Jordan Rippy

Happy Halloween from all of us here at jordanrippy.com! I’m looking forward to my first Halloween living in a house. Why? Because this is the first year that I’ll experience being on the other side of trick or treating. My current plan is to get a really scary mask and let Kristin answer the door and start passing out candy while I sneak up the side yard, behind the kids, and then scream. It will be fun to see them run away in sheer terror. I may even chase them for a couple of blocks, just to add that extra sense of Halloween terror. I was going to take some pictures of the whole ordeal for the blog, but I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who takes pictures of all the neighborhood kids when they come trick or treating. In honor of Halloween, here’s a list of the top 13 scariest movies of all time:

1. The Shining (1980)
2. The Exorcist (1973)
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
4. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
5. Jaws (1975)
6. Halloween (1978)
7. Psycho (1960)
8. Seven (1995)
9. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
   
10. Poltergeist (1982)
11. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
12. The Thing (1982)
13. The Evil Dead (1982)

You can check out the rest of the list here. Every Halloween weekend, Chris and I go see the latest installment of “Saw”. What are your favorite scary movies or Halloween traditions?

The countdown starts today. Ten more school days until graduation. I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and there’s only five more weeks left in the semester, so ten more days an I’ll be free….I can’t wait.

Why do internet sites continue to use these scrambled, crazy, whimsical letter/number combinations for security purposes? Why does the ability to change my password have to rely on my ability to decode letters that belong in a Dr. Seuss book? This one isn’t particularly difficult, but I’ve encountered some that are harder to see than those magic eye posters that were big in the 90’s. I have literally never “seen” one of those.

I’m graduating from Southeastern in less than two months. During my nearly four years in Lakeland, these are the places that I’ve found to be the most unique and/or enjoyable. Tell me what I’ve missed.

1. Palace Pizza - Absolutely the best pizza around. It’s because they use Grande cheese. It’s run by an Italian family who moved from Italy to New Jersey to start an authentic pizza joint. Somewhere along the line they ended up on the corner of Main and Kentucky here in Lakeland.
2. Subs N’ Such - A small sub place on Florida Ave. This place has been in the same location since the 70’s. The owner is there every day and treats every customer like they’re his favorite regular. This guys really knows how to do business and he is ridiculously passionate about subs.
3. Silver Moon Drive In - A great throw back. There’s nothing like watching a horror flick in the comfort of your own car. It’s located somewhere off 92. Google it.
4. Orange Bowl - A great bowling ally. They have really good cosmic bowling, and the best bumpers in town. The bumpers are computerized so they raise and lower depending on whose turn it is.
5. Lime St. Park - This is the best park in Lakeland. You should go really late at night. Why? You just should.
6. Jimbo’s BBQ - This place has been serving amazing B-B-Q since 19**. There’s a bowl of fantastic homemade pickles at every table, and if you’re a huspuppie person, you definitely have tot check this place out.
7. Lake Hollingsworth - I’m not a big walker, but Hollingsworth is really nice.
8. $2 Theater - They play movies that have just left the theater in a “Mugs n’ Movies” format…Round tables, food, and drinks during the movie.
9. S&L - An old school diner from the 70’s. They serve amazing burgers (which are huge) for quite the bargain. Make sure you have some greenbacks though, because they’re a no-plastic business. Cash only.
10. Lakleland Motor Speedway - I know, it’s a stretch. My friend Chris and I went and watched a bunch of amateur drag racing when we first moved down her . We were out of our element, but it was fun.

Does anyone have something to add? Restaurants, parks, stores…Anything?

Kristin and I absolutely love going on Book of Hope trips. El Salvador was no exception. We arrived last Friday in San Salvador, El Salvador and then took a two and a half hour bus ride to Chaletanango. Chaletanango is a rural village in the Northeast region of El Salvador. From there, we would take vans to the outskirts of El Salvador, near the border of Honduras. It was amazing to take the Book of hope into these extremely rural villages. The mountainous roads made our morning drives even more interesting. Everyday we encountered herds of cattle blocking the roads.

Overall, we had a great trip. We passed out about 7,000 copies of the Book of Hope. We made a lot of great friends and memories, and we can’t wait until our next Book of Hope trip. Thanks to all of our friends and family who supported us and prayed for us while were gone.

Air travel isn’t what it used to be. Everybody knows it. It starts with the undressing in the metal detector line. Belt, shoes, jacket…Then there was the disappearance of meals. Last year I flew eight hours to Russia (on Delta) and it was miserable. The flight attendants were crabby and inconsiderate, and there was no meal served.

We flew Continental to El Salvador and I was pleasantly surprised by their service. Four out of four of our flights left on time and arrived early. In a season where nearly 80% of all flights are delayed, that’s a huge accomplishment. Not to mention there were meals, and very friendly flight attendants.

I’ll be posting more on our trip, including some pictures, later today.

Today was our last day of ministry in El Salvador. We´ve had a great trip. I got a little sick last night, but I´ve been feeling great today! Top ten things I have enjoyed about El Salvador (In no specific order):

1. The El Salvadorable children
2. 1st missions trip with my wife
3. Pollo Campero (a chicken restaraunt)
4. Swimming and bathing in the Chaletanango River
5. Eating lunch at the Pacific Ocean
6. Doing an impromptu crusade at a carnaval
7. Buying 28 ice cream cones for under $4.00
8. Passing out close to 8,000 copies of the Book of Hope to school children
9. Speaking to ministry worker´s about the importance of using young people in ministry
10. Relationships - Pastor Oscar, Julio, Little Ricky, and Isis    

Another great day! We spent a lot of time traveling to schools. The schools that we visited were on the outskirts of El Salvador. In fact, we were less than a mile from the border of Honduras. This is by far the most rural Book of Hope trip I have been on. The Book of Hope director said that they were having a hard time getting teams to come this far out. It´s great to be in a place that has never heard the gospel.

All of our school presentations went really well. Aaron, Mitch, and I got ice cream for the all of the kids in another park today. We were so high up in the mountains. It was beautiful, but a bit scary at times. I´m thankful that it wasn´t raining today.

Highlight of the day was a local carnival. We were on our way back from the schools when we passed a large carnival. We had some time, so we stopped and got a Coke, and observed for a few minutes. As we were leavign we all started talking about how we should have asked to speak on the main stage. Our driver turned the van around, and we talked to the owner, to see if he would give us a few minutes on the stage. As it turns out, his wife knew who we were from our distributions. She told him to give us some time, so we spent ten minutes doing an impromptu crusade!When we finished the entertainer who we had interrupted got on the mike and said, “That was not a planned part of our program, but when a word from the Lord comes, we have to acknowlege it and allow it. We are blessed that they came today.” Talk about favor!

Tonight we are hosting a showing of The Godman…The Godman is a film version of the Book of Hope that is use sometimes instead of crusades.   

We’re safe in San Salvador, about to head to the village. More to come…

UPDATE - As I said, we made it safely to El Salvador. We had great flights the whole way. We arrived in San Salvador around 11:30am on Friday and then ate a great lunch at Pollo Camparro. Pollo Camparro is a very popular chicken restaurant here in El Salvador. Then we took about a two hour bus ride to Chalatenango, the village where we will be ministering until Wednesday. Kristin and I slept horrible on Friday night, even though we were extremely tired. Our air was either freezing cold…or off. I´m a fan of cold sleeping, but only when I have a blanket. All we had was a tin sheet. 

Saturday we had a great day. The team practiced dramas and school presentations all day while a couple of us spoke at a ministry worker´s sonference. I ended the day with a talk on Mobilizing and Multiplying the Next Generation…Using young people in ministry is obviously something I believe in. It was a long, but productive day. I feel like so much fruit comes from pouring into ministry workers.  Also, we bought a blanket and had an amazing night´s sleep!

Sunday we got to sleep in a bit, worked on our presentations and then went to church. Kristin and I sang in the service, and my dad preached. I love going to church in foreign countries. There´s always such a sincerity and passion for God.

Today (Monday) was our first day in the schools. It went really well. My favorite part was our lunch break, though. We had a two-hour break that we spent in a local park. A ton of kids were playing there and we started playing with them. Then Aaron and I decided to buy all the kids ice cream from a local vendor…Twenty-six ice cream cones for $3.84!!! Then, our interpretor and driver took us to a local river wheer we swam (and bathed).

The food has been good…The pastor´s wife has been cooking for us, and we eat all of our meals at there house. She has cooked things that we like - hamburgers, chicken, pepper steak, pancakes, and cereal. I´m very thankful for that. The only draw back so far are our accommodations. They definitely leave something to be desired. I can deal with poor accommodations, but the worse part is…No hot water. In fact, no cold water either. Only freezing water.  Everyone is doing great though! Keep checking back. I won´t post any picture until we get back because it takes too long. Keep praying for us!     

Because Kristin and I are leaving (way too early) for El Salvador. I may not be blogging for the next week or so, but you can keep us in your prayers. We’ll be ministering in San Salvador and in a small village about two hours outside the city. Here are a few things I’d love for you to remember in prayer:

• Travel
• Favor in the schools
• Good response to evening meetings
• Ministry worker’s conference
• Health
• Team unity