Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Training Continues
Yesterday, we went on a scavenger hunt in Bridgetown, which is the capital. I had to chase down a lady to ask her for directions, but apparently that was a positive thing. I guess it said something about my initiative. We got offered drugs four times on the street. The buses here, called ZRs (pronounced Zed-ars) are ridiculously crowded, and when you think more people can't possibly fit in, they do. And they play really loud reggae/rockish music. It's crazy and awesome.
We met the STINT team, who are all very nice and very helpful and very interested in us. We ate dinner with them at Chefette, which is the Bajan fast food place. I had roti, which is like curried chicken and potatoes wrapped up in a tortilla. It was pretty good, though I didn't really care for the potato/chicken ratio. Too much tater.
Then we got back and played a fun and ridiculous game with them, which was good just for getting to know one another.
Today, we did some training, which I actually really enjoy. It's good to have the STINT team here to help us figure out what we're going to say to people on campus when we meet them. And just the training and intense prayer we get in is awesome, and really puts me in the right frame of mind to spend my summer serving God.
Later on, we did some team-building activities on the beach--four-legged races with three people, sandcastle building, human wheelbarrow races, etc. It was fun. I got to know a couple of the guys a little better. And then we just chilled on the beach together, and I went further into the ocean than I've ever been before. Everyone is very cool about my inability to swim--a couple even swear they're going to teach me.
It's fun getting to know everyone. It's not something I'm particularly good at, but then again, that's probably just another of the reasons why God put me here for the summer.
We have a "lime" tonight, which is their word for party, pretty much. We'll have one every Friday night, where we just chill out, eat, play games, watch movies, etc. There will probably be some Bajan students there, which I am looking forward to.
Thanks for your prayers, emails, comments, IM's when my connection works, etc. It means a lot.
We met the STINT team, who are all very nice and very helpful and very interested in us. We ate dinner with them at Chefette, which is the Bajan fast food place. I had roti, which is like curried chicken and potatoes wrapped up in a tortilla. It was pretty good, though I didn't really care for the potato/chicken ratio. Too much tater.
Then we got back and played a fun and ridiculous game with them, which was good just for getting to know one another.
Today, we did some training, which I actually really enjoy. It's good to have the STINT team here to help us figure out what we're going to say to people on campus when we meet them. And just the training and intense prayer we get in is awesome, and really puts me in the right frame of mind to spend my summer serving God.
Later on, we did some team-building activities on the beach--four-legged races with three people, sandcastle building, human wheelbarrow races, etc. It was fun. I got to know a couple of the guys a little better. And then we just chilled on the beach together, and I went further into the ocean than I've ever been before. Everyone is very cool about my inability to swim--a couple even swear they're going to teach me.
It's fun getting to know everyone. It's not something I'm particularly good at, but then again, that's probably just another of the reasons why God put me here for the summer.
We have a "lime" tonight, which is their word for party, pretty much. We'll have one every Friday night, where we just chill out, eat, play games, watch movies, etc. There will probably be some Bajan students there, which I am looking forward to.
Thanks for your prayers, emails, comments, IM's when my connection works, etc. It means a lot.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
At Last!
I am here in the Caribbean.
I got into Miami last night at about 6, where I was picked up by two of my PD's and started out expanding my horizons by going out for Thai food (not too shabby, by the way, though I still prefer Indian). We spent the night at Brad & Michelle's house--them, our 2 other directors (Chris and Daniel), 4 guys (Graham, Dwayne, Brant, and James), two of the girls (Atalie and Katie), and me. Close quarters, but it was fun.
We left for the airport at about 6:30 this morning. Miserable. I wasn't even conversational yet. But it was okay, and the flight was good. I slept a little. We got here at about 1:30, and I can promise you that the Caribbean is just as beautiful as you always thought it would be. Turquoise water with white surf, palm trees swaying in the breeze... that kind of thing. It's a different kind of heat than we have in SC. In SC, it's just burning sun, beating down on you all the time, and you kind of hate to even be outside in the summer. But here, it's like a heater is on all the time--it's weird. It's like the heat doesn't even come from the sun, it's just in the air. But near the sea, it's perfect. The breezes keep the heat down to a minimum, so it's just warm and perfect. The ocean feels like bathwater. It's pretty incredible.
Last night was fun. We played Apples to Apples for a long time. I almost won, but the last turn got me. Apples to Apples is a good way to get to know people.
We're still in that stage, of course. You know me. I'm ridiculously shy and the only things I ever get stressed about are my relationships with people, so this is the thing that I'm going to have to work on during this trip. We are making friends, of course. I like absolutely everyone here. I just want us to be really tight and for this to be a summer that really means something to all of us. Pray for that.
I made a Bajan friend on the beach today. (You pronounce that BAY-juhn or BAY-zhun, by the way. Like Asian, with a B.) It was an old man (Bajans are VERY dark, by the way. Don't let Rihanna fool you) and he was talking to Chris and Graham and asked me to come over and he asked if I was on a Christian mission, and I told him that I was. He asked my name and where I was from, and said he was more familiar with the North in the USA. He was asking if I knew any good Christian songs and stuff, and he asked if I was behaving myself as a Christian. He told me to keep God in my heart. I told him I was very glad I had met him.
I hope that was a hint at things to come. I mean, it wasn't a big deal, but you know how much I love foreign people (though I suppose that I'm actually the foreigner here) and that's a major part of why I'm here, and I hope I have many more encounters with people like Anthony (that was his name) and some who are maybe less confident about their relationships with God than he was. I hope to have enough confidence of my own to share Him with them.
This is so unlike anything I have ever done. It's scary in a way--the nervousness finally did hit me. There was a point today when I was just like, "WHAT am I doing here?! I don't know these people, my family's not here, I could be at home playing with my dogs and talking to my sister and I'm here with strangers in a foreign country! I don't even have iTunes here!" But I prayed and calmed down and I AM praying, as constantly as I can manage. I would love it if you would do the same. We've got a lot to deal with here, with each other and with all the new people we're going to meet.
Here's the deal: I think that, each time I update, I'm going to ask you to pray for something specifically. Today's charge is to pray that my group would get really close and form lasting friendships. Get past the initial awkwardness and really get to know one another as brothers and sisters. Pray for that, and everything that follows will become much easier.
Also...to bring my straightener was utterly pointless. There is no use for it in this kind of weather. It will be a waste of energy.
We start briefing tomorrow, and we'll meet the STINT team and do a scavenger hunt they put together for us so that we can get to know the island and what sort of things we need to know to do our job. Stay tuned, folks.
I got into Miami last night at about 6, where I was picked up by two of my PD's and started out expanding my horizons by going out for Thai food (not too shabby, by the way, though I still prefer Indian). We spent the night at Brad & Michelle's house--them, our 2 other directors (Chris and Daniel), 4 guys (Graham, Dwayne, Brant, and James), two of the girls (Atalie and Katie), and me. Close quarters, but it was fun.
We left for the airport at about 6:30 this morning. Miserable. I wasn't even conversational yet. But it was okay, and the flight was good. I slept a little. We got here at about 1:30, and I can promise you that the Caribbean is just as beautiful as you always thought it would be. Turquoise water with white surf, palm trees swaying in the breeze... that kind of thing. It's a different kind of heat than we have in SC. In SC, it's just burning sun, beating down on you all the time, and you kind of hate to even be outside in the summer. But here, it's like a heater is on all the time--it's weird. It's like the heat doesn't even come from the sun, it's just in the air. But near the sea, it's perfect. The breezes keep the heat down to a minimum, so it's just warm and perfect. The ocean feels like bathwater. It's pretty incredible.
Last night was fun. We played Apples to Apples for a long time. I almost won, but the last turn got me. Apples to Apples is a good way to get to know people.
We're still in that stage, of course. You know me. I'm ridiculously shy and the only things I ever get stressed about are my relationships with people, so this is the thing that I'm going to have to work on during this trip. We are making friends, of course. I like absolutely everyone here. I just want us to be really tight and for this to be a summer that really means something to all of us. Pray for that.
I made a Bajan friend on the beach today. (You pronounce that BAY-juhn or BAY-zhun, by the way. Like Asian, with a B.) It was an old man (Bajans are VERY dark, by the way. Don't let Rihanna fool you) and he was talking to Chris and Graham and asked me to come over and he asked if I was on a Christian mission, and I told him that I was. He asked my name and where I was from, and said he was more familiar with the North in the USA. He was asking if I knew any good Christian songs and stuff, and he asked if I was behaving myself as a Christian. He told me to keep God in my heart. I told him I was very glad I had met him.
I hope that was a hint at things to come. I mean, it wasn't a big deal, but you know how much I love foreign people (though I suppose that I'm actually the foreigner here) and that's a major part of why I'm here, and I hope I have many more encounters with people like Anthony (that was his name) and some who are maybe less confident about their relationships with God than he was. I hope to have enough confidence of my own to share Him with them.
This is so unlike anything I have ever done. It's scary in a way--the nervousness finally did hit me. There was a point today when I was just like, "WHAT am I doing here?! I don't know these people, my family's not here, I could be at home playing with my dogs and talking to my sister and I'm here with strangers in a foreign country! I don't even have iTunes here!" But I prayed and calmed down and I AM praying, as constantly as I can manage. I would love it if you would do the same. We've got a lot to deal with here, with each other and with all the new people we're going to meet.
Here's the deal: I think that, each time I update, I'm going to ask you to pray for something specifically. Today's charge is to pray that my group would get really close and form lasting friendships. Get past the initial awkwardness and really get to know one another as brothers and sisters. Pray for that, and everything that follows will become much easier.
Also...to bring my straightener was utterly pointless. There is no use for it in this kind of weather. It will be a waste of energy.
We start briefing tomorrow, and we'll meet the STINT team and do a scavenger hunt they put together for us so that we can get to know the island and what sort of things we need to know to do our job. Stay tuned, folks.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Today is the day!
This time tomorrow, I'll be in Miami.
This time the next day, I'll be in the Caribbean.
It's all a little surreal.
This time the next day, I'll be in the Caribbean.
It's all a little surreal.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
So Close...
I am but a week away from being in Barbados. LESS than a week away from leaving.
My family will be taking me to Atlanta on Monday, from which airport I will be flying into Miami next Tuesday afternoon, where I will meet up with all the other students going on my project. We're spending the night at our Project Director's house, and then leaving bright and (VERY) early the next morning for the airport. Our flight is at about 10 AM, I think, so we should be there at about 3 PM (again, I think).
I am SO excited for this to finally happen--I don't know if things ever really hit me until about a day before they happen, so I'll probably be very calm until Monday, at which point my heart will be pounding, my palms will be sweating, and I'll be yawning a lot (that's just one of my personal quirks--I yawn repeatedly when I'm really nervous). This is totally unlike anything I've ever done before, and really it's about as far out of my comfort zone as I could get. I'm not a very social or particularly friendly person and it takes a certain amount of effort to get to know me, so the fact that I am going to a foreign country with a bunch of other kids I've never met before with the express purpose of talking to OTHER kids I've never met before...it's a stretch for me. And there is no possible way I could ever do it on my own. I KNOW that God is going to do amazing things in Barbados because He's already done amazing things just in getting me to this point. And I am going to have to trust Him 100% if this trip is going to have anything remotely resembling an effect on anyone involved.
Continue to pray for me, folks. I know that you've all been very dedicated about doing that because I can see the effects of your prayers. Pray until the second I get on that plane and then keep praying for the next 5 weeks. Pray for my group to form tight bonds with each other sot that we can be a more effective team (and make some amazing friendships). Pray that the hearts of the students at UWI will be open to hearing God's message. Pray for our safety in travel, and pray that God will work tremendously in our lives and the lives of the Bajans. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, financially and emotionally. It's so cool to see God providing through others as well as seeing how excited some of you have been for me to have this opportunity. I appreciate it so much.
(Quick plug, as well: you can still contribute to this trip financially if you wish, by sending checks made out to Campus Crusade for Christ to my home address [1620 Houston Drive Spartanburg, SC 29307] for the next week.)
My family will be taking me to Atlanta on Monday, from which airport I will be flying into Miami next Tuesday afternoon, where I will meet up with all the other students going on my project. We're spending the night at our Project Director's house, and then leaving bright and (VERY) early the next morning for the airport. Our flight is at about 10 AM, I think, so we should be there at about 3 PM (again, I think).
I am SO excited for this to finally happen--I don't know if things ever really hit me until about a day before they happen, so I'll probably be very calm until Monday, at which point my heart will be pounding, my palms will be sweating, and I'll be yawning a lot (that's just one of my personal quirks--I yawn repeatedly when I'm really nervous). This is totally unlike anything I've ever done before, and really it's about as far out of my comfort zone as I could get. I'm not a very social or particularly friendly person and it takes a certain amount of effort to get to know me, so the fact that I am going to a foreign country with a bunch of other kids I've never met before with the express purpose of talking to OTHER kids I've never met before...it's a stretch for me. And there is no possible way I could ever do it on my own. I KNOW that God is going to do amazing things in Barbados because He's already done amazing things just in getting me to this point. And I am going to have to trust Him 100% if this trip is going to have anything remotely resembling an effect on anyone involved.
Continue to pray for me, folks. I know that you've all been very dedicated about doing that because I can see the effects of your prayers. Pray until the second I get on that plane and then keep praying for the next 5 weeks. Pray for my group to form tight bonds with each other sot that we can be a more effective team (and make some amazing friendships). Pray that the hearts of the students at UWI will be open to hearing God's message. Pray for our safety in travel, and pray that God will work tremendously in our lives and the lives of the Bajans. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, financially and emotionally. It's so cool to see God providing through others as well as seeing how excited some of you have been for me to have this opportunity. I appreciate it so much.
(Quick plug, as well: you can still contribute to this trip financially if you wish, by sending checks made out to Campus Crusade for Christ to my home address [1620 Houston Drive Spartanburg, SC 29307] for the next week.)
Friday, May 2, 2008
A Brief Overview
For those of you who don't know, I am spending five weeks of my summer in Barbados with a group from Campus Crusade for Christ. We're going to be ministering to the students at the University of the West Indies, which I am so excited about. I've put up this little blog to keep you all updated as I prepare to go, raising support and trying to finish school with my sanity intact and such, and I will try to update it as much as possible while in the Caribbean.
Let me explain the title of my blog just a bit: first of all, it's essential to understand how very important words are to me. I'm an English major, a grammar guru, and I fancy myself a bit of a wordsmith. So not only are words very important to me, but I'm a big fan of plays on words, and I have lots of opportunity for those being a Christian whose name is Grace (Amazing Grace, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, let's all say Grace, the list goes on forever). The title of my blog, however, is not from a hymn (though the address is. It's part of a line from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which is one of my favorite classic hymns. "Tune my heart to sing Thy grace." That song is so beautiful and so meaningful). It is from a poem by the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. As someone with a distinctly Scottish heritage, it is practically my duty to hold him in reverence, and I do. This particular quotation however, speaks of people's "sighing, canting, grace-proud faces, their three-mile prayers and half-mile graces." It isn't a positive description of people, but I chose it anyway, for two reasons. 1) It has such a nice ring to it that I simply couldn't pass it up; and 2) I'm not accustomed to being very far from home. While a half a mile is a bit of an exaggeration, I really have not ever been very far from home--this is the first time. Five weeks spent more miles away than I can probably count. So I sort of began thinking of myself as a "half-mile Grace," since I'm such a homebody, and realized that I would need more than three-mile prayers in order to make it through this trip. Maybe that doesn't make sense to any of you, but I thought it made an appropriate title for my blog, and thinking of what the line actually means will be likely to keep me in check--make sure my humility, attitude, and grace are intact.
So that's what I'm asking of all of you. Your prayers, from many more than three miles away.
In news on the actual Barbados front, I am chugging along on support. I am up to $2575 at this point, and the total cost of my trip is $4350. According to one of my project directors, with whom I had a conversation yesterday, that is right about where I need to be. So that is a big relief. Keep praying, though, since I still have quite a bit left to raise. If you're interested in helping me out financially, please make all checks payable to Campus Crusade for Christ, and send it to my parent's address: 1620 Houston Drive Spartanburg, SC 29307.
Also, I am now Facebook friends with everyone going on my project (it's a tiny project--there are only about 12 of us, so we should all be great friends before it's over), so it's very cool to have a face on all the names and know a little about one another.
Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. More news will be along soon.
Let me explain the title of my blog just a bit: first of all, it's essential to understand how very important words are to me. I'm an English major, a grammar guru, and I fancy myself a bit of a wordsmith. So not only are words very important to me, but I'm a big fan of plays on words, and I have lots of opportunity for those being a Christian whose name is Grace (Amazing Grace, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, let's all say Grace, the list goes on forever). The title of my blog, however, is not from a hymn (though the address is. It's part of a line from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which is one of my favorite classic hymns. "Tune my heart to sing Thy grace." That song is so beautiful and so meaningful). It is from a poem by the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. As someone with a distinctly Scottish heritage, it is practically my duty to hold him in reverence, and I do. This particular quotation however, speaks of people's "sighing, canting, grace-proud faces, their three-mile prayers and half-mile graces." It isn't a positive description of people, but I chose it anyway, for two reasons. 1) It has such a nice ring to it that I simply couldn't pass it up; and 2) I'm not accustomed to being very far from home. While a half a mile is a bit of an exaggeration, I really have not ever been very far from home--this is the first time. Five weeks spent more miles away than I can probably count. So I sort of began thinking of myself as a "half-mile Grace," since I'm such a homebody, and realized that I would need more than three-mile prayers in order to make it through this trip. Maybe that doesn't make sense to any of you, but I thought it made an appropriate title for my blog, and thinking of what the line actually means will be likely to keep me in check--make sure my humility, attitude, and grace are intact.
So that's what I'm asking of all of you. Your prayers, from many more than three miles away.
In news on the actual Barbados front, I am chugging along on support. I am up to $2575 at this point, and the total cost of my trip is $4350. According to one of my project directors, with whom I had a conversation yesterday, that is right about where I need to be. So that is a big relief. Keep praying, though, since I still have quite a bit left to raise. If you're interested in helping me out financially, please make all checks payable to Campus Crusade for Christ, and send it to my parent's address: 1620 Houston Drive Spartanburg, SC 29307.
Also, I am now Facebook friends with everyone going on my project (it's a tiny project--there are only about 12 of us, so we should all be great friends before it's over), so it's very cool to have a face on all the names and know a little about one another.
Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. More news will be along soon.
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