PFO - Day 7

Things are beginning to feel more normal here at Houghton.  The first few days I was overwhelmed with the amount of information and the large number of people.  I was (and still am) dealing with a lot of the emotions that come with the transition that I'm making from a life I know and am comfortable with here in America to the completely unknown in Hungary.  I was feeling alone and timid and very sad even while I'm feeling excited about the future.  


But things are getting better!  I'm slowly beginning to form relationships with some of the people.  Part of me so badly needs to be wanted that when I don't feel that way (whether it's how it actually is or only how I perceive it), I close myself off.  I'm reaching a point where I recognize when it's happening as it's happening which allows me to work through some of that insecurity immediately so that I can step outside of my comfort zone.  And it's been a good thing.  It's allowed me to be friendly with and get to know people that I initially might have shut out in order to avoid the possibility of "rejection."  I've also made room in my day for alone time.  After dinner I'll usually go for a walk around the campus or a run through the woods (got lost last night - I kept thinking "this is how episodes of Criminal Minds always start" which only made me run faster) and spend some time praying or singing or just processing stuff.


The sessions have been so interesting, too.  Sometimes, toward the end of the day I can feel my brain slowing down because there's so much information being filtered through, but hopefully I'm hanging onto enough of it. :)  We've talked so much about TCKs and some issues they'll be dealing with.  We also talked about the different kinds of things that we will be dealing with regarding moving to a new culture.  Yesterday and today we talked a lot about the different learning cultures our students might be used to and how we need to be sensitive to that in our own classrooms.  It's a lot to think about, but I'm so thankful for PFO because it's things I wouldn't have been thinking about otherwise.


We also had a seminar on singleness.  I have a lot of thoughts on that session and not all of them are positive.  All I'll say about it now is that when I decided to do missions, I came to terms with the fact that this might mean that God is calling me to singleness forever.  I'm still hopeful that I'll get married and have a family someday, but I'm happy being single now.  I probably wouldn't be going if I weren't single.  And to all of you who keep suggesting that I'll find my husband on the mission field, the likelihood of that happening isn't very good.  I hope I get married, and I'll keep praying that I will, but I'd rather spend the rest of my life single and doing exactly what God has called me to than to be outside of his will and have a family.  Because the only way I'm going to live a fulfilling and satisfying life is if I'm in God's will.  God calls some to families and some to singleness and as long as I'm doing what He wants, I'm content with either.


Today after dinner we went to Letchworth Park, which I have been informed is the "Grand Canyon of the East."  It was gorgeous!  Waterfalls and cliffs and trees as far as the eye could see.  We only spent an hour there but I'd have been content to spend days walking around.  I've included some pictures but they really don't do it justice.

The "small" falls

The "big" falls

PFO Day Something - 5 maybe?

So...I planned on updating this every other day, but I've been so busy and then so exhausted at the end of the day that I just didn't have time.  Sorry!


Things are great here!  First of all, the weather is amazing!  Tiff keeps sending me the temp in Texas and I keep bragging that it hasn't broken 80 since I got here and I'm walking around in sweaters.  'Course, I probably just jinxed myself...


The sessions have been really good and eye opening.  In one sense because it helps me to better understand the things that my students will be dealing with after moving around and living in a culture that's different from their own and constantly having to say goodbye and adjust to new places.  But also because today we talked about our own transition to a new culture and the normal emotions that go along with that.  It's nice to know that what I'm feeling is normal and that it won't last forever.


My roommate is wonderful!  It's really great to be surrounded by people who are passionate about following God but who are also going to do the same thing that I am.  I'm the only Budapest girl here, but there are quite a few people going to Vienna and Prague which isn't too terribly far from Budapest.


I've felt very blessed by all of the people around me, both here and back home.  My wonderful friend Stacy and her family had a bake sale yesterday to raise money for me.  Is that not the Body of Christ at work, or what?  Not to mention all of the encouragement I've received from friends and family back home.  Plus, I got to talk on the phone with my roommate in Hungary!  It was such a blessing.  She was very encouraging and informative and we talked for a long time and then prayed together.  I'm really excited to live with her!


Just wanted to give you a quick update.  There's way too much info to include here.  I'm learning a lot.  I'm singing in the worship band tomorrow (eek!).  We go to Niagra Falls on Sunday (thanks Sarah!).  I'm missing family, friends, church and of course, my sweet Wesley, but I'm excited about what God is teaching me and what He's preparing me for.


Love you all so so much!

PFO Day 1

I am now at my second training: TCK-PFO which stands for "Third Culture Kid - Pre Field Orientation"


I got spoiled at CAO in my suite with the king size bed and my own bathroom.  PFO is held at a small college in Houghton, NY (near Buffalo) and we are in teeny dorm rooms with two bathrooms and two showers per 16-20 females.  Mornings should be fun :)  I'm not complaining though.  It's kinda fun because we just throw the doors open and have a good chat.


There's not much to report today.  I was up at 4 this morning in order to catch my flight out of Houston.  I arrived in Buffalo at 4 pm and was greeted by a big group of my fellow missionary/teachers.  What's been funny has been the way we start conversations.  Normally, you ask their name, what they do, where they're from.  Now the first three questions you get are "Where are you from?" "Where are you going?" and "What are you teaching?"


We got to Houghton at around 6:30 and quickly registered and got dinner.  It's a beautiful night - more green stuff, hills, and a gorgeous temperature.  After dinner I went for a walk and took pictures of this really nice little campus.


There's not a lot going on tomorrow.  We have church tomorrow morning and then a worship team meeting (there's a possibility I'll end up singing at a few of the worship times) and then we get our advising groups.  The real stuff starts on Monday.


I'm glad to be here and excited about everything that I'm going to learn.  I had a lot of fun talking with people and hearing their different stories on the bus ride here.  It's pretty cool to be surrounded by people who love God and have the same passion for teaching.  I'm sad to be missing all of the "happenings" with my family but excited to see what God's going to teach me and how I'm going to be prepared to get into the classroom by this experience.


Here are a few pictures:

3 Guesses why I liked this building... :)

Cute little house on the corner of the campus

The first thing you see upon entering the dorm building we're in

Anxiety and a Cool God Story

It was a bit strange settling back into reality after getting back from NC.  I didn't have much of a chance to relax as Sunday was busy and then I started work again Monday (though I missed Wesley so much I was glad to be back to it).  


Whether out of necessity or out of excitement to get started, I jumped right into support raising.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any anxiety about the idea of calling someone up to set a meeting with them.  For starters, the phone and I are not friends.  I always feel super awkward and trip over my words.  But what I've come to find is that sometimes that anxiety is a good thing.  Because I have no choice but to turn it over to God and to depend on Him.  It's not my excellent phone skills or smooth way with words that makes a person want to meet with me, it's God working in their heart.  The anxiety sends me to God, reminding me that He is in charge, not me. 


In fact, one of the sweetest times I've ever spent in the Word was the week after Easter this year.  I'd committed to UWM and had been offered the position of 4th grade teacher and I had finished my application.  All there was left to do was wait for things to fall into place.  I'd been so blessed with a peace about everything and then all of a sudden, out of no where, I was filled with anxiety.    And it was all the time.  I was uncomfortable and I couldn't eat or sleep.  I tried to ignore it for a while, but that didn't work.  I quickly discovered that the only time I didn't feel this crippling anxiety was when I was praying or when I was in the Word.  And so that's what I did - every spare moment I spent in prayer or reading the Bible.  Once God removed my anxiety, I remember thinking what a blessing it was because it drove me straight to God and that as much as I hated feeling that way, I would gladly feel it every day if it meant that I thirsted for God all the time like I did that week.


Shifting gears really quickly, I want to share with you a really cool moment from last week.  Wednesday, I'm making my calls and I'd finished them for the day so I'm feeling pretty good (or relieved...same thing really) and I look at the list I'd made to decide who to call the next day.  I see my dad's pastor's name who I wasn't planning on calling until this week.  And I start to feel the Holy Spirit prodding me to call him.  For apparent reasons, I didn't want to do this but decided to obey.  The worst that could happen is that it goes to voicemail.  So, I look up the number and dial expecting to get a secretary or machine.  Dad's pastor picks up.  As I talk to him, he tells me that he picks up that phone once every few months but today he just happened to be walking by and answered.  We set up a meeting for the next day and I got to meet with him, his wife, and a friend who works on staff at the church.  What a blessing!  Even if no one commits to supporting me, it was still cool to get to share my story with them and to catch up a bit and especially to see God working even in the small things.


God is awesome, you guys.


If I come away with nothing else from this whole experience, I will have seen God working in really cool ways, being faithful to answer prayers, and an increased awe at who He is and how He works.


There are so many cool things happening right now that I could go on and on forever (but I won't).  My roommate is back in the US so I'll likely talk to her soon, she sent me pictures of some of my students (!!!!!!!!), I leave for TCK-PFO (Third Culture Kid Pre-Field Orientation) Saturday, family in town this week, getting to meet with and talk to people I love, etc., etc.


Love you guys!

CAO - Day Five/Six

Sorry this is late.  Friday, instead of blogging, I got to spend a lovely time talking and praying with my roomie-for-the-week and Saturday was travel day.  I didn't get home until midnight and I just needed to go to bed.


Friday was (surprise, surprise) a wonderful day! We again opened in devotional time which I loved more and more each day.  Loved the way we appointees and staff got together and spent time in the Word and in prayer focusing ourselves on God and reminding ourselves exactly who is the source and reason for all that we were doing.


The day was mostly spent working on our presentation.  Again, I'll spare you most of the details.  But it took the whole day.  It was actually really cool to sit down and think about my story and to really look at how God orchestrated events in my life to get me to this point.  Also, once again I was shown the genuine care and love of the staff as they helped us develop our stories and steer us in the right direction.  Always gentle and always helpful and always genuine.


Friday night was fun because we had dinner at another staffer's house and we had a surprise guest!  The president of UWM (who'd been at a conference all week) and his family came to dinner and so we all got to meet with him and know him a little bit better.

This is a picture by a Hungarian artist - it's of a man kneeling down  but it's all done with one line!

Her backyard - I loved that you look out over the balcony and there's all these lovely trees

In case you can't tell, I really loved all of the trees in NC

Then, like I said, we got back to the hotel and I got to spend some really great time talking with my roomie.  We talked a lot about what we'd learned and also just how we can prepare so much but what it comes down to is God moving in people's hearts and providing and we just have to trust that He will.  Then we prayed together.  It was great being able to sit with her and pray for our futures and then just to hear her heart as she prayed for me and for all of the other candidates.  I was truly blessed by my week with her.  


Saturday was our last day together which made me very sad.  I was ready to see my family and friends for sure, but I was sad to say goodbye to these people who I'd laughed with, talked with, been encouraged by and prayed with pretty constantly over the past six days.

We spent time talking about communication and the various online resources that missionaries have in the field.  Very good stuff - not good blog material. :)

This was our work space.  We spent a lot of time in that room.  Also, I had to steal this from someone's facebook because the pictures I took of the office just came across as stalkery.

Saying goodbye was rough.  It was hard saying farewell to someone you've created a bond with not knowing when you might be able to see them again.  Thank goodness for skype and facebook!

I was blessed on the flight home to get to sit next to a really strong Christian woman and we talked about everything from missions to her family to ways that God's shown His grace to marriage.  The perfect ending to an incredible week!  I'm so excited to move forward from this point.  God is so, so good and if nothing else, I've experienced God deeply this week and that's the most important thing of all.

Walking up to the office.  I like that you could see the UWM through the door as you walked up

Better view

CAO - Day Four

Another tremendous day!  I can't believe I've only known these people four days!  What an incredible blessing all of them already are to me.


Today started out with another devotional talking about the characteristics of a leader.  We took a lot of time to go through a big chunk of 2 Timothy to pick out the different things that a leader should and shouldn't be.  It was a really good time of looking into the Word and seeing what a person living a life transformed by God should look like.


Today was devoted to support training.  I'll spare you the details.  It was both terrifying and relieving and affirming as we looked at Scripture about support raising and practiced certain aspects of it.  The only thing you might find interesting is the fact that when we went around the room practicing our calls with one another, I made a complete fool of myself which has since turned into a running joke.  Naturally... Ah well, what's a week with DeAnn without a fun moment of physical or verbal embarrassment?  Also, where's the fun in not being able to laugh at yourself?  And I learned a valuable lesson: Introduce yourself on the phone.


Very important.


Tonight was a lot of fun.  We packed up the van and drove to the US Whitewater Park where we had a delicious dinner with some of the staff and then we laid out on blankets and listened to a band and watched rafts wipe out on the rapids.  (this place was cool! Man-made rapids with water from a nearby river, zip lines, rock walls, team building obstacle courses, etc.)  Lots of laughter, lots of deep discussion, lots of getting to know one another better.


In other news, I officially have a roommate for next year!  Woohoo!  We've been e-mailing back and forth the last few weeks and today she sent me an e-mail with photos from the flat she found for us (she's already in Budapest).  I'm very thankful for all of her hard work in finding the place and making sure that I get to see it through photographs before I get there.  I'm excited to have a roommate again and am praying that God would bless us with a deep and encouraging relationship.


Good night all!  Sorry this is so brief, but it's late and I've got another day of support training tomorrow that I need to be ready and awake for!


Love you all!

CAO - Day Three

Today was awesome!!!  I just sat here for a bit trying to think of a more "grown up" way of saying that, but that's honestly one of the best descriptors for today.  It was a fantastic day!


It started with another yummy breakfast (our hotel is really great - we are all extremely comfortable!) and then to the UWM offices.  Again, we started with a devotional to get us focused and centered on God and the Word.  Today we talked about the work of the church and the different ways that "teaching" can look.  A few of the notes that I took said "Unless God is at work in us, it's impossible to be effective" and "My goal is God Himself - not the byproducts that come from knowing Him."  I loved it because it's so easy to get caught up in what I can do and looking at my gifts and abilities and trying to do things without God, but He needs to be working in me and through me and I can't be complacent and relying on myself otherwise I'm not going to be effective.  But with that, I shouldn't seek to know God so that I'll be effective or so He'll bless my ministry or to receive joy and passion - I should seek God because He is God and He deserves my praise and worship and devotion.  Those other things will come if He is my ultimate goal.


This morning was full of mini-meetings.  First up was my appointment review.  That meant that one-on-one we went over our "roadmaps."  A Roadmap is a big (and extremely helpful) list of the various things that need to be completed and the time frame they need to be completed in.  Then were the personal requirements which came from the counselor including the list of books I need to read and the various issues I'll need to be mentored in.  


Second was my health review.  I skyped with a nurse who told me the things I'll need to complete health-wise before leaving.  That includes a physical, immunizations, and blood work.


Finally was my Training Map meeting.  For the other appointees this included things like CIT (the 7 week pre-field training that they like their missionaries to go to - honestly, it sounds really incredible and like it would be super helpful but since I've only got about 8 weeks until I go and I go to a separate TCK-PFO training for the school, I'm not required to attend.  Though, if at the end of 2 years I decide that I'd like to continue as a long term missionary, they said that they would encourage me to attend then) or Bible training (again, very jealous that I don't get to do that.  I love school and the Bible so naturally, I think I'd love to take Bible classes).  This was a short meeting for me as I'm already signed up for TCK-PFO (Third Culture Kid Pre Field Orientation) and that's the only training I'm required to attend.


After all of us had finished our various meetings, the candidates and staff came together and we had a little ceremony.  One of the staffers read a prayer from Philippians (pretty sure it was Philippians...) and then he presented us one-by-one with a certificate (pictured below) and a book about the history of UWM.  After we'd all received our official appointment (and we all did - woohoo!) he prayed for us all.


Giddy doesn't quite do justice to the emotion I've been feeling since.  I'm so filled with joy and happiness and peace and excitement.  I am so thankful to God for bringing me to this point, to this ministry, and to this organization.  I have so much fun with these people - fellow appointees and staff.  I love the way that our conversations go from light-hearted to silly to deep and spiritual and back.  I love the sense of community.  


After lunch was our Finance and Human Resources meeting - which didn't have too much paperwork.  We got to go over fun topics like financial history, health and life insurance, expense reports, mileage logs, and support schedules.  And honestly, as much as that sounds like it would be boring, I actually rather enjoyed it.  It was a lot of information, but it was all necessary and essential and I enjoyed seeing in more detail how UWM works financially and talking lots about fiscal responsibility.


We had dinner at another staffer's house tonight.  It was pulled (chopped?) pork with homemade BBQ sauce (yyyuuummmmm), roasted asparagus, sweet potatoes, and a delicious lemon and poppy-seed salad followed by brownies and vanilla bean ice cream.  Also, this family has an adorable 18 month old son (who reminds me so much of Wesley).  After another great dinner of good food and conversation, we played that telephone pictionary game (which in this setting was called "Papers").  As always, it was hilarious and we had a blast.  As we were eating, I couldn't help but think of Acts 2:42-47.  "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...all the believers were together and had everything in common...Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God..."  I was sitting there thinking about how much fun I was having and how much I was deeply enjoying the company of the people around me.  We're all different.  We're in different stages of life, we have different passions, we have different interests, we have different backgrounds and families and come from different places.  Some of that overlaps, of course.  But the one thing that we all have in common is Jesus.  And that's all we need.  


Again, I'm exhausted but so, so content and overjoyed.  I posted a picture of my certificate.  I'm kicking myself because I meant to take a picture of the back yard of the house we ate dinner at.  They had this great little porch area and then there was a small hill that backed right up to the woods.  I loved it!


I love you and I'm so thankful for each of you!  The encouragement and support I've received today has brought a smile to my face.  I've loved sharing all of this with you via texting and blogging and hope that I get a chance to share more with you face-to-face!  Have a wonderful night!

My certificate! So cool!  And I can frame this one since my name is spelled correctly, unlike my diploma

CAO - Day Two

First of all, let me just thank you all for caring enough to check this out and to be praying for me and encouraging me.  You're all so important and wonderful and it means a lot to know that I have such a strong and supportive group surrounding me.  God has definitely been showing me how blessed I am by the Body of Christ.  The past few weeks in particular.  So thank you!


Today was another wonderful day!  The first sign it would be a good day was that I woke up 3 hours later than I did yesterday! The second was the delicious breakfast.  It's always a bit of a mystery what the complimentary breakfast at a hotel will be like.  Lucky for us, our hotel has a wide variety of good breakfast food.  I got to eat with a family (two of the candidates and their son who are headed to India) and talk some more with them before the other came down and before Billy (our mobilizer and navigator for the day) came to pick us up and show us where the UWM offices are.


When we got to the offices, all of the candidates and all of the staff gathered in the president's office (which has been redecorated and rearranged into our conference room) and we had a devotional time.  It wasn't unexpected to start the day off in the Word and in prayer, but it was really cool and a great way to get us all focused and centered on the real reason that we are all here - because God brought us here and He's to be glorified.


After that was a presentation on the Vision and Values of UWM where we talked more in depth about their mission (to build God-delighting, People Surprising Churches Globally), their role in fulfilling that mission, the core strategies (which was a section I really enjoyed because it's so focused on equipping and facilitating nationals and coming along side the church that's here and helping them to reach out, disciple, and then plant their own churches), and the core values.  Then we talked about the different pathways that they use to send missionaries out which is everything from long-term teams, a 2 year track, theological education, business transformation, and of course, MK teachers.  Then we talked about where they serve and how the leadership is set up (which, while all very interesting to me, probably wouldn't make for a good blog read).  


That took up a big chunk of the morning and by the time we finished, it was time for lunch.  It was a really good time to sit back and process some of the information that had just been poured into us so quickly, but also a good chance to fellowship and meet some of the staff that didn't make it to dinner last night.  (Nelsons - one of the girls is a HUGE Nascar fan and her driver is Kyle Busch.  She was very excited to talk to me.) 


Schedule-wise, the afternoon was much more chill.  We had the whole afternoon and only 2 things to do.  A 30 minute consult with the counselor and an hour long UWM interview.  Naturally, while the time they took up wasn't quite as long, they were much more emotionally draining.


My psych review went fine, I'm glad to report.  He did talk about a personality profile I had to fill out.  I'm an "ISFJ" which means I'm cautions, reserved, quiet, and inwardly oriented (Introversion).  My perceptions of the work are realistic, grounded, and present-oriented (Sensing), and I use those facts and realities to make decisions that are interpersonally driven (Feeling).  I prefer to live my life in a structured, ordered, accountable manner (Judging).  


No argument from me.


Then he had to give his recommendations for me.  Luckily, I don't have to go to six months of counseling or through extensive training.  His recommendation was to read a bunch of books and to have a mentor assigned to me (which more than likely would've happened anyway) to help me adjust to life in Budapest.


Great!  Now I only had the UWM interview left.  I had about an hour and a half before mine was scheduled.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous.  Mostly, I think, because I had no idea what to expect.  I didn't know if it was going to be like a job interview or just sitting around talking.  So, not wanting to sit around and fret for an hour, I grabbed my Bible and headed outside ('twas nice and cool today - I sat outside at 1 PM and kept my sweater on!  Loved it!) and spent some time in the Word.  This is what I read: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" (Luke 12:25-26)  Appropriate, no?  God's timing in even the little things blow me away!


I headed back upstairs and they were ready for me within five minutes.  And of course, it was fine.  I briefly recapped how I found my way to UWM and ICSB and we talked about any worries I have about moving to another country, teaching my first year in another country, how I'm feeling about support raising, what my role will look like with the MK teachers and what it will look like with the church planting team, what most Europe teams are shooting for, etc.  It was very laid back and relaxed and once again, I left feeling comfortable and thoroughly enjoying the two people I'd just spent an hour chatting with.


There was a little down time after that and then we headed to another staffer's house for dinner.  More sweet time just to hang out, get to know one another, and fellowship.  The more time I spend with these people, the more I love them!  I feel very at peace around them and that in itself is such a blessing.


I'm very tired now.  A few of us were feeling wiped out.  I think it's a combination of still recovering from yesterday and an emotional exhaustion.  Tomorrow will probably be a lot like today, as will the rest of the week.  There's going to be a lot of information thrown at us the rest of the week.  Tomorrow we have "Appointment Review" talking about our appointment by UWM as missionaries, "Health Review" which speaks for itself, and "Training Maps" when they take all of the recommendations made by various people and make a list of all the different things that need to be done before we head out to the field.  And after lunch is 4 hours of "Finance and Human Resources" which seems kind of vague but which I'm thinking is code for "paperwork." :)


Again, thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement!  It's very much needed and felt!  I'm really enjoying myself and I'm looking forward to the next few days even if it's tons of paperwork!

CAO - Day One

Today started extremely early.  My flight left ATX at 5:50 AM so Rene and I left the house at 4:00 AM which put my wake up time in the 3:20 AM area.  There was also a surprising number of people in the airport that early and my flight was packed.  I managed to get about 30 minutes of sleep on the flight to Atlanta by using my tray as a pillow.  I had an hour and half layover in Atlanta which I spent running up and down the terminal as my gate changed 5 different times.  The flight to Charlotte was short and sweet and soon I was finally meeting Jennifer, my mobilizer, face-to-face!


There was another girl from Texas whose flight got in right after mine so we met up with her and then went to lunch at Panera (which was much needed seeing as all I'd had to eat since 3:20 was a teeny bag of mini pretzels!) and then we had a few hours at the hotel in order to get unpacked and relax.  It took a while to turn my mind off but I eventually got to hunker down for a refreshing nap.


Dinner was next!  The cool thing about doing this in Charlotte is that all of the UWM staff lives here so each night for dinner we're having it at someone's house.  We got to meet up with the other three candidates (one other girl and a family) and then we headed to dinner.  There, we met up with ten of the staffers for dinner - fried chicken from a place called Bo'Jangles.  That's right - Bo'Jangles, which I would have loved for the name no matter how the food tasted.  Lucky for me, the food was delicious too!


We had a nice time chatting and getting to know one another better.  After dinner, we gathered together and the staff introduced themselves and their roles and a brief history of how they came to UWM.  Then we candidates had the chance to share our testimonies, how we were called to missions, how we came to UWM, where we're planning on going, etc.  After each one of us shared, one of the staffers would pray for us.  It was a really cool time of just getting to see how God has worked so differently in each of our lives to bring us together to this place.


I really like all of the people I've met.  They're all very kind and genuine and real and fun.


We came back to the hotel and one of the other girls had a 3-something wake up time today so she went to bed.  I went to the exercise room for a bit and then my roomie-for-the-week and I sat out by the pool for a bit and talked.  We talked about our families and shared interests and then we had a good time of being really transparent about some struggles we've both experienced in our lives.  It was really a blessing to be able to open up to someone I've known only a day about something I'm very candid about and to get to experience and give the grace that we've both experienced through Christ's forgiveness.


It's going to be a crazy busy week with a lot of information, but I'm thoroughly looking forward to it.  Tomorrow in the morning we'll be going over the Vision and Values of UWM and then in the afternoon will be more psych evaluations and my UWM interview (which, admittedly, I am a little nervous about...mostly, I think just because I don't know what to expect from it).  Then we'll have dinner at a different staffer's house.


On another note, Charlotte is beautiful.  It's very clean and spacious.  And green.  That's what I was most struck by. There are so many trees - tall, skinny, covered in flowers, wide.  I took some pictures of the house we had dinner at.  I apologize now for the quality.  I had to take them on my phone and they do not do the place justice.  The house was built in 1904 and had huge dogwood trees in the backyard (which also had a huge black snake in it) with a hammock and a rope swing and a bench swing and a wrap-around porch.  It was lovely!  Also, it was a nice 78 degrees at dinner so we got to sit outside.

This wasn't the actual house, but it was off next to it and I thought it was cute

These trees were out front and to the side and there were tons of them - really, really tall!!

This was the house we had dinner at - massive trees out front, white picket fence, wrap-around porch and all

The Beginning of the End

I leave for Charlotte, NC early Monday morning (like 5:50 AM early).  I'll be there until next Saturday doing my training for UWM.  I can't believe it's already here.  As my boss so aptly put it as I was leaving today, it's the beginning of the end.  And that's true in so many different ways, not just in the sense she meant it regarding Wesley (which I'm not going to think about...)  Life as I know it will change drastically on Monday.  Barring UWM deciding that they're not accepting me, I'll be appointed a missionary on Wednesday and then the next two months will be support raising, garage sale-ing, more training, and getting ready to go.  I can't believe it's finally here because it seems like it's been years since I first talked with the mobilizer.  But at the same time, I can't believe it's already here.  Are there really only 2 months left?  Has it already been six since I first wandered onto the UWM site?


I had a skype interview with the UWM counselor yesterday.  Part of the application process was filling out seven different psychological evaluations.  So, we had an interview yesterday and then we'll meet again next Tuesday to go over another one.  Good news - I came out normal in the mental health test. :) Hooray!  It was an interesting conversation because a lot of the things he said, I already know about myself.  It was cool hearing it from another person though who is a counselor and a Christian.  He also connected a few things for me that blew me away.  I can't believe I never put them together before!

As "homework" for this next week, I had to read portions of this book Funding Your Ministry by Scott Morton.   At first, I was not excited to read it, but it turned out to be very interesting and very helpful.  It opened my eyes to a lot of poor attitudes I had toward support raising.  Also, one thing I really liked about it was that it has a little Bible study in the back where he gives you a lot of scripture to look through and then asks questions that I'm supposed to complete before I read his insights so that I'm forming my opinions and ideas based on scripture rather than on what he had to say.  And honestly, it's something I've never had to do before and that is very intimidating, but I know that God is my true source and I'm looking forward to seeing Him work this out for His glory.


Please be praying about this week for me.  I'm excited but I'm nervous too and my emotions are truly off the wall right now.  I'll try and update this at some point during the week to let everyone know what's going on (while updating facebook and twitter too, I'm sure).


I love you all and I'm so excited to start this journey with you!