I. Am. Sleepy. I had a busy weekend. Saturday, I went with some people to a Caribbean music festival in downtown Richmond to share the Gospel with people there. We did the same thing yesterday at a nearby mall. It was hard at first because that's a big stretch for me, but it got easier as the day went on. I'm so glad I went! But I still shouldn't really be sleepy. I slept in Saturday (I won't mention what time I got up... but let's just say it was close to lunch time!), Sunday I got up just before house church, and then I got eight hours of sleep last night. (I wasn't supposed to get quite that much, but who needs breakfast, anyway?) So I had a pretty restful weekend. And still, I feel like I need sleep! It's probably because we sit in sessions almost all day, every day. I actually really enjoy the sessions--I like classroom settings, and I like taking notes! But it still makes us all feel kind of lethargic. Really, it feels like all we do is wake up, eat, sit, eat, sit, eat, sleep. It's hard to find the energy to exercise! But I'm really trying to get into a routine this week.
Something you probably don't know about Macedonia (if you know anything about Macedonia): Coffee is a huge part of their culture. They drink it all the time. It's not uncommon to have three cups of coffee when you visit a friend--a welcome coffee, a conversation coffee, and a goodbye coffee. Crazy, right? It makes it sound like Macedonia is full of hyped-up people with twitchy eyes and really brown teeth.
I, however, am not much of a coffee drinker. I enjoy the occasional Starbucks (white mocha, hello!), but I never make any at home. And if I ever do have plain coffee... I add a whole lot of sweet stuff. My goal for these 8 weeks at FPO: Become a coffee person. A real coffee person. Because, sure, I could just carry around my own French vanilla creamer and inconspicuously add it to my mug, but I think the Macedonians might notice when their coffee is black and mine is... brownish-beige. So allow me to share my coffee-darkening strategy with you.
Stage 1: (Completed.) During the first week of FPO, drink coffee during the first session each morning, adding as much creamer as necessary to make the coffee delicious. (6 little creamer cups--4 cinnamon and 2 French vanilla. Delectable! I should be a barista.)
Stage 2: (In progress.) During week two of FPO, decrease the number of creamer cups used in coffee by one. (Still delicious.)
Stage 3: (Daunting.) Each week, continue to decrease the number of creamers used by one until I am using only one creamer.
Stage 4: Final week--add no creamers to coffee... but compensate with sugar packets.
So there you have it--my plan to accomplish my goal of becoming a grown-up coffee drinker. The next time you see me, I will likely have developed coffee-stained teeth and a caffeine addiction. This seems backwards.
I've been so busy since I got here last week! Our sessions started Wednesday, and we are basically in sessions 8-5 Monday through Friday. We have the weekends off, but there are usually a few optional workshops. Last weekend was great. Friday night, we had about thirty people over to our quad for game night--it was crazy fun! (Who knew spoons could cause puncture wounds??) Saturday, I with some friends to a nearby city called Short Pump. (I know, I laughed the first time I heard it, too.) There's a girl here from Canada that had never had Chic Fil A (sad!), so we wanted to take her. And we did. And she loved it. :) Then we went to R.E.I., this outdoorsy store I had never heard of. And then we went to Barnes & Noble. I bought a journal, which I seem to do every time I enter that store. Oops.
Saturday night, I went to the quad of some friends going to Africa, and we played Banagrams. (Best. Game. Ever.) Then we watched Hotel Rwanda. BAD IDEA. I've been avoiding that movie for years because I knew it was too sad for me... and I was right! I'm glad I finally watched it, and I would definitely recommend it, but man. Tough stuff. It's hard to believe that I was alive when that happened and had no idea. And it's hard to believe that nobody did anything about it! It was so frustrating. But then we talked about how things like that still go on today, and still most people do nothing. It's so easy to forget all the horrible things that happen in the world when we don't see it every day, but those are real people over there, people with families, and they deal with terrible heartache every day. It was definitely an eye-opener.
I had a really dramatic moment when we left the quad. It was about midnight, and it was raining, and we had no umbrellas. (This, of course, is the ideal stage for a dramatic moment.) I ran back to my quad with my jacket over my head, thinking about the Africans in the rain in the movie we had just watched (I think very dramatically sometimes), and I got to my door--but the door was locked! The door is NEVER locked! So there I was, standing in the rain, and in my mind I was banging on the door with both hands and yelling for my quadmates to let me in... but in real life I just pulled my key out of my bag and unlocked the door. Sometimes I make a big deal out of really little things just to make my life more like a movie.
Last night, we had our mapping ceremony. Each person got up in front of everyone and said where he was going, and they shared a prayer request for their time here at orientation. Then, we each went up to a map of the world on the wall and put our pictures on top of our countries.
I am just loving my time here so far! It's like being in college again (which I love!), but it's all about sharing the Gospel, and you're with 150 of the COOLEST people you will ever meet. It's actually been really hard managing my free time, because I just want to hang out with people all the time! But I think I'll get the hang of it. The main focus here is prayer. We've already talked so much about how important it is to keep up with your prayer partners and to keep them connected so they'll keep praying. There's also a huge emphasis on our personal relationships with God. Friday, we had three hours to go off by ourselves and just spend time alone with God. Then, we came back together and talked about what God showed us. It was great. What an awesome way to begin this time of transition and learning--by focusing on the One who's sending us and making sure we're listening to Him above everything else.
Sorry this is so long! I'm going to have to start blogging more frequently so I can say the same amount of information without overwhelming my readers with tons of stuff at once. Let me know how you're doing! I miss everyone back home!
I'm here! Here in Virginia, that is. I'll be here for about eight weeks, learning and training for cross-cultural missions. I've heard it's an awesome time of growth--and very challenging. A few other jmen and I arrived last night, and everyone else will get here today. We start sessions tomorrow morning. When we checked in, we were given a schedule of every single day we're here. Needless to say, it's a little overwhelming! But exciting, too. Through this whole process, I have developed such a huge appreciation for the International Mission Board. What a great organization! They are so efficient and practical with everything they do, and they really take care of their employees. I've seen this already, and I've heard it gets even better once you get to the field.
The place we stay during training is like a small college campus, with several learning facilities, a cafeteria, dormitories, and small apartment-type buildings called quads. I stay in a quad, which is like four mini-apartments put together with a big common area in the middle. Each of the four sections has two bedrooms, a mini-kitchen, a bathroom, and a laundry area. Each girl gets her own room, and since I'm the only person going to Skopje, I get my own little apartment. :) The other girls in my quad are also going to Europe. So far, it's me, two other girls going to a different city in Macedonia, and a girl going to Russia. We'll get our other three "quadmates" later today. I LOVE my roommates! I met the other two going to Macedonia at my interview back in February, so it's been great to see them again.
I'm enjoying today as one of my only free days while we're here. They've given us a few assignments to complete before Friday, so I'll probably work on those today. Other than that, my main priority is to take a nap! It's been so hard to fall asleep these past few nights--even though I'm tired, my brain just won't turn off! And I have a feeling that living with six other incredible girls that all like to talk won't exactly encourage me to have the best sleeping habits these eight weeks. :)
I'm still here! :) I promise, I really will start updating more when I have things to update about. Only 76 days (I think) until I leave for training! I've got a few things to work on before I get there, like a report on the people I'll be working with. I also need to find five churches (in the SBC) to sort of partner with while I'm gone. I'll send them updates, and they'll pray for me and hopefully send people to Skopje to be a part of the work there! I think it's an awesome idea--having people pray for me and getting them more interested and involved in global missions--but I'm having a little trouble coming up with five. I haven't really started on the report yet. And no, I am not procrastinating! I've got another mission trip coming up in June, so most of my focus is on that. When I get back, I'll have about a month before training to get it done. I've continued working on my Macedonian... ha. I probably know about 0.0000001% of the language. But every little bit helps! At least now I can point to things and say what colors they are... and I can name some animals... and use simple greeting phrases (even if I won't know what they're saying back to me). Combine that with excessive hand gestures, and I'm practically fluent! ;)
People keep asking me why I'm doing this. They think it's crazy or stupid, and I understand where they're coming from. I used to think two years was a huge commitment. But it doesn't seem all that long to me now. It's funny how much God can change people's hearts. As recently as a year and a half ago, I thought specifically about being a Journeyman... and how I could never do it. I thought I was too dependant on people around me, and I wouldn't even consider leaving my family for that long. And here I am, 18 months later, so ready to go! I can honestly say that this is what I want to do. I can't picture myself spending the next two years of my life doing anything else. I started praying in college that God would show me what He wanted me to do for this next stage of my life, and that He would give me the desire to do it--and that's exactly what He's done.
A verse that God has used to change my heart (and one that's become a favorite of mine) is Psalm 90:12:
So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.We're going to exist forever, but we only get one life here. Seventy or eighty years doesn't seem all that long in light of eternity. I don't want to waste my short time here. And a life that isn't lived in obedience and service to God, whether as a part of global missions or in the context of everyday life, is exactly that--wasted.
I got my official acceptance letter today! So now I'm officially going to Macedonia instead of just mostly-probably going. Exciting stuff! Combine all my excitement with the fact that I'm a compulsive planner and what do you get? A person making her packing list about six months before she leaves. That's right. I've already started. Mostly, I just write down things as they come across my mind that would be really bad to forget, like extra contacts, floss (I like to floss), coloring books... Kidding about that last one! (Not kidding about the floss.) But if I can fit a Disney princess coloring book in my 44 lb. luggage allotment, hey, why not?
So. Six months. Four months, really, since I go to training in late July. Four months to spend quality time with... everyone. I somehow need to make time to visit my relatives in Michigan and Kentucky, and of course go to Texas to see my big brother and sister-in-law. If only Harry Potter were real... Then I could just apparate to all these places, or use a time turner...
