On a journey...

Last weekend was an adventurous weekend. In some senses it wasn’t the big things that made it different, but rather the small spontaneous components, which caused it to make me feel more free, or maybe freer is the correct word to use. On Saturday, after we’d done our routine shopping trip to Walmart, one of my housemates and I decided to go to a bookstore. Actually, I asked her if she’d come with me (or rather, I go with her as she’s the one with the car and walking wouldn’t be a very viable option). She was up for it and we decided to also get ice cream as part of our outing. We got to Borders and spent a while perusing the shelves. Resisting he urge to buy many books, I ended up buying only one, which seemed very interesting. Then we headed off towards the ice cream place. The choice was between Coldstone and Baskin-Robbins, and I got very excited about the latter. For some reason it reminded me of the film “Rain Man” and I seem to remember the ice cream featuring in the film in som...

It’s been absolutely ages since I last wrote- life just happens, and to be honest there are more exciting things to fill my time with then writing. Although, it is nice to be reminded of those things, but if I don’t write them down, I’m probably going to forget them. The weather, the weather. I think it’ll be a never-ending saga- I am starting to understand why it’s said people talk about the weather a lot (I used to think it a bit pointless and boring and it can still be boring and pointless), but when one week we go from 24 degrees Celsius- vest top and flip-flops, to, in the very same week, cold and 20 cm of snow, I for one find it quite fascinating. Especially as the rise in temperature a few days later left rapidly shrinking snowmen on the lawns as the only evidence that we’d indeed had snow, and it wasn’t some dream we thought was real. Life as an intercessory missionary is good. I keep thinking that I’m finally settling into it and then I get a bit culture shocked or miss famili...

Yes, I did write warmth, and that isn’t written in a “it’s nice and snugly inside” way. It’s actually really warm today. Around 20 degrees Celsius! Not bad taking into consideration that the snow only melted yesterday. So I’m sat here with my laptop on the kitchen counter, perched on one of the high stools. The veranda door is open and I can hear birds twittering away. It’s lovely. Reminds me that I really do believe I was created for warmer climates! I realised I had a moment, and then realised I hadn’t written on my blog for a while, and so I thought I’d might as well combine the two. Life is good. The other day we were driving along when 6 or 7 deer decided to cross the road as we were speeding down it. Thankfully we weren’t driving too quickly and could calmly slow down and stop to watch them crossing. It was spectacular- reminds me that we are not in the thick of the city. I’m just surprised they don’t get scared off, but then I supposed they’ve had to get used to traffic and peop...

My heart is so struck by the brokenness and desperation of this world. I just got back from bowling with a bunch of people from my prophecy teams. My hair and clothes stink of smoke (which is really strange, haven’t had that for years as smoking in public places is illegal in Norway and even the UK now), and I feel a sobriety (I am not sure that’s the right word, but I suppose what I want to say is that I feel like I’ve had my eyes opened again to a bit of what reality here in Missouri is in a sense). My heart feels heavy. Not from the bowling time in itself, because it was a good bonding time, but from being around people who are enjoying themselves bowling and drinking and laughing loudly (I’m talking about the other people in the bowling alley, not the people I went with), yet seeing their whole composure portraying another reality then the one they are attempting to express. Laughter doesn’t always mean joy. It can also mean a desperate attempt to encounter that feeling of joy, whi...

Well it’s Friday again and I am sat here in the prayer room writing a wee blog update. I realise this is a good progression as it’s only been a week since last time. I just got here. To my great surprise one of the little desks was actually free for me to sit at. Usually they fill up very quickly with students (from the university connected to the International House of Prayer) and other people (like myself when I can get to one). It isn’t quite the same to sit in a chair trying to balance my laptop on my lap while hoping the battery will stay alive long enough to get what I need to do done (and if not, try to discretely get my adaptor plugged into one of the extensions strategically placed around the room). I love Friday mornings. The prayer room is less crowded and busy, and the 8-10 am set (i.e. slot/ prayer meeting, call it what you want) is always really mellow, and it is a Worship With the Word set, meaning that it’s basically 2 hours of worship and singing/praying the Word of Go...

I couldn’t find my journal the other morning (or my water bottle for that matter). I didn’t panic, but I thought it would have been kind of sad if it is actually lost, because I had a lot of good stuff written down in it. Thankfully I found it later on in the day. I’d left it on the kitchen table in a bag I don’t usually use, and so my housemates thought the bag belonged to someone downstairs and had kindly taken it down. After reading my note (which I wrote in the morning to see if they could help me solve the mystery of the missing water bottle and journal) they realised that it was my bag and brought it back up. Since it’s been a very long time since I last wrote here on my blog I wanted to jot some things down which I want to remember and so it might seem a bit disjointed at times. The last month and a bit have been eventful. I am finally done with my staff process here at IHOP-KC. I am now officially staff! I am excited. It also means that suddenly my time is more fixed then it wa...

Kansas City is COLD!!! We’ve had days of temperatures as low as (and probably lower if you ask me) –17 degrees Celsius! It is so cold!! In the midst of the coldest days, for about a week actually, I just couldn’t seem to manage to heat up my room. The rest of the house was nice and toasty, but for some reason (which I later discovered what was) my room stayed freezing cold. At first I thought it was because I had two outer walls (but the neighbouring room also has that), or because the heating vents weren’t working properly (but one of them does work). My final theory was that the windows were very badly insulated and couldn’t keep the cold out (or warm in). Little did I know that I was on the right track, but hadn’t quite got it completely. Anyway, one day I was sat reading with a little heater blasting heat right at me, and detected a cold breeze coming from the window. I decided I had to go investigate, as I couldn’t believe that the windows were so bad they actually let a tangible ...