Things I have learned recently:
- Parallel parking
- Don't show Russians the bottoms of your feet
- God is not absent even when I don't feel Him
- Prayer works
- Not getting 8 hours of sleep makes for cranky Krystle
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
So since I'm between activities and don't want to do any kind of work because it's Friday night (or maybe I haven't wanted to do work ever) I should try to catch this thing up with a little more detail.
Two weeks have now gone by in so cal and things are going alright. My classes look okay and the subjects are somewhat interesting. It's certainly different than school was in Australia, and it's good to be semi-interested in my classes again. Today in my music class my prof was stopping this video he was showing and making commentary about all sorts of strange things. At one point he talked about how he'd like to stage some opera with OJ Simpson. I didn't understand. I don't understand. But it was really funny. He looks like Mr. Magoo.
The biggest thing in my life over the past month is the decision to go to Russia. While I was in Australia I knew that I needed to look into overseas mission trips for this summer, and over a few months Eastern Europe really popped a lot. I had/have this strange desire to go to Ukraine. Russia isn't Ukraine, but it's close and they have similar history and problems having both dealt with the Soviet Union and communism. So through a lot of different circumstances and praying and some conversations with friends it ended up being Russia. We're going to spend most of our time there working at a summer camp with orphans. Yeah. Picture a summer camp. In Russia. And put orphans in it. It's going to be crazy but it's going to be so awesome. I'm really really excited. I cannot even express how excited I am. We had our first team meeting earlier this week and I seriously wanted to jump up and down when I got home I was so excited. And I started to look for people I could call just so I could tell them how excited I was.
So this week has seen the monumental task of sending out support letters. I've never done that before. It was pretty weird. I kept thinking, "Am I really doing this? Am I really going, or am I just sending a fake letter to these people?" It's an odd sensation. I suppose a little bit of it is that it came up pretty quickly for me, but it's probably weird anyway. Did I mention I'm excited?
This afternoon I caught up with one of my roommates from freshman year. She was gone spring of last year and I was gone this past semester so we hadn't seen each other for quite some time. It was great to see her and talk about the overseas experience a little. Basically she doesn't want to live in America. She wants to be a translator in a Spanish speaking country. I think that's really awesome, and I think she'll do it. So long as she doesn't get in trouble with the CIA or FBI. I told her not to go to any protest rallies.
I got my other old roommate's phone number from her and called her this afternoon. I don't think I've seen her since freshman year, but I've heard a bit of how she's doing from mutual friends/acquaintances. Basically she's married now and has a little girl. A lot has changed, but it sounds like she's doing really well. She's going to drop by next week for a while to say hi. I'm really really stoked to see her and catch up on the last couple years of life. And I think she's going to have her little girl with her too. I saw pictures and she's adorable.
So that's me in the last few days. Sometimes feeling out of place but overall doing reasonably well. God's really gracious. And very patient. Very very patient. I'm trying to seek Him again on a regular basis. Sometimes that proves difficult, but he's patient, and loving. Yesterday I was walking home from class alone and was looking up in the sky and it was just this weird moment of "the universe is so big and right now I feel alone in it but I'm not alone because God's with me right now." So it was like just me and Him walking along. I talked to him a bit. I talked in short unimpressive sentences. I'm glad He's okay with that. I'm glad I can walk home with him.
Two weeks have now gone by in so cal and things are going alright. My classes look okay and the subjects are somewhat interesting. It's certainly different than school was in Australia, and it's good to be semi-interested in my classes again. Today in my music class my prof was stopping this video he was showing and making commentary about all sorts of strange things. At one point he talked about how he'd like to stage some opera with OJ Simpson. I didn't understand. I don't understand. But it was really funny. He looks like Mr. Magoo.
The biggest thing in my life over the past month is the decision to go to Russia. While I was in Australia I knew that I needed to look into overseas mission trips for this summer, and over a few months Eastern Europe really popped a lot. I had/have this strange desire to go to Ukraine. Russia isn't Ukraine, but it's close and they have similar history and problems having both dealt with the Soviet Union and communism. So through a lot of different circumstances and praying and some conversations with friends it ended up being Russia. We're going to spend most of our time there working at a summer camp with orphans. Yeah. Picture a summer camp. In Russia. And put orphans in it. It's going to be crazy but it's going to be so awesome. I'm really really excited. I cannot even express how excited I am. We had our first team meeting earlier this week and I seriously wanted to jump up and down when I got home I was so excited. And I started to look for people I could call just so I could tell them how excited I was.
So this week has seen the monumental task of sending out support letters. I've never done that before. It was pretty weird. I kept thinking, "Am I really doing this? Am I really going, or am I just sending a fake letter to these people?" It's an odd sensation. I suppose a little bit of it is that it came up pretty quickly for me, but it's probably weird anyway. Did I mention I'm excited?
This afternoon I caught up with one of my roommates from freshman year. She was gone spring of last year and I was gone this past semester so we hadn't seen each other for quite some time. It was great to see her and talk about the overseas experience a little. Basically she doesn't want to live in America. She wants to be a translator in a Spanish speaking country. I think that's really awesome, and I think she'll do it. So long as she doesn't get in trouble with the CIA or FBI. I told her not to go to any protest rallies.
I got my other old roommate's phone number from her and called her this afternoon. I don't think I've seen her since freshman year, but I've heard a bit of how she's doing from mutual friends/acquaintances. Basically she's married now and has a little girl. A lot has changed, but it sounds like she's doing really well. She's going to drop by next week for a while to say hi. I'm really really stoked to see her and catch up on the last couple years of life. And I think she's going to have her little girl with her too. I saw pictures and she's adorable.
So that's me in the last few days. Sometimes feeling out of place but overall doing reasonably well. God's really gracious. And very patient. Very very patient. I'm trying to seek Him again on a regular basis. Sometimes that proves difficult, but he's patient, and loving. Yesterday I was walking home from class alone and was looking up in the sky and it was just this weird moment of "the universe is so big and right now I feel alone in it but I'm not alone because God's with me right now." So it was like just me and Him walking along. I talked to him a bit. I talked in short unimpressive sentences. I'm glad He's okay with that. I'm glad I can walk home with him.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Friday, January 07, 2005
Whoa time flies again. Or maybe not, it's actually gone a bit slow. Today's the day and I haven't started packing yet but we're heading about half way to school tonight. It's pouring out and there's supposed to be a storm this weekend which makes for excellent driving conditions. And the grape vine might be closed, which means a hefty detour taking 101. What can ya do?
So lots of changes and big decisions to be made. Strong possibility of more overseas travel this summer. Trying to work it all out. Hoping for some divine revelation from God. I had a dream last night about a gig gone bad. Not gone bad, but gone stressful and hectic. My dreams always have to do with me being out of control or inadequate in some way. I think the dream had nothing to do with these trips, but my friend Tim was in the dream which makes me miss him. Maybe I should just go to Sydney again. (Somehow I don't think that's what God is saying.)
I'm reading a book called The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus by Brennan Manning. I guess it used to be called Lion and Lamb. Anyway, my friend gave it to me to borrow while I stayed over in LA for a couple of days. I'm about 2/3 through and it's really good. It covers sort of a broad range of topics, but I guess it's really about the Christian life in light of the character of God. I would definitely recommend it.
I guess that's all for now. Prayers for the travels would be appreciated, I have a feeling the roads are going to be pretty bad this weekend. Until later...
So lots of changes and big decisions to be made. Strong possibility of more overseas travel this summer. Trying to work it all out. Hoping for some divine revelation from God. I had a dream last night about a gig gone bad. Not gone bad, but gone stressful and hectic. My dreams always have to do with me being out of control or inadequate in some way. I think the dream had nothing to do with these trips, but my friend Tim was in the dream which makes me miss him. Maybe I should just go to Sydney again. (Somehow I don't think that's what God is saying.)
I'm reading a book called The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus by Brennan Manning. I guess it used to be called Lion and Lamb. Anyway, my friend gave it to me to borrow while I stayed over in LA for a couple of days. I'm about 2/3 through and it's really good. It covers sort of a broad range of topics, but I guess it's really about the Christian life in light of the character of God. I would definitely recommend it.
I guess that's all for now. Prayers for the travels would be appreciated, I have a feeling the roads are going to be pretty bad this weekend. Until later...
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