Another year without blogging but I am inspired to get back
into it so hopefully I stick to it…
So now time to fill you in on my life…
Last spring, I started my first semester at Ivy Tech and
loved it! It was really hard to adjust at first but the community and the
professors made me feel right at home. I was scared to death the first couple
of weeks and couldn't have made it with my friend Ashley we was a senior last
year. She took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. I also started making
friends in some of my classes. One who happens to be my roommate right now and
I couldn't imagine what my experience last year would have been like without
her. Let alone this year with her as the best roommate ever :)
This summer I had the incredible opportunity to travel to
Ukraine along with nine high schoolers and six adults. It was my first mission
trip out of the country and it was life changing. We traveled there to work
with TCI which is a Christian school that my church is partnered with. They plan
a VBS camp every week during the summer and one week out of the whole summer
the “Americans” were coming. We were in charge of three main areas of the week:
sports, crafts and teaching English. I was nominated to teach English, which I
felt totally incapable of. The main thing I feared the most about this trip was
being able to communicate with the people there ( you see how God has a sense
of humor, always stretching me) We tried to learn Russian before we went but
all I really learned was how to say “Hello” and “How are you?” After making
some flashcards and planning some English learning games, I felt a little
better about teaching but it still gave me a stomach ulcer every time I stopped
and thought about it. The travel involved three planes and a 100 degree, 18
hour train ride. After getting pass the motion sickness and all the traveling,
I was ready to start the week. That week changed my life, the children there
captured my heart and I fell in love with teaching. I never knew I had the gift
of teaching but I feel like God gave it to me in that time where I really
needed it. Our translators became our family and I’m thankful for technology so
we can still keep in contact. The most touching thing that happened, happened
on the last night when it was time to go to the train station. The Ukrainian
leaders who were about my age or younger were saying goodbye to us and we were
about to take the bus to the train station. They ended up riding with us and we
talked till the train pulled away even if it was through a small glass window. They
even started running next to the train as it drove away. The thing is that the
public transportation service stops at 9, so they were willing to walk 13 miles
back to TCI just to say goodbye to us. Now that is true love and friendship
like I have never seen it before. I wonder if I would be willing to do that for
someone I only knew for less than a week.
Now, I am officially living at IWU in a townhouse with 5
incredible women who love the Lord. They welcomed me in with open arms and are
so open and real with me even though they barely knew me. The fourth day of
classes God kept tugging on my heart and I knew He was trying to tell me
something. My ministry classes were alright but they weren't really what I
thought they would be. I was declared a Christian Ministry major and I had a
lot of theology and history classes ahead of me, not to mention preaching class
that freaked me out. Two of my housemates are Christian Education majors and
they love it. I started asking them questions about the major and everything
that they said spoke my heart. I know that theology and history is important
but I am not the type of person who wants to sit around arguing predestination,
I want to be out there having relationship with people and serving them in any
way I can. I met with the professor over that major and on the fourth day of
classes I changed my major to Christian Education. Almost two months into
school and I love all my classes, except my Gen Eds but unfortunately I can’t
get out of taking those.
WALKING IN BETWEEN…
 |
| Noblesville |
 |
| Marion |
God is actively moving in me a lot through this new journey.
He is putting me in so many situations where I am required to rely completely
on Him. I am surrounded by a community of women that I have been praying for,
for a long time. We have family dinner every Sunday night and a different prayer
partner every week. I have challenged myself to journal constantly and some
weeks I don’t stick to it as much as I should but I have learned so much. But I
still feel like I am walking in between, I feel comfortable at my home here at
school but some days are harder than others. Being away from my boyfriend of
two and a half years makes it harder too. But when I go home I don’t feel right
at home there either, I feel like I am supposed to be here at school but when I
am at school I miss home. I just can’t understand where my home is and this a
feeling I have never felt before but it the change makes me excited. I am not
one who likes to stay stagnant for long periods of time and I am a ready for a
change. Bottom line, I know IWU in this house with these amazing women is
exactly where I am meant to be and this year is going to rock my world!
That statement about home. I just.... yes. Yes. That is how I feel.
ReplyDeleteHiraeth-
a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of you past.
It's that feeling that you don't really belong here or there, even though here and there are places that you stay and find comfort. It's hard to explain, but I feel you.
^^^ everything she just said.
ReplyDeleteSO SO SO proud of you sissy. you are my hero!