I love driving...great to drive after not driving for so long (while in Brazil). But once I turn 25, I will no longer be covered on my parents' car insurance policy, meaning I will no longer drive, and I certainly won't be buying a car anytime soon. At least Philadelphia seems to have a good public transit system.
I left my keys in the car door TWICE today, when getting into the car. Then I sat down to start it and wondered where my keys were... I have never done that before, but thankfully that was the extent of my driving issues after 7 months of not driving!
Maybe I did it because I almost always left my keys in the outside of my bedroom door at Luzeiro.
Over the past year or so I have discovered that I really like classical music...unfortunately, while in Brazil, I only had one classical CD on my computer, which I now have totally memorized. Thankfully now I have more selection!
I picked up my flute yesterday to see if I still remembered how to play it. I was amazed I got a good sound on it right away and still remembered many scales, but I don't have any music or know where it is...but it would be fun to start playing again.
I picked up my guitar yesterday as well, which I also haven't played since high school. Still remember the chords and a few worship songs but that's about it...I was never that good on guitar to begin with. Anyone want to buy an Ovation Legend Acoustic/Electric? The same kind of guitar Shakira plays.
I've heard Shakira's new song for the first time since coming back. I tend to not like her songs at first but then they usually grow on me after awhile.
It's weird not being at the Lighthouse, but a part of my heart is still there. It already seems that I have been gone an eternity as I stepped into a totally different world, but I can still look at the clock and think of exactly what everyone is doing there at that point in time.
I hope that I can make as good of friends in Philadelphia as I made at the Lighthouse.
I don't know if I will ever be in one place for a long period of time.
Before going to Brazil, a friend asked me what song represented my life at that point. I really liked that question and like to periodically contemplate it for myself. Right now it would be "Estante da Vida" by Heloise Rosa, the first song on a CD my Brazilian friend, Rosangela, gave me as a going away gift. Part of the lyrics say,
"Não importa o lugar, sei que sou visto por Ti
Não importa o lugar, sei que sou amado por Ti
Não importa o lugar, sei que sou aceito por Ti
Não importa o lugar, sei que sou amado por Ti"
That's like my theme song right now because it reminds me no matter where I am or where I go, God is the same and He is with me and sees me, loves me, and accepts me. I'm singing this a lot right now because I just left a very special place, am home only 2 weeks, then going to a totally new place! Everything is changing like crazy, but God isn't - He is still the same and He is my stabilizing presence and my Rock.
It's only been 5 days since I left the Lighthouse...weird. Feels longer. Tomorrow night will be the first Tuesday night prayer thing at some friends' house that I won't be able to go to! I will miss that.
I really know very little about what to expect in Philadelphia, but I'm actually quite at peace about it. I have never even been to the East Coast before, I don't know anything about my roommate, I don't know what classes I will be taking, I don't know what my internship will be like, but I should know all of these things in just over 2 weeks!
It is finally sunny and decently warm here! Hip-idibipidibipidibip-hooray! I forgot to record Gerben saying that...
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Random thoughts
This is probably about as random as they get since it is 12:30am, and I am wide awake since I went to bed "to pray" at 7:30pm and got quite a bit of "prayer sleep".
Yesterday we had an "impacto" here in the slum, an interchurch event that took place in the Cafezal plaza up the hill, near the health post. It was great to see the pastors from different churches working together to lead this rather unstructured, Spirit-led preaching/worship service in the middle of the public park.
I made chocolate chip cookies again this weekend...I seem to have more friends everyday. ;)
God doesn't tell us things just for the sake of telling us - He always has a purpose in what He tells us, He tells us what we need to know.
I'm in the process of asking God why He has told me some of the things that He has told me, what He wants me to do with that information.
Sometimes He tells us things just so we can pray about them, sometimes because we need to tell someone else, or sometimes because we need to do something about what He told us.
I miss carpet, the way it feels to walk on it barefoot.
Brazilians don't really say brrrrrrrrrrrrrr when they are cold, and now that the winter months are rolling in, I catch myself naturally saying it, sometimes rather loud...I must look kind of crazy. I have surveyed the other foreigners to make sure it is not just an American expression, and have found that Dutch and German people say brrrrr but with a heavy roll on the R but English people say brrr like I do, more like "bur" with no R roll.
I'm almost done reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider. I highly recommend it. It is re-inspiring me in my vision and big-picture calling, but also personally challenging me in some areas.
Sometimes I wake up thinking in Portuguese now...
Agora eu sei como trocar o idioma de meu teclado então dá para digitar em português se eu quiser. Tambêm agora sei como escrever melhor por causa de meu curso de português.
It's hard to talk/write in Spanish now because it is so similar to Porgutuese, I need to train myself to switch better.
One girl from my group who was really starting to show improvement was suddenly taken by the police to live with her mom on the other side of the city, due to her father abusing them. I hope she's doing okay, though I have heard the man living with her mom is abusive as well. We're sad we can't work with this girl any more...she was so closed at the beginning of the year that she would never talk and if we tried to talk with her personally, she would turn her head, shut down completely, and never look us in the eye. Just before being taken away, she had come so far that she was participating in all of the activities, enjoying herself, trying to write whenever we do written work (she doesn't know how or has some disability), and not only able to talk to us and look us in the eye, but also courageous enough to stay after to talk to us about some struggles she was having with other girls in the group. This girl and her siblings are so precious but have been through so much...I really feel God's heart for them.
Okay...I'm going back to bed now.
Yesterday we had an "impacto" here in the slum, an interchurch event that took place in the Cafezal plaza up the hill, near the health post. It was great to see the pastors from different churches working together to lead this rather unstructured, Spirit-led preaching/worship service in the middle of the public park.
I made chocolate chip cookies again this weekend...I seem to have more friends everyday. ;)
God doesn't tell us things just for the sake of telling us - He always has a purpose in what He tells us, He tells us what we need to know.
I'm in the process of asking God why He has told me some of the things that He has told me, what He wants me to do with that information.
Sometimes He tells us things just so we can pray about them, sometimes because we need to tell someone else, or sometimes because we need to do something about what He told us.
I miss carpet, the way it feels to walk on it barefoot.
Brazilians don't really say brrrrrrrrrrrrrr when they are cold, and now that the winter months are rolling in, I catch myself naturally saying it, sometimes rather loud...I must look kind of crazy. I have surveyed the other foreigners to make sure it is not just an American expression, and have found that Dutch and German people say brrrrr but with a heavy roll on the R but English people say brrr like I do, more like "bur" with no R roll.
I'm almost done reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider. I highly recommend it. It is re-inspiring me in my vision and big-picture calling, but also personally challenging me in some areas.
Sometimes I wake up thinking in Portuguese now...
Agora eu sei como trocar o idioma de meu teclado então dá para digitar em português se eu quiser. Tambêm agora sei como escrever melhor por causa de meu curso de português.
It's hard to talk/write in Spanish now because it is so similar to Porgutuese, I need to train myself to switch better.
One girl from my group who was really starting to show improvement was suddenly taken by the police to live with her mom on the other side of the city, due to her father abusing them. I hope she's doing okay, though I have heard the man living with her mom is abusive as well. We're sad we can't work with this girl any more...she was so closed at the beginning of the year that she would never talk and if we tried to talk with her personally, she would turn her head, shut down completely, and never look us in the eye. Just before being taken away, she had come so far that she was participating in all of the activities, enjoying herself, trying to write whenever we do written work (she doesn't know how or has some disability), and not only able to talk to us and look us in the eye, but also courageous enough to stay after to talk to us about some struggles she was having with other girls in the group. This girl and her siblings are so precious but have been through so much...I really feel God's heart for them.
Okay...I'm going back to bed now.
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