Home for the Holidays

Rather than the traditional, stay-at-home kind of Christmas holiday, my family went up to the great West Edmonton Mall. We stayed up there for three days and did many different and awesome things!

We got there on Friday afternoon and wandered around and giggled late into the night. On Saturday morning we went for breakfast (and David decided that this place was his new home, so he went to breakfast in his housecoat and pajamas), then met up with relatives for coffee. Afterwards, Amanda, David and I began our mall-wide scavenger hunt. Mom and dad had gone up a few weeks beforehand and scouted out the mall and took "photo clues" for us to find. It was seriously such a blast!!!!

Of course you can't be in West Edmonton Mall and not go to the wave pool, so we spent that afternoon there taking on the GIANT manufactured waves (seriously, I got tubed), and riding as many waterslides as possible.

Finally, to end the adventure David took me and Amanda to the shooting range and we got to fire a whole bunch of different kinds of guns. I have no idea what I was shooting and I don't know if I was any good at all, but it was loads of fun. The guy who was supervising our shooting was one of those guys who wears camo pants and carries big knives in holsters on his leg....in the city. Classic.

All in all, it was a fantastic time and very, very memorable. The purpose was simply to spend time together as a family and to enjoy each other, and that purpose was achieved.

Check out David in his housecoat

Amanda and I are delicately eating our hotdogs...and I think Dave has part of his hand in his mouth...?

Me and Amanda

Dinner Parties and Shaky Faces...

It's true what they say. "You can dress her up, but you can't take her out". I discovered the reality of this once more at my friend's dinner party.

It was quite a posh deal...everyone in their Sunday best, candles to create atmosphere, classical music playing in the background, and a three-course meal. There was good conversation, good company, and the room felt thick with maturity and wisdom.

It all started with a horrible self-photo, then it moved into a suggestion from another dinner party attendee to try the "shaky face", and finally it snowballed into actually making an attempt at this new style of photography.



Watch the magic that ensued...

Jessica in all her classy wonder...(I was the top student in 'dinner party etiquette')

*Jerry and his enchanting charm

*Desmond and his strong physique

*Jimmy, always the look of wisdom and justice

*Reegus, our own personal crooner, singing us songs till his face began to ripple

*Keira, my soulful sister, rocking out to Reegus' Christmas ballads

*Carol, always full of serenity

*Jasmina, the picture of grace and elegance

Thanks to my dear friends who allowed me the absolute JOY of putting these photos on my blog. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I assure you, each one of these floppy faced individuals are beautiful.

*Some of the names have been changed so as to protect the identity of those photographed.

Last Days

I am officially done all of my exams, and somehow I have not lost my sanity...in fact, some remains in which to pack up my belongings and drive east into my beloved Alberta.

This last week has been one of much adventure, an obscene amount of coffee, and many goodbyes. It all started on Sunday with a wild idea to make our own sauna. We drove out to Harrison Lake where we found a private beach, built a tee pee, wrapped tarps all around it, and built a fire. We put a whole bunch of rocks in the fire and while they heated up, we did as well in a heated game of homemade bachi (baachi? baucci?...you know, that game with the ball that you throw and then the other balls that you throw at that ball...?). Anyway, we found some rocks and we chucked them all over the place. I think the real trick was to actually find your rocks in the midst of all the other rocks on the beach. An incredible feat.

Finally, we enclosed ourselves deep within the tee pee, accompanied by our red-hot fire rocks. Upon said fire rocks, we poured water which created the burning steam. Seriously, it worked so well!! That little area heated up fast and got so incredibly hot!!! After some time, when the heat became too unbearable, we ripped open the tee pee and all ran into wintery, Harrison Lake. We did this many times. Now, I have heard that this is very good for you and can be a way of detoxifying your body...but, I and the others with me ended up quite ill for the few days following the sauna adventure. I was a sneezing, snotting fool. It was worth it though!

Anyway, so I'm done school and am currently in the process of packing up my room and packing in my car. I officially leave Abbotsford tomorrow (Saturday), spend the night in Vancouver, and begin the eastward drive on Sunday morning. So for those that I'm leaving, I wish you a Merry Christmas, and for those that I will see shortly, a big "see you soon"!

Thailand Update

Alright...so, there's not tons more that I can say about what we are doing or when we are going, but there's lots and lots you guys could pray about.

We still do not have our visas. There is something that needs to happen on the side of the organization that is our umbrella while we are in language school before we can even apply. Basically, at this point we are trusting God for the timing of our departure because this is totally out of our control. We could be leaving later than the end of January, or perhaps that won't change.

Also, we do not know where in Thailand we are going to be doing language school. They are still trying to decide if we will be in Chiang Mai (North Thailand) or in Lop Buri (Central Thailand). Pray for discernment on the side of the organization in Thailand we will be working with.

Phil (Bob and Christina's 16 year old son) is still having seizures. They started about 6 months ago, and he has been having them consistently since. The doctors are saying that they are brought on by stress. After that diagnosis he went one day shy of a month seizure free, and then had 2 back to back. Please pray for him...and for Bob and Chris as they sort out what to do. I reckon this will also affect our departure date, because ultimately we would really like all our members to be somewhat healthy before we go.

I have a final on Thursday and then have to pack up all my belongings and begin the long journey back to Alberta on Sunday. It has been such a fruitful time for me here in Abbotsford, making connections, spending time with good friends, and getting to know my team members better. It's weird that this season is already over. 3 1/2 months come and gone!!!

Anyway, some of you I must say goodbye to, and others I will see shortly...

Sick Thailand Dogs

Fallen off the Face of the Earth...

Hey guys. Sorry about my silence. I have recently locked myself in my room and have written many papers and have spent endless hours in front of my computer. This is only the beginning though. I have a final on Thursday and another one next week...at least it's only two. But, I'm just letting you all know that I will not be around this space for a bit...

I'm coming back to Three Hills shortly!!!

Bedazzled

I'm officially back from the whirlwind that was Alberta! I arrived yesterday morning only to find that the world of Abbotsford had been covered in a thick carpet of snow, and undernieth that snow exists a very solid carpet of ice ready to destroy anyone who ventures out on it! Seriously, I still cannot open my car doors let alone find it! SO MUCH SNOW!!!

So, Alberta ended up being a very fun, encouraging, stretching, and tiring experience. Upon arrival in Calgary on Thursday night the weekend of driving began. I went to Three Hills, arriving at midnight, and then went for an early breakfast with my family. Directly after breakfast my dad and I drove into Calgary where I had my first 3 hour meeting of many. That evening I spoke in a caregroup in Airdrie, which was loads of fun, and then went home (the place I had been billetted out to). The next morning, bright and early, we loaded up into the car and drove to Lethbridge. We had a fantastic time with the people down there and then drove back to Calgary afterwards. I happened to get back to Calgary just in time for some square dancing, so I passed the night away doe-see-doeing. The next morning (Sunday) we drove up to Edmonton where we met in a Thai restaurant for our final meeting. Again, it was awesome connecting with pastors and church members, especially around Thai food. You can't go wrong! Rather than getting back into the car, I caught a greyhound bus back to Calgary and spent the night at a friends, nearly missing my early morning flight. God had my back though, and the flight was delayed. And that brings me to now....

So, thanks to all of you who were praying. God is good and did give me strength. I was so tired yesterday, but thankfully school was cancelled so I was able to get a good day of sleep in. I think I might be caught up.

New Photos!!!

So I just received some new and BETTER photos from our hot springs adventure. Please note just how muddy the water is...we seriously did not know until we saw these photos.

Original sized pool

Sick mud...Reg and Duane, eating it up

The hot springs adventure crew!!! It's a pretty big pool, huh?

Hot Springs?

This last weekend was random and yet so fun! There was a group of us that wanted to hang out and do something, but we wanted to do something different and adventurous, so we went online and found a natural hot springs somewhere in the States that we thought would be fun to check out. By "natural" I mean somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and it's more like a giant hot mud puddle than a pool. You know...the fun kind!

So, we all piled into a few cars and began driving. We didn't really know where we were going and we ended up taking a bunch of wrong turns and having to backtrack a bit. It took us about 2 hours to get there, and we all joked about the fact that there might not even be anything there once we arrived. Well, that's exactly what happened!!

We hiked in in the dark (hardly a hike), and came upon this clearing that looked slightly reminiscent of the clearing that had the hot spring...only this clearing was ravaged by some natural disaster. Seriously, all that remained of our long awaited hot spring was a hot puddle roughly the size of a couch pillow, or a kitchen sink. We defintely could NOT fit 7 people in that hole!!! Somewhere along the line we all became quite motivated to make this puddle into a pool and so we removed our shoes, rolled up our pantlegs, and began digging! I'm not even entirely sure how long we dug for, but we were damming creeks, redirecting streams, and deepening and enlarging our spring. At one point we broke for peanut butter and banana sandwiches, all laying down our rocks and releasing our handfuls of mud, only to pick them up again after we finished. Finally, we decided that it was big enough, changed into our swim suits, and lay in these muddy hot/cold pools. There were areas that were really hot, like skin scalding hot, and other areas where the redirecting of the cold streams just didn't work. But it was SO FUN!!!

After we were finished, we all piled back into the cars stinking like sulfur and looking ragged and dirty to make an attempt to get back into Canada. Thankfully, they believed our story and granted us entrance...they likely just didn't want to talk to us anymore as there was a foul stench wafting out my windows. Hurray hot springs!

That's the size of the puddle right when we arrived...

Beginning the dig...

Peanut butter and banana sandwich break...

Whirlwind Visits and Whirlwind Tours

I had my dear friend, Crystal, come and visit me this past weekend. As it turns out, this may have been the last time I saw her before I leave for Thailand. It was short, but sweet, and involved an awesome visit to Vancouver's China town, lots of music (thank you Daniel Bedingfield) and very little sleep. Crystal got an amazing hair cut and we had some pretty great last moments together...

Now...about the whirlwind tour. I am going to be taking a trip to Alberta next weekend (Nov.24-27) and will be literally driving over 1200km in the span of 48 hours. Please pray for strength, energy, and words as I am going to be presenting to many missions committees and pastors from all over Alberta. I really need prayer!!! I will obviously have no time to see anyone as this is a quick trip to raise support and to bring awareness about northern Thailand. Also, if you could be praying for me that weekend as I am currently in crunch time concerning my classes and have a large majority of my major projects due in and around that time. Thank you so much! I will continue to keep you updated on the happenings concerning this trip...

Men Only?

So tell me this...is Pocky making their delicious chocolate sticks only for men now? And if I were, by chance, to eat some of these twig-like snacks, being a woman, have I committed some cardinal Pocky sin? Will the Pocky Police come confiscate what is left of my box of chocolate sticks (and rightfully eat them as the dominant, male police force), and admit me to the Pocky-Prison-for-Women-Who-Eat-What-is-Only-for-the-Man?

Or perhaps I have overlooked something and have not noticed what Pocky sticks they are making explicitly for women. Would they be pink? Taste like flowers?
Anyway, I thought this was hilarious!!! I did eat the majority of this box, it didn't smell like men's cologne (as I thought it should), and I still have my freedom...no jail time for this bird.

I had a great weekend...it was girl's weekend out and five of us went down to Birch Bay and spent a night at my friend's parent's cabin. We played cards, laughed alot and then went into Seattle the next day to do a bit of shopping. It was so relaxing, and I think just what all of us needed.

My Jog Around the Seawall

So, I did my 10km race on Sunday around Stanley Park's seawall...it turned out being the first of many cold days we have seen in these parts, and so I started out with layers upon layers of clothes, and muttering under my breath "why in the world am I doing this?". I have to say, it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!

There's something about running with hundreds, or thousands of other people and trying to pass them and getting passed by men in their eighties, or little 8 year old girls, that really spurs you on to go faster. I finished the race in, I believe it was 56 minutes. My goal was to do it in under an hour, and my goal was accomplished! It was awesome.

So, now I'm kind of considering doing a half marathon. Please, nobody hold me to this, but I am thinking about it. I am going to have to see how running in 40 degree weather in Thailand will be before I really commit to anything of that magnitude though.

So it's done. I did it. And I have the t-shirt to prove it!

Can More

I was just in Canmore for the last few days. I was an honorary member of the MB pastor and spouses retreat. I know, I know...I'm not married, but nobody has to know, right? Seriously though, it was a great couple of days connecting with the Alberta pastors, meeting alot of people, and enjoying some fantastic food together.

I know that I wasn't able to see many of you while I was in Alberta, but we'll get some quality time when I come home for Christmas.

I've received alot of questions recently about when we are going and what we will be doing, and so I want to take this opportunity to bring some clarity and share what we know thus far. I am on a team of 5 adults and 2 kids (Bob and Christina and their two boys, Phil and Jason...Reg...and Bitsy). We are all in the middle of MTI (missionary training institute) so we are either studying at Columbia Bible College or at ACTS seminary. We will be starting team building shortly to learn more about each other, how we work together, and our strengths and weaknesses.

So, the plan at the moment is to head to Thailand at the end of January. We will either be doing language study in Lop Buri (one hour north of Bangkok) or Chiang Mai. We are still in the process of figuring that out. Wherever we end up, we will be there studying the language for a year. From that place, we plan on taking many trips up north as a team to see where we will be settling and to be able to spend much time praying together over that place.

After completing a year of language, we will move up north either to Chiang Rai or Chiang Khong. The ministry that we know at this point is two fold. First, there are some 30,000 new believers among the Khmu people so we'll be involved in discipleship, training and coming alongside the Khmu leadership. Second, there are many among the northern Thai who have never heard the gospel and so we want to be involved in church planting among them. It is among the northern Thai people where we will invest in prostitutes, orphans and the destitute. It is more than likely that we will have to learn the Khmu language as well as Thai...so that means my first 3 years will be primarily language learning.

So...that's as much as I know at the moment. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Also, if any of you have skype please email me your address, because I would love to be able to keep in touch while I'm away.

I'm a Runner???

An average weekend in the life of Jessica Richards involves some form of hanging out, drinking coffee, eating food and possibly a leisurely walk or stroll somewhere. Well, this weekend turned out being defintely not average!

As I have mentioned before, I am in training for a 10km run...and even though I run about 4 times a week, I had never gone over 4-6km .... Until yesterday!!!!

As of Saturday, October 14th, 2006 I officially ran 9km without stopping!! And I think I can honestly say that I kind of enjoyed it. There were defintely points where I wanted to quit, or where I wanted to stop and eat (as I found my stomach growling uncontrollably), but overall it was quite an exhilerating experience!


While running, this thought came into my head...in the Bible, Paul uses running a race as an illustration of being a Christian (as does whoever you believe the author of Hebrews to be) 1Cor.9:24, 2Tim.4:7, and Heb.12:1. That picture came to life for me yesterday. As I ran, there were points where I found it easy and didn't really even think about the fact that I was running. I was able to look around me and enjoy the scenery. I felt good, strong, and like I could run forever (alright, maybe not forever, but at least 30minutes more). There were also points where my legs hurt, my stomach grumbled, and I was incredibly tired. I wanted to give up and give in. I didn't want to hurt and struggle anymore. It seemed impossible for me to finish. That's so true of our faith, isn't it? There are moments where everything is good and life seems easy, and we can enjoy the things around us. But there are also moments where we wonder where God is in it all, moments that we struggle and experience pain. But, take a look in Hebrews, "...and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter (finisher) of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame...". Awesome, isn't it? Jesus is the reason that our faith exists, and we can run with perseverance because HE makes it possible!!!

So, that was my weekend! I actually ran 9km! I'm tired and am recuperating, but I'm so excited that I did it, and know that I'm capable when October 29th rolls around!

The Art of "Bonding"

We've been talking about bonding in class...you know the kind...the type of bonding between the parents and the child, that takes place when a baby is born. Well, it is said that a similar thing takes place when one moves to a new and unfamiliar culture. As a child coming into the world, all things are new...you have to learn how to speak, how to communicate, and what actions are considered culturally acceptable.

Now, what happens in those first few moments of "life" in a new culture are vital to how a missionary may conduct the rest of their time and ministry there. It is in those moments where the bonding takes place. The question is, who will we bond with? The expatriates, who share culture and language with us, or the nationals of the country we go to minister to? I'm rooting for the nationals.

And this is why I have begun to think about some things for when I arrive in Thailand. I am considering (and please pray with me about this) moving in with a Thai family for the first few months of of my time there. I realise that it may be difficult and uncomfortable, but what an incredible way to adjust and learn the language (a bit like being thrown in the deep end and having to learn how to swim)!!! I don't want to become Thai, because I will never stop being Canadian, but I do want to 'inculturate' myself and learn how to depend on the Thai people as well as the expats around me.

I know people read this blog...so leave me some comments and let me know what you think!!!

Penticton and Pumpkin Pie

Saturday afternoon consisted of Reg, Bitsy and me climbing into the car and driving for 4 1/2 hours to Penticton. It was seriously a beautiful drive, but for the few hours I missed because I was sleeping. We arrived in Penticton around 6:30pm and met up with Bob and Chris, which officially made this the first time our team had ever been together as a whole unit! It was awesome!

We went out for Thai food, and found ourselves the loudest group in the restaurant (and it wasn't only because of me this time!!!) and then went out to Starbucks so we could sit and talk longer. Seriously, it was so great to be together and get to know each other better. They shared alot about Northern Thailand, we spent much time laughing together, and just becoming more like family. Afterwards we went out into the parking lot and prayed. Such a great ending to a wonderful evening.

Sunday morning we went to the Grace MB church where Bob shared the heart and vision for Thailand in the Sunday School class, and we all introduced ourselves and gave a brief history of who we were and how we ended up at this point. Then Bob had the service to preach.

Afterwards they put on this lovely thanksgiving meal for us (being as we were in Penticton on thanksgiving). There was everything! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and of course pumpkin pie!!!! I seriously only ever eat that stuff once a year, but I LOVE it!!! I also ended up sitting at a table with some of the lovliest people, and I found that I had mutual friends with each of them! So rad! They were all musicians...bluegrass, bagpipes...and used to travel around when they were younger. So amazing!

So, with bellies and hearts full we said goodbye to our new friends and began our journey back home. I am now in Abbotsford readying myself for another thanksgiving dinner with my wonderful house mates, George and Margaret!

I have attached the first ever photos of Hope for Thailand team!!!! Enjoy!!!

Bob, Chris, Me, Bitsy and Reg...

The girls!

West Jet in Abbotsford

I had another blessing this week...another little taste of home. Our very own, beautiful and captivating Kimberlee Darling had a bit of a break in my city...Abbotsford, BC. She has been flying all over the country (West Jetting), diligently serving people their complimentary drinks and snacks and landed about 15 minutes from me! Hurray!!!!! We got together early on Wednesday afternoon and shared an amazing meal (yes, the food was good, but I think the company was better), talked, caught up as best as we could in such a short time, and probably could have gone on alot longer but for her early morning and my book report.

Thanks Kim, for that break and for sharing that time with me. It was greatly appreciated!

Also, check out the prayer request box...some new stuff has been added.

Weekend of Fun

I had a superb weekend filled with laughter, food and very good friends . It all started on Friday when Crystal graced me with her prescence. Not even half an hour after she arrived we went and ate Thai food (I could eat that stuff everyday...oh, wait...Thailand here I come!), and then we went to Joel's house (more affectionately known as Grandpa Joe) for fondue (or "fun"do). It was awesome...a whole bunch of people that haven't seen each other in a long time, or people who have just met all conveining around a pot and dripping chocolate all over the place. Can't ask for much more than that, can you...? That evening ended late...much later than I'm used to.

Saturday began with me going for a run with Joel and Kyle (did you know we are training for a "marathon"? nobody needs to tell Joel that marathons are actually much longer than 10km), then that afternoon Crystal and I went for coffee where we played checkers with pennies and quarters in which she handily kicked my butt...twice...nice strategy Crystal...well played!

That evening we went into Vancouver for a friend's b-day party and mingled amongst prosthetists (prostheletists?). Also a late night.

Finally, the weekend ended with us all getting together again for brunch and spending the day playing pool (the girls won both times), and laying around until it was time for night church.

In the midst of all this getting together and fun times, there were a few moments that stick out in my mind. When Crystal and I were coming back from the birthday party we stopped in to a coffee shop to get something warm to drink. As we were waiting for our "royal lattes", this girl came in, bleeding from her head and asking to use the bathroom. I followed her in there and helped her clean up a bit, but more importantly felt compassion for her. She had gotten into a bit of a tiff and had been pushed on the ground where she hit her head. And then this afternoon while I was walking home from school I ran into this guy who seemed quite dispondant. I started chatting with him and found out that he's had a pretty rough go at life and he was shocked that I would stop and talk with him. I told him that God loves him (which can seem so trite, but it was the right thing to say at that moment) and it cut him to the heart. His name is Pascal if anyone wants to pray for him...

So, I'm tired and yet happy. It was so good to connect with friends and have some laughs and get to meet new people. And I so enjoyed seeing God meet people right where they are at.

Incredibly Random

So, this week has been pretty great...I've been able to see old friends and do some fun things, all the while letting my studies take the back burner (bad Jessica!)...I figure every once in awhile is alright...right?

On Sunday, I randomly went on a hike with Reg (one of my teammates) and some of his friends. It was an amazing day, with the sun heating up the surface of the earth to a temperature that satisified even me. It was amazing. We trudged into the plush forest (something we are lacking in rural Alberta), and eventually came to this serene lake. For some reason the only thing I could think of was somehow getting a boat up there for some of the best waterskiing and wakeboarding! Wow...talk about ruining serenity.

On Tuesday I had two more random and yet wonderful encounters. I was able to connect with a friend passing through the Vancouver airport and was also able to get together with Karin Armstrong for tea. It was so good to see her, and I came away very encouraged (as I often do when meeting with Karin)...it was as if not time had passed at all.

So, we come to an end of my random adventures as of late. Nothing totally out of the ordinary other than people being where they normally aren't, and me spontaneously hiking up hills, but a lovely week all the same.

Theme Thursday "Family Night"

So...there is no real explanation for this. We just decided to dress up this last Thursday and every following Thursday here on out. This one was family night. There's "maw and paw, creepy Uncle Wickenheimer (see if you can figure out which one he is), Grandpa Joe, Grandma Mary, little Betsy, and I'm not exactly sure who Dan is". Good times. Right Kyle?

Coup Continued...

My friend is there in Thailand right now and knows much better how this is affecting people than what the news portrays, so check out her first hand account here. Read both "my day" and "another first for me".

On another note, we had a role play in our conflict class today. We each had to make up a character and a history for this character, and each character had a role to play (thus 'role play') in this scenario. It was fun!!! We had it video taped and then we watched it and debriefed about it later. I found myself so lost in my role that I was actually feeling emotions after we were finished. Fun!

Coup in Thailand

Hey everybody. I am sure that you have been reading or watching the news and have seen the developments that have taken place in Thailand. There has been a coup with the military overthrowing the rule of Thaksin while he was in New York. They have declared martial law. Read more about it here.

Now, many of you have been asking what that means for our team heading into Thailand in January, and I have to say that I don't know, but what I do know is that we can pray. We can get together and pray into this situation and pray for the kingdom of Thailand. Pray for the teams and missionaries that are already there and for the kinds of things we are heading into. This thing has so many implications.

So, thanks everyone for your concern and interest. God's up to something in that nation...

Menno Fest

Now...I'm not a mennonite. That's obvious by my last name (Richards) and by the fact that I have only 6 first cousins. BUT, I do have lots of friends who are mennonite and so I gladly join in in their festivities and attempt to immerse myself in the language and culture, as I did today.

Let's just say there was a Menno Fest. Hundreds, nay, thousands of them flocking into a warehouse to play the 'name game' and eat roulkoukin (sp?) and vereniki. The MCC was having a sale where they raised money for....I'm not sure what (something good), but we went and ate lots and looked around at what you could buy.

You had your choice of creepy dolls...

Let's take a closer look at some of them.

Like this one...

Or this super creepy one...it scares me!

Or there's always no-face-robot-armed Barbie...the new generation of beauty!

Bethany found her favorite! It can do the splits whilst maintaining a super scary look on it's face.

And if you're not into dolls, you could always bid on some children...

Naw...just kidding. But it was a funny sign all the same. We had a great time, ate lots of incredible food and got to experience a bit more of the culture that's all around us. The wonderful Mennonites!

What You're NOT Saying...

I had the best class today. Seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In Intro to Conflict Management we discussed non-verbal communication, and just how much that communicates. The exercize we did to prove this was fascinating and quite fun!! The prof had us pair off with the person we knew the least in the class and sit knee-to-knee with them. Then she had us close our eyes and get a sense of this person sitting across from us. From there we opened our eyes and began studying them and seeing what they "said" about themselves from their artifacts (earrings, clothing, hairstyle, accessories, etc.). Once we had spent a fair amount of time looking at each other we would take turns to say what we had observed..."I see this, so I assume this". These things varied from age, to what kind of pets we think they like, their political views, what kind of food they like. We were to say it without having any sort of confirmation from the person we were speaking about, until we were finished.

They would then correct what we got wrong or confirm what we got right. I nailed my partner right on! Everything I said about her was right. It kind of freaked her out actually. She didn't get me at all. That same old question about my age threw her off, and she pegged me at about 20...I figure I should just take the average between my real age and what people actually think I am and begin stating that as my real age. That would put me at about 23.

Anyway, basically we came down to this: people say alot about themselves without actually saying anything at all, and our assumptions of people can often be wrong. We need to get to know people rather than writing them off because of our snap judgements of them...just because people dress differently than us, and are interested in different things doesn't mean that we can't learn from one another. People are fascinating. Sit in an airport and you'll see more differences than similarities, but you'll also see the hand of God. He has made us diverse because he is diverse.

I can tell that people are praying because I'm not so much afraid of my classes anymore, but rather excited about this learning process. THANK YOU!!!!

Team Academia

So, I got myself an Academic Coach today. Not because I'm an idiot (yet), but because I want to have that somebody to be cheering me on from outside my classroom, to be giving me points and tips in between tests, to be wearing sweatshirts with my name on it, and to be pushing my brain to do mental ''lines''. Alright, so none of those are likely the duties of my new coach, but I will be meeting with said advisor once a week to give me some guidance when I'm a bit lost. He'll take the time to show me the ''writing-a-paper'' ropes, which I am in desperate need of.

All of my classes have proven to be quite fascinating thus far. Foundation of Christian Mission is kind of walking through the Old and New Testament and showing how important mission is to God...that it is, in fact, His mission. One thing that is said over and over again is Misseo Dei...the mission of God, which is to seek and save the lost, and he chooses to use us to do that. I'm really excited about the rest of this course and how it will apply to where I'm heading and to the new things I'll be taking on while overseas.

I read this amazing article in Cross Cultural Communication which spoke about how globalization can be good and can also be quite difficult when we don't understand other cultures or when we translate things poorly...it spoke of this Pepsi ad that, in North America said, "Pepsi, it brings you to life". When translated into Chinese, it read, "Pepsi, it will bring your ancestors back from the dead". Now, I can't imagine that going over incredibly well. I'm sure the consumption of Pepsi in China dropped considerably.

I had my first class in my third course today. Now, this is the one that I think will be the most practical and most life changing. It demands that I take a good look at myself and how I deal with relationships and the conflicts that arise within them. Intro to Conflict Management...I think I have come to realise, already after the first day, that I avoid conflict much more than I had thought. I desire to accomodate and spare people's feelings, when sometimes the best thing to do is take the issue head on and work things through...to be honest and vulnerable with one another, because our lives are about building relationship and community, and both of those things will bring about conflict at one point or another.

So, I'm learning lots, even after the first week. Please pray as I'm still trying to figure this whole ''school'' thing out, and as I'm attempting to manage my time well. There is so much reading!!! Those of you who have your bachelors, and especially those who have their masters, I have a new and profound respect for you!!!! So, I have taken my 1/2 hour break to update you friends, and now it's time to stick my nose back in a book. Love from me and my team academia!

Photos

On the way out West...


















These face masks are supposed to be good for you. EEEKKK!














The hot new pad...


































My own bathroom!!! YAY!!!
















Please excuse the odds and ends thrown about. I suppose I could have cleaned up a bit for the photo. Good one Jess.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy a little glimpse into the beginnings of my life here.