Return of the Internet

So, long time, no post. We lost the internet over the weekend…and Monday. We haven’t received a full explanation, but it’s cool. I only missed like one email over those 3 days. We have just begun Week 6 which leaves, from today, 24 more days before I get on the plane to Finland. I will try to reestablish a strong focus on the task ahead. Oh, I’ll still try to have fun, but with the big change coming over the horizon, most of my energy needs to be focused on it. I still have a bit of work that needs to be accomplished. Some of which, I’ll admit, I’ve let myself be distracted from completing. But…here we go, a few more weeks and I really will be a NordicTexan.

The Passport

Hey, just found out that the passport and the residence permit were mailed yesterday. Huzzah!

Halfway out the Door

The first half of FPO is coming to a close. We still have a trip to D.C. and four more weeks to go. I’m looking forward to the change, getting a bit too comfortable here, comfort breeds complacency, and complacency breeds sloth. I still have assignments to finish. I managed to get one finished yesterday and a third of another one finished. We just left cultural worship for this week. It focused on central Asia and was in 4 different languages. We seem to be raising the bar every week with the services. My service is on the 31st, and I am almost confident about it. May make some changes to it though.

Graphic attempt

Go

We had a massively important session on “going” today. I only regret that it was only 2 hours long.

You see, we try to exist in the world, but that’s not how God is moving in the world…because God, well, is moving. If we exist, if we just seek to fit in, the distance between where we have planted ourselves and where God is going starts to increase…because God, well, is moving. All the lists of personal character attributes are wonderful, and all the 7 points of fill-in-blank-here are great, but if we not moving with God, we have planted ourselves and set up potentially for our own death knell. Go.

Prayer Blog

Ok, so if you visit this site, thank you, but also I would like to announce the addition of a new prayer blog. I have a link at the bottom of this page, or you can just type nordictexanprayer.wordpress.com into the address bar of your browser. I explain the direction that I hope to take this new blog in. Please, please, please, you can post your own prayer requests that you would like me to address on it. It is not a one-directional situation. Ya’ll pray for me and, by golly, I’ll pray for ya’ll.

Cheesecake

At the risk of missing the opening day of the Star Trek movie, I hung out with a career chica and guy who will suffer in St. Lucia in the Caribbean yesterday. I had a great time. The guy reminds me of a cousin. Funny beyond all conception. The evening crescendoed at the Cheesecake Factory. Oh, and now I’m a fan. Temptation, thy name is Oreo Cheesecake.

I have already prepared my assignments for this week. I am trying to understand postmodernism. I will get there, but it will take some listening and some praying. Of course, listening and praying is a lot of what I am doing nowadays anyways.

The Problem With Pictures Around Here

So, I’ve thought about posting pictures of the happenings of this place, but then I would have to make sure that I avoided having any actual people in any of them. You see, I’m not completely sure where some of these people are going and I don’t want to compromise and security levels. I don’t really wanna take pictures of the buildings (they all look the same). I guess that I could take a picture of a cool fountain that they have here.

Oh, well, I’ve had a few earth-shaking looks at myself as of late. Mostly considering my personality and the culture into which I am going. I received a vote of confidence from one of my superiors at lunch. I wasn’t sure what direction he was going to go with the conversation, but he is beyond cool on any scale and spoke kindly and directly to me. It was like the other people at the table didn’t exist for that 40 minute talk. I am trying to enact the changes that that conversation made glaringly obvious were necessary. Maybe I’ll update about that…we’ll see…we’ll see…

Feeling Better

So, feeling tons better. My digestive system reset at about 2 a.m. this morning. It was unpleasant, but completely necessary. I have eaten two complete meals today, and I plan to have the third in about 10 minutes. I even plan to play volleyball tonight. Thank you for all you who prayed for me! Laters!

In Short…

So, I think that I’m toward the end of this virus. A lot of time sleeping, a lot of time…er, dealing with the results. I manage a pear or an apple, and one meal a day. I may try another meal tonight. I have no energy, but that is slowly fading. I should have more upbeat and positive posts in the future, but that will require more brain power that I am currently working with.