A Heavy Heart Full of Hope

Before reading this blog, please take 3 minutes to watch the video below in remembrance.

IV Strong

This time last week, my friends' Facebook statuses were informing me of gunshots being heard in Isla Vista. I spent the next 24 hours researching all of the information I could find online regarding the shootings as the facts and the names of the victims were released. I read almost every article I could find and as I went over the details of the tragic event, my heart became so heavy with sadness for the community and the friends and families of all the innocent victims. I'm not going to explain everything that happened on here because I'm sure you've already heard about it all from social media or various news channels and websites and all it takes now is a quick google search to learn all of the details.

I know that these things happen all the time, all over the country, probably more often than we are aware of. But when it occurs in a town so close to your heart, and you read articles with statements from close friends who were witnesses, it is such an eye-opening realization and hard concept to grasp. I only attended UCSB for one year, but I could argue that that was the most pivotal year of my life because it is the place where I met and fell in love with Jesus and changed my life forever.

Isla Vista is a small college town notorious for it's excessive partying and laid-back beach lifestyle. UCSB has been ranked the #2 party school in America because of Isla Vista. Prior to the recent shooting, there were other occurrences reported in IV including gang rapes, stabbings, and large riots. Sadly, IV has slowly been building a violent reputation for itself. But that will never change the fact the Isla Vista is one of my favorite, most cherished places in the world because of the people that I met there. Amongst all of the outrageous partying is the most genuine and loving Christian community I have ever experienced. My heart is eternally bonded to this family and I truly don't know who or where I would be without having been introduced.

Even though pure tragedy has struck Isla Vista, I know that God is alive in His city and is taking this opportunity to instill hope rather than fear. After a few days of articles about the gunman, his manifesto, and the details of the shooting, social media starting pouring out with pictures and videos of the candlelight vigil, memorial paddle-out, prayer circles, and other community gatherings of love and support. I wholeheartedly believe that there is going to be a crazy outpouring of God's love in the days to come.

Keep the city of IV and more importantly, the families and friends affected by this tragedy in your prayers and thoughts and don't lose hope!

The Past Month in Pictures

I KNOW! It's been forever since the last post...

I haven't been on too many exciting adventures lately since I now have a set work schedule. It is SO nice to have a weekly routine.

So this post will have a lot of photos to catch you all up on what has been going on the past month!

Finally made it into Disneyland! I bought an
annual pass that is good for both parks so I can
go throughout the year!!! 

So proud to work for these two!

This is Showbase, our stage!

We were able to watch the show twice that day
because there was no lottery! Usually only the
first show is open seating and all the rest are
drawn from a lottery! It was so much fun watching
everyone perform from the other side!

The park was pretty empty that day and we got on every
ride within 30 minutes which is RARE! We even got a fastpass
for Splash Mountain...and got splashed...

I had to get a picture with Tigger because he is my
mom's favorite! He was very sweet and bouncy!

We had such a fun time at the park! We rode so many rides, ate so much popcorn, and enjoying watching One Man's Dream! It ended up raining halfway through the day, but we didn't let that stop us! The park was pretty amazing. Similar, but different that Disneyland and Magic Kingdom in the States! Can't wait to go back and use my pass again!

We celebrated a few birthdays and events as a cast this past month! We always do something special when it is someones birthday. We all chip in for a gift for them, go to dinner, and have cake at showcase!

We went to a Mexican restaurant at Tokyo Station for Brandi's birthday!

We surprised Mama Keiko at TGI Fridays for her birthday!

I don't have a group picture, but we went to a themed restaurant called
Alcatraz for Francois' birthday. It was like a hospital/prison where the
servers dressed like nurses and you sit in a cell and there are weird
things on the menu. It was a fun experience with the group, but I think
that will be my first and last time at Alcatraz...

We got everyone together for a group photo at Mama Keiko's! Pete couldn't
make it so we held up his picture on an iPad! We had a sushi-making party
that night at Mama's!

See^^ Sushi making! Yum!!!

We had an official Welcome Party with the OMDII cast including our
Japanese dancers and stunt boys! What a fun night!

We had a Days Off party with all the other gaijin performers working at Disney!
We all live in the same building and see each other all the time. It's a lot of fun
meeting performers from the different shows and spending time with them. So
we all got together and wore colored bandanas of our Days off and wrote our
names on those papers so we could get to know more people!

And here's everyone who came! So many gaijin!!!

So yeah...lots of group get togethers! I really enjoying spending my days off getting errands done and just relaxing! Love a good grocery shopping trip or a movie night!

Had some girls over to watch Mean Girls since it was the 10 year anniversary!

Made another trip to Costco and got one of these babies!
Only brought a small suitcase this time so it was manageable.

I've been having some trouble with communication this past month. My FaceTime and Skype both decided to stop working for 3 weeks. I was getting extremely frustrated and wasn't able to talk to Nick because he is on a cruise ship; if any of you read my other blogs while I was on DCL you learned all about how hard it is to find steady wifi at a reasonable hour that works with a different time zone. Just a reminder...Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of California. I'll let you do the math and realize how difficult it is to plan FaceTime/phone calls around a ship schedule with that time difference.
Anyway...I hadn't been able to video chat with Nick for 3 weeks and had only had 2 real conversations with him in that time. We finally had the chance to plan when we would be free to talk next and after fiddling with Skype for a while, I rebooted my computer and...it worked!!! Only for a little while...but at least I saw his face!

FaceTime still refuses to work, someday that will change...I hope!

So anytime this happens, I know it's
going to be a fantastic day!

Today I was even lucky enough to see
and chat with all of these beautiful girls!!!!
It's been almost 2 months!

So I've settled into my daily routine. I'm getting to know my cast better and making some truly amazing friends. Laughing at silly moments in every show, exploring new character choices, learning silly Japanese words and phrases, enjoying the loads of sometimes awesome sometimes awkward photos that are taken, and feeling so thankful each day that this is where God's path has led me.