Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Real World!!

I sat on the plane back to Denver surrounded by the excited high school hockey team listening to their ipod's and watching their movies, the ladies next to me returning from running the Chicago marathon. I sat reflecting on the last five weeks and trying to figure out what I needed to complete to be ready to leave fro Greece in 6 months.

I has felt like I was back in college the last few weeks. Classes all day, late nights with roommates, group dinners. Getting locked out of my apartment and scaling the latice to get back in. It has been a blessing to build relationships with others sharing the same vision for ministry as I do.

MIT's (Missionaries in Training) the first week


We were in class generally 8-5 each day. The first week was spent learning about International Teams (IT). Talking about the core values and the vision of IT. We also learned about
cultural differences, culture shock, and finances.

The next two weeks were spent learning about Islam, Hinduism, Catholicism. We visited a mosque, a Hindu temple, and an inner city church which has a ministry of racial reconciliation though IT. We also
talked about our spiritual gifts, working in teams, and fund raising.

The last two weeks were spent taking SLA (Second Language Acquisition) to help in learning new languages. This was the most challenging lots of homework and learning about phonetics. By this point there were only four of us left at training so the class was very small and at times intense.

One of our projects for SLA was to learn some Korean to practice working with a tutor and practice techniques that were helpful. We chose to learn how to go to the market and buy items to make Bulgogi (Korean Barbecue). We learned directions, food names, and basic greetings.

I also had a chance to spend some time in Chicago enjoying the city:):)

What can I say I love Tea on a cold day:)

The Bean

My roommate Gina and I in the bean Chiacgo from the top of the Hancock building


It's officially fall since the pumpkins are out!

I have been back in Colorado for about a week. My sister and her roomate have graciously let me stay on the air mattress with them until my place in Fort Collins is ready to move into. My friend has offered me a place to stay with her but the house is being remodeled and the bathroom is not yet in working condition. I am currently looking for a job and continuing to raise support. Being back in Colorado and getting resettled has been a slower process than I had anticipated. I would like to be in Athens this coming April but need to complete my support raising before then and have a lot to do between now and then.