Rome

So today we landed in Rome. The train ride was short and we are both sick of public transportation. I would love to drive my Tundra right now! The train got in around 11 am and we walked to our room, its pretty sweet. From there we head to the Collusem, that place is super big! (I just tried to do spell check, and that doesnt work here. Sorry) I was in awe of how massive the place was. We heard the line was long, but we got hooked up. Just go in and buy the audio tour and you can get your ticket there. We were both so impressed with how the building of that structure took place, it was crazy.
After that we took a nap (I love vacation!) and now we are chilling just doing some laundry. Tonight we want to do the Trevi fountion and thats about all.

Off to Florence

On Monday morning we got up and caught a train into Florence. From there we headed to a small medieval town called: San Gimignamo. This town was super cool. It was a good stop on our trip. We have both been going so much and really caught some down time there. We had no internet in the town and basically just went to the supermarket to get meals. The first day we walked down the main street (thats all there really was) and checked it out. The next day we chilled some more and really got some relax time in. The town has a bunch of towers there and I went into one (charity is too pregnant to walk up the stairs now). The towers were once used to pour boiling oil on anyone who attacked the town!!!
The next day (Wed) we headed into Pisa. That tower is amazing. We were both not too sure what to expect but it was great. The town was so amazing and we both just loved it!
On Thursday we headed into Florence to check out the David. I didnt realize how big it was. The statue is about twice the size I expected. We walked around, saw an amazing church, walked around, did some shopping and then headed back to our little town.

Venice Day Two

So we havent been around a comp for a while so here is what has happened. Our next day in Venice was great. We went out to an Island called Murano. This is the place where they hand blow a bunch of glass objects. We actually got to see a man make a horse out of glass, it was so crazy. Venice has been great. The water system is a new idea to both of us, they have no cars there at all.
Later in the day it started to sprinkle a bit so we headed to get a Gondola ride. This is what Chartiy has dreamed of doing like her whole life. We LOVED it. The ride was so amazing. We started on the Grand Canel and were able to take the back streets the rest of the way. Venice is so beautiful. We had a great kiss under the lovers brigde, cuddled close and saw something not everyone will get to see. Venice was great!

Venice Day One

I normally dont Blog this much at all. I honestly only blog on random occasions but I feel that for this trip I really need to write this down so I wont forget it and its so amazing I want to share it with all.
Today we got to Venice by train. The transportation here is all by water. We got the youth pass (last time for me) that allows us to go all over. The Islands are not really that big. We got to our room (after wondering for a bit) and headed out to Saint Marks Square. The view was amazing. The Cathedrals here are all so rad. We had so much fun trying to kick the pigeons (maybe that was me) but I got one. We just got lost for the next 2 hours or so and wondered around.
We ended up finding the Rialto Bridge at just the right time, Sunset. We headed to that and it was amazing. We got some pics and then strolled the shops. The city began to close so we came home. I forgot to tell that I acutally wanted McDonalds for dinner and that is what we had.
Chao for now!

Stressa/ Isola Pescadore

I have been meaning to get here so I can write all that we are seeing. On Thurs morning Charity and I caught the train from Sesto C and headed towards the Alps. We got off in Stressa. From there we walked down to Lake Magorrie (SP) and caught a boat over to Isola Pescadore. We had the most amazing hotel room in the world (Hotel Belvedere). You really have to stay there if you ever make it to Italy. I dont think we have ever been that spoiled. Our room over looked Lake Maggorie and we had this amazing terrace that we could chill on. We ate lunch at this little restaruant that Charity loved and had the best fish she ever ate!!! From there we took a boat to Isola Bella, it was pretty sweet. We had so much fun just exploring the Islands and getting some time together.
On Friday we planned to get up and get a car to go to Swiss. We got the boat over to Stressa and went to AVIS. My bad, I forgot my Drivers License and we got the shaft on the car. We ended up taking a Cable Car ride to Montaronee which was super sweet. We saw the Alps from the top and I threw some snowballs at Charity :)
The view from the top was so beautiful! We got back down to our Island. We decided that we really own it now! After that we headed home for some chill time. I got to read the Bible about Saul and Charity took a nap. Shes 19 weeks pregnant so she needed that.
Then this morning we caught a train to Venice!!! I will tell you more about that cause this place is sweet.

Sesto C & Millano

So I had to take the time today to write about what is going on! Charity and I are offically in Italy. We landed yesterday morning into Millan about 6am. From there we caught a cab to our hotel (Hotel David) which is located in a small town called: "Sesto Calende". This place is beautiful! We are on Lake Magorrie and you can see the lake from the balcony in our room. We arrived and were beat tired. The people here are so nice, they gave us our room and we crashed out for like 5 hours. After getting up, taking a quick shower we headed out to check the town out. The streets are made of cobble stone and it is so quint here. Charity and I love it! We had gilatto and the best pasta for dinner.
Today we caught the train into Millan. From the center of town we took the Metro down to a HUGE castle. After wandering around there we headed to the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was stunning, its called Duomo. We walked around Millan all day and then caught a train back home, had some great Pizza and now we are gonna crash! Tomorrow we head to Stressa, and stay on an Island for 2 nights!!!

Monster Jam

Yep, that's right! We are off to Monster Jam 2008 right now!! I am so stoked. Charity and I are going and we got free tickets which makes it even better. I wish I had a mullet to just round out the entire evening!

Its a boy!

Charity and I went to the Doc on Thursday and here is what we saw:

Although it is still early (15 weeks), our Doc said she is 90% sure that we are having a boy! What the pic shows is the feet on top, then if you move to the bottom you see the two butt cheeks and a little weenie in the middle! (Kinda weird talking about that) But we are so exited!!!

What we do...

"All I want to do is recapture what we used to live and breathe – we hold kids' hands, we listen to their stories, we take them seriously, and somewhere along the way, we bring them to Jesus. That's it. That's youth ministry."- Mike Yaconelli

Charity's Pregnant!!!

On thursday (Feb 7th) Charity and I went to her second doctors appointment. We found out about 2 months ago that Charity was pregnant and we are SO STOKED!!!

Here is a picture of when we found out. It was really cool cause my buddy Conrad was in town (he found out before I did). The funny thing is that one day Charity came home and I told her to take a pregnancy test, I knew she was being different, but the test showed up negative. A couple weeks later she came home from the gym and just broke down crying, that is when we knew she needed to take another test.

I cant beleive how exciting this is. On thursday Charity was 11 weeks pregnant and we got an ultrasound, it was so rad! The baby (who we call BB Baby Benson) was just moving all over the place. He (not sure of the sex yet) was moving his hands all over the place. It really looked liked he was dancing all over the place. The heartbeat is strong and we saw all the limbs, hands, feet, head, body, heartbeat, and inbillical cord. It was the most amazing thing that I have ever seen. I can not even tell you how excited I am.

Praise God for this in our lives!

Long Nights, Hurt Students, and Spots to fill

I think this is something that most youth pastors know very well. The nights are never short, there is always a student to talk to and it seems like I am always trying to fill spots for camp. I don't know how you feel about these things, but I wouldn't change them for the world. There are some people that I think God has just wired to work with students and I feel like one of them. I have often had people ask me: "Neal, when are you gonna be an associate pastor?" or "Neal, don't you ever want to do something more than that youth gig?"
To me its not "a youth gig" to me this is life. This is what God has created me for. Last night was long, and we had students that hearts are broken. It just hit me, again, that we live in a place that is not perfect. We strive for the place that is perfect, where we get to see God face to face and we can be done with this world. We don't live for what we can see, but for a place far better than here.
I will always have long nights, there will always be students to pray with and encourage and I one day, hopefully, we will fill the spots for camp. But until then I will keep getting up every day to: Love God, Love my Wife and do my best to point students to Jesus. They need it so bad, so please pray for them whenever you get the time!

“Nobody Made It!”

Kepler, the astronomer, was troubled by one of his friends who denied the existence of God and took the view of the universe which prevails in some circles today, namely, that it came into being of itself by mechanical methods. Kepler, in order to convince his friend, constructed a model of the sun with the planets circling round it.
When his friend came into the Observatory and saw the beautiful model, he exclaimed with delight, “How beautiful it is! Who made it?” And Kepler carelessly answered, “No one made it: it made itself.” His friend looked at him and said, “Nonsense, tell me who made it.” Kepler then replied, “Friend, you say that this little toy could not make itself. It is but a very weak imitation of this great universe which, I understood, you believe did make itself.”
—A. Naismith

The world needs you and I

God builds his kingdom primarily through ordinary people who are willing to use daily encounters to tell others about the salvation that is available in Jesus Christ.
-- Anthony Campolo

School, School and more School!

Tonight is a long one for me. I am a wuss now that I am old, I love to be in bed by like 10. I just finished my homework and it was a killer. I read a book tonight and just wrote a two page report on it. That would not be so bad in itself, but I did this on Monday night also. Tuesday night I was our Middle School Ministry and Wednesday night I was at our HS ministry. It has been a long week. I have school tomorrow night and Saturday morning. I have a 15 page paper and a written final due on Dec. 7th and I have NO clue when I will get to them. I am just tired of school right now and needed some time to vent.

If you read this and Love Jesus, will you please pray for me to finish school strong. I know that I am learning so much and it is good. I am in a leadership class and I want to be a better leader and I love the books, its just so much info to process.
Thanks for reading my rant!

PDYM

http://www.pdymblog.com/

A good laugh

Last night my pastor came to stop in and hang out with us for our High School Ministry. I was a little nervous, but not really. I was speaking on gossip and confronting issues when people talk about you. We are doing a series called Mind Games that looks at the Sermon on the Mount.
I asked one of my student leaders to find a clip from Mean Girls that would help show what not to do in a situation. The clip was great, I was laughing out loud... and then it happened. The girl said "f-ing". She didn't say the "f word", but she said "f-ing" I was scared. Then as the clip ended the girl says to the other girl: "catch you later beotch". I was so nervous, but realized that it had happened.
Just had to share that with you all.

Quote of the Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. -
"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

Death

Last night I preformed my first funeral service; it was hard. I will never forget the call that I got received ten days ago from one of my boys. He called at 9:45pm sobbing, he was broken. I was broken. How do you help a young man bury his father? How do you comfort a person who has lost someone? I was so nervous preparing do the service, I was scared. We arrived for the service last night and spent time with the family.
The service started and I asked God to help me. I prayed for God to guide and lead me. The thing that God did last night was show people that we are the ones who are left here to deal with death. It is our choice as to how we will lead our lives. God moved. I was able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the group of people that showed up and God moved. It was such an amazing service. I feel honored to know the family and honored to have shared in life with them.
Don't miss out on being involved in people's lives, we are not meant to do life alone. We are meant to die alone. God has a plan for us. Read John 14:1-6.

Lost it all

I wish that I could pretend that this was going to be happy. I got a call from my dad yesterday on our way home. I asked how he was doing and he told me that he was at a friends house because he lost his home. He and his wife were outside yesterday trying to get their carport back together because the winds were so bad. At 2:30pm the fire came over the hill (he lives in Santa Clarita). He told me that he went inside to get his car keys and check book, by the time they were leaving the house was on fire. He told me he was battling the flames to get out of his property (he has about 10 acres). He got some clothes from a friend and then stayed at another friends house last night. He went to his property today and his home is gone. My dad lost everything. Please pray for him, his name is Don Benson. Him and his wife are ok which is by God’s Grace. I am not sure where my dad is at with God, but please keep him in your prayers. I am praying that I will be able to go help him out next week with anything that he needs.

Hola

"How far you go in your life depends on your being tender with theyoung,compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerantofthe weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been allofthese."
- George Washington Carver