This Season

Hello Everybody.

I hope you all have a chance to enjoy the flowers as winter thaws into spring up there. The weather here is hot as always. It feels good to have the sunshine on my face.

This is Ruth-Ann, my friend in Kingston whom I stayed with for 5 days last week. It was such a blessing to be with a fun family and experience a part of Jamaica you don't hear about so often (families who stay together and do familyish things). Ruthie's a blast and since most of her friends are in college I also got to hang out at the University of the West Indies for an afternoon. I kind of felt like a freshman again. By the time Sunday came around it was like I was going to church with a bunch of friends, which was really nice.

This past week I worked in between the office(putting together the manual for the upcoming course) and the kitchen (accomodating visiting teams). Nothing super exciting happened except that the manuals had to get finished and by 9pm on Thursday Chelsea and I had gone through 6 printers in 3 offices because the printers kept giving us trouble (continuously jamming, running out of ink, spontaneously breaking down, etc.). It was a lesson in patience.

What's new is that I'll be a student in this upcoming school which starts on Monday. It's called Foundations in Community Development. I'm looking forward to learning more about longterm efforts (such as discipling) that change lives and transform communities. I'm also looking forward to having fun. Please pray that God will give me wisdom in balancing being on staff and being a student at the same time.

I have been doing well though having trouble sleeping for the past little while. I've also been feeling lonely but I'm still good and glad to be here in Jamaica. I know the loneliness is just a season to ride out and I'll be feeling better again when the school starts and there are more people to hang out with. I think I'm coming to a place where I'm ready to see more of the bigger picture of what God is calling me to do in life/missions and I guess thinking about that plus the weight of loneliness is why I've been having trouble sleeping. Please pray that I will be attentive to His leading and hear His voice like Samuel. And also that I would embrace this season. Thanks.

Soaking up the sunshine,
Em =0)