Not that long...

I wake up and think It's less than three weeks.

To finish my classwork and to pack and to say goodbyes and to meet my team in LAX.  And that doesn't feel long at all.

Some random thoughts:

This Thursday makes the fourth Thursday I've been in a different state.  I'm back in Pennsylvania now; last week I was in Oklahoma, the week before I was in Texas, and the week before that I was in Indiana.  I've had a lot of great adventures this summer.

While I haven't really done much yet in the way of planning/packing, I know a few things that are going... my family gave me an ipod touch for graduation.  It runs a $5 app called qingwen, which is pretty much one of the most useful things in the world when in China (or Hong Kong, for that matter).  You draw a character on the screen (it can be pretty sloppy, always an advantage if you are just driving past it on the bus) and it translates the character.  How cool is that?  Also, a friend of my mom's sent me a ton of postcards from all over the US.  Talking about different places in the states just got a lot more fun.  :)

I was really encouraged the other day when Adam, who goes to my church and whose family I'm currently horse-sitting for, said to me, "When we went on our missions trip, we each picked someone to pray for that week... and I picked you."  It's amazing to me that people pray for me whether or not I know that they are doing it, that my friends are interceding with the Creator of the universe on my behalf.  Stephen Altrogge just posted about how we can come before God with confidence over here, on the Blazing Center, and it blows my mind to know that I can come confidently to God with everything... that other people can do the same... and that Christ also stands before God, pleading my case.

This coming year is full of crazy adventures, I am certain.  So please keep praying for God to be guiding all of it, and to be preparing me, my team, and our students.  It means way more than you can know.

Face of Love

There are a number of things in life that I strongly dislike. 

This list includes, but is not limited to, being hit by cold water in the shower, forgetting to do half of a poli sci assignment, and pretty much anything related to money.  Also asking for help.

As you can imagine, these last two do not really make for me enjoying fundraising.  Ask people to pray for me?  No problem.  Ask for them to give money?  Uh... Remind me why I didn't get a job at a gas station for this next year again?

And I could discuss how this probably reveals that I have very skewed ideas of the relative values of prayer and money, but that really isn't my point.  Not in this post, anyway.

Here's the short list of things that I scribbled in my journal the other day of things that I am learning about, and that I am glad that I'm learning, much as I dislike the process.

humility
boldness
how to experience generosity
being part of a body
the Father's abundant provision for needs


Knowing that He provides for all of my physical needs reminds me that He will provide just as abundantly for all of the needs that I don't even know about.

Knowing that I rely on others to be able to go and serve this coming year challenges me, because I'm not in it alone.  It reminds me that when I do the work to get my certification, others have invested in me and I want to uphold their trust.  So much for awesome lone ranger-y things.

And so...

I am so thankful for everyone who is enabling me to go.  You're already showing me what Sanctus Real called "the face of Love" -- which is what all this going is about, after all.

Thank you.

The Face Of Love :

I've seen your face on stained glass, in colored lights
In pictures of you looking to the sky

You've been portrayed a thousand different ways
But my heart can see you better than my eyes
'Cause it's love that points the portrait of your life

The face of love
The face of love
You look more like love everyday

I've read your words in the pages of your life
And I've imagined what you were like
I may not know the shape of your face
But I can feel your heart changing mine
And your love still proves that you're alive

The face of love
The face of love
You look more like love everyday

You are the face that changed the whole world
No one too lost for you love
No one too low for you to serve
So give us the grace to change the world
No one too lost for me to love
No one too low for me to serve

Let us see...
Let us be your face

Adventure on Campus! (and other updates)

Today something really fun happened -- Dr. Jay, who ran the program that I was with before in China, and his wife were on campus because their daughter is starting school in the fall!  It was cool to get to show them around my world a bit.  They all were feeling like they were in a major information overload stage... and I felt like it was a role reversal.  Anyway, it was great to have a chance to reconnect on the other side of the world.


I finished doing the pre-China classwork for one of my three classes and have started on the second, so I just read Teaching to Change Lives by Howard Hendricks.  It was a great (and quick) read, and I enjoyed thinking through how what he talks about was demonstrated by various teachers I've had.  It's really exciting (and a bit nerve-wracking!) to think that I am going to be a teacher myself in not that long.  I just finished being a student!


In other news, I've had the opportunity to do a few conference calls with other future teachers.  Those have been good chances to connect with each other, hear about where we are all at in the process of preparing to go, and lifting each other up before the Father.  In a month and a half, we'll all be meeting each other in LAX.  Amazing.  


Annnnnd, finally... the new newsletters came to me from the printer today, so I am slipping them into envelopes and will be getting them dispersed out to y'all soon.  If you're not on my mailing list and would like to be, drop me an email/comment/something.  :)

Back to China!

So here is the deal. I really wish that I could sit down with all of you and just tell you the stories of what's been going on with China, but here is the gist of it: I'm going back to China for 11 months to teach English. I don't know yet where in China I'll be (although I am really excited to find out!) If you want to hear more stories, feel free to leave me a comment or email or whatever! :) We're scheduled to fly out on July 30th. Until that time, I have work to do getting my certification to teach English (through Wheaton) and fundraising.

Here's what I need from you to make this happen.

Prayer. It's going to a time full of crazy adventures (as anyone from my CSP group knows!) that I can't even anticipate.

Money. Going to China, and getting certification to teach, and all that jazz is expensive and I need to raise about $1400 for each month that I'm going to be there. Here's my suggestion... think about committing to giving a manageable amount each month, something like $30 or $50. That's like a tank of gas. :) If you would be willing to partner with me this way, or want to talk more about what your money would be going towards, again, shoot me a message. I'd be glad to talk more... I really cannot do this without you.  Following this link will take you to a site to donate online.

Ideas. Especially once I find out what age and area I'm going to be working in, I would love to have your input on what things I ought to be taking/cool ideas for teaching/activities.  (The current list is under the tab called China packing list/ideas.)

And that, my friends, is that! (Until next time. ^_^)