I think it's so awesome that one of the guys I used to worship when he was in KoRn has turned his life to Christ. He has one of the most powerful testimonies I've read in a while (well at least for me, because I know how he used to be). The website is also pretty cool. I can't wait until his album comes out!

I woke up today to a magnitude 5.1 earthquake. It wasn't that big (seeing as it's a logarithmic scale and all), but it was enough to wake me up. And I can sleep through almost anything!

So, today is the last day of fasting in December from my church. We are all fasting every Wednesday this month to pray about 2006. Although they're not complete fasts all day, just fasting until 5pm. I guess the people that wake up late have an advantage over those that have to wake up at 5am. hahahaha suckers

98% scored higher (more stupid),
1% scored the same, and
1% scored lower (less stupid).

What does this mean? You are 1% stupid. This means...

You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

When I look at the world, I see so many demons. Why is the world so full of demons? Why do they have such control over the people? God, why is there so much hatred? The other day I saw someone who got shot. I didn't see him get shot, but I saw him on the ground as I drove past. How does Satan have so much control over people that we are trying to kill each other? How can someone let themselves be lead by him? I don't understand it, even though I used to do the same. I used to get mad at people and hate them. I'm guilty of murder. I used to do what they do. I used to let myself be lead by demons. I never tried to kill anyone, but I'm guilty of murder.

But there is hope in this world. I have met a few good people. I have met people who are honest and caring. I have met people that will do what they say. I have met people who instead of trying to kill others, they try to help them. Oh Lord, thank you for my discipleship family; for my parents and my siblings. Lord, it's not a coincidence I'm here. It's not a coincidence I went to the encuentro. It's not a coincidence you have given these people to me for guidance, support and friendship. Thank you for leading me here. Thank you for all of the people you have placed in my path. Thank you for the opportunities I've had. Thank you for your blood and your body. Oh Lord, thank you for giving them to me. With Your help, we will do great things, Lord. With Your help, we will conquer the world. With Your help, we will turn murderers into saints, we will turn hatred into love, we will turn war into peace, we will transform this world. Oh Lord, give me strength. Give me wisdom, courage, and fill me with Your Spirit. Oh Lord, you gave your life for me, the least I could do is dedicate mine to you. Oh Lord, be with me. Guide me. Show me the path. Help me, oh Lord.

Amen.

hahaha there's acutally a guy named Justin Case!

why do they call it "raw sewage"?

Last night before I went to sleep, I decided to download a bunch of Christian songs. One of them is Third Day's rendition of the Christmas hymn Do you hear what I hear?. This song has never really meant anything to me before, but I don't know if I've ever listened to it as a Christian. Here are the lyrics:Obviously it's a song about the birth of our Lord and Saviour. The lines

A child, a child / Shivers in the cold / Let us bring him silver and gold

and

The child, the child / Sleeping in the night / He will bring us goodness and light

were the ones that spoke to me the most. It just really got me thinking about the first Christmas ever. How amazing would it have been to be able to see Jesus as a baby, shivering in the cold, and pick him up and just know that you have your Saviour in your arms. I'm sure I would have just broken down in tears, just being overwhelmed with emotion. Obviously, just His mere presence would be enough to cause my spirit to jump. This passage is talking about Mary, just after she found out that she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit:Honestly, how can you not be amazed by that? All Mary had to do was walk close to Elizabeth and just the mere presence of Jesus, who wasn't even born yet was enough to make the child in Elizabeth's womb jump and for her to be filled with the Holy Spirit! If you could hold Jesus in your arms, I'm sure you would have the same thing happen to you. How amazing would that be!

Anyway, I can't wait for Christmas. I know it's going to be great this year. It's actually the first Christmas I've had in Costa Rica since I was 14! I always ended up going away for Christmas and going up to Canada.

So worship Santa and he might bring you lots of presents this X-Mas!

... Has anyone noticed that all you have to do is take the 'n' in Santa and move it to the end and it becomes a completely different name?

With that said... I'm going to sleep.

So I have officially signed up to go on the camping trip with the Red de Jovenes from my church. It's gonna be from Thursday until Sunday of next week! That's 3 complete days of worship and excitement that the Lord has planned for us. Oh, and not to mention my friend Daniela is going to be there too (and yes, she must be written in bold... for security reasons... nah not really :P).

Since she's in exams right now, we can never do anything together, so hopefully we'll have a lot of spare time to catch up during the camping trip. I just have to remember to pay when I go to church this Sunday. Oh man, Sunday is less than 24 hours away! yay!

It looks like there might be a new virus outbreak stemming from Costa Rica. In the Osa Peninsula (South West Costa Rica), many birds, monkeys, sloths and other animals have been mysteriously dying in the rainforest... of STARVATION! Nobody knows why either, but it seems like it's probably a new strain of the West Nile Virus (which can affect over 290 species of birds and at least 30 other types of animals, including humans). Eduardo Carrillo, a biologist from the Universidad Nacional who has studied the park for years, has stated that he believes about 50% of the monkey population has died! This park contains the largest rainforest on the entire western coast of all of the Americas combined (just to put things into perspective).

The stupid thing is that since Costa Rica's largest export is tourism, the CR government has been trying to hide it from the public!!! They would rather not hinder the tourism industry than save potentially MILLIONS of lives! My dad has a friend (who I can't name) that has a hotel over in the Osa Peninsula and she's been noticing this happening since October, 2005. She told my dad that she's worried (and rightfully so) about the health of the animals and even for human lives, because nobody knows what this is. My dad then took it upon himself to contact the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization and let them know what's happening. Within 24 hours, a new story appeared on the A.M. Costa Rica news site. Since then, they have closed the park completely to any tourists and are only letting authorized personnel enter.

So, just for the record, if an epidemic breaks out of Costa Rica and kills 1/2 of the planet's population, my dad wants to be known as the one that brought the information to the world. Thanks.

Let me let you in on a little secret... I love Opera. That's right Opera. No, not the music with the fat people running and dancing (actually I've never seen one of those, so I maybe I'd love them too), but I'm talking about the web browser!

But honestly, it was really bothering me today and yesterday. Since I coded this blog script, I wanted a way to add comments. So I made it so that when you click on the "Add Comments" text below the post, it opens up a nice little form. I used the following code to do it:The problem was that for some reason Opera refuses to submit a form that is created dynamically. I couldn't even do

getElementById()

to any of the created elements. So to fix it, I had to do a HUGE workaround creating a hidden form and when you click on the "Submit" button, it puts all the variables from that form into the invisible one and then submits it. Ugh! What the hail? I should contact them and let them know about this bug.

So FINALLY I got this all working. Try it out! Add some comments :D

Do not fear the enemy because the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony will help you overcome anything. Is there anything He can't do?

I just finished eating a delicious lunch. Man. It was good. I dunno what I am going to call it... Maybe... Afternoon Surprise!!

Here's how you do it:

Ingredients:

• 1 Package of beef flavoUred ramen noodles
• 1/2 handful of leftover chopped onions (pre-cooked)
• 1/2 handful of leftover boiled potato cubes
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 smidgen of black pepper
• 1 bit of butter (or substitute with low fat, non-hydrogenated, butter-flavored margarine)

Instructions:

• Combine the noodles, the little sauce packet, butter and the chopped onions into a pot
• Add water until it's just over the top of the noodles and place on high heat
• While it's cooking (you better hurry, btw), de-shell the eggs and slice them up into little rings
• When the water is almost gone, put the eggs into the pot, cover and reduce to low heat
• Cook until the water is all gone then add then add the pepper and serve

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

holey! after 4am... need... sleep....

Well, today was a pretty kewl day. Everyone from my church was supposed to fast today until 5pm. We're all fasting every Wednesday in December to pray for the blessings of 2006. Unfortunately, I decided to forget that I was supposed to fast until after I finish my cereal. So, to make up for it, I decided to fast from then until aroun 9pm... I guess that's fair, right?

Every Wednesday I also have my discipulado. It's like a discipleship group that my church appointed me into. It's good because they give us "spiritual" parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, children, etc. They do that so that your parents can be, I guess, semi-responsable for your growth as a Christian. Actually, we were talking about this today. Our purpose as Christians is to become more like Christ:When we do this we will become models of Christ for everyone else:I really feel that since I've come to Costa Rica, my faith has grown exponentially. But I know that God has even more in store for me in 2006.

Oh, I have also decided that I'm going to start to work on my AboveHotels website again as well. I know I have been slacking for such a long time, but it's something that I have started, so I know I should finish it.

OK, so I decided to make a blog. Why, you ask? Well, I really don't know. I just felt the impulse to do so, so I did so. And this is the product of it.

Right now it looks rather empty, but soon, my friend.. soon it will be full of surprises! MUOAHAHAAA!