Just a couple more days...

I leave August 2nd at 1:40 am, which means I'll be going to the airport August 1st. That's this Wednesday! I can't believe it. The summer has flown by. It was nice to have some time with my family before leaving. We spent a week camping at Carpentaria beach. We had a great time relaxing... mostly eating lots of yummy food and taking naps. I appreciate your prayers as I wrap up things here, pack (lots more to go), and say goodbye to friends and family.

Here are a couple of pictures of our time in Carpentaria:

Count Down

Official coutdown til the big move: 20 days
(That's less than 3 weeks! I'm so excited but have a ton to do before then to get ready...)

I thought I'd share a few pictures from the graduation party I shared with my lovely sister Anna. She is currently in Cambodia and I'm missing her lots. She comes back in 5 more days... what am I going to do until then? It's been a few weeks now since the party, but here are some pics anyway:

Some Photos from PFO

I'm back home in Pasadena after being in Mississippi for two weeks. Thank you for those who prayed for a safe and timely flight. Everything went smoothly and was on time. The last day in Mississippi we had a great time of singing and sharing with each other affirmations, along with a special time of communion.

Here are a few photos from throughout my time there that I thought you might enjoy!

The very precious kitchen staff who worked hard to feed us and enjoyed every minute of it! Here they are singing for us at our closing dinner and celebration.

Me with my future roommate Emily who I will be living with in Bandung, Indonesia. She will be teaching 3rd grade. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other at PFO.

Some of the many friends I met while at PFO who will be moving all over the world to teach just like me.

The team of people attending PFO who will be in Bandung, Indonesia. Some are returning staff and their families who have already been living over there. The rest are new staff. Two of the new staff will be coming with their families. We had quite a group from Indonesia, especially with all of the kids. (Five of the kids pictured here will be students of mine at BAIS!)

PFO- Days 11 and 12

Wow I can't believe my time here in Mississippi is coming to a close. It does feel like I've been here a long time and part of me is ready to go home. I've met a lot of great people who are going to be moving all over the world to teach many different grades and subjects. One of the most fun "meetings" I had was with an older woman named Rona Lee. Rona came up to me the other day because she heard that I attended Cal Poly SLO. I told her I had attended Grace Church and then the connection was made. Rona had attended Grace for over 30 years. When her husband died a little less than a year ago, Rona grieved her loss but then it wasn't long before she was meeting with Pastor Tim about what God might have for her in the next chapter of her life. This past January she followed God's call to go serve in Turkey as a guidance counselor at the NICS school there. I first heard about Rona in a sermon Pastor Tim preached on Caleb about 3 weeks ago. It was so crazy to find out she was here at PFO. As soon as she told me her name and her connection to Grace, I remembered hearing about her in Pastor Tim's sermon. She thought it was so fun that I knew who she was. It just reinforced the repeating theme that the world is small. Some of the most significant relationships that I've made here have been with the other staff members that I will be working with in Indonesia. This is an answer to pray because it will make arriving in a foreign country much easier knowing I will be meeting up with people I know and have already come to love.

Yesterday morning we had a powerful seminar on purity. In the afternoon we met with our advisors one-on-one and I took a nice long nap. Last night we had a talent show. I can't say it was all talent that we saw but it was fun. Today we got more information on some of the policies of NICS, heard from the founder/director, and had a session on health coverage. This afternoon we got a chance to play a game called Settlers with some of the "Indonesia people". Tonight we had our closing dinner and celebration. They had the dinner catered and made it a special meal. After dinner they had a special thank you program for those who had made PFO possible. Tomorrow we have a closing session and communion, then pack up and lunch. My flight takes off at 2:20 and gets into LAX around 4:30. Please pray that my flight leaves on time and I don't have to sit in the airport all afternoon.

PFO- Days 9 and 10

Yesterday we spent the morning in a simulation. They broke us into small groups of about 12 and took each group into "hiding" because of "political unrest that was occuring in the country where we were working." We were led down a pitch dark hallway into a dark closet type room. We were given notes that we could barely read, updating us on the status of the situation. We had to choose three people as the first ones to be picked up by the rescue helicopter. It was very interesting to see how people reacted in this simulated stressful situation. It was also interesting to see who took up leadership and how people went about deciding who got to be saved. My group worked really well together and stayed fairly light hearted. Other groups not so much. My group for some reason had a bunch of guys that kept wanting to try to escape. They were taking apart lights to try and turn them on and taking apart the ceiling to see if they could get away. The other interesting thing was that one of our group members had been in a real life situation like that and so he told of his experience (as well as others in other groups who had also been in similar situations). We ended the afternoon by talking about our conflict resolution styles and affirmation.

Yesterday during our dinner time my future roommate, another friend, and I took some time to explore downtown Memphis. We found our way (just getting a little lost) to Beale Street, home of the blues. We went into Peabody Hotel and saw the duck master collect the ducks from the fountain and lead them in a straight line on the red carpet. Tons of people stood around and snapped pictures of the ducks. Oh I should probably also metion there were only about 5 of them. I've tried to be descriptive as possible but you are probably still wondering "you did what?" I can't really explain it but supposedly it is famous. We also tried to find Graceland but unfortunately only ended up driving by and snapping a picture.


Happy Fourth of July! Today we had sessions mostly about academic stuff like English language learners, Christian education, and international curriculum. But tonight we got to celebrate with an all american dinner of hambergers, hot dogs and apple cobbler. The church we are staying at had a picnic with tons of watermelon and homemade ice cream. Then we sat out on the grass right outside and watched a local fireworks show. Lastly, we ended the night with a fun game of cards.

PFO- Days 7 and 8

These past two days have been much more relaxing and slower pace than the first week here. It was so nice to not be as busy and have to sit through sessions all day. On Sunday we got the whole day off. I slept in and didn't have to be anywhere until 10:15! I went to church at the church/school where we are staying and ate lunch with one of the returning teachers. She will be teaching 5th grade next year in Indonesia and was telling us her horror stories of the pempantus (helpers) that she's had. In the afternoon we got together as a team and heard more about Indonesian and Sudanese culture. We watched video of a missions trip the school took to an island in Indonesia and some home video one of the families had of their house and the school events. We took a look at the year book and other pictures and even got a chance to try some Indonesia style chips. We ended out the night with playing cards and watching a movie.

Today we started out with small group bible study. We then had a session on Singleness, an interesting topic to consider when working overseas. We also heard about Christian Education from someone who came from ACSI. This afternoon my future roommate Emma and I took off and went to the Civil Rights Museum, which is where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I also had a one-on-one session with my advisor to talk in depth about a personality assessment called FIRO B. Tonight we went out to dinner with the principle of the school in Indonesia and our whole group who is here at PFO. It was a good chance to connect since it can be difficult sometimes because we are such a large group.