At 0-dark thirty on December 26 my heavily loaded, and freshly re-tired, Subie rolled out of Bozeman, MT carrying myself and the bare essentials for a year away from home. Well, so some of the bare essentials may or may not have included a bike, an extra bookshelf, my Hebrew and Greek textbooks, my rollerblades, my backpacking pack, two of my plants, and...you get the idea. Have space, will cram. :-) Thus begins my "Go east young woman!" journey. Shucks, maybe that's what I should have titled this blog. Eh, too late...
If you are reading this blog, you likely know where I am headed and what adventures I am about to embark upon. If you do know the general idea about what I am going to do in Indiana, feel free to skip the next paragraph. For those who don't know very much about what awaits me in 2013, please feel free to read the next paragraph to get up to speed.
*Optional Paragraph* In April of this year, I graduated with a degree in Biblical Counseling from Montana Bible College. Beginning next month the Lord has provided an opportunity for me to gain experience and increase my skills in helping the hurting. I will serve Vision of Hope Ministries for a year as an intern working with young women who are desperate, lost, without Christ’s hope, and without Christ’s rest. "Vision of Hope is a faith based residential treatment center whose staff and program focus on applying loving, practical solutions from God’s Word to help produce permanent and lasting change in women whose lives have become characterized by negative, life-dominating habits. The program is designed to help solve complex problems as efficiently and thoroughly as possible, using a relationship with Christ and the direction available from His Word as the basis for change and growth." You can find their link posted on my blog, and I encourage you to check out their website for more information.
Back to essential reading...so my trip is a long one, across six states (I just counted them on my fingers), and via the company of many family members along the way. Yay!! After a slightly icy trip over bozeman pass, the roads were dry all the way to West Fargo, ND. First stop, my dad's place. It was a great two+ days together beating him in cribbage, eating, shopping, eating, getting new cel phones, eating, playing with new toys, beating him in cribbage...all the fun stuff you do visiting your dad. I was also able to meet a friend who lives in the area for coffee and drop off a Christmas card for my brother, also in the area.
Today I travelled smooth/clean roads to my next stop, St. Cloud, MN and my sister's place. Her husband has flu-like symptoms and she was not feeling too hot tonight (which, I'm certain, had nothing to do with the fact that I beat her in two games of cribbage as well ;-)). So, if I get sick in the next few days, we'll know why. Tomorrow's schedule: church and lunch with my mom, out to the brother's to visit him and his wife along with my mom, and maybe, to wrap up the day, I'll beat my mom in a game or two of cribbage. Could happen!
Lessons learned so far:
-When I know what I need to do I can pray about it, but mostly I just need to begin doing it. I can't wait 'til I feel like it or for the details to all line up, I just need to do it!
-Don't trust the winter road condition internet maps too much. Trust the Lord and my proposed itinerary more!
-When there are risks to loving and spending time with people, even the risk of the flu, take the opportunity. Love and spend time with the people. The flu likely won't kill me, but a forsaken opportunity with others may not come back around.
-Before a long road trip, rethink what I consider bare essentials.
-When I know what I need to do I can pray about it, but mostly I just need to begin doing it. I can't wait 'til I feel like it or for the details to all line up, I just need to do it!
-Don't trust the winter road condition internet maps too much. Trust the Lord and my proposed itinerary more!
-When there are risks to loving and spending time with people, even the risk of the flu, take the opportunity. Love and spend time with the people. The flu likely won't kill me, but a forsaken opportunity with others may not come back around.
-Before a long road trip, rethink what I consider bare essentials.
