Parents, New York, and the LAST Week

Hard to believe it’s been nearly a month since I last posted on here! Lots has happened J

The first weekend this month Dad and Mom came up to see me! They “kidnapped” me for the weekend, and we went camping outside of Asheville, NC. We did a lot of hiking that weekend, mostly to see waterfalls along the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are definitely some gorgeous ones!!!

It was really good to get to spend some time with my parents, and fun to get out and see some of the beauty of western North Carolina! On Friday before we headed out of Boone, I also got to introduce them to some of my co-workers and show them around the department a bit, so that was good too.

I’m not nearly doing that weekend justice….you can look at my Facebook photo album to see my pictures from it, and they have more description of what we did.

The next week (Aug. 5-10) was another adventure. The first two days I was at work, like normal. That Monday night the church small group that my hosts are part of went out together to do miniature golf. It was definitely the craziest putt putt course I’ve ever seen, up a steep hill! I somehow managed to win in our group of four.

On Wednesday, I headed out for my reporting trip to New York. Driving down to Charlotte I experienced thick fog for at least 30 minutes, which made for some tense driving. Then when I got to New York, I picked up my rental car and headed out to find my hotel. Which was also a driving adventure, because my directions were wrong, since the hotel was in an odd place. And it was NY driving, so that made it interesting in and of itself!

A few things I noticed: They evidently don’t believe in turn lanes or having an arrow in the light signal. People definitely use their horns a lot more. And there are just way too many people and cars. But I survived three days of driving there, so I consider that a success!

On Thursday morning I had breakfast with the SP staff and volunteers at their church headquarters. It was fun because the site managers were the same people who had been in Joplin, and the same videographer came out to cover the dedication.

I spent the day interviewing a few volunteers and watching them work on the two houses that were in process there. That evening, the owners of the house that would be dedicated the next day came to the church to be interviewed. It was really neat to get to hear their story, and so good to get to know them.

The next morning, they took the videographer and me out to show us around their little town. They had lots of stories to tell, since the house that Hurricane Sandy destroyed had been owned by their family all their lives.

That afternoon, around 100 people flooded their large yard to celebrate with them the dedication of the first house rebuilt by Samaritan’s Purse since the storm nine months ago. To read more about that, you can check out the article I wrote posted on the SP website!

As in Joplin, I was so blessed by everyone I interacted with. Since it is still early in the rebuild process in New York, I didn’t talk to as many homeowners. But the staff and volunteers again provided wonderful testimony to the work God is doing in and through them.

That Friday evening, after I had fellowshipped with the people at the church for a while, I went down to the beach to go wading in the ocean a bit. I had quite an adventure, as you can read in my previous blog post! God certainly provided J

The next day I guess I felt like I hadn’t had enough adventures, so I decided to drive up into Manhattan a bit to see more of NYC before I left, since I had been away from the main part of the city for most of my trip. Traffic was worse than I expected on a Saturday morning, and before long I was ready to leave the big city behind for a while. Barely made it to the airport in time, but again everything worked out.

Thankfully I had a day and a half to “recover” from my trip before heading back to work again. I was pretty apprehensive about how that Monday would go, because the Monday after my Joplin trip was tough and because the two days before my trip had been rough too. But on Sunday, God did some needed work on my heart, and He really turned my attitude around. You can read more about it on my spiritual blog, starting here.

So thanks to that, instead of being hard Monday was one of the best days. For the first time, I felt completely at peace with where I was. It was a huge blessing and an answer to many people’s prayers!

The next day came a conversation I had been expecting for a while. My supervisors informed me that they had an open position in the communications department, and asked if I would be interested in applying. Long story short, God continued working in my heart that week and the next to give me an increasing sense of peace with pursuing staying on at SP.

The job opening was posted on Friday, and I submitted my application on my last Monday. On my last day (Aug. 23), I had an “interview” with my supervisors. They let me know that they’ve got a couple other candidates they’re looking at, and I let them know that I would definitely love to join the team, if that’s what they think would be a good fit.

Since nothing was finalized yet, I said all my farewells and packed up all my stuff to fly back home the next day. And now I’m kind of just playing the waiting game….waiting to see whether God will open that door, or whether He has something else in store for me. While I’m not excited to just be waiting again, I’m glad to have some time at home. And I know God will continue faithfully leading J

(To read what I wrote for SP about the Joplin trip last month, check out the article here and my blog post for them here.)

Angels in Disguise

So.......visiting the Long Island Beach tonight nearly cost me what I'm guessing would have been about $500..............

Let me back up. I came to Island Park, New York for the weekend to cover the dedication of the first home rebuilt by Samaritan's Purse after Hurricane Sandy, which was today. {Warning - long story coming up}

I bid farewell to the SP folks at the church, and they had told me where I could go to be on an ocean beach. It wasn't far away, so I decided to go. I got there at about 8:40, so it was definitely past dusk. Tried to take some pictures, and started getting my feet wet wading. Then I decided to put my camera, my phone, my flip flops, and my rental car keys together in a pile so that I could wade without worrying about my stuff getting wet.

That was shortly after 8:50. I quickly realized that the waves were going further in than I expected, so I grabbed my pile of stuff and moved it to a different place. I debated moving it further inland, but as I had walked onto the beach a beach police patrol vehicle had driven by. I could see his lights down the beach, and didn't want to take the chance that he would run over my stuff! So I put it down in a new place, but still rather uncomfortably close to the water.

A tiny bit later, I went to move it again or something, and in picking up my stuff I realized that my car keys were not right there with the other stuff. I knew I was in trouble. I turned up my phone screen brightness to use as a flashlight and started looking for the keys. Thankfully there was a pile of rocks that created a boundary marking point on one side of the area. I knew my keys had to be between where I first put my stuff and where the rocks were, a distance of maybe 20 yards. Unless the waves had already carried them away....................

The phone did no good. I got on my hands and knees and crawled along the track I had thought I walked between the two places. No luck. About that time, the police car came back toward where I was. I walked over to him and flagged him down. He had someone in the back, I think a kid who was breaking curfew or something. He didn't have a flashlight, but he turned his floodlight on and drove between the two points where I thought it was three times as I walked alongside looking. Nothing. He had to take the kid home, and said I should call a tow truck if I couldn't find them.

Long before that point, I had been praying asking God to please help me find my keys. I knew He knew where they are, and I sure would like to have them!!! I had noticed that the keys said on them "average replacement cost is $225." And if I followed the policemen's suggestion, I'd have to pay a good bit to have it towed, most likely plus a chunk more for a locksmith to get me into the car so I could get my stuff out. After the police man left, I walked back and forth I don't know how many times between the two points, shuffling my feet in the sand, just hoping that I would run into the keys with my feet. "Please guide my steps," I prayed. A knot was forming in my stomach as I thought about how much this would cost. And yes, I was definitely worried.

By 9:08, I realized I probably was not going to find the keys. And that I needed to call someone from SP to come pick me up before it got too much later. I didn't have anyone's number who was at the church (about 15 minutes away) - at least not on my phone. It was in my notebook in my car, which I couldn't get into. I did have the videographer's number in my phone, but he was at his hotel, 30 minutes away. I called him and asked him to send me the site manager's number. When I got off the phone with him and waited for the text message, I noticed I only had one bar of battery left on my phone. That made me honestly scared for the first time. "God help me," I said, knowing I was fixing to really be in a mess.

A lady and two gentlemen, one with a little kid on his shoulders walked over to me and asked if I had lost something. I questioned for a moment how wise it was to tell complete strangers that I was locked out of my car and pretty much stranded. But it was obvious that I was looking for something, and I didn't have much choice. I told them I had lost my car keys, and where I thought they ought to be, but that I was just calling a friend to get me. It was 9:13, and the text message came as I was talking to them. I called the SP site manager's number. It rang maybe four or five times, no answer. But then I hung up, because those three angels in disguise had called out to me that they found my keys. Yep, I had been looking for those silly things for 15-20 minutes, and they found them in about three minutes.

They handed me the keys, and I asked them if they would come with me to my car so that I could give them some money as a thank you. But they didn't want anything. I told them how very grateful I was. I can't even express how relieved I was about it! Oh my....God certainly provided!!!!

They walked away down the beach, and I went back to enjoying wading a bit, since I had barely had time to do so yet. But this time, I kept all of my stuff with me, you'd better believe it. Standing there, the waves crashing against my legs, I recovered a little bit from the nervous tension I had been under for the past several minutes. And just thanked God. It was definitely a reminder that He will take care of me, even when I'm not so smart and even in the "little" things.

God is so very amazingly good! And yes, God would be just as amazingly good if I hadn't ever found my keys, or if the ocean had swept them away. But I give Him lots of thanks for the fact that in this case He decided to protect and bless me, despite my smidgen of stupidity. :)

Joplin Experience Plus

Wanted to get another update posted here! This one’s mostly about my trip to Joplin J

Orientation—the week that I posted my previous update—went fine. It was great to get a bird’s eye view of the whole SP operation, even though I already knew some of the information from reading most of the articles that have gone up on the website over the past couple of months. We got to hear more about some of the “background” things of SP, such as donor ministries, and we got to tour the campus which was fun.

Thursday the 18th I skipped out on the last few orientation sessions because I had to drive to the airport to head out to Joplin! Lots of firsts on the trip – first time to rent a car (ended up with three rentals by the end of the trip!), first time to drive a long distance by myself (total of nine hours in big chunks), first time to stay in a hotel by myself (which was fine).

Ahead of time I was pretty nervous about the trip, and especially about interviewing people I had never met before. But everything went beautifully and looking back it seems silly to have been so worried. So I grew in self-confidence a good bit from it. J I’m actually going on another similar trip next week, and I’m really not worried about it. Though this time it’s in New York…so hopefully the driving there isn’t too ridiculous…..

Anyway, Friday in Joplin turned out to be a long day for me. I went to the base church at 7:00 a.m. to meet the SP staff managing the project and to have breakfast with that last week’s crew of volunteers. Got oriented to things, then headed out to the home that they would be dedicating that afternoon to watch and interview the volunteers putting the finishing touches on it. Went to the homes of another lady and a family who had each received their houses this year to interview them, then back to the last house for the dedication ceremony.

It was pretty hot outside (almost my first taste of a “real” summer this year because of being in N.Ireland and Boone, both of which are much cooler than Dallas!!), so the 50+ people who turned out all crowded into the house. Which made it pretty hot in there too, but it was a miracle that the electricity was on at all, and everyone was excited to be there and to celebrate with the family. J It was like witnessing a family reunion – and most of these people weren’t related to one another by blood. But they obviously had a special community of relationships.

I ended up interviewing another homeowner there, plus the lady who received the last house. By then, it was time to go back to one of the houses I had visited earlier in the day for a farewell cookout that the family hosted in honor of the SP staff and volunteers. While there, I interviewed a fifth homeowner. I also got to continue witnessing the incredible love and care for one another that was so very evident among all of the people involved. There were a lot of tears too, as the Joplin homeowners bid farewell to the SP staff members who had been living and working there for months.

It was 8:00 p.m. by the time I got in my car and headed back to my hotel room. I felt so very blessed to have had the opportunity to kind of be a part of that weekend of celebration. It was a joy to hear and see what God had done in the lives of both the volunteers and the homeowners. And yet there was a heaviness there too—because all of the stories I heard involved so much loss, although every one of the people I talked to focused much more on being thankful for what God had brought out of the situation. But for me there was also a weight of responsibility. They had trusted me, a stranger, with their stories. And my job was to go back and write articles to share that with the supporters of SP. It was just a lot for one day…but in an amazing, good way.

The next day the Joplin staff had to pack up their office of two years and get everything loaded up and ready to move on to the next place. I helped out a bit, and enjoyed getting to learn more about the people behind the rebuild effort. That afternoon, I interviewed a final homeowner couple. In two days, I had completed 12 interviews, most of which were 45-60 minutes, and taken many many pages of notes (yes, I’m old fashioned that way…..).

Every one of the stories I had the honor of hearing that weekend was amazing and special in its own unique way. And in the days since then, I have had the privilege of attempting to retell those stories. So far, I’ve written five or six articles based on Joplin. None of them have been posted yet because of scheduling issues, but hopefully they will eventually be used somehow. One of those was a first-person blog post for the SP blog that goes more in-depth about what I learned from the people of Joplin…so once some of those stories get posted I will probably post links here.

I had a couple of adventures aside from the work aspects of the trip. One was locking my keys into my rental car. Yep, I managed to do that. Thankfully it was at the cookout and there were plenty of “Good Samaritans” there to help me! The hero ended up being the eight-year-old son of the homeowners. He had a metal bar that we were finally able to poke down through the window (which were thankfully cracked open!) to pry the door handle open.

The other was getting to spend Saturday evening with a couple friends from JBU! Joplin is close enough that one of the professors from our mission trip team was willing to come up to see me! We met up at a movie theater to watch Monsters University, and one of the other students who had also been on the trip showed up with her to surprise me. It was so very great to see them and to have a chance to wind down with them after the weekend. We enjoyed dinner together as well, and it was just a wonderful opportunity to catch up.

Sunday I retraced my steps from Thursday and ended up safely back in Boone! It was a really fantastic trip, even though it was a bit hard to come back and be “stuck” at my desk. In the week and a half since then, I’ve managed to keep busy at work…most of the time. I’ve worked on a few other things in addition to writing up the Joplin articles.

Then on the 26th, one of my best friends from college happened to be in the area on vacation with her family! So we got to spend the evening together, which was really special. I got to meet her dad and sister and see her mom, who I had met in May when I bid farewell to my friend. We had a great time catching up about our summers, and even though it was relatively short I was so thankful for the opportunity J

So yep, that’s pretty much been my life since my last post! Well, add in several trips hiking up the mountain I’m living on, which has been fantastic. :D I think I’ve been up there five or six different times, all to different little places, and all wonderful times to get away for some exploring and/or reflection. I’ve got some more adventures coming up! My parents are going to be here this weekend to see me, and then next week, as I said, I’ll be headed to New York! So I know these last 3.5 weeks of my internship will probably fly by pretty quick! And then? Who knows…. ;-)

Pictures!

I just rediscovered how to get a link to my Facebook photo albums! So you should be able to see my pictures in these two albums, even if you don't have a Facebook account. At least that's what they tell me :)

Framing N.Ireland - Less than half of the photos I took while in Northern Ireland with the mission team.

New Digs in NC - Pictures from my time in Boone, NC for my Samaritan's Purse internship.

Also....I'm supposed to put something on here stating that any views expressed in this blog are my own personal opinions and are in no way to be seen as official Samaritan's Purse statements. Just in case there was any confusion about that.

Two Weeks in Boone

Well, the first two weeks and two days of my internship at Samaritan’s Purse (SP) have already passed. I am now more than a fourth done with the eight-week program, and I’m sure the rest will pass quickly as well! Just wanted to let any readers out there know how things have gone thus far.

I arrived in Boone, N.C. (the international headquarters of SP) on June 30, a scant five days after landing back in the States from a month in Ireland. To say it was somewhat of an abrupt transition would be stating it mildly. But thankfully I now feel a bit more settled and content J

The next day I showed up for my first day of work in the communications department of SP, as a writing/editing intern. The first week of work dragged a little, even though we had Thursday off for the Fourth of July. Lots of the other communications folks, including my supervisor, were out of town.

I received or found a few things I could work on, but most of the rest of that week I spent time reading articles previously posted on the website. Which was good, because it gave me a chance to become more familiar with the broad variety of work SP does around our country and the world. I did get to write a couple of articles that week, based on interviews one of the other employees had done in Colorado after the wildfire there. I also edited a couple of things for publication.

While I’m here in Boone, I am staying with a lady who works with Operation Christmas Child and her husband. It’s worked out great so far! Actually, they’ve been gone on vacation since last Wednesday, getting home tomorrow. So it will be nice to have them back. I’ve attended their church both Sundays, and I really appreciate the pastor there. I also went with them to their small group last Monday, which was nice to get to meet some people from the area.

On the Fourth of July, the three of us went downtown to watch the parade. But it was raining, as it has been a lot of the time I’ve been here—unusually wet summer for Boone this year! We only caught the tail end of it. Afterward they took me to the Mast General Store to look around. It’s an old-timey place, with big barrels of candy to be purchased by the pound, and a whole variety of neat things upstairs. That evening we ate hotdogs—inside, because it was raining again—and played games with a couple of their friends. We could hear a few fireworks, but didn’t try to go see any because of the rain. July 5^th the SP cafeteria had a pig pickin’, which is evidently a thing in this neck of the woods. They literally had two pigs laid out which they had roasted, and people could just take off the meat they wanted.

There are 10 other interns here this summer, though they all got here at the beginning of June. My first day of work they invited me to join them for a birthday party for one of the gals, so I got to meet most of them that way. Almost all of us took a trip down to Charlotte on the 9^th to tour the Billy Graham Library and the headquarters of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. Last night, we also all had dinner at the Chief Operating Officer’s house, which was fun. While my host family has been gone, one of the other intern gals has been kind enough to give me a ride to work and such. So it’s been a nice group.

My second week on the job included a better work level. In fact, it was pretty much perfect! I nearly always had things to do, but never felt overwhelmed. So that was nice. I did a whole variety of things….edited various ads, wrote a couple more articles for the web, wrote some donor or volunteer thank you letters, etc. I have five or six various people asking me to do things, so it’s been great. Also got settled into my own corner of a cube! My cube mate is the media relations lady for SP, and she’s been super nice and helpful to me too.

On Saturday (July 13), one of the SP employees invited the interns and several other SP folks over for a hike up one of the many mountains around here and a dinner of “Boston Butt” (think pulled pork). We also had a campfire and made s’mores, thankfully before yet another rainstorm chased us back inside to play a couple rounds of Catch Phrase. It was great to get to know some of the 500 local SP employees in a smaller-group setting!

This week is not a typical one for me. Today and tomorrow I’m going through SP’s orientation sessions with about 30 other new employees, most of whom will soon be moving to one of the organization’s international field offices to work. Then on Thursday I get to go on a work trip! The communications team decided to send me to Joplin as the SP writer reporting on the last home dedication from the rebuild program there after the tornado of May 2011. So I’m excited to go out and see firsthand the results of SP’s work. It will be a grand adventure, I’m sure…including driving for more than an hour by myself for the first time {yikes!}. I’m flying from Charlotte to Kansas City, but there’s driving on both ends of that flight. So prayers for safety appreciated!