Spring has Sprung!
First of all, I want to apologize for not keeping this updated. I have a blog that I update on a more regular basis at
www.xanga.com/daughteroftheking777. I want to keep updating this site for all my friends and family to read about what is going on in my life as I travel around the country.
Things have been nothing short of crazy over the past few months. I spent 3 lovely weeks at home during the holidays. I headed back to Texas for the first few weeks of 2007. We spent countless hours in rehearsals. It was so good to get back to doing what I love, acting. I don't think I've felt more alive then I do when I am onstage. I am actually considering pursuing acting as a hobby/career after this year. I'm excited to see what comes from it.
We had our first event of the spring tour in Houston, TX last weekend. It was a different event, for several reasons. Rather than being in an arena, we were actually in a church. Not to mention we hadn't actually put on an event for over a month. It was good to get back into the "swing of things." God moved greatly during the event. Lives were changed. It was a good event to start the spring tour with.
Due to scheduling we actually have 2 weekends off in a row. I was blessed to be able to take a few days to come home to Florida. Not many people knew I was coming, so I surprised quite a few of my friends and family members. I love surprising people. I spent most of the day yesterday traveling. I love traveling. I took some time yesterday to just observe people. It was quite entertaining, not to mention I learned quite a bit. From the seemingly carefree old man in the seat next to me to the couple who fought as much as they cuddled I was captivated by people simply living their lives unaware they were being watched. I loved it.
Anyway, I will be at home until next Saturday. I look forward to good times with great friends, laughter and encouragement.
Until Next time...
Home for the Holidays!
Hello Friends and Family!
It has been a long fall season! I am now at home for Christmas. The last two events of the fall tour went quite well. After a refreshing Thanksgiving with my Aunt and her family in Chandler, Arizona I met up with my team for our next event in Phoenix. The weekend was such a whirlwind. We normally load-in all of our equipment on Thursday and use Friday as our rehursal & repair day. Due to scheduling we had to load-in on Friday. It was a bit on the stressful side, seeing as we had 2 weeks off, but overall it went well. I was nervous getting up to perform without having any rehearsal time, but it was a great performance.
I have to say that I think I met some of the most amazing youth pastors that weekend. Every weekend I get to help sell resources during the Youth Pastor break out and I ended up having some of the most fruitful conversations with youth pastors who are desperate to see God move among their teens. It was quite refreshing! From Phoenix we headed to Pahrump, NV (a small town near Las Vegas) to spend a few days with the family of one of my team members. I had a great time. Don't worry, I didn't spend too much money on the slot machines! Just Kidding...
From Pahrump we headed to Orange County, CA where we met up with the blue team. Both teams were there for the last event of the fall. We like to go out with a bang. Our last event was broadcast live across the world on GodTV. They tripled the amount of cameras and lights that we had. Not only were they broadcasting live, but they were also taping for the event DVD. Along with that we had quite the plethora of media there including CNN & Dateline. No Pressure, right? haha. The event itself went great. We had a few problems arise within our team that are currently being dealt with. It is going to be hard for everyone to adjust to some of the changes that are happening, but we know it is for the best. Please continue to keep my team and I in your prayers.
I have another couple of weeks at home before I head back to Texas for a few weeks and then I go back out onto the road for 5 more months! Please leave me comments and let me know how I can pray for you.
Until Next Time...
Bomb Threats and Turkey
Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving with family, friends and lots of food. I wanted to give you all a little update on what has been going on in the past few weeks.
This past weekend we held an event at the Tingley Colliseum in Albuquerque, NM. Although it was a bit colder than expected, the weekend started out just fine. Friday night was amazing. The drama went well, the speakers were wonderful and we even brought in a hispanic band called Rojo to end the night (most of our attendees were hispanic, so th
ey loved it, as you can tell in the picture). As we headed into Saturday quite a few members of our team began to feel this overwhelming need for prayer. Of course, we should always be praying but this felt different. Things were running smoothly as we headed into the afternoon session of concerts and youth pastor training. In the middle of the session we were told we needed to evacuate the entire colliseum. Local police were made aware of suspicious packages in the parking lot of the venue. Upon further investigation we found out that there was a pipe bomb and a container of cobalt-57. Apparently when they took radiation readings it gave off some signals of radiation, which triggered the evacutation. We were evacuated from the colliseum itself and then from the state fairgrounds that it was on. We were taken across the street where we were bussed to a local community center. Nearly 5 hours later we were given the ok to go back it. Since it was already so late we just began to pack up our things to leave. I believe this was an intense spiritual attack. Acquire the Fire hadn't been to Albuquerque in over 9 years. All in all everyone ended up safe, which is something to be thankful for.
This weekend we have off due to the holiday, but we jump right back into the swing of things next weekend with an event in Glendale, AZ. I'm actually staying in Phoenix, AZ with my Aunt and her family. Thanksgiving was wonderful. I was able to see my 7 year old cousin perform in her first parade and we went out for thanksgiving dinner (which means all the good food, no preperation and no clean-up!) It was hard to be away from the craziness of the Feldman Family thanksgiving, but I am anticipating that Christmas will make up for it! Only 19 days until I arrive home. I look forward to seeing all of your beautiful faces this Christmas.
Until Next Time...
ps- If you go to
www.acquirethefire.com and watch the video that plays automatically you can catch a glimpse of me onstage as Victoria. Enjoy!
St. Charles, MO
This past weekend I was in St. Charles, MO. I had such an amazing time! Overall, the event went quite smoothly. I have been learning more each weekend about how to make the event more successful for everyone. It is such a privilige to be learning professional business skills right alongside ministry skills.
This weekend while working at the Youth Pastor Breakout Session I saw a girl with a shirt on that was from my hometown area. Of course, I had to stop her to ask her about it. It turns out that she is originally from South Tampa and was a part of one of the local Christian communities that I was a part of. It was totally a divine appointment! As it turns out she has really been wanting to go on missions as well as come to the Honor Academy, but she was really discouraged about not having support from people around her and she was also worried about the money. I was able to encourage her and speak truth into her life. Isn't God's timing perfect?
Our team is currently in Warsaw, MO (the hometown of one of the girls on the team). We were able to put on a service at her church tonight and God moved mightly. I was scheduled to give my testimony as a part of the service. I had been praying about what the Lord wanted me to share. I was going to share my general "i've grown up in a Christian home" testimony, but God asked me to go deeper. I was reluctant. I ended up sharing about my struggle with suicidal thoughts. At the end of the service a young girl came up to me in tears and asked me to pray for her because her best friend's sister was struggling with the same thing. She asked for my advice on how to talk with her. It was just so wonderful to see the fruit of my obedience. It goes to show that even though you might not exactly understand why God wants you to do something, it's best to just do it.
Well, we are going to be doing a youth service this coming Wednesday night in New Mexico and then our next ATF is in Albuquerque, NM. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do there.
Until next time...
Cleveland, OH
Hello Friends and Family!
I know what most of you are thinking... what happend to Courtney? We never hear from her anymore... Well, you're right. For nearly 2 months now I have been touring North America with Acquire the Fire Ministries. I live on a Coach Bus with 37 other young people. Leisure time is hard to find on the road, so I find it hard to keep in contact with everyone. Rather than send out mass emails or support letters I thought that it would be more interesting and convienient to keep a blog of my life on the road for my faithful supporters to read. I hope this helps me to keep in touch with all of you.
This past weekend we had an ATF in Cleveland, OH. Being from Florida I havn't really adapted to the cold weather that well. Just this past Thursday during a late night drama rehearsal it began to snow for the first time this year. It was the first time in my life that I have ever seen snow fall (i've seen snow twice before, but it was already on the ground). I quickly jumped on the oppurtunity to go out and play in it. Before I knew it my socks and shoes were soaked and my hands were nearly frozen but I had such an amazing time!
The event itself was actually the first event that we have done on our own. The first five events were done with the blue ministry team. I was excited to get back to my normal job. We had over 4000 young people in attendence this weekend at the Wolstein Center. Despite a few audio glitches (which have become quite normal really) this weekend went amazing.
At the end of every event I get the oppurtunity to speak with some of the young people that attended the event. This weekend I spoke with this group of amazing young women. I asked each of them what they learned throughout the weekend. I challenged them to make a list of practical things they could do so that they would not lose what they learned. I encouraged them to hold each other accountable to actually doing those things. I prayed with them before they left. The girl on the far left, Anna, told me that before this weekend she was far from God. She said that this weekend she realized how easy it was to come back to God after drifting so far away. It is because of people like these precious girls that I do what I do. Please keep Anna and the rest of her friends in your prayers.
I will be hanging out in Cleveland, OH until this Wednesday. We will then be heading to St. Charles, MO for our next event. Hopefully there will be more snow there :)
Until Next time...
