Wednesday, April 25, 2007

so it's on. just more solo.

it's here. the final week of classes. you know what this means? procrastination? um, yes. or at least, that's what i'm doing at this particular moment. after a cup of wawa coffee and my new martina mcbride cds playing, i'm pretty much ready to finish this counseling final TONIGHT. but really, i wanted to give you all an update on plans and such. because there's actually a lot to update on. (hooray!)

so YESTERDAY i received an email from pastor cary (he was leading up the SEND english camp team). the email reads: "For several months we have been requesting prayer for the formation of a team I was to lead to minister in an English camp in Poland this August. We think you have sensed a lot of uncertainties. These uncertainties and the lack of a full team have caused us to decide we should not pursue this further." i replied to this email asking if this meant that were were not going to poland at all. i received an email back about an hour later saying that the CAMP wasn't cancelled, but that SEND was not sending their team over. which means that i am going to the camp, but i am not meeting up with pastor cary and evelyn when i get there. but let me just tell you that during that hour before i heard back from pastor cary, i was so shaken that i might not be going to poland this summer. i had no idea what to even begin thinking.

little bit of background: lately i've been worried about this trip. i feel as though i'm the one doing all of the pushing and not leaving it in God's hands. sure, i pray about things and decisions about the trip, but not as much as i feel i should. i know what i need to do next and i take it a step at a time. i figured that if God didn't want me to go, He'd stop me somewhere along the way. moral of the story: through this whole email ordeal, i realized that this isn't me. this is completely God. He can indeed take away this trip at any given time. if He wants me to go, i'll go. if He wants me to stay here, I will. HE IS SOVEREIGN.

on another note, i was just thinking about how much fun our chorale had with the opole college students (yes, liz - you know what i mean) and how much fun i am going to have with these students at the camp. i am so excited to connect with them and be able to talk about life and learn more about their lives and beliefs and world while being able to share mine.

and let me just tell you of my love for adventure. first of all, let's just say that this summer belongs completely to the Lord. plans have changed so many times and things have been happening right and left that i just quit trying to follow them and control them. i'm just along for the ride here. and as liz said, "this has been a wild ride, but if you can hold on to your saddle, i think the horse will get you there in one piece. " so back to my topic of adventure. complete culture shock. traveling the polish train system. being a cultural minority. living life with the "take it as it comes" attitude. being completely flexible. needing to be completely flexible. (plus, no papers to write.) being surrounded by a completely different language. trying to communicate. I AM SO EXCITED.

please continue to pray for:
- finances (45% there)
- that i finish this semester. well. sleep included.
- that amtrak/mastercard lets me redeem my points for a free continental flight to michigan.
- jerry and marek as they plan for the english camp

thank you all so much for reading and for praying.
HAPPY SPRING!

3 comments:

YisraelAmmi said...

wow. Definitely will be praying for you

Anonymous said...

Hey Christine,

This is Rich from Lubin. It's funny, one of my friends was googling the coffeehouse and came upon your blog and gave it to me. It's a small world after all. I am a Journeyman here in Lubin. Just thought I'd drop ya a message to say hey and we're looking forward to you coming to help with the work here. God bless. I have a myspace page at www.myspace.com/risenbygrace

christine! said...

RICH! here's me leaving this in the hopes that you'll see it... =) do you have an email address? i don't have myspace, so i can't contact you through there, but i'd like to email you! you can email me at christine.lindemann@gmail.com

i hope i hear from you! =)