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TechGirl4Christ
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Name: Jess
Gender: Female
Interests: My passion is making videos, I want to use this as a ministry to serve God. I love to ski and snowboard. I also enjoy running radio shows. Skateboarding is fun too. Oh yeah, and music.
Expertise: Audio/video tech stuff. (I'm definitely not an expert though!)
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/28/2005
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| Has anyone ever noticed how hard it is to find a job? I guess it probably depends on where you live. But why can't some amazing video job that can't wait to hire me be just around the corner? That would be too easy I guess. I know that God is in control. If He wants me to have a job this summer, I will. I just feel like a lazy bum being home and not working, you know? I've been doing stuff to keep me busy, but I like working. I'm doing well other than that I guess. Please pray that I find a job soon! =) Thanks. I hope everyone has a great day! | | |
| Dear Friends and Family,
I am sorry for how long it's been since my last update. I would like to thank you once again for your prayers and support for me on my missions trip to South Korea. If you've read my previous emails you know that the trip was great and that God really worked in my life and the lives of the students and other teachers. I also would like to thank you if you were praying for me for my journey home. It was a long trip from Korea back to America. We (myself and most of the other volunteer missionary teachers) left SYME Sunday (April 29th) at 5AM Korean time. We flew to Tokyo, then to Chicago, and then I flew into Burlington, VT. Vermont is 13 hours behind Korea, so by the time I got home at 8PM on Sunday the 29th, it was actually 28 hours later. Needless to say, I was very tired when I finally got home. I had a short time in Chicago to get my luggage, go through customs, check my luggage again, go through security, and get to my next plane. It was only by the grace of God that I made it to my plane and got to Vermont. I was still with a few other teachers when I got to Chicago, so we were able to stay together through customs and dealing with our luggage, and they pointed me in the right direction to go through security and get to my gate. The security line that I needed to go through was huge! The airport personnel wouldn't let me cut to the front of the line even though we told them that I had a connecting flight from Tokyo. I was really tired, and very concerned that I would miss my flight to Burlington, but I stayed in line. As soon as I got through security I made a mad dash for my gate. I ran down an escalator, through a hallway, up some stairs, through another hallway and got to my gate. The man at the gate tried to scan my ticket but it didn't work. He asked someone about it, who said that they had just taken my name off the computer and shut the door. I told them I had just come on a connecting flight from Tokyo. So they opened the door back up for me and let me on. I don't have a whole lot of experience with flying, but I think that I couldn't have come much closer to missing my flight. I was so happy to be on board my plane headed for Vermont. So thank you very much for praying. As you can see, the prayers were needed!
The last week at SYME went well. It actually flew by. The students (and teachers too!) had fun dressing up for "Spirit Week," which was a different theme for Tuesday and for Wednesday of the last week of classes. The students were very creative with this. I tried to spend as much time with the students as possible that last week. On Thursday of that week after our usual "Club Night" (it's like a youth group type setting where the students take turns leading different parts of it for practice with ministry) we had a time where we honored the students who were graduating. We watched a video of them talking about what they learned and they all came up on stage and got a giant card from their classmates. The next day, in the afternoon, we had a similar time. This time it was for us teachers. The students called us all up on the stage one by one and gave us cards and a calendar they had put together with pictures from SYME in it. We all talked and took pictures afterwards. That night we went to a nearby church and had a baptism for the students who were saved but hadn't been baptized and wanted to. That was a neat time also. It was good to see them making a public statement about their faith. The next day was Saturday, "Friends Day," the actual graduation ceremony for the students. The graduating students all had some sort of leadership role in the ceremony and all of the students participated in some way. Their families and friends came and it was a good service. We had a nice Korean lunch and then we had to say goodbye. It was hard saying goodbye to the students that we had spent so much time with during the last couple of months. But the students that I had the hardest time saying goodbye to were Arwen and Shea. I didn't have the assurance that I would see them again, like I did for most of the other students (if they know Jesus as their Savior like I do, I know that even if I don't see them on this earth again, I will see them in Heaven someday). I got to speak about this with Arwen when I said goodbye to her. She told me that she knew I wanted to tell her all this stuff about the Gospel and that I wanted her to get saved. I told her she was right and I asked her what was stopping her. She said she will probably get saved later. I asked her "why later?" I told her that the Bible says "Today is the day of Salvation." But she just said "maybe later." Please keep praying for her and for Shea. Shea is still very skeptical about God and the Bible. Please pray for the other students who still didn't know Jesus as their Savior at the end of the term. As far as I know Steven, Julian, Arwen, Philip, King, Shea all still need to receive Christ. Quite a few of the other students are planning to go to the Bible Institute this Fall. Some are going to the BI in Florida, some to New York, and some to Canada. It will be quite an adjustment for them to come to America/Canada and have to speak and understand English so much. I'm sure they will do fine, but I'm also sure that they would appreciate prayers too. About a dozen of the students who were at SYME while I was teaching there want to go to the BI in America but still need to improve their English skills before they can come. They are currently at SYME in Japan (because the SYME in Korea doesn't run through the summer). That also is an adjustment for them, with a different culture and different food, and less Korean speakers to interact with. They are working hard to learn as much as they can so they can get a high enough score to come to America to go to the Bible Institute. Please pray for them as well.
It is still a little weird being back in America. In some ways, it feels like it was a really long time ago when I was in Korea, but then I remember that I only got home a month ago. I want to remember, and not forget, what God taught me on my trip. Probably the biggest things He taught me were about priorities and being selfish. Quite often I had to chose how to spend my time in the evenings. I had homework to do, but I also had students that I could be spending time with. During the first part of my trip I really think that homework was too big of a priority. I mean, sure it does need to get done, and I can't ignore my schoolwork because I'm on a missions trip. But people need to come first. The latter part of my trip I was going out of my way more to spend time with people, and my homework managed to get done after. In eternity is it going to matter more if I posted three times every single week for my class or if I talked and played with the girls who wanted attention from their teacher? Yeah, people are more important than school. It's pretty cool that God taught me that. Another thing that was cool about my trip was that I got to see a totally different part of the world. Not only was it cool to see a different culture and try new foods, but it gives a whole new light to John 3:16: "God so loved the WORLD." Sure, I knew that before. I've known that verse practically since I could first talk. But I had never seen a different part of the world before, and it was just totally amazing to see different people, in a different part of the world, who speak a different language, and have a different culture, and different food, who are still a part of the WORLD that God loves. Isn't that cool? God loves people in all the different parts of the world. He loves people who live in countries that we might not have even heard of before. I am thankful that I was able to see these other people that God also loves, and I'm thankful that I was able to meet and see believers from a different part of the world worshipping the same God that I worship here in America. Well, I'm not sure how good of a job I did explaining all of that, but I guess I'm just trying to say that God is AMAZING and He loves EVERYONE in the WORLD and all the people in the WORLD have the same need to hear about Jesus.
Thanks again for everything and, if you'll allow me another prayer request, please also continue to pray about my financial support. Even though I am home, I am still raising support for my trip. The support was not all in before I left, but they let me go and serve by faith believing that God will provide the rest of the money. Please pray that the rest will come in.
Thank you and God bless,
~Jessica Lariviere =)
SMILE! God Loves You! | | |
| Hi everyone, I'd like to say thank you again for your continued prayers and support. Thank you also for the encouraging emails that some of you have sent to me! I appreciate it! I wish I had the time to write back individually to you.
God has been been working in Korea! Students are getting saved and others are searching! A student named Tom trusted Jesus as Savior during IYL time (IYL stands for Institute of Youth Leadership. It is basically a ministry class to train the students to be able to be youth leaders in youth groups and to work with youth. I don't know a lot about this time because the class is all in Korean). I got to hear Tom's testimony in chapel this past week. Please continue to pray for the unsaved students. The ones I know of are Steven, Julian, Arwen, Philip, King, and Shea. Shea has really been on my heart lately. We had a meal together this past week, and I finally got to share (at her request!) my testimony with her! Her friend, Alaina, ate with us too. Alaina also shared her testimony. Shea was really open to listening to our testimonies. I was able to ask Shea what she believes. I found out that she believes the Bible is true, in that it is the history of the Jewish people, but she does not believe that Jesus is God, and she thinks that the miracles written in the Bible are exaggerations. She said that the more she has learned about the Bible the more she thinks there is no God. BUT, she said, IF there is a God, then Jesus is God. I also heard Shea's "Pre-testimony" in chapel on Friday. She told us that she REALLY wants to find out the TRUTH. She wants to know if there is a God. She said that if there is a God, she wants to know Him. I think she is really searching. She also is really confused and doesn't know what to believe. She wants to know the difference between truth and just stories. She is reading, at the suggestion of another teacher, The Case for Christ. I had been about to suggest that book to her, when she told me that she is reading it. But she said that it is hard to understand. She is reading a korean version of it, and she told me that she thinks it wasn't translated very well. It is worded weird and hard for her to follow. Please pray for Shea's mind and heart to be opened up to the Gospel. Please pray that she can understand The Case for Christ if that is a tool that God would like to use to show her the truth. Please pray for God to soften her heart. Please pray for wisdom for me to have the right words to say in Bible Study class and other times when I am talking with Shea. As always, please continue to pray for Arwen. I am really hoping to get some time to just talk to her this week before I leave. She seems to understand the Gospel, but just is not ready to make a decision.
Classes this week went really well. My pronunciation class had fun and learned at the same time (always a good thing!). We were able to play a game on Thursday (I think it was Thursday anyway). They really enjoyed that. While they played the game, I could tell that they really had been learning from the class, so that was encouraging. The game was fairly simple. There were two teams (of four students each). At first, they had to make up questions to ask the other team. The answers had to have the /P/, /B/, /F/, or /V/ sound in them. They came up with creative and fun questions. It was fun watching them try to figure out the "correct" answer that would use one of the sounds. They I asked questions, they had to raise their hands and answer with the appropriate sounds. I kept track of points and at the end I gave American quarters to the winning team as prizes. They were excited about the quarters as well.
Conversation class has also been good. The students did well on their quiz that I gave them on Tuesday. I'm always glad to see that they really are learning. We've had some good conversations, and I have even heard some of the students using phrases from conversation class outside of class time! I was proud of them and impressed!
Bible Study class went well this week too. The students have been assigned to prepare a short teaching time on specific days and specific subjects. Each day, one or two students present their teaching time. They have been really good. I've learned new things from their teaching times. It is exciting to see the effort that they have put into researching a biblical topic.
The term here is almost over. This coming Friday is the last day of classes and then Saturday is "Friend Day" (graduation). All the students will be involved in presentations for their parents and friends on Saturday. There is a drama team, a hand motion team, and two choirs. The students who have been here for four terms (a total of eight months) will graduate. There are approximately 15 students graduating this Saturday. Many students are not returning after this term, however (even if they are not graduating yet). Some are going back to their universities to finish up, some are going to the BI in New York, Canada, or Florida, some are moving on to get a job in a company, and some will be coming back here next term (in August). Please pray for direction for those students who are still uncertain of what to do next. SYME in Korea will not have school between this term and the term that starts in August. The new SYME in Japan, however, will have school during the summer. Some of the students here are going over to Japan to study more this summer so they can try to get a good enough grade on a test that they need to take before they can go to the BI. Please pray for the students who are going to Japan. For some of them it will be their first time out of Korea. They are nervous and uncertain. They just know they want to go to the BI to study the Bible, so they need to learn more English so they can go.
All of the students will be taking an English test tomorrow. It is the Michigan Placement Test. They have to take it when they first come to SYME, and at the end of each term. This shows them (and SYME) how much their english has improved since they've been here. This is also the same test that I was talking about that they have to pass to go to the BI. They are nervous about the test. Please pray that each student will be able to do their best and to have a peace from God and not be nervous.
Please pray that I will have a good attitude this week as it is the last week here at SYME. Please pray that God will use me to minister to the students. Please pray that I will be able to balance my time well, so that I can get my own schoolwork done, prepare for teaching, sleep enough (I still have a cold), and also just spend time hanging out with students and helping to meet their needs. Pray that I will live this week for God's glory! Please also continue to pray for my classes that I'm taking. They are finishing up soon too. I have some final projects and tests and will soon be done. They finish shortly after I get home. Please pray that the rest of my financial support will come in soon. I know that God will provide. And finally, please pray that I, and the other teachers, will all be safe traveling back to America. A missionary family here is leaving on Thursday. The rest of us are leaving on Sunday.
Thank you! Have a great day!
~Jessica Lariviere =)
Remember to SMILE! Because God loves you!!
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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. It is greatly appreciated! Lots has been happening here! Last weekend one of the unsaved students we've been praying for got saved! His name is Daniel. He said that he was wondering why everyone else was "getting saved" and he couldn't. Then he realized that it wasn't that he COULDN'T get saved, but that he WOULDN'T get saved. He decided that there really was no reason for him not to get saved, other than stubbornness, so he received Jesus as his Savior!! Praise God! Another one of the unsaved students, Shea, was supposed to write out her testimony last week for chapel..... this brought up a lot of questions from her. She expressed interest in hearing my testimony, but then decided that she's rather play foosball and hear my testimony later. This could be a great opportunity for me to share Jesus with her. Please pray for her and I to get some time together soon so that I can share my testimony with her. Please pray that God will give me the best words to say, and that He will soften her heart. Also please remember to keep praying for Arwen. I have no real update on her..... other than just that I am really concerned about her salvation.
In my last letter I asked you to pray for Julia's decision of whether or not to finish up this term at SYME. Well, she decided to stay! I am happy about that. I understand that she is really busy, but I also think it is really good for her to be here and continue to learn (but what I think isn't always right, so that's why I asked you to pray for her to make the right decision!). She is doing well here, and I have seen her english ability improve so much since the beginning of this term! She still wants to come home with me, but we are still working out plane tickets and details, so I am not sure what will happen with all of that. You can pray that we won't be stressed out about the situation, but that God's will will be done in it.
In the last letter I also asked you to pray about my classes that were changing. Thank you for your prayers on that. The changes went smoothly. I am really enjoying pronunciation class, and so are the students. They like to find out the correct way of saying certain words. We've been working on making the proper /L/ sound and /R/ sound. The Korean language doesn't really have an /L/ sound or an /R/ sound, instead, they have one sound that is almost a combination of the two sounds (a sound that I can't really make very well). So /L/ and /R/ are hard sounds for Koreans, but the students are doing really well. They want to learn how to say things correctly, so they keep trying and trying. They are fun to teach! My other classes have been going well too. I have really been enjoying Bible Study class. When I prepare for that class I try to find applications for the students so it won't just be head-knowledge. They get involved with the discussion time in class and they are open to sharing, it is great.
I will be meeting with a girl (her name is Lisa) from my family group multiple times this week to try to help her with her english so that she can get a high enough score on a certain test that she needs to take before she can go to the Bible Institute. She really wants to go this fall. Her english is already pretty good. I think that she is ready to go to the BI, but she needs a high enough score to be allowed to go. Please pray for her this next two weeks. Please pray that she is able to do her best on this test and really show what she knows. Please pray that if it is God's will for her to go to WOLBI this fall, that she will get a high enough score. Please pray that she will be content with whatever God has for her future.
Last weekend (Easter weekend) I went to Soo's house (not her apartment in Seoul, but her house, where her parents live). It is pretty far from here, about 5 or 6 hours away. It is by the ocean. Their town is called Busan. It was a long trip, but it was worth it. We had a great weekend. Soo and I went shopping, and she took me to see the ocean. I got to meet her parents. Her mom doesn't speak english, so I wasn't able to communicate with her a whole lot, but she is really sweet. This weekend I saw Soo again, I went to her apartment in Seoul. We arranged to meet up with another friend from Word of Life, So Hee. It was good to see So Hee again. The three of us spent the afternoon together on Saturday. We had a good time. Soo and I went to a good english-speaking church this morning, and then I came back to SYME.
It is now Sunday afternoon, and I am exhausted (traveling back here from Seoul takes about 2 hours by subway, and I think that subways really wipe me out for some reason). I am leaving again soon, to go on a sort-of camping trip with the other teachers and staff. We will be gone only for one night. It should be relaxing, and I've heard that there's nature there where we're going (nature is sometimes hard to come by in Korea!). I still have a lot of work to do too though, so pray that I have a balance of relaxing and working.
Tomorrow night my dorm-members and I are having dinner together at a staff person's house. That should be a good time of fellowship. I am still greatly enjoying bonding with the girls in my dorm. They are really great. They have different personalities and I am trying to get to know each one of them as individuals.
Please also continue to pray for me with my schoolwork. I am always so busy that sometimes it's hard to get my own school done. My classes only have about three weeks left, and I want to finish them strong. I have a final project due for each of them in about a week. Please also pray though, that I won't neglect teaching or discipling the students because of my schoolwork. Again, I need to have a balance.
Please pray that I finish strong here at SYME. I leave for home in two weeks. I am anxious to have my feet back on American soil again. But I don't want to overlook any ministry opportunities that I still have here in Korea before I leave. Please pray that I keep my priorities straight and remember that I am here to serve God!
Well, this update letter is a little shorter than usual, but I wanted to get one out to you. My brain is mushy, so it is hard to think clearly about what to write. Thank you so much for praying!! Please also continue to pray for my financial support to come in. Thank you all for what you have given, and thank you for your prayer support. I really appreciate all of you!
God bless,
Love in Christ,
~Jessica Lariviere =)
SMILE! God Loves You! | | |
| 4-1-07
Dear friends,
Again, I want to thank you for your prayers and support. I couldn't be doing this ministry without them (the prayers and the support)! Things are very busy here. But also very good. A couple weeks ago a student gave her testimony in a chapel time.... she had just gotten saved earlier that week! She had found out that her "chapel job" that week was to give her testimony, so she sat down to write it out.... and she realized that she didn't have a testimony! She ended up receiving Jesus as her Savior that night! It was amazing listening to her testimony (in both English and Korean). Her name is Elise. Please also continue to pray for the other unsaved students: Steven, Julian, Daniel, Arwen, Philip, Tom, King, and Shea. Most of them know the Bible and/or grew up in Christian homes, but have never accepted Jesus' gift to them. Arwen and I have been spending some time together and she seems like she is really close to becoming a Christian. She needs your prayers. Shea is in my Bible study class, she seems hung up on the virgin birth, she said she doesn't know how to believe that. I told her that God can do anything, but we didn't really get a chance to talk much about it.
The students, I think, are starting to get tired. In general, they are very good students, they want to learn, and they study A LOT! But recently, they have been getting sick, or not sleeping enough at night, and it seems to me like they are having a harder time paying attention in their classes (not all of the students, but some of them). So, it would be great if you could pray that they will have good health so they can feel their best and really learn. Pray that they will continue to try their hardest and not give up. Pray that I, and the other teachers, will have patience and wisdom to know the best way to present the material to the students.
I have been making friendships with the various students. I love getting to know them and spending time hanging out with them. I've been meeting with a girl one-on-one about once a week to talk and get to know each other, and to improve her English (and my Korean!) conversation skills. She is a really sweet girl. Her name is Julia. She is struggling with learning English, but I have definitely seen improvement since the first week of this term. She also is very busy. On Saturdays and Sundays she goes home and works all day at her church. I think she teaches some children's Bible classes and leads the singing. Since she is so busy and since she is struggling with English, she is trying to decide this weekend whether or not to finish the term. So she might not come back after this weekend. This saddens me, as I hate to see her go, but I don't want her to wear herself out either. She said that she will come back here to SYME again, it just might not be until September. So, she needs prayers, especially this weekend, that she will make the best decision. She also might come home with me the end of April, so she needs prayer to decide if now is the best time to do a trip to America or if she should wait until she knows more english. I went with Julia to her parents' resturant this past Friday night. It was very nice! Her family is very nice too. Her parents were both there, and her younger sister is a waitress there. They are a very sweet family, and I got to practice my Korean! It is a traditional Korean resteraunt. We sat on the floor at a very short table. The tables have a frying thing in the middle to cook your meat right there in front of you. We had so much good food! Lots of Korean vegetables (including kimchi, of course!), many different kinds of meat, including sum gip sa, which looks kind of like bacon, but has a different taste (it's good!), and Korean soup and juice. Julia's sister kept bringing more food. It was a good time.
I had been to a very similar resteraunt a couple weeks ago, that is owned by the parents of another one of my friends. This friend (her name is Shinae) was my roommate at the BI for a quarter back inthe spring of 2004. I hadn't seen her since that year until a few weeks ago. It was really good to spend time with her and go out to eat with her. We had a great time catching up on what's been going on with each other over the past few years. We talked about another girl who was our other roommate back in '04 who is married now, and that I am engaged and Shinae is too! Maybe it's contagious. =)
We had a foosball tournament at SYME on Wednesday. It was a great time! Almost all of the students played, and a few of the teachers played, including me. They were so into it! I've never seen that much excitement over a foosball tournament before. They had snacks and they were screaming and cheering. They had a video camera hanging over the foosball table, projecting the game onto the big screen so we could all see what was going on. The students were nervous and excited before it was their turn to play. I never knew that it was such a big deal! Oh, but they had so much fun with it! My partner and I won our first game by a lot, but we lost our second game. They are such good sports though. They made a big deal out of it, but at the same time they were all still really friendly with each other and just having a lot of fun. That was also a good time to get to know the students better.
Last weekend, on Saturday, a group of teachers and students went to Seoul together. We went to a touristy street that had many vendors outside selling Korean things. I had gone to this same place with Soo my first weekend here. It was fun to spend the day with the students, getting to know them better. They had fun showing off the Korean cultural things to us. They bought us Korean snacks and "made" us try them. On the way back from Seoul I got to talk to a student for quite a while whom I normally don't get a chance to talk to very much. She is a new student and is kind of shy, so I think it was good for her to talk to an American outside of the classroom. I enjoyed learning about her interests and her family.
Last Sunday, in the evening, a group of the younger female teachers got together at a staff member's apartment. We had dinner together and played a game. The game is called "Apples to Apples." It is a fun game. We had a great time discussing our ministry and hanging out together.
This week, on Tuesday, two of my classes are changing. My reading class is moving on to a pronunciation class, and my conversation class is moving up to the next level. I have not gotten my notes for these new classes yet. We don't have classes on Monday, so I will have tomorrow to get ready for Tuesday and the rest of the week. Just pray that I am able to get my new notes early in the day tomorrow and have enough time to prepare for Tuesday's classes. I am excited about the pronunciation class, it should be good and interesting. I just hope that I can pronounce everything correctly! :op
As far as my own classes (from CCV) are concerned, they are going mostly well, I just am feeling the weight of having to do them on top of the ministry. Pray that I have enough time and don't neglect my schoolwork. My digital image class is very busy and my math class is starting to get harder. But I know that God can (and will) help me if I work hard at it! If you remember from my last letter, I have been unable to get on the internet in my dorm (except for during the first week that I was here). Well, this past week, I believe it was on Monday, I was able to connect back to the internet right in my room. Please pray that I don't take this for granted, and that I will continue to be able to get online in my room.
Another prayer request is for my support. I still need a lot more. God is showing me that He is in control, however, and I don't need to worry. A few days ago, I was in my room where I stay at night and I was cleaning up a little. I accidentally dropped a coin on the floor. It rolled underneath my big dresser. At first I looked and reached underneath, but couldn't find the coin. This coin is not worth much, it is worth the about the same as an American dime. I wasn't too concerned, but I figured, "Well, the dresser probably isn't that heavy, I can get it back." So I pulled the dresser away from the wall. It didn't take me long to find my coin, but I found something else too. A twenty dollar bill! I think God worked that out to tell me, "See? I am God. I know what I am doing, and I can and will provide for you even when you don't expect it. Don't Worry." So I am putting that money towards my support and am trusting God. =) I'm so happy that He is in control of EVERYTHING! =)
Today is Palm Sunday. We had a good service at church. The sermon was different though. The man who was speaking said that he wanted it to be different because today is also April Fool's day! It is good to be able to go to an english-speaking church and fellowship together with other people.
Well, that is about all for now I think. I'm sure there is more to tell you, but at the moment I can't think of it. Thank you SO MUCH for all of your prayers! They are so needed! Don't stop praying! =)
In case I don't get a chance to update again before next Sunday, have a Happy Easter! and remember to praise God, because He is risen!! =)
I have included a few pictures from Korea for you to see. Go to my photoblog to view them. I also have included a support slip (in my photoblog) for if The Lord lays on your heart to support financially. One is a picture of Shinae and I at her family's resteraunt (traditional Korean!), one is of the female teachers' "game night" last sunday night, and the other is of the foosball tournament: I had fun playing!
~Jessica Lariviere =)
SMILE! God Loves You! | | |
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