Some simple stories from our past couple weeks…
The weekend after we returned from the Orphanage camp we had some visitors come to Astana. Our visitors just happen to be the VP of the IMB who was on a tour of this part of the world to see how things are going. This was a really awesome experience to meet with him and his wife as well as some other leaders of our Central Asia zone. They were only in town for one night and left the following morning. In that short time though we were able to enjoy a meal at a local restaurant and then have a meeting that lasted pretty late. In this meeting many topics were discussed from the changes taking place in the board to sharing with them about what has been going on in KZ. All of this was a great time to experience the wider vision of what the board is and I was able to learn a lot in just one night of conversation. We talked quite a while about the state of the American “clubs” and what should be done to awaken them to a Kingdom focus (this was my favorite part of the conversation). We talked about the student’s perspective and what could be done to connect two very different generations. I was also very excited to hear about some of the changes the board is preparing to do in the future as far as partnering with local “clubs” to send more people.
The next week Alsion and I were exploring a different part of the city and went to find a coffee shop that some believers own, however when we found it is was closed. So we decided to walk around and stumbled upon a coffee shop (that had ICE LATTES!). When we were at this coffee shop we met another American who was visiting Astana for the weekend. We talked a lot with him and it was one of those moments of simply enjoying conversation. He told us about the NGO he was working for and his time in the Navy and we shared about SBU and our many different travels. He is going to the Peace Corp. in September. This day reminded me of my time in New Zealand meeting all the different travelers and hearing great stories.
Our supervisor’s family is in town this week. It has been fun seeing where they are coming from and how they interact with their dad and sister. We were able to celebrate several birthdays with them so this means lots of cake and parties! The little girls birthday was puppy themed and it was super cute!
One of my favorite days in this time happened just a couple days ago when we were able to travel to Boravoe! This is the resort place of Northern KZ. It was so beautiful and even better because of the people who we had the opportunity to go with. We met some women from Germany who are working for a special needs kids home. They are the ones who invited us to go but we were also able to invite a couple of our local friends. We took the train there and I learned how to play a very fun German card game called “bonanza.” The entire day was full of so many languages and culture, it was so much fun! I had the chance to swim in the gorgeous lake and we also hiked alongside the lake. There was a place to rent paddleboats so we all decided it would be fun and took em’ for a spin! It was a very fun day to be outside of the city with good company but I was so wiped out from the day I just slept on the train ride home haha!
The following day after that we all met again in the evening to make a local food called barosock. This night was so fun we laughed, cooked, and simply enjoyed each other’s company. Also the sister of one of our local friends came and it was awesome to be able to meet her!
The best part of our free time is and will always be our time we get to PR. We have been committing a good amount of time to specifically walk the campus and prepare for our upcoming time that will be spent there.
This weekend there is a team retreat that we are both looking forward to. It will be kool to meet others from different parts of KZ. After this will be when things really pick up as we start advertising for our English courses as well as planning them. We are also helping a local team prepare folders and things for the new freshmen that are coming to study at our university. We will hopefully get to help them with different seminars they have the opportunity to do on campus.
So, this is life right now. We are making memories and getting a chance to grow in so many different ways!
My song of the summer has this chorus (I thought I would like to share)
We have found our home
We have found our peace
We have found our rest
In the One who loves
He will light the way
He will lead us home
As we offer all
To the One who saves us.
(Hillsong: “The One Who Saves”)
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment