My, it has been quite some time since I have last written here...to believe that I have been around the world and back and have moved across the country since then is nearly unfathomable! I give thanks to God for the very many opportunities He has given me and look forward to what He will do through me.
Allow me to begin this post by giving you a bit of an update. Last time I wrote here I was sitting in my bedroom in Texas, typing away as the voice of my mother talking downstairs or of Brock and Brielle laughing rang in my ear, accompanied perhaps by the smell of dinner cooking, the door opening as my dad came home for the night, or Brant playing video games in the game room. I had just learned to drive and was beginning to drive all over the place. I was living in a Texas-sized home with a family of six that had a Texas-sized love for one another. I was hot at least half the time, and cold the other half (that's living in a desert for ya). I was preparing to return to Africa, this time to Rwanda with my mother.
Now I'm sitting in a small room. I live on the second floor of a building, along with 52 other girls. Around 600 people live in this building, most of which are only one-to-two years older than me. Someone is playing music, despite the fact that it is quiet hours. Our parents don't live with us, but we still have a close-knit family of believers in Christ. We play hard, we work harder, and we love in Christ the hardest of all. Most of us don't have cars (I haven't driven in around two months). I am cold now almost every single day, but I still love it here. If you haven't already guessed, I have moved from my home in San Antonio, Texas, to Wheaton College's Fischer Hall, Room 207, in Wheaton, Illinois - the adorable little Midwestern town I have grown to love. And this time, I am preparing to return to China, this time with one of my closest friends in the entire world, Destinee.
Destinee and I have been talking about going to China together for around two years now. We always dreamed about it, saying that someday...someday, we would go. Well, we both found out about this internship program available in a foster home in a small village just outside of Beijing. It was six weeks long, and we'd get to play with kids/teach English everyday as a job. Moreover, we would be living in China together for the entire six weeks. We both got really excited about the idea, but my parents wanted me to get as much college credit out of my summer as possible, so I applied for the Wheaton in China summer abroad program and made plans to attend Beijing Normal University for six weeks and take language/culture classes. Although I wished I could have gone with Destinee, this program still had me really excited because I have to sign a waiver saying I would only speak Chinese for four weeks straight, with the exception of weekly English hours to reflect on experiences (and probably to keep you from going insane :)). Now, for most people that probably sounds like a big turn-off, but anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm a language geek and would probably still take the trip even if we were going to the Middle East and I had to speak Arabic the entire time (and I'd go even if I couldn't speak at all).
But then Christmas break came, and I went home. Suddenly, this overpowering need to go to China not just to study, but to do something outside of myself overwhelmed me. I did not want to go on the Wheaton in China trip any longer, and I really couldn't imagine anything half so disgusting as sitting in a classroom and studying to better myself when I could have been helping others and making an impact in their lives. I needed to serve this summer, and I knew it in my heart.
Knew it so well I probably did something I shouldn't have. I told my mom that I was going to go ahead and apply for the internship, but apparently she thought I was going to go seek out the blessing of my dad first. Well, I honestly...I was afraid he would say no, and figured that if our heavenly Father didn't want me on this trip, He would close the door anyway. I just wanted to see if I got in, and then cross the bridge of talking to my dad afterwards (which I now realized I should have done first). I went to Destinee's house one night, and she helped me with the application (she had already sent hers in, since she planned on going regardless if I did or not).
I began to get scared that I wouldn't get the internship. I hadn't had my interview, and it was the night before we were supposed to find out. I think I literally had half of my floor praying for me. The man from the foster home called me that night and we did the interview, despite the fact that I was plenty nervous. The next day, he welcomed us both on the trip!
So I called my parents and we talked...to make a long story short, it started to look like Destinee and I would both be able to go, just not on the same trip (there are two trips a summer, one at the beginning of the summer and one at the end), because she would have to miss her graduation if she went on the earlier trip and I would have to go straight from China to moving back to school if I went on the later trip. But a few days later, she texted me saying that she talked to her parents and prayed about it, and she had peace about going on the earlier trip with me!
So now on May 18th, 2012, we will be heading back to the beautiful land that holds both of our hearts...this time to love on the beautiful people of Beijing's surrounding villages!
