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.