Team Turkey is staying healthy and safe in Antalya, eagerly anticipating the national elections coming
up on July 22nd. Red, yellow, blue and white flags flood the streets and every few minutes a van with
huge speakers will drive by blasting music or the voice of their chosen candidate. We are continuing to
refrain from using the words ÒmissionaryÓ, ÒevangelistÓ, ÒsickÓ, etc, although today I (Sara) managed to
call one of my students an illegitimate child while trying to identify a bead as ÒpeachÓ. IÕm not alone;
yesterday Dayna called an entire marketplace full of people ÒpeachesÓ and was shushed by some men
nearby.
WeÕve decided to step up our level of crafts from Òage appropriateÓ to Òshock and aweÓ and are now
switching from things like watercolor family portraits to things such as bead lizards, rainbow balloon
arches, masks out of cast gauze, and paper mache. The kids are loving it and as we tried to leave Kids
Klub today they actually bombarded the door and wouldnÕt let us pass. And since it is illegal to even
TALK about religion to a Turk under the age of 18 we find ourselves entirely reliant on our actions to
speak for us. THUS, weÕve focused a lot on cultivating Òfruits of the SpiritÓ in ourselves here (love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). The one we have
struggled with most here is self-control since we have pocket-money and easy access to a candy
WONDERLAND just next door (Hi, Dana!). As I am writing this Dayna and Veez are out loading up on
chocolate and gummy goodies to satisfy our high candy needs.
This weekend we will be visiting Cappadocia in central Turkey with our new comrade Rebekka, from
Holland. She is the 21-year old cousin of Lydia, the woman we were previously going to be working
with this summer in Denizli, along with her husband Bill and family. We are very excited to see the
naturally-occurring fairy chimneys, underground cities and the caves where Christians lived for
hundreds of years.
After reading the latest updates from the other teams it seems we arenÕt suffering nearly enough to
earn the title of Hardcore Deputees. Despite this, we would like to thank everyone for their prayers for
safety and for God to work in each one of us. Your prayers have allowed our relationships with each
other and the Turkish people to flourish. We have been blessed with AMAZING leadership and wisdom
in the Kings and Karn Choi and are reminded everyday how God placed us all here for a distinct reason.
-Sara, for Team Turkey
Friday, July 13, 2007
And when we're not building houses...
Let's just say movies are cheep here. We went and saw Transformers. It's pretty much amazing.mmm. coconut.
It gets hot here in the Philippines. It's nice to have a fan.
The pineapple here is amazing!!!
We went to meet the major. This is us in
front of the band that played just for us.
We didn't break it to them that we're white, not famous.
No comment
This is theater seating at an art school.
And there we are...Seattle's best.
In the Philippines everything happens in the Mall.
Including Safaris.
It's harder to take pictures underwater than you might think.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Ireland Update
Hey Everyone!
So here is Team Ireland 's two week update. We were going to hold off since we have actually only completed one kid's club, but in response to team Turkey 's overly confident 'I think we have the best country ever statement,' we thought it was it was time to let everyone know what's going on over in Ireland .
So we have all managed to stay in the country without being deported, as we were all held up in immigration at UK airports. We spent our first four days living in student dorms near the largest university in Belfast and had a few drop in meetings with leaders whose camps we would be working in throughout the summer. So the rest of the time we spent touring the city, shopping, hanging out in the dorms with some fun Irish and Scottish people, and taking full advantage of the free internet!
Belfast was very interesting and for those of you that don't remember our highly intellectual presentation on Ireland, we went over the historic division between the Catholic and Protestant communities and the ongoing civil war. Belfast was the city where all the bombings were taking place and only within the past 5 years have things begun to improve. There is literally a wall 85ft high dividing the Protestant neighbourhood from the Catholic neighbourhood. We learned that the civil dispute isn't as much about religion as it is about territory and land. The Republic of Ireland, which is 98% Catholic, would like a united Ireland and Northern Ireland, would be offended if you called any of them Irish, as they are British, and are loyal to the Queen and the UK. It was interesting to learn this and the tensions (although some of them just friendly) are very evident in conversation.
We took a train down to Dublin , after spending 3 nights in Belfast, to meet our first team leader Kevin with Maynooth Community Church, located in Maynooth, a village about 35 mins outside of Dublin. We immediately hit it off with Kevin, who is passionate about theology and apologetics, and Camille has proceeded to ask him about every awkward and controversial biblically related question possible! Kevin liked us so much that he gave us some weekend time to tour Dublin.
Now in the past, team Ireland has been known to have slept in multiple different places but for the past two weeks we have been staying in the home of the pastor of MCC who is on holiday, with the 20 year old intern, Colin, who has become a great friend and honorary member (Team America + 1). Camille and Kelly have been spending the night in one of the most amazingly comfortable beds ever while Calvin and Trevor each have their own rooms, Trevor's being the living room with a great piano. We even have a black lab mutt named Molly! We have been cooking team dinners every night and have had a few occasional nights out to Dublin, once to meet past depute Tyler for dinner, and the other to celebrate the 4th of July. We went to the local country club where Colin works, all dressed up, to take some posh pictures, like we were important! Ha!
We feel that so far we have been pretty spoiled and definitely very blessed by the Lord. I think we were all a little nervous about how things were going to be and so far we have been fully taken care of!
So work…Last week Mon, Tues, and Wed we ran a Bible Club in three different local towns. This was led by some members of MCC. We went into the neighbourhoods (some in not so nice areas) knocked on doors and asked if any kids would be interested in hanging out with us for an hour to sing some songs, play some games, and listen to a Bible story. It was a lot of fun, and we did this for an hour in each estate. Sadly, Ireland is a country of much rain, very similar to Seattle, and we had some issues since these clubs were just outside in a field. The weather has been the biggest discouragement in our ministry here thus far and has actually made us have to cancel a lot of things. We have been praying a lot about this situation and would love your guys' prayers as well! The kids were great though and were just really excited that people were actually taking the time to pay some attention to them and hang out. We got to help out both Sundays we have been here at MCC which was also fun. It is a new church that has been recently planted (50-70 people).
Now we get to the funny story…
We were given this last weekend off and we decided to take a road trip up to the North Coast. Now we have all been a little freaked out about the whole driving on the opposite side of the road deal with steering wheel and all on the opposite side so Colin said he would be happy to accompany us and drive! We were leaving at about 9:30pm on Thursday night after Colin got off work and expecting to arrive at his parent's house around midnight, unfortunately we all got a little too excited and Colin accidentally filled his car up with diesel fuel! The wind was quickly taken out of our sails as we had to be picked up and driven back home.
We decided to take a bus over to the west coast, city of Galway, in the morning instead of going north since the travel distance is shorter (suppose to be 31/2 hours). The bus ride was great until we got stuck in terrible traffic!! About half way through the journey which ended up taking 6 hours, we stopped at a transfer station for a ten minute break. The guys got off the bus to buy some snacks. Camille and I were just sitting there waiting. Camille decided that she had to go to the bathroom so she asked me if I thought it would cost her money to use the one in the station, I said yes (it usually costs about 20-50 cents to use public restrooms in Europe). So she was like, 'okay I will just use the bathroom on the bus' (these are big charter buses). So I proceeded to put my ipod in and close my eyes. The guys get back on the bus about a minute later, and ask me where Camille is. I casually say that she is in the bathroom right here on the bus. We take off and about ten minutes later, Camille still hasn't come out of the bathroom. The guys are like 'Kelly, you should really go check on her, are you sure she is in there?' I say, 'Of course she is, you guys, I don't want to embarrass her let's give her a few more minutes.' Finally, it has gotten to the point that we were starting to freak out so I go down to check on her, I open the bathroom door and Camille is not there!!! I come back up and the guys said that my face was priceless! We all start bust out laughing because we left Camille at the transfer station. She has nothing- no money, not jacket, everything she had was on the bus with us! We were given a team cell phone so we ended up calling Colin who called the station and got Camille on another bus that was about 15 mins behind us. So everything worked out but Camille had to ride for about 2 hours by herself! She still loves us though!
So we spent that night in Galway , Colin drove over and met us in the morning and we drove down to see the Cliffs of Moher (if you are reading this pause and google that now)! Our lives are now complete! We have all agreed that we can't understand how some people do not believe in God when there are places that exist that are as beautiful and amazing as this! These cliffs are 700ft tall and stretch for 5 miles! We spent a good two hours there, left to eat dinner, then came back and watched the sunset! AMAZING!! We were the only people there and it was so serene, one of the coolest experiences ever!
So now we are starting a new week which we will be spending preparing for Summerfest with is hosted by MCC's mother church about 15 mins away in the village called Lucan. Somehow we managed to get out of doing too much work these past two days and scored taking a trip to the zoo with the Irish YMCA helping out watching the kids!
Anyways this camp starts on Saturday and we are praying for good weather and endurance because this will probably be pretty intense! We are looking forward to the challenge!! So I hope that if you hung in there long enough to read our update you see that the Lord is beginning to use us here in Ireland and has really blessed our team!
Kelly, Camille, Calvin, and Trevor
So here is Team Ireland 's two week update. We were going to hold off since we have actually only completed one kid's club, but in response to team Turkey 's overly confident 'I think we have the best country ever statement,' we thought it was it was time to let everyone know what's going on over in Ireland .
So we have all managed to stay in the country without being deported, as we were all held up in immigration at UK airports. We spent our first four days living in student dorms near the largest university in Belfast and had a few drop in meetings with leaders whose camps we would be working in throughout the summer. So the rest of the time we spent touring the city, shopping, hanging out in the dorms with some fun Irish and Scottish people, and taking full advantage of the free internet!
Belfast was very interesting and for those of you that don't remember our highly intellectual presentation on Ireland, we went over the historic division between the Catholic and Protestant communities and the ongoing civil war. Belfast was the city where all the bombings were taking place and only within the past 5 years have things begun to improve. There is literally a wall 85ft high dividing the Protestant neighbourhood from the Catholic neighbourhood. We learned that the civil dispute isn't as much about religion as it is about territory and land. The Republic of Ireland, which is 98% Catholic, would like a united Ireland and Northern Ireland, would be offended if you called any of them Irish, as they are British, and are loyal to the Queen and the UK. It was interesting to learn this and the tensions (although some of them just friendly) are very evident in conversation.
We took a train down to Dublin , after spending 3 nights in Belfast, to meet our first team leader Kevin with Maynooth Community Church, located in Maynooth, a village about 35 mins outside of Dublin. We immediately hit it off with Kevin, who is passionate about theology and apologetics, and Camille has proceeded to ask him about every awkward and controversial biblically related question possible! Kevin liked us so much that he gave us some weekend time to tour Dublin.
Now in the past, team Ireland has been known to have slept in multiple different places but for the past two weeks we have been staying in the home of the pastor of MCC who is on holiday, with the 20 year old intern, Colin, who has become a great friend and honorary member (Team America + 1). Camille and Kelly have been spending the night in one of the most amazingly comfortable beds ever while Calvin and Trevor each have their own rooms, Trevor's being the living room with a great piano. We even have a black lab mutt named Molly! We have been cooking team dinners every night and have had a few occasional nights out to Dublin, once to meet past depute Tyler for dinner, and the other to celebrate the 4th of July. We went to the local country club where Colin works, all dressed up, to take some posh pictures, like we were important! Ha!
We feel that so far we have been pretty spoiled and definitely very blessed by the Lord. I think we were all a little nervous about how things were going to be and so far we have been fully taken care of!
So work…Last week Mon, Tues, and Wed we ran a Bible Club in three different local towns. This was led by some members of MCC. We went into the neighbourhoods (some in not so nice areas) knocked on doors and asked if any kids would be interested in hanging out with us for an hour to sing some songs, play some games, and listen to a Bible story. It was a lot of fun, and we did this for an hour in each estate. Sadly, Ireland is a country of much rain, very similar to Seattle, and we had some issues since these clubs were just outside in a field. The weather has been the biggest discouragement in our ministry here thus far and has actually made us have to cancel a lot of things. We have been praying a lot about this situation and would love your guys' prayers as well! The kids were great though and were just really excited that people were actually taking the time to pay some attention to them and hang out. We got to help out both Sundays we have been here at MCC which was also fun. It is a new church that has been recently planted (50-70 people).
Now we get to the funny story…
We were given this last weekend off and we decided to take a road trip up to the North Coast. Now we have all been a little freaked out about the whole driving on the opposite side of the road deal with steering wheel and all on the opposite side so Colin said he would be happy to accompany us and drive! We were leaving at about 9:30pm on Thursday night after Colin got off work and expecting to arrive at his parent's house around midnight, unfortunately we all got a little too excited and Colin accidentally filled his car up with diesel fuel! The wind was quickly taken out of our sails as we had to be picked up and driven back home.
We decided to take a bus over to the west coast, city of Galway, in the morning instead of going north since the travel distance is shorter (suppose to be 31/2 hours). The bus ride was great until we got stuck in terrible traffic!! About half way through the journey which ended up taking 6 hours, we stopped at a transfer station for a ten minute break. The guys got off the bus to buy some snacks. Camille and I were just sitting there waiting. Camille decided that she had to go to the bathroom so she asked me if I thought it would cost her money to use the one in the station, I said yes (it usually costs about 20-50 cents to use public restrooms in Europe). So she was like, 'okay I will just use the bathroom on the bus' (these are big charter buses). So I proceeded to put my ipod in and close my eyes. The guys get back on the bus about a minute later, and ask me where Camille is. I casually say that she is in the bathroom right here on the bus. We take off and about ten minutes later, Camille still hasn't come out of the bathroom. The guys are like 'Kelly, you should really go check on her, are you sure she is in there?' I say, 'Of course she is, you guys, I don't want to embarrass her let's give her a few more minutes.' Finally, it has gotten to the point that we were starting to freak out so I go down to check on her, I open the bathroom door and Camille is not there!!! I come back up and the guys said that my face was priceless! We all start bust out laughing because we left Camille at the transfer station. She has nothing- no money, not jacket, everything she had was on the bus with us! We were given a team cell phone so we ended up calling Colin who called the station and got Camille on another bus that was about 15 mins behind us. So everything worked out but Camille had to ride for about 2 hours by herself! She still loves us though!
So we spent that night in Galway , Colin drove over and met us in the morning and we drove down to see the Cliffs of Moher (if you are reading this pause and google that now)! Our lives are now complete! We have all agreed that we can't understand how some people do not believe in God when there are places that exist that are as beautiful and amazing as this! These cliffs are 700ft tall and stretch for 5 miles! We spent a good two hours there, left to eat dinner, then came back and watched the sunset! AMAZING!! We were the only people there and it was so serene, one of the coolest experiences ever!
So now we are starting a new week which we will be spending preparing for Summerfest with is hosted by MCC's mother church about 15 mins away in the village called Lucan. Somehow we managed to get out of doing too much work these past two days and scored taking a trip to the zoo with the Irish YMCA helping out watching the kids!
Anyways this camp starts on Saturday and we are praying for good weather and endurance because this will probably be pretty intense! We are looking forward to the challenge!! So I hope that if you hung in there long enough to read our update you see that the Lord is beginning to use us here in Ireland and has really blessed our team!
Kelly, Camille, Calvin, and Trevor
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
ETHIOPIA UPDATE
Friends and Family,
Tomorrow marks the first day of our second week here in Ethiopia. We just want to start off by assuring everybody that we have yet to get sick, and are in very good health. God is definitely keeping us safe.
Unfortunately, we are still waiting on the negligent British Airways to send our bags down here. Somehow they miraculously managed to fail in getting our baggage on one of the several weekly BA flights, so Jeff is still running around in flip flops! His feet are in a very bad mood, and request lots of prayer.
Jeff and Daniel seem to be attracting all kinds of wildlife to their home. On their first night here, they tore apart the majority of their house to catch and kill a rat that had been living in their kitchen. In failing to do so, the exhausted boys gave up their search and concluded by giving it a few names: 1) Houdini, for its magical and disappearing ways 2) Splinter, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 3) Ratattoui, the famous rat chef. They have exclaimed that once he runs into rat poison, Ratattoui will cook French delicacies no longer. Violet and Karla are enjoying a very luxurious home, which is all but a forty minute walk from the youth center. They also have pigeons on their roof, and as Karla mentioned, “it sounds like they are playing soccer up there or something when we are trying to sleep.”
So far, working at the Youth Center has been a blast. We spent the first few days solidifying a schedule to which we will use, including teaching leadership as well as English classes, health and fitness, and of course playing sports with the kids. We came up with a list of new games to teach them, such as Dodgeball. The boys said that it was tough teaching the little kids how to play the game, because they did not understand that once you are hit with the ball you are “out,” neither did they understand the concept of the “middle line.” As a result, they just kept throwing balls at each other and screaming joyfully, which brought great laugher to Jeff and Daniel. Some of the other games that we plan on teaching them include Bump, Fire in the Forest, Badmitton, Volleyball, Football, and Baseball.
Ping Pong is HUGE at the youth center. We thought we had some ping pong skills before we played against these kids, honestly. It’s a pretty humbling experience, but we are hoping to get a lot better by the end of the summer.
Our names are another area of excitement. Daniel is the only one the kids have really caught on to, because it supposedly is a very common Ethiopian name. Karla, on the other hand, has been substituted by the kids to Karra, which in Tigrinia means “knife.” With this bit of inspiration, Karla has planned to join the Ethiopian knife club and become their leader. We are kidding, of course.
Last night we had the privilege of watching some of the older kids from the youth center perform a dramatic murder mystery. It was very compelling, and was filled with great acting, we only wish we could actually understand their language so we really knew what was going on. There was a huge thunder and lighting storm going on outside, which really added to the suspense of the keyboard sound effects they were using. Karla mentioned the play reminded her of a Spanish soap operah.
We could go on for hours talking about how our week has been, but its probably best that we head out. Continue to pray for us, Jeff’s beaten up feet, Karla’s reputation as a sharp object, and baggage. We will update you again next week, and we hope that all of you are doing well.
Love,
Jeff, Violet, Karla and Daniel.
Friends and Family,
Tomorrow marks the first day of our second week here in Ethiopia. We just want to start off by assuring everybody that we have yet to get sick, and are in very good health. God is definitely keeping us safe.
Unfortunately, we are still waiting on the negligent British Airways to send our bags down here. Somehow they miraculously managed to fail in getting our baggage on one of the several weekly BA flights, so Jeff is still running around in flip flops! His feet are in a very bad mood, and request lots of prayer.
Jeff and Daniel seem to be attracting all kinds of wildlife to their home. On their first night here, they tore apart the majority of their house to catch and kill a rat that had been living in their kitchen. In failing to do so, the exhausted boys gave up their search and concluded by giving it a few names: 1) Houdini, for its magical and disappearing ways 2) Splinter, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 3) Ratattoui, the famous rat chef. They have exclaimed that once he runs into rat poison, Ratattoui will cook French delicacies no longer. Violet and Karla are enjoying a very luxurious home, which is all but a forty minute walk from the youth center. They also have pigeons on their roof, and as Karla mentioned, “it sounds like they are playing soccer up there or something when we are trying to sleep.”
So far, working at the Youth Center has been a blast. We spent the first few days solidifying a schedule to which we will use, including teaching leadership as well as English classes, health and fitness, and of course playing sports with the kids. We came up with a list of new games to teach them, such as Dodgeball. The boys said that it was tough teaching the little kids how to play the game, because they did not understand that once you are hit with the ball you are “out,” neither did they understand the concept of the “middle line.” As a result, they just kept throwing balls at each other and screaming joyfully, which brought great laugher to Jeff and Daniel. Some of the other games that we plan on teaching them include Bump, Fire in the Forest, Badmitton, Volleyball, Football, and Baseball.
Ping Pong is HUGE at the youth center. We thought we had some ping pong skills before we played against these kids, honestly. It’s a pretty humbling experience, but we are hoping to get a lot better by the end of the summer.
Our names are another area of excitement. Daniel is the only one the kids have really caught on to, because it supposedly is a very common Ethiopian name. Karla, on the other hand, has been substituted by the kids to Karra, which in Tigrinia means “knife.” With this bit of inspiration, Karla has planned to join the Ethiopian knife club and become their leader. We are kidding, of course.
Last night we had the privilege of watching some of the older kids from the youth center perform a dramatic murder mystery. It was very compelling, and was filled with great acting, we only wish we could actually understand their language so we really knew what was going on. There was a huge thunder and lighting storm going on outside, which really added to the suspense of the keyboard sound effects they were using. Karla mentioned the play reminded her of a Spanish soap operah.
We could go on for hours talking about how our week has been, but its probably best that we head out. Continue to pray for us, Jeff’s beaten up feet, Karla’s reputation as a sharp object, and baggage. We will update you again next week, and we hope that all of you are doing well.
Love,
Jeff, Violet, Karla and Daniel.
India Update from Kirsten:
ok, so officially i feel like day by day...is just FLYING we only have 6ish weeks left!?!?! no way! ok so we went to this great camp with 15 of the students from Asha Kiran, two Aunties (what the children call their elders, authority figures, teachers...and even us, except of course Carl, and Jason are Uncle...:]) and the four of us. It was about a 3hour bus ride outside of Bangalore...which was wild in our little school bus. there were for surely times i was SURE we were going to tip... BUT we made it, and it was, at least for me, the best two days of our trip thus far. This camp is great and works on leadership, team building, personal and group skills, self esteem boosting, and well anything else positive you could imagine. most of the tasks were physical which was difficult for some of the children but it was great to see them work together, and even use us! Yes, i am still sore today! It was really so much fun for us all, but quite a lot of work! we were all glad to be "home":] our fourth of july was spent at camp, so our celebrations were mostly while cleaning up after camp, and taking naps...and by celebrations i mean wishing we could have hot dogs:] good ole' india style 4th:] the following day we for surely went out and had cheeseburgers and fries...we were happy to say the least!
we've been trucking along at school and doing well. natalie is still working on entering information on the students into her comp program. supadra is now back from her honeymoon, natalie has yet to be given another job...we're waiting. same goes for carl, the math teacher returned and he is now the odd ball man. the boys are bonding well with many of the children...the younger boys especially! they crowd around them in the dining hall all at one table, bringing too many chairs to fit. because i've been playing the art teacher roll i'm more of the disciplinary:] it's actually fun b/c then, on tue and thur when we have our PT days (play time days) i get to get crazy with the kids and we all have a lot of fun....i stop being Kirsten Aunty in the art room and get to tumble around and play. i think PT days are our favorite days of the week school wise:] This tue we head off to hyderbad. we're going to three different ministries that prem works with (sort of like take your kids to work day!!!) and also to a gypsy wedding! which has been reported to us to be too much fun for us to comprehend:] we're all overly excited.
our "preaching" for india for chirst missions has actually been moved to NEXT sunday. jason is doing the preaching, natalie and carl using their musical ability to lead worship, and i'm sharing my story and a little about my relationship with the lord. it's wonderful and interesting to be challenged as a christian in a mainly hindu culture. we're learning a ton about india, and the kids are not only learning from us...they're teaching also. it's such a blessing to have access to such bright and excited beings:]
Prem and Rita are doing so well. they are such busy busy people, i'm surprised they even have this time every year to have a world dep group. they always make sure we have everything we need...we feel we're totally being served, something we didn't expect. our work, although tyring, has proved to be fun and exciting. i think one of our group worries was getting REALLY drained being around young children all the time, but we've been blessed and feel like we're here and being served more so than anything. it's such a blessing.
natalie found out she is having a neice. her sister just found out the gender of her baby earlier this week and the whole fam is ecstatic. my mama, who in the beginning wanted to come visit me while i was away, settled on sending me a care package which i am eagerly awaiting! Carl and Jason write their family...but don't really have any exciting news from home:]. plus carls fam was out of town for a while. so all is well here in india. much love from bangalore!
ok, so officially i feel like day by day...is just FLYING we only have 6ish weeks left!?!?! no way! ok so we went to this great camp with 15 of the students from Asha Kiran, two Aunties (what the children call their elders, authority figures, teachers...and even us, except of course Carl, and Jason are Uncle...:]) and the four of us. It was about a 3hour bus ride outside of Bangalore...which was wild in our little school bus. there were for surely times i was SURE we were going to tip... BUT we made it, and it was, at least for me, the best two days of our trip thus far. This camp is great and works on leadership, team building, personal and group skills, self esteem boosting, and well anything else positive you could imagine. most of the tasks were physical which was difficult for some of the children but it was great to see them work together, and even use us! Yes, i am still sore today! It was really so much fun for us all, but quite a lot of work! we were all glad to be "home":] our fourth of july was spent at camp, so our celebrations were mostly while cleaning up after camp, and taking naps...and by celebrations i mean wishing we could have hot dogs:] good ole' india style 4th:] the following day we for surely went out and had cheeseburgers and fries...we were happy to say the least!
we've been trucking along at school and doing well. natalie is still working on entering information on the students into her comp program. supadra is now back from her honeymoon, natalie has yet to be given another job...we're waiting. same goes for carl, the math teacher returned and he is now the odd ball man. the boys are bonding well with many of the children...the younger boys especially! they crowd around them in the dining hall all at one table, bringing too many chairs to fit. because i've been playing the art teacher roll i'm more of the disciplinary:] it's actually fun b/c then, on tue and thur when we have our PT days (play time days) i get to get crazy with the kids and we all have a lot of fun....i stop being Kirsten Aunty in the art room and get to tumble around and play. i think PT days are our favorite days of the week school wise:] This tue we head off to hyderbad. we're going to three different ministries that prem works with (sort of like take your kids to work day!!!) and also to a gypsy wedding! which has been reported to us to be too much fun for us to comprehend:] we're all overly excited.
our "preaching" for india for chirst missions has actually been moved to NEXT sunday. jason is doing the preaching, natalie and carl using their musical ability to lead worship, and i'm sharing my story and a little about my relationship with the lord. it's wonderful and interesting to be challenged as a christian in a mainly hindu culture. we're learning a ton about india, and the kids are not only learning from us...they're teaching also. it's such a blessing to have access to such bright and excited beings:]
Prem and Rita are doing so well. they are such busy busy people, i'm surprised they even have this time every year to have a world dep group. they always make sure we have everything we need...we feel we're totally being served, something we didn't expect. our work, although tyring, has proved to be fun and exciting. i think one of our group worries was getting REALLY drained being around young children all the time, but we've been blessed and feel like we're here and being served more so than anything. it's such a blessing.
natalie found out she is having a neice. her sister just found out the gender of her baby earlier this week and the whole fam is ecstatic. my mama, who in the beginning wanted to come visit me while i was away, settled on sending me a care package which i am eagerly awaiting! Carl and Jason write their family...but don't really have any exciting news from home:]. plus carls fam was out of town for a while. so all is well here in india. much love from bangalore!
DR UPDATE
Team DR had quite the change of pace coming into week two, beginning with moving
into the homes of our host families. Good things are happening in all of our
families, who have been very welcoming and helpful, especially with the language
barrier. Amy and another American Intern who speaks Spanish live with a family.
Katie is never lonely in her family because there is always an assortment of
animal pets to keep her company.
Okay, do you know those cards with the pictures of kids that come out near
Christmastime that invite you to sponsor a child for their basic needs like food
and water, school, and clothing? Well, for the past week we have been going to
the villages and taking pictures of the kids to update their sponsorship
program. We learned a ton about what it takes to organize hundreds of kids to
make pamphlets for them. The funny thing is that we really didn't know what we
were doing, but in the end, things just fell into place with much cooperation
from the kids and help from the staff. The whole process gave us a whole new
insight and appreciation for the real kids and their real lives behind their
names and their pictures.
There is a little tiny peek at what the DR team has been up to.
From: Amy, Katie, Anna
Team DR had quite the change of pace coming into week two, beginning with moving
into the homes of our host families. Good things are happening in all of our
families, who have been very welcoming and helpful, especially with the language
barrier. Amy and another American Intern who speaks Spanish live with a family.
Katie is never lonely in her family because there is always an assortment of
animal pets to keep her company.
Okay, do you know those cards with the pictures of kids that come out near
Christmastime that invite you to sponsor a child for their basic needs like food
and water, school, and clothing? Well, for the past week we have been going to
the villages and taking pictures of the kids to update their sponsorship
program. We learned a ton about what it takes to organize hundreds of kids to
make pamphlets for them. The funny thing is that we really didn't know what we
were doing, but in the end, things just fell into place with much cooperation
from the kids and help from the staff. The whole process gave us a whole new
insight and appreciation for the real kids and their real lives behind their
names and their pictures.
There is a little tiny peek at what the DR team has been up to.
From: Amy, Katie, Anna
Croatia Update
So… a lot has happened since EDS (Economic Diplomacy Seminar) has begun. Participants for the seminar are from all over the Balkan region and come from various religious backgrounds. Countries represented include Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bulgaria,Ukraine, and Romania. There are also leaders and participants from Sweden, UK, and Washington D.C. It has been an amazing experience to meet and become friends with people from all over the world.
We played a lot of games and mixers to get to know each other; as well as performed a few skits where Karuna and I most definitely made fools of ourselves! (but we had so much fun!) The first half of the seminar is over and I feel that much has been accomplished. Topics discussed in the seminar so far have been transformational business, Jesus as a servant leader, corruption (specifically human trafficking) and a program called the Trinity Forum which examined philosophical and practical aspects of the history and development of business practices and ethics. We have also seen the movie Blood Diamond and a documentary called The Corporation which examines harsh global realities. Another part of the seminar that was really great was when leaders gave shared their testimonies of God’s work in their lives and careers. Leaders gave demonstrations of economic diplomacy in practice which was very inspiring. Many of the participants were moved by the stories, and it was amazing to see God’s spirit at work.
All participants (including Karuna and I) are members of a small group which consists of about 5-7 people. These groups have been a great experience where participants have been able to open up about their lives and more deeply discuss the topics presented in the seminar. I have already made lasting friendships in my small group, and it has only been a week!
We finally got to leave Fuzine this week! Karuna and I were very excited to experience another part of Croatia. We went to the coastal city of Riejka for a day of shopping, walking around and seeing the sights. When we got back we shared the art of American S’more making to the participants and had a fun night of charades (they call it pantomime here) and singing. The coast here is beautiful and we actually get to go to Crk Venecia tomorrow to spend some much needed time relaxing on the beach!
Today, the mayor of Fuzine came to speak to our group and we did some community service consisting of weeding and overall beautification of a new tennis court here in town. Sadly, neither Karuna nor I were able to participate. I have been sick with a fever and a headache for the past 2 days and Karuna hasn’t been feeling well either (issues with the food…) I went to the doctor today to get some antibiotics, and hopefully I will be feeling better soon. Karuna is feeling better and hopefully will get used to the food!
We are looking forward to another week of EDS and our main prayer request is for good health!
-Whitney
We played a lot of games and mixers to get to know each other; as well as performed a few skits where Karuna and I most definitely made fools of ourselves! (but we had so much fun!) The first half of the seminar is over and I feel that much has been accomplished. Topics discussed in the seminar so far have been transformational business, Jesus as a servant leader, corruption (specifically human trafficking) and a program called the Trinity Forum which examined philosophical and practical aspects of the history and development of business practices and ethics. We have also seen the movie Blood Diamond and a documentary called The Corporation which examines harsh global realities. Another part of the seminar that was really great was when leaders gave shared their testimonies of God’s work in their lives and careers. Leaders gave demonstrations of economic diplomacy in practice which was very inspiring. Many of the participants were moved by the stories, and it was amazing to see God’s spirit at work.
All participants (including Karuna and I) are members of a small group which consists of about 5-7 people. These groups have been a great experience where participants have been able to open up about their lives and more deeply discuss the topics presented in the seminar. I have already made lasting friendships in my small group, and it has only been a week!
We finally got to leave Fuzine this week! Karuna and I were very excited to experience another part of Croatia. We went to the coastal city of Riejka for a day of shopping, walking around and seeing the sights. When we got back we shared the art of American S’more making to the participants and had a fun night of charades (they call it pantomime here) and singing. The coast here is beautiful and we actually get to go to Crk Venecia tomorrow to spend some much needed time relaxing on the beach!
Today, the mayor of Fuzine came to speak to our group and we did some community service consisting of weeding and overall beautification of a new tennis court here in town. Sadly, neither Karuna nor I were able to participate. I have been sick with a fever and a headache for the past 2 days and Karuna hasn’t been feeling well either (issues with the food…) I went to the doctor today to get some antibiotics, and hopefully I will be feeling better soon. Karuna is feeling better and hopefully will get used to the food!
We are looking forward to another week of EDS and our main prayer request is for good health!
-Whitney
ZABOO - Malawi Update
ZABOO!!
Team Malawi is alive and somewhat well. Our travels took a little bit longer
than we had hoped. After living on a plane and in airports for 2 days, our
flight from London to Johannesberg was delayed. This then left us in Jo-berg
for a night because we missed the ONLY flight to Malawi. Imagine this; 4
girls each with an oversized suitcase and a box running from the airport to
the shuttle down a sidewalk that was a little under American standards…great
first experience in Africa let me tell you!!
Once we arrived here in Liliongwe we were greeted by the Mtsilza Village
kids. They came to the Njewa Mission center where we are staying and
performed songs, sweet Malawi dances, recited bible verses and welcomed us
with a “Shapo” (thumbs up)!
Our days vary, but are starting to become more scheduled (on Malawi time
that runs at least ½ late to everything :). Jen is working in the Mtsilza
Village teaching Freshman English. Chenee is in the same village doing the
widows ministry where women come to knit and sew bags, scarves, tablecloths
etc. to sell to support themselves. Caitlin and I are working with a village
that is no more than 200 yards away. These have been the first DAYS that
COTN has been in the village and there is so much potential for what God can
and will do. As of right now, after talking over the needs of the village
with the village women, we are going to start tutoring 1st and 2nd graders.
The school these kids attend is too far for them to walk to so they stay
home. We also play to work with the women of the village teaching them basic
care such as food preparation and hygiene care.
Malawi in general is incredible and more than we could imagine. The kids
cling to us and run to us wherever we go. “Azungu, Azungu” (white person)
they scream with their high squeaky voices as they run towards us. Working
with the Malawian interns as help and translators has helped us share the
incredible news of God. They may have snot running down their noses, dirty
hands, and cavity filled teeth, but the love and happiness they show is
nothing that we have seen before!
As I said in the introduction to this, we are alive and SOMEWHAT well. Jen
and Caitlin were the first of the 20 some interns that got sick. Symptoms
include nausea, terrible stomach aches and something us interns like to call
the big “hoosker doosker” (we have to have a little fun with it). Jen has
since been better, and Caitlin is on the uphill. Chenee’s health has been
wavering and as of today she is generally well with a very tight back. I on
the other hand got well after my first bout of illness somewhere in the air
between London and Johannesberg but am now starting the cycle everyone else
has gone through..
Team Malawi asks for prayer for of course recovery from illness, patience in
waiting and plans that take more time than expected to follow through, and
that God will continue to use us!
Internet is limited here, (that’s an understatement), so we will update you
all as soon as we can!
Team Malawi is alive and somewhat well. Our travels took a little bit longer
than we had hoped. After living on a plane and in airports for 2 days, our
flight from London to Johannesberg was delayed. This then left us in Jo-berg
for a night because we missed the ONLY flight to Malawi. Imagine this; 4
girls each with an oversized suitcase and a box running from the airport to
the shuttle down a sidewalk that was a little under American standards…great
first experience in Africa let me tell you!!
Once we arrived here in Liliongwe we were greeted by the Mtsilza Village
kids. They came to the Njewa Mission center where we are staying and
performed songs, sweet Malawi dances, recited bible verses and welcomed us
with a “Shapo” (thumbs up)!
Our days vary, but are starting to become more scheduled (on Malawi time
that runs at least ½ late to everything :). Jen is working in the Mtsilza
Village teaching Freshman English. Chenee is in the same village doing the
widows ministry where women come to knit and sew bags, scarves, tablecloths
etc. to sell to support themselves. Caitlin and I are working with a village
that is no more than 200 yards away. These have been the first DAYS that
COTN has been in the village and there is so much potential for what God can
and will do. As of right now, after talking over the needs of the village
with the village women, we are going to start tutoring 1st and 2nd graders.
The school these kids attend is too far for them to walk to so they stay
home. We also play to work with the women of the village teaching them basic
care such as food preparation and hygiene care.
Malawi in general is incredible and more than we could imagine. The kids
cling to us and run to us wherever we go. “Azungu, Azungu” (white person)
they scream with their high squeaky voices as they run towards us. Working
with the Malawian interns as help and translators has helped us share the
incredible news of God. They may have snot running down their noses, dirty
hands, and cavity filled teeth, but the love and happiness they show is
nothing that we have seen before!
As I said in the introduction to this, we are alive and SOMEWHAT well. Jen
and Caitlin were the first of the 20 some interns that got sick. Symptoms
include nausea, terrible stomach aches and something us interns like to call
the big “hoosker doosker” (we have to have a little fun with it). Jen has
since been better, and Caitlin is on the uphill. Chenee’s health has been
wavering and as of today she is generally well with a very tight back. I on
the other hand got well after my first bout of illness somewhere in the air
between London and Johannesberg but am now starting the cycle everyone else
has gone through..
Team Malawi asks for prayer for of course recovery from illness, patience in
waiting and plans that take more time than expected to follow through, and
that God will continue to use us!
Internet is limited here, (that’s an understatement), so we will update you
all as soon as we can!
Team Turkey Strikes back!
Sorry fellow deputees, but I think we got the best country. Not only
is this place on the Mediterranean, full of helpful, friendly people,
and extremely historical, but they also have crazy-good food including
the BEST PUDDING EVER!!! We are all doing just swell, especially
since the heat has gone down from 130F (I kid you not!) to around 100.
On Sunday we had an amazing experience going to an international
church in the Old City, where there were Christians from Poland,
Germany, Singapore, Michigan, Norway, and lots of other places.
Despite coming from such totally different backgrounds we all sang
together and worshiped the same God. It was very peaceful and
encouraging, plus we got to eat lunch with Welsh missionaries
afterwards!
Our first full week of Kids Klub has gone swimmingly even though we
were abandoned by almost ALL our English-speaking friends here (Ben,
Verna, Tansule, and Shafak) while they went to a week-long education
conference in Bodrum. We started on Monday with 6 students for the
strictly English Kids Kamp, but on both Wednesday and Friday we only
had three! Their names are Ilayda (9), Zeynep (13) and Orcun (7?) and
they are wonderful and have lots of personality. We've also started to
make friends with the women who work there even though the language
barrier stands strong, as always.
The Gorem Center is somewhat different in that we only spend about
four hours there each day with a long lunch break in the middle of the
day when we either watch kids swim or teach our "translators" (Cemal
and Ahmet) important slang like, "Sup" and "I have to pee."
Speaking of the Gorem Center, funny story. In a nutshell, we had the
most naïve blunder this last Thursday. We were teaching our classes
when the owner came in and said we needed to "go to the government"
with him and give him some information about our "educations".
Assuming this was some sort of thing we HAD to do, we went with him to
meet a man we learned was the superintendent of private schools in all
of Antalya… and we had to bring A GIFT. The owner of the Gorem center
wanted some sort of UW merchandise, but all we had was a t-shirt
(designed by Jeff Spohn!) from my Spring Break trip to go see The
Price is Right at NBC studios. It had a huge print of Bob Barker's
face and the words "UW LOVES BOB" on it. We went with the intention
of telling him that Bob Barker is beloved American icon and that UW
realllllly admires him but it wasn't even necessary. The man loved
it. And it was dirty too!
Anyway, apparently we're NEVER supposed to go to any government
buildings alone because of several possible (and unpleasant) scenarios
like getting your face in the newspaper and this IS a Muslim country
so you can never be too careful. We didn't realize this until later
but luckily all we did was have tea with the guy before we were
rescued by a phone call from Verna. Hopefully the "government" enjoys
it's UW LOVES BOB" t-shirt! It's 100 % authentic US textile.
For the 4th of July we went to a party at Karn's and met some
Intervarsity students from Arizona, two Albanian women, and Karn's
best friend, Theresa. We had a GREAT time and got to run around with
roman candles in the parking lot because fireworks are always legal
here! (YESsss). We also got to eat a NORMAL meal, which was
fantastic because we learned that none of the girls on Team Turkey can
really cook. I can do scrambled eggs, VZ's got the oatmeal, and Dayna
SAYS she can cook Mexican food but… who knows. Lindsay makes an
AMAZING glass of water. Please pray that we will learn this skill
quickly, because we failed miserably at making beans and rice the
other night (sounds easy, right? WRONG.) The beans came out
extremely chewy and gross-tasting despite an abundance of salt, and
the rice was like school food that you get shoveled onto your plate
with an ice cream scooper. We all think that part of the deputation
screening process should involve cooking skills, because we have been
eating lots of sliced apples and PB&J here!
We all LOVE Antalya and hope all the other teams love their countries
as much as we do! Enjoy the pictures of our dinner with Marco, VZ and
our translators, and some of the kids at the Kids Klub!
-Sara, from TEAM TURKEY
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