HI ALL! AND HELLO FROM NOME, ALASKA!! It is my second full day here and I am doing just fine. I have my apartment set up and I am extremely blessed to have a place of my own. Even more wonderful is the fact that I have an ocean view from my bedroom window. I’ve always wanted to live by a beach or in an area that gets a lot of snow, I got both wishes all at once! It’s also great that I can walk around in hoodies and coats, I just feel more comfortable like that. Eventually I will be posting a video to show you my home and parts of the area.
I’m still suffering from a bit of jet lag since I left Northern Virginia, and I AM four hours behind the east coast. I do have to say I feel like I am adjusting well however. I’ve tried to get the sleep I need, and forcing myself to stay awake to adapt to the new living schedule. It’s strange here though, the sun isn’t completely down until 1am and it comes back up around 7:30am or 8. So I’ve had to cover my window with sheets and pillow cases to make it dark in my room. I usually sleep in pitch black darkness, so this will be interesting until it starts to be dark the whole day. That should be happening fairly soon too, we are losing six minutes of daylight a day now. AND everyone is expecting the first snow by the end of the month. Needless to say there are a lot of changes going on.
There are also a lot of inner thoughts going on that are keeping me going, and will keep me going during this transition. Remember one of my first entries where I spoke about the crazy coincidences that happened to me before I arrived here in Nome? Well something happened to add onto this that just made everything more coincidental. When I arrived here, Julie and David, my supervisors, said that I was the first US-2 Missionary that arrived in sunlight, the rest arrived in rain! What the heck does this mean!? Also we were driving around Nome the evening I arrived and just seeing everything, and we ran into a woman named Paula. She said that I brought the sun with me, and the day I arrived was the nicest day they have had the entire summer. Coincidence? Or planned by God?
Moses traveled through the wilderness in a direction that was only told to him. He didn’t fully understand why he needed to go this direction, just that God had told him to do so. When Moses arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses went up to the mountain peek and received the tablets of the Ten Commandments! My point is everything happens for a reason. I feel a lot like Moses right now. I have come to this land, I am a foreigner, I don’t understand why God wants me here or what I am supposed to exactly do (other than the tasks that have been assigned to me by my supervisor). Yet, here I am ready to find out.
Sometimes in life we need to take leaps of faith. I understand that this leap I have made is quite dramatic, maybe even radical and extreme. However, if you look into the scriptures you can see that many leaps of faith that have changed the world and shaped new lives for people took extremely dramatic leaps of faith. My Lord and Savior knew what was going to happen to Him, He know what He had to do. He had to take a leap into death, do die on a cross. Indeed my leap is not as dramatic as that (at least I don’t think I’ll be dying here… I hope not), but see what that leap did to mankind. Look what the leap Moses took with his people did for God’s Chosen People. This leap is not a stepping stone for a better life financially, it’s not to get a better job in the future, it’s not to make me look better in the eyes of others, it’s not just for me or for you. Those leaps of faith that Biblical figures took those leaps for their Lord, their Creator, their Savior. This leap is for Him, the one whom I give my soul to, my love to, and my loyalty too.
God be praised in everything we do. Guide me and guide those I’ve known and will know. Bless us each day and make strong our hearts. Amen!
+PeAcE+
No comments:
Post a Comment