Back in Classes

I joined Wycliffe in May, but then I resigned in June because I’m really not sure what I want to do. What I learned at Training Camp in June is that I really like Wycliffe and everything that they are involved in. I want to be involved in Wycliffe in the future when I have more direction. I will still be able to rejoin Wycliffe and I will not have to go to Training Camp again. They are willing to let me just pick up where I left off. I’m praying for direction either toward a place or a field of work.

Chelsea, the girl who I was thinking of being partners with is now planning on finishing one more semester here (she will be my roommate) and then going to Central Asia where she has already been. I’m really excited for her because she’s going to have a great impact there.

Right now I’m taking a class called Language & Society which is pretty interesting. It is about attitudes that people have toward various languages, about how language use can change, about how language forms a person’s identity and other such topics. In a couple weeks I’ll start another class where I will learn how to learn a language and then I will take a class about analyzing the grammar of that language. After the semester is done in December I have no idea what I will do. Please pray for that with me.

Done with Bimester #1

I am now a Wycliffe member! After a long process of filling out the application, etc. I have been accepted. So now I’m planning on going to Training Camp in Orlando where I will learn about Wycliffe policies, next steps and such.

For my Cultural Anthropology class that I just finished I had to visit a cultural setting six times, so I chose to go to a Korean church called Binnerri Presbyterian Church. I also had to interview someone from that setting. I interviewed my friend’s mom who is a Korean lady who came to the States when she was in her 20’s. She has an amazing testimony. One thing she repeatedly said was that she wished she had known how to read the Bible and grow spiritually. Though she was saved when she was 33, she said she didn’t “find the Bible” until she was 50 years old. Then she started going early to church every week so she could read the pew Bible before church started. Her testimony reminded how important the Bible is for spiritual growth. It’s the main way that people can have a direct relationship with God and grow to know him better on their own. So I’m more excited about being involved in Bible translation.

This summer I will be doing some traveling. I’m going to Wycliffe Training Camp in Orlando from June 14-28. Five of my friends from here are also going. Then the plan right now is to go to Charlotte, NC to see my grandparents, then Knoxville, TN to see my brother and some friends, then Ohio to see my other brother and some other friends, then Indiana, then Des Moines to see my parents and then it’s back to sunny Dallas to work and start classes again on July 23.

Please pray for:
* safety in travel and good times with friends and family
* wisdom re: decisions about a future project location and partner (see last update)

Update After Session 3

I just finished up my third of eight sessions at GIAL in Dallas. I have studied Grammar, Phonetics and Phonology. I’m well on my way to having a basis for understanding the languages of the world! I’m really enjoying my classes a lot. I’m learning a lot of fascinating things about languages like Seri (from Mexico), Korean, Pitjantjatjara (from Australia), Zulu (from southern Africa) and many other languages. No, I’m not actually learning to speak these languages; I’m just learning things about the sounds people make while speaking them or about the structure of them.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from my professors:

“If you still have some areas of confusion, we have done our job well.” - Paul Kroeger, Grammatical Analysis Instructor, on their goal of showing us that we still have much to learn about Grammar.
“The main reason for the existence of Phonology is to provide a means of employment for phonologists.” - Steve Parker, Phonology Instructor, tongue-in-cheek answer to a student’s question about why we are learning such in-depth analysis.

I’m blessed to be living on a campus with many great people. I live in the dorm with a few other students. We have a lot of fun playing games, hanging out, doing homework together, going out for Vietnamese or Moroccan food (see photo), etc.
I’m also working at Walgreens part-time and tutoring some middle schoolers. So I have a very busy schedule right now.
I’m in the process of applying for membership with Wycliffe. I’m looking into doing a storying project (called OneStory) overseas when I’m done with my classes here. It would involve translating Bible stories into a language that is unwritten so that the people can have a snapshot overview of the message of the whole Bible. I will have one partner with me. There’s a girl here studying with me named Chelsea who I may partner up with.
I was able to go to Knoxville for my older brother’s wedding on March 1. Shout out to Dave and Sara! It was great to see friends and family there.

Please pray:

• for time-management (that I would focus on what is important not just what is urgent)
• for wisdom about decisions regarding OneStory
• for wisdom about whether Chelsea and I should be partners
• that I would learn to focus on God’s glory in all situations

Expression of the Day - March 23, 08

Easter

Expression of the Day - March 14, 08

“Bleeding Order: A relationship between ordered rules in which the rule (A) that applies first removes a structural representation to which another rule (B) would otherwise have applied.”

Expression of the Day - March 10, 08

Stops Make Better Consonants Than Fricatives

N = Some(thing/one) of nasal character

A New Year with New Opportunities

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This past year has been a great year with many things I’m thankful for. I’m thankful for various jobs that I’ve had (front desk attendant at a gym, web administrator at a clothing store, associate at a catalog sales center, clerk at a thrift store, associate in web order fulfillment, and a few freelance web projects that I’ve kept going). I’ve learned so much from the people that I’ve worked with from lazy college students, to success-driven business people, to urban high-school dropouts.

I was able to live in Chicago for four months - an experience which I greatly enjoyed. I love cities and Chicago is one of the greatest in the world in my opinion. I loved the lakefront parks in Chicago, the beautiful public library with a huge selection of great books, the diversity of the people. I loved public transportation. It just seems so much more earth-friendly even if I wasn’t completely reliable. I attended several different churches while there from which I learned a lot about different styles of worship. And of course, I had the opportunity to see the beautiful view from both the Sears Tower (pictured) and the John Hancock Center.

I now have another opportunity in front of me about which I’m very excited. In January I will be going to GIAL - the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. I’ve been working towards doing this for a while now. I will be starting January 7. I will be working on the certificate program and will be done December ‘08.

I created a website on some thoughts I had about God’s goodness tied in with Christmas and God coming near to us as Immanuel. I know I’m late with this but… This is my Christmas card to you. Take a look at it here [defunct]. [There are seven hidden links within the pages that give you background information.]
Have a happy new year!

I Moved to Chicago

Since my last post a lot has happened to say the least…

I moved to Chicago at the end of August. I’m living in an apartment near Chinatown which is way cool. I got to see a parade on the Taiwanese national day. I was just minding my own business walking to the bank and on the way back I found myself in the middle of a parade. Native English speakers were definitely in the minority there. It was fun.

The reason I moved to Chicago is because I’m dating a guy who just moved to Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago. He was in Europe from February to August so it’s nice to live near each other now.

I’m looking for a job in the field of graphic design. For the time being, I’m working at Unique Thrift Store. It is a very unique place to work. The employees and the customers are very diverse. Most are black and hispanic. There are also a few Asians and white people that come in the store. The life of a minimum wage urban employee is very different from any lifestyle that I have been around.

Chicago is a cool city. I’ve gotten to see the Lincoln Park zoo, the lakefront beach, Soldier Field, Millennium Park and Grant Park, Six Flags (about an hour from here), and all the cool buildings downtown. The weather has been beautiful so far, but not for long! It’s going to get way more cold than I would like it to be.

My plans to go to GIAL are really uncertain right now. I guess I will be going in July ‘08. That’s how it looks right now anyway.

That’s all for now.

I Hate Work - Camping is Fun - Weddings Are Super

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.

Going to GIAL! ... sometime ...

Hey friends,

I got officially accepted to GIAL! Ok, I guess I need to back up. I applied to the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. It is a school in Dallas, TX that is associated with SIL and Wycliffe Bible Translators. I applied for the certificate program which can be done in either 5 or 10 months. I would be studying grammar, phonetics, phonology, second language acquisition, and all that other good stuff.

I was planning on going in July and doing it in 10 months. However, I may not be able to go in July for financial reasons. If not, I can save up money and go in January and do it in 5 months. So, either way, I would finish in May ‘08. So that’s a good thing. Please pray for wisdom […and money…] for that decision.

Another complication to that was that my hours at my job got drastically cut back last week. I only worked 2 days last week. But yesterday I got another job! Praise God!

That’s it for now. Thanks for praying.