the future . . .

is decidedly exciting. And it has been a while since I typed in here. Sometimes real life takes priority over life created on screens. Though, it seems life seen through screens is quickly becoming reality. But that's another blog post.

This summer(!) I am going to St. John's, Newfoundland for a week, France for two months, and possibly roadtripping from Vancouver to Portland, Oregon, for a weekend.

In the beginning of May my brother and I are being flown to St. John's by our Aunt Laura (and the plane, too, of course). It's going to be so good, because we know hardly anything about our family beyond our biological parents, and it's going to be good to go back to the homeland .... I've heard there's moose everywhere and that Newfies are quirky and super nice. I am looking forward to good conversations with Rodney, and other folks, too.


Then, there's the possibility (and hope) of finding some wicked seat sales to Vancouver for mid-June, then taking a roadtrip with my pals Kari and Claire to visit our friend Mika -- she's finishing highschool and it's her graduation party! Graduation parties are a much bigger deal to Americans than Canadians. I love the excuse to get together. Keeping my fingers crossed for some sweet deals!


Then. France.

I've been wanting to go to a French-speaking country since I was about 10 or 11. I was always jealous of kids who got to do exchanges and things like that. I looked into working and studying in France, but it can be so expensive! I volunteered with YWAM in Vancouver last summer, and that's who I will be staying and working with this summer. I'm leaving end of June and I'll come back end of August.

I am going to be staying in a little village an hour and a half east of Paris. I will be helping with whatever I can, cleaning, cooking, translation. They'll be running some kids' camps in August. There's a two-week mission trip to Paris in the middle of July. We'll be using art, music, drama, dance, etc. to initiate conversations about spirituality. "Mission work" in France is going to look a bit different than what would be done in a country like Congo.


of course, my head is already planning beyond this summer, too. But anything past 2010 is just speculation. But so exciting, nonetheless.

My mom proposed the idea this past weekend of doing a 6-month school with YWAM in the time I have between graduating 4th year in 2011 and teacher's college. YWAM is big on mentoring and intentional discipleship in the context of serving others. They have this sort of introductory 6-month program they do called Discipleship Training School (DTS). For 3 months you stay at one of their many, many bases around the world and you learn about character, integrity, compassion; you are challenged to grow, to learn about yourself and others and God, and you make friends all over the world, too. Then, for the other months you do what they call 'outreach' -- you simply put into practice everything you have been learning, in a different context and generally in a different culture, in hopes to stretch and challenge you and, ideally, to give your mind a bigger picture of what's going on in the world.

Wouldn't that be crazy? Ideas come and go in my head, but some of them stick, and then I make them happen. Whether it's with YWAM, or doing a DTS, or doing something else entirely, I am pretty sure something exciting is in the works for the future....


it's decidedly an exciting time to be alive.