I’ve spent over five months in the Southwest and it’s been a great experience, but it can feel boring at times, especially when you look around and all you see is flat land and knee-high brush plants. I miss trees! However, all it takes is a couple of hours drive and you can get a greater appreciation of the diversity in this part of the country. The three photos above are from a drive I took to Las Cruces to visit a friend and to go to church in person for the first time in a long while. The first picture is from the high-altitude mountain passage in Cloudcroft, NM. The second photo is from a quick stop at White Sand National Park where you can see beautiful white sand for miles and miles! The last photo is of the jagged Organ Mountains that overlook Las Cruces. Las Cruces as it turns out is actually quite a nice city with a big university and lots of nice shopping and things to do. I didn’t think that existed in New Mexico besides Albuquerque or Santa Fe!
Some classmates and I took a weekend trip to check out Carlsbad Caverns National Park! We did the hike down into the caverns and it was pretty awesome to roam around down there and see how massive these caverns really are! Reading about the history of the discovery was interesting as well. Some rancher’s teenage son discovered the entrance while riding his house looking for stray cattle. He ended up doing most of the discovery of the caverns himself.
One of my most recent trips was out to Amarillo, TX to visit my old high school friends Hans and Orie. Hans was called to be a pastor in Amarillo. It’s a special call because there isn’t currently a church there. I showed up for an evangelism weekend and I got paired up with Orie, Han’s brother, and we walked the neighbor spreading the word about Jesus’s love for us and about the new church they are starting. Hopefully, our effort will reach people’s hearts and that congregation can grow! There was a group of college students spending their spring break helping do the outreach as well so that was super fun to work with them. I’m starting to sound old myself saying this, but it is so refreshing to see so many young people at church! We had a lot of downtime to explore and eat out at some good restaurants. I had some great tacos and I had an awesome time exploring Palo Duro State Park with Hans and Orie! It is actually the second largest Canyon in the US behind the obvious Grand Canyon.
Time is flying and I only have two weeks left in New Mexico! After finishing training here I’ll be moving to Arizona to around the Phoenix area! While here I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made and for all the opportunities and good times visiting friends and seeing the Southwest!