Thursday, December 08, 2005

Another rain day... If it rains too much we can't work with our sensitive surveying equipment. Each laser theodolite costs $20,000 + or -. So I finished work around noon today before the rain set in. My roommate Mark and I are going to hang out after he's done working. I'm hoping all of my rommate's and I could hang out together. Maybe we'll catch the Chronicle's of Narnia movie. I'm looking forward to it. I was disappointed to hear some names of the musical artists who contributed to the soundtrack. Hopefully the movie is good enough for me to forget about them. Ahhh, ignorance is bliss!!! (Sometimes)

I'm wondering if I'll ever start to save money. Every time I get paid (which has only been twice so far) I need to buy something big-ish. Whether it's a hundred dollars in overage charges or a deposit on a cellphone (I need credit) or a Christmas plane ticket or even buying a car (my next venture). Oh well, money is made in order to spend it I guess. I'm thankful to have a steady job that pays well and has a good health plan (and dental...woot. i can get my chipped tooth filled next month). God is providing, as always.

I cut my right wrist with my machetti during work a few days ago. It bearly broke the skin. Thank God it's so dull. If it were sharp, at all, you'd have to call me knubby for the rest of my life. I hit my arm hard too. Most of the pain was from the hit, not the cut though.

My legs look like a combination between a pin cushion and I cat's scratching pad. I've poked and scraped by so many thorns and bryers since I started working in Atlanta. It's all good though. Battle scars I suppose.

Maybe I'll buy a cheap digital camera and take it out to work with me. I dare not take my nice one out there. I'd like to take pictures of the places we work. Some of them are cool. One time we had to set up our stuff on a patch of ground surrounded by water. We needed to locate the swamp and the stream in that area. Our best spot to do so was out in the middle of it. One of our points was under water. The creek and stream had flooded because of beavers that made dams nearby. It kept the water from flowing into the lake and hence flooded the creek and swamp. I like working at construction sites too. I want to take pictures of the stel and concrete being put into place. That stuff fascinates me. Gee, I wonder why I'm studying engineering and working as a surveyor. Also, I found out one of the guys I work with is going to the college I'm interested in. If he can make it work I can too. I might do night courses for awhile or take a semester off here and there to go to school. My ideal plan is to save up enough money to go to school fulltime until I graduate. Loans are always an option and after I'm done with school I'm confident I could pay them off soon.

Hmm, the future. That gets me wondering about stuff. Like relationships. Nothing yet, but I'm hoping...and praying...and waiting, and waiting. I'm almost a quarter century old and eegh....yeah.

Here's something random. This happened awhile ago. I got an email from a Pastor Nat. Many of you don't know him but a few do. Anyway, he told me he read my newsletters during Mission Year and one of them stuck out to him. The one that said, "...the most difficult thing about ministry can be living in community". Well, he's going to read it (or has already) during his lectures at a college where he teaches. It's a course on Missions and he told me one of the things missionaries overlook is the fact that they may live with other missionaries in community (together). And it causes alot of conflict and difficulties in their home and in their ministry. He was planning on addressing this in his lectures and my newsletter fit right in line with it. I was really blessed by that. For awhile I wondered how authentic or true my newsletters were. That confirmed it for me. What I was sharing was true.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Mayday! Mayday! Disregard that last post. I will be home for Christmas!!! I found a cheap enough ticket and my dad is helping me out bigtime. I'll be flying into Newark, New Jersey. Around Christmas time. Duh! WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, December 02, 2005

Lifes going well. I worked 97 hours over the past two weeks. I haven't been this busy ever. It's good though. I get paid overtime and I don't have anything else to do. So why not work. My roommates and I were invited to hang out with some female friends. They're great women too. I think we're having pizza and wings. It's going to be fun. We know them. They were in Mission Year with us last year. I miss hanging out in Albany though. Things are so different now. (Wow! How's that for a random depressed moment!?)

I like the church I go to. I know some of the people there already. As time goes on I will get to know them all more. It fits my schedule well too. Going to church Saturday night allows me to sleep in on Sunday. That's great news to me since I wake up so early Mon.-Fri.. It's not just a place where they tickle your ears and dizzle you with outrageous promises either. It's convicting and encouraging, challenging and helpful. How can I explain it? God is there.