Last night it was funny because at 1:30 am Lauren, Adriel and myself, all woke up and needed to pee. We then talked but none of us remembered what about. I got up at 5:40 am to take a shower when the water was running. There is only running water from 10pm until noon. After I showered and got read I got to lay down for a bit. (To go back a bit, at 1:30 am when I was peeing the longest pee of my life I remember thinking “WHAT AM I DOING HERE?”; at this point I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into). I thought about this as I was lying down. I know that God has called me here, but I don’t know exactly why. The rest of the girls got up at about 7 or 7:30 am.
As they were getting ready and I was playing catch up in the day before’s journal entry, I really connected with Lauren and Beth. I feel really blessed to feel that bond. We headed p to breakfast. I got to sit by Megan, Amanda, Dan and Zach. It was a lot of joking around. I also met Betsy, Sophia, and Julia who are all going on other Treks. It was cool to see how God called us or led us to pick our Trek. After breakfast, we went to worship. UI am really glad that this is a priority for I know we are here o do Orientation but we should rejoice in the Lord always and praise His name daily. After worship, we had assigned quiet time. This was really good because so often in my day I feel so busy that even in my quiet time I’m thinking about what I have to do, but what I have been getting ready for and organizing for (this trip) is finally happening and now I am really focused on being here and the people I am with.
From that point we went back to the meeting room for a talk. They guy who talked in name Jess. This mansion is actually the place he grew up in. He talked about how we normally just focus on our relationship with God and still it is very Christ-centered. He went further to day that God has intended to have our focus on each other and the world. This really hit me (I am still processing some of it) I know my personal relationship with the Lord has at most times been me-centered. I have been focusing on “Lord what is our will for ME” instead of seeing the LORD WILL. Also in serving other I tend to serve the ones I know and not anyone. I really need to continue to think and pray about this including my world connection. What am I doing in the world to stop social injustice? I know I fight it in conversation with my friends and family but that’s it. What does God want me to do? How far does He want me to go? I’m praying about all of this.
From there we had free time until lunch. At this pint I really got to talk with Lauren and Beth. I feel as though I can be open with the both of them. I can’t wait to see how God will use each one of us in the other’s lives. But I have to admit I am nervous for they are both in the same trek group, so I am afraid over the time we are apart I will get left out of the special bond. But I will trust God with this for He knows best and He has a plan for me. We then went to lunch and I just realized that I got the people I sat with at lunch and the people I sat with at breakfast confused, so I will just skip lunch because I already talked about it and I forgot what actually happened at breakfast.
After lunch we had action training. We had students that spoke other languages lead a group of 3 people. Our leader, Eddie, spoke Korean. He was suppose to make a picture out of 2-D shapes (that he was given) and then describe to us in Korean and using gestures how to make the same picture. It was difficult, but I never got frustrated, which was surprising. With the help of the group and picking up or recognizing the word triangle in Korean, I was able to duplicate his picture. It was really cool. We then split up into group time.
We talked about some happenings from our day and then split up into our smaller groups. My group members and I really all felt disconnected. I felt comfortable enough to share the reasons. I felt disconnected because: I had not spent any real time with time, Rachel and Danielle being mentor and mentoree and having that history, and me not feeling as though I have anyone from my past her like so many other members. Adriel expressed that she thinks it will all come with time, which I think is true. We just need to get to know the other people and how they work. Jess earlier in the day called people to talk about if they were feeling broken due to abuse, sexual impurity and a few other things. Nothing really his me until Danielle asked us about it in group. I have not gotten to share how I feel broken or how Doug’s relationship with me really effected how I trust people and my suspicions of them. Adriel shared about her family (I’m not going to write about it because I’m not sure if she is ok with that). This helped me to feel close to her and understand a little of how she works. Rachel shared about her family (same reason as above for not sharing). This very much gave me a huge insight to the way she works and feeling that much more connected to her. Danielle and I will share with the group later because we ran out of time.
We got back into the bigger group and discovered that for the rest of the day we would have a buddy (guy/girl). The guy (this time) is suppose to serve the girl, carry her things, open her doors, wait for her while she is in her room/going to the bathroom, and make her plate for dinner. This seemed very awkward to me. I’m very use to doing things for myself. But I really believe this is one way God is going to be working on me thins summer (my need to be in control). My partner was Andrew. I was excited for I hadn’t felt like I got to talk to him as much. It was really weird to have to tell him that I am going to the bathroom now or that I forgot something in my room. I felt as though I was being babysat or that I was accountable to someone. We have some free time before dinner, Phil, Beth, Andrew, and myself sat with our feet in the pool. Andrew and I talked about our families and us. We forgot to talk about our expectations for the other person. I might do that today. When I say expectations I mean for protection and everything that goes along that line. We also ate dinner together. There were these awesome fruits, I don’t know what they are called but you suck on the seed and the surrounding fruit. (I later discovered that they a lychee). Then Phil and Andrew had to bring chairs to the other meeting room so Sean had to “watch us”.
We went down stairs to get our stuff for our next meeting. At that meeting we got to hear from the IV Philippines leader and team, Missionaries that are going to Cambodia, and Scott Bessenecker, the father of the GUT (Global Urban Trek). It was almost impossible to stay awake and I ad to pee but I didn’t want to ask Andrew to go to the bathroom with me. But we got a break before Scott talked. That was good. Scott was awesome to hear talk. He talked about the purpose of the GUT and how every 40 years there is a radical movement of young adults going into missions. He also put a challenge on us or rather a thought of if we are called to missions. He prayed that if we were that God makes it clear and if we aren’t that we feel freedom. I haven’t felt either yet, but I’m excited to hear God’s will.
Ray cancelled team time; he and the other leaders felt that we needed to rest. This was true. The girls and I were escorted to our door and then got ready for bed. I LOVE OUR AIR CONDITIONER! We spent time talking and journaling until 11pm. I forgot to put this the other day but we have started to pray before we go to bed. I did it the first night and Lauren did it tonight. I feel blessed to live with these girls.
No comments:
Post a Comment