This week went by quick. Not as quick as we all wanted it to, but it went by. There was a continuous feeling of exhaustion that pushed us all to keep going--keeping staying awake until the day was done, and we could go home and sleep and eat.
On Tuesday we had a visitor from the Department of Health. She came really early in the day for the lunch service, so I decided to let her feel a little more welcome than to just sit in the kitchen awkwardly for three hours, and had her make paper mache with the kids. We passed that inspection with flying colors. Joyce was a cool inspector anyway.
On Wednesday, we went to the Astoria pool instead of Camp Deerpark. We brought eight kids, a pile-up of volunteers, and went to the park nearby while most of the kids swam. It was a good time. I didn't get in the pool, but enjoyed the park with the sprinkler that was close to where we sat our things down. Besides Dequisha getting hives from the infamous peaches that come in the free school lunches, it was an uneventful, fun time, ending at the Lemon Ice King, for Italian Ice. After work, I went with Vanessa to get her ear pierced--she got a Rook. It looked really painful.. The piercist had to bend the needle because her ear was so small, and when he pushed the bent part of the needle through, she grabbed my hand. Ouch!
Friday was more of less the worse day of the week. The kids walked to P.S. 20 for a hot lunch, and played at Bowne park. I stayed back at the church because there were parents that always come early, and it's good for someone to be there when we are doing the program. I cleaned up the rooms after crafts and dodgeball, and everyone started coming back, and soon everyone was back, until the doorbell rang, and Vanessa went to see who it was--Gregory, one of the kids in the program. We were all in a bit of a state of shock when he said he was left at the park and walked home by himself. After that came the heavy heavy discussion between leadership about how to tell his dad--the only dad that had been riding us the entire time, and seemed to be wanting more out of what we were doing. When Dan did tell his dad, we knew that Gregory wasn't coming back. The whole issue is really full of tension, so I'm just going to leave it at that.
The rest of the day was fine, but after that stress load we were all frustrated--with the program, and with each other when we left.
The work that we do in this program has two sections: the work that you do, and the work that you are. The work we do is the preparation, the crafts, the food, the clean-up--things we see and do, and the work we are is the attitude which we come in the door with, and the relationships we build with the kids. I think both at equally important.
Friday evening, I was blessed with a sit-down dinner with someone who wasn't affiliated with my work, and I could just talk about it and not worry about offending anyone. We went to the Happy Buddha, and ate vegan entrees and desserts. Judy got the chocolate cake, the soy ice cream, and a smoothie to go for us to share after the wonderful dinner. We took the bus to a Nail place in Bayside, and she bought me a manicure-pedicure, which was completely wonderful and awesome. And so relaxing. Now, my nails are teal, and my toes are neon yellow.
On Saturday, I went to the food pantry for the last time. I hadn't had a chance to go since before the program started, and it was fun, and fine, and I prayed for one of the ladies before I left. Sylvia and her friend Charla came into town--she called me in the afternoon and asked me how I was and what I was doing for the weekend, and at first I said I was fine, but then I said, "Actually, I'm in a foul mood because I miss Zach, and I'm watching Sleepless in Seattle, and I'd love it if you came and visited me," and she did! They came Saturday night, spent the night, set off the alarm while I was in the shower, and scared the crap out of the neighbors. We got a great laugh out of that one. They came to church with me in the morning. I went to the Perri's for dinner Saturday night, and Hannah made a Tofu "Cheese"cake, with chocolate, rum, and cinnamin. It was good.
On Sunday, I shared about my time in New York and what I had learned--what challenged me, and also shared a song. I was going to play one of my newer ones that I had written while I was in New York, but during worship, God nudged me in a different direction, and I played a song Marie and I wrote together--"true love", and said for people to listen to it, as God's love. That went really well. Then there were all these goodbyes. Goodbye is always hard, especially when I don't know when I'm coming back. I had this idea to work at Camp Deerpark, but in all honesty, I don't know where God is leading me, and what kind of a job I'll have. And I very well might spend next summer in Ohio, with people that I love there. Though saying goodbye was happening, I also had some interesting discussions with people. I went into the bathroom, and a woman that I had spoken with the first Sunday I was there, about being a vegan, said, "I've met some more Christian vegans." and then we discussed that for a little while. It made me giggle--that we were having the discussion in the bathroom.
I prepacked all my things, to see if they would fit, and then I sent my guitar with Sylvia because I knew that I didn't want to have to pay extra to take another thing under the Greyhound bus when I would have to take it, so I sent it with her, and I'll see her in September or October.
We went to Manhattan Sunday evening. The weather was perfect. We walked from Penn Station to this wonderful elevated walkway that actually had field grass and wildflowers on the edges--it was like a field in the middle of a city. So bizarre, but so wonderful at the same time. We went to Cocoa V, and they had artisan chocolates like Stella Leona's, but vegan, and I got a bunch that we tried, with great interest, Starbucks later. We then walked to the Crepe place, called Motek, that had 8 cent crepes, because it was their opening night, but Hannah and Christa got in line too late. The plus was, that across the street, there was a Vegan bakery and I went in, bought some vegan lasagna, and came out and when we as a group finally sat down, at Starbucks, add some dollar pizza, dollar falafel, some dolma, and voila! we had a great time! I had a soy chai tea latte. mmmmmmm. Then we took the subway home, the bus from there, and went to sleep at midnight. But it was perfect.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Summer Program Week #4
Things are starting to wrap here in Flushing, NY, even though it doesn't seem like it. The attitude of the program has become less stressed as the entire program has become a routine for all of us. Now we are doing it like it's something we've always done. Since week one, we've been averaging in the mid twenties for kids in the morning, and in the afternoon, we've had about ten to twelve kids.
The morning portion of the program includes breakfast and lunch, supplied for free by the city of New Yo. We have a short chapel following breakfast, and by the end of chapel, most of the kids have arrived at the program. As the weeks go on, we can easily tell which kids are going to come late, and which are going to be early, and also which kids will NEVER actually be coming. That is definitely obvious.
After the chapel, the younger kids start arts & crafts, and the older kids play dodgeball. Christa and I help with the arts & crafts, and Daniel leads the Dodgeball. I personally hate the game dodgeball, so this worked out in my favor. Craft wise, we've done origami, lanyard, coloring, drawing, tie-dye and then put fabric paint on a shirt, and next week we are planning to do paper mache, which I'm excited about. Its one of those things that I did a lot when I was younger. I had this spectacular book with all these cool things to do. I was really crafty when I was little, which has bled a little bit into my adulthood, because I love to knit, and not follow patterns, and I love to make collages. I'm not a bad drawer either. I just don't do it that often. Musically, I have been much more consistent with being artistic, because it's like my second language. With drawing, and other types of art, it's like I'm going in blind, like how I feel when I try to speak Spanish. There's this point where I'm blocked off and I can't see anymore. If I really practice, I get a chance to expand and see more, but I haven't really had that option here. I brought my sketch book, just like I planned to speak a lot more Spanish, and then didn't really get a chance to use it.
After Arts & Crafts, we switch over to playing board games until the lunch arrives (Dan and Milton have to go get it). Once lunch is over, most of the parents for the morning program pick up their children on time. Then we get started with the afternoon portion of the day--academics. More often than not, some of the kids have been desiring nap time, so we've given it to those who were interested. But the problem that I see with it is that unless we separate them all into their own individual places, they never sleep, so it's counter productive, because it makes them not listen to the volunteers in the room. After they "nap", we have them read for a little while, and write summaries about it. Then the packets of work appropriate to their age and level are given to them, and they do that until about four o'clock. Then we let them have special activities. We have done drama, music, and baking with them. This usually lasts somewhere between a half an hour to forty-five minutes, and the kids start going home around this time. We have computer on some days, some days we play board games, and on Friday, we watch a movie before they leave. During the special, or during the time that they are doing their work, if there are enough volunteers, some of us clean up, and make the place look nice, so that we don't have to do it after they leave. Some days we even leave before six o'clock, because the parents actually come on time.
For chapel for the last week, we have been teaching the kids a song with motions, and then talking about a fruit of the Spirit that is associated with the song. The Thursday and Friday before last, we did Love and Joy(and I played and sand "Amazing Love"), Then on Monday, we did Peace, Tuesday we did Patience (We did "Trading my Sorrows"), on Thursday we did Kindness (we taught the song about Peter and John healing the crippled man), and on Friday, we did a review.
When we have chapel, the hardest part is getting the kids to stand up when we sing. It never ends. Now that we have musical accompaniment, there's less of a focus issue, but it's still impossible to get them to stand. Sometimes it's the exact opposite, though.
There's this young guy, named Shaquille, who we are pretty sure has ADHD, because of his need to move, and focus so easily switched. He never listens and obviously cannot sit still. Every day we try sometime different. The best solution so far has been to have him sing with us when we teach the song. After we finish every song, he always says "More! More!" He's quite an armful. Sometimes we have to hold him down so that he won't run away, because he does run away. He drives me up the wall, but I see that there is some unfulfilled need for him to see and to learn. On Friday, he was playing dodgeball with the big kids, got hurt, hit someone, then ran away to the bathroom, and one of the volunteers yelled for me. Once we got him out of the bathroom, I took him for a walk around the building. He loved it, and had such a great time trying to and opening doors, and seeing what was behind them. When we got back down stairs, I had him draw me a map of where he'd just gone, and he drew a lot of doors, a staircase, and drew the roof, full of chimneys. (I think because he didn't get to go on the roof, that he was imagining all these chimneys) Then I asked him to draw me his favorite thing. He said music--and drew a guitar, a drum set, a "big piano", and a microphone. A kid after my own heart. When it comes down to it, Shaquille, though hard to understand, and to get to listen, he's quite exceptional. He reads rather well, and if he's focused on something, he will do it. I think when there is too much going on, he runs in circles (literally) because he can't decide what he wants to do.
It's been interesting being in charge of the volunteers. I've never been one to place degrees of separation between people because of the level that they are in comparison to where I am, and so working with the volunteers has been bringing them up to my level. However, at the same time, I know that most of them don't have the exact same experience with kids as I do, in a camp setting, and so I know that they are challenged by the amount of energy that these kids have and the amount of attention that they require.
One volunteer couldn't figure out why he was here. Spiritually, he felt like God was calling him to be here working with kids, but at the same time, he just felt worn out, tired, and like it wasn't going that well. So I challenged him to try and get to know some of the kids at a slightly deeper level. So he played Sorry with Yeong Seo, Phoebe, me, and Edward. Then I asked him later how it was for him, if he felt like he was making some progress with working with kids, and he said he felt better. Something I've noticed with the volunteers in general is that they can handle the kids when they are one to one, or one to two, but when they all come running with the desire of tickling or tackling, it's very easy for the volunteer to lose it.
My role as the observer in that case is to get the kids off of them, whether it be to direct them toward something else ("Look! Shiny!") or to point out that they are disrespecting the volunteer. My role as the volunteer supervisor is to teach the volunteer how to interact with them when they need to keep the child's attention, and how to hold their cool when they are overwhelmed with children. Interaction is key!
This week we learned that it's almost impossible to get enough kids to go to Camp Deerpark. We rented a huge air-conditioned bus with comfy seats and had eight kids, several parents, and a large group of volunteers. I had a great time. I went swimming, got to chat with Sylvia and Alicia, and get my hair trimmed, but I also know that there was a financial burden that was taken because we did not make the ends meet. We will continue these next two weeks to take trips on Wednesday, but they won't be to Camp Deerpark.
Prayer requests and praises:
With no correlation to my Flushing week, besides the fact that I'm here and they are my family there, my parents head to Japan today, and are on a flight to Salt Lake City as I write. I found out about my housing situation, that I am going to be able to stay with my grandparents off campus, to cut financial costs. With this decision, I still plan to stay connected to the hall that I was going to live on, because I love all of those girls, and I was looking forward to their companionship. Zach finished debreifing this week, and is at home now, and I might call him sometime. There's a reunion at HDC for all those people that were in training when he was, but because of some planned family things, he went home early and missed that. I get to see him in two weeks. Marie finished up her Music Academy today also, and is going home today, I think.
That's that.
The morning portion of the program includes breakfast and lunch, supplied for free by the city of New Yo. We have a short chapel following breakfast, and by the end of chapel, most of the kids have arrived at the program. As the weeks go on, we can easily tell which kids are going to come late, and which are going to be early, and also which kids will NEVER actually be coming. That is definitely obvious.
After the chapel, the younger kids start arts & crafts, and the older kids play dodgeball. Christa and I help with the arts & crafts, and Daniel leads the Dodgeball. I personally hate the game dodgeball, so this worked out in my favor. Craft wise, we've done origami, lanyard, coloring, drawing, tie-dye and then put fabric paint on a shirt, and next week we are planning to do paper mache, which I'm excited about. Its one of those things that I did a lot when I was younger. I had this spectacular book with all these cool things to do. I was really crafty when I was little, which has bled a little bit into my adulthood, because I love to knit, and not follow patterns, and I love to make collages. I'm not a bad drawer either. I just don't do it that often. Musically, I have been much more consistent with being artistic, because it's like my second language. With drawing, and other types of art, it's like I'm going in blind, like how I feel when I try to speak Spanish. There's this point where I'm blocked off and I can't see anymore. If I really practice, I get a chance to expand and see more, but I haven't really had that option here. I brought my sketch book, just like I planned to speak a lot more Spanish, and then didn't really get a chance to use it.
After Arts & Crafts, we switch over to playing board games until the lunch arrives (Dan and Milton have to go get it). Once lunch is over, most of the parents for the morning program pick up their children on time. Then we get started with the afternoon portion of the day--academics. More often than not, some of the kids have been desiring nap time, so we've given it to those who were interested. But the problem that I see with it is that unless we separate them all into their own individual places, they never sleep, so it's counter productive, because it makes them not listen to the volunteers in the room. After they "nap", we have them read for a little while, and write summaries about it. Then the packets of work appropriate to their age and level are given to them, and they do that until about four o'clock. Then we let them have special activities. We have done drama, music, and baking with them. This usually lasts somewhere between a half an hour to forty-five minutes, and the kids start going home around this time. We have computer on some days, some days we play board games, and on Friday, we watch a movie before they leave. During the special, or during the time that they are doing their work, if there are enough volunteers, some of us clean up, and make the place look nice, so that we don't have to do it after they leave. Some days we even leave before six o'clock, because the parents actually come on time.
For chapel for the last week, we have been teaching the kids a song with motions, and then talking about a fruit of the Spirit that is associated with the song. The Thursday and Friday before last, we did Love and Joy(and I played and sand "Amazing Love"), Then on Monday, we did Peace, Tuesday we did Patience (We did "Trading my Sorrows"), on Thursday we did Kindness (we taught the song about Peter and John healing the crippled man), and on Friday, we did a review.
When we have chapel, the hardest part is getting the kids to stand up when we sing. It never ends. Now that we have musical accompaniment, there's less of a focus issue, but it's still impossible to get them to stand. Sometimes it's the exact opposite, though.
There's this young guy, named Shaquille, who we are pretty sure has ADHD, because of his need to move, and focus so easily switched. He never listens and obviously cannot sit still. Every day we try sometime different. The best solution so far has been to have him sing with us when we teach the song. After we finish every song, he always says "More! More!" He's quite an armful. Sometimes we have to hold him down so that he won't run away, because he does run away. He drives me up the wall, but I see that there is some unfulfilled need for him to see and to learn. On Friday, he was playing dodgeball with the big kids, got hurt, hit someone, then ran away to the bathroom, and one of the volunteers yelled for me. Once we got him out of the bathroom, I took him for a walk around the building. He loved it, and had such a great time trying to and opening doors, and seeing what was behind them. When we got back down stairs, I had him draw me a map of where he'd just gone, and he drew a lot of doors, a staircase, and drew the roof, full of chimneys. (I think because he didn't get to go on the roof, that he was imagining all these chimneys) Then I asked him to draw me his favorite thing. He said music--and drew a guitar, a drum set, a "big piano", and a microphone. A kid after my own heart. When it comes down to it, Shaquille, though hard to understand, and to get to listen, he's quite exceptional. He reads rather well, and if he's focused on something, he will do it. I think when there is too much going on, he runs in circles (literally) because he can't decide what he wants to do.
It's been interesting being in charge of the volunteers. I've never been one to place degrees of separation between people because of the level that they are in comparison to where I am, and so working with the volunteers has been bringing them up to my level. However, at the same time, I know that most of them don't have the exact same experience with kids as I do, in a camp setting, and so I know that they are challenged by the amount of energy that these kids have and the amount of attention that they require.
One volunteer couldn't figure out why he was here. Spiritually, he felt like God was calling him to be here working with kids, but at the same time, he just felt worn out, tired, and like it wasn't going that well. So I challenged him to try and get to know some of the kids at a slightly deeper level. So he played Sorry with Yeong Seo, Phoebe, me, and Edward. Then I asked him later how it was for him, if he felt like he was making some progress with working with kids, and he said he felt better. Something I've noticed with the volunteers in general is that they can handle the kids when they are one to one, or one to two, but when they all come running with the desire of tickling or tackling, it's very easy for the volunteer to lose it.
My role as the observer in that case is to get the kids off of them, whether it be to direct them toward something else ("Look! Shiny!") or to point out that they are disrespecting the volunteer. My role as the volunteer supervisor is to teach the volunteer how to interact with them when they need to keep the child's attention, and how to hold their cool when they are overwhelmed with children. Interaction is key!
This week we learned that it's almost impossible to get enough kids to go to Camp Deerpark. We rented a huge air-conditioned bus with comfy seats and had eight kids, several parents, and a large group of volunteers. I had a great time. I went swimming, got to chat with Sylvia and Alicia, and get my hair trimmed, but I also know that there was a financial burden that was taken because we did not make the ends meet. We will continue these next two weeks to take trips on Wednesday, but they won't be to Camp Deerpark.
Prayer requests and praises:
With no correlation to my Flushing week, besides the fact that I'm here and they are my family there, my parents head to Japan today, and are on a flight to Salt Lake City as I write. I found out about my housing situation, that I am going to be able to stay with my grandparents off campus, to cut financial costs. With this decision, I still plan to stay connected to the hall that I was going to live on, because I love all of those girls, and I was looking forward to their companionship. Zach finished debreifing this week, and is at home now, and I might call him sometime. There's a reunion at HDC for all those people that were in training when he was, but because of some planned family things, he went home early and missed that. I get to see him in two weeks. Marie finished up her Music Academy today also, and is going home today, I think.
That's that.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Taking a Baby Step
Some of you already know this, but I am heavily addicted to writing music. I'm not shy to admit it or show it, so when I get the chance to play for people, I take it, and RUN! But I haven't recorded anything, besides maybe a piano track for a song when I was a sophomore in high school, a couple from live recordings here and there, and nothing was ever copied onto a CD. Thus, when I say I've started making recordings of some of my songs that aren't from my camera's crappy sound system, it's a big deal.
And I have. I started making some of my songs into mp3s. Note: I'm recording myself, usually in one or two takes, and it's far from perfect. But I do like it that way, I just don't feel confident in those abilities yet.
Thus, I'm giving everyone who reads a chance to listen in! And if you know some of my songs, suggest one that you want recorded! Leave a comment and I will email you one of the better mp3s that I've done in the past week!
Thanks so much for reading and listening!
And I have. I started making some of my songs into mp3s. Note: I'm recording myself, usually in one or two takes, and it's far from perfect. But I do like it that way, I just don't feel confident in those abilities yet.
Thus, I'm giving everyone who reads a chance to listen in! And if you know some of my songs, suggest one that you want recorded! Leave a comment and I will email you one of the better mp3s that I've done in the past week!
Thanks so much for reading and listening!
VBS Week!
Wow. It's intense that this week flew by.
I was talking to Sylvia the day after I got back from seeing Zach, and was telling her about how I was going through withdrawal, and how I knew the weeks would fly by once I let them. And somewhere between spending several hours reading and writing out verses on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, somehow this week has reached an end, and we are halfway done with this program!
We had Vacation Bible School take over the morning section of the program, and I took Monday and Tuesday mornings to myself to attempt to recover to being back in Flushing, in a city, and feeling like I didn't want to be there. But my God time, as most God time is, was fulfilling, and I felt like I could indeed function for the rest of the week, and the rest of the time.
The rest of the week, from Wednesday through Friday, I worked at the VBS in the morning with the first and second grade group. The other leaders for the group were Vanessa, Tito, and Kevin, and then the sixteen little munchkins that came with us. It was glorious, and fun, and stressful, but we all had peace that once 12:00 came around, those little glorious, stressful, and fun munchkins would go be all those things with their parents.
There also was a lot of peace in the fact that we didn't have to plan and run the program ourselves. I personally felt a lot better about the entire thing because I wasn't in charge, and only had to be a piece of the puzzle, not the designer. I don't really think that God ever intended only one person to be a designer of anything. We are the church, and because God has sneakily given us all the different gifts that we need, there is no need to attempt to do things on our own. That being said, if someone is trying to do that, they should ask for help, and others should donate their advice and their time.
In the afternoons on Wednesday through Friday, everything was so much easier. There wasn't a peak of stress like there has been in the past with the kids at our program, when we are trying to get them to listen to us. Everyone listened, everyone did their work. We communicated with the kids, and with parents. We ate good food made by Christa's mom, and had kids do their academic work so that they could bake food with Hannah later! They made cookies and brownies this week.
Bethany and her friend Nicki were at the program this week--Mark and Annabelle went for a vacation away and the two of them were with Hannah this week as "mommy". They weren't required to do all the work the kids in the afternoon program were, but if we let them to theirselves, they could go pretty crazy, so I took it upon myself to play Monopoly and Risk with them. (I know, such a hard task.) We played for several hours each time. And I dominated each time. They can win next time. I'll teach them strategy.
On Thursday evening, I also got a chance to eat dinner with Weslea and we got to talk about life. That was awesome. She said there might be an option for her to go to Guinea Bissau this January (of all the connections. . . :)) and so I really wanted her to be able to meet Zach, but maybe some other time. (He's going to be chock full of business until I get to sweep him away.
Now, we have the next three weeks of the program to go. We are halfway done. I'm leaving the Thursday of the last program, and then I'm on my way to Harrisburg, for a day of debriefing, then a night bus ride home to Toledo. That's the next three weeks in a nutshell. Are we ready? We hope so.
Prayers/Praises
-Yaya VBS!!!
-I sent in my housing form request with all the letters of support yesterday. Next Thursday, it goes before a housing committee and they decide if I can stay with my sister or if I have to stay in the dorm. I'm willing for both, but I need to know so that I can prepare for that.
-Three more weeks of program. Fill in if it's a prayer or a praise. It is both for sure.
-Pray for rest for all the staff, so there is need for less coffee.
I was talking to Sylvia the day after I got back from seeing Zach, and was telling her about how I was going through withdrawal, and how I knew the weeks would fly by once I let them. And somewhere between spending several hours reading and writing out verses on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, somehow this week has reached an end, and we are halfway done with this program!
We had Vacation Bible School take over the morning section of the program, and I took Monday and Tuesday mornings to myself to attempt to recover to being back in Flushing, in a city, and feeling like I didn't want to be there. But my God time, as most God time is, was fulfilling, and I felt like I could indeed function for the rest of the week, and the rest of the time.
The rest of the week, from Wednesday through Friday, I worked at the VBS in the morning with the first and second grade group. The other leaders for the group were Vanessa, Tito, and Kevin, and then the sixteen little munchkins that came with us. It was glorious, and fun, and stressful, but we all had peace that once 12:00 came around, those little glorious, stressful, and fun munchkins would go be all those things with their parents.
There also was a lot of peace in the fact that we didn't have to plan and run the program ourselves. I personally felt a lot better about the entire thing because I wasn't in charge, and only had to be a piece of the puzzle, not the designer. I don't really think that God ever intended only one person to be a designer of anything. We are the church, and because God has sneakily given us all the different gifts that we need, there is no need to attempt to do things on our own. That being said, if someone is trying to do that, they should ask for help, and others should donate their advice and their time.
In the afternoons on Wednesday through Friday, everything was so much easier. There wasn't a peak of stress like there has been in the past with the kids at our program, when we are trying to get them to listen to us. Everyone listened, everyone did their work. We communicated with the kids, and with parents. We ate good food made by Christa's mom, and had kids do their academic work so that they could bake food with Hannah later! They made cookies and brownies this week.
On Thursday evening, I also got a chance to eat dinner with Weslea and we got to talk about life. That was awesome. She said there might be an option for her to go to Guinea Bissau this January (of all the connections. . . :)) and so I really wanted her to be able to meet Zach, but maybe some other time. (He's going to be chock full of business until I get to sweep him away.
Now, we have the next three weeks of the program to go. We are halfway done. I'm leaving the Thursday of the last program, and then I'm on my way to Harrisburg, for a day of debriefing, then a night bus ride home to Toledo. That's the next three weeks in a nutshell. Are we ready? We hope so.
Prayers/Praises
-Yaya VBS!!!
-I sent in my housing form request with all the letters of support yesterday. Next Thursday, it goes before a housing committee and they decide if I can stay with my sister or if I have to stay in the dorm. I'm willing for both, but I need to know so that I can prepare for that.
-Three more weeks of program. Fill in if it's a prayer or a praise. It is both for sure.
-Pray for rest for all the staff, so there is need for less coffee.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Weekly Update #10
So this past week was a week of challenge; a week of exhaustion; a week of sickness; a week of celebration.
As the program continued, we had many ups and downs. There have been kids who started bleeding and started hurting or got hurt--the IcePacks we got for the coolers have gone to good use otherwise.
We've improvised through activities, and played Dodgeball one thousand times (although I have to say, I have not played Dodgeball once). Having such a spectrum of ages really changes the way the program is run--we have mostly kids going into third grade and under, but they all seem so much older. I think age stereotypes melts away when you learn names and faces.
This past week, I went temporarily insane, to match the lack of being prepared to tie dye, and feeling like there wasn't enough staff, and worrying about food, and tutoring work, and people.
Tuesday wasn't such a great day. I ate some green beans that were in the free lunches for the kids, and around five o'clock, I started feeling nauseous, eventually went home, and then later puked for the first time in seven and a half years. (and then again, and again, and again.) After that, I was sick of being sick, and I went to sleep. I felt better the next day, and have felt better for the rest of the week, but I don't think I've gotten my hydration back to where I wanted it to be, which sucks in the morning when I just need to get up and go, and I feel the need to be watered.
On Wednesday, we were going to go to Camp Deerpark, but then there were more staff that were going to go than kids, and it was going to rain, and so we cancelled the program, and got the day off. Which was absolutely perfect in going with the fact that I had been sick the day before--my mom told me I was contagious and shouldn't go to work. Unfortunately, there were people in my house all day, and I had to seem like I was completely healthy to match their output of energy.
My landlord, bless her heart, thinks that if you leave the fan on when you aren't in the house, that it will cause the house to burn down. But on the days when it was 100 degrees, and I would come home and the house was a sauna, there was no way I was going to leave the A/C and the fan off when I was gone. When you come home and the house is 92 degrees, there's something wrong.
Anyway, so she asked me if I had a learning disability, because I couldn't seem to "grasp" that I have to turn the fan off. My learning disability is that logic. I don't understand it. And, unfortunately, it is socially too late to ask her, because she will think I am starting a revolution in her house.
Thursday was survived, though the morning was stressful--we have been averaging twenty-five to thirty kids in the morning, and ten to twelve in the afternoon. We tie-dye shirts with them on Tuesday (I washed them all at my house on Wednesday), and on Thursday, we painted them with fabric paints.
Once Thursday evening came around, I had to skip Discipleship. I was leaving in the early morning for D.C., and had just gotten over being sick.
Friday morning --2:15AM, I woke up and Dan came over and picked me up and drove me to the Bus Depot. The most hilarious part of the morning was the fact that we were at a stand-still. At 3:00. On the high way. WE saw all the people who were still out, all the people who continued their day like it was light outside.
I barely made my bus. There was nowhere to check my bag, so I just put an ID on it, and then put it in the pile of bags that where checked, and I prayed that they would load it up like everyone's. I sat next to a middle-aged man named Jeff, who was going to Charlotte to start a better life for himself and the family he was leaving behind. He shared his Jolly Ranchers, grapes, and bought me a Fanta and a bag of chips (which I saved to give to Zach later). He was asking about the book I was reading, "Jesus for President", and said, "Oh, so you are into religion?" I said, "Yeah, Christianity." It was quiet for a little while, but later he started talking about what faith he'd grown up with, and how open his parents were, but how he wanted to start going back to church once he got to Charlotte. I'm praying that he does.
When I got to D.C., I was swept away with familiarity, and was so happy to be in a place where I felt like I could navigate myself.
I got off the Metro at Brookland, and then waited for Emily under the overpass. It's amazing what being in a city longer term does to you. I was completely comfortable doing that, whereas one year ago, I would have probably stuck as close to the station as I could. Emily got off the train and we walked and talked our way to the WCSC house. It was bizarre but wonderful to be back there! I felt at home (and played the piano for almost an hour), but felt no obligations. I had a great conversation with Kim, got to see my garden, ran into a couple current WCSCers (they were upstairs) and enjoyed half of an Everything Bagel with Emily before she left to bring a future student out for their interviews.
Around 12:30, the Hazletts arrived, picked me up, and we all headed to Dulles! It was a hot ride, there being no A/C in the car, but it was fine for me--I'd been in a cold building for the past three hours.
We arrived at Dulles a little earlier than the flight was supposed to come in, but then we waited around until an hour and a half after it landed for Zach to come out of customs. It was so awesome to surprise him. He didn't know that his family was coming, though he thought I might.
On my ride home from Harrisburg on the Amtrak, I took the time to reflect about my day with Zach, and here it is. Yes, I am long winded, I know.
What a whirlwind. I just spent a day with Zach. Just twenty-four hours. He’s home from Africa—Here to stay! Thank God for that. I don’t think I could take another year of him being gone. Props to those people who send their fiancées on mission trips, I couldn’t do it. He’s changed, but we can still pick up where we left off. I’m so thankful for that. I can handle this feeling of knowing he’s home now! Even if I can’t talk to him everyday, knowing that he’s just a few hours drive away, rather than a day/s flight away gives me so much peace. He seems to have adjusted well to America so far. Occasionally, he makes an observation of things—like the idea of a grocery store—with everything you need—like four TVs (in the store)—all being in the same place at the same time.
The Hazlett’s came and picked me up at WCSC, with all my stuff, and we headed off to Dulles. We got there early, and we remembered that Zach and his group had to go through customs to come back—so then the wait added to be more than an hour. Noraa had called me “Grace Hazlett”, saying that I was going to marry Zach, and I had accidently touched Taylor’s butt, so she said that it was because I wanted to touch Zach’s butt, and she was going to tell him that when he got there.
I was just starting to fall asleep while waiting for him (Waking up at 2:15 to get to Manhattan at 3:45am, and still getting stuck in traffic is quite annoying. But I slept pretty well, had a great seatmate, with whom I had a great conversation with about life, the universe and Everything (which is, God). He also shared his Jolly Ranchers, grapes, and bought me a bag of chips and a Fanta (didn’t know I was vegan. (But the guy sitting across the aisle from me did—he saw the PETA stickers on the back of my Macbook and asked me if I was in DC for the Animal Rights Convention.)), and Zach got off the airplane, out of customs, and all of a sudden he was there—same clothes, just more worn, and a little more covered in dirt! He was wearing the hat that he wore to Honduras, and looked like he had shaved his head again, and was bald. His face was plastered with a super smile and we could tell that we’d surprised him. Earlier in the day, I had texted Marie and told her what I was up to (because before, it was TOP SECRET), she reminded me that I should let his mom get the first hug. So I did. I let his entire family envelope him, before he smothered me with a wonderful losing-your-balance-hug. I was freaking out in my head—I was nervous and I had had too much caffeine earlier in the day—and was in complete shock, and I couldn’t stop looking at him! He’d changed so much—and looked the same at the same time. There was more hair on his face (and his chest, as I learned when everyone was swimming later). There was a lot less hair on his head (something I hope stays that way for a long time.)
His teammates were Africanized (which meant, for most of them—they lost weight). They looked relived and ready to be taken care of by someone else. (Which, for another tangent, is one thing that I loved the most about this trip.)
We swept him away from his team, and took him into the van (which, though un air-conditioned, was a wonderful trip because we’d all been frozen in airport for two hours), and then went to a grocery store, to pick up some stuff for dinner. Zach was in a bit of a shock. He kept looking around and because he could see everything that he needed it was so bizarre. He said that there was nothing like that store within a hundred miles of where he was. When he saw four monitors stacked together, he exclaimed—four TVs in the same place—so bizarre.
It was so wonderful to hear his motivation and energy. I have this feeling that he was ready to get going with what he wanted to do—either with school, or with work—he said he wanted to get a job. He wanted to get a motorcycle—and I think that is a great idea. I can’t wait until he does. I want to ride it with him!
After that, we headed to a National Park that was on the way to Harrisburg. Denice and Toby grilled food, I ate a lot of Dolma, and we all hung out around the park. There, Zach presented everyone with their gifts. When he started doing this, I could see how much he had thought through everything, as he gave everyone their gifts. He wanted each of us to experience a little bit of what he did in the past month. And the love that he expressed through that made me feel overwhelmed with the great beauty of the fact that Zach really does love me. More than I can expect. I was the last person that he gave the gifts to.
Zach had given everyone a little package that you make tea with, promising to make it with them, because it’s a two person thing, and because it makes about three shot cups per person. I received one of those. He gave each person three pieces of gum that they had in Guinea Bissau. There were two packages of crackers. One was a type that you were supposed to have with the tea, and one was a cookie with some Nutella in the middle. Both of these had some milk products in them, and Zach didn’t give them to me (which is why I assumed I didn’t get any. Later, he told me that he got hungry in customs and ate some, but when I told him I wouldn’t have been able to eat them anyway, he was relived.) Zach gave seashells (that were completely gorgeous) to Jaynie and Noraa, from the seashore that they went to in Guinea Bissau. He gave Aleks two iguana feet and two snake skins of snakes that he had killed. Both of them were poisonous.
Zach found some awesome sculptures to give as gifts to a couple people. My favorite was the tiger—it was more like a jaguar in shape, and had teeth that were probably from an iguana’s foot. He gave two pieces of artwork to Taylor and his mom. They were small paintings from a local artist in the area, but Zach picked them out because he felt like they represented Africa the best. He got Noraa a teenager sized wrap-around skirt, telling her that the girls in Africa are given the same ones, and roll them down to the right length, and then they keep them, and grow into them. He gave Jaynie a skirt also, with an additional hair scarf to just wrap around her head, like the women wrapped around their heads when they had to carry things like water on them. He got his father an entire outfit in a teal green—including a cute hat to go with the big shirt and short pants. It was so beautiful.
Then he gave me my gifts. He laid out the tea and the gum, and then reached in and handed me a necklace—not too fancy, with mostly black beads, with a design where the middle was—and a slight heart on the middle bead. It’s the first piece of jewelry I’ve ever received from a guy—and it means so much to me. And then he unfolded a wrap skirt for me—the same pattern as Noraa’s, and proceeded to help wrap me in it. There was a ruffle/ripple on the edge. Then he pulled out a shirt to go with it, which he helped me put on. It had three buttons and long sleeves. Zach said it was custom-made, and that he designed it. I was a bit incredulous—how did he know my size. “I’m the same size as you, Grace. “ Ah, I had forgotten. I had been so nervous that he was going to get something that he was going to get me something that I wouldn’t like, and would be disappointed with, but I knew that it was going to be alright when he started.
When we got back to HDC, Zach went in, and although there was a bit of a fiasco with Denice’s Ipod being dropped in the ice bucket, and a slippage of Apples to Apples cards all over the backseat (and Zach accidently yelling “Jeweli!” instead of “Grace!”), we brought him in, I said “Hello” to a couple of people—Kaitlyn, who was on Zach’s team in the beginning, but had to be resituated when health problems stopped her from going to Africa, was back for debriefing at the same time. Everyone was slightly surprised to see me there (especially the HDC staff, because they knew I was doing a GO assignment in Flushing), but understood at the same time. We drove to the Comfort Inn, and I got to sleep in the adult room (and fell right asleep, for that matter,) and was on the sofa bed—which was more comfortable than the bed in my house at Flushing. This is very sad.
We all woke up late—a little before ten o’clock, and ate breakfast at the hotel. Toby and I both had a couple spilling moments, but we learned that they offer coffee lids for a reason, and were thankful for the napkins that were also provided. Then Toby, Denice, and I all left for HDC to pick up Zach to come spend the day with us. We all changed into swimsuits and went in the itty-bitty pool that the hotel provided, and made the best of it, I should say. We played with the underwater camera, made as big of waves as you can in a square pool, and did handstands and somersaults to our delights.
We had lunch—I had the rest of the dolma, a salad of lettuce, tortilla chips, and salsa, and lots of fruit and some bread. And another cup of coffee. After we ate, we played a couple rounds of Uno, before we decided to look at some of Zach’s pictures with him. These were beautiful, and slowly the idea that Zach has been gone for a while, and this trip changed him, and the fact that he’s here now, and he’s not leaving soon, have started to seep in. And I feel a peace about me that soon we will get a chance to be in the same place and not have any obligations, and soon the degrees of separation will subside and we can be together for however long of a life God bids us.
When Zach came with me into the train station, and said goodbye to me in person, there beside me, with a kiss on the lips, I could tell you that it was perfect. It left me wanting more, excited for the future, motivated to finish strong, and ready to make things happen. I noticed many other changes in me while I was with the Hazlett’s. I felt like I was helping because I wanted to help, and because I could see the solution would make sense if I helped along with them, and because I love them. I could see that I wasn’t a third wheel when I was with them. I feel like part of the family.
Thanks for reading!
Prayer Requests and Praises
--I have four more weeks to go. This week is VBS, so we get a break in the mornings, but pray for all of us as we continue to work our butts off to make this program awesome for the kids.
--Praise that I got to see Zach! It was so awesome, which you probably read. Praise that I also got to go back to D.C.
--I am currently planning to apply to live off campus for the fall, and could use your prayers as I fill out the form. Anna already has an apartment in the perfect location that we are going to share with her roommate, and we just need to get me approved by the committee.
--Pray for Zach as he does reentry and debreifing
--My younger sister Marie is currently at Music Academy at Northwestern University. Because she talks so much with her chest voice, her vocal chords are really stressed and she has to rest them. Pray for her rest.
--My parents are going to Japan at the beginning of August. Pray for safe flights, a wonderful time with their friends, and a great celebration of 25 years of marriage.
As the program continued, we had many ups and downs. There have been kids who started bleeding and started hurting or got hurt--the IcePacks we got for the coolers have gone to good use otherwise.
We've improvised through activities, and played Dodgeball one thousand times (although I have to say, I have not played Dodgeball once). Having such a spectrum of ages really changes the way the program is run--we have mostly kids going into third grade and under, but they all seem so much older. I think age stereotypes melts away when you learn names and faces.
This past week, I went temporarily insane, to match the lack of being prepared to tie dye, and feeling like there wasn't enough staff, and worrying about food, and tutoring work, and people.
Tuesday wasn't such a great day. I ate some green beans that were in the free lunches for the kids, and around five o'clock, I started feeling nauseous, eventually went home, and then later puked for the first time in seven and a half years. (and then again, and again, and again.) After that, I was sick of being sick, and I went to sleep. I felt better the next day, and have felt better for the rest of the week, but I don't think I've gotten my hydration back to where I wanted it to be, which sucks in the morning when I just need to get up and go, and I feel the need to be watered.
On Wednesday, we were going to go to Camp Deerpark, but then there were more staff that were going to go than kids, and it was going to rain, and so we cancelled the program, and got the day off. Which was absolutely perfect in going with the fact that I had been sick the day before--my mom told me I was contagious and shouldn't go to work. Unfortunately, there were people in my house all day, and I had to seem like I was completely healthy to match their output of energy.
My landlord, bless her heart, thinks that if you leave the fan on when you aren't in the house, that it will cause the house to burn down. But on the days when it was 100 degrees, and I would come home and the house was a sauna, there was no way I was going to leave the A/C and the fan off when I was gone. When you come home and the house is 92 degrees, there's something wrong.
Anyway, so she asked me if I had a learning disability, because I couldn't seem to "grasp" that I have to turn the fan off. My learning disability is that logic. I don't understand it. And, unfortunately, it is socially too late to ask her, because she will think I am starting a revolution in her house.
Thursday was survived, though the morning was stressful--we have been averaging twenty-five to thirty kids in the morning, and ten to twelve in the afternoon. We tie-dye shirts with them on Tuesday (I washed them all at my house on Wednesday), and on Thursday, we painted them with fabric paints.
Once Thursday evening came around, I had to skip Discipleship. I was leaving in the early morning for D.C., and had just gotten over being sick.
Friday morning --2:15AM, I woke up and Dan came over and picked me up and drove me to the Bus Depot. The most hilarious part of the morning was the fact that we were at a stand-still. At 3:00. On the high way. WE saw all the people who were still out, all the people who continued their day like it was light outside.
I barely made my bus. There was nowhere to check my bag, so I just put an ID on it, and then put it in the pile of bags that where checked, and I prayed that they would load it up like everyone's. I sat next to a middle-aged man named Jeff, who was going to Charlotte to start a better life for himself and the family he was leaving behind. He shared his Jolly Ranchers, grapes, and bought me a Fanta and a bag of chips (which I saved to give to Zach later). He was asking about the book I was reading, "Jesus for President", and said, "Oh, so you are into religion?" I said, "Yeah, Christianity." It was quiet for a little while, but later he started talking about what faith he'd grown up with, and how open his parents were, but how he wanted to start going back to church once he got to Charlotte. I'm praying that he does.
When I got to D.C., I was swept away with familiarity, and was so happy to be in a place where I felt like I could navigate myself.
I got off the Metro at Brookland, and then waited for Emily under the overpass. It's amazing what being in a city longer term does to you. I was completely comfortable doing that, whereas one year ago, I would have probably stuck as close to the station as I could. Emily got off the train and we walked and talked our way to the WCSC house. It was bizarre but wonderful to be back there! I felt at home (and played the piano for almost an hour), but felt no obligations. I had a great conversation with Kim, got to see my garden, ran into a couple current WCSCers (they were upstairs) and enjoyed half of an Everything Bagel with Emily before she left to bring a future student out for their interviews.
Around 12:30, the Hazletts arrived, picked me up, and we all headed to Dulles! It was a hot ride, there being no A/C in the car, but it was fine for me--I'd been in a cold building for the past three hours.
We arrived at Dulles a little earlier than the flight was supposed to come in, but then we waited around until an hour and a half after it landed for Zach to come out of customs. It was so awesome to surprise him. He didn't know that his family was coming, though he thought I might.
On my ride home from Harrisburg on the Amtrak, I took the time to reflect about my day with Zach, and here it is. Yes, I am long winded, I know.
What a whirlwind. I just spent a day with Zach. Just twenty-four hours. He’s home from Africa—Here to stay! Thank God for that. I don’t think I could take another year of him being gone. Props to those people who send their fiancées on mission trips, I couldn’t do it. He’s changed, but we can still pick up where we left off. I’m so thankful for that. I can handle this feeling of knowing he’s home now! Even if I can’t talk to him everyday, knowing that he’s just a few hours drive away, rather than a day/s flight away gives me so much peace. He seems to have adjusted well to America so far. Occasionally, he makes an observation of things—like the idea of a grocery store—with everything you need—like four TVs (in the store)—all being in the same place at the same time.
The Hazlett’s came and picked me up at WCSC, with all my stuff, and we headed off to Dulles. We got there early, and we remembered that Zach and his group had to go through customs to come back—so then the wait added to be more than an hour. Noraa had called me “Grace Hazlett”, saying that I was going to marry Zach, and I had accidently touched Taylor’s butt, so she said that it was because I wanted to touch Zach’s butt, and she was going to tell him that when he got there.
I was just starting to fall asleep while waiting for him (Waking up at 2:15 to get to Manhattan at 3:45am, and still getting stuck in traffic is quite annoying. But I slept pretty well, had a great seatmate, with whom I had a great conversation with about life, the universe and Everything (which is, God). He also shared his Jolly Ranchers, grapes, and bought me a bag of chips and a Fanta (didn’t know I was vegan. (But the guy sitting across the aisle from me did—he saw the PETA stickers on the back of my Macbook and asked me if I was in DC for the Animal Rights Convention.)), and Zach got off the airplane, out of customs, and all of a sudden he was there—same clothes, just more worn, and a little more covered in dirt! He was wearing the hat that he wore to Honduras, and looked like he had shaved his head again, and was bald. His face was plastered with a super smile and we could tell that we’d surprised him. Earlier in the day, I had texted Marie and told her what I was up to (because before, it was TOP SECRET), she reminded me that I should let his mom get the first hug. So I did. I let his entire family envelope him, before he smothered me with a wonderful losing-your-balance-hug. I was freaking out in my head—I was nervous and I had had too much caffeine earlier in the day—and was in complete shock, and I couldn’t stop looking at him! He’d changed so much—and looked the same at the same time. There was more hair on his face (and his chest, as I learned when everyone was swimming later). There was a lot less hair on his head (something I hope stays that way for a long time.)
His teammates were Africanized (which meant, for most of them—they lost weight). They looked relived and ready to be taken care of by someone else. (Which, for another tangent, is one thing that I loved the most about this trip.)
We swept him away from his team, and took him into the van (which, though un air-conditioned, was a wonderful trip because we’d all been frozen in airport for two hours), and then went to a grocery store, to pick up some stuff for dinner. Zach was in a bit of a shock. He kept looking around and because he could see everything that he needed it was so bizarre. He said that there was nothing like that store within a hundred miles of where he was. When he saw four monitors stacked together, he exclaimed—four TVs in the same place—so bizarre.
It was so wonderful to hear his motivation and energy. I have this feeling that he was ready to get going with what he wanted to do—either with school, or with work—he said he wanted to get a job. He wanted to get a motorcycle—and I think that is a great idea. I can’t wait until he does. I want to ride it with him!
After that, we headed to a National Park that was on the way to Harrisburg. Denice and Toby grilled food, I ate a lot of Dolma, and we all hung out around the park. There, Zach presented everyone with their gifts. When he started doing this, I could see how much he had thought through everything, as he gave everyone their gifts. He wanted each of us to experience a little bit of what he did in the past month. And the love that he expressed through that made me feel overwhelmed with the great beauty of the fact that Zach really does love me. More than I can expect. I was the last person that he gave the gifts to.
Zach had given everyone a little package that you make tea with, promising to make it with them, because it’s a two person thing, and because it makes about three shot cups per person. I received one of those. He gave each person three pieces of gum that they had in Guinea Bissau. There were two packages of crackers. One was a type that you were supposed to have with the tea, and one was a cookie with some Nutella in the middle. Both of these had some milk products in them, and Zach didn’t give them to me (which is why I assumed I didn’t get any. Later, he told me that he got hungry in customs and ate some, but when I told him I wouldn’t have been able to eat them anyway, he was relived.) Zach gave seashells (that were completely gorgeous) to Jaynie and Noraa, from the seashore that they went to in Guinea Bissau. He gave Aleks two iguana feet and two snake skins of snakes that he had killed. Both of them were poisonous.
Zach found some awesome sculptures to give as gifts to a couple people. My favorite was the tiger—it was more like a jaguar in shape, and had teeth that were probably from an iguana’s foot. He gave two pieces of artwork to Taylor and his mom. They were small paintings from a local artist in the area, but Zach picked them out because he felt like they represented Africa the best. He got Noraa a teenager sized wrap-around skirt, telling her that the girls in Africa are given the same ones, and roll them down to the right length, and then they keep them, and grow into them. He gave Jaynie a skirt also, with an additional hair scarf to just wrap around her head, like the women wrapped around their heads when they had to carry things like water on them. He got his father an entire outfit in a teal green—including a cute hat to go with the big shirt and short pants. It was so beautiful.
Then he gave me my gifts. He laid out the tea and the gum, and then reached in and handed me a necklace—not too fancy, with mostly black beads, with a design where the middle was—and a slight heart on the middle bead. It’s the first piece of jewelry I’ve ever received from a guy—and it means so much to me. And then he unfolded a wrap skirt for me—the same pattern as Noraa’s, and proceeded to help wrap me in it. There was a ruffle/ripple on the edge. Then he pulled out a shirt to go with it, which he helped me put on. It had three buttons and long sleeves. Zach said it was custom-made, and that he designed it. I was a bit incredulous—how did he know my size. “I’m the same size as you, Grace. “ Ah, I had forgotten. I had been so nervous that he was going to get something that he was going to get me something that I wouldn’t like, and would be disappointed with, but I knew that it was going to be alright when he started.
When we got back to HDC, Zach went in, and although there was a bit of a fiasco with Denice’s Ipod being dropped in the ice bucket, and a slippage of Apples to Apples cards all over the backseat (and Zach accidently yelling “Jeweli!” instead of “Grace!”), we brought him in, I said “Hello” to a couple of people—Kaitlyn, who was on Zach’s team in the beginning, but had to be resituated when health problems stopped her from going to Africa, was back for debriefing at the same time. Everyone was slightly surprised to see me there (especially the HDC staff, because they knew I was doing a GO assignment in Flushing), but understood at the same time. We drove to the Comfort Inn, and I got to sleep in the adult room (and fell right asleep, for that matter,) and was on the sofa bed—which was more comfortable than the bed in my house at Flushing. This is very sad.
We all woke up late—a little before ten o’clock, and ate breakfast at the hotel. Toby and I both had a couple spilling moments, but we learned that they offer coffee lids for a reason, and were thankful for the napkins that were also provided. Then Toby, Denice, and I all left for HDC to pick up Zach to come spend the day with us. We all changed into swimsuits and went in the itty-bitty pool that the hotel provided, and made the best of it, I should say. We played with the underwater camera, made as big of waves as you can in a square pool, and did handstands and somersaults to our delights.
We had lunch—I had the rest of the dolma, a salad of lettuce, tortilla chips, and salsa, and lots of fruit and some bread. And another cup of coffee. After we ate, we played a couple rounds of Uno, before we decided to look at some of Zach’s pictures with him. These were beautiful, and slowly the idea that Zach has been gone for a while, and this trip changed him, and the fact that he’s here now, and he’s not leaving soon, have started to seep in. And I feel a peace about me that soon we will get a chance to be in the same place and not have any obligations, and soon the degrees of separation will subside and we can be together for however long of a life God bids us.
When Zach came with me into the train station, and said goodbye to me in person, there beside me, with a kiss on the lips, I could tell you that it was perfect. It left me wanting more, excited for the future, motivated to finish strong, and ready to make things happen. I noticed many other changes in me while I was with the Hazlett’s. I felt like I was helping because I wanted to help, and because I could see the solution would make sense if I helped along with them, and because I love them. I could see that I wasn’t a third wheel when I was with them. I feel like part of the family.
Thanks for reading!
Prayer Requests and Praises
--I have four more weeks to go. This week is VBS, so we get a break in the mornings, but pray for all of us as we continue to work our butts off to make this program awesome for the kids.
--Praise that I got to see Zach! It was so awesome, which you probably read. Praise that I also got to go back to D.C.
--I am currently planning to apply to live off campus for the fall, and could use your prayers as I fill out the form. Anna already has an apartment in the perfect location that we are going to share with her roommate, and we just need to get me approved by the committee.
--Pray for Zach as he does reentry and debreifing
--My younger sister Marie is currently at Music Academy at Northwestern University. Because she talks so much with her chest voice, her vocal chords are really stressed and she has to rest them. Pray for her rest.
--My parents are going to Japan at the beginning of August. Pray for safe flights, a wonderful time with their friends, and a great celebration of 25 years of marriage.
Weekly Update #9
This past week started with the Fourth of July. Sylvia, a friend that I made through Zach being at training last fall was working at Camp Deerpark, came with her friend Ben, and walked around Manhattan with us. We visited a Cathedral, played a piano that was on the street (that's a story in itself), walked to Starbucks, walked to Cocoa V (which was closed for the July 4th stuff), and then settled down for our seating to watch the fireworks. Our neighbors had brought a feast with them, and offered some to us when I said "You guys have quite the feast there." We had some later on, when we got hungry. The fireworks were great, but then I don't really like fireworks that much anyway.
And then the first week of the summer program began!
And one week later, we are still alive, still optimistic: still stressed out.
I can't really tell the millions of things that have happened since we started.
More and more kids signed up.
We have busy afternoons.
Camp Deerpark kicked off well, although the bus ride was intense. We are getting a better bus for this next week, though, so it's going to be better.
On Saturday, we had a very intense day of shopping and then I had to go to worship practice.
And then the first week of the summer program began!
And one week later, we are still alive, still optimistic: still stressed out.
I can't really tell the millions of things that have happened since we started.
More and more kids signed up.
We have busy afternoons.
Camp Deerpark kicked off well, although the bus ride was intense. We are getting a better bus for this next week, though, so it's going to be better.
On Saturday, we had a very intense day of shopping and then I had to go to worship practice.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Weekly Update #8
I spent this past week at Camp Deerpark, a Mennonite camp located in Deerpark, New York. It's this beautiful, hilly, green, vast camp that enveloped me in love and affirmation and questions. It relieved stress and caffeinated me. It gave me peanut butter, and lots of vegetables. It gave me new friends, and time to build off of the seeds of starters. It gave me a chance to raft, to swim, to pick peas, to challenge myself, to sing, to wake up way too early and go have devos, and to see God in the beautiful place that is camp.
Prayer Requests and Praises:
--We got a much needed break from the city for a week, and will continue to go every Wednesday.
--I've been reading and running and praying a lot this past week! Thank God for that!
--I made new friends!
--Our day camp program starts on the 6th of July. We have 33 children coming for the morning program, which is free, but only five for the afternoon, which has a still very affordable tuition. Pray for enthusiastic and awesome volunteers.
Sunday started out sort of silly--after waiting at the pick-up spot, in the Bronx for an hour, meanwhile meeting someone who is coming to EMU this fall (how awesome), we found out the bus had broken down, and a couple parents volunteered to drive some of us to Camp. Along the way, we stopped to pick up the bus driver (and I had to pee so bad I went in the woods at that point), and we got lost, and arrived at camp around nine or ten. More people came later, we had a short campfire, and went to bed.
On Monday, I woke up--no lie-- at 5:50, and went for a run down the hill. I made it a little bit back up and then I walked the rest. Two cups of (GOOD) coffee and devotions later, we had our group prayer, breakfast, and started the training. Monday felt so long. There was some manual overview and then lunch. After lunch, I took the swimming test, and passed with flying colors. I dove into the pool (no belly flopping or fails (yaya)), and proceeded to go down the water slide. As I did, I realized I should pinch my nose, did so, and screamed as I splashed into the water. The ring in my nose pushed against the other side of my nose, and hurt a little bit, but I didn't think about it until Zachary, the Program Director, asked, "Are you bleeding?" I said, "No," and brought my finger to my nose, and I was, in fact, bleeding. A lot. Because I was wet, it kept dripping. Right down my neck. They found some gauze and I cleaned myself up, but there was no Biohazard bag, so I had to take my bloody gauze with me to my next activity, which was fire-building. I burned the gauze. There was no need to carry it around. Alicia and I rocked at the fire building, and then I beat Christian at ping-pong. Of course, we did only play one game. We had a cookout for supper, and I owned the fire, and the veggie burgers (and of course, the poor cow-flesh burgers).We had some good discussion before we headed down to play kickball. Which I was great at--until Christian started playing outfield. And when I did get on the field... let's just say I'm way too competitive for my own good. We had campfire, singing a whole bunch of songs that I had never heard before, and then went to bed.
On Tuesday we went for a hike to the Back 40, which means a very steep hill with an awesome view. There were wild blueberries on the way. This was before lunch. After lunch we went rafting. Talk about a leadership developing activity. But I didn't want to be that person. We eventually figured out that Matt's paddling was the key to all issues of the raft going in any other direction, and then continued directing as so. We had to stop early because the other group's raft was leaking air. We had a camp out, and slept under the stars. I went in around three because I was cold.
Wednesday was great! We did some challenge course activities which were frustrating and challenging at the same time. One favorite was the bouldering wall--there was a long strip that you had to boulder down. My other favorite was the wall that you had to get over. People had to lift you up, and someone had to pull you over the wall, and then you pulled them over the wall. After that, we were all exhausted, and I went back to the dining hall and Sherrie was there!! It was great just to talk to someone who wasn't work affiliated or anything, and just wanted to talk and see where I was with everything. After supper, Sylvia needed to go shopping, and as they were leaving, they caught me, and I got to go along. It was a wonderful break from what we were doing there. Sometimes I just need someone to steal me away before things that I want to do start feeling like obligations so I can be refreshed and relaxed for the next thing that I do. I got to bed at ten.
Thursday showed up, and we had some great sessions--Ken Bontrager led a talk about telling your testimony, during which I had to poke Matt to keep him awake. Dan, Christa, and I went to Freedom Farms after lunch. We explored the property, met the family who owned it, and I picked shell peas, all the while taking it in, and LOVING it. I got to talk to Deborah Bontrager about my life. That was fun.We went to Walmart in the afternoon, and were told to find supper for three dollars. We were also shopping for all of camp's needs, so I rode in the cart with Alicia as she shopped for medicines for the camp. We also picked up some nose studs, since I was messing with my ring, and broke it during one of the sessions. For supper, I got a can of beans, a roll, a banana, and a Powerade Zero. The goal of this was to help the staff appreciate the $3 dinners that the camp makes. (which are awesome meals, and I'm a vegan). Then they took us all back to camp and we had a banquet (to show how awesome the $3 meals are) and a talent show. The talent show was fun, because they had a dance-off and a Camp Deerpark's Next Top Model. I walked in the Model one. That was a lot of fun. And then, towards the end, Christa and I sang two of my songs. That was a lot--a lot of fun. I love singing for people!
Friday rolls around, and with Christa and Dan supporting the ladder, I took the staff picture on the roof of the dining hall. Then we ate breakfast, cleaned up. I got to pick up litter around the camp. We left around eleven. The traffic was normal--bad, and we got there around two, and then passed out flyers for a little while, and then we drove to the drop-off station in the Bronx, which took way too long. We rode the Subway home.
I ate beans, a bowl of bran flakes and soy milk, and vegan chocolate chips for supper. . .
Prayer Requests and Praises:
--We got a much needed break from the city for a week, and will continue to go every Wednesday.
--I've been reading and running and praying a lot this past week! Thank God for that!
--I made new friends!
--Our day camp program starts on the 6th of July. We have 33 children coming for the morning program, which is free, but only five for the afternoon, which has a still very affordable tuition. Pray for enthusiastic and awesome volunteers.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Weekly Update #7
We've held volunteer trainings all week, and though it felt a littlr rocky as it began, as time went on, more people came, more people were interested in doing different things, and it's going to work out! Christa and I somehow finished manuals for the volunteer training! (it seemed impossible).
Besides the evening volunteer trainings, most of the Leadership Team attempted to go to the church to pray in the early mornings--i.e. 6:30am--every day. I went to almost all of them--this morning was a sleep-in day for me.
For most of the kids at P.S. 22, the last day that they got to see me at the lunch time was yesterday, and some today, because of their graduation, because it is the end of school, and I'm not going to be in the lunchroom anymore, or outside the school handing out flyers. If they are going to the summer program, they will see me all summer long, and some of them are. But it seems like the ones that I got to know the most aren't coming--they have other plans for the summer, and that's fine, but I will miss them. I'll miss Allison, who is completely adorable and a dork!
Next week, I will be at Camp Deerpark, training with Christa and Daniel for the Camp half of the summer program. We are hoping to bring a couple volunteers with us, but it isn't really defined until we actually leave. We come back from training on July 2nd, and then the program starts on the 6th!
Prayer Requests and Praises:
--Things are working out!
--That everyone who feels called to volunteer would be proactive about it and come!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Update #6
This week was busy, but not horribly busy. I've been getting things done, and feeling like what I'm doing is relevant for what this summer is about. Here's a couple things I was up to:
CPR training--On Thursday, we drove to Bushkill, Pennsylvania, and went to Mont Lawn Camp for CPR training. I had a great time meeting so many different awesome people. The training was intensive and good--it built up my confidence, but I hope I never have to use the skills. It was great to be in the nature and I hadn't realized how great it was to be out there again.
Training plans--We had a volunteer meeting on Wednesday, and he two people show up to listen. Mark and I did some extensive planning for what our training entailed on Friday, and it's looking good.
After-school--Spending more time with those kids. Good and frustrating at the same time. I'm getting more patient with some of them because I have been thinking about different ways to approach teaching them.
Day Off--I got a day off this week. On Monday, I went for a run, and cleaned. It was nice.
Cafeteria work--My relationships with the kids are growing. Like with after-school I'm learning different ways to relate to the kids, and get to know them better. They are great and different, and I love talking to them about their lives and what they are interested in.
Flyers--Christa and I taped flyers to our shirts and lots of people were interested. I ran up and down the hill with two kindergarteners a couple times while eating a cherry icee. Several people picked up flyers with serious interest. The second day that I was at the school after school, a Muslim mother approached me and asked me to give her some registration forms. (so excited--she's bringing four kids into the program!!)
And then there were other things that I was up to Worship Practice and Worship team, on Sunday.
Food pantry-- which was outside today because of the graduation at Flushing Christian School.
Seeker's picnic---later on Saturday, we went to the picnic for all the Christian high school Seekers groups, and handed out flyers for those that might be interested in volunteering for the program. Our volunteer training starts tonight! Pray that there are enough volunteers--the amount of kids that we have signed up for the program is rising and rising--we have close to twenty, ang might have even more because people are still interested.
The Shack--Lily lent me this book to read, and I've been working through it. I'm almost done, and it's been really challenging in some areas. One phrase that Papa said that struck me was, "Do you see God when you think about your future?" And I realized that sometimes I do, in the aspect of where I want Him to lead me, but sometimes, when I look at bleak things, like money, or ever getting through college and finally having a degree, I don't let Him in. So I've been working to let him in, and now I have peace about those things.
Prayer requests and Praises
--volunteers for the program. We have kids, not we need people to help us!
--rest--we are starting to reshuffle our sleeping schedules, and getting up to pray at 6:30 in the morning.
--Praise that my school financial stuff doesn't seem so bleak!
--Praise that the Schools are finally ending and this program is kicking off.
CPR training--On Thursday, we drove to Bushkill, Pennsylvania, and went to Mont Lawn Camp for CPR training. I had a great time meeting so many different awesome people. The training was intensive and good--it built up my confidence, but I hope I never have to use the skills. It was great to be in the nature and I hadn't realized how great it was to be out there again.
Training plans--We had a volunteer meeting on Wednesday, and he two people show up to listen. Mark and I did some extensive planning for what our training entailed on Friday, and it's looking good.
After-school--Spending more time with those kids. Good and frustrating at the same time. I'm getting more patient with some of them because I have been thinking about different ways to approach teaching them.
Day Off--I got a day off this week. On Monday, I went for a run, and cleaned. It was nice.
Cafeteria work--My relationships with the kids are growing. Like with after-school I'm learning different ways to relate to the kids, and get to know them better. They are great and different, and I love talking to them about their lives and what they are interested in.
Flyers--Christa and I taped flyers to our shirts and lots of people were interested. I ran up and down the hill with two kindergarteners a couple times while eating a cherry icee. Several people picked up flyers with serious interest. The second day that I was at the school after school, a Muslim mother approached me and asked me to give her some registration forms. (so excited--she's bringing four kids into the program!!)
And then there were other things that I was up to Worship Practice and Worship team, on Sunday.
Food pantry-- which was outside today because of the graduation at Flushing Christian School.
Seeker's picnic---later on Saturday, we went to the picnic for all the Christian high school Seekers groups, and handed out flyers for those that might be interested in volunteering for the program. Our volunteer training starts tonight! Pray that there are enough volunteers--the amount of kids that we have signed up for the program is rising and rising--we have close to twenty, ang might have even more because people are still interested.
The Shack--Lily lent me this book to read, and I've been working through it. I'm almost done, and it's been really challenging in some areas. One phrase that Papa said that struck me was, "Do you see God when you think about your future?" And I realized that sometimes I do, in the aspect of where I want Him to lead me, but sometimes, when I look at bleak things, like money, or ever getting through college and finally having a degree, I don't let Him in. So I've been working to let him in, and now I have peace about those things.
Prayer requests and Praises
--volunteers for the program. We have kids, not we need people to help us!
--rest--we are starting to reshuffle our sleeping schedules, and getting up to pray at 6:30 in the morning.
--Praise that my school financial stuff doesn't seem so bleak!
--Praise that the Schools are finally ending and this program is kicking off.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Financial Aid (?)
This always happens. It happened last year, and now it's happening again. Most people would look at me and say, "Well, you've already got three years of college under your belt, you've only got one more!" But it's not like I have just one more. I have two more. Maybe five semesters. So it's so frustrating when I don't get the financial aid that I need. I'm in Flushing this summer. I'm doing mission work, and I'm not working at a job that will make me money so that I can go to school.
How the heck am I supposed to get $3,600 for next year if I'm working a negative job. It's not like I'll get paid the extra money people gave me for my trip if I don't spend it. And I'm also not really qualified to do anything besides work at a summer camp or a daycare or teach piano lessons. And if I don't get paid to do any of those things, then is school even going to happen this year?
We all talk about how college is shaping and the friends are wonderful. I agree. Friends are wonderful, and they challenge me and make me better, but if I can't provide for myself, then there's really nothing that I can feel but stressed about money and worried that these things won't happen.
I want to be able to provide for myself, and live sustainably. I would like to get a job and play gigs, in all honesty. I would rather play music than be at school. And I know that getting a degree is great, because then it's something to fall back on. But aren't internships better? Isn't one-to-one learning how they did it before they wrote the textbooks? Aren't all the ideas that people come up with from observation anyway? Not just something that they learned in a book?
All these things become fire in my belly, and I wish that the right person would hear it and fund my freaking education. The hardest part for me is that I don't even know if Social work is something I should do. It's a great idea, and I love the thought of being able to solve someone's problems and helping uncorupt the system, but the reason that I haven't declared anything is because I'm still uncertain. Last semester I went from one idea to another for days and days and weeks and weeks because I couldn't make up my mind, that I cannot define that the one thing that I'm meant to do is go to school. What if going to school isn't what I'm supposed to do? I mean it could be, but ever since I've had a break from the classroom, I'm much more driven to drive--and to be. So maybe school isn't it for me right now. I wish that I could say that after all this time I'm ok with going back to school and becoming a great amazing Social worker, but I like doing those things for fun. I like it when you get paid for fun, but when I can be my own person. I feel like training strains and pushes into a cookie cutter. I hate that all the people I look up to went to college, and I can't make up my mind or suck it up and just finish the four years.
There are so many reasons that I went to Akron in high school--and one of those reasons was to avoid some of the pains of debt and such. It doesn't help that I paid for it last year and I still feel like I'm starting all over again. Ugh Ugh. I pray that everything works out, and that I can make it through school.
How the heck am I supposed to get $3,600 for next year if I'm working a negative job. It's not like I'll get paid the extra money people gave me for my trip if I don't spend it. And I'm also not really qualified to do anything besides work at a summer camp or a daycare or teach piano lessons. And if I don't get paid to do any of those things, then is school even going to happen this year?
We all talk about how college is shaping and the friends are wonderful. I agree. Friends are wonderful, and they challenge me and make me better, but if I can't provide for myself, then there's really nothing that I can feel but stressed about money and worried that these things won't happen.
I want to be able to provide for myself, and live sustainably. I would like to get a job and play gigs, in all honesty. I would rather play music than be at school. And I know that getting a degree is great, because then it's something to fall back on. But aren't internships better? Isn't one-to-one learning how they did it before they wrote the textbooks? Aren't all the ideas that people come up with from observation anyway? Not just something that they learned in a book?
All these things become fire in my belly, and I wish that the right person would hear it and fund my freaking education. The hardest part for me is that I don't even know if Social work is something I should do. It's a great idea, and I love the thought of being able to solve someone's problems and helping uncorupt the system, but the reason that I haven't declared anything is because I'm still uncertain. Last semester I went from one idea to another for days and days and weeks and weeks because I couldn't make up my mind, that I cannot define that the one thing that I'm meant to do is go to school. What if going to school isn't what I'm supposed to do? I mean it could be, but ever since I've had a break from the classroom, I'm much more driven to drive--and to be. So maybe school isn't it for me right now. I wish that I could say that after all this time I'm ok with going back to school and becoming a great amazing Social worker, but I like doing those things for fun. I like it when you get paid for fun, but when I can be my own person. I feel like training strains and pushes into a cookie cutter. I hate that all the people I look up to went to college, and I can't make up my mind or suck it up and just finish the four years.
There are so many reasons that I went to Akron in high school--and one of those reasons was to avoid some of the pains of debt and such. It doesn't help that I paid for it last year and I still feel like I'm starting all over again. Ugh Ugh. I pray that everything works out, and that I can make it through school.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Who I am/Weekly Update.
I feel like it's something that I redefine myself with every week or so. But we've been talking about so many things that define us, but don't have to do with our physical identities here on earth. What does it mean to be identified as a Lover of God, and nothing else?
As I look at all the things that I have done and gone through to get to this point, I know that there have been times when I have not been defined as a Lover of God. There are people who see it in me, and know that it is the reason that I exist and continue to exist. I hope and pray that this summer, I have, and will continue to portray a Lover of God, and do these things here and now, because I love God.
This past week was a wave of rest and change. It did not feel as hectic as the week before, but I felt like I was getting to know the inside of my house way too well, and seeing the bottom of a peanut butter jar way too fast. There was some peace in this, knowing that even though I'm extroverted, it's good to take some time off to think, and take a breather. But this week starts the balance between the busy and the hermit.
Last week I had a chance to go to the Museum of Modern Art, and see Norah Jones in concert (for a couple songs). We also enjoyed some coffee, a trip to Burger Heaven (where I was greeted by some Vegetarian Chili, and no Burgers were thrust in my way.) At the concert, we were compromised by the rain, and that everyone making the ocean of umbrellas that was our view of the concert, and thus, the umbrellas were dripping on me and Christa, and so we were catching drips in cups, but we still got soaked, completely chilled, and disenchanted, we took the subway home.
I was blessed by being able to talk to Zach on Skype, although I had no idea that he was going to be on that day. I got a phone call from D, saying that he was online, and I ran home. Literally. It was wonderful. Then I got to talk to him the next day, on his birthday. It's so good to reconnect with him, and I cannot wait until he's back in the United States. Things make sense when I spend time with him. He makes me a better person.
I had a great discussion with someone who told me to make sure that while I was here, to not just be known as Grace, the intern we had over the summer, but to be known as Grace, a girl who was here this summer, who was here. To find my identity as a Lover of God. It's been in my thoughts for a little while.
I got my financial aid package in the mail, via my mother. At first, it looked really good, but then I realized that there was a couple thousand dollars that I needed that weren't accounted for, and so now I'm a bit frustrated with the system. Why should it cost so much to go to school, to follow dreams? I'm getting in contact with the financial aid office at EMU, just to make sure that there weren't things accidently left off, but in the mean time, I'm dealing with some major frustration, and occasionally thinking about trying to find a different way out--like looking at jobs and internships (I saw one at PETA that I was interested in). But I don't want to take things into my own hands. That's not what God wants for me. An example of God providing for me--for this trip--is on replay in my head, reminding me that when I need the funds, and I'm going where God wants me to go, these fund appear, and they are in surplus. I have been blessed to be sent here, and I'm so thankful for every single penny. But what if I'm not funded for school? What if that doesn't happen this semester? Does that mean that God is asking me to go somewhere else? Or is he asking me not to go anywhere, to stay here?
Prayer requests:
Patience--I seem to have less and less of it lately
Peace--about my financial aid, and my future
Perseverance-- some days, the after-school program just overcomes me, and completely drains me
Praises:
I've been writing music, and running.
As I look at all the things that I have done and gone through to get to this point, I know that there have been times when I have not been defined as a Lover of God. There are people who see it in me, and know that it is the reason that I exist and continue to exist. I hope and pray that this summer, I have, and will continue to portray a Lover of God, and do these things here and now, because I love God.
This past week was a wave of rest and change. It did not feel as hectic as the week before, but I felt like I was getting to know the inside of my house way too well, and seeing the bottom of a peanut butter jar way too fast. There was some peace in this, knowing that even though I'm extroverted, it's good to take some time off to think, and take a breather. But this week starts the balance between the busy and the hermit.
Last week I had a chance to go to the Museum of Modern Art, and see Norah Jones in concert (for a couple songs). We also enjoyed some coffee, a trip to Burger Heaven (where I was greeted by some Vegetarian Chili, and no Burgers were thrust in my way.) At the concert, we were compromised by the rain, and that everyone making the ocean of umbrellas that was our view of the concert, and thus, the umbrellas were dripping on me and Christa, and so we were catching drips in cups, but we still got soaked, completely chilled, and disenchanted, we took the subway home.
I was blessed by being able to talk to Zach on Skype, although I had no idea that he was going to be on that day. I got a phone call from D, saying that he was online, and I ran home. Literally. It was wonderful. Then I got to talk to him the next day, on his birthday. It's so good to reconnect with him, and I cannot wait until he's back in the United States. Things make sense when I spend time with him. He makes me a better person.
I had a great discussion with someone who told me to make sure that while I was here, to not just be known as Grace, the intern we had over the summer, but to be known as Grace, a girl who was here this summer, who was here. To find my identity as a Lover of God. It's been in my thoughts for a little while.
I got my financial aid package in the mail, via my mother. At first, it looked really good, but then I realized that there was a couple thousand dollars that I needed that weren't accounted for, and so now I'm a bit frustrated with the system. Why should it cost so much to go to school, to follow dreams? I'm getting in contact with the financial aid office at EMU, just to make sure that there weren't things accidently left off, but in the mean time, I'm dealing with some major frustration, and occasionally thinking about trying to find a different way out--like looking at jobs and internships (I saw one at PETA that I was interested in). But I don't want to take things into my own hands. That's not what God wants for me. An example of God providing for me--for this trip--is on replay in my head, reminding me that when I need the funds, and I'm going where God wants me to go, these fund appear, and they are in surplus. I have been blessed to be sent here, and I'm so thankful for every single penny. But what if I'm not funded for school? What if that doesn't happen this semester? Does that mean that God is asking me to go somewhere else? Or is he asking me not to go anywhere, to stay here?
Prayer requests:
Patience--I seem to have less and less of it lately
Peace--about my financial aid, and my future
Perseverance-- some days, the after-school program just overcomes me, and completely drains me
Praises:
I've been writing music, and running.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Urbanbusy
We've had meetings everyday about the summer program, and then I've gone to PS 22 to hang out with the kids. One of the days I brought over some of the flyers for the kids. I brought around ten or something, and within talking to two tables, all my flyers were gone, and i hope that these kids are really interested in this program.
I have felt really welcomed into the school. Lily, who is the parent coordinator of the school, continues to invite me and Christa to hang out and talk with her after lunch is over, and it has been great. I've also gotten a chance to get to know Tracey, who is the security guard for the school. The even more awesome thing is that Lily has gone into the kitchen after the school is done, and found something vegan for me to eat. I'm so thankful for that option.
There was an intergenerational bible study meeting on Friday that was really great. We separated into smaller groups and then were discussing what Mark talked about, but our group's discussion went from "do you want to receive the holy spirit?" to "Do you want to become a Christian?" and it was a great great discussion, and a couple of the girls said that they wanted to become Christians.
On Saturday, I worked at the food pantry again. Going through the clothes that were set out, I found a pair of shorts that looked like they would fit me, ran off to the bathroom, changed, and then I had a new pair of shorts. This was a blessing because I needed a pair of shorts.
Later in the day, Christa needed to go to the bank, and I needed to go grocery shopping, but was being lazy about it, so we got proactive and headed over the H Mart. I got everything I needed, which was more than was on my list, and more than Christa predicted I would need money-wise, and we got to the checkout line and I went over by thirty three cents. The cashier, after what seemed like two or three minutes, but must have been shorter than that, she said that it was fine, but that I "owed her" and pointed to her name tag and her aisle number.
I walked home with all of my groceries, got thirty-three cents, walked back to the H-Mart, gave it to her, introduced myself, and then went on my way. I didn't think I should do it any other way.
I got to have dinner with a lady from the church at a vegan restaurant called "Happy Buddha." It was so good. I had vegan cheesecake (which I vow to make at some point) and "triple Mushroom Delight" (which was completely delightful). I think there are more people who want to take me there, so I may or may not get to go again and try something different. I can't wait!
I sang on the worship team today. There is a team of people from Texas who come to New York routinely, and they have a prayer station. They were at church, and one of theirs brought the message.
There was a Street Fair this afternoon (which, to give a comparison to my mother, is very similar if not the same as a Streetsboro Family Days), and they set up the prayer station there. I didn't really feel like there was anything that I was supposed to do at that point--handing out tracts isn't my thing, so I wandered around the fair and then went and sat by the prayer station, and ended up talking to Yusup for the next hour or it seemed, until it started raining and everyone started leaving.
It poured, and kids screamed with joyous laughter. Some people hurried, while I just walked solowly, taking in the increditbility of being wet, and experiencing something like this and being free to experience it. yay for pouring rain.
Prayer requests and praises.
--Praise that I am blessed with so many people and opportunities. Pray that I get enough rest and time by myself with God.
--Pray that God will speak enthusiasm into high schoolers to volunteer for the summer program. Pray against inhibitors and the evil of the human nature.
It poured, and kids screamed with joyous laughter. Some people hurried, while I just walked solowly, taking in the increditbility of being wet, and experiencing something like this and being free to experience it. yay for pouring rain.
Prayer requests and praises.
--Praise that I am blessed with so many people and opportunities. Pray that I get enough rest and time by myself with God.
--Pray that God will speak enthusiasm into high schoolers to volunteer for the summer program. Pray against inhibitors and the evil of the human nature.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Thoughts over the past week
God has been stirring my heart recently. More like the speed that you need to make egg whites form stiff peaks, though. So as you imagine that, take this in as well.
Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I do? I tell you the truth, the man who listens to what I say and puts it into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. When the flood came, torrents beat against the house, but because the foundation was on the rock, it was NOT moved. But listening to what I say and not putting it into practice is like the man who built his house upon the sand. The flood came, and when the torrent hit the house, it was completely destroyed. Luke 6:46-49ish
(That would be the Grace translation, because it's been meditated in my mind for a little while)
For the past week or so, I have been attempting to find a theme for the Summer Program--either for the staff, or so the kids, and it seems that it only made it's way into my heart.
I was thinking we should do daily themes on the fruits of the spirit, but then I realized that we should be doing that ANYWAY, and it frustrated me. I read this verse, and was floored, because all the things that God wants us to do, like conflict resolution and teachings, should be led out in our everyday lives--Loving your enemies, not judging others, constantly being accountable to each other for the planks in our own eyes/lives.
So when I brought up the idea--or my process, and exclaimed my own feelings about the passage, Mark suggested the Beautitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted,
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called Sons of God
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
What do the verses with the word "righteousness" mean to you?
Last Friday, we had our Young Adult meeting, and we talked about Romans 3. Weslea was talking about that word, along with the word "justified" and how Christ justified us, so that we can be with Christ in the end.
When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, is that sitting sitll in your belif? No, it's not. It's being proactive and letting Jesus lead your actions. When you are persecuted for righteousness, is it because you are a passive Christian? No! It's because there is NO DOUBT that you are proclaiming for Jesus' love, death, and then life!
Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I do? I tell you the truth, the man who listens to what I say and puts it into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. When the flood came, torrents beat against the house, but because the foundation was on the rock, it was NOT moved. But listening to what I say and not putting it into practice is like the man who built his house upon the sand. The flood came, and when the torrent hit the house, it was completely destroyed. Luke 6:46-49ish
(That would be the Grace translation, because it's been meditated in my mind for a little while)
For the past week or so, I have been attempting to find a theme for the Summer Program--either for the staff, or so the kids, and it seems that it only made it's way into my heart.
I was thinking we should do daily themes on the fruits of the spirit, but then I realized that we should be doing that ANYWAY, and it frustrated me. I read this verse, and was floored, because all the things that God wants us to do, like conflict resolution and teachings, should be led out in our everyday lives--Loving your enemies, not judging others, constantly being accountable to each other for the planks in our own eyes/lives.
So when I brought up the idea--or my process, and exclaimed my own feelings about the passage, Mark suggested the Beautitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted,
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called Sons of God
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
What do the verses with the word "righteousness" mean to you?
Last Friday, we had our Young Adult meeting, and we talked about Romans 3. Weslea was talking about that word, along with the word "justified" and how Christ justified us, so that we can be with Christ in the end.
When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, is that sitting sitll in your belif? No, it's not. It's being proactive and letting Jesus lead your actions. When you are persecuted for righteousness, is it because you are a passive Christian? No! It's because there is NO DOUBT that you are proclaiming for Jesus' love, death, and then life!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Intensity is Rising.
I celebrated my 19th birthday this past Sunday and Monday. Because I was calling Zach, and Hannah really wanted to see the Lost finale, we had to save part of our adventure for the next day.
On Monday, Christa and I both had a morning meeting to plan and prepare for our summer program, and then along with Hannah, we went to Manhattan. We took the Metro there, and went all over the place. I couldn't even tell you all the places that we went to. We mostly went shopping. The dress I was wearing that day (which I got at Walmart last August for $3) was at one of the stores, for $8.
We have been planning this summer program for kids, and it has been really intense lately--Monday's meeting we planned out so much that needed to be done, yet by today, I think we have finished most of them. This week's goal was getting flyers out to parents who might be interested and we were working with the Parent Coordinator at Public School 22 and Christa and I got to "volunteer" with the kids in the cafeteria during lunch time. I went on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and I have had such a blst iwth those kids. There are so many kids. Most of them are Chinese, there's some kids from Haiti, Mexico, Pakistan, it's insane how many weren't born here. Most of them wonder why I'm there, and I tell them that I just want to hang out with them. It's impossible to hear them when they tell me their names in that cafeteria. I remember a couple. Some kids are really interested in me, and why I'm there, and others could care less, but certainly when I get behind the piano (in the cafeteria, no less) they run over and see who is playing. On Thursday, it seemed to be like a riot--they were all pushing to see me, and were squishing others. That was intense, and I stopped playing when that happened. Sometimes I forget I'm white, and that I look different from these kids. On the first day that I went into the cafeteria, there was a little girl who asked me if anyone in my family was famous. I told her that my younger sister was going to be an opera singer, and that I wrote music but wasn't famous, and then she said, "No, I mean in history, like from the American Revolution," which was when I told her my ancestors only came to America in the mid-1800s.
Thursday night there was a PTA sponsered concert that we handed out flyers at. Many MANY parents were interested once we mentioned the first "free" portion (we are doing a morning portion, including breakfast and lunch, that is completely free).
Today is Hannah's birthday, and after we talked about having a meeting for worship practice, it didn't actually happen, and instead, I got to go with Hannah, Christa, and Annabelle (Hannah's mom) and look for a tattoo parlor. We had empanadas--mine was made with corn flour and veggies inside, and tasted a little like Fritos on the outside.
So far, I've just experienced so much! There are so many people I've met, though a lot of them are in Kindergarten through fifth grade, and I cannot wait to meet more of them!
Prayer requests:
--I seem to be lacking energy and getting headaches halfway through the day. . and the sore throat and sinus stuff that I had last week has been hanging around.
--Spanish again. I mostly feel like my communication is pretty weak, and I need paryer for that.
--Pray that I make sure I have balance in what I'm doing, and not overschedule.. It's something that I like to do without realizing it.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Week Update #2
This is an interesting moment to take in, as I write my update, and listen to the Muslim boys in the basement say their evening prayers. God works there too, and I pray that there is something that will let these wonderful people that God is also a gentle God, is a Father God, and sent His Son Jesus to take away sin.
The past few days have flown by and have been full of different things that I've done so much that I feel like it's been weeks. And yet I have now been in Queens already and only a week.
This past Saturday, I spend time working at a Food Pantry. I put carrots and potatoes in bags, and then handed then to some of the people that came to the Pantry. There were people from all sorts of ethnicities. African, Latino, Indian, Chinese, and Korean. Some were homeless, some looked like they were okay. Some looked like they needed this boost. I met several people that time. Pastor Conrad let me in, and he was very kind. There were a bunch of older ladies that were sweet, and very supportive.
Mark took me to Main St. in Flushing, by the Queens library. There were people from StreetLife who were handing out tracts and talking to people. There was a man who was mad that they were in front of the library and called the cops, who thought that it was completely fine that they were there. Main Street looked like Beijing with all of the signs in Chinese and Korean all over the place.
I went to the worship practice, and that was really fun, and good. I forgot how nice it was to be on a worship team, and how much I missed singing contemporary songs. It was also a pretty intense moment of worship, and I could feel God moving through all of us.
Sunday morning arrived, and the service was longer than I'm used to. . that being said, it was still good, but I was losing my attention span towards the end, but God was still working there.
All week I have been working at the After School Program--using my Spanish and getting better while I work with Denisa (pronounced DayNaysa) to help her comprehend English through my Spanish. It gets better everytime, but is also slightly frustrating when she misses a day. And of course, when I'm tired and can't help some of the kids.
We have done some very intense planning for our Summer Day Camp. Christa and a very miniscule amount of my assistance made a flyer, and we have had a couple meetings about what we are going to do and have looked at our resources. It looks like we are going to have a trip to Camp Deerpark every week, and on the other days, have a free program in the morning, and a paid program in the afternoons. We are making it highly affordable and it's going to be awesome! (if of course, we get good staff and have enough energy, so pray for that!)
Yesterday when I walked over to Christa's house, I turned onto her street and walked toward a woman and a man who were discussing the large branches that were on the ground beside the car of a commuter and the woman looked at me and looked at me again and said, "You are the spitting image of my niece!" I introduced myself, and then had a bit of a conversation with her. She was very kind. Her name was also Grace, and her home was the place where people seemed to drop off animals that they didn't want... Like a cat lady... (Marie, my sister will get a kick out of this). But the sweet and awesome part is that this woman, when I told her about the program we were planning, said that she wanted some of the flyers to hand out to the working moms that she knew. So that was totally God working there.
Today I have felt sick. My neck is sore, as is my throat and I didn't really have the energy to work with kids. We went over to PS 22 (Public School 22) and discussed and decided that Daniel, Christa, and I were going to go over to the school during lunch time and associate with the kids. Of course, I saw Ali, who is one of the boys who lives in the basement, and went and sat at his table for a little while. He's really kind, and a good kid. He introduced me to all of the people at the table, and that was fun. I could have stayed there with them for the entire time. It was SO loud in there.
We continued to talk to Lili, the lady who was enthusiastic about us coming, and she was telling us that she was really encouraged for us to be there. And I felt like God was calling me, especially to be there, and that I could help, and I would love to do that. Though I was feeling all day, during the time I was there, there was some new found energy that God had given me. I just felt called to be there for those kids. The only thing is, the guidance--the example that they really need I can't give to them, because I'm not a man.
They need male example, someone to be a father figure or a big brother with God in his heart leading him. And not just during lunch time--all day. And only God can bring that. Only God can bring Jesus into these schools.
Prayer requests:
--That this cold thing will heal before my birthday, which is on Sunday.
--For my wonderful sweet neighbors.
--For energetic AWESOME high schoolers to staff the day camp
--For the kids in the public schools of New York City, that they would have good examples.
--For energy and encouragement for the staff at the After School Program
God is Good!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Flushed In
No pun intended with the title, but it's pretty much how I feel--to the point where, they threw me in a "flushing device", flushed it, and now I'm mixed into whatever was different from me, and we are all comfortable with each other... Sorry for the sickening analogy.
I arrived in Queens on Thursday afternoon and was literally "flushed in" to the cycle of things. The worship team, meeting people, explaining why I am vegan (a different reason every time), telling people I'm from Ohio, but different parts of Ohio, how I'm a senior by credits, but only one year out of high school...ahh my complicated life.
I feel really welcomed into the Flushing environment, connecting with two girls, Christa and Hannah right away within these first few days. I am certainly welcomed into the house that I'm staying in-- a woman named Patricia houses missionaries for free, and when contacted by someone from the church, said she would house me for no charge, and that she is going out of town for some of the summer.
I spent the first night at Christa's house, where her mother, when finding out that I was vegan, supplied me with a lifetime of peanut butter, two cartons of soy milk, and a box with cans of beans, vegetables, and half a loaf of whole wheat bread.
I went to the Discipleship meeting for the worship team on the first day I was in Flushing, and dug deep into the word with the Worship team, for two and a half hours. Then yesterday evening, I went to the Young Adult Bible Study, and delved more into the word. The interesting thing is that I haven't gotten to do my devotions. But God takes me as I am, vulnerable in these new situations, learning in intense ways, what he wants me to learn, which is really great, and important. These bibles studies are a great shaper for what this summer is going to be like--God filled, and God driven. I'm pumped.
Christa showed me around Kissena Park when I was at her house. It was raining when we woke up but by the time we stepped out the door, there was a shining sun, and it was quite warm. I cannot wait to go running there-- it's so beautiful.
At the after-school tutoring program, on the first day, it was sort of unsuccessful. Introduced as knowing some Spanish I was set to work with Denise Mandelena, fresh from El Salvador, and to teach her the alphabet. I felt really bad because I wasn't able to communicate very well with her. But then yesterday, it went really well--we were doing math, and I was much more comfortable. I made her smile a lot, and I think she is catching on quickly.
Christa and Hannah came over to my house and we watched Gigi the musical last night--it was an interesting way to spend the evening, but entertaining, no doubt.
Christa took me to the Korean food market, where I might do some of my shopping. There is supposedly a Whole Foods and a Target elsewhere, but who knows when I'm going to get a chance to go shopping there--soon I hope. I need some tofu. I'm going to get sick of PB and J really soon.
Pictures and videos to come? (when I take, upload, and edit them--I'm really busy here.)
The Pakistani woman who lives in Pat's basement brought Pat breakfast this morning, and while waiting for pat, told me I was so pretty, and made me some tea, (which I'm sure has milk in it, but I appreciate her kindness. I hope to spend more time with them in the future--we'll see.)
Prayer requests:
--That I will work on my Spanish.
--For the family of Pakistani Muslims in the basement
--That I will let Christ reverberate from my soul.
I arrived in Queens on Thursday afternoon and was literally "flushed in" to the cycle of things. The worship team, meeting people, explaining why I am vegan (a different reason every time), telling people I'm from Ohio, but different parts of Ohio, how I'm a senior by credits, but only one year out of high school...ahh my complicated life.
I feel really welcomed into the Flushing environment, connecting with two girls, Christa and Hannah right away within these first few days. I am certainly welcomed into the house that I'm staying in-- a woman named Patricia houses missionaries for free, and when contacted by someone from the church, said she would house me for no charge, and that she is going out of town for some of the summer.
I spent the first night at Christa's house, where her mother, when finding out that I was vegan, supplied me with a lifetime of peanut butter, two cartons of soy milk, and a box with cans of beans, vegetables, and half a loaf of whole wheat bread.
I went to the Discipleship meeting for the worship team on the first day I was in Flushing, and dug deep into the word with the Worship team, for two and a half hours. Then yesterday evening, I went to the Young Adult Bible Study, and delved more into the word. The interesting thing is that I haven't gotten to do my devotions. But God takes me as I am, vulnerable in these new situations, learning in intense ways, what he wants me to learn, which is really great, and important. These bibles studies are a great shaper for what this summer is going to be like--God filled, and God driven. I'm pumped.
Christa showed me around Kissena Park when I was at her house. It was raining when we woke up but by the time we stepped out the door, there was a shining sun, and it was quite warm. I cannot wait to go running there-- it's so beautiful.
At the after-school tutoring program, on the first day, it was sort of unsuccessful. Introduced as knowing some Spanish I was set to work with Denise Mandelena, fresh from El Salvador, and to teach her the alphabet. I felt really bad because I wasn't able to communicate very well with her. But then yesterday, it went really well--we were doing math, and I was much more comfortable. I made her smile a lot, and I think she is catching on quickly.
Christa and Hannah came over to my house and we watched Gigi the musical last night--it was an interesting way to spend the evening, but entertaining, no doubt.
Christa took me to the Korean food market, where I might do some of my shopping. There is supposedly a Whole Foods and a Target elsewhere, but who knows when I'm going to get a chance to go shopping there--soon I hope. I need some tofu. I'm going to get sick of PB and J really soon.
Pictures and videos to come? (when I take, upload, and edit them--I'm really busy here.)
The Pakistani woman who lives in Pat's basement brought Pat breakfast this morning, and while waiting for pat, told me I was so pretty, and made me some tea, (which I'm sure has milk in it, but I appreciate her kindness. I hope to spend more time with them in the future--we'll see.)
Prayer requests:
--That I will work on my Spanish.
--For the family of Pakistani Muslims in the basement
--That I will let Christ reverberate from my soul.
Monday, May 10, 2010
What Does it all mean?
I decided that I wanted to do Social Work.
Now I'm itching to run away from making and sticking with that decision.
Agony.
This past weekend I played a song during the church service. Many people commented on the passion that drove the song.
The passion that drives my music.
That passion drives my life.
Sometimes the music is why I want to be.
Yet there is always the issue of the job being social enough.
I am extroverted; a talker. Playing the piano makes you face the instrument you play and you can't look at people that you are playing for.
For me, keyboards aren't the same. I want them to be, and sometimes they are great, but I don't get inspired as much from a keyboard.
But music brings so much out of me.
Every time I go to a concert of someone else, I want to do the same thing. I want to be on that stage and bare my soul to the crowd.
When I went back to Streetsboro, I told the band director that I was going to New YOrk for the summer, and she said, "Oh, as a free lance musician?"
As I told her that it was for a mission, her words still struck me.
And I still wonder if I'm on the right path.
Why can't I just decide that I'm going to do music, that I'm going to record instead of going to school or something. Maybe it would be worth it.
Again, it's the social aspect--Promising people I'm coming back to EMU--promising I'm rooming with Crystal.
But my mind is everywhere, and I've been all over the place when I'm going everywhere. I cannot decide.
Ahhh. I wish I wasn't a disappoint me to some--that they didn't miss me when I wasn't there, and that I could see them more often.
Am I just meant to be a Nomad, wandering, playing, being passionate, being more passionate, doing what I'm passionate about?
Lord Jesus, Here I am. Send me where I am to go!
Now I'm itching to run away from making and sticking with that decision.
Agony.
This past weekend I played a song during the church service. Many people commented on the passion that drove the song.
The passion that drives my music.
That passion drives my life.
Sometimes the music is why I want to be.
Yet there is always the issue of the job being social enough.
I am extroverted; a talker. Playing the piano makes you face the instrument you play and you can't look at people that you are playing for.
For me, keyboards aren't the same. I want them to be, and sometimes they are great, but I don't get inspired as much from a keyboard.
But music brings so much out of me.
Every time I go to a concert of someone else, I want to do the same thing. I want to be on that stage and bare my soul to the crowd.
When I went back to Streetsboro, I told the band director that I was going to New YOrk for the summer, and she said, "Oh, as a free lance musician?"
As I told her that it was for a mission, her words still struck me.
And I still wonder if I'm on the right path.
Why can't I just decide that I'm going to do music, that I'm going to record instead of going to school or something. Maybe it would be worth it.
Again, it's the social aspect--Promising people I'm coming back to EMU--promising I'm rooming with Crystal.
But my mind is everywhere, and I've been all over the place when I'm going everywhere. I cannot decide.
Ahhh. I wish I wasn't a disappoint me to some--that they didn't miss me when I wasn't there, and that I could see them more often.
Am I just meant to be a Nomad, wandering, playing, being passionate, being more passionate, doing what I'm passionate about?
Lord Jesus, Here I am. Send me where I am to go!
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Training at HDC
I was nervous beyond all reason when I left for Harrisburg directly after the Sunday service. I drove through Ohio and Pennsylvania, searching for Christian radio stations, and trying to avoid thinking about the feelings of uncertainty that were dancing through my head. I felt insecure about driving by myself, and was worrying about the money I was spending on gas, and that I would mess up the directions. I couldn't figure out how to turn off the heat either, so I was rather warm.
But at some point on the four hour blur of the PA turnpike, I saw God in the sky. There was a cloud in the shape of an eye, and as the radio station I had currently found played a song of encouragement, I knew that God was with me, that what I was doing was good, and that I needed to stop worrying. I almost cried as I let God fill me up and encourage me. I stared into the eye until I had to focus on the road, but I had a peace about me. God was with me, I was going where he wanted me to go, and that's all I knew.
The egging worry that had been taking a toll on my head and my guts left when I turned into the HDC parking lot, one hour early, and was met by familiar faces. Margaret, Melanie, Jess, Rachel, and Dorrin.
There were two people in GO! training with me--Scott, and Elisa. Elisa I knew from EMU--she was one of the juniors in the Pre-med program that were a part of the Organic Chemistry class that I was photographing for work study. Scott, who I met for the first time, was only introduced to me once, and I forgot that his name was Scott, and called him Eric in my head.
We played Scattergories, and that was a great way to get to know everyone (that played). I t was really chill, even though when the buzzer "clicked" stop, it was quite obnoxious, and a jumping experience for me more than one time. I won.. because I'm bizarre.
I had decided to just be vegetarian while I was there. It's too hard to educate people on Veganism 101, and then the discussions that ensued for the rest of the training were enough.
Monday morning training was good. It was quite an intense start, but it was still good. We did some prayer for each other--each of us prayed for the person to our left, and I prayed for Jess. We were supposed to ask God what he wanted us to pray for that person about. I had some words, but I had a melody stuck in my head for the part of the time that I was praying for her.
Elisa was going to Peru, and Scott, to Central Asia.
We were told to go on a prayer walk throughout the city, and I decided that I didn't want to walk around without a bag to pick up trash, so I brought a trash bag and picked up trash while I was walking. Twise people asked me if I was doing Community Service, one man asked me what "staff" I was with Convention, and one guy, all these people were sitting on their porches, said, "God loves you and I do too!"
The irony of it all is that later in the day, we went for community outreach, and we picked up trash, which was a group activity. It was more solemn as a group.
We had some reading assignments--and I walked up to the prayer room to do mine later in the evening, and Scott was already there, but the shade was open so I joined him. In an English accent, I told him I had a timepiece. (also known as my cell phone), so we went down stairs for supper at the right time.
Jamila, Taylor, and Tyler were all at HDC on Monday and part of Tuesday. They were working on some social outreach things, and so it was really cool for them to be there. I hadn't seen them all semester. Jamila braided my hair, and we got to hang out with them.
I was thoroughly enjoying helping wash dishes, and was helping put some away after dinner, when Dorrin thought that it would be a good idea to leave the silverware container out to put the dried silverware in, but he couldn't remember my name so he said, "Female!" and then apologized profusely...
Tuesday began with some great sessions. Chris led the session on Humility and it was a really great, rather informing session. Later, Ryan Showalter showed up and did another session on Why Missions. And informed me on some stuff about Queens, which was great--more information. Then we had a session with Clair Good about Contextualized something or other. He knew more about me and my parents and sisters than I knew about him.. It's always interesting when those things happen. He talked about how it's important to look for Christ in every situation, and when we witness to people, it shouldn't be to witness for God, it's God witnessing through us.
But that was a great session.
And then they sent us out on an "Evangelism Plunge", which was to go out and meet a person and have a meaningful conversation with them. We went as a group, and walked down Derry Street, and turned onto 17th street, and walked past this man, who Scott asked where the pharmacy was, and then we struck up conversation with him. We talked about where he'd been and where we'd bene and what his family was like and what he was doing now, and he brought us over to the pizza place where he worked and gave us pizza, which was sooo good and we continued to talk. It was great, and he was really nice.
We walked back to the house, and Elisa and I decided to go play soccer outside, and some boys from the neighborhood came soon after we started our volleyball and soccer playing. I taught them, and Elisa a little bit about soccer, and then played with them a little while. It was a lot of fun. Their names were Jay, Malachi, Will, and Shawn. Nice boys.
We had supper, and then commissioning prayer, which was great, and then we played Dutch Blitz while waiting for Elisa and Jess to get back (they had to drive Elisa's car to Salunga). I was playing against quite the pros, and I haven't had a lot of time to organize my strategy... Dorrin was rooting for everyone except Margaret, because she had some completely pulverized him in the past. I started getting better in the second game.
We went out for a low-cost treat--to ice cream, and their kid sized scoop was larger than any scoop that I would eat EVER in a normal sized portion... and I hadn't had ice cream since before Lent, so it was really sweet and rich... not to mention, I had the Chocolate Cupcake flavor. I forced my ice cream upon some... who forced it upon others... it really was the communal ice cream, because Marge, Elisa, and Scott all had some.
I had had a cup of coffee during the game of Dutch Blitz, and it made me really awake at eleven when i was going to bed, and I didn't sleep well. I was so awake that I thought about leaving then to drive home, but I didn't.
When I woke up in the morning--at five thirty to the alarm clock bird, I tried to fall back asleep, and stayed in bed until 6:15, and then I decided to pack and leave, because I was up and there wasn't any point.
I took two apples, (not realizing that I already had one in the car that I hadn't eaten), some apple chips.. got sick of apples. . . and some mixed nuts, and figured that would tide me over.
Then I drove home, deciding halfway there that I was going to stop in Streetsboro and surprise and see people.
I did. It was great. But it's an entire other blog.
But at some point on the four hour blur of the PA turnpike, I saw God in the sky. There was a cloud in the shape of an eye, and as the radio station I had currently found played a song of encouragement, I knew that God was with me, that what I was doing was good, and that I needed to stop worrying. I almost cried as I let God fill me up and encourage me. I stared into the eye until I had to focus on the road, but I had a peace about me. God was with me, I was going where he wanted me to go, and that's all I knew.
The egging worry that had been taking a toll on my head and my guts left when I turned into the HDC parking lot, one hour early, and was met by familiar faces. Margaret, Melanie, Jess, Rachel, and Dorrin.
There were two people in GO! training with me--Scott, and Elisa. Elisa I knew from EMU--she was one of the juniors in the Pre-med program that were a part of the Organic Chemistry class that I was photographing for work study. Scott, who I met for the first time, was only introduced to me once, and I forgot that his name was Scott, and called him Eric in my head.
We played Scattergories, and that was a great way to get to know everyone (that played). I t was really chill, even though when the buzzer "clicked" stop, it was quite obnoxious, and a jumping experience for me more than one time. I won.. because I'm bizarre.
I had decided to just be vegetarian while I was there. It's too hard to educate people on Veganism 101, and then the discussions that ensued for the rest of the training were enough.
Monday morning training was good. It was quite an intense start, but it was still good. We did some prayer for each other--each of us prayed for the person to our left, and I prayed for Jess. We were supposed to ask God what he wanted us to pray for that person about. I had some words, but I had a melody stuck in my head for the part of the time that I was praying for her.
Elisa was going to Peru, and Scott, to Central Asia.
We were told to go on a prayer walk throughout the city, and I decided that I didn't want to walk around without a bag to pick up trash, so I brought a trash bag and picked up trash while I was walking. Twise people asked me if I was doing Community Service, one man asked me what "staff" I was with Convention, and one guy, all these people were sitting on their porches, said, "God loves you and I do too!"
The irony of it all is that later in the day, we went for community outreach, and we picked up trash, which was a group activity. It was more solemn as a group.
We had some reading assignments--and I walked up to the prayer room to do mine later in the evening, and Scott was already there, but the shade was open so I joined him. In an English accent, I told him I had a timepiece. (also known as my cell phone), so we went down stairs for supper at the right time.
Jamila, Taylor, and Tyler were all at HDC on Monday and part of Tuesday. They were working on some social outreach things, and so it was really cool for them to be there. I hadn't seen them all semester. Jamila braided my hair, and we got to hang out with them.
I was thoroughly enjoying helping wash dishes, and was helping put some away after dinner, when Dorrin thought that it would be a good idea to leave the silverware container out to put the dried silverware in, but he couldn't remember my name so he said, "Female!" and then apologized profusely...
Tuesday began with some great sessions. Chris led the session on Humility and it was a really great, rather informing session. Later, Ryan Showalter showed up and did another session on Why Missions. And informed me on some stuff about Queens, which was great--more information. Then we had a session with Clair Good about Contextualized something or other. He knew more about me and my parents and sisters than I knew about him.. It's always interesting when those things happen. He talked about how it's important to look for Christ in every situation, and when we witness to people, it shouldn't be to witness for God, it's God witnessing through us.
But that was a great session.
And then they sent us out on an "Evangelism Plunge", which was to go out and meet a person and have a meaningful conversation with them. We went as a group, and walked down Derry Street, and turned onto 17th street, and walked past this man, who Scott asked where the pharmacy was, and then we struck up conversation with him. We talked about where he'd been and where we'd bene and what his family was like and what he was doing now, and he brought us over to the pizza place where he worked and gave us pizza, which was sooo good and we continued to talk. It was great, and he was really nice.
We walked back to the house, and Elisa and I decided to go play soccer outside, and some boys from the neighborhood came soon after we started our volleyball and soccer playing. I taught them, and Elisa a little bit about soccer, and then played with them a little while. It was a lot of fun. Their names were Jay, Malachi, Will, and Shawn. Nice boys.
We had supper, and then commissioning prayer, which was great, and then we played Dutch Blitz while waiting for Elisa and Jess to get back (they had to drive Elisa's car to Salunga). I was playing against quite the pros, and I haven't had a lot of time to organize my strategy... Dorrin was rooting for everyone except Margaret, because she had some completely pulverized him in the past. I started getting better in the second game.
We went out for a low-cost treat--to ice cream, and their kid sized scoop was larger than any scoop that I would eat EVER in a normal sized portion... and I hadn't had ice cream since before Lent, so it was really sweet and rich... not to mention, I had the Chocolate Cupcake flavor. I forced my ice cream upon some... who forced it upon others... it really was the communal ice cream, because Marge, Elisa, and Scott all had some.
I had had a cup of coffee during the game of Dutch Blitz, and it made me really awake at eleven when i was going to bed, and I didn't sleep well. I was so awake that I thought about leaving then to drive home, but I didn't.
When I woke up in the morning--at five thirty to the alarm clock bird, I tried to fall back asleep, and stayed in bed until 6:15, and then I decided to pack and leave, because I was up and there wasn't any point.
I took two apples, (not realizing that I already had one in the car that I hadn't eaten), some apple chips.. got sick of apples. . . and some mixed nuts, and figured that would tide me over.
Then I drove home, deciding halfway there that I was going to stop in Streetsboro and surprise and see people.
I did. It was great. But it's an entire other blog.
Friday, May 07, 2010
Famous
I was shopping at the grocery store today with my dad, without make-up on, and I was suddenly thankful not to be famous. We were in the checkout line, and I saw the tabloids proclaiming the weight gain of some stars, and it stirred in me I don't think I would like to be in the main spotlight--ever. I'm not the type that needs the attention that they give stars. I'm an extravert, and a person with much joy in getting attention from other people, but I know that I like to have a level of trust with the people that I work with, and talk to. I know that I'm not well known enough to have to worry about a trusted friend telling a paparazzi about my private life for money. And I'm thankful for that. We watched NCIS yesterday, and it was dealing with a stalker for someone who was in a television show, and talking about the paparazzi issue. And I am so thankful that I'm an unknown musician. I enjoy praise from those that I know, and those that I have relationships with. I enjoy playing for me, and for people who need to hear the message of the song, not the upbeat tempo or my "amazing range". I don't need to sing for others to listen. I write about what I'm processing. And that's fine for me. So if I am never famous in life, I will be satisfied. And if I never get to hear from a famous record company that I have what it takes, I'm okay with that. For me, in this life, to do what I want to do, I need to not be someone who is known, because the influence of fame isn't something that would help me accomplish my goals.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
I cannot write a title without going into a new thought.
Of course, the past few blogs have been some serious writing. It's been more and more of that lately. I'm just a processing machine, and I guess my fingers know it and just write and write and write.
My sister, mom, fifth cousin, and I left the District after some serious packing the night and morning before. Emily checked my out of my room, after removing some very vital things out of my drawers that I almost left behind (random earplug? check. fingernail? check. Trash of many sorts? check.)
We were off--to Dulles, and brought Katie to her "home" and then headed on our way. Mom drove for the first half, and I was doing some serious crocheting on my "body bag" as Mom now calls it. We drove until lunch time. Then we stopped for gas, and I drove, mom feeding me my lunch from the passender seat--and it was hummus and veggies. So that was interesting while driving. I stopped driving around 3:30--we stopped at a travel plaza and Anna and I got Starbucks--and they had the Vegan Frappiccinos--I was so pumped. And it doesn't cost different so that is a huge benefit for me.
I drove part of the way and drove really well--didn't go more than five over the speed limit--I do believe I've turned a new leaf... at least for the next three years.
I got to talk to Zach on the phone on the way home. It was a great conversation. It was clarifying and saddening because we both feel sort of constricted on the construction of our relationship because his team has really strict rules for him about keeping in contact with me. But God is keeping both of us strong.
And during the rest of the conversation, he made me laugh like crazy. I miss him so. I cannot wait to see him. I'm going to meet him at the airport when he comes home because I found out I could, I just don't know what day it is...I have three more conversations (we are allowed to talk once a month) to figure out when it is.
Getting home was great. I'm on the floor now, and Anna is sleeping on the bed, but that's ok she's here longer than I am, and I'm comfortable with that.
Just like Mom and Dad are embracing that I just want to eat plant products, they are embracing Anna's central america influence, but with a grain of salt. We went to Cheif, the Giant of Western Ohio, and found Pig's feet.
I took one look at them, and said, "There is no way that we are getting those! Marie wouldn't eat that!" There were six frozen-limp legs, in a styrofoam package next to the loins and the chops--both of which have enough separation to them that people don't think that there is going to be much of an issue with eating them. It's in a convenient shape for cooking and eating, but you remove separation when you see the pigs feet. I see the not-grown up sized piggies, not being treated right in the PETA videos. . . and then I reacted...
I got to talk to Zach on the phone on the way home. It was a great conversation. It was clarifying and saddening because we both feel sort of constricted on the construction of our relationship because his team has really strict rules for him about keeping in contact with me. But God is keeping both of us strong.
And during the rest of the conversation, he made me laugh like crazy. I miss him so. I cannot wait to see him. I'm going to meet him at the airport when he comes home because I found out I could, I just don't know what day it is...I have three more conversations (we are allowed to talk once a month) to figure out when it is.
Getting home was great. I'm on the floor now, and Anna is sleeping on the bed, but that's ok she's here longer than I am, and I'm comfortable with that.
Just like Mom and Dad are embracing that I just want to eat plant products, they are embracing Anna's central america influence, but with a grain of salt. We went to Cheif, the Giant of Western Ohio, and found Pig's feet.
I took one look at them, and said, "There is no way that we are getting those! Marie wouldn't eat that!" There were six frozen-limp legs, in a styrofoam package next to the loins and the chops--both of which have enough separation to them that people don't think that there is going to be much of an issue with eating them. It's in a convenient shape for cooking and eating, but you remove separation when you see the pigs feet. I see the not-grown up sized piggies, not being treated right in the PETA videos. . . and then I reacted...
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