Relational Ministry

Waiting for the next mission team to come in right now.

We spend a lot of time between teams relaxing, coordinating with different team leaders from future teams, stocking up on supplies we need for the next teams, enjoying fellowship with each other, cleaning and doing relational ministry in Rio Frio.

What does relational ministry look like?
It's different than a lot of other ministries. It's not "let's go build these people a house". It's not "we need to feed these people for x amount of time". It's not "a huge week production then nothing". This is getting to know people, getting to know their life stories, meeting them right where they are and encouraging them to grow, taking them to the Bible and disciple-ing them.

So what do these teams that come in do if they aren't doing physical labor?
They build relationships. Ted and Gracie's ministry in Rio Frio is about building people, not buildings. They do this through couple's meeting women's meetings and youth meetings that the people asked to set up, not something Ted and Gracie decided to do. They will be starting a men's group soon as some men asked Ted if they could start one a few weeks ago. The teams participate in these meetings as well as teaching values lessons in the local schools. We can't outright preach the gospel, but caring for your neighbor is great coupled with the good Samaritan story just like the prodigal son teaches the value of unconditional love. We're in a different school every week with the teams teaching different lessons. These may be the only values lessons these students get though. Costa Rica has seen a need for good values to be instilled in their people and are doing that with mandating values lessons be taught in schools. This is where Ted, Gracie, their ministry, and the teams that support them step in.

Aren't the people hungry? What about housing for them? What about programs?
Sometimes, often, possibly always giving begins a cycle of co-dependency. If someone always came in and gave you what you needed, do you really think you'd be able to survive if that someone stopped giving? Giving things is great, but when people start to rely on them is where trouble begins to set in. The cycle of co-dependency starts and can really mess things up.

Thoughts to think about today...
We're off to wait at the airport for the team now.

160! 161. 162. 163. 164. 165! 166. 167. 168.

onehundredsixty. unseenbeauty: Bellaandsoccer.

Gracie'sphoto. unseenbeauty: breakswhilecleaning.

onehundredsixtyone. unseenbeauty: bedtime.

onehundredsixtytwo. unseenbeauty: organizationsthankstoDr.Chele.

onehundredsixtythree. unseenbeauty: listening.

onehundredsixtythreecontinued. unseenbeauty: family.

onehundredsixtyfour. unseenbeauty: facingyourfears.

onehundredsixtyfourcontinued. unseenbeauty: universallanguages.

onehundredsixtyfive. unseenbeauty: caughtiguanas.

onehundredsixtysix. unseenbeauty: laughablemoments.

onehundredsixtysixcontinued. unseenbeauty: newtoothbrushes.

onehundredsixtysixcontinued. unseenbeauty: firsttimebrushingwithanewbrush.

onehundredsixtyseven. unseenbeauty: beingreallyclosetowildlife.

onehundredsixtysevencontinued. unseenbeauty: coffee.

onehundredsixtyeight. unseenbeauty: selfexploration.

I Wish

Today, I wish I woke up before my alarm clock with the ability to cook a wonderful breakfast or at least drive through Chickfila before heading off to my first class of the day. After class I wish I had been able to obtain malaria medicine quickly before sitting down with a good not reading this for school book at a favorite coffee shop while waiting to meet up with a friend to catch up on life. Then, I could have gone to my last class which wouldn't be even 1/2 as terrifying as it is in real life. I would have played a few rounds of Rummicub before going to youth before coming home to sit down to watch a movie before snuggling into my bed.

Today, I woke up before my alarm went off and still only had time to grab a chai tea latte and a chewy bar before heading to school. I rushed around College Station calling around and practically giving up on getting malaria medicine. I sat down in the coffeehouse with a pile of papers to read. This is where I remained inundated in political science game theory with a confused look on my face and tears in my eyes. I went to class. What a waste. I went back to coffeehouse, played 2 rounds of Rummicub while shoveling in dinner before heading to Stacey's to learn game theory. Then, I went back to coffeehouse to read more political science. Now I am home. I want to go to bed. I still have 2 chapters of powerpoint slides to go over before even beginning to study for my Spanish test tomorrow.

What I wish and what is real isn't the same.

The Unphotographed Four. & Midterms!

Four. Four days on my 365 went unphotographed.
This is okay though. I knew that I would miss days starting the project and I decided to not hold it over my head. Missing days happens and it will not be the end of my world. Plus, I usually don't just take one picture most days, so it's not like I'm not getting the practice in.

What did I do these days? I believe for two of the days, I hit the hay exhausted. Three days could be counted this way if you wanted to add in my birthday which I ended up taking a nap and waking up the next day. The other day is lost to the imagination as I do not recall at this moment why it went unphotographed. Plus, without a photograph it is as if that day never happened. Just kidding!

I'll probably upload new pictures in a few days. I'm editing right now and then will probably hit the hay. 22 hours of classes isn't meant for humans.

My planner a few weeks back told me this: "I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once." - Jennifer Yane. So true, so true.

Here's to the next 3 weeks of midterms!: 14 tests, 5 homeworks due (doesn't include individual assignments), 1 photo project, 1 research paper outline/thesis/bibliography (If you know me and how I write, the paper will have to be practically done to get this.), 1 JHigh Girls' Bible Study lead, and 1 youth retreat between weeks 1 and 2. Bring it, Midterms, Bring it!

sixteen. seventeen. eighteen.

sixteen. Taco making. I've talked about this a bit before on the blog. Counselors, youth and Dan preparing tacos to hand out to day laborers to show them Jesus' love.

seventeen. Read the quote. Living it this semester. unseenbeauty:encouragingquotes

eighteen.

Todos se murieron.

School started back up. I'm still not on the side of being super excited about it, but I'm at least adjusting. I only have 12 hours as of right now: 2 communications classes, a sociology methods class and a Spanish class on the Mexican Revolution.

One of my friends asked how classes was today. My reply was, "It was good. Everyone got shot." I forgot that they didn't know I was in a Mexican Revolution class and unsurprisingly, the majority of people I know do not have an extensive knowledge about the revolution. All the leaders of the revolution end up dying by gun shot either in assassination, battle or by another revolutionary leader. Our professor ended our class today telling us how everyone got shot and then said "Todos se murieron." That's that. What's the moral of this story? My classes aren't that much different than in semesters past.

I'm excited about Aggie Sisters for Christ starting up again. We start back on Monday. I'm incredibly excited about that. The other big thing I'm excited about is youth, which should be a given. I'm starting to get a bit more ecstatic about my group of friends' bible study now that we've looked at a few book options.

It should be a good semester overall. I just wish there was a way I could take a Portuguese class.

School's started.
I think the way to describe my feelings towards it is way less than excited.
Actually, I'm rather anti-excited.

Adventure, Plan B & Being Deadline Oriented

This summer has been crazy in ways that I never would have thought of when I was between study abroad, summer school and looking for a job. God's taken my scraggly plans and made them blossom into something that I would have never expected or deserved even. This summer, I've been on the go between cities and even countries as I've traveled with two different youth groups as a volunteer counselor. In addition to that, I've been doing summer school. (It was a success by the way!) The following is a journey through part of my July facebook status updates that I just think are really funny and indicative of what's been going on.

AK would gladly start hardcore training for a marathon or triathlon if she just never had to think about summer school again. She's talking about the real deal complete with the diet and getting up at 5AM to run.

AK To be responsible... or not? Ashley Karlen is on her way to a mystery location with a bag packed full of mystery items. L-O-V-E it's a mystery.

AK ‎"You have 4(.5) years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember tme you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay (up) late. (Go to UM ARMY) with your friends when you have (3) papers due (Monday and a test). Spend (time) you don't have. (Have fun) 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but (online classes do)..." UM ARMY for the week? Yes.

AK Dear summer school, we only have a short while left together. Not so sad. & You will not defeat me. Thank you and never come back. Ashley Karlen is very conflicted over whether she wants to study and take a math test today or if she wants to write a research paper. She'd rather go camping.

AK ‎"It's not procrastination, I'm just deadline oriented." Truth. Math class? 1 week? 94! What? What? Now... 24 hours to write 3 papers. Bring it, summer school, bring it.

AK does not think anything could motivate her to write these papers. 2 more papers. 9 hours. & Still no sense of urgency...

AK ‎3 math tests in one day? Check. 3 papers written in one day? Check. Running on coffee, tea and little sleep? Of course.


And before all of those statuses (plus a few that didn't make it over to the blog) this was put up:
AK thinks this summer is all about the Plan B's of being in transit or repacking a suitcase to be in transit to a new adventure. This just may be the best summer of my life.
Now that my friends, is the truth.

Poetry Makes Me Gloomy

I'm currently writing part of a paper about the following poem. Although, I want to strangle poetry in general and set it ablaze, this is the first poem that I have written about that I haven't completely hated in every aspect. Yes, I have a very gloomy outlook on summer school. No, I don't think that's going to change much. However, this poem states why perfectly. (Also, when I came downstairs this morning, Barney was singing about obligations versus fun on TV. Isn't that a great way to start your day?)

Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Summer Plan #134352-1

This past month of May has been a time of waiting and celebrations. I've celebrated the arrival of summer, Hanna and Alexis' graduations, and Jeremiah and Stephanie's wedding. I've also done my fair share of waiting to figure out what was going to happen this summer.

The time of waiting is pretty much over. After what seemed like 21 phone call messages just left on one individuals' answering machine at HCC, countless phone calls to others, days of waiting for returned phone calls, everything is solved. How? Hanna and her Mom took me to HCC today and we pulled a few strings and I'll now be in classes this summer. Yay! :)

For the record, that means Summer Plan #134352-1 is a go.

Why Won't Facebook Write My Paper For Me?

I’ve had my fair share of rounds of tests, papers, and projects that have accumulated throughout the semester. A lot of times all of this stress seems to erupt in one crazy week of rushing around trying to multitask a million things, studying as much as possible within a short amount of time and relying on Starbucks to get me through the many sleepless nights. This seems to be a part of the college experience as all of my friends and I struggle with a time management problem called procrastination that seems to result in long to-do lists with no time to do them in.

I think the problem is procrastination, which lurks on the internet in a various of ways, such as: twitter, myspace, facebook, youtube, itunes, hulu.com, blogs, email, instant messenger, addicting games and the list continues. See if any of the following applies to you:

- Watching full movies on youtube even if you have to wait 5 minutes between every part so that it loads. That’s the best time to take a bathroom break and get a new cup of joe, right?
- Memorizing all of the lyrics to “Hakuna Matata” in Spanish, Portuguese and having the desire to learn the German version next. You never know when you’re on a gameshow and will need to bust this song out in Portuguese.
- Discovering a new TV show (Mary Tyler More, Quarterlife, Joey) and watching every episode made of that show. We act as if they are only on that website today and will be deleted the moment our paper is submitted.
- Editing old pictures and posting them on your facebook complete with tags and captions. There’s no better time to post those pictures of your friends playing in the February snow when it is 85 degrees outside and you’ve got a book to read before you can write a paper over it.
- Deciding to start a tweeting experiment on twitter where you write a musical with some friends. It definitely won’t be annoying and will probably be so well written that it will be the next show on Broadway.

These things are all ridiculous in light that our studies aren’t yet done. We are running out of time before the test. Would we really rather have a B or a C on the test just because we chose to learn the lyrics to the German version of “Hakuna Matata” instead? As college students, we are trapped in this seemingly neverending cycle of needing to procrastinate in order to get anything done. What would happen if we didn’t log on to facebook before sitting down to do research for our papers? What would happen if we didn’t think that for every 5 minutes of studying, we need to watch 5 videos off of youtube? What would happen if we discovered playing online tetris really won’t help our project to finish itself?

You know what would happen? We’d probably have better grades, be less stressed and have more free time when it really matters. Here’s some ideas to overcome procrastination and help you finish that paper not only before it is due but before you start a marathon of FRIENDS episodes you just found on the internet:

Open your computer with just the word document for your paper and any necessary materials. Facebook is never a necessary material unless you are writing a paper about social media. If so, good luck and schedule a longer amount of time to work on it.

- Print out all the necessary documents needed before your study session begins. This way, you won’t accidentally slip a twitter.com into your browser search while looking for that last document that’s on your test. I know you’re sure Ashton Kutcher uploaded in a tweet, but he really didn’t.
- Don’t bring your computer. If you bring it and don’t need it, don’t turn it on. You’d be surprised that upon signing out of social networks and shutting down, computers do not in fact explode due to a lack of use.
- Get online only during study breaks for a brief timed period. Once your time is up, do not hit the mental snooze button no matter how much you believe the alarm will alert you when 5 minutes have passed. In three hours after various time wasting activities have taken place, you will realize differently.

It’s time to go study! Now, put down the headphones. We both know you aren’t going to listen to classical music while you type and instead plan on “just hearing the latest episode of The Office play in the background”, which really means that you’ll end up watching it and two more. This won’t end well unless you put procrastination off instead of putting off all of your school work.