Chilly Days

This is what I got to experience the last time I was home....

Reflecting

Finishing freshman year, preparing for the summer, and looking forward to the next small step on the path of life are my current preoccupations. I can't hardly believe how quickly this year has flow by. I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of a lake looking at the reflection of the clouds as they blow by over head. I'm sitting still and the water ripples, but it is really the clouds that are moving that make me feel like time is passing me by. So, none of this probably makes any sense at all. Perhaps I ought to just stop rambling and go to bed like a good kid. Sleep is good. If I'm asleep, I don't ramble about nothingness, and in the end, everyone is more happy. ummm........yeah.

Mountains in Swaziland

Isn't Swaziland beautiful? For some odd reason, I've been missing being in Swaziland rather often lately. I'm not sure why. I don't understand.
I wonder if I will ever go back......
These mountains are fabulous, but the best part about Swaziland is the people. I love the Swazi Christians! One day I will see them in heaven, I just can't help wanting to see them in their country again before that day when we are all taken up into the sky. Why am I so selfish? I should be satisfied with what God has granted me. I am so very blessed. Why do I continue to wish for something else? I need to trust Him more wholeheartedly. I need to obey without questions. Why is it so hard?

Free Time?

Fun and relaxation are foreign concepts for any college student who wants to graduate on time from LeTourneau University. Thinking back to last February, when I came for a scholarship competition, I find one of the questions ironic. The first question in the interview was a shock to me. I was completely unprepared for what the gentleman asked me. He asked, “If you had one full day to do anything you wanted, what would you do?” Taken back by the question, I faltered as my mind ran wildly trying to find an answer. Part of my trouble in finding an answer lay in my practical mind. I had long since realized I could never do just whatever I wanted for an entire day. I groped for a reasonable answer. What in the world would I do if I had no limits on what I could do? The final answer I gave was far from satisfactory in my own mind.
Ever-practical, I choose to give an answer that was actually very possible and did not cost hardly anything. I slowly, formed into words an idea I had thought I would like to actually do sometime in the next few months before banishing myself to a country lacking in mountains. A whole day, just my best friend, Heather, and I spending time together in the mountains seemed a fabulous idea for fun and relaxation. Not at all creative, I am fairly certain the four individuals interviewing me thought my reply was dull and below average in excitement content. Looking around, I plainly saw a general consensus of unimpressed people. They all wrote down some little note about my answer, but no one wrote anything much. I felt a great sinking in my stomach. I knew any hope of a good impression and smooth interview had just dropped through the floor. In retrospect, I know my answer told those interviewers exactly what they wanted to know: level of imagination, amount of spontaneous creativity, intensity of selfishness, and ability to react in unexpected circumstances. Basically, I had failed from the start, but the question stuck with me. Honestly, what would I do if I could choose to do absolutely anything I wanted for a whole day?
Although I love going to the mountains, now that I have been to another side of the world and seen how the people there live, I would not want to waste an entire day on just pleasing myself. I discovered how much joy can be found in working hard to help someone else. When anyone asks me what I liked best about Swaziland, my simple, completely honest reply is the people I met, but really what I liked most was serving, encouraging, and learning about the people I met. If I now had one day, to do anything, I would go back to Swaziland: to hug Make Maria, shake hands with Domisani, witness door-to-door with Thomi, sing a hymn with Dumisa, jump rope with the little girls of Bethel, and hold a sleeping child while his mother prepares dinner. I just want the people, especially the Christians, of Swaziland to know I have not forgotten them. If only for one day, I want to bring the joy back into their faces. I want all of Swaziland to know although the country is small, it is still significant and God still desires to have the Swazi people accept Him. What I would do with a day given to me for enjoyment would be to give joy to others.

After a Rest....

So, I thought I would post at least once on this silly blog over Spring Break (last week), but...... Oh well.
It's Tuesday already. They say time flies when you are having fun, but I think time goes by much faster when you are very busy, or so I have observed from being at college. Anyhow, I had a restful week off. I spent a significant chuck of time hanging out with friends and wasting time just because we could. The first Saturday of Break was Liz's birthday and Sarah, Paco, Panic, Fjord, and I took her out to dinner, then to the Longview Symphony. The whole outing was fun and Liz I think really enjoyed herself. Then the second weekend of Break, Fjord had to go home to speak at his home church about raising money for his trip to Cameroon this summer. So, Panic, Sarah, and I went with him to keep him company on the drive and to get off campus for a few days. I love Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne! They made us fantastic food and let us do just about anything we felt like. On Saturday, Fjord was busy with other things, and Mr. Hawthorne decided the tractor should be driven around. He showed me how to use it and left me to play with the tractor. Yes, I was playing with a full sized 1952 Otis-something tractor and it was fabulous fun! Panic and even Sarah drove it around the yard too. Then the three of us sat outside in the sun, for it was a beautiful day. We saw about nine wild turkeys and all of Mr. Hawthorne's goldfish in their pond. Church on Sunday was also very good. We when to both services because Fjord spoke in both. Even though the sermon was the same both times, I definitely learned something valuable each time. Speaking of church, the Sunday before I had gone to church with Liz. She goes to a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church! I had not been to one since my family moved from Elizabethton. I really enjoyed it. Then Liz, Fjord and I went and had Sunday lunch at Dr. Graff's home. I like LeTourneau! The professors are wonderful and nearly all the students I know are simply splendid. God is so very good to me!!!
Although life can be challenging and seemingly ridiculousness, God is still in control and He knows what He is doing. He will take marvelous care of His children. I'm so very, very, very glad I am God's child!!!

Great, Yet Somber Day

Today was the birthday of one of my friends who is a senior this year. Actually, last Saturday and this coming Saturday are as well. Several of my friends are turning 22 and will be graduating in May. :-(
I wish I wouldn't let myself become such good friends with people I know aren't going to be around long........I'm really going to miss Lizard, Trolley, Fjord, and Jester. I know I should focus on how fantastic it has been knowing them and how the fact I still have other friends who aren't leaving. Sometimes I just find starting over kinda hard. See that's just the thing....I'm not the one starting over! They are. Why do I continually think of myself and not others?!?

Anyhow......
next year will be very different in other ways too. I'm going to be floor chaplin. Several of the girls on my floor are graduating, transferring, or moving to a different floor. With a significant number of new girls next year, I'm in for a challenge. But I know God will get me through it.
Today was just perfectly beautiful! Work went well. Classes were fine. I don't have an excessive amount of homework. The map quiz tomorrow isn't as going to be that hard. I have a fabulous roommate! The dinning hall food was pretty good. I have been getting more reasonable amounts of sleep this week. Yet even with all these great blessings.......I found myself rather somber today. I really don't know why. Most of the day I was happy with life in general, but as soon as I'm alone for a couple minutes I sink into a serious attitude. I have everything to be happy about! Why do I persist in being unsatisfied with simply trusting and obeying God? Why do I always have to ask "Why?"

New Blog

A couple of my suit mates and I decided to make a blog for our suite.
SUITE Deal can be found at http://www.g2suited.blogspot.com
and you should all look at it......

February Time

Wow! Where did February go? Four straight weeks of working seemingly continuously and I blink and the time has gone. I'm not sure time was flying by in this case because I was having fun.....more like very busy. Working hard is good though. Boredom and laziness are bad. Time is interesting to think about, but have you ever thought about how much time we spend trying to make more time for ourselves? Humans really are silly. I was looking at some quotes about time and I liked this one by Mark Twain:

"Time cools, time clarifies; no mood can be maintained quite unaltered through the course of hours."

It is true too most of the time (no pun intended), at least for me. Interesting how things like that work....

East Texas Weather

I find weather very fascinating, especially when I don't understand the patterns, like in east Texas. Late last week, it was very damp, dark, and cold. Then it cleared off in a matter of an hour on Thursday. Yesterday and the day before in it was in the 30s and the chill factor put it in the lower 20s. Today, it's in the mid 50s and as clear blue and beautiful as you could ask for. The wind is the only thing you can count on around here; it's always blowing, although it's velocity changes randomly as well.
I really do like weather. I enjoy the changes and variations it adds to the routine of life in college. To wake up each morning and being able to start a new day, that really does seem new because the weather makes it different than the day before. Which is why going to college in east Texas is better than some places where the weather changes very slowly or hardly at all. The landscape isn't the most spectacular, but the weather and the fantastic people at LeTourneau make up for the lack of it. Of course I can't really go much of anywhere anyhow, so it's actually a blessing. The things which make this school so great are right here all round me and I'm even given a chance to be upset about not getting off campus and going to.........well, anywhere.
God knows best and I'm so glad!!! He really did know what He was doing by sending me here to LeTourneau. Even when I forget, I just wait until the weather changes, then I'm reminded how great and wonderful my God is. He has everything under control and knows perfectly what He is doing. Praise God!!!

A few thought provoking quotes...

So, now that my English assignment is completed I can write about stuff, without worrying whether my English prof will like it or not........
Anyway.....
The other day, my friend Sarah and I were looking up quotes by well known people. We started reading ones by Mother Teresa. Here are a few of the ones that really struck me and made me think.

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

“If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one”

“Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”

Abortion "is murder in the womb ... A child is a gift of God. If you do not want him, give him to me."

"I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?"