Home Sweet Home

So we're back!

It has been a foggy hazy blur, but I'm beginning to get my bearings. Technically I am officially suppose to be reacclimated as of sometime around now. They say that for every hour you change zones it takes a day to get back on schedule and we were 12 times zones away and I have been here for about 11 days.

On top of all this two days after arriving home I had four wisdom teeth taken out and have been drugged up nicely to help the situation further. In fact, the first night after the surgery in the morning (granted I took a nice nap that afternoon) I went to sleep early at about 10 PM and the found my body absolutely hating me and utterly confused as I woke up at 2 AM and could not go back to sleep. The woes still slightly continue as after driving across the country for 13 hours I woke up this morning at 6, however, fell back asleep until 8:30.

And yes, right now I am in Nashville, Tennessee visiting a wonderful little gal named Katie! I will be here until Tuesday and then leave to meet my family in Branson, Missouri for a family vacation, yeehaw.

Anyways, it has been an interesting last week with the mixture of being drugged, culture shock and jet lag! The immediate wealth of our country meets us in many ways upon arriving and seeing the melting pot of people again was truely a wonderful sight! The diversity of America is amazing! Understanding the side conversations of people also takes a while to get used to.

The three of us were able to give a presentation to the Round Rock Church of Christ and I believe may eventually be online to listen to . . . Brad, please give us a link, smile . . . and it went well. It's so wonderful to come home to a family of 350 people and tell them what you've been up to for the past two months! We were able to first visit the 5th and 6th grade class who we had been corresponding with in Russia. They would ask us questions and we would report back to them, it was really great! I also ran into some champs campers who recognized me and that was a lot of fun!

As far as the actual reporting went, I was surprised at the quick pace we went at our initial report only took 35 minutes and as we know (especially taking into account that Brad had the floor at one point) is a miracle. It was funny though, because I felt like it was the shortest service ever . . . having experienced 2 consecutive house churches for two months that lastest a straight 9 hours . . . it felt weird to be finished at 12! Everything went great and it was wonderful to see everyone and share a little bit of our experience and of course we want to share more and hope we will have the opportunity to share with everyone!

Finally, I want to say thank you for your prayers and continual support! We ask that you will continue to be in prayer for our brother and sisters in Tomsk and that God will continue to lavish his Spirit, bounding in joy, on our family there!

Time to Live

I have been thinking about how I spend my time.

During this trip, I have tried to squeeze all I can out of every moment. I have two months, I must make the most of every scrap of time, whether that means keeping up the house or investing into relationships. I have gone in depth and made some lifelong friends as well as meeting for the first time my brothers and sisters that I will meet again whether here or there.

All this to say, I have an entire 8 months in Abilene each year. Why don't I live like I have no time to waste? I don't think this idea means that we should be constantly busy, that would be not smart, even in Tomsk we have taken Monday as our day of rest. However, what if I approached every situation and every person with the intensity I have had here? I know that I have the capacity to do and even if I thought I could not, I could pray and it would be taken care of.

We were meant to live for so much more . . . (switchfoot) . . . I think we are capable of being better people, learning to be like Jesus, and I think that includes how we use our time and how much of ourselves we put into what we do.

I must apologize for not being clear we are about to head out the door and disconnect the computer . . .

I just hope that I do not find myself at the end of my life finding that I did not take the time to live, and instead I traded in my time for selfish endeavors that never filled me up and found I was never truely living.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We will be home on the 16th of July and I will have my wisdom teeth taken out on the 17th! Hopefully, I will get to see many of you soon after!

Writers Block

I apologize for not posting in a while . . . I really do feel like I have writers block between not knowing which experiences to write about, being busy with studies, trying to process thoughts and experiences, and relating that back to everyone back home. Along with that, as my two teammates will tell you, I have had immense trouble with the English language lately, not knowing how to say anything in my native toungue because of all the Russian that is floating around in my noggin.

All of those excuses to say that I decided to write a short post to get going again and will hopefully have a final thoughts post before we head on to Moscow. We are most definitely still looking forward to our final days in Tomsk as tonight we are hanging out with Sergei and Alosha two of the people we have been able to deeply connect with while being here. We are also highly anticipating the event of the season as Max and Oksana get married tomorrow on the glorious 7-7-07, the day that I believe Max said in Tomsk alone 140 people are getting married! Sunday will be our final full day and it will be well spent with those in our house churches followed by sleeping at Jim's house before we wake up bright and early (although I'm sure the sun will already be out) to go to the airport!

It's amazing what can be done in 7 weeks. We were praying for those we have studied with and become close too during out time here and its amazing how much people have opened up to three foreigners for a short stay. We are thankful that those we have come to know have been completely willing to share their entire lives with us and open up completely to new relationships.

And if your craving more hop over to Garrett's blog as always! And if your brave enough to attempt to read more and more (and more) Brad should be giving some final thoughts soon as well!