Photo Friday

Saturday: a snowy walk in Connecticut.

Sunday: some time at the beach in Rhode Island after church.

Monday: salted caramel frozen yoghurt.

Tuesday - an early morning photo but my time with Anna had to be documented.

Wednesday: helping stuff Easter eggs in Florida as they practiced for worship on Sunday morning.

Thursday: after spending the morning in the Everglades (and being very close to three alligators!) I dipped my feet in the ocean - so they have now been in the ocean on both sides of the Atlantic.

Friday: a sign I saw on my run today.  I feel like the "Illegal to feed alligators" really reinforces the "no swimming".

Photo Friday

Saturday - a wonderful day with the Hughes, who were missionaries in Czech for many years and are now back in the States, and some American experiences (In'n'Out burger, a hayride that included going by cacti, a yard sale) and an evening catching with another Arizona resident, Khue, who was my roommate for a while last summer in Czech.

Sunday - I read the Scripture passage in church in honour of Saint Patrick's Day and we had a lot of "Irish" food - pictured in corned beef (not from a tin like what I picture when people say corned beef) with potatoes and cabbage. Unpictured but also present was soda bread I made, a couple of kinds of cupcakes, green macoroni and cheese and green Rice Krispie treats. It was a lot of fun to celebrate the man who returned to the country in which he has been a slave in order that others might be truly free.

Monday - a day of running errands and having fun with Emily and Titus that included another burger for lunch.

Tuesday - Emily cut my hair!

It was so great to spend time with the Hughes. I've known Nate since my first trip to Czech in 2007 and we now have a friendship that has involved spending time together in four countries! It was so good to be with people who know me well and Czech well as I continued to process my time at MTI. I was so blessed by my time in Arizona. 

Thursday - my office as I did a lot of admin.

Friday - I shared at an Awana group (think weekly children's Bible club), this was the expert map drawn to show where I'm from and where I'm going (I didn't draw all the map!).

Photo Friday!

Saturday - I spent some time with the Hammerstrom family again this weekend and it involved a lot of great food - including chicken made with this spice blend.

Sunday - the glorious view of Pike's Peak from the Burley's window on Sunday afternoon.

Monday - I emailed my boss explaining that in order to make up for giving me e.coli America would have to do something big. That lunch time a wonderful woman in my growth group at MTI blessed me by surprising me with a big of my favourite American chocolates - dark chocolate M&Ms!

Tuesday - it continued to be cold and frosty!

Wednesday - the Burkhardts are going to be serving with Josiah Venture in Romania so it was really great to spend five weeks with them. This was the funniest result of us trying to get a JV photo.

Thursday - a powerful activity we did on our last full day of MTI that for sure deserves it's own blog post.

Friday - goodbye to many friends and the room that was home for five weeks! It was a hard goodbye (too people, not the room) but that means it was a good time of building relationships!

Photo Friday

A week that was sparse on photos!  Last weekend I still felt strongly in the recovery stage so I didn't go anywhere and just stayed here and rested, which was really good!  But not things that are good to take pictures of.  Here are the snapshots that I did take this week.

I love Sharpies!

It was a coursemate's birthday so we had cake on Tuesday!  It was very good and it was great to be eating something so normal.

A walk on Wednesday. 

I finally got round to seeing this movie!  Although it stopped working with 20 minutes to go.. hopefully I'll see the ending soon!

On Thursday I got another call from the State health department to tell me exactly what kind of e.coli I had (again, the bad kind, but this time which specific bad kind).  So I'm incredibly grateful that my kidneys are functioning and I'm so much better!  Even if it means I'm still avoiding a lot of dairy (hence the S for Soy milk in my coffee).  Thursday here was a retreat day and it was so great to have some time to drink coffee and reflect on the many things I've been learning here - a proper blog post on it is coming soon!

Friday's class on transition - it was really great!

The Sharpies being put to good use!

I've lived out of this room for four weeks now....  and I just discovered at the end of this week what the light switch on the right does (controls the plug socket behind the beside table...)

Photo Friday - the e.coli edition

Saturday: a hike around Garden of the Gods with the Hammerstroms - oh so beautiful!

Sunday: deer in the backyard, this was one of four.  

Monday: I got rather ill on Sunday and after a night of horrible symptoms I ended up at a doctors' (I'd stayed with a doctor during the weekend so it worked out well)... and then after an afternoon of not keeping anything down I ended up at the ER to be treated for dehydration with two IVs/drips, morphine, anti-nausea meds and others!  We found out on Wednesday that I actually had e.coli, the toxin kind that can have fairly serious consequences which I gratefully did not have.  I was told to expect a longer recovery time and I'm still in that, but incredibly grateful for the amazing medical care I received and all the love and prayers I received from everyone.  

Tuesday: the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) is the aftermath of e.coli.

The triumph of I managing some scrambled egg!

Not even all the pills I was on.

It was good to be back in class, this was Friday's topic.  It has been so good to be at MTI and to be learning so much that will help me serve better in Czech.  

Photo Friday

Sunday: it was so great to spend time with Becca and worship at her church. We,ve know each other since 2006 but this was the first meeting in the US - normally she's in NI.

Monday: I curled up to finally watch the new Bond when there was a knock on my bedroom door - it was a five year old who had knocked on every door to find me so we could play air hockey! So cute and the movie was paused as I went to play with the wonderful kids who are here.

Tuesday: it was another morning spent practicing how to learn a language by learning Russian. It was a lot of fun and this shows my drawings of a dialogue about the weather.

Wednesday: I have not had the horrible stomach flu that has been going through MTI but I have had a sore throat so I was super grateful that someone taking an errand run brought these back for me. They're pretty icky but they work!

Thursday: it snowed a little overnight... And we were far from the worst of!

Friday: the first course I'm here for ended at 11 so in the afternoon I walked to a nearby town. It's fifty minutes each way on a trail but it was so, so beautiful. It fel t like I was walking through Narnia.

Bonus, also Friday: because we're between courses there are no meals apart from breakfast so we headed to a local Vietnamese restaurant for dinner and my first Vietnamese experience. This is chicken pho and it was really good! I also accomplished my goal of learning how to use chopsticks thanks to the missionary family I ate with and their amazing instruction!

Who Is This Man by John Ortberg

I was given this book as a Christmas present from the Bowmans and finished it the night before I left for America (making it the first book I've finished in 2013 - it was a busy January!).  The book looks at the influence of the most influential person in history - Jesus.  Jesus lived until He was 33 and His public ministry was only three years and yet His impact is so far reaching.

As people became captivated by Jesus and His love for all people His followers changed the world.  As Jesus loved and gave dignity to people regardless of gender, health, occupation, social status, wealth He modelled something that His followers still try to work towards as they seek to free the twenty-seven million slaves around the world, as they seek to empower women, as they seek to fight poverty.  

Jesus influenced the worlds of art, science, medicine, government and education as Christians sought to provide care for the sick and dying or provide schooling for those who otherwise would not have had it.

The book was a great and yet easy read.  It was inspiring to hear the amazing things Christians have done as they have sought to love others around the world in the various areas the book covers.  A lot of research obviously went into the book and yet at times I found myself laughing as the author has a very engaging style.  The book also ended with three chapters on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday respectively which were also great.

In this 21st Century I think it's easy to rely on the government to provide for people and their needs but originally schools, hospitals and other services were provided by churches.  As the economy continues to suffer it is so encouraging to see local churches step up and provide resources (foodbanks, education about finances and budgeting, etc) that truly love and serve their communities.  

Jesus has left an unremovable mark in history and, as I look at the huge needs that exist in the world, I pray that His Church would continue to be known as people who changed history by loving others in the name of Jesus.