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