January 2012
2 posts
Writing
It’s been some time since I have written. I rarely have time anymore, and I miss it. Although, why do I want to write? I cannot, it seems, conceive anything creative or artistic, dramatic or poetic. All that I can seem to record are my own thoughts and experiences, and sometimes feelings. Which leads me to question: if I already know what I am thinking, why concern myself with transcribing...
“The important thing is not to stop questioning”
– Albert Einstein
October 2011
1 post
I found an old photo that was taken a long time ago- of our white country house before it was remodeled. The photo, with the white edges of the paper still showing, was untouched. As I often do, I think of what I could do to enhance the picture. I would shape up the amorphous gravel driveway. I would replace the metal culvert in the ditch with grass. I would erase the rust from the roof of...
August 2011
5 posts
To my church...
Hi Eastanallee!
I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m doing well here in Nicaragua. The first week a team of nurses from Pennsylvania came and provided all sorts of medical help to the community. It was the first secular team that Eric and Melissa had ever hosted, and not surprisingly God touched many of their hearts on the trip. The second week was a little more laid back as Melissa,...
Week 2
Time for a play-by-play of week two! I would have loved to do this for week one, but it was just too busy.
It was really quiet without the group from Pennsylvania here. Sunday we went to a neat little church in Leon, ate at a chicken place called Tip-Top for lunch, and did a lot of re-organizing of supplies and donated materials. Monday I rode with Melissa to distribute food to the feeding...
Week 1
The first week in Nicaragua was pretty interesting. Oh, it’s actually the end of the second week right now; I’m just slow at updating. We had a team of Nurses from a university in Pennsylvania and their professor come down to conduct clinics and help local doctors with their work. We split up into two groups in the mornings: one stayed in Salinas Grandes, which is the very rural area...
Nicaragua journal, day twelve:
I woke up at 5:00. It’s a quarter past 7:00, and I just got to my first destination. Why do early? Because I’m going to prison. Wish me luck!
July 2011
5 posts
So, the group that was supposed to get here at 11:00 am swapped plans, so we’re at the airport about to pick them up, which is why I have wifi =) Me and Eric got groceries and supplies, and killed some time in Granada.
There is a team of psychologists already in León, and we’re picking up the team of nurses. It looks like I’m going to be helping the nurses run medical clinics...
I’m in the Miami airport, bound for mission work in Nicaragua. So, I want to write about what happens, but ironically, this may be the last time I get to post before the end of the trip- internet in Nica is few and far between, if you can find it at all!
Update: So, I apparently didn’t post the above in Miami, as I just discovered. But I’m safe and sound in Managua!
Waking up...
A Bed of Roses
Christianity isn’t a bed of roses… or is it?
Consider a rose bush. The first thing you notice is that it’s strikingly beautiful. God loving us so much that he paid the debt we couldn’t. Grace that we don’t deserve freely given. A beautiful hope for an eternity in sharp contrast to this dark, hopeless world we live in. It is also enduring. A rose bush taller than me...
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,...”
– Albert Einstein
(via alisonleigh)
It is one of the more frustrating things in life for one’s soul to be starving for something, and to be uncertain of what that something is.
June 2011
10 posts
“Keep in mind that many people have died for their beliefs; it’s actually quite...”
– Brom the Storyteller, Eragon
2 tags
Give it up
God spoke to me in an amazing way today. What He told me was even more awesome.
This is a long one, so you might want to go get a snack.
Sometimes I would skip this part- the circumstances surrounding Him speaking- to get down to the core quicker, but God orchestrated this amazingly, and I shouldn’t rob Him of even the ounce of the glory that telling this story might bring Him.
So,...
Today was day eleven, and it wasn’t very interesting. We spent it on the road, bought some groceries, and had dinner. Of course, everything doesn’t have to be fast-paced and exciting. I am actually really glad just to have some down time. I dozed off a bit while listening to Pandora, then read more Eragon, which I am enjoying very much.
But YESTERDAY! Yesterday was awesome. I got to...
Day nine. By this time we were in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone. Didn’t get too much sleep, so I was dragging all day. First we stopped at Jackson Dam on a whim. The view was exactly what you would see on a postcard- snow-capped mountains in the distance reflected in the lake. We killed a lot of time just walking down by the lake and looking at the view. Some of us...
Yesterday: day eight. The first thing we got out and did was drive around a loop and see some sights. At an overlook to a waterfall on Firehole River, we saw some chipmunks. I wanted to lure them close to get a picture, so I ran back to the RV and got a biscuit that wasn’t eaten at breakfast. Not only did they come close, but they actually come and took the food out of our hands! I decided...
Day seven of my Yellowstone adventure with the family. Another day that was a little slower-paced. We were going to see Old Faithful, but there were so many cool stops along the way that we decided to see all of those today and save Old Faithful for tomorrow. What we saw were mostly geothermal springs. These subtly different than the sulfur springs we saw the other day- some of them were...
Day six. I’ll try to keep this short, considering the previous couple walls of text that I produced last. We’re back at the same camp in Montana now, and I’m pretty happy about that. Although it’s still daylight, everyone else is already in bed. Today was kind of a chill day. We weren’t rushed to get anywhere, so we got to have a big breakfast and just take a...
Yellowstone adventure, day five. So, we actually made it into the park today. There’s still knee-deep snow covering the ground in some places. The landscape here is even more amazing than before, and the park is so big it would take several hours just to drive through the whole thing. The first thing you see through the entrance is Yellowstone Lake, which is really more like a small sea. You...
Day four of our trip out west. Yesterday we packed up early from the state park and took off to the Badlands. I posted just one of the ton of pictures I took of the Badlands yesterday. It was unlike any landscape I’ve ever seen, but only slightly more desolate than Riceville. Something I found interesting was the mud there was a light khaki color, and had the consistency of modelling...
May 2011
6 posts
So, if you guys don’t know this, I’m currently traveling to Yellowstone park with my parents, grandparents, and sister. I’ll post a bit about my adventures here, one reason being that I tell myself I need a connection to the outside world. But I don’t really feel like that.
Actually, it would a nice change to completely disconnect myself from the outside world and absorb...
2 tags
3 tags
April 2011
1 post
I’ve grown attached to my little one-room apartment over the semester. One thing I’m especially fond of is that even now, at 4am, there are birds are staying up to keep me company. And even if the rest go to sleep, there is always one particular bird that stays up and sings the entire night.
March 2011
1 post
1 tag
I don’t know why, but I’ve always enjoyed the rain. No matter what I’m dealing with, just looking at it out my window or feeling it on my skin makes me know everything will be alright. I feel thankful. I can’t help but smile. And then there are those huge storms with wind that makes the trees bow down, that fall on the earth like a thousand hammers. I’m amazed at the...
January 2011
1 post
It’s midnight.
It is one of those rare nights so bitterly cold that our large dog is curled up inside on a rug and moreover, no one minds at all.
There are paper bags of groceries on the kitchen floor yet to be put up from one of the infrequent times Mom buys healthier food. She really likes when she gets to do that. Most of the ginger snaps are already gone.
A fire is blazing in the...
October 2010
1 post
Enjoy
My goal for the week- enjoy life. Tests, quizzes, projects, driving, reading, working studying. When was the last time I read a book for the fun of it? When was the last time I went out for a drive or a hike just to enjoy some time to myself? Messed around on the computer to learn something new without it being assigned to me first?
God didn’t make us as creatures to be lazy and do nothing...
August 2010
1 post
5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do →
lanean:
5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do
Actually… Snopes! I have personally tried the “Unlock car via cell phone” trick and it is completely false.
July 2010
2 posts
I am home
…finally home. This is the first time since May 27th that I have seen my house. It is more of a welcome sight than I ever thought it would be. I spent the day walking around outside, breathing the clean air, and basking in the glorious sunshine- in case you didn’t know, it was winter in Chile.
I really loved Chile. I think I might go to live there one day, if not another country. But...
I must apologize, I haven’t posted as often as I would have liked while I have been here in Chile. There’s so much to tell! And I didn’t have as much free time to blog as I thought I would.
The month is wrapping up, and I’ll be home one Monday. Until then, I have a couple of days to do nothing but enjoy myself and explore here in Viña del Mar. We got here last night....
June 2010
10 posts
Life Lessons
Here are some life lessons that you should understand before you go abroad, many of which I, myself, have learned on my voyages
Be thankful for what you have, and don’t compare it to what someone else has, or say what you were given isn’t fair. Someone else will always have more than you do, but you have more than someone in Jamaica or Nicaragua would ever hope for. In Nicaragua,...
4 tags
A Bit of Background Information
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re reading my blog that will help everything else make sense:
I’m rooming with two guys named Eric and Jason. They’re pretty cool so far. We live on the 12th floor.
It is winter here. And yes, Gibby, Chile is quite Chilly. It’s colder in the classroom than anywhere else. Both men and women wear scarves here, and I am enjoying...
Three countries in 24 hours
I got back from Nicaragua at 2:00 am Saturday morning, stayed in Atlanta the whole day, then flew straight from Atlanta to Santiago around 10:00 pm. It was the first time I had ever been on a nine-hour-long flight. So far, Chile is pretty sweet. I’ve only been to a big city a handful of times, including Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. We landed at about 7:00 am, went through customs,...
May 2010
3 posts
Waiting in Miami
I’m sitting in the Miami airport with my travel buddy Bradley. This is the only time this week that you will hear from me. Pray for our trip, that many souls will be saved!
Time for a bit of globetrotting
For all you guys at home who want to know what’s happening in Central and South America, here’s my travel itenerary. I’m at a hotel in Atlanta. I’ll wake up at 4:30 to catch my flight to Miami, then a 7-hour flight to Managua, Nicaragua at 11:15. I’ll spend a week doing mission work in Salinas Grande near Leon. During this time there is no cell service or internet...
The World Ends with You
I am taking my first step into a new world.
But what is a world?
Everything. Every book, every painting, every song and poem and idea is its own world, with depth and meaning that no one person could even guess at. A song is simply a bundle of notes and chords to some; to others, within the same song exist memories of happiness or of pain that no words could express. Each memory itself is a...