Week 1: Arrival!

Dear Everybody,

So, we have officially been in the country 3 days, and have been doing so much! For our first day, we were pretty jetlagged from travelling for around 30 hours, so we layed low, and even got a three hour nap in! Our host family, the Cranes had us over for dinner that night, and treated us for gelato afterwards! Day 2 we started our training for camp at the school I'll be at, so we were pretty much at the school all day. Coming home from school, we walked by the boardwalk which they call the corniche here. We were also able to put our feet in the Mediterranean sea, which was super cool for me! That night we explored a little bit more of our city, which was super interesting, because there is quite a "night life" here! Today has been a challenging one, we found out this morning that there were 2 suicide bombers outside of the French Embassy, and 5 people were killed. While the bombing was pretty far away from where we were at the time, for me it was a very sobering moment of the situation that this country has found itself in, and the broken people who are here. Walking back from school today, there was definitely a different atmosphere around us. There were far fewer cars and people out and about, because people are realizing that it might not be safe. 

So far, the Lord has been teaching me a lot, but I think one main thing that continues to be clear is how much I have grown in him and through him over the past few years. I look at some of the situations I have been put in since being here, and I know that I couldn't have done that 2 or 3 years ago, and I'm aware that a big reason for that is because 2 or 3 years ago, I was predominantly relying on my own strength, though I would never admit that, and now, through him, I'm able to do abundantly more. 

Some things I've done:

• Eaten Gelato
• Tried Schwarma
• Touched the Mediterannea Sea
• *Attempted* to lead my team from the school to our apartment(about a 20 minute walk).
• Spent my first dinar
• Been okay with walking in the streets, and sometimes in front of cars
• Stood on the roofs of more than one building
• Learned a few phrases in Arabic

Some things you can continue to be praying for are; the political unrest of North Africa, the safety of our team and of the kids that we will meet on Monday, the hearts of the local staff who will be coming alongside us to teach these kids, and the people affected by the bombings today, particularly law enforcement. 

Love you all,

Rose

Here's to new adventures!

Dear Everybody,

If you're reading this it means you discovered my travel blog for this summer! Yay!! While I'm traveling, I hope to be able to post weekly, and share about my adventures, and what the Lord teaches me through them this summer. I've been so, so overwhelmed with the amount of support I've received, from my friends at school, from both my home church as well as my college church, even friends back in Wheaton who I haven't seen in years. It truly takes a village, and right now I'm very grateful for mine!

Tomorrow marks my very last day being an official resident of Boone, oh man just saying that makes my heart hurt. Over the past 2 years, I have been so abundantly blessed by the community I've found in Boone. Now this community isn't just any old community, it's a community of people who force you to go to the doctor when you feel like death but don't want to admit it(fun fact:30 minutes later I was transferred to the ER...), it's a community that sends soup when you're under the weather, or buys you a cupcake because they know how much your week has sucked. This is a community where Saturdays are for epic game nights, Tuesdays are for watching the bachelor, and most nights you can find someone in the library, saving the table where nothing will actually get done. This community is one where we hold hands and sing the doxology every Sunday night, but 30 minutes later get hit in the head playing death hack by the very same person. This is what I've learned TRUE community should look like. It should look like a group of people, going through life together in the good, the bad, and the ugly. This whole month has been one of slowly beginning my goodbyes, but at the same time reminding myself, "Don't start. It's not time yet." Well, here we are. My room is packed, my bathroom's clean, but my heart isn't ready for it. My heart isn't ready to spend 9 weeks apart from these people who know me and love me so well. I know I am spiritually prepared and mentally prepared, and I know that leaving this town is what the Lord has called me to do for this summer, but it's never going to hurt any less. The hurting means that I did something right, I found the people who know me and love me and see me as I am. There's no going around it, tomorrow is going to be hard. But then the sun will rise again, and I'll begin preparing for my next great adventure, thankful for the time I had in Boone, and the friendships I made. As I begin my next adventure, I am comforted by the verse Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."  

<3 Always,

Rose