Final Project

We had to do a final project to show what we took away from this experience. I chose to delve into the world of imovie! It was fun and I thought I would share it with you as we head off to Haiti.
If you have sound, make sure it is on. If not, don't worry, you won't miss too much.

J'ai fini

Bonjour mes amis!

Did you know I have been practicing my French? Well, let me tell you, I have and I am surprised how much is coming back to me from my school days. I have also been practicing my Spanish and although my French doesn't mix up my Spanish, I find when I hesitate in French the Spanish seems to want to compensate. That is pretty cool though.

This week was a little different than the last four because some of the group, myself included, was doing BST (Basic Safety Training). So we learned about fire safety (we got to wield an extinguisher), CPR, First Aid, and personal safety on the ship. The classes about fire were great! Did you know that only gasses burn? I didn't! Did you know the average American home will get to a fully developed fire in a matter of 3 minutes and 30 seconds!? I didn't. 20 years ago the average was about 15-20 minutes, but with more and more things being made out of synthetic materials it is now much shorter. Did you know you can only survive around 10 minutes in water that is 37 degrees Fahrenheit? Good thing we aren't sailing where the water is quite that cold.

As an aside, do we have these in Canada?

If we don't, someone should really get on that. If we do, be careful... I may or may not have just eaten half a bag.

This weekend I have the great privilege of being invited to go to Dallas to stay with the mom of one of my roommates. I am so excited to hang out with the other ladies that will be with me and to see a different side of Texas (I know it can't be all cow pastures).

The group leaves for Haiti on Wednesday so please keep us in your prayers.

I would also ask for a little help with prayer for me, please. It has been brought to my attention several times in these past five weeks that I can have a very sharp tongue in some situations. I already know this about myself but I have a hard time with it. I need to work on being slow to speak and realize that what is coming out of my mouth may be taken as hurtful (as sometimes I don't mean it that way at all).

Without trying to offend anyone I think the thing I miss most at this point is the lake! If I miss it this much now then I can only imagine how I will feel in a few months. I have been told that we shouldn't swim in any fresh water in Africa as there are too many weird bacteria and such lurking in the water. Not worth it. Although, I am sure I will be tempted.

I expect this will be my last post until after we get back from Haiti (July 30) so please don't get angry or worried because of the lack of communication. I will attempt to make it up to you with some pictures and experiences from Haiti.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Also, if anyone has any prayer requests please let me know because the group here is pretty awesome at that and I know they would be happy to help!

By the way listen to how noisy the night is here!

Feel God Friday

I was going to entitle this "Feel GOOD Friday" but an 'o' got lost along the way. I think it works better this way!

This video clip was shown in our class last week, I think (time here is a bit confused). It starts off quite sad but keeping watching and his demonstration is both confronting, funny, and profound.

This week was incredibly difficult because we were talking about worldview and I am so stubborn that I wasn't willing to move. I thought that they were just trying to change us to make us all the same. Then I realized, after talking to a bunch of people and just reflecting on the whole situation, that my perspective was just expanding. Growing pains are no fun but it is part of life and I am lucky to have the chance to experience so much growth at this point of my life.
This week I saw our group falling apart and starting to rub each other the wrong way. I had to check myself more than once and apologize for having a terrible attitude and really hurting people. On Thursday it all broke away. People were asking for forgiveness and I think for the very first time I saw how powerful we can be when we are humble.
Do you have someone you need to apologize to? See what happens if you put yourself out there.

I also got an unexpected surprise this morning! I was offered monthly support from some AMAZING people that I have only known for a short time. I have great supporters and just when things were starting to get a little messy things really took a turn. Thank you!

I really need to stop speaking in metaphors and cliches but it just works!

Have a fantastic weekend!