This is the month that I thought I would be moving to Dallas to go to GIAL (the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics). However, I am not because of finances. I am continuing to live and work in Knoxville basically just working till I have enough money to go to GIAL which will hopefully be in January.
I’ve been thinking a lot also of the mission team that is in SE Asia right now. This is the team that I was going to join but decided not to. I pray for them when I think of them and hope that they are experiencing great things and that God is teaching amazing things.
My jobs are going ok. The only problem is that I have not been getting the hours that I need. I’ve probably been working on average about 16 - 20 hours a week for the past 2 months. This is discouraging to me since I have a very specific goal I’m trying to reach, namely going to GIAL. I’m totally fine as far as having enough money for day to day expenses, but I’m moving extremely slowly toward my goal. But I know that God has a plan for my life and he is definitely teaching me things right now as I wait. He is working on my character and making me more humble and more of a servant.
Two weekends ago I went camping with some friends which was really great because I love the great outdoors. We canoed to our campsite. It took about 30-40 minutes. That was difficult. We had a jetski with us but it broke down so we never got to use it after we took out. That also posed a problem because for a while we thought we were going to have to tow the jetski back behind a canoe! However some friendly pirates with a pontoon boat drug it back for us while some of us canoed the rest of our stuff. We were at Norris Lake which is the cleanest lake in Tennessee. It was very clean and enjoyable to swim in. I got nicely tanned too. Well… it’s all relative, you know.
Last weekend I went to a friend’s wedding in Ontario. Me and my brother drove up and amazingly it only took 11 hours. Who knew Canada was so close? It was great to see friends and stay with the bride’s family. I saw one friend who I hadn’t seen in probably 7-8 years. We all hung out, reminisced, caught up on each other’s lives, ate Thai food, took pictures, goofed off, came up with new inside jokes, etc. And of course the wedding was beautiful and very God-honoring. It was a candlelight wedding and Amy’s dress was gorgeous. The reception was fun. They had planned some little games that were entertaining.
So that’s what I have been up to. Hopefully I will get more regular with these updates.
