This is probably going to be an incomplete entry... I have to work in 2 hours and I haven't even showered yet.

I finally got hired. Domino's had two insiders quit, so they gave me a call. Yeah, I know. I'd like a different job, too, but it's just for the summer. I'll be happy with anything, pretty much. Although I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that Old Navy will give me a call. I can still work mornings. Even early mornings if need be.

The minimum wage here is $7.80; I'm pretty excited about that. It's quite a jump from a measly $5.15 an hour! Maybe I'll actually get a paycheck over $200, LOL.

In other news, I found a church. It's called Faith Center Church. It's listed under "Churches � Independent" in the Yellow Pages, so I don't know quite what their theology is, but I felt welcomed the minute I entered the church. Everything felt new and young and energetic. But I think what really pulled me in was the colorful sign hanging on the wall that said in big letters, "SMALL GROUPS." Small groups! That's exactly what I was looking for! A small group of people to grow close to, even if it's just for a summer.

I sat down in the sanctuary, too nervous to go mingle in the coffee shop area. I looked around the church... The stage had these weird blue-lit things on it that looked like fancy speakers, but might be just to look cool--I found out later that they have their own TV show called PAX TV. They used chairs, not pews, which a lot of new churches are turning to. Kind of a small church, though, judging from the amount of seating in the sanctuary. Not much bigger than my church at home--perfect!

When the worship team came onto the stage, I knew I was in for something good. The guy I figured to be the worship leader looked about 19 years old, and from the first words that came out of his mouth, I saw he was FULL of energy! The rest of the worship team was also young. No one looked over 30 and there was even a boy up there who looked to be about 14 or 15. One of the guitarists was very, very attractive, I must admit. He's also married--go figure. :)

Everyone in the church was full of energy and life and passion. This last Sunday I realized the church is somewhat charismatic. They believe in speaking in tongues. Okay, call me close-minded, but that seriously weirds me out. It�s gibberish! It reminds me of scatting in jazz music. "Ba do bop ba dey do be dey deedly do wah, do wah, do wah..." I personally think just the same kind of thing--they say whatever sounds come to them. But these people believe they're speaking in a real language. It's just...it's weird to me. The sounds the worship leader said were a lot of words with long O sounds. If it were another language, it might be spelled, "Qodye nqodya shaqodye." Something like that.

The guy in the congregation who "spoke in tongues" (I do apologize if I am offending somebody because I don't quite believe in this yet) echoed the sounds the worship pastor made, probably thinking to himself that he was speaking something different, but he was saying the same sounds. The rest of the congregation, during this time in the worship, sang phrases in English like, "You love us, Jesus" in random melodies. I personally listened to the chords the guitarists were still playing and sang or hummed the tunes of the songs while everybody else did their own thing. ::shrug:: I like doing that--humming the melody before (or in this case, after) we've actually started singing. And here it was okay.

A few more observations on speaking in tongues... I think it comes from African culture. In fact, I'm almost sure of it... I know jazz and scatting came from Africa. But also several songs I have of African music (from Lion King and a song by Mark Schultz) sound a lot like what our church was doing--singing their own tunes over one another. And not only that, but the Middle East, where the Apostle Paul traveled all over, is right by Africa.

I'd love to deliberate on that more, but as I said, I don't have time... The two small groups I'm going to try to take part in are an informal, interactive Bible study Wednesday nights and a ballroom dancing group Sunday nights. I actually just went to my first ballroom dancing night last Sunday and had SO much fun!! I finally get to learn how to swing dance!! That's what they are doing right now and it rocks. I wonder what next week will be? I hope they give us a little more time to practice swing dancing.

I met a lot of people at the dancing night, which was awesome. And I had two very, very good partners who were incredibly patient and actually took on the role of teacher with me and I learned better. One guy even swung me around up off the ground (!!!) and dipped me, too. I can't wait to dance with him again. Him or Siesel... Both of them knew exactly what they're doing and it's great. :) There was one guy, Paul... LOL. He had two left feet and was afraid of the "Connection"--something Siesel and Stephen taught me that makes it way easier for a couple to dance. It's just the guy making sure his hand is firmly on the girl's back and the girl making sure she responds to what the guy's hand tells her. That won't make any sense to anyone who doesn't dance, but to those who do, you'll get it. :)

All right, I'm off to shower! I need a break from the computer. :P

-Stephanie

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