What do you take for granted?

I know we have all heard the message a million times, but one more time will never hurt. We all know that we cannot serve both God and Money, but what are we willing to give up in order to follow Him. Or better yet, what else is it that we need to give up in order to follow Him. During ch'rch this past weekend, we all listened to a message about surrendering everything in order to gain discipleship. Are there sacrifices that we need to make, yes. But, the payoff is so much better!

Over the past year, I have really been focusing on trying to not take things or people for granted. I honestly believe that in the lifestyle and society we live within, it is very difficult to not take things for granted. During preparation and pr'yer for this trip I am on, I have constantly asked Him what else I need to sacrifice in order to fully surrender to His will. I have always been a person who enjoys schedules and routine, to know that I have control over certain situations, but in truth, I have none. Daily I have to surrender everything to Him and remember that I do not have any control.

Even though I have only been in K'stan a short amount of time, so far, I already have a new appreciation for things I previously have taken for granted. These are things and people that I hope to never take for granted again: reliable electricity 24 hours a day, clean/safe water to drink and use at will, having family and friends close by, having freedom to serve Him, being able to communicate easily and effectively to others around me, and many others. I realize that sometimes I feel as if I am "sacrificing" my summer this year, but in reality I am gaining so much more that I could ever imagine. I challenge all my friends and family to think about the things you take for granted and remember how bl'ssed you are to have them all. Please continue to pr'y for the team here that we will be effective teachers and mentors to the Kurdish people.

Picnicking 101

A picnicking we went this afternoon. Friday's are the day off here, so many people head out to the mountains where often times it is cooler in temperature. This afternoon, 10 of us headed out for a picnic. We didn't do all the official picnic activities, but we still had a wonderful time. Here are some of the things I learned on this outing:

# 1 - Always wear sneakers, don't go in flip-flops

# 2 - Watch out for random donkeys

# 3 - Don't walk through the "gawkward" trail - a large group of Americans tend to attract quite a bit of attention

# 4 - Don't ask a guy where you can get a shirt like theirs, they will try to take theirs off and give it to you

# 5 - Remember a blanket to make a port - a - potty

# 6 - Don't walk through a large group of Kurdish men (especially as a group of 10 Americans, 7 of which are women)

The experience was truly wonderful and beautiful though. Here are a couple additional photos of the scenery we witnessed along the way. It always amazes me how we see Him everywhere we go!

And so it begins . . .

Hmm, where to begin today. I guess I should start with yesterday's happenings. Nothing too interesting. When we arrived in Suli, we were granted 10 day visas, so we were set for a little while to get settled in. Yesterday morning we headed out with the lawyer to obtain our 3 month visas. All I can say is that without him, there is NO way we would have been able to figure out where to go and what to do. We were shuffled from one window to the next, back to the first one, then upstairs, downstairs, back upstairs, in one room, out another, back into the same room, etc. It took us about 2 hours to complete the process for all 4 of us that arrived last week. There are 2 more women arriving tonight around 1 am, then another man arriving next week which will bring our total short-term team to 7. I am happy to say that the 4 of us are now legal for 3 months, which means we can stay until 21 September.


Today was quite different. After our morning jaunt in the park, we got ready to head to the Bazaar. I cannot even begin to describe the Bazaar. It is incredibly overwhelming, but amazing to see. I was never quite sure where to look or what to look at. While we were there, we were on a mission for two items, running pants for me and a watch for Cheryl. Shopping is definilty a process here. I'm not usually a huge fan of shopping to begin with, but here in K'stan I'm even less so. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it, but that means I need to learn much more Kurdish. I think I'm up to about 5 words now! Luckily though, we will be getting a crash course once a week; enough that we should be able to get around.


Another objective to heading to the Bazaar was to check out and tour the Boy's center there. This is a place that boys (who work in the Bazaar) can go to play games and rest during the hot day. It was very interesting to see and talk with the director of the center. There have been team members that have been going to this center about once a week for a while to play games and build relationships with these boys. We are hoping to continue this throughout the summer. Please pr'y that there will be opportunity for us to continue doing this and help out in any way we can at this center. It is a very important place for these boys to go.


Please also pr'y for our registration process and classes that will be beginning on Sunday evening. So far we've had a pretty nice turnout for registration and will have 2 more evenings coming up. It is so amazing to see the people coming in with so much excitement about learning English!

New Surroundings

I figure it is about time that I tell a little bit more about the surroundings that I see each day. To begin, all of the short-term team is living in the same house and we are still waiting for three more team members (2 will arrive on Tuesday night, and 1 more the following Tuesday). Once this happens there will be 4 of us women staying in one room (it will be like college dorm days all over again :) ) and we all share a living room and bathroom with another couple and one guy. It is kind of like a little apartment, but we eat all our meals together downstairs.

Our house - the red house

Each morning I have been waking up early (no Daylight savings, so the sun comes up around 4 am) and have been heading outside to the balcony off our upstairs living room for some quite time. After that we head to Azadi park for running/walking. We come back, have some breakfast, get ready and head out for errand running. This is typically done in the morning, then the big meal is had around 1 pm. After this meal, it is nap time! So far most of us have been taking 3 hour naps (which feel amazing!). Then it's up again for a snack/light dinner and evening activities. (I think I could get used to the nap thing each day. Do you think I will be able to continue that during the school year? Haha!)

A view from the rooftop

Beginning tomorrow, much more time will be spent at The LIFE Center. We went the other day to clean and will be heading back again shortly to clean a little more and set up for registration. Registration begins tomorrow evening and runs for 4 evenings. Then classes and Kids Club being the following week. Much more of a routine! Woohoo!

The LIFE Center

Mowing the lawn next door (I couldn't pass up posting this)

The Fitness Craze . . .

Jet lag has really set in, and we are all exhausted and trying to adjust to the time change. All of us forced ourselves to stay awake yesterday until around normal bedtime thinking it would help us sleep all night. Well, we made it staying up until bedtime, but sleeping all night was not happening for any of us. I was the second one awake at 3:30 am. I thought I could get myself to go back to sleep, but since they do not have Daylight Savings time here, it was light out at 4 am. Needless to say, no more sleep for me! Instead it was time to get up and start to get ready.

Last night a few of us decided that it would be best to start to get into a routine (ok maybe I was the one who really wanted to do that) and we thought we would go for a run/walk in a nice park down the street. So four of us piled in at 6 to head to Azadi Park (Freedom Park). Ross and I ran while Elaine and Cheryl were walking. Now this was a little challenging since we are now at 3,000 ft. elevation and there was quite a bit of sand/dust in the air. At least now we have our base. Also, women are not greatly seen around, and usually definilty not exercising, so there were a lot of raised eyebrows as two Americans ran past them on their daily exercise routines. The park was wonderful and I believe that we will be heading there several times a week for our morning runs and walks.

The park was quite large and full of people at 6 am (when most of the city doesn't get started until at least 8 am). There were exercise classes going on in one part, tons of people (mostly men) walking and jogging along some of the paths, and many people at the "gym".

Using the weights

Elliptical Trainer

Biking anyone?

Working out is going to be a blast this summer. And I am so thankful and glad that He provided a running partner for me to exercise with and amazing places to go.

Traveling adventures

Well, suffice it to say I am just glad that I am out of airports and planes for the next seven weeks. Yesterday was quite the charade of going through security checkpoints, taking off my shoes, taking out my laptop, and shampoo; I think I may have had to take my shoes off more yesterday than I do when I'm in my house. Each time we arrived at an airport or right before we left another one, we had to go through security again eventhough we hadn't done anything other than get off a plane. Oh well, at least we were all safe!

London wasn't too bad, other than my body thinking it was 2 am, but it actually being 7 am there and completely bright out. Now how am I supposed to sleep like that?! We weren't there too long, just long enough to stretch, get some water, and get to our next gate. Then we were off to Istanbul, Turkey.

Istanbul was a different story! Here we had about a 7 hour layover (or so we thought), but we knew there were some things we were going to have to do at the airport once we arrived and before we departed to our final destination of Suli., Iraq. Christine and I actually sat right behind the couple we were supposed to meet up with in London for the entire 4 hour flight and none of us realized this until we were actually on the ground in Istanbul, but from then on we all stuck together. Once we were off the plane, we had to try and figure out how to get our luggage (since mine was only checked to Istanbul) then re-check it and waste lots of time in the terminal. Our pr'yers were answered when we found a transit information desk and a wonderful worker who went above and beyond to help us out. She was able to call and have all our luggage put aside into a special room where it was held until we were able to check-in for our final flight (5 hours later and 2 hours before we left). She even went personally to check on our luggage and recheck it for us so we didn't have to have it weighed (or pay additional for it). One less thing to worry about.

Since we had to be in the airport for so long, we all figured we would get on the internet, send some e-mails, skype, etc. Boy, were we wrong! Three of us had out our computers and attempted to connect for about 45 mins, then we headed to the other end of the airport (on advice of someone) to try to connect there. No dice! Finally I decided to call home . . . 3 hours later and many helpers, I finally was able to figure out how to use the phone. I don't think I have ever had a problem using a phone until yesterday, I think it could possibly be that it took me 45 mins just to figure out how to change the language so I could try to follow the directions. Hopefully now I can just use Skype and not have to worry about phones until I get home.

Once we finally arrived in Suli (about 3:20 am here), we were shuttled through a passport check where we all received a visa for 10 days (woohoo, we are legal for 10 days) and by the end of that process (in which they also checked everyone's temperature for Swine Flu) our luggage was off the carousel and sorted along the wall. Quick and easy out of the airport, to the house, and ready for bed!

Final preparations for travel

I don't think I have ever had so many check lists in my life! I swear that I have survived by them for the past two weeks. But I am happy to say that everything is now checked off (minus the getting to the airport). Despite numerous attempts by my family for me to stay (ie, having Ben kidnap and hide me) I will be boarding a plane around 7:05 pm in Dulles airport heading toward Iraq.

Keep checking the blog over the next few weeks, I promise I will be making more frequent posts, not just once a week. Thank you to all who have supported me both prayerfully and financially, I couldn't do it without you!

And here we go . . .

9 days and counting until I leave on the adventure of a lifetime. In 9 days, I will be gone and everyone keeps asking me if I am ready. My inherent response is "No!" This cannot possibly be a good response seeing as I have to figure out what to do with my house and utilities for 2 months as well as pack (under the limitations of 1 suitcase, less than 50 lbs. and for 2 months). Hmm, this could be an interesting process. If anyone has any ideas, I am welcome to hearing them on how to accomplish this feat!

The fundraising is going well, and it constantly amazes me how He provides whenever I need it. Planning for this trip has been a exercise in faith and putting it all at His feet. It has been a pretty big learning curve, and I can only expect more of these lessons as the summer continues. I greatly look forward to living and learning these lessons as I hopefully grow spiritually, personally, and maybe even a bit professionally.

These first few postings may be a bit different than what I am planning on posting for the summer adventures that await me on the other side of the world. So, bear with me as I get a grip on how to do these, and hopefully check back often over the summer to see what is happening! Thank you for all your support, without it, this would not be possible!