It occurred to me the other day that I leave for Turkey in a little over a month. The reason this occurred to me was that I was talking to someone at school about our summer plans and they asked what I was doing. I will be going to Turkey for 5 weeks for a mission trip. After that, I hope to do some touring around Eastern Europe for 2 or 3 weeks. The problem is that I have as of yet to buy a plane ticket home as I haven't quite yet figured out my Eastern Europe part of the trip yet. Hopefully, I'll set aside a bit of time to do some planning for this trip in the near future. I'm pretty sure Turkey will want my plane ticket for leaving the country when I first arrive there. At least, that's what most countries want when you enter a country for the first time.
Summer is almost here, which means school is drawing to a close. I have loved my little ones this year for the most part...although lately they have been driving me nuts since it's nearing the end and they're just crazy. Hopefully though we'll be able to finish the year strong and still liking one another for the most part. There is a lot of paper work I need to catch up on this coming week as always it seems so I'll probably be putting in some long hours this coming week. That's no problem really as I enjoy my job for the most part, I just have to remember to make time for exercise. It's amazing to see how far my kindergarteners have come this year. They started out knowing practically nothing and now most of them are reading. They're like little sponges that just soak up whatever they learn. If I can just make it through these next four weeks without killing them or myself, I think I'm really going to miss them when they leave. We've been practicing a few graduation songs with the class next door and the kids all love doing the songs of course. That's something that was new to me this year as a kindergarten teacher, singing songs. To be honest, I don't care for singing all that much. Even in church I don't care for it as much as I prefer a good sermon to worship songs any day. My students love to sing and dance though; maybe it's because they don't feel embarrassment like adults do, I really don't know.
Today, I was checking out twitter and there were these internships they were posting for this network called Forge America which looked right up my alley. Unfortunately, they were only for college students from freshman year through age 25. The internships focused on missional living and living in community, both things that I love to do. Plus they gave you a $2,000 stipend for 2 months and also included room and board during the weeks. I told my pastor the other day that maybe I should start a commune since I seem to really thrive off living in close community with others. I was reminded of this once again when I had 5 friends over this past Friday night and had an absolute blast with all of them. There are down sides to living in community of course, but every time I have done it I've simply loved it. Part of me feels drawn to live in the same neighborhood as my students to try and really live incarnationally among the population that attends my school. Maybe some day I'll pursue that, but just not right now. My parents just bought an investment property down here in Sarasota and I'm the rent manager so I've got to oversee the place at least for now. It's a great place too, nice and big with plenty of space to spread out and be comfortable. It has a really nice lanai on the back side of it where I love to sit and read or hang with friends. A part of me can't help but wonder if I'm not being called to live in a more urban setting though. How do you best impact a community? By living right there alongside them of course. Money is one way and short term missions are another but actually living among people is the best way to serve others. Last night I was at a friends' place and was listening to him as he talked about a place our church was looking at renting downtown and how he wouldn't bring his family to that part of town. It struck a chord with me, as I don't have the same caution as a lot of my friends and therefore should do more work downtown with others. I might feel different if I had a family, but I don't know. I mean, aren't we called to serve the least of these? Doesn't that mean more than just writing a check to some organization every once in a while to get the guilt off our backs?
Currently, I'm reading a couple of books. One I've read before called "The Depression Cure" and the other one is called "Barefoot Church." Both are good reads so far, but I think I'm going to get more out of Barefoot Church. It's about how to lead your church in serving the least of these in a consumer culture. So far it's really interesting and making me uncomfortable quite a bit, which I always welcome. That uncomfortableness usually means I need to make a change. It has usually been how God has worked on my heart in the past for missions. My first trip of a significant length overseas was to Kenya. What started it all was an article in TIME magazine about the AIDS crisis and how it is really affecting sub-Saharan Africa. It really made me uncomfortable that this was happening in our world and I knew nothing about it for the most part. Lately, it seems as though I've grown comfortable again, which means I'm past due to leave the country again. There is more I could be doing here of course, but I do love to travel so part of that's just plain selfishness. There's something just so inspiring about traveling to me, I get a natural high from it for whatever reason. I hope to God I never quit traveling as I think that would suck the lifeblood right out of me.
Well, I hope everyone has a nice summer, even if you do have to work. Summers are a good time to kick back and relax with your family as the kids have the time off at least. Be blessed as we near the end of another school year, and remember to love those around you well.
Summer is almost here, which means school is drawing to a close. I have loved my little ones this year for the most part...although lately they have been driving me nuts since it's nearing the end and they're just crazy. Hopefully though we'll be able to finish the year strong and still liking one another for the most part. There is a lot of paper work I need to catch up on this coming week as always it seems so I'll probably be putting in some long hours this coming week. That's no problem really as I enjoy my job for the most part, I just have to remember to make time for exercise. It's amazing to see how far my kindergarteners have come this year. They started out knowing practically nothing and now most of them are reading. They're like little sponges that just soak up whatever they learn. If I can just make it through these next four weeks without killing them or myself, I think I'm really going to miss them when they leave. We've been practicing a few graduation songs with the class next door and the kids all love doing the songs of course. That's something that was new to me this year as a kindergarten teacher, singing songs. To be honest, I don't care for singing all that much. Even in church I don't care for it as much as I prefer a good sermon to worship songs any day. My students love to sing and dance though; maybe it's because they don't feel embarrassment like adults do, I really don't know.
Today, I was checking out twitter and there were these internships they were posting for this network called Forge America which looked right up my alley. Unfortunately, they were only for college students from freshman year through age 25. The internships focused on missional living and living in community, both things that I love to do. Plus they gave you a $2,000 stipend for 2 months and also included room and board during the weeks. I told my pastor the other day that maybe I should start a commune since I seem to really thrive off living in close community with others. I was reminded of this once again when I had 5 friends over this past Friday night and had an absolute blast with all of them. There are down sides to living in community of course, but every time I have done it I've simply loved it. Part of me feels drawn to live in the same neighborhood as my students to try and really live incarnationally among the population that attends my school. Maybe some day I'll pursue that, but just not right now. My parents just bought an investment property down here in Sarasota and I'm the rent manager so I've got to oversee the place at least for now. It's a great place too, nice and big with plenty of space to spread out and be comfortable. It has a really nice lanai on the back side of it where I love to sit and read or hang with friends. A part of me can't help but wonder if I'm not being called to live in a more urban setting though. How do you best impact a community? By living right there alongside them of course. Money is one way and short term missions are another but actually living among people is the best way to serve others. Last night I was at a friends' place and was listening to him as he talked about a place our church was looking at renting downtown and how he wouldn't bring his family to that part of town. It struck a chord with me, as I don't have the same caution as a lot of my friends and therefore should do more work downtown with others. I might feel different if I had a family, but I don't know. I mean, aren't we called to serve the least of these? Doesn't that mean more than just writing a check to some organization every once in a while to get the guilt off our backs?
Currently, I'm reading a couple of books. One I've read before called "The Depression Cure" and the other one is called "Barefoot Church." Both are good reads so far, but I think I'm going to get more out of Barefoot Church. It's about how to lead your church in serving the least of these in a consumer culture. So far it's really interesting and making me uncomfortable quite a bit, which I always welcome. That uncomfortableness usually means I need to make a change. It has usually been how God has worked on my heart in the past for missions. My first trip of a significant length overseas was to Kenya. What started it all was an article in TIME magazine about the AIDS crisis and how it is really affecting sub-Saharan Africa. It really made me uncomfortable that this was happening in our world and I knew nothing about it for the most part. Lately, it seems as though I've grown comfortable again, which means I'm past due to leave the country again. There is more I could be doing here of course, but I do love to travel so part of that's just plain selfishness. There's something just so inspiring about traveling to me, I get a natural high from it for whatever reason. I hope to God I never quit traveling as I think that would suck the lifeblood right out of me.
Well, I hope everyone has a nice summer, even if you do have to work. Summers are a good time to kick back and relax with your family as the kids have the time off at least. Be blessed as we near the end of another school year, and remember to love those around you well.
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