pure beauty.

The beauty of a sunset...

California here we are!

Wow... three months has passed and tour is now complete.  We have travelled many states and are now back where we started in California.  We finished our last screenings in New Mexico.. then made the journey back through NM, Arizona, and finally reached California last night.  Our first stop in this state was, of course, In-N-Out.  Mmmm!  We stopped in LA to see the SoCal team as well!  So fun getting to reunite with friends after a few months have gone by.  We are not allowed to go back to San Diego until Wed night, so until then, we have the rough life of a vacation in Newport Beach, CA.  Honestly, this has been a blessing of relaxation for us so far.  We met up with some contacts here and are literally staying on a house next to the ocean.  Today we got to enjoy the 90 degree weather outside all day, and then we just got back from a bike ride down the Boardwalk.  We are going to go watch the sunset, eat some dinner, and do a little more relaxing.  Rough life.  

It is crazy that tour is over.. definitely have mixed emotions about it.  I am stoked to see the rest of the roadies when we return later this week!  And not so stoked to be going separate ways 10 days later.  But in that time, we will be having 10 days of debriefing... a pretty packed schedule, but it should be good.  I will continue to keep you updated...

<3

Long drives

Soo... we made the day journey from eastern texas to western texas.  Let me fill you in on this secret incase you have never been to this great state.  Eastern Texas=fun, cities, etc.  Western Texas=open land of nothingness, tumbleweeds, etc.  So I drove the 9 hours across the state and didn't find much along the way.  But we made it to El Paso!  It is a border city with Mexico and you literally drive on the interstate here and Mexico is directly on one side, while America is on the other.  In the US, you see large buildings, nice cars, the university, etc.  On the Mexico side you see small shack houses, dirt roads, etc.  It breaks my heart that this one little border separates two completely different worlds of living.  

Today we are leaving Texas and making the short hour drive to New Mexico where we will be staying the next 3 days.  We have our 2 IC screenings there and will be finished with tour later this week.  It is astonishing that tour is almost over!  I look back and wonder where the last three months have gone.  So fast, but so fun.  At the end of the week we will begin our venture back to California...

<3

Shots... oh the joy.

Jared and I had to make the fun trip to the travel clinic so we could get our vaccinations before we head to Africa.  This was not something we were looking forward to, but it ended up coming just fine.  Except for the hefty bill that is.  But anyway, I thought I'd take a picture of all of our shots before we got them.  Jared had 6, and I had 5.  The lady did them in under a minute and 30 seconds for each of us... I was impressed.  Oh the price we pay to keep ourselves from getting sick.  The countdown is on: 3 weeks and we'll be flying to Africa!

Austin friends

Before we left Austin, some wonderful friends drove a couple of hours to come and visit us for the night.  It was an incredible time hanging out with them before they had to head back north for their classes in the morning.  I miss them again already!  

Uganda!

So friends, I have received the final word that I will be traveling to Uganda, Africa with Invisible Children in less than a month!  I will be with a group of 12 or so other roadies, and we will leave from San Diego on May 12th.  It is a two week trip where we will get to experience the culture, meet so many of the people who are the reason that we do what we do, see our programs, and serve in any way that we can (through building schools, loving on the kids, helping in the IDP camps, etc).  

I am so thankful to everyone who has been so supportive of all that I am doing.  Thank you to each of you.  If you are one to pray, I ask for your prayers at this time.  I know everything will come together and my eyes are going to be fully opened while I am there.  

As with all travels, there is a price to pay to get over to Africa.  Since I have been volunteering the past few months, I am currently without an income.  I have some of the money needed, but not nearly all of it quite yet.  So, if you feel led to give a financial gift.. know that it is very much a blessing to me.  

Any financial donations can be sent to me at my parent's address (since I am on the road):

Amy Barr

106 Knollwood Drive

Council Bluffs, IA 51503

Thank you so, so much for all you have done.  I will definitely share with you more details as I know them.  Stay tuned.

<3

"We are called to be warriors of light in dark places."

The Barbarian Way

"Barbarians never exist simply to survive.  Barbarians never just get through the day.  Barbarians wake to live and live life fully awake.  To be filled with the Spirit of God is to be filled with dreams and visions that are too compelling to ignore."  

love.

reading and thinking..

"The most civilized churches have really no practical concern for people outside their congregations.  The brokenness of a lost and unbelieving world is not enough to inspire the painful changes necessary to make the church relevant to the world in which we live."

-Erwin McManus (The Barbarian Way)

We are called to be warriors of light in dark places.

New Orleans

We ventured to New Orleans our last few days in Louisiana to do a couple of university screenings.  This was the first time I had been to NO.  I had so many mixed emotions while I was there that I really didn't know how to feel.  It was honestly heartbreaking.  I had seen pictures and knew of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, however, to see it personally and to know that it has been nearly 3 years and still is still so much to be done was very hard.   This is a city with now 12,000 people who are homeless.  There is only 1 homeless shelter in the city that has 200 beds and they charge $8/night. 

We stayed in the 9th Ward which is the neighborhood which was hurt the most by the hurricane.  We were in the upper 9th, which was not as bad as the lower 9th.  But still, we were surrounded by abandoned houses or people who were living in houses that others would never imagine living in because they were falling apart.  

Aside from all of this, New Orleans has a culture about it!  It was incredible to experience the hospitality and the truly unique setting that it brings.  The people, the music, the food.. its just New Orleans.  We were able to go to a real crawfish boil - in which I tried crawfish for the first time (and enjoyed it!).  If you have never been to one of these - they literally boil hundreds of crawfish and the pour them all out on a picnic table.  You go through a process and finally get to eat them (very little meat for the work it takes to open them).  But so fun!  

I had a lot of good conversations while in Louisiana and was challenged to truly think deeply about why I am doing what I am doing.  About the passions that I have.  And so much more.  As with other cities, the places in Louisiana were just as hard to leave, but now we are back to Texas and making the most of our last two weeks of tour!  

<3

Louisiana

The swamplands of Louisiana!

After being in the state of Texas for over 2 months, we made it to another state yesterday - Louisiana!  It is my first time in LA, and it's fun to be here.  Besides the screenings that we've done, we've also gotten out a bit to go hiking in a state park, see the capital in Baton Rouge, and even eat crawfish!  The weather here is hot and humid, but beautiful.  And the people are so incredibly hospitable!  For instance, we ended up with no place to stay tonight and tomorrow night.. but there was a guy yesterday who opened his home up to us last minute.  Others have shown us a little bit of the LA cooking.  We leave Baton Rouge and head to New Orleans on Sunday.  Another place I am excited to visit!  We are down to about 3 weeks of tour left, and it continues to fly by.  As for now, I am enjoying Louisiana before I head back to Texas next weekend to finish out tour.  More to come soon..