I can't believe it! Our trip is almost done. Today is Saturday and we are leaving tomorrow. I am quite happy about leaving and getting back, but at the same time I will miss it here. I will miss the people and just the whole experience.
I don't know if I told you but I almost wasn't able to come to the Olympics. We got here and we were signing up and when I went to go sign in they told me I wasn't able to, because I didn't have my passport. they told me at the beginnging that I could have my license so I just brought that. But when I got there they told me because I was from a different country I had to have my passport. I was overwhelmed, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't go back to get it, there was nothing to do other then to pray and talk to the people. I got Jim and we went to the helping center. The lady thought that I wouldn't be able to get in, but what I didn't understand was that they had all the information in the computer, but I still had to have it with me. She went to go and talk to the guy in charge of the whole thing and he said yes!! What an answer to prayer! Buy that time I was ready to break down and cry and I was praying so hard! I couldn't believe that I wouldn't be able to go, I would have been heart broken.
Anyway, It has been an amazing last few days here. I have loved it! I have had great talks with people and everything has been really well. One of my supervisors, Brad, loves us. He told me the other day that we made his trip out here. And that it was refreshing to work with us and that we were awesome. What an encouragement that was! Many people have told us that and are just impression with our group. They are amazed that after standing in the same spot for 7 hours we can still have a smile on and are happy. I am so proud to say that I am in this group of wonderful people. God has done amazing things here and is still working.
There is a man, Nixon, and God is really at work there. Jeremy and I were talking about him last night and we think that he maybe a Christian. We are not sure but he has all the right views and his theology is on the right track. He asked us to pray for enlightenment, and he also invited us to his house, which we might be going over reading break. I really hope we do. There are many people that have invited us to their homes or to come and visit.
Well, I had my birthday here at the Olympics! What an amazing thing to say that I had my birthday at the 2010 Olympics. It was a great day! I worked until 1 then I just hung out. I didn't think that we would be doing anything special. That night we had chapel just like every night and they were all acting weird. Chapel started and Jim asked me to go and get a paper from his desk upstairs, which was a hint that something was going on. I did and I thought that when I got back down there would be a party downstairs... but I was wrong! I went into the office and WHAM! I had a sleeping bag over my head! They put me in a chair and started to ask me questions (Justin and Jeremy in their "intimidating" voices). The only question I remember was "If you could swing dance with anyone here who would it be?" I couldn't think because I was still in shock, but they wouldn't let me go unless I answered, so I said Jeremy. (through this whole thing I was laughing uncontrollably.) They said that was wrong and picked me up, with the sleeping bag still over me, and carried me out to the van! We drove somewhere and while we were in the car they threatened my life!! haha (I was still laughing the whole time). They then took me out of the van with my hands and feet tied up they flung me over someone's shoulder and carried me somewhere. I have to say it was not very comfortable. I had just eaten and I warned them that someone was going to have a sleeping bag full of goodies if they didn't put me down. But they didn't and I thankfully didn't puke. They put me down and untied me, with flashlights shining in my eyes I stood there stunned and not quite sure what was going on. They put a head lamp on my head and a helmet, which made me really confused. They then gave me a bike and said I had three minutes to do this track and pushed me down the hill. I was screaming and trying to do this motocross track in the dark! The boys were following me yelling and pushing me up hills. I had no clue what I was doing, I looked like I had never rode a bike before. I finally finished the track and they tied me up again and put me in the van. We then drove to Boston Pizza and had a nice dessert. I thought it was all over and they were going to be nice to me, but no! They then told me that I had to swing dance in the middle of Boston Pizza with Jeremy! I was forced out onto the floor and started dancing. It ended up being really fun and we all ended up dancing in the middle of Boston Pizza! It was wonderful and I felt so loved! It was one of my favorite birthdays!!
The rest of the Olympics was wonderful! There was a day where everyone was tired (well we were always tired) and discouraged. But that night we had a big conversation about it and the next morning we were all so happy and ready to go! We couldn't wait, and after that day every day was great. It is amazing how God gives you energy when you are doing His work. We would all be feeling crappy in the morning but by the time we started work it was gone. We would have energy and people couldn't understand how we could be happy at 5:30 in the morning. I think our happiness was a big part of us standing out from everyone else. One day my team leader couldn't understand how I could be so happy when I stood in the same spot for 7 hours.
It was sad leaving the Olympics. It was weird thinking that it was your last day and that you would never have to get up at 3:45 again tomorrow. We said goodbye to everyone and got emails from people. I really hope that we are able to stay in contact with certain people. We have planted seeds in some of these people and I hope that they will blossom! God did amazing things there and I am so thankful that I was able to be apart of it.
Coming back to camp was great! Monday we had a 4 hour debriefing time with both mission groups. It was really good hearing all the stories on what God has been doing. This week has been really relaxing and lazy, which is nice. Today we went to Mystic Beach, which was GOREOUS!! I loved it! I just sat on the beach in the sun reading my Bibes (That is what we call the Bible here. We shorten everything). It was such an extraordinary day.
Please be praying for people's health, we are all still resting up from our trip and we are getting a little sickly. Thank you for all your prayers while we were gone! We could see them being answered.
No comments:
Post a Comment