In no particular order.....
1. Ringing in the New Year with friends and lots of Armenian dancing
2. Making hors d'oeuvres for Susana and Gorgen's wedding. And again...lots of dancing
3. Almost getting deported after a visa misunderstanding
4. A get-away trip to Georgia (the country).
5. Hosting a GIANT choir from my home state. And....all that went with that project!
6. 2 amazing weeks in Greece!
7. Wonderful teams from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri who came and worked with us
8. Gaining a roommate. yay! It's such a blessing to have someone to cook with and watch House with.
9. Learning to communicate and minister in Armenian! Although it can still be frustrating at times, I love improving my language and learning new words.
10. A huge birthday celebration for me! I felt so loved when I saw the giant cake that said "Shnorhavor Jeklin Jan Jan Jan!" (Congratulations dear dear dear Jaclyn!)
11. Berrik's visit and his tremendous help at camp. I loved the fact that he experienced life with me here in all its beauty and sometimes complete ugliness! Face to face time was amazing.
12. Watching many hear the truth and accept.
13. Wednesdays in the village. Oh, how I love visiting our friends and helping them gain a better understanding of truth. The van rides there are chalked full of language learning for me and the ride home is usually a theological debate that gets me ticked off and fired up about 90% of the time.
14. Spontaneous play time/story time with village kids on the hillside that turned into a weekly event.
15. Getting phone calls that my aunt, then my dad were in the hospital. And other times getting bad news about friends and loved ones. One of the hardest things about being far away is just that--I can't be near in times of pain and distress. In fact, right now, I am wishing I could be there for one of my closest friends who is going through a hard time. In moments like this, I trust in the Father's unfailing arms of protection and peace.
16. Friday Night Family Night with my supervisors. It doesn't always happen, but there are many Friday nights that I can be found across the street eating something good--normally Mexican--and kicking back for some downloaded TV.
17. Teaching lots of lots of English! We've played tic tac toe, bingo, jenga, uno, had a shopping activity, talked about regrets, had lessons based from Proverbs, studied song lyrics, and everything in between! It's been such a learning experience.
18. Losing lots of money and a wallet recently that included trips to the police station and the changing of my lock.
AND....much much more. It's been an extremely eventful year full of learning and serving. I'm so thankful for the Father's faithfulness. I'm looking forward to all that 2010 will bring.
3 comments:
This and the previous 2 posts are fun and made me laugh. There are so many lessons to be learned in a year. So many experiences and stories. It's a joy to share this journey with you through your blog posts.
20009 was such a wonderful year. You have quite a diary of varied experiences as you've gotten to know not only the Armenians but also yourself better.Your blog sounds just like you talking to me (us). 2010 is a new year full of new and surprising events. They may not be such headliners as the visit from the singing men and as down right fun as dancing with the Armenians. Look for opportunities to continue and also new opportunities as you serve the Lord. Love, MOM Look at Beth Brown's entry on facebook to see her picture compilation of 2009.
Your blog brings me comfort in the hard times and laughter in the good! Even though I miss you like crazy it is so good to talk to you via yahoo, texts, emails, and blogs... Thanks for "being here" in the hard times. I know you are right beside me.
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