CURRENT MISSION

My mission is to love the Lord with all my heart, my mind, and my soul and to love others as myself. I enjoy meeting new people, sharing stories and laughs, having a good meal and gaining wisdom and perspective.

ABOUT
I work full time as a patient coordinator for an independent plastic surgeon. I enjoy working in the medical field because I learn a lot and it's rewarding to help my patients. We remove skin cancer, repair dog bites and lacerations, see work comp patients and do tummy tucks and breast augmentations. I get to meet old and young people, wealthy and underprivileged people, thankful and hurting people. I love working one on one with people because I am an empathetic person and I believe you can learn something from everyone you meet. I am involved with the Junior League of Springfield, which a women's volunteer organization that trains women how to be on boards and to be leaders in serving the community. Our League's focus is preventing child abuse and neglect. I am on the homeless youth committee this year and have learned a lot about poverty in our community and how many great organizations there are that serve the population. We are hoping to raise funds for the Rare Breed, which is our homeless youth outreach center.

I love to meet new people and learn about their cultures and worldview. I feel like our milennial generation has been stereotyped as lazy, self serving, arrogant, spoiled and rude. I don't have that attitude and I believe in giving people a chance to show their heart and character. In doing that, I have built a great network of connections and have a wonderful close group of friends.

I am a born again Christian. After much denial, falling away from church and becoming agnostic and extremely serious and jaded, I began searching for answers through gnosticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism the mythology of Native Americans, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Celts and science, I finally found Jesus. I accept Jesus as my personal Lord and savior and it has impacted all apsects of my life. I am intensely curious about other people's faith walks and I am open and willing to listen to any perspective. I know where I stand and it has brought much blessing, peace, joy, giftings and friendships into my life. I am not perfect and never will be. I'm not better than anyone else. I know my value in Christ and I always seek to honor others in my speech and actions.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm not where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. Stop looking at the person right beside and focus on what's right in front of you. Comparison will rob your joy. If you want to find yourself, you have to lose yourself. If you want to be strong, you have to let yourself LET GO and be weak. If you spend all your time thinking about yesterday or tomorrow, you can give fully of yourself today. Today is the only day we have. Today is the greatest day. It's only gonna get worse before it gets better, so why not have a good attitude and do your best where you're at now? Then you'll have the skills and the strength to do what you're destined to do tomorrow.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN Couchsurfing :
I am interested in surfing. Where I live now I would be willing to host. I live in the country 30 miles from Springfield so you would need a car because there's no public transportation.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My first couchsurfing I stayed with my friend Liz in Glasgow, Scotland for 3 days with some students. It was an amazing experience. At our hosts house we talked about accents, school, music, culture (cowboy style line dancing vs Scottish dancing), and theater. We went to a stand up comedy club, which was a first for me and my hosts were funnier than the comedians. I would have never learned any of these things, or made new friends, just by walking around with my friend or doing guided tours. I feel I have lifelong friends in Scotland now and I gained such warm feelings towards Glasgow even when I had to wear 5 layers of clothing! I can't see having a better travel experience than what you gain through surfing.

I've also surfed in Valencia and Madrid, Spain. Bremen and Hamburg, Germany. Marrakech, Morocco. Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Interests

Hiking, Camping, Swimming, Listening to new music, Dancing, Relaxing outdoors, Reading, Seeing Animals, Discussing current events, Making new friends

• animals
• culture
• dancing
• walking
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• swimming
• business
• economics
• tours
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

American Beauty, American History X, V for Vendetta, East of Eden, Dalva,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Went down a shoddy rope ladder into a beach cave in Puerto Rico where the native indios etched pictures on the walls.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love singing harmony. I enjoy hiking and know several rivers and trails to visit in the area. I am learning to play keyboard and speak German. I like painting, drawing nature and animals, and writing. I have really vivid dreams and I keep a dream diary.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love cooking, I enjoy all music, I am pretty good at reading maps and using public transportation. I am willing to bring food to share!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Slovenia, United States