Uh, about time for my yearly update?
My how things change. Or rather... reading my last few posts is a wonderful reminder of the journey the L-rd has, and is continuing to, take me on. I really didn't think I'd ever get outta there, did I?

Well, I'm now no longer in Toronto, or even in North America for that matter. I've been in Istanbul, Turkey for the past month and a bit, and will be here for the next long while (I can't see myself leaving any time soon). Arabic is on the backburner for Türkçe, but thankfully there is a bit of crossover. Turkish is actually much easier than Arabic, and I'm already conjugating verbs, and saying simple sentences. Admittedly, the Latin alphabet has much to do with that...

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be working (volunteering) with the African refugee community here... again I say: the L-rd is faithful. He leads me along paths which I could never know the ending to, the stops are unclear until I arrive at each one. Through it, He teaches me trust.

In light of all this, here's a "Where was I" of this (general) time, 1, 2, 3 etc years ago:

2008: At "home" in Toronto, after returning from Africa, looking for a job (which I never really found), pretty depressed, longing to travel

2007: Still in CCM, and I had just arrived back in Texas after a month's "sick leave"... which was one of the hardest month's of my life. Coming back to Texas, back to CCM, and having everything be different, and be treated differently, and not given the opportunity to thrive anymore, certainly wasn't any easier.

2006: Was in CCM. I was in love with Morocco (little did I know I'd actually walk it's soil), and in love with a boy (...heh), saw "Born into Brothels" for the first time (I listed countries that tugged at my heart... without a clue that Guinea and Turkey would be added to the list, and the passport), and I was working in the CCM library (which was truly a labor of love/hate).

2005: I was on the Ministry Team. Went to Mexico for the... 2nd(?) time with Shane, and Shawna, and Marvin. I was as sure as sure could be that I was called to Botswana to work with LBOM. seriously. 210% certain. Well, I moved to Guinea for while, and now I'm in Turkey... close enough?

2004: Was an intern at the HA, and I "totally rockin' hecka stinkin'" talked like one, too. At the start of my quest to move foreverandever to Botswana, I started learning Setwana, (and probably drove everyone around me mad!), went to "my" ATF, Des Moines.  Did the Tribal Retreat (and my heart sank even deeper for missions, and Africa, and "wifehood"), had to ask for donations for my first $25/pp mission trip to Mexico (uhh.. I spend that in a week on Starbucks now?!?).

2003: (June, I'm cheating, cause it's the earliest month I posted). Biggest thing: I graduated high school! Oh, and I was dating John. (...uh, and I haven't dated anyone since. that makes it...uh, 5 years and 8 months. i feel rather nun-ish   ) I went on a mission trip to Penn.  Was still training at gymnastics. Broke the news to my parents (in JUNE! can you imagine??) about going to the Honor Academy.


Ok. That's all for now. It's 1:26am Turkey time, and those beautiful Africans tomorrow really deserve more than a groggy, sleep deprived me. 

But at least I'll be going to sleep being confident of this, that he who began a good work in [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:6)

I'm back again.

Life has been very interesting lately, for the sole fact that it HASN'T been interesting. I'm not used to this. I'm used to traveling, different people, different states/countries/cities, language barriers, adventure, challenge, love, friends... Life here is a total absence of all that. I sit on my butt in front of the computer, and look for jobs 10+ hours a day, applying to whichever ones I can. My biggest cultural "thrills" lately have been cooking Middle Eastern food, and changing my gmail inbox language to French, so that I don't lose my skills. Exciting, eh?

I've applied to two awesome jobs this week, and am going to an Open House for a third next week. (all the same position, but different companies). They're really different than anything I've done before, but all my other jobs in the past were excellent preparation for it. So, I hope I get one of the three. Each is a bit different than the others, with very different perks, but any would be cool.

In light of my job applications, I've put learning Arabic on hold for awhile (not for long, just a month or two) so that I can concentrate on brushing up on my Spanish. In Peru and Mexico, I was pretty decent, and could converse with people... even did some translating. But after moving to Africa, I lost it all, and can only have very basic conversations, and only the present tense!! Oh no! haha So, I'm gonna work on it a bit more, and hopefully get some pass-able grammer skills soon.

Life with Jesus is good, but hard. I read about all these people seeing God's faithfulness in all sorts of areas of their life, and being taught hard lessons, and growing, and getting confirmations on things, etc... and I just sorta feel like I'm missing out on all of it. Part of it might be that I don't have a church here (I've been to many of them, and they're NOT what I'm looking for at all), but I'm a strong advocate of the fact that my relationship with Yeshua is between me and Him, and though other believers are a very essential part of that, it has nothing to do with a weekly meeting (in a church, hall, schoool, or anywhere) Disagree if you want, but that's what I've learned. I became closer to the Lord after spending time with Muslims, than I did going to a Sunday service...

Life is full of waiting for things that I want: a job, a husband, a family, friends that live close, money, education...  and so I leave you with an appropriate quote by Victor Hugo:  "Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. "


___________________

[ps: I decided to try to memorize all the countries in the world. I did a pre-test, filling in a blank world map, and got 83/193! That was last week, before studying at all. I'm going to re-take the test now, and see how i do! I hope to get 100% by April]

EDIT: holy CRAP! I took the test again, and got 124!!!! All of the Middle East and South America, only missed a few on Central America and Asia, missed a small handful in Africa (c'mon, do YOU know where Djibouti is??), but it's Eastern Europe that really messes me up. 124 is still thrilling, though!  You guys should try this test, too! It's fun, I promise! haha I'm a nerd...

ok, this is going to be super quick, but I'm asking everyone who reads this to consider fasting tomorrow [Tuesday]...
it is the 27th day of Ramadan, and is known as the night of revelation [the night when muslims believe the quran was revealed to mohammed...]. it's the one night of the year when most muslims pray  FEVERENTLY to recieve a vision or dream from an angel or mohammed... it's also the one night of the year when a lot of muslims recieve a vision/dream from Jesus, and end up giving their lives to the Lord. PLEASE consider fasting for the day, and praying for Muslims all over the world... also, pray for those of us Christians working/living in Muslim countries, that the Lord would give us the wisdom and words to reach out to the Muslims around us...

please pass this on to anyone you think might be willing to fast. if you want more info for the night of revelation, just goole it.

ok, thanks so much. i love all you guys, and i miss you tons.