A Wind is Stirring

Well, a long journey is about to come to an end.  I moved back to Kansas to finish my degree in Philosophy & Religion at Southwestern College, and that decision has blessed my life enormously.  I will be graduating in one week.  What a thought!  This season in my life is finally coming to a close - but another is surfacing, blushing of spring and new life in the midst of winter.  I will be moving to Wichita within the month, and starting a life without a vital part of my past: namely, school.  This end brings mixed feelings, but hope is here, and I look forward to the future.  A new journey is unfolding, and whispers of adventure.  Time to embrace the unknown.

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...

I have recently decided that using the pool at UAA for exercise is a good idea. It has been very nice. I have lost a little over 30 pounds since I moved here, and counting, so it is the first time in a LONG time that I have been comfortable enough to actually wear a bathing suit. (Side note: I think it's really strange that they are called bathing suits...but it's just old-fashioned enough a term for me to use it with a little bit of smugness. HoHO! Also, since my bathing suit is a tid old-fashioned itself, I believe that is the only term with which I can duly describe it, thanks. Anyway.) Yesterday, I figured out that I couldn't for the life of me remember how to swim butterfly stroke...and that I had kinda combined butterfly and breaststroke into one crazy and not-so-obviously incorrect stroke, which consisted of the butterfly's out-of-water arm stroke with the breaststroke's frog-kick...I tried really hard. It worked, but I went home to try and figure out what I was doing wrong (becuase there was another guy there doing breaststroke, and I was like...ummm, one of us is wrong. It was me. Too bad.) and was rather embarrassed by what I discovered.

Ah, well. Now I remember. And, in my defense, the last time I took lessons I was most definitely in 4th grade, so whatevsies. I have re-discovered that (when done correctly, lol), breaststroke is my fave. I can't seem to get the timing down for butterfly's dolphin kicks. I think I'll go talk to the swimming coach here and see what he/she can tell me. In the mean time, I'm loving swimming, SO I'll just keep doing that. :)

It has been awhile!

Here we are again! I was recently reminded of blogging after my cousin started one-and I said to myself, "hey...don't I have one of these? I think I'll start doing that again." And so, if you haven't noticed, that's what I'm doing.

A lot has happened in a year! Genaye moved up here in July, which has been awesome. I went back to school - studying Dietetics, which is also awesome. Classes are about to start up again, and I am SO EXCITED, because I love my major, and I'm taking yoga and beginning weight-lifting, but also because I'll have a relatively consistent schedule to live by, which will be nice. Unfortunately, classes Mon-Thurs start at 8:30 am...yuck. Joyyyy. If only the schedule could be a little later...but yoga and organic chemistry decided otherwise. At least yoga is worth it, lol.

Campus kick-off is tonight, and the campus ministry that I have been working on with Jenny and Drew for a long time now will have a booth there. Relevant magazine donated 200 Reject Apathy magazines and 50 Relevant for the event (we paid shipping), and we will be giving those away along with magnets with our website on them. Since I definitely can't give away these magnets online, I'll have to settle with telling you that our website is www.uaacommunity.com. That'll have to do. Alsooooo, we have an adult BOUCE HOUSE! Um, cool. Just sayin'. I love campus kick-off, and I'm excited to be a part of it. :) God has been doing really awesome things with this already, and I'm looking forward to what is in store for the semester!

This is long enough for one post. To be continued immediately.

How to begin?

I now live in Alaska. I guess that's a good beginning. I am certified in CPR/AED for the Health Professional. I was supposed to start EMT 1 classes the day after I took CPR class, but one of the instructors had to have emergency surgery, so it was postponed a week. We just found a house to move into, and we are moving in tomorrow! It is in Wasilla, and I am told that on good days you can see Mt McKinley from the windows. I watch a lot of TV and ride a lot in the back seat while my brother drives because I know he wants to and I'm not 21 so I can't sit in the front seat and I don't know where I am going if I were to drive anyway, so I ride. Basically, my life at the moment is a constant game of Hurry Up and Wait. I am extremely bored, and it is a difficult rut to get out of. But, anyway, Saturday is coming, and that means EMT 1 class starts! So, I'll get to have something to do. Also, I will be able to get a library card soon, since I'll have an address in Wasilla. I would love to hear from everyone!



Audra

Um...I'm in India!

Well, obviously, I haven't updated in quite awhile! It is next to impossible to get onto blogspot in Myanmar. I was only able to do so once while I was there. However, now that I am in India, I am able to update, so I will get you all caught up on what has happened.

For now, we will speak of India. Traveling here took quite awhile. I flew from Yangon to Bangkok (Thailand), then to Mumbai (India) and finally from there to Aurangabad, where I am staying. That sounds easy enough - but I should mention the 11 hour layover in Bangkok, and then the 6 hour layover in Mumbai. I should also mention that Bangkok airport is HUGE. I walked for an hour trying to find a place to sleep (it was 9:00 pm when we arrived in Bangkok). Caroline Mawia (Hilary and Christer's mom) had told me of a place she always went to sleep that most people never went to - and I promise, it is because that place is such a remote location that no one ever is able to find it! However, at last, it was before me, and I must say, it was a beautiful to see those rows of green chairs.


Here is a picture. Cry for joy. Mumbai wasn't as exciting, but I didn't know the address that I was staying at here, so getting through customs was interesting. They finally settled for a phone number, so that was that. And, I didn't have to put my luggage through the security checkpoint...maybe because I'm white?...so that was fun.

Now, I am here. I have been teaching a group of seventh graders English (they understand surprisingly well), and visiting an orphanage of 80 children most afternoons. It has been absolutely wonderful. John and Heather Dongerdive are my contacts here - through Ashlee Alley (Thank you!!). John is Indian, but Heather is American - fun! - and both are awesome to be around. They, along with John's family, are in the process of building a new orphanage, which the girls will move into first, and which will hopefully be done before I leave. If that is the case, then I will be able to live with the girls at the orphanage. If it had been done already, though, I would not have gotten to meet the boys that live at the original orphanage, and that, as well as being around the girls, has been a great joy. (In the long run, both the girls and the boys will be out at the new property (which I have provided a picture of), but building comes with money, so the girls are moving out first, and more floors/buildings will be added to the construction as soon as possible. Also, the term "orphan" here is used loosely, and, in many cases, refers to a child that needs help that the parents cannot supply. The kids are sent for different reasons, but many of them are not orphans in the strict sense of the word.)

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for updates, and feel free to ask questions! Hopefully, I will have pictures of the kids soon, and you will be able to see the beautiful faces I see every day.


~Audra~

Adventure One: The Arrival

Well, I have made it to Myanmar, and, by all means, already had my first adventure! It began in the Airport. Here we go:

I got the arrived at the airport in Myanmar at about 4:00 pm on May 26^th here (that would be 4:30 am on the same day in the USA, central time). I proceeded to the arrivals port – and instead of getting my baggage before going through customs like I was supposed to (I didn’t see the baggage claim, I swear!), I just went through customs – so I had to go back. I waited for my luggage for a long time…and I was pretty much freaking out, because it was not showing up…but then it did, praise God! So, I got that, went back through customs, and entered the waiting room: and the problem began. The Mawias were not there(Bishop Mawia and his wife Caroline and daughter Christer are my contacts here. They are the family of my friend Hilary from Southwestern). I had thought about this possibility, and knew the hotel I was supposed to stay at – so after waiting awhile, I went got someone to help me get a taxi to the hotel – which cost 6 dollars. Side note – speaking of money, I thought I was supposed to exchange all of my money at the airport, but didn’t, because I could not find a money changer. So, I was a bit worried about that – and the cab driver I was riding with offered to exchange some money with me, but I didn’t know what a good exchange rate was – so, by no means was I about to do that. Anyway – I got in the cab, and he began to drive. And drive. And continue to drive. By this time, I was very scared, but refused to cry until I got to my room (which I almost did not accomplish, but did! Ya for me!) and held myself together. So, naturally, I was thinking, “God, please! Please let him take me to the place I am supposed to be taken to!” And we continued to drive. Then, finally, we got there. I don’t know how long it actually took, but it felt like hours! (The cab driver was a good man, and very nice to me, and told me about where he thought I should go to see the pagodas in the country after I asked him about the pictures of the Buddha that he had in his cab. Also, he spoke English way better than I was expecting!) Anyway, we got to the hotel, and I didn’t want to check in right away, just in case I was not supposed to be at this hotel – so I asked to use the internet (2 dollars an hour. Not bad, compared to how much it costs to call from here...), but could not get onto gmail. I didn’t remember Caroline’s email address. So, I signed onto my school account and emailed my friend Hilary and asked her – rather pleadingly – to contact her parents for me, since I could not. And then, I decided to check into the hotel for the night. It was 55 dollars – which sounded fine to me! It was just one night, anyway. I knew that the Mawias would get the message sooner or later. So, I checked in and paid, then went to my room and allowed myself to break down for a bit. When I felt a bit better, I went back to the business center to see what could be done about connecting to gmail. (The business center is where you pay for internet services and can use computers for a charge, but I have mine, thank goodness! They also sell beverages and little things you might have forgotten from home – like, perhaps, an adapter for the plug-ins here…no, they are nothing like the ones in the US… Yes! But, I didn’t have to buy one, I just asked for one to be sent to me in my room – only because the lady in the business center said I could do that, and didn’t really need to buy one. Oh, the people of Myanmar! Praise the Lord, they are wonderful!! Anyway…). I knew that I could and it wasn’t blocked by the government, since Caroline uses gmail, so I was not too worried, just needed to get on. I then found out that I needed to use https:// instead of http://, and all was well. I emailed Caroline and my family, and signed off. Then, for the first time in two days on an airplane, I took a shower. I have never in my life been so glad to take a shower. It was awesome!

It was about that time that I realized my luggage was locked and I had forgotten where I put the key. So, I was locked out of that – and I tried everything to get into that stupid thing. Nothing worked. I tried taking a bobby pin to it, but I have no idea how to pick a lock...I wasn't planning on having to use that skill in my lifetime...maybe I should learn! Luckily, I had packed clothing and all that I needed in my carry-on, just in case my real luggage got lost – so I was able to live out of that. After I had been working on the case of the missing key for awhile, I received a phone call from Caroline! I was very happy to hear her voice! I had calmed down and felt fine about being alone, and was actually beginning to enjoy myself – but I was, nevertheless, very glad that she knew I was in Myanmar! She had thought that I was flying in the John – he arrived on the 28^th, but I had arrived two days earlier. So, they had not come to the airport, because they had not known that I was coming when I did. After I had checked into the hotel, I knew I would be fine – but they felt horrible! I assured them that I was okay – but they were extremely surprised that I had made it to the hotel alone. The Lord has been with me all along. So, they came to pick me up about 15 min later, at about 7:30 (I had been getting ready to go to bed, but I made myself stay awake.) and we went to eat (I wasn’t hungry, but I ate anyway. It is going to take awhile for me to get used to eating when it is the middle of the night in my mind, haha!), and talked about what we were going to do the next day. It was wonderful to see them again (Christer goes to school in Virginia, and had come to see Hilary earlier in the school year so I met her then, and the Bishop and Caroline had been traveling to a conference for the United Methodist Church and had stopped in Winfield to see Hilary as well, so I met them then.) After that, they took me back to the hotel, and the Bishop talked with the manager/owner (I’m not sure what he is…) and negotiated a lesser price for my stay here because I'm with the Methodist Church (good thing I joined the church again, huh?!) – instead of 55 dollars a night, it will only be 30, which is wonderful! That is the price I had planned for in my financial planning, so it has worked out! I will be staying in the hotel for three more nights, and then John and I will move somewhere else that is cheaper. So, I went to sleep, and slept wonderfully for 13 hours. It was glorious!!

In the beginning...

It is, once again, the beginning of a new adventure. I have not yet left the states, but the journey has already begun. Preparation has been initiated. Peace has arrived. I will be leaving soon (hopefully with a passport! :) ), and I cannot wait for the opportunities that will arise for God to transform and use me! This is what I have been created for. God is here and now and will always be, for God is omnipresent.

I am content.