Mechanial Misadventures Managed

Yesterday was...fun.
I was on my way to the Fletchers for Thanksgiving Dinner. The Fletchers went to Forefront, my home church, and I randomly ran into them at Northwood church, the church I now attend. On my way there, as I was driving down the interstate, my power steering went out. My first though was, "Ugh!" I pulled off the interstate (conveniently there was an exit right there with a gas station), turned off my car, turned it back on, and expected it to be all better. It was not. So I called my mother who was in Georgia with my uncle who is a mechanic. It was decided that my serpentine belt had broken and that the damages would cost about $200 to fix. Well I don't have $200! With nothing left to do but call Roadside service, I called Fletch to inform him that I would not be at dinner. Well, the Fletchers had other plans.

After picking me up, Fletch took a look at my car and scrutinized the damage. No auto shops were open on Thanksgiving so they took me to their family's. I ate, played cards with AJ and Jewls (Fletch's daughters, 12 and 9), and watched Star Trek in their home theatre (it was nice). Then they took me back to their place, gave me a warm bed, a hot shower, breakfast, and hot tea. At 9:00am, Fletch went back to work on my car. Finding it MIA.
Although I had asked the owner if I could leave the car overnight, it had been towed. $250 to get my car back. But Fletch the Amazing, contacted all the powers be, getting the owner to tell the tow company that I had permission to be there and they released my car without fee. But more than that, they let Fletch work on my car in the lot so that I wouldn't have to tow it out of the tow lot. But after finding wood, going to the scrap yard, looking under hood after hood for the parts, and an assortment of other minor complications tat I won't bore you with, my car is fixed and I am home.
Financial damage: $60
Thank God and His servants, the Fletchers

Mmm Thanksgiving!

So the Thanksgiving season is upon us!
Yesterday I went to Walmart and they were sold out of cranberry sauce! I went to get my oil changed and the place was packed with pre-road-trip customers. Today is my last day of class before Thanksgiving break. Tomorrow I'm going up to Fort Worth for Thanksgiving dinner.
Yummy!
My time in Dallas is slipping away faster and faster!
and that's crazy!
Months ago it seemed like I would be here forever.
And now I'm down to counting weeks!
Two weeks til my friends get in and the next week I'm homeward bound!

The National Missionary Convention

This past weekend I went up to Peoria, IL to go to the National Missionary Convention. It was an awesome time to hang out with friends from the Mid-Atlantic Christian University (my undergrad), to meet other people who were interested in missions work, and to hear words of wisdom from seasoned missionaries. The convention was set up with two main sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening, and three workshops, one before lunch and two after. The rest of the time was dedicated to meandering thru the endless rows of booths.
Pioneer Bible Translators had a interest dinner on Friday night. We had a restraunt that we rented and then packed out. Two of the larger tables, seating 8, were taken over by the MACU students!
The whole weekend was awesome and I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to attend!

Woah! We've been here THREE HOURS

You know those conversations where time just gets away from you.
A couple weeks ago I had one painful conversation. Generally time crawls when life is rough. But this conversation was just so horribly stressful that time lost meaning. When we finally stopped, we looked down at our watches (I actually have cell phone) and thought "Dang, that was a long time."
But yesterday I had one of the more marvelous ones. I had a lovely conversation with my coach that was constructive all the way around. We talked of wonderful things like future plans, ways to improve structures, and nurses who think its fun to try and figure out how many times they can stab you with TB until your test reads positive!
And I left with peace from God.

Supporting Vampires

So today I went to see the Vampires (Carter Blood Care) so that they could suck my blood (remove a pint) to feast on (save lives). I was a little (a lot) freaked out at the beginning (half hour)but it wasn't that bad.
The worst part was probably the finger prick. The lady told me I needed to try to not be nervous because if my pulse went too high they couldn't take my blood. (I needed to give blood so that I can figure out my blood type for PBT). So I began to hum quietly to myself because that's what I do when I'm bored and I wanted to trick myself into believing that I was bored and not panicked. Little did I realize that my hum was swelling into a crescendo as the needle approached my finger and stabbed my flesh. The lady asked me if I was humming because I was nervous. I at first thought, "What a stupid question. Duh, that's why I'm humming." But then I reminded myself that there are no such thing as stupid questions... only stupid people (that was a joke.)
Finally, they have me in a chair with my arm on a pillow waiting to be bitten (pierced). Another woman comes over and talks me through everything she's doing patiently. She gently laughed at me because I was "watching her like a hawk." It's true, but I feel like the fact that she was about to steal a pint of my blood justified my keeping a close watch. After the needle was in and my blood was gushing out of my body (flowing into a bag), I decided small talk to be appropriate.
"Is this what you wanted to be when you grew up?"
A laugh and a short career history followed.
"And what do you do?" she politely and perfunctorily replied.
"Uh, I'm a bible translator."
At the end of our conversation, she took my name and phone number and will be discussing the possibility of supporting me to her husband.
How awesome is that?
Pray that that conversation goes well.
A good day I think!

The Mosaic Covenent

So I just had my mind blown!
I sat down with a Messianic Jew and discussed whether or not Gentiles should follow the Mosaic Covenent. A lot of the arguments came down to the interpretation of the text. However, there is one correct interpretation of the text and it is either mine or his. And if it's mine, whatever. But if it's his, then there are things that I'm commanded to do and not to do that I'm not obeying. And if God desires me to do these things then I intend to do them. So step one is to find out if God desires me to follow His law. Sure I have a lot of other things going on but I think pleasing God is worth putting in a few more hours.

Convert to Dorkyism

Crazy day today.
This morning I woke up to the sound of a text, which told me I forgot to put a support letter in a support letter. Genius, huh?
I moved out of my bedroom into another bedroom (btw, I have moved more in the past four months than I had the years I was a Navy Brat. What is this!)
Then the field methods group that's studying Arabic went to an Arabic restraunt with our Language Consultant for lunch, followed by coffee and dessert at her house. Now, 6 pm, I am still stuffed and in two hours I have to go to the PBT house to greet a new PBT recruit to Dallas with dessert and apple cider. While yummy, my tummy hurts!
11:30 - Dessert was AWESOME. Well, at least the night was. My stomach wouldn't let me indulge much more than I already had, but three glasses of Apple Cider were definitely delicious. Also, we played this wicked game called Telephone pictionary. AMAZING. But my housemate informs me that I am now a GIAL dork. But I say: If dorks have this much fun, I should have converted a long time ago.

12 Touches

So I heard somewhere that people need 12 touches a day. And I'm sure whoever said it threw in something about how they read it in a study and it's SUPER good for you. Well I don't know about all that, but today I went in to get a full physical for PBT and I DEFINITELY got in my 12 touches!
Between all the routine of hands on my arms, neck, stomach, back, legs, and ankles, and I also got some weird thing done where they stick stickers all over your body and attached miniature jumper cables to all of them to see if I had heart murmurs, I think I'm done with the doctors for a while... until Tuesday that is, when I have to go get my TB testing done, confirm that I have my tetanus and Hepatitis A (otherwise, get those, too), and confirm that my blood test went well. ... and Thursday when I have to get the results for TB. ...and when every I go the Red Cross and they actually have time to suck my blood.
Oh doctors...

Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God Almighty, Free at Last

Session 3 has come to a close.
And I am free!
...for four days.
Then starts Session 4. But I'm excited about session 4 so all is well.
During my four day break, I intend to send out 50 support letters and rest.
Painting, sewing, reading, sipping tea.
You know, taking a break from scholarly things and returning to things appropriate a lady.
I plan on just chillin, me and my God (and occassionally a housemate or two.)
embracing the days I have left until Session 4 arrives.
Here we go.


oh, and Texas, right now, is cold. TEXAS! and I'm wearing 4 shirts and a leather jacket. AND Texas is humid. I went to stuff envelopes with support letters. THEY SEALED THEMSELVES! Luckily, I have a teakettle. Recently I have mastered the art of steaming open envelopes!

The Petition

The Petition has been signed by the president of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics!

In order for me to take grad level ourses at GIAL without my undergrad degree, I needed to write a petition and get some pretty important people to sign it. But, signatures have been placed and all is in line.
Next bimester, I will be taking the first 12 hours of my Masters degree at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linuistics!

God is awesome!

Wow, It's been a while

Apparently, I'm a poor blogger. I can't keep up with it at all!
Life is going good.
Last night I moved from the upstairs room of the house I just moved into, to the back room of the same house. Now I have my own room with access to the back porch! The back porch is probably my favorite room of the house! Our backyard is the woods and butterflies are in a great abundance.
Today, I am going to fill out the Missionary in Transition (MIT) application. Exiciting! Becoming an MIT will bring me one step closer to PNG!

Phil 2:14

The other day I read through Phillipians. And some things jumped out to me. One thing in particular was Phil 2:14, "Do everything without complaining and arguing,"

Lately, I haven't been doing this at all! Attending a scchool that is taught by missionaries means that you cross cultures everytime you step into the next class. Missionaries generally teach in the style of the culture that they worked in. Now, when you have many missionaries from many different places as your professors, you have to not only adapt to a different culture, but adapt to many different cultures at the same time. What's more frusturating is that this is an acedmeic setting; therefore, there's an expectation that I receive a certain grade. However, not all cultures talk about things directly, not all cultures say "I expect you to give me ____, ______, and ________ and then you will pass." This has frusturated me a great deal and I have complained. a lot.

So this week, I'm working on patience, love, tolerance, and not complaining.

Do I really need a degree?

So I've gotten this question a couple of times and would, consequently, like to address it.
"Do you really need a degree to do Bible Translation, Elizabeth?"
The answer: Yes
A degree is just a piece of paper saying that I've taken all the classes and I have sufficient knowledge in the discipline that is required of me.
So the degree isn't the important part. It just says that I have the education. So, what people are really asking is, do I need an higher education. And the answer? Yes
When you're about to undergo brain surgery, do you want someone with a degree? Or someone who "felt like brain surgery was important work and needed to just go out and do it"?
Bible Translation is kinda a big deal. We're dealing with the Word of God here. I'm not translating children's books where, if I mess up, the worst that could happen is red would be labeled orange. There are issues of salvation that I'm playing with here.
Bible Translation is important work and I do need to go out and do it, but I need to do it with excellence. And so I need to be well educated for this job in order to do it to the best of my abilities.
Yes, it's time consuming. Yes, it's expensive. But yes, it's necessary.

Apprentices Rock!

Apprentices are an awesome invention!
Today I went to Northwood Church because I run lights for their Student Ministry. The guy in charge of A/V is talking to me about how he's really proud of their light system but they can't take advantage of it because most of their tech people peaced out at the same time and the lights just fell into disrepair. "Hmmm," I thought, "clealy you did not have apprentices! Otherwise, people leaving would not have been a problem!"
So we get started and the typical Wednesday night structure is worship, sermon, repeat. Middle school first, high school second. Well, I left during the sermon to go get a Sonic drink and noted the time to be back for the High school worship. I came back 20 minutes early to find the middle schoolers worshipping again! Without a set list (also an awesome invention) I had no idea I was needed again! I asked the A/V Guy if they had set lists that I could get a copy of every week. Guess who's job it is to do the set list? I don't know, he peaced out with the rest of the tech people. Oh! If only if only they had had apprentices!

How to know if you need an apprentice:
If you dropped off the face of the earth one week, what would happen to your ministry?
If the answer is "it would collapse in on itself" you should probably invest in an apprentice.
How to get an apprentice:
"Hey you, you wanna learn how to _________" has a 50% chance of success.

Where are you?

So, Session 1 complete! I did well enough on my exams. Not 100/As like I would have wanted! but well nonetheless. I have two days off that I get to enjoy and relax (aka work very very hard on partnership development) and then it's back to class on Friday with Phonology, Phonetics, and Second Language Culture and Acquistion.

But now to whats been on my mind,
Once I was completely lost in thought and someone came up to me and asked "Where are you?" I looked at them. I LOVE it when people have such insightful perspective! Another person present asked them what they meant and they explained, "Well, she's certainly not here." And that's the truth.
How often are we not here? How often are we not where we are but where we're going? You sit down in a meeting and the moment you arrive, you start thinking about the next thing on your to-do list and what you'll need and how you'll get it etc etc etc. Do we ever arrive anywhere? I mean, I know it's about the journey, but can't it be about the destination, too?

My plans? uhh...

So, things are changing in my life right now.
Not BIG things like my career plans
but things like when and how.
I would love to explain to you right now what things are changing and how and what that means and why, but I really don't know any of those answers!
I have NO IDEA whats going on in my life.
But! There are things we can pray for:
1) $1500 for unexpected school expenses
2) GIAL permitting me to take Graduate Level courses next bimester
3) Partnership Development, I am at 32.8%.

If we all just loved Jesus and acted like it, this wouldn't even be an issue

Recently I've been thinking about what it means to be a Christian. Or, more specifically, what you have to do. And I've come to the conclusion tht it's not as simple as people make it sounds... and yet, at the same time, it's even more simple than that.
I was reading the church's description of "What do I have to do to be a Christian?" And the page said, confess, repent, and then say this little prayer and then PRESTO. You're a Christian.
But it's more than that, isn't it? Because being a Christian isn't a destination, it's a journey. Being a Christian, you pursue Jesus. It's more than saying "Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior." You now have to go and live that out. You have to go out and feed the hungry and clothe the naked and, if you don't, even if you think you're a Christian, Jesus says that He doesn't know you. (Matthew 25:31-46) But it's more than that because the Bible also says that people will come saying "look at all of this that I did in your name" and Jesus tells them too, "I don't know you." (Matthew 7:15-23) So those are the two extremes. We have to sit between them, doing things for our God, yet doing them for the right reasons.
And that's just one aspect of lifestyle! Let's not even get into baptism and speaking in tongues and all the other doctrinal, church dividing criteria!
I mean, at the end of the day we need to just love Jesus and everything else will happen naturally, but so often those become just words and our lives don't change as a result.

Are you willing to bet your life on it?

If you stopped believing in God, how would your life change?

Right now, I'm reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and that made me start thinking about this. How drastically would my life change? Would it be drastic enough?
Chan describes a "lukewarm Christian" (a title which I personally think is a bit generous) and one piece of the description is that they don't live their life by faith. They're comfortable and happy and if bad things happen, they don't need God, they have their savings account. Chan said that these kind of people, if they one day decided to no longer believe in God, wouldn't lead very different lives at all.

And that made me wonder, if I didn't believe in God how would my life change?
And, after a few moments reflection, I realized that I wouldn't have a life. Not because without God there wouldn't be life! That's a different scenario. Even if I didn't believe in Him, it wouldn't stop Him from existing. But if I didn't believe in God, my daily life would change. Without a firm belief in God, why be kind to your neighbors, why love your enemies, why keep yourself pure, why bother with good morals? But more than my daily life, I wouldn't have any life at all because I had given it up to Him a few years ago. If I didn't believe in God, that would put a damper on my career as a Bible Translator. But furthermore, if I stopped believing in God, I just wasted the past few years of my life. All my energies, my focus, all my efforts would have been for naught and that knowledge would sap the life out of me too. But even all of that, that's just the effect my love for my Lord has on my life. But if I didn't believe in God anymore, my best friend, my strength, my comforter, my teacher, my love would be gone. And if you've ever lost a best friend, you know how that takes a bit of your life, too.

And this realization, the realization of the dependency I have on God, to be completely transparent, freaks me out. I like to be in control of situations. I trust me. And here I discovered that one minute I was in complete control and THEN... I blinked. Now, God as my entire life in His hands. and I have to trust that He's going to take good care of it. And, I mean, I know "the bible tells me so" but there's a difference between "knowing" it to be true and betting your life on it.
It makes me think of the analogy where a guy walks across Niagara Falls on a tight rope with a wheel barrel with a man inside, makes it, then invites you to get in the wheel barrel. You know he can take you across and back, you just saw him, but are you willing to bet your life on it?

God has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. But are you willing to bet your life on it?

The Adventure that is life in Dallas

Thursday morning I woke to an unearthly wailing that sounded as if all the victims of Texas' Death Row rose to extract their revenge on all the living Texans. It was six am. I was in the middle of texting a friend "are you awake, what's that noise?" When my landlady came out and told me that we needed to climb in the tub until the alarms went off. It was a severe tornado warning. At 6am. The only upside to being frightened awake an hour before I needed to be up was that if the weather was severe enough to sound an alarm, school must be closed and I can sleep in. Right? wrong.
Instead, I was in Phonetics, 8am, groggy and irritable. What's worse? No one even mentioned it! Apparently such awakenings are so routine in Texas they're not even worth mentioning!

Friday evening, I went over to hang out with a friend at the house of a PBT family. After four slices of pizza, we went out to Walmart to get t-r-e-a-t-s for the big kids and the children were put to bed. At Walmart, I found the exotic fruit section, and in it, the cactus pear. I picked it up, squeezed it gently to see if it was ripe (not that I know what a ripe cactus pear feels like), and rolled it around in my hands feeling it's uniqueness. You see, I was under the impression that a cactus pear was the fruit of a cactus, not a cactus in and of itself. But I very quickly discovered my mistake as I came to notice the very tiny stickers irritating my flesh. As I moaned about the annoyance i slipped in a small puddle of water and fell in a heap. My friend looked back wondering if I had fallen on purpose "for dramatic effect." I had not! (That would have been overkill and I'm far too talented an actress to make that amateur mistake!) I had decided to eat this cactus pear very aggressively as revenge. We returned home with our t-r-e-a-t, somehow managed to stab a hole in the bottom of the ice cream tub resulting in the necessity to eat the whole container in one sitting. After nursing my pride with ice cream, I nursed my wounds with first tweezer (very cheap tweezers), tape (which pushed them in further), washing (which only irritated it), and finally layers of glue which I peeled off. Still, almost 24hrs later, the stickers will not relent. I ate that pear. (And, regretfully, it wasn't even that delicious)

First Day of Class

Two classes this morning: Phonetics and Grammar
They both sound really interesting, although I'm told that most are good at one or the other.
Phonetics is a class on sounds that the human mouth can make.
Grammar is on the stucture of phrases, sentences, and words.
I'm really excited about this session (which goes until 8/19 and then another session starts). I think I'll learn a great deal.
It's assumed in the classes (I feel) that the students will pick an area to focus in on. For example, I hear "if this interests you and come see me and we'll get you more..." I feel as though we're just waiting until we see what we'll specialize in and then that will steal our hearts. (I'm t saying this is a bad thing) I think I know what I'll find my interest in. I like morphology a lot (the study of the meaningful units of a word). But I wonder, too, if there's something else that will grab my eye.
Well, there's no telling until the session gets underway.
I've completed my homework for tonight so I think I'm going to go treat myself to some ice cream!

Orientation is over

Orientation for GIAL was Monday and today. It went well and I got to meet many people in my class. Tomorrow starts classes at 8 am. I have Grammar and Phonetics. I think I'll enjoy both of them greatly.
Sunday, I went to Northwood church, the church that got my home church, Forefront onto a new field where the Mein are located. It was a nice church. That afternoon I went to Deliverance Bible Church and that church was a church of radicals. Lots of fire and passion can be found in the hearts of those who attend that church.
I'm actually about to go to a Tuesday night bible study there now. So, I'll sign off to go and do that. I think I'll stop at Starbucks on the way and take some time to flip through my Grammar book.

Adjusting

I'm getting used to this place. I'm so used to it that getting lost in downtown Dallas is no longer frustrating and stressful, it's merely a part of my day, multiple times a day. Driving in Texas is survival of the fittest.
I found a nice coffee shop that I like, although it is in Downtown Dallas so a bit of a drive. I went to a Dr. Suess exhibit at the Storyopolis Museum. I went to the mall and saw the Harry Potter movie. I've been grocery shopping and to the post office. I burned a meal and made some good ones. I filled up my gas tank. Sometimes it strikes me as crazy that I'm living life in Dallas. Like, I live here, this is home. That is crazy, I think.

My humorous story for the day. (Only one I'm going to tell) Let me preface what I’m about to say with, I’m not afraid of rats. I go to a pet store, a clerk with a sense of humor who's trying to get me attention thrusts one in my face. Cool, whatever, I’ll freakin pet it. Not afraid of rats. Today I was walking on the sidewalk which ran between two bushes. Apparently animals are stupid, (because this same thing happened with a lizard yesterday) when animals get scared, Instead of staying put or running away as any half-wit would do. They run across your path. The huge rat the size of a large guinea pig, raced from one bush to another almost over my feet! It’s not the rat that freaked me out and made this story more noteworthy, it’s that in 1340s 1/3 – 2/3 of Europe was wiped out by these disease-ridden vermin! They carry the plague!

Well, let's see what tomorrow has in store, shall we?

The Events of Today

Ahh, today. Interesting day and it's not even noon. I think I'll leave this open all day and just add to it as the craziness of my life continues.

9:15 - I wake up and it all floods back where I am. Awesome.
9:30 - I go to get in the shower and there's this decorative iron chair chillin in the tub! Danielle's advice is, don't sit on it. Thanks a lot. I go to try to move it. It's plastic and only looks ridiculously heavy.
10:45 - I go to eat some breakfast. Ms. Blood offers me a fresh fig, I accept. Bite, eat, bite again, enjoy it, look into it's center, find two ants, throw the rest away.
11:00 - go to unpack my car more, forgot to put on shoes because I never put on shoes. Note: In Dallas, TX put on shoes. My feet were about to blister just standing at my car!
11:02 - opened my trunk to find a black spider with a red hourglass on it. All I wanted was to grab my crap but this Widow tried to kill me (a battle to the death followed, I won)
11:28 - trying to unpack. I hate clutter. Loathe and despise it. the rest of the house is absurdly cluttered. My room has no dresser, so my clothes are going into the desk drawers. Luckily it's filing cabinet meets desk so the drawers are wicked long, but they're still desk drawers and I have a lot of clothes!
12:28 - went into the most insane Walmart ever, I should have known as the greeter welcomed me with a tune on a hamonica.
12:39 - after 5 mins, I discovered that this Walmart doesn't sort Shampoo and Conditioner by manufactorer but by whether its shampoo or conditioner. (and the sections are not side by side.)
12:41 - fire alarm went off in Walmart... 3 times
12:49 - standing in line, two guys came to check out with a cartful of nothing but bananas.
1:12 - I thought I saw Mr. Alligood walking on the campus grounds, the things you find yourself missing.
3:47 - ooo! So glad I don't have leather seats, wish I didn't have leather steering wheel. Don't want to touch it, don't want to hit mailbox!
4:22 - Entered an Indie coffeeshop, eavesdropped in some conversations, enjoyed myself (I should go back there some time, become a regular, join conversations)
6:47 - only an hour and 15 minutes to get home. I hate Dallas interstates and poor signage and inconsiderate drivers!

Ahh. Day 1 in Dallas

Woo! Dallas, TX

Today is my first full day of my 3.5 month stay in Dallas. I've been here a few times for a week or two stay but never so long as this.
Yesterday, we got in at 3. It was 100 degrees. We stopped at the International Service Center (ISC) and then I went to go move into my new home. I walk in with my first load of luggage and pull up my laptop as I go for the second. Ms. Blood didn't know which wi-fi was her's nor did she know her password. I looked on to her desktop, and, although the woman swears that she has wireless internet, she does not. And the modem she has only has one ethernet jack so I can't just plug in. So not only am I hot, sleep-deprived (as we did not spend the night in Johnson), and in a new place where people don't know how to drive, but I have 3/5 mths looming ahead of me where I have no internet.
On the verge of tears from how overwhelming this all feels, I ask for directions to Panera Bread. 10 minutes later (she's old, it takes her longer) I'm on my way. As I go, I pass a Best Buy and do what any person about to cry because she has no way to connect to the internet does, I stop. I buy what I need to be able to plug into her modem, go home, and it doesn't work. I go back (after realizing that I spent more money on all I'd need to plug in than it would have taken to buy a wireless modem) and bought a wireless modem. I went home, it worked, took back the other stuff and found that I went to Best Buy three times in the first four hours that I has arrived in Dallas.
So my first day was stressful and tiring and I wanted to pull into the parking lot of something familiar and cry, but I couldn't find a Bank of America!

Saturday Events

Today is a big day! Tonight is the Dessert Night Partnership Development event hosted by KT. A group of people, who KT knows but I do not (or at least do not know very well) will be coming over to listen to me present what God is doing thru me and Pioneer Bible Translators.
All of that starts at 7 and I'm really excited. So excited, in fact, that I have a continuous babbling of grocery lists and speech points and to-do lists running through me head.
After the dessert night, I need to head down to Columbia, NC, for, in the morning, I will be doing a sunday school there.
It's a big day.
Keep today and tomorrow in your prayers.

My First Day Off!

Since I have been back, I have not slept in once. Most of my days have been spent out and about and I don't get home till late. Wednesday I spent some time at home but most of it was productive time. Today, however, I took a break. I slept in. I did nothing. And it felt good.
My week has been pretty awesome and action packed, but rest is awesome,too.
Monday - I had lunch with Danielle and went window shopping
Tuesday - I had coffee with my Student Minister and dinner with a supporter
Wednesday - I went to the dentist, was produtive at home, and went to starbucks with my mom's gel
Thursday - I took a couple girls out, hit Animal Jungle, Tropical Smoothie, Lynnhaven Mall, the Oceanfront, Dairy Queen, then went bicycling down the boardwalk with my gel group and watched a street preformance.
Friday - I went out with a Student, lunch with mom, dinner with 5 students
So after all that, today I rest.
I hope to have an equally fun ride next week.
If you'd like to make plans let me know.

Rough Conversation

Last night I had a conversation with a couple that really frustrated me.

We were talking about bible translation and about how that worked as a career.

Missionaries do not get paid by a company. We have to go out and raise support, finding people who are willing to give a monthly donation to the mission. The gifts are tax-deductible as they are being giving to my company "Pioneer Bible Translators" which is a non-profit organization.

The woman took this to be me being a charity case and using people.

That's not exactly how this works. I'm not using people. God is. I am asking God's people to use God's money to do God's work, which is taking God's Word to people without it. Also, I'm not begging people for money. I'm offering people an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus told us to go into all the world proclaiming Him. He wasn't talking to just the missionaries or just those in Ministry, He was talking to everyone. But not everyone can drop what they're doing to run off into the jungle. But by financial supporting a missionary, they can. By sending a missionary, they have become a vital part of the execution plan of the Great Commission.

Also, I'm not just asking for a handout. I am working. I am doing a job that must get done but no one is paying anyone to do. But there is a cost to living and that does need to get paid as I work.

So, I am asking you to play an important role in the Great Commission by giving God's money to this Mission, so that I can cover the costs to do Bible Translation in Papua New Guinea.

I wanted to mention this so that if anyone else feels the same as this woman than they can understand a bit better the whole affair.

First Day Back in Town

Well, really I got back Saturday, but I got in at noon and slept all day so that doesn't count and Sunday's are too crazy to be considered a part of my routine. So today was my first day back in my VA routine.

No complaints, kind of a lazy day. I had lunch with Danielle and we went shopping at MacArthur Mall (aka: scoffing in outrage at all the ridiculous prices on hardly any fabric and didn't purchase anything). Mom rented "The Lazarus Project" (I recommend) ad bought Subway. And I started the construction of a shirt (forget spending lots of money on shirts, I'll make my own and they'll be just the way I want them, too!)

So I want to be booked during the three weeks that I'm back in town. This week is filling up pretty nicely but I have two other weeks that are looking slim. If you'd like to do something, I would love to make a special spot for you in my time back.

I had a fairly uneventful trip back from TX, by the way. Only one noteworthy occurance, and only because it might make a good story. But stay posted for that one.

PD Wednesday

Today was the last day of the PD workshop. Afterwards, about 20 people affliated with Pioneer Bible Translators went to the Texas Rangers Baseball game. (Rangers won, 5-4 10th inning) That was a lot fun. I think it was my first time going to a baseball game since I was 6. I would go again.
Right now, I'm hanging with the PNG people again.
Tomorrow, we head home. We're going to stop and stay the night at the home of one of the PNG people in Missouri. Rich and I are leaving at 2, after we drop Danielle off at the airport.

My support raised to 19.6% today. God provides. Isn't He amazing?

PD Tuesday

The Partnership Development Workshop has been awesome. I have some great ideas for things that I can start doing. A church in North Carolina has invited me to come speak. I'm starting to plan a potential dessert night with a woman in Virginia Beach. (The dessert night would be a night where the host invites people I don't know to come and here about my mission as we nibble at desserts). I'm really excited about getting started. I've been spending a lot of time now filling out documents to give to PBT's awesome Media Arts and Communication (MAC) team, so they can give me personalized documents for my display.
Right now, I'm hanging out, working on Partnership Development work, with the PNG people, that is people who have been or are destined to go to Papua New Guinea.
Tomorrow's the last day of the workshop, and the next day takes us homeward bound!

PD Sunday

Today, I had my first day of the Partnership Development workshop. It was awesome, three hours flew by because of our amazing speakers. That encourages me a great deal because these people are the ones who are going to teach me how to keep an audiences attention. I'm excited about going to do PD work already and I've only had 3 hours of the class.
After class I went geocaching with the PNG people (these are people who live in Dallas who have been or are going to Papua New Guinea). That was fun. Now, I'm hanging out enjoying the company of some pretty amazing people.
I know I've probably said this before, but there is nothing better than being with people united by a common goal to extend the Kingdom for our awesome God. Because that's what we're doing. I don't think that some people see things that way but that's wat we're doing. We're not just translating a book. We're fighting a war against Satan for the Glory of our God and King! If only we always saw life this way! How much more seriously would we take our bible college classes if we realized that they were training for our roles in God's Army. How much more seriously we'd take Sunday morning sermon, if we realized that they were to mold us into people equipped for spiritual warfare.
....
Perspective:
amazing, revolutionary!

PMI Friday

PMI is over. I met some awesome people and heard some amazing stories and learned some good stuff. It was a great week.

This week, I guess the climate change affected my poorly. My throat started hurting and then my face broke out with small bumps EVERYWHERE. As someone who does not break out, this was NOT ok. Called my mother, she told me to take Benedryl. She did NOT tell me that Benedryl causes you to crash. So sitting in my first seminar of the day, Child Safety, my world starting going crazy as drwosiness overtook me. I spent the rest of the day asleep. Luckily, the other seminars for today were Partnership Development seminars and the information will be gone over again during my PD workshop. So I didn't miss anything. and my face cleared up and my throat feels great. So all ends well.

Tomorrow is my day off and then, Sunday, the PD workshop begins. I was under the impression that this one class wouldn't take up all day... I was wrong. Sunday-Wednesday will be just as intense as the PMI week.

PMI Thursday

Wow. PMI is almost over. Today, I'll admit, I cut chapel and lunch, but I just needed some alone time. PMI has been lots of fun and I love hearing people's stories but the schedule is intense. Non-stop activities from 7:15-7:00 and then you socialize with the others in attendance. I intended to skip so that I could crash and get some sleep, but I ended up spending all my time hanging out with my God, which was awesome and very refreshing.
Something happened with my insurance and (I think) my accident from a few years back finally dropped off my record and (I think) that means that I can cut $50 from my monthly need. I love finding all the surprises where I can cut costs.
Partnership develpoment has brought me to 15% of my total needed. So I still have a ways to go, but the missionaries here have reassured me that, as I am just starting my PD, I'm not behind. That's good to know, I feel.
I am so excited to see who God brings to extend His kingdom through my hands by partnering with me.

PMI Wednesday

PMI has been going well. I went to Deliverance Church on Tuesday night and that was an ...experience, a very unique church. Tonight was the PBT Coffeehouse. There was so much laughter! Missionaries have wonderful stories to tell. The most stressful event at the time can be so entertaining in retrospect. It was a great time to fellowship and laugh. But much of PMI is for that. Perhaps when I get out of the craziness of this week, I'll go more in depth on what exactly I learned at PMI, but for now my head is reeling.
I did find a room for rent for $150/month in contrast to the $415/month room I intended to rent. So that saves me $265 for the four months that I'll be in Dallas this year. Pray that things will go so well with the arrangement that the woman lets me rent the room Jan-Jun, too.

PMI Monday

PMI is awesome and amazing.
Last night, I met this chic named Allie who goes to this very Forefront-esque kind of church. Tomorrow night, I'll be going to a bible study there and I'll attend church on Sunday. I'm very excited about that.
Last night, I also went to the house of 2 women who were short term assistants (STAs) in PNG. We stayed up late swapping stories and emjoying one anothers company, having a good time.
Today has been edcational; although, as educational as it is, the best part is the community that happens here. All of us are so different, from different places, and going different places, but here and now, for this week, we're all here. People unified by the desire to see the bible-less people of the world with the Word of God in their heart language.
And whats amazing and beautiful is that these people are passionate. There are no Sunday Christians here! There are none who are insincere. All of these people are genuine and passionate and lay down their lives everyday to follow Him.
How amazing!
I would tell of all the things I learned, but I was up late last night and need to crash.
I have no internet in my room. I'll try to give a daily update, but no promises.

Overtipping Means He Can Afford to Buy Next Time

Tonight I went to Cardia, a middle/high school Forefront Student Ministry function, to see a few of my girls. That was a lot of fun. Cardia is starting to fill up with kids I haven't seen before, which is awesome, because that means it's reaching new people.
After Cardia, I took two girls to Applebee's for dessert shooters. Arriving, we asked for our waiter and we were told that "He's here, but he's not working" We didn't really understand that until our attention was directed to the bar, and we saw him sitting there. So we were served by another, but he came and sat with us and after entertaining us, picked up the bill. Apparently it pays to make friends with the wait staff.
I'll miss my girls but I hope to get involved in a student ministry in Dallas. I would like to make new girls.

Plans

So,

1) My life is crazy
2) My going away party was awesome fun. A bunch of wicked cool people showed up to send me off right. I'm definitely going to miss the people here.
3)Plans: Leaving for TX on June 4
PMI, PD workshop
Leaving From TX on June 18
...
Leaving for TX mid-July
July 20 - GIAL starts
Leaving from TX late-Oct

And that finishes out the year!

We tip well, VERY well.

Today, I got to hang out with Alexis for the first time in a long time. We used to hang out every Saturday but lately work has been running me ragged, which is good, for financial reasons, but bad for social ones. Anyway, we got to go to the mall like we always do and we got to go to Applebee's again. It used to be that the second Saturday of the month we would get dressed up and go to Applebees. The original plan was to go to a random restraunt but Applebees was our first month and we had suc a fantastic waiter that we went there ever since and request that waiter.
Tonight, we arrived at 5:30 and he wasn't coming in until 6, so we decided to wait for him (we weren't overly hunger anyway). But that caused quite the commotion. They seated us so we wouldn't have to wait at the door, but a waitress tried to start serving us and we tried to explain that we were waiting but she kept coming back and checking on us. When our waiter took us from her, she was angry that he stole her business. We decided to tip her even though she didn't wait on us, because it was a little unfair to her. Well, when that time came, I was chatting with our waiter as Alexis paid the bill. Walking out, I asked Alexis how much she tipped. "I gave them both $9." A quick calculation told me that she tipped the waitress who didn't wait on us 36%! So she gave a total tip of 72%! Needless to say, I joked her for the rest of the night. ...The waitress didn't seem irritated after that though.

Tomorrow is my going-away party. I hope that there will be a nice turn out. Camino Real at Indian River and Kempsville at 12:30 if you'd like to make an appearance.

Praying for Forgiveness

First, my life is crazy.

Second, my dog is terrified of lightning and has panic attacks during storms. Like now. Awesome.

Third, I've been thinking about praying for forgiveness. (Not thinking as in "I should do this" but thinking about the topic "praying for forgiveness") Here's what I think.

You're really not supposed to pray for forgiveness. I mean you won't be smitted or anything but really, Jesus forgave all of our sins when He died on the cross. Past, present, and future (although, I guess, all of our sins where in the future when He died.) So by asking Him to forgive us, we're asking for something He's already given. That would be like you asking your spouse every morning if he'll please love you today. There's nothing wrong with that it's just pointless. We don't need to ask to be forgiven. Now the object of the game is to confess. "God, I screwed up by …., thank you for forgiving me, help me not do … again. I will try …. But I need Your help." Kinda thing. Now, why bring this up if there's nothing wrong with it. I think that it gives us a false impression of both God and salvation. I have found that even though I mentally knew this, by not praying for forgiveness, I came to know it in my heart more as well. You pray for forgiveness. You wouldn't do such a thing unless you thought it was necessary. Why would praying for forgiveness be necessary unless it didn't cover all of your sins? I believe (and I may be wrong) but I believe that by asking for forgiveness we're telling ourselves that we don't have a forgiveness which covers everything. This leads us into the mindset that we need to do things for the love of Christ. Which is wrong. (now if you're going to pull that "faith without deeds is dead" passage note that the difference is doing things for the love and doing things because of the love) Consequently, doing things for the love of God results in a distorted view of salvation. The baptized people who you ask "are you going to heaven?" to and they reply "idk" do this, I believe, because they don't know if they've asked for forgiveness for every sin they've committed. In conclusion, I have stopped praying for forgiveness, 1) because it's pointless, 2) because asking for something that's already be given would annoy the crap out of me if I were God (I don't think He gets annoyed but do unto others, you know) 3) I think it gives the wrong impression as to how this whole forgiveness thing works. … so I only meant to type a few lines. … I actually did learn something in Biblical Doctrines, check that out

Fire

When I was little my dad would take us camping and he and I would sit, long after my little sister retired, talking at the campfire. Those were beautiful nights when problems and misunderstandings dissolved and a child sat with her father to talk about life.

At PMI last year, I sat around a fire with others who had their eyes set on Papua New Guinea. People I didn't even know, yet around the fire we sat joined together by this common goal. Stresses vanished until we stood to depart. A moment of peace and rest in the middle of the chaos new places tend to bring.

Tonight, I sat around the fire with my gel group and some old friends. Money problems, babbling lists, and other worries disappeared as I joined the company there. This being the first time my mind has had rest in too long.

I hope fires to gather around and share stories and talk about life are common in Papua New Guinea.

A Secret Society of Sorts

The other day I was at Panera working on an end-of-the-semester project for my greek class. Sitting on one of the couches beside the fireplace, struggling to understand how a commentator had such a ridiculously wrong translation for a particular word, I looked up to rest my eyes from my computer screen. Sitting across from me was a man in a similar predicament. His laptop open in front of him, he looked up from his work to stretch. Beside him was a red leather bound book with gold font that looked surprising just like ... I looked down, exactly like my greek new testament. I looked at him in surprise, he returned the look noticing the same thing at the same time.
At my Bible College, there are only a small handful of students with a Greek New Testament and even fewer with ones that look like mine, and yet here I find, in a Panera in Norfolk, a Greek scholar sitting across from me.
We shared our stories: where we're from, where we're going, and went our seperate ways.

Sometimes I feel like Christianity is a secret society of sorts. It's so rare that, out and about, you run into people who you can tell are a part of it. Normally, you wouldn't be able to pick one out of a crowd. Some feel like you can't talk to just anyone about it (for fear of being persecuted by atheists). And then there are the Christians by default. Those who's parents are so they are but they really have never met Jesus, they've just been raised saying yes to that question. So really, no one knows who the Christians are and who aren't.
Running in to this guy was exciting and probably will never happen again so randomly. But it made me feel like I was part of a secret society. The bad thing about secret societies, though, is that they're invitation only and you'd have to talk about it to give an invitation, but you can't talk about because it's a secret society! So if Christianity is a secret society ...

Oh, did I mention ...

So, as I was skimming over some of my blogs, I noticed that some things had changed and I had neglected to mention it. The purpose of my blogging is to keep you informed and I seem to be failing at that! Forgive me! lol

The $17,000 I was informed that I had for my upcoming school year is not how much I have but how much I owe. Instead, I have $10,000 which is enough to cover the bill for GIAL, but not for my housing. So, we'll have to let support cover my housing.

The "damages" on my car weren't really the big deal Merchant tire's said it was after we had a friend of the family's check it out. The total repairs brought us to $255, $200 of which my father paid for me.

I needed $1384 to cover the summer's room, board, and courses. I've received $590 from beautiful people who decided to partner with me either through one-time donations or monthly. I might feel the need to take bush mechanics and electronics and primary health care next year, which would bring my remaining need to $480, but we'll see what happens.

Summer Thus Far

So break has been crazy and long. My first week back I was scheduled 56 hours at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. That was good and filled up my daytime, but then I would come home. It's been three years since I have not had some assignment to do. For the past two summers, I've taken courses, and so this is the first time my agenda has been blank like this. On the verge f going crazy, I invited one of my college friends, Danielle, to come stay with me. She's spent the past week with me and is going home tomorrow.
There's no telling what next week will bring!

Concerning Lying as a Cultural Difference

I had a reading assignment for my Cultural Anthropology class. As part of it, I read Carol McKinney's Globe Trotting in Sandals.
In one chapter, McKinney talks about lying and about how and why it sometimes happens. I don’t know if I liked some of the things she said, or, rather, the way she said it. When she spoke of natives lying, she said that they don’t mean to deceive but they’re constricted by their culture. An example would be a missionary asks a native if they can have an interview tomorrow at 7 and the native says yes, not because they'll actually show up but because it would be rude to say "no." So, it's because of thir culture that they have to say no. This sounds like a cop out to me. “I can’t help sinning, my culture made me!”
McKinney also said that what might be lying in Western culture might not be in other cultures, because in their culture it might be that it’s a lie if you get caught. I don’t like this at all. It sounds as if she’s making lying relative, which would make right and wrong relative. And that is not the case.
I think that some cultural differences are acceptable, like methods of worship. But I don't see this as a something missionaries need to come to understand and tolerate. Of course, we can ask questions more wisely, asking, "can we meet tomorrow at 7 or would is there a better time for you?" so that they don't have to say "no." But we shouldn't tolerate their sin and justify it as a cultural difference.
(Of course, McKinney may not be saying this and I may be taking it the wrong way, but this is the way I see the subject.)

Packing

So, today, I've spent a great deal of time packing up my room. In some ways, this year has been easier to pack. In other ways, not so much.

My packing techinque:
Categories: I grab everything that belongs together
Last year this was easier because I had more stuff. So categories were bigger.
This year, I have less stuff so instead of full categories, I have a lot that goes in my miscellaneous section.
I've grabbed everything that belongs in a category, but now I just have junk all over the place that has no place.
I've gotten to the point where it's books, clothes, toiletries, important documents, or trash.
My biggest problem is I'm a packrat and a missionary. But I can't be both. So I' forcing myself to break my pack-rat tendencies and so my trash pile is growing.

Money

Wow, a theme I see in my blogs. Can you tell where my concerns lie?

I got word today that I am eligable for $17,000 in student loans. My housing and schooling costs will give me need for $12,000 for the school year. (Not including books.) The extra 5G, if support does not, will be able to help give me something to live off of (food, gas, partnership development expenses, etc.) This is good news.

I have 5% of my support raised, but I'll need a lot more than that if I want to leave for PNG next year.

God willing, God will provide.

Car Troubles

So, I took my car to get a 22-point inspection. $9.99
They said they were a couple things wrong with it:
rear brake pads - $176
front inner tire rods - $187.50 x 2 = $275.00
which will give the need for an alignment - $97
oil change -$49
transmission fluid change - $147
coolant change - $103

Luckily, I have a friend who is willing to do my brake pads and another who's willing to change my fluids. But that does leave me with about $500 of work that needs to be done. It's a good thing that God's got my back.

275 Letters Going Out

So, quite recently, I acquired a completely random list of churches (ask me no more questions, and I'll tell you no more lies.) And I am presently preparing support letters to send to these 275 different churches. Today has been pretty stressful as I've scrambled around trying to purchase everything I need to make the letters. Showing off my credit card as often as I have today was heartbreaking as well. After printing paper, cardstock, ink, envelopes, stamps, and prayer cards, I spent about $216.35. So, I'll need 4 churches to give me $50 in order to even break even. Hopefully, though, out of 275 churches, some of them will be willing to give me support. I'm really praying that some of them choose to partner with me. We will see.
I hope I at least break even. My wallet hurts.

An All-Nighter Tonight

So running through a mental list of all the things I need to do, I figured it would be approriate to have an all-nighter tonight. I'm a little stressed, running mostly on caffiene, and I'm ready for the end of the semester. Danielle, Kimmi, and I are chugging the coffee and chugging thru this end-of-the-year-wait-when-is-this-paper-due choas. Right now, I'm wrestling with some Greek homework, which I thought was due this Thursay and was actually due last Thursday. Its going to be a long night, but 4 DAYS LEFT OF CLASSES! Then exam week, then the real chaos begins: getting ready to leave for Texas. Then the 24-hr-drive, then the summer of classes, then the year of grad school, then PNG ... so pretty much the rest of my life will be chaos.
... what fun
I don't know yet if I'm being sarcastic or not.

JR/SR

Tonight was the Junior/Senior banquet at Roanoke Bible College. It was fun. Dressing up is always enjoyable. This being my last year at RBC, my ticket was free. The others there were able to brag about how they had been at RBC for four years. They were able to reminisce. It is sad that I wasn’t able to spend those years here. Despite that, I am excited about going to GIAL. I’ll probably come to feel the same way about that school as well. 6 more days of classes here and then exams! How swiftly the end does approach!

Danielle Ball

Danielle’s and my friendship really blossomed this school year. Last year, we had an unusual relationship, but not at all what anyone might call a friendship. This year, however, we are very close.
Danielle is aspiring to be an accountant for PBT in Tanzania. Next year, she has intentions of doing an internship in the PBT Dallas offices. But for now, she is going to experience PMI for the first time and I am very excited to be the one with whom she’ll share this experience.
Despite being so close, we share no interest in the others passions besides the very fundamental “You care about it and I care about you so I guess I care about it.” In the picture to the right, Danielle and I are sitting on my bed studying. She’s playing with her numbers, with which I have no interest, and I’m playing with my letters, with which she could care less!
Still, I am very excited about the road trip that Danielle and I are about to take together. It will be the last time that I see her for a year and I’ll be glad to have this last trip with her.

Catholic Church

So, Good Friday came with no plans for fun. Everyone on campus had gone home for Easter Break. Dinner was not provided as staff had departed as well. So, a friend and I decided to go to Friday Mass. We weren't exactly sure when it was so we showed up to see if there were any tell-tale signs. As we pulled into the lot, the other cars were pulling out. Mass had just let out. But a woman there told us to come back at six to follow the path of Christ.
By 6:30, I had rugburn on my knees and had learned both Hail Mary and Glory Be, just by hearing it repeated so many times! Some aspects of the church were expected. It was very ritualistic, there was a way to do things and you were expected to do those things that way. Something unexpected I found was the lack of community. Before service, it was silent. People came in and took their seats and did not speak. Even the small children sat silently. I figured though that it was just becuase of the importance of what was about to happen. But then, afterwards, the church had a soup and grilled cheese social. There, where tables sat 10, a couple and child, a father and two children, 3 sisters, would sit in those clusters at seperate tables. It wasn't silent but it was very quiet. People didn't socialize with other church goers or ask about life. They just ate and left. Weird.
It was quite an experience.

As due dates draw near...

The end of the semester is upon us, here at Roanoke Bible College. I was a little worried that I wlbe slamed busy but I've managd my time pretty well and am ot stressedout about due dates. Today I turned in my exegetical for Greek IV (a long research paper on a small handful of Bible verses) today and finished my papers due for next week.
Right now, my only cause for stress is my support raising. It 's going slow, but I do have one family who has agreed to support me full time and I have gotten in two checks: totalig $320, so that's exciting.
But the semester is going and God will provide ...

Computer troubles

So whats more stressful than your computer becoming infected with a horde of viruses only to be cleaned off so it could start randomly deleting files, including that 8 page research paper you wrote on "the beginning," and deleting sections of files, including a whole page of that 12 page exegtical due in three days which you only had 7 (oh wait scratch that, 6) done, refusing to connect to the internet, and having a battery life a fruit fly wouldn't envy? Buying a new computer.
And all of this at the end of the semester when I have 178 gazillion things due!
Oh well, life goes on.
This will be my last time typing a blog on this computer. Farewell, my old friend, I loath the material you're made out of. We had a good go. I'm glad it's over. 443mb of RAM, good-bye. Hello, 3GB!

Bimester course load

So, I decided to take my course at GIAL over the span of 12 months. I had been flip-flopping between these decisions, but I decided, after being repeatedly reminded of the life-consumingness of the suicide semester, that I wanted to have a social life, be active in a church, and quite possibly interact with the community thru volunteering at a theatre. Dallas is a big city, we shall see what happens. But by taking only 12 credit hours I have opened myself to a whole city of possiblities!

My first Bimester at GIAL

Today, I had to enroll for GIAL. (I received my acceptance letter recently.) The program with RBC and GIAL suggests a 24 credit bimester. This is called the suicide semester by those in the major at RBC. I had thouht about dividing it, but it will be less expensive to do it in one bimester. So, I was going to take the suicide semester. However, both my advisors and the other student in my year in the program questioned the wisdom of that decision.
I have decided to enroll for the suicide semester and try it out. If I find after beginning that I cannot handle such a load, the drop/add rules permit me to drop a class within 7 days after beginning the session.
So we'll see how this turns out.

Focus on the Good

While this weekend has been stressful (with my computer being attacked by spyware and all), there have been a few delightful things as well.

I got my first couple who committed to supporting me monthly! I'm really excited about finally hearing a "yes." Those who said "no" of course did it for good reasons (their support of other missionaries) and I completely understand, but it can very disheartening to hang up again and again knowing that I'm no closer to my financial goal. Thus, that "yes" was very encouraging.

Also, this morning I decided to go to church later than normal because I find myself sitting around after I set up lights. So, walking in at 8:30, I see my apprentice, who is not supposed to being doing lights this month, almost finished setting up the lights! This was very relieving for me because, as he is a high school freshman, I was afraid that he wasn't responsible enough to take my place. But, instead, my apprentice saw that lights had yet to be done and got on it. Relief floods me.

Life can either be half-full or half-empty. Focusing on the good things, as few and as insignificant as they may be, keeps despair and depression at bay.

Support Raising

Although I've only called back on 5 of the support raising letters I've sent out, I can see that support raising is exceedingly difficult. The problem lies in most of the people who I would send my letters to already have people that they support financially, in many cases, many people. The drawback of attending such a missions-minded, help-the-needy church. Way to change the world, Forefront. So the next step is to go to non-Christians, but then why would a non-Christian support a Bible translation? Here's my theory and we'll have to see how it goes: many non-Christians aren't violently opposed to Chistianity. Many non-Christians give Christians a motherly pat on the back for holding to Christians morals (at least the ones who I've come in contact with) even though "they could never do that." This combined with the knowledge that humanitarian projects are cool, leads me to believe that non-Christians have the excellent potential to be great sources of financial support.

However, be it from Christians or non-Christians, I need prayer (and financial support) for raising financial support.

The Sights Missionaries have Seen

Dr. Reese is the Missions professor at Roanoke Bible College. I just got back from his house, where Danielle and I spent 2 hours talking to him about our plans. Danielle is going to go to Tanzania. Dr. Reese had gone to Tanzania only last year and has been a missionary in Africa for many years. So we were able to swap stories, him telling us of Africa, us telling him of roadtrips to Missionary Conventions and the short term trips that we've been on.

There is nothing I enjoy more than listening to the stories of missionaries. I would greatly recommend sitting at the feet of any missionary that you can find and listen to what they have to say. Missionaries have seen things that Americans would never dream of. Gain wisdom you could not have gained by yourself. Listen and become open minded.

But I suppose this isn't true of only missionaries. Listen to everyone. Everyone has done things, learned things, knows things, that you could not or have not. Learn it from them. You'll find yourself better prepared for life that way.

End of Spring Break

So spring break is coming to an end. I don't know how much of a break it was. Monday was a snow day for my littlest sister, so I got to babysit her. Tuesday, my mother was off work so I spent the day with her. When I got home at 9pm, I crashed that day. Wednesday, I worked at the Cheaspeake Conference Center. Thursday, I worked at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Today, Friday, was my first (and last) lazy day. And even on this lazy day, and throughout the week when I managed to find a moment, I've been working hard on my exegetical. Or at least tried to. Every time I sit down and get started on it, I remember thirty other time sensitive tasks that need to be done. So, over break, I've managed to get a page, double-spaced, on my exegetical, bringing me to three pages. Three out of twelve. Awesome.

GIAL Application

Finally!
Everything is mailed off for the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguitics.
3 Reference letters from:

1. Chuck
2. James
3. Dr. Larsen

Thank you!
A copy of my transcript from Roanoke Bible College
and my complete application along with a $25 application fee.
Hopefully, I'll get my acceptance letter in the mail soon. And Murphy* will have one less thing to mess up as June approaches!



*This, just so you know, is an allusion to Murphy's Law, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, at the last minute."

Summer Plans

So, finally, I've decided firmly on what I'm am going to do this summer.
May 8th school gets out.
I'll spend a month packing, doing partnership development, and saying good-bye. On May 24th, I'll have a going away potluck party at Mt. Trashmore after church.
June 6th, I will be leaving for Dallas, TX with a friend from school. The drive will take about 24 hours. Hopefully, we'll find some fun stops along the way!
Upon arrival in Texas, my friend and I will attend the Pioneer Missions Institute. Afterwards, my friend will leave for VA and I will continue on and take a Partnership Development class, then a bush mechanics and electronics class, then a primary medical care class, and finally a PBT team orientation class. I'll have a week break from my studies before my bimester at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics begins.
If it sounds like a busy summer, that's because it is. And thats the way I like my summers!
I'm very excited about it! I can't wait!

Completed Budget

I just got back word from PBT that my budget has been approved.
I'll need about $2500 a month to have 100% of my budget.
The approval of my budget means that I can now send out my support raising letters. So I've been spending the last two days getting everything together to make the letters. The first wave of letters will go out on Monday.
Hopefully, support will come in nicely.
I'm very excited to get this ball rolling.

It's time for a revolution.

Today was my first Cultural Anthropology class. Our professor was attending his mother's funeral, so we had a guest speaker, a missionary from Odessa. (His name escapes me and is irrelevant.)
Of course, he was advocating cross-cultural missions, but did so at the expense of mission work done here in America.
He pointed to the overwhelming numbers of churches here and the lack of any churches there. However, he failed to mention how many churches here are dying out. He mention that most church growth is because people are changing churches and not because they're converting. But, he didn't find it alarming that people here in the States aren't being converted.
I was born to be a missionary in Papua New Guinea. Not everyone can do this, but I can; therefore, I must.
However, even though I intend to leave, I know how important it is for us to have missionaries here! It's so important, in fact, and so obvious, that Africa has started sending missionaries to the States!
If the world is going to Hell, as this missionary says, America is leading the way!
It's time for a revolution!
Not to give up and flee the country to those who are "more willing to hear the Word!"
It's time for a revolution!

my holy discontent

First Day of Classes

Yesterday, I had my first class. Ministry Formation. But it was only the class I had scheduled for after 5. So, today was my first full day of classes.
Biblical Doctrines seems as if it'll be fairly easy, as does Science and the Bible.
Greek IV will require the most from me. I'll be translating the book of Hebrews into English from Greek. It promises to be very difficult. But I look forward to the challenge!
Thus far, the workload is not as intimidating as I thought, but I do have two classes that I haven't taken yet. Those classes, I will take tomorrow.

A tid-bit I learned today
In Greek today, I learned that there are only 3 things known for certain about "St. Pauls Epistle to the Hebrews."

1. It's not written by St. Paul
2. It's not an Epistle
3. It's not written to the Hebrews

Everything else about the book is very uncertain!