BAHAMAS

Here is the letter I sent out after I got back from my Bahamas trip. Enjoy!

Also, pretty sure I went to the place featured in this photo. 

~

Hello!

I am back from the Bahamas, with darker skin and lighter hair to boot! So sorry I haven’t gotten this out sooner, but I got a slight cold when I returned to the States – not the best welcome! Neither was the snow we got after being in tropical weather for a week!

I had such an amazing time, and this mission trip was definitely a life changing experience. I was so blessed to be able to be a part of an amazing team. We had a blast loving on the kids, playing with them, and building up relationships with them throughout the week. We got a lot of work done on the camp, and helped to prepare Camp Bahamas for the camp season. There’s still work to be done there, but we got an impressive load accomplished in the amount of time we had.

God spoke into my life this week so beautifully, in ways I never imagined. I feel like He has picked me through and organized me. I feel clean and fresh, and ready to do whatever work He has set up for me in the future, near and far.

I feel like one thing God taught me on this trip had to do with heart attitude; how your heart attitude is more important than the end result, and that you can’t judge the end result based off of how you feel about it.  I do that – base results off of how I feel about them. I base the state of God’s and mine’s relationship over how I feel, maybe at the end of a prayer, or how close I feel to Him. Or how much I feel like I impacted the kids, or how much good I feel like I did. It’s not about that – it’s about your goal, and your purpose. If your purpose and goal is to bring God glory, and to follow the path He has set out for you, then you won’t fail, no matter if you feel like you do.

Some of the work we did this week included:

> Chopping down/hauling a small forest (I did more clearing than machete-ing, unfortunately)

> Water sealing a small forest’s worth of wood, including two docks, a ginormous set of stairs, and four or five cabin’s decks

> Organizing the three kitchen pantries and cleaning said kitchen and dining haul

>Raking a field of dried grass

And other assorted odd jobs.

We would complete our morning and early afternoon work, and then head over to the park for VBS. The first day we walked around the surrounding neighborhood to spread the word that we were having VBS, but for the most part for the rest of the week, as soon as we stepped out of the vans, kids were either greeting us, handing us something, or physically attaching themselves to us. They were smart and playful, and gave out as much love to us as we did to them. After VBS we would head back to the camp for an hour of free time, during which we usually jumped into the ocean, and then head over to supper. The food was always so good, especially after being out in the hot sun all day! After supper we would have a debrief of the day and plan out tomorrow, and then would prepare the supplies accordingly for the next day’s VBS.

I made some amazing friends and wonderful memories on this trip, and I hope my team and I conveyed God’s love to all of the kids as He would have had us do. Thank you so, so much for sponsoring me so that I could go and have this experience and opportunity! May God bless you!

~

Resolution Update #4

2014 TO-DO LIST 1. Finish the book that's been in the works for 2 years.  

Still not done. Working on it.Slow going. I keep getting legalistic about the plot, then having trouble fleshing it out into the details. 
 
2. Become more dedicated in my quiet time. 

It's a journey, but I think I probably am better at it now than last year.

3.Investing more in my relationship with God.  

There will always be more I can do here.

4. Reading the Bible all the way through.  

This one did not work out this year, unfortunately. 
 
5. Working out more; getting in better shape. 
In between plagues I've really been enjoying working out and doing yoga and pilates. It's fun and makes me feel better, inside and out.

6. Keep my room clean. 

I am looking at a sparkling clean room as we speak.
 
7. Get my license. 

I believe the appointment has been made!

8. Get a job. 
Due to various plagues and surgeries, I'm afraid that did not happen over the summer. I was pretty bummed about it, but the timing was not right.

9. Go to college. 
AUGUST 23 PEOPLE.

10. Being more conscious of what you eat.
I don't think it gets more "conscious" than not eating sugar or carbs. 
 
11. Write more on the side of the novel mentioned above. 

I have been quite good about this. Lots of little giblets and scribbles and such. 

12. Read more. 

Probably not reading as much as I had intended too, but I am still reading more than I was last year.

 
13. Don't spend as much time online. 

Have gotten better about this as well, especially with friends. Instead of always watching something or browsing the internet, we actually DO something, and honestly, it's SO much more fun. 
 
14. Get better at guitar. 

I would say I have. Working on picking, and picked up the ukelele.
 
15. Graduate. 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I AM NOW A COLLEGE WOMAN.
 
16. Grow your hair out. Don't. Cut. Your. Hair. This. Year. 

I couldn't help it. I couldn't, really *blushes and gives sheepish smile* whoops! It's a bob now. But I don't regret it for a second. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new hair, and how much easier it is to do.

 

17. Be a better friend. 

Working on it; always room for improvement.

18. Be bolder with the Gospel.  

I haven't gone evangelizing or anything like that this year unfortunately, but I've tried to be more bold with bringing up the Gospel and the Lord in day to day conversation, and I think I can say I've gotten better at that. 

19. Write on paper sometimes. 

Oh my goodness, the wonders of doing this. It's a beautiful thing, a blank sheet of paper and a sharpened pencil. Doesn't get much better than that. 
 
20. Keep a journal.  

I have journal-ed some, but not as much as I had intended to. Maybe I'll journal some after this. 
 
21. Invest in other people more.  

I hope I have? I'm not really sure how to tell, other than to just try, and I'm pretty sure I've been doing that. 

22. Go on a mission trip. 
Such a beautiful experience. Still have not uploaded that letter. I'll do that after this.
 
23. Get more sleep this semester. 

I believe I can safely say I have accomplished this goal. I'm even waking up early (6-7) and going to bed early and it feels so good. We'll see how long this will last ;)

24. Paint your nails sometimes. 

*stares at nail polish collection sitting next to her and looks down at painted naile*
Yep. 

25. Be happy.  
 
 
26. Knit one garment for yourself this year. 

So....I had almost gotten most of it done....and then the pattern started speaking another language. Maybe I'll finish it some other time. *sigh*
 
27. Start saving money for the future.

Thank you graduation money donators!

 
28. Start an inspirational notebook. 

Hmm.. I had forgotten about this. Still want to do it though!

29. Wear scarves more often. 

Um. Not in this weather I don't.

30. Be. Patient. 

This is going to be one of those life long struggles. BUT I WANT TO FIX IT NOW.
 
31. Don't worry about things you have no control over.  

Pretty good about this, but nobody can remain completely stress free all the time. If you're stressed it means you're concerned about something. But yeah, I'd say I'm a good balance these days. 

32. Blog more. 

...How many blog posts have I posted today? We'll go with that qualifies for this one.

 
33. Get your arm patched up.  

Hey look, my arm's not oozing!!
 
34. Go to prom and party. 

WE CAME. WE SAW. WE PARTIED HARD. And then we went for ice cream and watched the Matrix. The end. 

35. Start the new writing curriculum.  

Haven't finished the first draft of the other yet. 
~ 

It's been a wonderful, wonderful summer so far! I'm enjoying it so much and can't wait for what happens next!

Update #3 on Resolutions

All of this must be taken with the fact that I had to have an unplanned surgery a couple of weeks ago in mind - it affected some of these :/


1. So it's mostly halfway done! :) I've figured out I can just sit down and write the thing from start to finish - I have to jump around. A lot, actually. So now maybe it will go smoother!

2. Always room for improvement. And I haven't done it in a few days.

3. Again, always room for improvement, but I feel better than I have in a long time about our Relationship! :)

4.

5. So, I had to have surgery. A rather large one. Hence, no workouts for me.

6.  I blame the surgery for the state of my room. Twas pristine, but as I haven't had the energy to clean it in the last few weeks, it's state of cleanliness has declined. Planning on ammending that this week, though.

7. CAN'T DRIVE. SURGERY.

8. Believe I shall this summer.

9. As good as there. Just need to figure out who I'm going to be living with o.O

10. May be doing a no-grain-no-sugar thing to help with my recovery. We'll see.

11. Been doing that here lately :)

12. I've read 3-4 books here lately. Yay! :)

13. Um. Surgery.....? *blushes*

14. Working on it, seeing results :)

15. NOT EVEN TWO WEEKS, BABY

16. Um. Ok, so here's the thing. I just dyed my hair (dark brown) and mom cut my split ends off. I don't get my hair cut often. About four inches had to be chopped off. So I'm thinking after graduation.....I may bob it. We'll see.

17. I believe it's going well :)

18. I haven't gone evangelizing recently, but I hope I'm living it out!

19. OH MY WORD I HAD NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT THIS WOULD BE. This has gotten me out of MAJOR writer's block. And it just feels lovely.

20. Virtually, which is not what I had planned on, but is still very good to do, and feels wonderful. God has been using this as such a big tool for me here lately.

21. Hopefully I am.

22. BEST. EXPERIENCE. OF MY LIFE. I shall write a blogpost entry, or at least post the letter I wrote about it.

23. Yes...and no. Mostly no, if I must admit. :/

24. Success! :D

25. Very good advice to myself, and I believe I'm sticking to it!

26. WIP!

27. ....nope. *hangs head in shame*

28. Hopefully I'll start it this summer :)

29.  It was 82 degrees outside today. I don't think so.

30. This will take years to complete. Working on it.

31. Pretty good at this, actually. Only a few circumstances where I'm not. Some aspects of the future. Other than that,

32. Hey, I've probably already blogged more this year than last, and it's only May. I count that as success.

33.  WIP.

34. THIS SATURDAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY

35. May be a while since I've vowed to finish my other first. 

The Nameless

So I've noticed a trend. A lot of my favorite fairytale characters are nameless. They have no names. No names may be mentioned throughout the story. Some examples are:

The Little Match Girl
The Princess and the Pea
The Goose Girl
The Little Mermaid
The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Even a more recent book: The Polar Express only mentions the name on one character, Billy, and a few others by titles instead of names; "Hero Boy", "Hero Girl", etc.

Googling to see if I could find any others to list above, I realized by finding on a site that they mention the parables Jesus tells. He gives titles or mentions the characters by their jobs - "the sower" for example. Why? Was giving names to the characters taking away from the blatant moral of the story that was the main point in the Savior telling these parables? If this was Jesus' preferred method of storytelling, I say it is worth a closer look.

These stories are timeless and classic and fantastical. They're beautiful and the kind I can't wait to read to my own children. And you know what? I didn't realize until today that the characters were nameless. Some had titles, but none of the above in the original versions had actual names. Does that take away from the story? I don't think so. I think it's because of the kind of stories that these are.

These stories are not told in the same way as the Hunger Games or the Percy Jackson series, for example. Both of those have first person narrative, and are meant to grab your attention as a reader for a very long time - for a few books, at least. The tales and parables that feature nameless characters are meant to be short - and I think it takes the focus away from the character and puts the spotlight onto the actual story. The 'nameless' stories also are generally shorter - I don't know of a series that features a nameless character (a successful one, that is). I don't think it would work to grab reader's attention if the main character was nameless during a whole series. I don't think it's possible for them to connect as well over such a long period of time.

They're also generally told in the third person. Referring to the characters by their "title": the "Eldest Princess", "The Little Mermaid", "The Little Match Girl", etc. Polar Express may or may not follow this rule - unfortunately I don't have the book handy to check.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say about it, I just found it interesting. Have a wonderful rest of the day!