livin life

My heart hurts for one of my newfound friends right now!
The first night I was in the valley, I wasn't sleepy, so my roommate and I sat outside talking on the steps. Before I knew it two people who live nearby came up to me and introduced themselves, one was Ephraim(or E as he likes to be called)from Merced, CA and Bridget from Florida who I hung out with today and she is really nice. They had just met me but already were asking me to hang out with them. We decided to go to the meadow, where a bunch of hippies sit under the stars and play guitars and stuff on this little boardwalk that runs through the meadow. We never made it there, but I hung out with them for a couple of hours.
I really liked "E"; he was really nice and seemed really intrigued with my name, (actually a lot of people are... I guess they think a girl who is working in Cali whose name is Callie is funny...). Today I found out that he lost his job, and I"m so sad that he is leaving the valley. He was really nice and one of the first friends that I made here. HOpefully he can come back and visit.
That's just one picture of how real people are here. Even though my employee housing area is known as "party central" of the valley, and people are usually intoxicated along with various other things... they are real. They aren't just drunks or hippies or druggies... real people with real problems who I have come to love really fast. I laid in my bed last night thanking God of letting me make friends so fast. Now, a note to those who may be concerned that I am living in "party central": The only problem with living here is that it is loud at night. Its perfectly easy to avoid drugs and alcohol. Even if people offer them to you, they don't care if you refuse and most of them don't even ask why. They just let you be you and go on with thier lives. I like that a lot. So... I'm safe and I don't feel threatened at all... except when people steal my food in the kitchen, haha:)

So I've been chewing on this Jesus phrase for a while. "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." What does this mean? I guess I can gather the surface meaning...God desires us to love him and love other people rather than doing things for him...I mean "works" is part of the equation, but love and mercy is much more. I think this mercy comes first and then the heart of the person is prepared to do works in a loving way... does that make sense? but I think it means more than that. This phrase has been coming up a lot lately. its found in Hosea 6:6 and also in Matt 12... along with various other places in the NT. I've been asking God to teach me the real meaning of mercy and the meaning of this phrase. And I'm sure he will as I seek him out in this beautiful place.

Yesterday a group of friends and I hiked up to Vernal falls(which means springtime in Latin). Its the lower brother to Nevada Falls which is about fourty five minutes more of a hike than vernal. Vernal is a two mile hike, which sounds easy... but you can try hiking two miles uphill.. its no picnic. I was doing good for awhile until we hit the .5 mile trail of stairs... that was tough and I didn't think I would make it... but we got to the top and it was really beautiful. As soon as I learn how to post pictures on here, I will. bye for now!