Graduation

Well, it happened: I graduated from high school. The graduation ceremony was a little less than a month ago and it is still so surreal to me that it was the ceremony concluding my high school career. Right now, it feels like I am on a big Spring Break and any day now I will be going back to suffer in Calculus and be bored to tears in Econ. The thing that I really can't wrap my head around is not the fact that I am not going back to Mesquite High, but rather that I am leaving behind all of the amazing teachers and students I met while I was there. It's going to be so strange not sharing inside jokes with my friends about our favorite teachers, or visiting the teachers at lunch who really invested themselves in me, or even just hanging out with the same people that I have really gotten to know during high school. I know that God will provide opportunities for me to stay in contact with them and continue to learn what they have to teach me, but it's just not going to be the same. And that change is just so weird for me to think about.

I haven't been doing too, too much this summer. I work just about everyday (still at The UPS Store), and in the time I'm not working, I am usually either hanging out with my sister or a friend. Katie is in Europe for the summer and Nicole and I want to spend as much time with each other as we can before I go off to college, so almost every night we either watch a movie together or just simply hang out with each other. We both miss Katie a lot, but we get see pictures every now and then on her Facebook. However, the great thing about Katie being gone is I get her car for the time she is gone, and boy, is that glorious. :) Ah, the taste of freedom...I am finally not the one asking other people for rides!! The independence of a vehicle is remarkable--I am getting the opportunity to visit with the people I am going to miss the most and to solidify the relationships that I know will last for many years to come. And it's also nice to be able to get myself to and from work without having to depend on my parents or work around their schedules. Work is going well. We have an extremely interesting cast of characters working there, so going to work is a new adventure everyday. I only have another week or two working there, though, until I leave for all of my trips. I never thought I would say it, but I really am going to miss working there, as crazy as it can be sometimes.

On June 29, the youth mission team is going to North Carolina on a mission trip for a week. This will be my fourth (and last, unfortunately) mission trip with that organization, Youthworks!. We will be painting houses for a family who cannot afford to paint their house (either financially or capability-wise) for two days and then leading a kids camp similar to a Vacation Bible School for the impoverished children of the area for two days. There are eight members of the team, all women. I ask that you would pray for our safety and for God to move in our lives and the lives of the people we meet when we go there. The team is: [Leaders] Mary Sherer (my ma) and Becca Watt; [Participants] Elizabeth and Chloe Jensen, Julie Wardman, Nicole Sherer (my sister), Emily-Ann Moriarty (my best friend), and myself. Thanks so much. About a week after we get back from the mission trip, my family is going to spend a weekend in the mountains. That'll be really nice because that will be the last time for a while that the whole family will be together in one place.

On July 24, Mom, I, and five other members from Living Faith Anglican will be leaving to go to Rwanda, Africa, for 18 days. Living Faith has developed a relationship with Taba Parish, a remote, destitute village located in the southwestern portion of Rwanda, and is committed to being a part of Taba’s post-genocide reconciliation process. The seven of us will be visiting Rwanda to teach about missions work, provide leadership training, and supply basic human needs support for our sister parish in Taba. We will be living in mud huts with the villagers there and sharing their meals and their joy for the Lord. The team really have no idea what we are going to be doing there, but we have faith that God will take care of us. News of where we are staying exactly and what specifically we are going to be doing there slowly trickles in to Rev. Kris through the catechists and bishops of Rwanda, but even Kris is skeptical of what will really happen once we get there. Going to Rwanda is not only exciting, but also extremely nerve-wracking. I have never been out of North America before; I have never been away from my family for so long; nor have I ever been without electricity or running water for so long. I am scared of so many things: sickness, nakedness, not being able to speak the language, not being able to help the people, not being spiritually mature enough, peeing on my skirt...Lots of things. But of course, God reminds me of Romans 8: 28-39 and gently comforts me by telling me that His love covers all and that I shouldn't be worried. So now, I'm just trying to take things one step at a time until July 24th when I am on a plane flying to LA, then to Washington, D.C., then to Rome, then to Ethiopia, then finally to Rwanda. And by then, I will be so tired and jet lagged that I won't have time and will be so submerged in the new culture and people that I won't have to worry; I'll just "get 'er done." :)

One week after I return home from Rwanda, I will be moving into my dorm at UofA. I will be living in Villa del Puente, one of the newer dorms near Wildcat Stadium, the student gym, and Highland Market. I have no idea who my roommate is, but I should find out who she is some time in July (hopefully before I go to Rwanda). I am so ecstatic to be going college. I absolutely love my major (Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English) and the Pre-Ed department down there is so inviting. I am looking forward to joining Future Teacher's Club and I am hoping to find a good Christian group down there as well. Ahh, just thinking about beautiful UofA makes me smile. :D

I apologize that this post is so long; I figured my first post needed to start things off with a bang. My posts after North Carolina and Rwanda are bound to just as long (if not longer), but after college begins, I am sure my time schedule will not allow for me to update this thoroughly. However, I will do my best to update as regularly as possible. Thanks for reading--stay tuned! :)