Real quick

I'll write more later and give a better update, but I wanted to write really quick and say that I'm doing my FINAL PRESENTATION today at 2:00 (2.5 hours away)! I'm ready for it, but nervous. If you see this before then, please pray for me!
Thanks!

Gone so fast

So I have had an interesting few weeks. I've been chugging along doing surveys as often as I get people to come with me. Last week, though, I got some kind of bad flu virus and it knocked me out cold for four days. Then Ike got sick. It has not been a very fun week. I've needed to trust God that he will work and the number of surveys I end up getting is the number I need. I've needed to trust that it was okay to lay on the couch and let my body recover.

So now I'm back full steam and ready to finish up. I only have two and a half weeks left till I'm done and there is still SO much to do! I know that God is in this and that he is in control of all that happens - I have no need to worry and fear. I can't believe that this internship is almost over! It has not been what I thought it would be, but that is not bad! It has been difficult and trying, but I've had so many good experiences as well. I've gotten to have conversations and experiences that I never would have had if I didn't have to go out into the community to do this. I've learned a lot about the people here and the research process that I could not have learned in the classroom. I hope and pray that what I've learned will be valuable to Rock Creek and Hope for Northwest Georgia. The Lord is good and his love endures forever!

Thanks for all prayers, but please keep praying! I don't have much time to finish collecting the surveys and I need to find people to go with me - please pray that I will find them. Please pray for my safety and health (as well as my husband's). Please pray that as I start to write up my conclusions that I will be able to think straight and put the pieces together. Right now it looks like a 100,000 piece jig-saw puzzle that I need to put together in order to present anything coherent to the leaders of Rock Creek. Pray that I will be diligent and disciplined and finish as well as I can.

Thank you! I'm excited to see what God will do with these few short weeks of amateur work.

Surveying continues

We're two weeks into surveying and half way through the entire internship (it is going so F A S T ). It has been eventful, surprising, very interesting, somewhat disappointing, but altogether worth it. I've been learning so much. I've learned that I know NOTHING! I've been learning that I am small and very much an outsider. I've learned of the importance of a gatekeeper in doing surveys. If someone comes the door and sees someone they recognize, it usually (always even) goes much better. Even if they don't recognize them, the person I am with can say "I live just up the street" and we can go forward. It is difficult to get past the salesperson/Jehovah's witnesses norm. No one wants to be sold to, especially now, so I am doing my best to convince whoever opens the door that I am not selling anything, that I am not from the government, and I am not trying to recruit new members for my church. The most important thing at this point is finding people from the church to walk around their neighborhoods with me. It's proving difficult but certainly not impossible. I am encouraged because I know that this is the Lord's work and if He wants it done, it will get done!

first day surveying

Christina and I went out and did our first night of surveying. We are having trouble finding people from the churches to go with us, so our first two days we are going out together in our respective communities (Chris is working in Flintstone, we went there last night, I am working in Hinkle/West Brow and we are going there tonight). We got a grand total of SIX surveys completed! Oh dear... this will be a long month of surveys! It was very interesting and I feel much better about the whole thing, now. Yesterday I was a nervous wreck in anticipation of an awful evening of slammed doors, mean dogs, and suspicious looks. Well - as you might have guessed, it was not like that. It was much hotter than I thought it would beand we actually spent a lot more time walking between houses than I expected (so there was a lot of sweat - no worries, we drank a lot of water), but no one refused us when they answered the door. There were many doors simply not opened when we knocked. We ended up doing informal interviews with two old men at one point which was extremely enjoyable! We learned a lot about their lives and the community! Some of the people we talked to were even excited about the research we were doing and enthusiastic to help.
Overall, it was a success because we learned a lot and our nerves were calmed, I am ready to go out again tonight. Hinkle, here we come!

popped balloons

As a little girl was joyously playing with a balloon at her friend's birthday party. It was her favorite color - green, but it suddenly broke. She came to her daddy in tears and said, "Daddy, fix it." Broken balloons can't be fixed, but a child won't hear that kind of talk, she has confidence that her dad can do anything.

I wish I had that kind of confidence in my heavenly Daddy. The difference is that my Daddy actually can fix something unfixable, but I don't ask Him to because I don't have the faith. I know he can fix these broken things, and I know he actually might do it if I asked.

Please pray for my aunt Ivy who is in the hospital in a coma. She had an allergic reaction to a dye they used in a heart test last Friday. Her heart actually stopped for seven minutes before they got it started again. Seven minutes of no oxygen does damage to a brain. Her brain has a lot of swelling and even bringing her body to a hypothermic state (91 degrees) didn't reduce the swelling. She's not made any improvement and the doctors don't expect her to live much longer. Please pray with me for I don't have much confidence that she knows the Lord.

as your days, your strength shall be in measure

So this is not an easy job. It takes a lot. This morning as I was getting ready, I was not looking forward to today. I have phone calls to make. *yikes*.
I've been struggling with motivation because doors seem to be closing all around me and it's difficult, you know, when no one is answering or calling back and when one of the two appointments made is canceled. It's rough to keep the calls going. Well as I was dreading more of it and praying in the car this morning, the Lord reminded me that this is HIS work and it is HIS responsibility to make something of it. If he doesn't, than anything I do is worthless. But if he DOES make something of it, than no matter how worthless it seems, it's NOT because it is the Lord's work. And I'm not doing it for my boss, my professors, the pastors, or myself. I'm doing this work for the Lord and so who have I to fear? No one, that's who. Because the Lord of the Universe is on my side!

Have you ever ridden a train? Well on some trains (I don't know about all), you get the ticket once you get on the train. I've found that God works like this a lot. I've got to get on the train (dial the phone number or make the drive) and then I'll get the ticket (the strength I need from the Lord). That's the way it works. I don't get all the strength I need for the whole summer in one big lump sum at the beginning. This is not Sam's Club, I cannot buy all the bread I need for a year at once and freeze it all and get it as I need it. No, this is more like manna, if I try and get some for tomorrow, it'll be rotten. It's good for today. And that's the good part of how God works, it keeps me depending on Him for all I need.

I've found that if I neglect reading Scripture on my own, the day is significantly worse than if I had. If I neglect prayer and focus on the Lord in the morning, I get almost nothing done all day.

I can feel the strength refueling me as I get groggy in the afternoon heat and as I gear up to make phone calls I don't want to make.

Depending on the Lord each day. If that's the end result of the whole summer, it'll be worth it.

First week!

I started out my internship this week! Last Sunday, the day before I started, I had no idea what to expect and what I'd do on Monday. I had a meeting with Heather, my boss, and we were able to nail down what to start with. I'm doing a survey of the whole South Mountain area (from Hinkle, down Scenic Hwy and 157 all the way til I hit 136, for those of you who don't know the area, it takes 40 minutes to drive that distance). While the neighborhoods and houses are rather spread out, I expect to see between 1000 and 1500 houses. I won't be surveying THAT many, so I'll have to sample. The survey needs to be pretty much finished by the end of this coming week. I've been doing a lot of research online, driving around, getting to know the area, meeting with elders and deacons of Rock Creek, and writing the survey. It's interesting and it's definitely not what I expected.

Tomorrow, I'll do more driving and meetings, on Monday, I'm going to the memorial day BBQ in Hinkle. :) That should be fun, I'm bringing my husband with.

On a personal note, having a husband to come home to is wonderful, he's been a great support and very encouraging. I love him and I'm learning a lot about marriage and being a grown up. :) We went to Ellie and David's wedding tonight and it was beautiful! I'm so happy for them.

Sorry if this is not very interesting, I'm new to blogging. To all my com dev classmates reading, I'm praying for you all and I can't wait to hear about how things are going all over the world!

More later!