modesto campus over night. We will have two of our Pastors teach the kids; Pastor Jonathan Kehler and Pastor Mark Carson. Both awesome men of God. And our theme is “Thy Kingdom Come (Matthew 6:10)”!!
We also have a joint effort with other High School Ministries in Modesto. This event is called “One Worship”. This is something where all our High School groups meet up and worship the Lord together. This will be on April 8th. You can check things out in regards to the High School Fellowship that we call “Unite” at www.unitehsf.com! We also got the “Formal” coming up and the Grads moving on and the Freshman coming up. And many other fun events coming up. Please keep us in prayer.
I plan on moving to S.F. in about 6 months. I am very excited to move, but this means the next 6 months will most likely seem like forever. Haha. And it’s going to be very difficult making this transition to S.F…only because of the kids. I’m ready to leave Modesto! But investing in these kids is the only real thing that will make it hard to leave.
So, this is it so far. Thank you for all your prayers!!

Next Chapter.........

Well, this year started out with me spending my 33rd birthday in the great state of Illinois!! I had a blast hanging out with my good friends in La Salle County and up in Chicago!! I even made some new friends up in Chicago and experianced the Chicago snow right before they got their Artic Blast that they got this year! Haha!!

But despite the fun I have been seeking the Lord about where I am to go. I know Modesto, California is not where I am to stay. I had two options; one with some friends to plant a church down south, the other was to move to San Francisco, California.....which has always been on my heart since I gave my life to Christ over 10 years ago.

I have an answer!! I am moving to S.F. late summer/early Fall '09!! And my search for a solid church body was a short one!! There is a Reality church plant in S.F. and they are currently in prayer over it!! Check out www.realitysanfrancisco.com!!

I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time!! Not sure where I will live yet....all in good time!! I desire to live in the Richmond District or the Sunset District and even checking out Treasure Island!! I also desire to go back to school!

So that where I am at! If you got questions and junk....hit me up via email or comments!! :)

Right now I am just working and trying to save and a lot of praying!!!!!!!

Back from the dead!!

I will be updating you all on my happenings soon! I promise!! hahaha! Please keep me in prayer!!! -Pip!!