Long time no proper update

So, I have been busy and blogging has not been on the top of my list. Thus, while I am stalling writing a paper that I don’t want to, I will work on an update.

First off, this is going to be long. To be helpful to those that maybe only want to know part of what all I want to write about, I will have a list here and everything will have a header. Thus making it so you only have to read what you want if you want

Thing I will be writing about (and yes, they are in this order):
-Preparing for trip
-House sitting
-What this trip was for/ about
-The missionaries
-Host homes
-The campers
-Teaching English
-My room
-Meet the family
-My stupid wrist
-Back to life as normal?
-My first car
[as you can see, I am working on a book here tonight]


Preparing for the trip
Oh, my gosh! It was so stressful. Trying to pull of five college classes, learn how to teach English and prepare to, work, trying to get in sleep, not wanting to be a fantom to all my friends (I don’t think that one worked all the time).... But it was all worth it when I got to Belgium.

I don’t want to say much about the preparation part, just because it was mostly unfun (thought I can see how God used it, for sure).


House sitting
So, for like a week and a half before I left, I was house sitting for Jenn/ Zea’s parents. With all the stress of preparing, I don’t think they knew how amazing it was to house sit for them. I really needed the change, even just moving across town for a little over a week. God really used that time to teach me and help me relax a little before the trip (did I say I was super stressed?).
Also, I was sick and got to read this really good book The Deity Formerly Known as God by Jarrett Stevens. It is about how we view God, Wrongly, and how it can effect us. It really got me thinking about different ways I view God and how they hinder me. Like different fears I have that prevent me from getting as close to Him as I could. Even just lies that He does not love me or will someday grow tired (like me) of my not being perfect.

In Psalm 103 it talks about How God remembers we are but dust. He knows I am going to blow it, but He still wants me. Crazy.


What the trip was for/about
So, I did not really tell what this trip was about on my blog before leaving. I mean, I did a little, but even I was still in the dark on some things (and ok with being in the dark).

What we did was go to a youth camp to teach English and lead Devos at night in our rooms (I had four girls in mine). We would have English classes in the morning, something fun in the afternoon (skiing, hiking, counselor hunt), and then one of the missionaries would talk in the evening and the devos in our rooms would be on what they spoke on.

That’s the basics.


The missionaries
Pretty much the missionaries rocked. They were great to work with and very real. I have really started seeing missionaries in a new light. A lot of times we think of them as super Christians, when really they are just like the rest of us. It was nice working close with these missionaries for those weeks and just see more how life really is for them (even though we did not even see that because of the camp).

They tried to talk me into joining them... if I knew it was God’s plan, I would be there as soon as I could. As it is, I have no idea if I am to move over seas or not. I would be fine if God said “go”, but I would be okay staying too. I guess I just have to wait and see at this point.

[the missionaries were/are real, that is so needed]


Host homes
We all stayed in host homes before and after camp. Before, Tabitha and I stayed with the Beeckmans. They were very nice to stay with. They took us in, fed us great, showed us pictures, told us stories, let us come to their family’s party. It was great. One of their daughter’s Onaleen (no idea of the spelling) will be Coming with Scott and Janice (one of the three missionary couples) to the US this summer. I am excited about that.

After camp all six of us (Gwen, Darren, Michael, Andy, Tabitha, and I) stayed in the same host home. The family was on holiday and just said we could stay at their house. Very nice and trusting of them. It was kind of odd the six of us in the same house alone. The house was odd. parts were really cool, parts (like the windows on the bath rooms) not so much.


The campers
Dang, I miss them. It was so good hanging out with all those campers. Really! I loved spending time with all those teens (Jacki has thought about youth work a lot before and still is off and on). Yeah, I just loved spending time with them -- shopping (or walking around looking at stuff), eating, talking, playing in the snow. It was great! I would have gladly stayed at camp another week or two.


Teaching English
You would think speaking English would make you a great English teacher... It was harder at times than I thought. I think the hardest part was not knowing Flemish. It was hard to know sometimes if they got what we were saying. They helped each other out a lot, but I think it would be easier knowing Flemish to know for sure if they really got it.

In America, these kids would be beyond most who have taken college classes for years in a language. Americans suck at learning another language.

He he he, I made them read Fox in Sock. I read the whole thing, then we passed it around and everyone took turns reading a page. I made Michael read it too. He was the one teaching with me.


My room
So, I pretty love the girls in my room (even if two of them were out in the night pulling pranks *cough* Lora and Margo *cough* They were harmless pranks. Fitting that those girls would be in my room... >_> <_< ). My girl were Lora, Margo, Tamarra, and Lynn. I got to know Lora and Margo the best (because they knew more English) but I am glad I got to know all of them. They are all sweet girls. I normally stayed up talking with them until lights out. In fact, I think we did just about every night. Once or twice we were up after lights out talking... oops. Yeah, not like they got in trouble for it. I was talking too.

Devos in the room. There were nights that went better than others. I am sure it had to do with how tired everyone was. Really, if they only get one thing, that they need to read God’s word, I am happy. We talked a lot about believing lies, and the only way to know the truth from a lie is to really know the truth. God’s word is truth. Read it.

My room pretty much dominated the kitchen. Not gonna lie. We rocked. We pretty much out did all the other rooms when it came to getting those dished done. True story.


Meet the family
So, on my Grandma’s side, we have Family in Belgium. While I was there, I got to meet some of them. It was really good and odd. They were so my Grandma’s family. You could tell! It was crazy. They all spoke French and half the time (well... most of the time) I did not know what was going on. It was like something from a movie (a lot of this trip was, it seemed so unreal that something so amazing could happen to me).

I am glad I got to meet them. They want me to come back. I would love to.


My stupid wrist
Clumsy jacki strikes again. While I was hiking in the alps (we were in Austria and Germany too), I some how hurt my wrist. I get to the top of the beautiful mountain I hiked with Gwen, Tabitha, Scott, and Andy and I try to pull myself up on this old castle ruin wall and I think to myself, “crap” (not just because this is a run on) my left wrist (aka my good arm) hurt like crazy. I take off my glove and it was all swollen. More thoughts of crap.

So, my arm is not broken, but i have to wear this dumb brace for a while.

This was one of the hardest things for me on this trip. I feel like I am always getting hurt, and yeah, I may tell exciting stories of my pain, but I hate it. Maybe I tell the stories to try to make myself feel better, I don’t know. Anyway, I had to fight a bad attitude about my wrist a lot. One night I even cried myself to sleep I was so mad about my wrist (yeah for being able to cry quiet because that was in our last host home and I did not feel like telling the whole team about my tears).


Back to life as normal?
So, now I am back and have to go back to school and work (the school part has been the hard part this week). Jet lag bights and several days I have wanted to be back in Belgium and Austria and Germany. sigh... I will be okay. This semester is almost over.

I need sleep.


My first car
I got my very first car Wednesday! I am super excited. I have been saving up forever and a day and finally I have my beautiful baby! She is a 2001 Malibu, blue. Very nice and all mine. I paid her off the day I got her (only way to buy a car).

[anyway, there is my book of a post]