I’m not usually one to post multiple blogs in one day, but you gotta check this out. Chris Caine (who was with us for all of Live the Dream) posted the most amazing blog about HPC and our pastors. See it here!! I know we aren’t supposed to be proud, but I am very, um…. excited, to be a part of such an amazing church!
Conference would be impossible to sum up in one post, but here’s my best effort:
Lots of free stuff, amazing messages from incredible speakers, girly decor everywhere, thousands of products sold, five dancing bees , sleepless nights, lives changed, relationships restored, friendships made, dreams remembered, dreams recaptured, dreams born, and awesome mother-daughter time for me and my mom. 
I have been fighting a nasty sinus infection and have been in bed since conference wrapped up on Saturday… but I am back in the saddle today! Conference was amazing and it was worth every second of hard work, every hour of lost sleep, and every minute of sickness I had to deal with. Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to be a part of something that made you so happy!
Well first of all I would like to say that the island of Sicily is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been (as you can see by all the pictures my wife has posted). Also, the historical and Biblical significance of Rome is something you have to experience for yourself to understand. There are buildings there that are older than our country (lots of them). Sicily and the people there at the youth leaders conference were the highlight of our trip though. The heart of the people is infectious. They have a passion for life unlike any that I’ve ever seen. They don’t care about schedules or agendas. They don’t care about who’s who or this person is cooler than this person. All they care about is each other and being w/ Jesus. I think there is something we can all learn from them.
We take life too seriously in America.
So since being back I’ve tried to stop and enjoy the times that I have with the Father and with the people that are most important to me. I challenge you to stop taking yourself so seriously and enjoy the time you have.
Also please remember to be in prayer for the ladies at HPC who are Livin the Dream for the next 3 days.
So, if you have turned on the TV in the last few days, you have probably been bombarded with news of the wildfires in California. Much of the fire is concentrated around the San Diego area, and my mom is at a conference in Carlsbad, which is just 35 miles away from San Diego! The fires are spreading like crazy and they are saying the winds are as powerful as hurricane winds! Please pray protection over my mom and her friend, Lexie, who is there with her. I pray that the conference officials use wisdom and send the delegates home, rather than being Kathleen Blanco and telling everyone evacuation is “optional”!
Also, Live the Dream conference is just 2 days away, and after the amazing training/meeting last night, I have never been more excited about it. For all you women who are coming to the conference, just get ready… God is about to rock your world! We have some awesome things planned and a few surprises under our sleeve, too. I truly believe that God has anointed this in a huge way and it’s going to be a turning point in all the ladies’ lives.
One awesome thing for conference that God has put on Delynn’s heart is to take up an offering for a women’s center at our Mozambique campus. This center will be an extension of the ministry that is going on at the Healing Place campus that was recently opened in Nkobe. These women will be taught practical skills, such as sewing, tie-dye, and cooking so that they can earn money to support their families. Their spiritual needs will also be met through women’s ministry, Bible studies, and counseling. They will be empowered to make a difference for themselves, their families, and the people of their community. They will be the ones to influence and inspire generations to come by living their dreams!
This conference is about THEM!!!
Check this out!!
Football players ask student section to eliminate vulgar chants
Way to go Jacob Hester and Glenn Dorsey!! Geaux Tigers!!
P.S. Stay tuned. My perspective on the Italy trip coming soon.
I will spare all of you from my speech about how thousands of people have died for our freedoms, how it took almost 200 years for all citizens to be given the right to vote, and how it’s an honor and privilege to have the ability to vote… Ok, so maybe that was a mini-speech. Anyway, tomorrow we have been given the awesome responsibility to get out there and vote for righteousness. It’s not about a party or a campaign slogan- it’s about doing our homework and finding out who will make righteous decisions and influence our community’s future in a positive way.
Louisiana Family Forum made a website that shows answers to questions proposed to candidates about issues they would or would not enact if elected. They don’t endorse certain candidates or ideas, they simply show who would vote to protect families in Louisiana. Check it out at louisianavoterguide.com. There’s a lot on the ballot, but the voter guide breaks it down for you. Moreover, you can go to the Secretary of State website for more info on where you are registered to vote. Also, the Public Affairs Research Council of LA (PAR) has a lot of info on their site about the amendments so that you can educate yourself before heading out to the polls.
The polls are open from 6am to 8pm tomorrow. No matter what you’re doing, you have time! These elections do matter. Just look at what’s happening in California right now. The Austrian residing as governor there just passed a bill that bans “mother and father” and “husband and wife” from textbooks… Which will affect all of us, as textbook companies cater to the huge states like that one. Mayor Holden wants to introduce sexual orientation as a newly protected class. This will affect hiring practices, enforcement of law, adoption and foster care decisions, housing policies and health benefits to newly defined “family members.” Now, try and tell me local governments don’t matter!!
Let’s make Louisiana a place of righteousness and honor and respect for once in it’s history! Our future lies in our hands….
While in Italy, we met some of the most amazing people God put on this earth. I’d just like to highlight a few. Keep in mind that we met hundreds of awesome people, but for the purpose of keeping it short, I will tell you about three.
Daniela: She works with the Sotille’s at Italy for Christ and set up everything we did for the conference. Her luggage got lost along the way from Rome to Sicily and was without it for days and never uttered a single complaint. She was so sweet and so kind and was a pleasure to get to know. Daniela always looked out for me and made sure I was getting enough rest and enough to eat. This trip would have not been the same without her. When she left on Sunday I felt like a sister was leaving us. She was incredible!!
Raffi: He was our translator for the trip. He was born in Florida and moved to Italy at the age of 7. He now teaches English for a living, so we had a blast teaching him some American slang he can tell his students about! Raffi was definitely one of the most humble, gentle, kind, genuine, amazing men we have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We will never forget him. He truly impacted our lives and hopefully he can come see us sometime soon!!
Tamara: She was at the conference and is part of the church who hosted us, but I really got to know her the night of the concert at the piazza. I don’t know how we missed each other before, but that night we started talking and really clicked. She is so beautiful and has such a passion to know Jesus and make Him known. (Plus she’s a bass player- how cool is that?!) I was so happy that she made the two hour journey to come see us and stayed out with us until 1am. She rocks!!!
Wednesday, October 10- Friday, October 12:
Wednesday morning we woke up and headed off to beautiful Rome. That afternoon we departed the airport and got on a bus for what we thought would be a leisurely bus tour through historic Rome. Little did we know we would meet up with a crazy lady with a speaker fanny-pack who would lead us (on foot) all over the place. Keep in mind- we thought we were going to be in a bus all day, so most people were in shorts (a major no-no in Italy), flip flops (not great for hiking) and short sleeves (it was like 60 degrees). We walked all over downtown Rome and learned about every single building and fountain we walked by. Oh yes, it was great, and very, very, very informational.
Then Thursday we had an entire day tour of Rome… this time we ended up with a nazi tour guide who hates the Church and got mad at us when we needed to use the bathroom. During our very speedy tour of the Vatican, he told us how there’s no such thing as miracles and how the boy that Jesus “healed” wasn’t possessed by demons, but was instead just epileptic.
Despite our terrible tour guides, we were SO blessed to see the Catacombs, an 11 mile stretch of over 150, 000 tombs in underground tunnels. That was definitely one of my favorite things. A lot of Christian martyrs were buried there and though I am usually extremely claustrophobic, being in such a reverent place blinded all that. We also got to see the massive Colliseum (yay for Gladiator!!!), the Pantheon, the Madison Ave. of Rome and Vatican City. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime and it was SO COOL to get to see places in person that most people will only ever see on TV or in the movies.
Friday morning we departed the hotel at 3am (which is 7pm on Thursday BR time) and after many hours of flights, layovers, lost luggage and a shuttle ride back to Baton Rouge, we arrived at HPC somewhere around 7pm. It was an amazing trip and we were so blessed to be a part of it. I will never forget our time in Italy. It was so incredible!!!
For my final recap blog, I want to highlight some of the incredible people who made our trip so special to us… Until then, enjoy these pictures of beautiful Rome…
Sunday, October 7- Tuesday, October 9:
We left the conference Sunday afternoon and made the journey to Catania, Sicily. Sunday and Monday nights we were able to minister at a church that was part of the conference we led. They were amazing hosts to us and really allowed the Holy Spirit to move in the services. Their worship leader even learned an entire song in English and sang it so that we could worship together. That was definitely one of my favorite moments!
Tuesday night we did a concert in a beautiful piazza (town square) in front of thousands of passer-bys. We also passed out the Book of Hope, which is basically the Bible in magazine form. Our friends we made from the church in Vittoria drove 2 hours on a bus to be with us! There were 50 of them and they stayed out with us until 1am!! That same night the band played in a local pub inside the piazza… By them doing that, the door was opened for the church hosting us to come and play there later. The bar owners loved us so much that they invited the church to bring in bands anytime. Is that God or what?! Imagine, HPC Worship Band at Fred’s or the Caterie. What a thought!
During our time in Catania we also visited some beautiful sites: a castle, the beach, an amazing little town on top of a mountain called Taormina… that place felt like something out of a dream! But the best part was having the opportunity to serve the people of Sicily. We weren’t there to haul lumber (like I did last year), or dig wells (also, like last year) or put on some huge production. We were simply there to minister to the needs of the people and share the love of Christ, and that’s the biggest blessing of all!
Thanks again to everyone who made it possible for us to go! It was such an honor and a blessing!
It would be impossible to wrap up our Italy missions experience in one post, so I will have to spread it out over several. First, let me say THANK YOU to all of you who sacrificially gave so that we could be on this trip. It was definitely an honor and a privilege and we feel so blessed to have gotten to be a part of it.
Wednesday October 3- Sunday October 7:
We traveled over 30 hours to finally arrive in Vittoria, Sicily late Thursday evening… I think it was around midnight. Upon arrival, we sat down to eat our first Italian meal (yes, they eat really late!!) Friday morning we woke up and headed to the conference at Camp Bethel. We prepared for the arrival of the attendees, ate some lunch, and got to know the Pastor and his family. Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning we helped lead a conference to teach and equip youth leaders. They were so hungry to learn and they were the nicest, most genuine, intensely loving people on the planet. They were also the most eager people to take pictures that I have ever seen.
We led break-out sessions, did dramas, led worship, held a concert, shared testimonies (which Chris did beautifully)… but what they gave us was so much more. They fed us til we thought we would pop. They shared their lives and their love with us. They taught us more than we could ever dream of teaching them. They touched our lives and impacted us forever. The language barrier was broken down as we found ways to communicate with each other about our churches, our ways of doing ministry and our love for people.
Before we left, the pastor’s wife kissed my belly and begged me to write to her and send her pictures of the baby. Though we were halfway across the world and spoke 2 different languages… the message was loud and clear: the love of Jesus transcends all walls.
