A sight to behold!

In the past, I've talked a lot about all the hours of Spanish school, studying, and other Spanish related activities that have mostly occupied my time here. After a full week of learning, my head is usually almost swimming with the uses of subjunctive, imperfect vs. preterite tense, estar vs. ser, idiomatic expressions, and a boatload of new vocabulary. My teacher, Mary, sometimes says "Aww, pobrecita la cabeza, Sam!", referring to my head that's about to emit fumes if it has to remember another iota of information. :)

But luckily for me and for all other sufferers of the head-about-to-explode syndrome, there's a solution: the weekend! In my weekends here, two major activities I did (besides taking naps) were hiking the volcano Acatenango and traveling to Tikal to see the ancient Mayan ruins. They are, I might add, two experiences that are at the top of my list of "things I'll never forget".

The trip to Acatenango was a group trip organized by a friend, Deano, that I met here at the Spanish school in Antigua. He graciously invited me to join their group of nine, which I did, without fully realizing the pain my poor body was to endure later on!

On the way to the drop site. Not a clue about
the beating we were about to take. :)

Our initial ascent. Looks easy, right?

Some of the what the path looked like. On the way up it
was very foggy which made everything wet and slippery.

The hike begins at 1,400m (4,600 ft) up a generous slope of about 30-40 degrees with 25 pound backpacks. That may not seem like much, and indeed, it seemed easy at first, but after a while you start to want to throw in the towel. Finally, after close to six hours of hiking up to an altitude of 3,676m (12,060 ft) through slippery mud, sand, and volcanic residue, we reached our base camp. We were still not at the top, however; that was 300m further and the hardest climb of all!

Our basecamp. Hardly any of us slept because of the rocks,
icy cold, and noisy neighbors, but better than nothing!

The final ascent. What made this part hard was the
volcanic sand underfoot. On top of having to climb at
a 40 degree angle, you also had to take about two
steps for about every foot you traveled!

However, in spite of all the hard work, it sure was worth it. About all I could say was "wow, wow, wow......wow!" Nothing prepared me for what I was about to see. I was literally "on cloud nine"!

Some of the crew that made it to the top for sunset. Left to right: Lilli,
Daniel, Monica, Michael, Danny, and myself.

When we got to our camp that afternoon, only some of us climbed all the way to the top to see the sunset. The rest stayed behind to wait until the next morning.

We woke up the next morning at 4:00, hardly any of us having slept a wink, and prepared to climb to see the sunset. The millions of stars shone like diamonds in the crystal clear sky above us as we trudged slowly in the dark up the final slope. In all my life, I have never seen stars like that. With no lights for miles, you could literally see millions and billions of them! Again, all I could say was "wow, wow, wow..." I couldn't help but think then of the One who placed all of them there with merely His spoken word. What an amazing God we serve!

Once we finally reached the top we walked over to watch for eruptions from the active volcano, Volcán de Fuego. We saw a few small ones, but nothing to write home about. I thought we might not see any, and one of the other guys had literally just finished saying "Wow, wouldn't that be awesome if there'd be a huge explosion right now?", when BOOOOM and the top of the volcano opened with a spray of bright red lava and a huge puff of smoke. We all stared incredulously as the lava trickled down the sides and slowly turned to the color of the volcano. 

After the eruption, we turned our eyes towards the east where we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. (This post is full of superlatives, isn't it? That's how it was, though!) Again and again I had to think of God and to marvel at his creation. And maybe it was a bit silly, but I felt closer to God as I stood 14,000 feet up in the sky and saw the cities, rivers, and forests beneath me. Or as the psalmist so eloquently says: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalms 3:3-4

As a little side note, my aforementioned friend, Deano, made a very entertaining video of the trip, which has some more details about our trip. He is a master of talking "Espanglish" and is not afraid to try to say things, even though it might be embarrassing (a quality I very much admire!) You can find the video here.

The weekend after hiking up Acatenango, I traveled to Tikal. The trip maybe wasn't quite as spectacular as the volcano, but it still was quite interesting for a history lover like me. Tikal, for those of you that don't know, is an ancient Mayan village, and one of the most famous Mayan regions in the world. The park is renowned for its well-preserved Mayan temples and its many other buildings and ruins. It's located in the northern part of Guatemala, about a 10-11 hour trip if everything goes well.

Unfortunately, everything didn't go well. On the way there, we had two flat tires on the bus which lost us about 2-3 hours. When we finally got to Flores, our stop, it was already too late to go on the tour I had paid for. However, due to a very kind guide, and some answered prayers, everything worked out surprisingly well. I was put on another tour without having to pay extra and I got to spend the same amount of the time in the park.

Scientists estimate that around 120,000 Mayans lived in Tikal during its peak. While I was looking at the ruins, I thought about how the villages must have looked many hundreds of years ago. Mayan men and women bustling around, working their farms, babbling a strange language. Slaves working in the hot sun to erect temples for the Mayan gods of the sun, earth, fire, and water. Mayans in costumes singing and dancing around a fire worshiping their deities. What must it all have looked like? 

One of the main Mayan villages or plazas. 

The view from the top of Temple IV. In the distance you can see other
temples peeking up above the jungle.

Besides all the ruins, we also got to see a lot of wildlife. Since Tikal is a jungle, it sustains a multitude of creatures inside its vast borders. We saw a grey fox, numerous spider and howler monkeys, many species of birds, and two toucans--all in the wild! And that's not even scratching the surface of all the wildlife that finds refuge under the jungle canopy of Tikal.

Visiting these ruins was a great experience. However, in a way, it made me feel a bit sad as well. All this effort and work of the Mayans to please who? or what? Do I put a proportional amount of effort into worshiping God, who I know is real? Quite a challenge, isn't it? But at the same time, I can rejoice that I can have a personal relationship with my Maker. I don't need to tremble and constantly offer sacrifices to "please" Him, even though He requires me to do my part.

I hope you enjoyed this little sketch of my visits. If you are ever in Guatemala, take some time to visit these places. You won't be disappointed!

And as always, thanks so much for your support and prayers! In a few days I have plans to travel to El Salvador to begin another year of teaching school for the deaf. I'll really be sad to have to leave this pretty town of Antigua, but at the same time, I can't wait to get back to my home away from home. Pray that this school year would go well, and that we would be could instruments in the hands of God as we interact with the deaf of El Salvador!

Aprendemos Español!

So I'm now well into my month of learning Spanish here in Antigua, Guatemala and it's been quite the ride! It's been a while since I've written, so I thought I'd invite you to have a peek into my daily activities.

I already told you a bit about my family for home-stay, but I'll elaborate a bit more. There's a total of five in the family that are regularly in this house, although there are also others (boyfriends, girlfriends, visitors, etc.) that come and go. There's the lady of the house, Odilia, who makes food for and cares for us and the students next door. On top of all that, Odilia is also a teacher at the school, so she is a very busy lady!

Adolfo is the man of the house. He also helps clean and cook, besides doing his job of selling avocados door to door now that they're in season. He's usually the one that sits with us to eat while Odilia is out. He always likes to spur on Spanish conversation by asking us questions like ¿Qué hiciste hoy en la escuela? or ¿Cómo fue tu día?

Then there are the "children": Hector, Paty, and Saira. All of them have a "special someone" that comes and goes. Hector is the one probably the closest to my age--him and I have lots of fun conversations. I taught him how to solve my Rubik's cube one night. You should have seen his face when he finally could do it on his own!

We have a lot of fun together even though we're usually not all in the house at once, except maybe on weekends. They make it a point to include students as if they were a member of the family.

One weekend, I went with some of the family to a local fiesta to see some
dances. Left to right: Paty, Paty's boyfriend, me, Hector

As far as my school goes (it's not always the same for everybody), it's five days a week, six hours a day, with four of those hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. Some of the classes, especially in the morning, consist of talking, reviewing, and group activities. The student can guide the class about as much as he wants. If I have a topic I'd like to talk about, we talk about it and discuss it. If there is some vocab I'd like to learn, we learn it. All of this makes school very individualistic, which is perfect. And almost all classes are done one-on-one which makes for a very immersive experience.

Group discussion/practice time. This time, we each had a piece of paper
with a theme. The "moderator" asked each of us several questions about
the theme that we had to answer with our opinion. These types of activities
are my favorite!

Michael, from Switzerland, along with his teacher.

Snack time! After the first two hours of school, we take a pausa to stretch
our legs a bit, talk, and enjoy some snack courtesy of a little tienda and a
small amount of quetzales (Guatemalan currency).

There are also the activities that the teachers do with the students, such as field trips. There are organized activities at least once a week which students can participate in, if they so choose. So far I've seen the ruins of San Francisco, a church/monastery that was partially destroyed in an earthquake, a cathedral, a coffee farm, a museum about the Mayans, a jade museum, and a nice view of Antigua from a place called Cerro de la Cruz. The teachers usually go along and explain to their students the history and culture of each place (in Spanish of course), so it's more of a hands-on Spanish class.

Coffee spread out to dry in the hot, Guatemalan sun.

You can't just walk by the coffee, you have to touch it!

Some Mayan musical instruments displayed on the
wall of the museum.

A view of Antigua from Cerro de la Cruz. The volcano directly ahead is
called Volcán de Agua. Its top is almost always obscured by clouds.

An active Catholic cathedral called Iglesia la Merced. 

Also Iglesia la Merced. Shown here is an argument.
Silvia, my teacher on the left that is pointing, explained
that the illustrations were ears of corn, but the rest of us
were sure that they were grapes.

The inside of Iglesia la Merced. 

The ruins of San Francisco. Before the earthquake it
had been a huge cathedral, and a place where the monks
and nuns ate and slept. Very interesting to think about
the people that might have lived here.

More ruins, with the town of Antigua in the background.

A papaya tree growing by the ruins, with some not yet
ripe papayas clinging to the trunk.

So you might have guessed by now, with all these things happening, I might be a bit busy. You could say so... There's never a lack of things to do, that's for sure! Every day after school, I go to my room to study and relax a bit. It seems no matter how much I practice, there's always more to learn! But that's how I like it.

Finding an isolated spot to study can be difficult, but
here I managed to find one.

About the only time I can really relax is on weekends. Saturday and Sunday I don't have classes, so I take it a bit easier, although I still study some. I usually save my sightseeing excursions for the weekend, because it's a bit easier to manage. Just last weekend, I went with a group to hike up a 4,000 meter high volcano, called Acatenango. That was an experience I'll never forget! I'll share that experience in another blog post, though, because it's kind of a long story.

I also have plans to visit Tikal, an ancient Mayan village now in ruins. At Tikal, there are many Mayan temples and pyramids that you can climb up and from which you can see for miles. My time here in Guatemala is fast running out, but I'm sure glad I came. It will be an experience I'll never forget!

Well, that's about it for this installment! I hope you enjoyed and thanks as always for your prayers and support! Please continue praying for me. In spite of all the fun I'm having, it's not all enjoyment. Probably the biggest struggle for me has been consistently having to be outside my comfort zone. At home, everyone around me believed the same things I did. I never had to explain why I don't drink, why I don't smoke, why I pray, or why I cling to such strange beliefs. Here in Guatemala, in the midst of all sorts of people, it's very different.

That said, I also know it's really good for me to be out of my comfort zone, even though it's not easy. I have to think about exactly what I believe and why. My prayer is that what I say (or don't), and more importantly, how I live, will be a witness and testimony to others.

Before I go, here are some prayer requests:

• Pray for me that I could live out my convictions and not be ashamed to share what I believe and why. Pray that my life could be a witness to others.
• Pray for my language learning. Pray that I learn all I can.
• Continue to pray for CICS and those in charge as they organize everything for a new year.
• Pray for the deaf in El Salvador, that they could continue to learn to communicate as well as learn more about God. Pray that we staff could teach them well.

New faces, new places

Hey everyone! I'm back... into this digital space, at least. I decided to stop writing while I was at home, just because it takes up some extra time which was a very, VERY precious commodity. Each week I would submit my weekly schedule to my family and they would make sure it included my weekly requirement of 10 hours with them, not counting sleep.

Ok, so it wasn't that bad. Not even close, actually, but I did want to spend as much time with them as I could. In summary, "I would've written. no time. couldn't. sorry" So it goes...

On to actual news...

On Wednesday morning we left for the airport at 1:30... AM!!! Long story short after (some) tears, goodbyes, boredom, flying, boredom, driving, et cetera, I landed in Antigua, Guatemala at 2:45PM local time.

One little story about the airport, though, before I move on... It was about time to board and I was playing with my 5x5 rubik's cube, when I noticed a little girl watching me. I kept on going and when I was done, the girl and her friend enthusiastically clapped for me. I told them to try it, so they did for a little. Later, when I was boarding, I walked past them and the girl waves at me with a big smile and says "adiós!". That was a very fun little memory.

As I stepped out of the airport, I began looking for a sign with my name on it, amid a cacophony of "taxi??", "TAXI??", "Taxi, señor??". The director of the school told me there would be a driver waiting for me, which there was. I hopped in and we were on our way after I exchanged some money and paid a (mandatory) tip to another guy who asked me for one. He was very convincing, and I just wanted to go already!

I didn't have a good picture of the place, but I was told Antigua is a very nice place. Indeed it is! It's a small town with old, painted buildings. Such a beautiful place! And since it's higher up in the mountains, it's cool, and this time of the year there's a very nice breeze almost continually blowing.

I was taken by the driver to my host's place, a small house in a small colony that's called Colonia Manchén. I met my host, his wife Odilia, and two of their three children, Hector and Paty. They're very nice people and excellent hosts. I talked with them for a bit, unpacked, asked for the WiFi password (of course!), and ate supper a bit later, after which I had a good night's rest, interrupted intermittently by some ornery felines outside my window. They must have been having marriage problems...

This morning I ate breakfast and walked to school, as if on a cloud, through the breezy 70 degree morning air, with the sweet chirping of birds singing in my ears. (If you can't tell, I'm poking fun at all you guys in the frigid north. And I'm not sorry, either. :)

I did get a bit lost on the way to school, however, 'cause there's like a million Spanish schools in the area, but no problems. Hector found me and directed me to the right place.

For this week only, my teacher is a lady called Lidia, who is very nice and patient. For school, we basically just talked the whole time. When a word came up I didn't know, she would explain, until our time was up and two of my notebook pages were already full! She asked me questions about where I live, what my favorite foods are, who my family is, where I go to church, etc. I really enjoyed talking to her and look forward to tomorrow. Unfortunately, though, as I said before she is teaching another group after this week, so I will be switching to another teacher starting on Monday.

This afternoon, we went on a bit of a tour to a jade museum, and a chocolate museum, both Guatemalan exports. We got to see how they're made and the Mayan culture behind them.

A tour guide explains how the Mayans refined jade.

I also made some friends today, which was probably the best part. I'm so glad I came here by myself, because if forces me to talk to people other than my friends. So far I've met Daniel from New Zealand, Deano from California, Heinig and Anne-Marie from Germany, and Elan from Canada. We'll see if I can make any other new friends!

That's about it for all my escapades so far. I hope you enjoyed this and God bless y'all for supporting me and praying for me!

And as usual, here are some prayer requests:

• Thank God for safety
• Pray that I could take advantage and learn all I can while I'm in Guatemala
• Pray for CICS and also for me as I prepare to teach another year

Beautiful sunset on the way to Miami.

My poor Doritos I prized so highly got smashed in
my suitcase. Still good, though!

My current room setup.

This is at the park where a lot of Spanish students go with their teachers. It's
a really nice enclosed area with lots of trees and greenery.

Another view of the park. My teacher and I sat at the table in the lower
left-hand corner of the picture.

One of the streets in Antigua, with a volcano
in the background.

Landing in Guatemala. As you can see, it's very mountainous. 

A square in front of the church with volcanos in the background.

Last week of school!

I can't believe it, but it's true! In just a couple more weeks I will be coming home. I'm really excited, even though leaving El Salvador for a while does make me a little sad. During our weekly family Skype sessions, Katelyn always asks me "How many more sleeps, Samuel?". After which I grab my phone and look it up for her. The poor little kid about can't wait. :)

Only 15 more sleeps, Katelyn! :) I'm not sure whose more ready, my family or I, but either way we'll be glad to see each other.

However, despite my anticipation, there are some things I'm gonna miss for a while. Namely, the cheap, abundant food here (no offense, Mom!) with all the goodies such as rice, beans, tortillas, avocados, fresh tropical fruit, glass bottle drinks, hot chocolate (the El Salvador kind), etc., etc. 

I'm also gonna miss the people here. Even though, I've had difficulties, I've come to love each one of the deaf children here, almost like my family. It will feel weird going home and not having to sign or talk Spanish at all!

And of course, with the time to leave drawing near, it's getting close to "crunch time". I plenty of things I need to get done yet before I'm ready to leave:

• Finish up school, tests, etc.
• Practice words for the competition
• Practice for the end-of-year drama with the children
• Go shopping for things I want to take home
• And a bunch of other small things I want to get done yet...

School this year has gone well. We will practice their words a lot this week in preparation for the last spelling competition this year. I'm hopeful that I taught my students a good bunch of things this year. We'll see at the start of next year, whether any of their learning stayed in their heads!

Jairo, Eduardo, and Joel work on their math work. I keep
 telling them to avoid using their fingers for addition
and subtraction, but it's like talking to a post. :)

A big thing that happens at the end of each year, is the drama, or program, that the students perform for their parents and local community. We're doing the story of Elijah this year when he holds a competition on Mount Carmel. We've been practicing hard these last weeks, and the children are slowly learning their parts. Next week, we won't have school, but the children will still come to practice for a few hours each day.

Mauricio, Carlos, and Eduardo act out a scene as the rest of the
children watch how it's done.

Another big change that's coming is the Ramos family moving to the States. They have been my rest stop here in El Salvador for many a weekend! I will be sad to have them leave, but I bless them in going and doing God's work somewhere else.

And that's about it for this week's snapshot! A bit shorter than usual, but I have other work that's calling my name! :) Thanks so much for all your support and prayers. It means so much! God bless you all! Here are some things you can pray for:

• Staff as we wrap up these last days of school
• Students that they could pay attention and not slack off
• The administrators of CICS as they figure out the different staff positions
• Patience and humbleness for "yours truly" as I try to give it my best

Blow them bubbles, Silvia!

Eduardo smirks as Joel tries to avoid picking the "old maid" out of his hand.

Miguel and Joel try to convince everyone that they can
mow the lawn, too.

A beautiful view from a Suchitoto motel where Matthias, Elmer, and I stayed
for the weekend. We were celebrating Elmer's 22nd birthday.

Meet a student: Ana

Name:      Ana Deysi Ramírez Rosales

Age:         17 years old

Arrival:    First started coming to CICS in 2007

Teacher:  Mary Eva Pacheco

Ana is part of a family of six deaf children. She is a sister to Verónica, the cook, and Teresa whom I wrote about earlier. If you would like to know more about Ana's home life, you can click here to got to that post.

For the rest of this post, I will let someone else do the talking. Her teacher, Mary, has been in school with Ana for many years and knows much more about her than I do, so I asked her to write a piece which she gladly did. She wrote it in Spanish which I translated below. If you want to see the original text, whether you know Spanish or not, you can click here. Maybe you can even critique my translation skills! Confession time: I did use a bit of Google Translate, but nobody's perfect, right! :) Here you go...

I remember the first time that I met Ana. She seemed like a very pretty girl, with intelligence and a lot of energy. She always had a beautiful smile, which made me want to try to get acquainted and be her friend. But to my surprise, she rejected me immediately and always tried to do different things to openly show that she didn't like me--things like disrespecting me, hitting me, or pushing me. It wasn't easy, but with the support and advice of Nata and Becky, I was finally able to get close to her and she accepted me. 

Over the years, I have discovered that Ana has a very strong character and a heart that wants to do what is right. However, she fights against her human nature that wants to lead her astray, and which often does. She has a very brilliant mind and is very intelligent, to the point where academics are very easy for her. I would say she pretty much learns by herself--she doesn't need much explanation in order to learn something new. Year after year, she wins first place in the spelling competition, although some years her little sister Teresa has won, which has not been easy for Ana to accept.
In these last few years, Ana has struggled with submitting to authority, influencing and making groups between the rest of the deaf children, and leaving her house under false pretenses in order to go to places that wouldn't be allowed. 

She confesses to fighting a lot against the Tempter in doing what is right. She has expressed her desire to be faithful to God, even though she knows it isn't easy. 

Let's pray for Ana, that she could remain firm in her decision to be faithful to God. Pray also that God could provide a place to work for her. That is another big decision she needs to make next year, since she won't be coming back to school. 

Through faith, I see Ana completely decided to serve Christ, being a useful instrument for the glory of God, teaching other deaf children what she has learned. I think she would be a good teacher! 

I am happy to have had the privilege of teaching her these years, and I leave the rest up to the Lord. --Mary Eva Pacheco

Like Mary said, please pray for Ana. She has many struggles, but desires what is right. Pray that she transform into a shining example of what Christ can do. Pray that she wouldn't lose what she was taught when she stops coming back to school next year. Pray for Ana...

Ana, along with Teresa, "busy" helping Verónica make
 chocobananas (chocolate covered bananas on a stick).

Fighting for something, not sure what. Left to right: Beatriz, Tiffany, Ana

In school, supposed to be paying attention!
Left to right: Teresa, Paola, Ana

Sooooo tired! Hammocks are always so inviting
right after lunch. I can testify to that!

Ana tries to whistle, making for a hilarious expression,
not unlike Elmer's "fat person" impersonation. :)

Believe it or not, more people than this can fit on the swing.
I believe we've had up to five on there at one time. ;)
Left to right: Teresa, Beatriz, Ana

One of the all-time favorite afternoon games: trapo. You see if you can
knock the mop handle down without getting caught, which frees everyone.
Left to right: Mauricio, Ana, Eduardo, Teresa, Beatriz

Checking math problems with Carlos'
state-of-the-art calculator.

Practicing for this year's drama, with Ana playing the part of a distraught
mother whose son Mauricio is about to "resurrect".

How many people can fit on a bike?
Left to right: Ana, Teresa, Beatriz, Paola

Best sisters! Left to right: Ana, Verónica, Teresa

What is Samuel doing?

Image Credit: http://thechristianleaderscoach.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/4-goals-of-a-church-planter04021011.jpg

Purposes and goals are what motivate people. Not having at least somewhat of a vision can be disastrous--like a ship at sea with no rudder, if you permit me to use that oft-used metaphor.

I've been thinking about this often in the last while... why am I doing what I'm doing? Why am I a teacher for the deaf in a foreign country with a different culture? Why am I not at home working and earning money like it's just not possible to do in what I do? It's totally possible to do something good for the wrong reasons, which I have been guilty of numerous times.

Of course, in a perfect world, everyone would know exactly what they're good at and what they'll be doing with their life, and why. But this isn't a perfect world, now is it?

These paragraphs are an attempt to both clarify my own vision and to let y'all into a more personal area of my life.

There are many reasons to be a missionary. And by the word "missionary", I mean anyone working to bring people to the Kingdom, whether at home or abroad, just to make that clear. These reasons can be good or bad:

• to help people
• to make myself feel like I'm "doing" something with my life
• to impress others
• to mingle with other cultures

However, what is the ultimate reason? Why do we do missions? I believe it is because it's what we're commanded to do by our commander-in-chief, Jesus Christ, who commands us in Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations...". Therefore, why should I ultimately be a missionary?

• Because Jesus commands it!

If I am then under Jesus' command, what should my goal be? To bring glory to God, by showing others how to have a relationship with Christ.

How do I apply this to my life, then?

If I am here at CICS under God's calling, then it follows that my goal will be to bring the people around me (mostly the deaf, but others as well) to Christ. I will be more concerned about that than anything else I can think of.

But what if I have problems? What if I can't get along with people? What if I have difficulty adjusting to the culture? What if I can't give something up?

Then I have to remind myself of my ultimate goal--saving souls. If Jesus could die on the cross for people that hated him and for me, a sinner, surely I can endure some hardship, don't you think!

You're probably wondering by now what brought this up. I know it must sound like I'm having a terrible time. Don't worry, this year is going well and I'm definitely not complaining.

That said, I have some struggles as well. Bunny trail: isn't it funny, you seem to have those wherever you go?! However, as long we live on a fallen earth, nothing is going to be all peachy, bed-of-roses, et cetera, et cetera... Problems are real, and they aren't fun! It just helps sometimes to put those problems back in their place with a little bit of perspective.

So please pray for me as I continue to work here in El Salvador. Pray especially that I could have humbleness and patience.

Humbleness:

• for when I need to give up my own way.
• for accepting correction
• for being willing to do things outside of my comfort zone

Patience:

• for when I need listen quietly for God's still, small voice
• for the times when it seems like God isn't doing anything

Thank you so much for all of you who have been praying, sending mail, and supporting me in various other ways! I appreciate each and everyone of you. You are making a difference, whether you can feel it or not! Just take my word for it...