5 days of college left!

It's true! Finals start a week from wednesday! Class is canceled monday which means only five days of classes! Horray! I have two finals on thurday the 10th, an in class memo and an exam in Intro to Counseling. Could be worse! I'm in the midst of two papers- one is pretty short and insignificant but it's taking some time becuase it's research based and the other is supposed to be 20-15 pages and also researched based. Regardless... I'll get there and each day the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

Also! An old old family friend just found me on myspace! It was so fun to look at her pictures and some what catch up with her.
I got the first big batch of thank you letters and graduation party announcements out! Horray! What a relief!

This our community groups last meeting together for the semester and it's really sad! I have loved serving in the group and watching God bless the ministry!

We're getting a little stressed about the living situation for the summer and next year. We have girls to live with but Dawn (our current roomie) is selling the place we live in and the other girls we want to live with are stuck in their leave til August. It's just silly logistics that God will work out and we'll look back and laugh at how stressed we were about it. Still though some prayer that that works out and that we are calm and smart about it would be great!

I'm going to get to bed so I can be rested for tomorrow!

I love you guys!

These are two of the girls I'll be living with next year! Just so you can put some faces to prayers... this is Brittni and Kara. They've been a huge blessing in my life! They're awesome friends and awesome women of the Lord! Brittni is going to grad school next year at SDSU in speech language pathology and Kara has another semester at State in Statistics. She works for the Padres right now and wants to do stats for baseball! Love them!

Strengths... found!

One of our homework assignments from last week's Africa meeting was to take the Gallop's Strength Finders Test. Drum roll please... here are the results...

1. Woo "Winning others over"
I love meeting new people, finding common ground and engaging in conversation. As the book defines this strength, "There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet- lots of them." Can I get an amen?

2. Strategic

This one means that I like to make sense out of confusion. I like to take chaos, create a strategy and go for it. "Select and Strike" as the book calls it.

3. Beleif

Apparently I have core beleifs that are "eduring". These beleifs make me family-oriented, altruistic, responsible and mean I hold high ethics. My work must mesh with my values and it must be meaningful and matter to me. hm... looks like I'm in the right field!

4. Arranger

I am a multi-tasker and a conductor. I "jump into the confusion, devising new options, hunting for new paths of least resistance, and figuring out new partnerships- becuase, after all, there might just be a better way". Sounds like it compliments strategic well.

5. Communication

My "word pictures pique people's interest, sharpen their world, and inspire them to act" eep. big shoes to fill, huh? It means I love public speaking, hosting, explaining and describing. accurate.

And my friends... as promised... a picture of the team! It's not a good picture but at least my camera took the picture before one of it's spasms.

Left to right- back row: Dan, Kelsey, me, Mawi, Kelly, Jeremiah

Left to right- front row: Angie and Ruby

google maps

Some of my team memebers suggested checking this out... I thought you guys might enjoy it!
It's a google satalite map of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. It doesn't look much like a capital though. Apparently Lilongwe is more like a region not a city. The area Ill be living and working in is like a sub section of Lilongwe.
Enjoy the map!

cheap tickets... score!

Last night we had our culture night for the Malawi and Uganda teams! We did an activity where we examined our own background and learned that we can't really make an assumptions about where people come from. We also talked about how each person has a unique story and how ridiculous it is to assume we are all the same. This is all a common theme in my major so I hear it often but it's so sweet to talk about it in a spiritual context!
We ate a bunch of Malawian and Ugandan food to prepare ourselves. I think I'll survive. Ruby says the first couple weeks will the hardest in regards to food becuase every new person we meet will want to cook for us. Corrie Klekowski says all the food made by the locals will have "bone chips" in it. lovely. There was a pretty good peanut soup thing that i mixed rice and black beans into. It turned out pretty good! I was very happy to see that cheese sandwiches (white bread and a kraft single) and fruit salad (mangos, bananas, and apples) were Malawian! Apparently though the interns generally cook for themselves.... this is good news for my digestive system! I am a little worried about continual headaches from the amount of onion and pepper that was in each dish but that's survivable!
My team dropped from 12 members to 9. The size feels more managable and actually I'm stoked becuase that means more intimate friendships! Woo! Ruby is doing an awesome job with keeping all the logistic stuff in line. I'm so glad she'll be there with us!
Oh! Cheap tickets... go figure I got distracted... focus amanda... Flood was able to get our plane tickets for about 600 or 700 less than expected which means the total amount I need to raise is lower! Ruby will get us a more accurate number but Im guessing I only need to raise about 1500 more! Awesome! Thanks again to everyone who has already given! I'll keep you updated and I'm be working on those thank you's!
I'm sitting at our condo waiting for my new computer to come! Horray! I'm going to go and work on graduation announcments, party invitations and thank you notes!
Thanks again for being such a blessing in my life and for your support! I can feel it!

2,000 to go!

I am OH SO HAPPY to report that I almost to my goal!
I just totaled everything including what FPC is sending and I have a total of 3,250! That means just about 2,000 left! God is good!
I am in the middle of catching up on a bunch of Africa homework that I missed while I was in Mexico! I have a bio to write, some study of culture and some other stuff to get done. Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to work on it too.
Next week I have it in my calander to work on thank you notes and graduation announcments! Excpet those in the mail in a few weeks!
I am off to continue my Africa homework and to get ready for Bible study! My girls will be here soon!
As soon as my new computer comes Ill be able to upload pictures and I promise to get some your way!
Amanda

The No Computer Woes

Sorry friends! I know it's been a while since I've posted but I have been without a computer for quite some time. Good news though! A computer is in the mail on the way to San Diego for me to post my little heart out on. Don't you worry Nina... the posts will continue! Okay... here are the updates!
I just spent an amazing week with my students from Roseville back in my second home, Ensenada Mexico. My team spent the week working and ministering at a childrens mission called Mision Las Lomitas. It's a small mission from a large church in Ensenada. I got to see a ton of kids I had met last year, that's one of the best feelings in the world. I was an official translator which was super crazy. I was pretty positive I was completely incapable but as always God provided. He gave me the words and the childrens program went just great! The last day of our program I had an awsome time helping the kids understand the concept of the Holy Spirit. By the end the were practically yelling to me precious answers like, "He is with us! He helps us! He guides us!" We were able to repaint a mural for the mission, paint over some graffiti, let the children help put a person touch on the site and build a retaining wall to make the mision a safer place for the kids to play. The students were responsive, the adults were selfless. I love this trip.
Before I left for Mexico I you guys made it possible for me to meet my first financial goal on my way to Africa! Flood needed at least $1500 to purchase our plane ticket. I am happy to report I turned in a total of over $2000! I am a little over a third of the way to the total! I haven't been home in over a week so I look forward to seeing what arrived while I have been out of the country.
Let me tell you that fundraising for this trip has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I understand the this is the Biblical method of missionary and I love giving to others who are going but manis it hard to be on the receiving end! Every letter I open I think to myself, "you shouldn't have" or "this was too much". I am loving the somewhat painful experience of remember that giving is joyful and that the money isn't ours to begin with and that it's not going to me it's going to the children and to furthering the Kingdom. Regardless, thank you a million times for your faithfulness. You guys mean the world to me.
I'll post again when I return to San Diego and get everything sorted out.
My mom and I watched this video on the COTN website. It's awesome! It talks about Malawi and the work COTN does there. Check it out!
http://cotni.org/29-malawi