tomorrow is the first day of our squad’s ignition training camp, and of course, i haven’t packed yet. i mean i’ve thought a lot about what to pack, thinking and reading through the packing list, but i haven’t quite brought myself to clean and pack.
i’m glad i didn’t bring my clothing donations to church earlier this week; i think i will wear some of the shirts i haven’t worn in awhile to training that wouldn’t suffer from being stained by georgia’s infamous red clay during the course of training. i guess this week will be the last time i’ll wear them…
yesterday was my last fun day of ulc’s summer program. i love how the “small” memories/”simple” pleasures seem to outweigh the larger stress and expenditure of energy/patience/time — things like getting kisses on the cheek from my lower elementary students or sharing cookies n’ cream dippin’ dots ice cream with a girl who cried after riding “the wild mouse” at hershey park.
other memories at ulc that makes me smile, which also serves as an example that you don’t have to leave the country to cross cultures, involve my hair. you see, i’ve been growing it out so that i can cut and donate it and it is now just about waist-length. i’ve used it as an incentive – to continue growing it out rather than cutting it right away – in the spring to keep my book club on task.
many of the girls like to play with it, and one would always say how soft it is. oh, by the way, most, if not all, the students at ulc are african-american, and so my hair’s texture in and of itself is fascinating to them, too, i guess.
anyway, even some of the little fellas notice. on our last field trip, we visited the natural history museum to visit the butterfly pavilion (yay for the smithsonian) and as some of us waited for the others to exit the pavilion, one of the guys started tugging at my hair. he too said my hair is soft and then proceeded to twirl himself around as he held some of my hair, as if he were twirling a dance partner. i could only imagine what that looked like to the visitors passing by: a little black boy spinning around with an asian twenty-something woman’s hair in hand. the sight of it in my head makes me chuckle.
i suppose i can expect other such hilarious moments as we visit the various countries; some of my squadmates and i may be the first east-asian people that those we minister to will encounter.
the economy is doing not-so-hot – increased joblessness, mortgage/banking crises, a looming recession (maybe) – but that never stops God from providing. i used to think, just our luck to be going on a year-long missions trip during a period of economic downturn; wouldn’t it have been such a great testimony to watch over fifty young adults do what the rich young ruler couldn’t do? but i suppose this time around the story is such that “we hold these treasures in jars of clay”, and God is going to work in even more incredible and miraculous ways.
oh, speaking of which, “anonymous” – who are you? i mean, i’m pretty sure i know who you are, but i’ve been known to make incorrect assumptions. irregardless of who you are, thankyouthankyouthankyou. confirmation of your identity would enable me to better show my gratitude, but for now, i hope this suffices…
in about 15 hours i’m going to board a plane to Atlanta and the pictures on my computer screen will materialize into real human faces…aaaaaahhhh!
