much to tell

wow, it's been so long I don't even know where to begin. on tuesday it was quiet day again and it went alright i guess. i learned heaps, but it was a painful experience. I went for a walk along the 4.5 km path with only thongs on my feet, my little pack on my back, my 1L water bottle and rug (blanket) in my arms. i walked for roughly 3 hours in the blazing sun. I was hungry, hot sweaty, tired, had to pee and my feet were getting blisters. by the time i got back it was lunchtime so i ate and went to a tree to continue my quiet day. I hopped up into it and got comfortable because i was so exhausted. I read my book, "how to live a christian life" and by the last chapter things were coming together for me. i set out that day to have God show me what path to take once i was done at school here. in the last chapter it outlined that there are gifts that each of us are born with. everyone has at least one of them, some have several, but you have one for sure. mine is serving, i love to serve others and do the jobs that maybe others don't want to do, but i like to do them in my own time and do a really good job when i'm motivated by myself. then it outlined what kinds of jobs are suited for those kinds of gifts. working in an orphanage wasn't one listed, but i still felt like working in one would be an amzing chance to serve others and i have this desire to work with kids now, don't ask me where it came from because i might just give you a sermon on "don't tell god you won't ever do something because he'll place in you the desire to do it." when i left home i didnt want to get married, didnt like kids, and i belched a lot. what do those have in common? well, i threw in the last one just because i'm trying to quit...i got the patch. lol. But the other two were things that i was scared of because i thought that i was incapable of overcoming the hardships involved. marriage is hard, dealing with kids is really hard, and not burping is a daily struggle. ;). but God has been doing some amazing things in me and i'm not one to try and stop him. so when/if i come home i want to go to school to take some courses that will help me get a job at an orphanage and that will make me good at my job, maybe learn german (ahh!!), and take a photography course. if all of those are at all possible to take at once, i want to do it! anyway, on to other matters. I gave my bible study presentation on prayer on wednesday and there was so much discussion that I had to cut out a lot of it, but it went really well and on the manuscript i got an A+. woo! i was so excited. We had a family night get-together at the beach. it was freezing cold but Liz and i went swimming and attempted surfing anyway. then we went into this pool that was kinda made right into the ocean so that you can swim in it in the dark since it's not very safe to swim in the ocean at night with all the big fishes and such. And i also gave my testimony on Friday and that went really well too. But it was only because i put a lot of prayer into it all because i was just so tired, i didn't really feel like writing it up, but i had to. Then on saturday we had breakthru at the school which is an afternoon setup for the kids in the community. The second semesters set it up and then we just help out on the day of. there were activities like stacking crates as high as you could, bungee running, pushing a car around a field, obsticle course, riding bikes that powered a electric car track, spinning game, water ballon catching, wheelbarrow races, waterslide (but it was pretty cold so not many people did it) and i think thats mostly all. Sarah and i manned the bungee running station and cheered on the kids when we didnt have anyone at the station. i think that i had more fun than the kids cheering them on. and a really exciting thing that happened was that i actually talked to the kids there. for those of you who know me at all know that i am not comfortable going out on my own, sitting down with a group of unknown teenagers and chatting about stuff to make them feel welcome. i just dont ever do it! but i did and i loved it and it made me wonder why i held back before. Then we has sausages and a speaker spoke a really powerful message. then there were a few songs and the kids headed off for home. I was a really great night for all and i think the second sems are relieved that it is over and it went well. Today we had a prac week meeting at woodsey's and it almost felt like marriage couselling because we all sat in our pairs (can't remember if i already posted this, but flo and i are partners) and talked about a bunch of things. But we do need to get to know each other well before we can work smoothly as a team. the funny thing is that flo and i dont really need a whole heap of help in that department, but they ask us questions that we don't always think to ask each other. at the end of the day flo and i pray for prac week and anything else in our lives that need prayer. (woodsey suggested it!) There was a gorgeous sunset last night, the sun was so huge and red, but i didnt manage to get a good photo of it. cameras can't always capture things like that. still playing some v-ball when i get a chance. and now you are up to date! talk to ya'll lada