The End of an Era

This particular era I speak of is the fall long-term portion of the semester. It is over. Finished. Kaput. And I am happy.

In one week I wrote 11,722 words totalling approximately 47 pages, equalling three papers. And then I drank a very, very large margarita. During finals week I also sang about 16 hours in three rehearsals and four concerts.

I am now focused on Christmas which is blissfully free of papers. I am ignoring the sociological research methods final looming over me in January. I visited Santa Barbara, saw wonderful people, went caroling, did some Christmas shopping and will now embark on the mad dash for the finish line that is Christmas...luckily this is a different...a good kind of mad dash. And then I will relax.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and prayers for a blessed New Year.
Love,
Megan

An Update to My Update...

Dear family and friends,

It was one week ago this evening that I wrote petitioning for your prayers. Tonight however, I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude, peace, and also sadness at the tragedy that has transpired in one of my second homes. One week ago today, my alma mater, Westmont College, sat ablaze on the hill with fire. Tonight it is lit from within by a sense of God's protection, love, and a peace that surpasses all understanding.

First, I want to thank you for your prayers. I personally had one of the longest and hardest sessions of prayer in my life, praying against the fire that buffeted the college on three sides and I am sure I am not the only one. I was already confident that prayer works, but this confirmed it even more. For proof, please see these pictures taken by Brad Elliott at: http://www.westmont.edu/teafire/pictures2.html

Second, the real update on the fire: the Tea Fire was 100% contained on Tuesday but only after burning 1,940 acres, destroying 210 homes, and damaging 9. Westmont itself was hard hit: it lost 9 structures on campus as well as 15 faculty homes in the adjoining neighborhood, Las Barrancas. Four of the structures destroyed (the math building, the physics building, and two Quonset huts used for arts and ceramics) were scheduled for demolition in the next few weeks. The most damage on campus occurred in the dorm I lived in my freshman year, Clark Halls. Two of the 17 small cottage-like buildings were damaged and two were destroyed including Mark "the RD's" house, which was a complete loss. Westmont is now beginning the rebuilding, recovering, and healing process with the support of thousands of alumni across the country and around the globe.

On Wednesday the cause of the Tea Fire was announced, but in a manner that was somewhat damaging to the school. As a result, confirmations were made today that no Westmont students were involved in the start of the Tea Fire but rather another area college. To catch up on more news regarding the circumstances surrounding the blaze, please see http://www.independent.com/. In the midst of a traumatic time, Westmont's officials have acted with incredible integrity and compassion and I am so grateful. In addition, some of our "rival" schools have really been incredibly, particularly Azusa Pacific University who postponed a conference championship men's soccer game that they could have won by Westmont's forfeit in order to give our school an opportunity to play. Read the incredible story here, courtesy of the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke18-2008nov18,0,5737203.column?page=1. Westmont students have also been volunteering to help area families clean, sift through, wash clothes and bedding, and do other practical things.

Westmont's campus is currently closed for an extended Thanksgiving holiday and classes will resume December 1, on which day Westmont will also be holding A Service of Hope and Renewal, which if you are in the Santa Barbara area are all invited to at 10:30am at Westmont. Many faculty and lots of students have lost everything and so if you would like to make a donation or offer help of some kind, please let me know and I will be happy to tell you where and how to do so. If you would like to make a monetary donation directly to Westmont, you can do so here: https://secure.westmont.edu/forms/giving/donation_form/newdonationform.html. Note that it is for wildfire relief in the appropriate area.

Just a quick note on where I am: our long term for the fall semester will be ending very quickly and I have about 55 pages of writing to do before the end of the semester. I will be home in Visalia for Thanksgiving, so I hope to see some of you! Lots of activities and Christmas concerts and parties are on the docket for the next couple of weeks as well. I will be in Santa Barbara over my Christmas break as well for a couple of days, and hope to see more of you then!

I also wrote a (rather long) reflection about the fire for my writing as faith practice class as an assignment and a way to process. I would be willing to share it if you're interested.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. They are indeed felt.

Blessings,

Megan

Update #9: Please Pray for Westmont and Santa Barbara

A little late, and there will be an update to the update soon, but I figured since no one ever reads this blog anyway it doesn't matter much.
------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Dear family and friends,

I know several of you are aware of this already, but I just wanted to ask for fervent prayers as soon as possible. Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA (my alma mater and that of several PTS students) is surrounded by a 1,000+ acre wildfire tonight. It began around 6:00pm Pacific time and has already burned several homes. Westmont's campus has several spot fires on it and the prayer chapel has possibly burned as well as some other buildings.

They are keeping students safe in the gym which is fireproof and lots of Westmont community members are letting students stay in their homes who were already off campus and cannot get back. There are several Princeton students with ties to Westmont (alumni and parents). Please pray. I'm exhausted (I haven't been getting much sleep this week) but I'm too distracted and sad and worried and praying to sleep. I know if I laid down I'd fall asleep, but I'm worried now about Santa Barbara because it seems that the city is in grave danger.

From Westmont:
"Conditions on campus improved to the point where staff were able to get food from the Dining Commons and bring it to the gym, where the
community is sheltered in place.

Conditions in the area may make it possible now to leave the campus for a Red Cross shelter, but that option is still being explored. Firefighters are currently attempting to put out several fires at Clark Hall. Structures lost to or significantly damaged by fire include the Physics Building, the 'old Math" building, Bauder Hall and the Quonset Huts.

Again, we are grateful that no one has been hurt on campus, and everyone is safely in the gymnasium and in good spirits. Thank you for your prayers.

Chris Call,
Vice President for Administration"

The hidden blessing is that several of the buildings that have been destroyed/damaged were already marked for demolition as part of the growth of Westmont's Master Plan. However, very recently, part of one of the dorms has been damaged, parts of it destroyed, as well as the Resident Director's house. They've also lost lots of homes in the Montecito and Santa Barbara community....dozens probably and the fire is completely out of control..a true "wild" fire. Scary. I do know the tree canopy at Westmont is probably pretty bad. This link has pictures...all from Westmont. Better news than any other source in Santa Barbara probably comes from The Independent in case you're interested.

Thanks for your prayers, so so much.
Love,
Megan

A Halloween Haiku

Trick-or-treaters come
Cute costumes and pillow sacks
As fall settles in

I <3 Woot!

WOOT, INC. INTERNAL EMAIL
STAFF EYES ONLY

Attention Woot employees -

We are now entering the final phase of preparations for the Woot-Off planned for midnight tonight. This is when we depart from our usual deal-a-day model and sell one product after another, offering a new deal as soon as the previous one sells out. For some reason, Woot members like Meganace continue to have high expectations for this event. We must make every effort to ensure that they feel disappointed and betrayed.

All workers should be physically and mentally straining to make this Woot-Off a success, like every muscle in a wolf's body strains to capture and devour its prey. We expect total compliance with the following objectives:

• Make sure the stables are thoroughly cleaned and the horses properly groomed and shod. As you know, Commander Rutledge prefers to lead us on horseback during Woot-Offs. Charge!
• Customer Service department: all vacation requests for this week and next are approved. If you have not filed a vacation request, take one anyway.
• The little green pills in the kitchen are there to keep you alert and working. Take as many as you need. Officially, Woot does not believe in the concept of "overdose".
• Take at least one of our servers offline, just for laughs.
• Go to the landfill and dig up some more Sansa media players. If you see any Digipro Graphics Tablets (and you will), grab those, too.
• Place crap bags in company latrines so those orders can be "filled". To this end, the company will provide free lunch today from El Feo, the filthiest burrito joint in Dallas. Do your worst, guys.
• Neutralize all negative thinking among our members. We simply cannot tolerate any more posts like "do not want" or "Woot-Off killer". If electronic means like word filters and IP bans do not work, we must reactivate the rapid-response teams to physically eliminate all threats to our reputation.
• Last time, spot checks revealed that approximately 25% of products shipped are broken, incomplete, or excessively dirty. This is unacceptable. For this Woot-Off, defective shipments must make up at least 40%.
• Remind SmartPost that there's no need to hurry on these orders. Prompt delivery makes our customers spoiled and argumentative. Let them learn humility and gratitude while they wait.

Above all, we must strive to make this Woot-Off even more tedious, disappointing, and lucrative than the last one. The employee who achieves the most toward this end will be rewarded with one brown Zune. Second place: two brown Zunes.

Forward into battle! Remember: to give one's life for Woot is glorious!

Larry Stalin
eCommerce eKommissar
Woot, Inc.

THIS EMAIL WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 90 SECONDS

You Are What You Read

I sat in the terminal in Newark International Airport, waiting for my delayed flight. Just in case there was going to be another delay I had already gotten myself a nice dinner and a glass of wine; I wanted to be prepared. I was feeling rather calm. The delay was giving me an opportunity to get most of my theology reading done before we even boarded the plane. And with the yummy dinner I had enjoyed it didn't seem there was much that could have perturbed me. I was at peace, in the midst of a bustling airport, surrounded by lots of cell-phone talkers, coffee-drinkers, and cuddling couples.

Across from me was a middle-aged woman with anything-but-natural, overprocessed blond hair. She was reading what I would consider a crappy murder/mystery novel. The kind that is not written well and is full of vapidity. There's no real mystery to the murder, the protagonist is a nothing more than an attractive man and the detective might as well be investigating the next fashion trend for all the attention he gives. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh though.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm as much of a fan of fun reading with little substance (beach reading) as the next person. But it isn't my whole life. What made me most sad was not that she was reading this book, but rather the empty look in her eyes when she would rest the book on her lap and look around the terminal and the flat sound of her voice when she answered the phone. I actually felt sorry for her.

I hope she reads more than just that book.

Let Me Count the Ways...

Daniel: "How am I wacky??"
Megan: "Let me count the ways..."

1. He gets overly silly about...well, me.
2. He thinks white white white tennis shoes are OK with very dark wash jeans. (They're not, just in case you were wondering.)
   
3. "Three is the magic number! Ah, ah, ah!"
4. Megan: "One and two and ti and four and..." Daniel: What kind? Early Grey or English Breakfast?"
5. Hungarian food (or really any ethnic food) makes him go crazy with hunger.
6. The Cranberry Festival sparked an intense desire for all things cranberry themed.
7. Being an Eagle Scout is an excuse for anything.
8. His idea of "fun" reading is history stuff.
9. His idea of "fun" in Washington DC is all the historical stuff. (Is anyone else noticing a trend here?)
10. He can magically break IKEA wine glasses.

Trust me, there is more. But I'll stop for now...
I love you, D!

Update #8 from Princeton Theological Seminary: "What a blessing!"

Dear family and friends,

Well, the time has come for a new school year, and with it, some wonderful additions to my update list. Before I get going here, as I've said before please feel free to let me know if you'd no longer like to receive my updates and I'll take you off...no love lost. =)

Now, to go further up and further in: there is too much to talk about already! Let's start with the end of the summer. I finished up at First Pres, Visalia at the end of August only after preaching my very first sermon ever! My text was the wedding at Cana...and amazingly enough I felt like it went very well and received a lot of great feedback. What a blessing! Leaving the kids was very difficult as I had become rather attached to them over the summer. We finished the summer off with a girl's spa night and several great weeks of youth group. Again, what a blessing they are.

Along those lines, as I spent some time reflecting on my time at home I found that while I had been apprehensive about returning to Visalia for the summer, and really had no intentions to do that, God knew what he was doing. It was great to spend some time at home with my mom. It was wonderful to reconnect to First Pres and the families there that I used to know better and to get to know some of the newer families and people in the church. It was indeed another example of God's great faithfulness!

After I finished up my job I loaded up my car, drove to Bakersfield and picked up two of my best friends from college to begin our 3,000-mile cross-country road trip! In just seven short days we arrived in Princeton, but not before seeing a friend of ours from college in Colorado, stopping at a glass marble factory and shop in the middle of Kansas, going up 637 feet in the St. Louis Arch, experiencing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and getting cheesesteaks in Philly! We got my stuff unloaded and prepared for a very busy few days before Jules and Brian left: New York City, Princeton, and church and antiquing!

Now that we're on to present day, school has officially been in session for three weeks! I love my classes this semester, it has been good to reconnect with friends, and enjoy some of my favorite east coast places. And to answer the question I'm sure you're all asking, no, the fall colors are not here...not quite yet.

Well, I believe I'll wrap up for now....this has gone on long enough. I'll write again soon more about my classes and such. I hope you are all well. Please find my address below...I love to get little notes and stuff! ;-)

Many "what a blessing!" moments I wish for you today,
Megan

Update #7: Preaching!

Dear friends and family,

Well, your thoughts and prayers have been felt throughout the summer, and I know this because it has truly been a great one. It has been so nice to be at home, be refreshed by coming back to First Presbyterian for a while, and through it all I've been able to keep quite busy traveling to San Jose, CA (for General Assembly), to Louisville, KY (for a meeting), and to Santa Barbara twice to see some of my very best friends in the world, not to mention one of my favorite places.

Things are beginning to wrap up here at the church, meaning I only have about a week and a half left. Somehow I missed the memo to finish your summer job/field ed on or immediately following the 8th of August. So, I will finish my time here at First Pres. on Aug. 26, but before that time we will have our final youth pool party and I will preach...in "big church," (which is what all the youth have called Sunday morning worship since probably before I started coming here 13 years ago) this Sunday, August 17. I am terrified, and thrilled, and excited and nervous and just about every emotion you can imagine you might feel when asked to speak the word of God to the congregation of your home church. And yet...I am really looking forward to it. I will be preaching on John 2, the wedding at Cana, and will be taking a different approach to it than is usually taken. Because I know many of you cannot be here, I will be sending out a link to the recording online soon after this Sunday and will hopefully have a hard copy of the recording as well.

Anyway, back to the rest of the summer: the youth group has been good, but my hopes for resurrecting the very small junior high group into some large, on fire group has gone mostly unnoticed by the kids. The ones who show up seem to genuinely appreciate me being there, I have developed some good relationships with several of the kids, but instead of continuing to focus only on the one area where I wasn't making any distinguishable progress I decided to widen my focus and spend time investing in our high school girls. We have had coffee-time with Megan, a chance for kids to just come hang out, pool parties, a girls spa night, and just lots of fun; I've taught in youth group twice, and Sunday school several times. But the coolest part has been just getting to know the girls through our Wednesday night small groups and hanging out on Sunday mornings. How rewarding it has been to watch them wrestle and grow and learn. What a cool and utterly humbling experience.

Well, these are the two big things I wanted to write about today: praises for the youth group and how God has been obviously working, and prayer requests for my time preaching this Sunday (9am and 10:30am). Next time I'll talk some about my upcoming transition and the things I'm looking forward to and sad to be leaving behind. Until then, blessings on you for your journey now, and until we meet again...

-Megan

I AM Still Alive

Hey everyone...I suppose I've kinda been MIA for a few weeks. It seems like crunch-time of monumental proportions here...summer is beginning to come to a close and between finishing my online statistics course, trying to connect with kids, spending time with my mom, and preaching in church on August 17 (you should come!) there just isn't enough time for everything. Besides I also want to finish revamping my blog, plan a cross-country road trip with two of my best friends, lay out my new room at school, go through my stuff at home, and see lots of people. So, with all this to do, blogging has fallen by the wayside. I apologize. I do hope you can forgive me.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, things don't just stand still so I can get more done. So I'm going to go to our junior high/high school girls spa night and sleepover! Yay for pampering with all-natural facial masks, junk food, and movies. =)

Blog Redux

Well, I have decided it is time for a little makeover. And as much as I would like to go get one myself, this is actually for my blog. So, if you all will be a little patient with me over the next few days, we should be up and running in just a while. Thanks!




This mess is a place! ~Author Unknown

A Ministry of Presence

Youth ministry is a funny thing. Kids get attached so quickly and easily. They show affection at the drop of a hat (or after only knowing you for a few days...or hours). And believe me, I am not complaining. There is little in life that's just as purely good as a big hug, or a junior high student saying, "Get in the pool with me!" and tugging on your arm, or a high school girl giving an example about how her dad loves her mom by making her coffee in the morning. But in some ways this quickness to get attached worries me...not for their sake, but for mine. I hope and pray to be a good example and to be someone safe for them to talk to. I work towards showing the love of God, at being transparent, at being humble and doing the right thing. I want them to know both the adoption of God and the love of Christ on the cross. Sometimes I get worried I'm not doing them justice, that it's not enough and when they realize this, they might feel betrayed by their attachment. And then...I remember that God's grace is sufficient.

I am praying right now that God's grace will always be sufficient, that God's grace will outshine my desire to be "the-best-youth-intern-ever!" and my own selfish desire to be liked, that God's grace will put those wishes in their place. After all, youth ministry, especially with a very small junior high group, is all about a ministry of presence...a ministry of just showing up and hanging out and being a vessel for God to dwell within. That's all I am...a tool, a beautiful tool of God's.

Gems from General Assembly

Well, I'm back. I'm alive...I survived, mostly. My stomach was not entirely intact the evening of my return, but that is a story for another time. I'm here today just to share some sparkling little gems of real beauty from General Assembly (please do note the sarcasm):

• "I don't know if they got talked to by our conservative 'friends' or are just stupid."
• "The one-third of the denomination that's just stonewalling on ordination issues should just go start their own denomination."
• "The unity of the church is more important than the righteousness of following Christ."

There are times when I really wonder, and hope, and pray, and fear for us all...

"Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God." -Micah 6:8

General Assembly is Like...

Hello from San Jose, CA! I'm spending the week at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s biennial General Assembly and I've been thinking for a couple of days now of the best analogy for it. Many of you who know much about church in general is that the degrees of separation between churchfolk has got to be less than 10. I am convinced, however, that in the PC(U.S.A.) it's more like...two.

Along those lines, I've decided the most appropriate analogy for G.A. is a family reunion. This idea first came to me when I began running into friends, colleagues, and people I admire in the denomination that I haven't seen in a long while, most since the last assembly I attended in 2004. Yet the idea became even more clear when I ran into others, people with whom I have had, shall we say, "words," people with whom I do not see eye-to-eye with regards to diversity issues, theology, or any of the other multitude of issues that seem to divide us.

See, at your family reunion there are the long-lost cousins, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews. You hear about their achievements, their triumphs and losses through the grapevine. But when you finally see them, you celebrate in person, you hug and show your excitement to reconnect despite the distance and the time. But, at your family reunion, there is also the person with whom you disagree on nearly every issue and who takes the time to make that known. You avoid them when possible or appropriate, but at family reunions there is little room or time for that. Family reunions are where all our guts and passion and mistakes and love get strewn out across the table and we are called to defend them, sometimes vehemently and sometimes meekly. Family reunions are where fights happen, destructive, divisive fights. But, and this is so important to remember, family reunions are where healing can begin. They are where love can conquer when we take time to listen. See the word in there that's key: "reunion"?

Signing off for the night with a heart broken for the Church,

Megan

Fiascos, Felines, and Fresh Beginnings

Did that picture get you hooked or what?? =) Meet Chance. This is a very cute kitten my mom

found a week ago on the side of the road - we think he had been thrown out of a car - and brought home. We are working on bonding with him...not too hard, since he's very cute and likes to be held and cuddle. We're also trying to find him a good home, which I'm quite sad about.

Well, anyway, on to the real reason for a post. Any of you who have talked with me over the past 4 months or so will know that my summer plans have been kind of a fiasco from the beginning. I had hoped to work at Carp Community Church, but after 4 weeks of waiting finances ultimately derailed that plan. In the meantime, because I don't like to be without a plan, I had applied at a church in Fresno, CA (name witheld to protect the guilty) which would have been a great opportunity to grow in team ministry but turned out to have a very disappointing outlook on Princeton's theology and consequently felt the need to grill me for 2/3 of my interview to, what I presume was, "test my theology." At any rate, after agonizing about it (they offered me a position) for far too long I eventually told them no because I just had a feeling it wasn't where God was calling me. So, I put out some feelers...in May. After finals were over. A bit late to begin again in looking for a summer job.


But, when God provides, He really does. I contacted two churches, First Presbyterian Berkeley, and my home church, First Presbyterian, Visalia, hoping that one of them would have need of an intern, but not expecting too much. I suppose it's when you expect the least that God provides the most. Both churches responded with possibilities and I began pursuing an internship at my home church. I'll leave out all the nitty-gritty details, but I am proud and thankful to report I have a job for the summer!


So, what will I be doing? A little of this and a little of that...my main focus will be kick-starting the junior high group again and creating a program that will be sustainable into the fall as well as locating and training a junior high leader to pass the torch to after I leave. Youth group, a Bible study, "Coffee Hour with Megan," monthly events...so exciting!!! But I will also be...and this is the part I am most excited about...acting as the intern for the 210 center, a community center the church just opened a couple of months ago, helping with the college ministry, Elevate, which is 120 people strong, and helping run and coordinate the concert ministry at 210!


I'll definitely be picking up a second job, because you never do any ministry for the money...that's what Starbuck's is for! And I'll be taking a statistics class at the community college to cover one of my prereqs for my M.S.W. I think this is going to shape up to be a good summer! However, this post is getting a bit long, so I'll stop for now, but I'll be back in a couple of days to share about how 210 came into being!





"Gloria in excelsis Deo!"

10 Things...

...I did this past school year that surprised me.

1. I drove myself across the country...twice.
2. I learned that New Jersey is not all industrial and gross. There is a reason they call it the "Garden State."
3. I discovered a strange enjoyment of Malaysian food.
4. I enjoyed living in the snow. Really, it was the idea of four real seasons that made it.
5. I developed an intense and unexpected love for New York City and began acquiring "my favorite places" there.
6. I traveled...a lot. Daytona Beach, Florida; home for Thanksgiving and Christmas; Louisville, Kentucky twice in the first two months of 2008; NYC and the United Nations for four days; NYC and Boston with the girls for a week; Guatemala in April...and coming up later this month, San Jose, CA for the PC(USA) General Assembly. =)
7. I decided that Princeton is not as crazy-liberal as my previously all-West-coast mindset had told me.
8. I theologized systematically.
9. I grew to really enjoy Princeton, NJ and the east coast feel.
10. I turned down a job with money attached to it in favor of "The Great Unknown"...which will coincidentally be the topic of my next post.

Spring has Cometh

I have to admit, spring is so much better when you have to "earn" it. Here are some pictures for your perusal...which will just have to do until I can get some sleep and recover from finals. To that end, tonight I am going bowling, drinking cheap Smirnoff Ice, and then going to bed and getting up tomorrow only in time to get lunch and make it to my massage appointment. Yay! I'm getting a massage!

Unbearable Joy...

Current Princeton Temp: 64 and SUNNY!

It seems so unreal to be coming this close to the end of the semester. To be honest, with all the traveling I've been doing, it feels difficult to believe there even was a spring semester. However, the midterm grades, projects, and upcoming finals are just enough to jerk me back to reality. Guatemala was a rush, and amazing, even more wonderful and heart-touching and awe-inspiring than I expected, and the people I love there are just as incredibly faithful as they were three and a half years ago. Of course, since being there for a month was too short, I knew going back for just one weekend was going to be torture. But it was just as much, and more, worth it than all the torture it inflicted on me. =)

So, back to reality I came...reality introduced itself to me in the form of 35 degree weather on the train platform in Princeton after leaving beautiful 80 degree weather in Guatemala. And then it reintroduced itself to me in the form of schoolwork yet to be done, finals yet to be studied for (or taken) and the impossible amount of fun things I would like to do before the end of the year. Difficult, yes? I thought so too. Then I realized I still needed to get myself a job for the summer!

This is where I am now. Have you seen those Allstate commercials lately where there are people saying where they are and standing on a large red dot? That's how I feel right now. Tonight, the session of Carpinteria Community Church will meet and decide on whether they would like to hire an intern to take over the youth director position for the summer: me. I'm hoping so, and praying so. I love Carp Community, I love living there, and would relish the opportunity (and challenge) of this ministry and job. So, if you're getting this today...and really, whenever you get this...if you could send up a little prayer that my big red dot would move to Carp Community Church for the summer, I would really appreciate it. And if that isn't God's will, that God would show his will...and soon!





"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
-Zephaniah 3:17

Update #4 from Princeton: "I Left My Heart in Guatemala"

...and now I'm heading back to get it. I am heading down to Guatemala for the weekend...yes, I know it's a short trip, but it's going to be so worth it. I probably won't want to come back, and if I'm honest with myself, I know I will probably end up leaving more of my heart there than bringing it back.

So, the reason for the trip: I went to Guatemala in 2004 with a team sponsored by an organization at my college. I fell in love with the country. We spent the majority of our trip in Uspantan, a small village in the highlands of Guatemala...absolutely the most breathtaking scenery...and people. We did demolition, construction, and learned how to enjoy the ministry of presence. It was fabulous. We climbed down waterfalls, hiked to swimming pools fed by cold water springs, drank from leaves, swung from vines in a large river, and sat together around the table fellowshipping. We lived and worked alongside two pillars of the community, now both in their 80's, Don Salomon and Dona Mery Hernandez (Don and Dona are titles of recognition and honor). Then we spent a month in Guatemala City helping work on a hospital, the Westmont-Bethel Hospital, run by the son and daughter-in-law of Don Salomon and Dona Mery. When we were there it only had a basement and two operational floors but the hospital operated anyway because health care is such a pervasive problem in the country. The action of this hospital, a ministry of the kingdom of God is that they provide health care to anyone who needs it, regardless of their race, gender, ability to pay or any other factor. Less than 1% of the GDP of Guatemala is spent on health care and over 20% of the population does not have any access to health care. The situation is grim, but it's looking up a bit thanks to the following wonderful news: Construction on the hospital has recently been completed, now with several (approx. 6) floors and a basement!

Because so much of the $150,000 needed to build and equip each floor, and so much of the construction itself has been made possible through donations of time, money, and love, the Hernandez have invited everyone who has been involved over the years back to Guatemala to celebrate! Since I've been itching to go back for a long time now...basically since I left...I am so thrilled about this opportunity. It, of course, would not have been possible without the support of my mom, both her love and finances, and a prayer that was a long time in the making being answered by God. The chance to go back really is an answer to prayer, although I'm sure I'll be praying even more fervently for another chance to go back when this one is over.

In the meantime, I'm going to really enjoy this chance. I'll keep you all posted when I get back (I have a lot to update you all on) and bring back some hopefully beautifully vibrant (in color and life) pictures to post. I'm off to sleep briefly before heading out early in the morning!

Vaya con Dios!

P.S. Don't worry...I know I'm still in grad school...that's what the plane rides and hours sitting in the airport are for...getting all that reading done!

Today's FUNNY

This just seemed so apropos given all my recent travel...

"RULES FOR FREQUENT FLIERS

1. No flight ever leaves on time unless you are running late and need the
delay to make the flight.

2. If you are running late for a flight, it will depart from the farthest
gate within the terminal.

3. If you arrive very early for a flight, it inevitably will be delayed.

4. Flights never leave from Gate #1 at any terminal in the world.

5. If you must work on your flight, you will experience turbulence as soon
as you touch pen to paper. Or start to drink your coffee. Or try to type on
your laptop.

6. If you are assigned a middle seat, you can determine who has the seats
on the aisle and the window while you are still in the boarding area. Just
find the two largest passengers.

7. Only passengers seated in window seats ever have to get up to go to the
bathroom.

8. The crying baby on board your flight is always seated next to you.

9. The less carry-on luggage space available on an aircraft, the more
carry-on luggage passengers will bring aboard."

FUNNY courtesy of Mikey's Funnies

Update #3 from Princeton: Snow and the United Nations!

Dear friends,

I promised I'd write again sooner, and here I am! Greetings from what is currently the very white, freshly blanketed with snow, state of New Jersey! Snow has been both one of my greatest excitements and most serious disappointments since moving to the east coast. Exciting because, well, it's beautiful and leaves the world feeling peaceful and cozy, and on days like today, cancels classes! (We're enjoying our first snow day of the academic year!) And yet it has been disappointing because of the sheer lack of snow we have had this year; only once since returning to campus in January. Even so, I have hope that it will snow again before winter has expired. For now though, in the few hours I have remaining in Princeton before heading to New York City (I'll get to that momentarily) I plan to walk around campus taking pictures of snow falling and covering everything recognizable. It truly is breathtaking.

On to New York City and the United Nations: this evening I will begin the first of 4 and a half days of a conference called the Young Women's Leadership Experience, a joint event with the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) (!) and the National Council of Churches. I applied to this particular conference back in January, squarely in the middle of finals, and then promptly forgot about it. When I received my acceptance letter a couple weeks later I was shocked, which has since turned into a myriad of other emotions: excitement, apprehension, unqualified-ness, joy, and still more shock. I was one of six women who were selected out of a large applicant pool who will meet with six other women from around the world who are taking part in a longer, two-week version of the event. The 2008 theme for the CSW is "Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women" and the purpose is to give visitors an experience with the United Nations, the National Council of Churches, and to engage global women's issues through the ecumenical movement. While there we will lead a worship service,

This kind of opportunity would only have been available to me while living here in New Jersey. Being close to the City means I can take the train (considerably less than a plane ticket) and don't have to miss much in the way of classes. What an incredible opportunity! However, I would appreciate your prayers for the next four days because I'm not quite sure what I've gotten myself into or what to expect. I've learned though that those are always the best times...when I spent a month in Guatemala while in college our team motto was "Tentative. Flexible. No expectations." and this was certainly one of the most amazing and rewarding times in my life. Our conference begins with dinner tonight at 6:00pm EST and will end on Tuesday at 2:00pm; during this time I would appreciate an extra prayer.

One last thing...for many of you who spent a lot of time with me in Santa Barbara you may already know this, but today is the one-year anniversary of my grandma's death. While I am getting a chance to honor her by taking advantage of this opportunity in NYC (because I know she would be so proud of me) I know today still isn't going to be easy for either me or for my mom. However, I'm going to try to celebrate my grandma's life and remember her for who she was...a great woman who had a lot of love in her heart. Extra prayers for my mom and for me today would also be appreciated.

I'll sign off now, while the snow is still falling fresh and I can go revel in it...momentarily at least!
Love in Christ,
Megan

My Recipe for Getting Over a Cold

Current Princeton Temp: 44
Currently Studying: Greek

It seems that community living parcels out far more sickness than any of us would ever hope for and that it is never a convenient or fun time to be sick. So to help those of you who may be ailing, I give, for your consideration, my sickness remedy:

• orange juice, preferably the kind with lots of pulp (which I use to hate and now love)
• Jello-O...any flavor really, though my favorites are lime, peach, and strawberry
• Day-Quil and Ny-Quil or some equivalent multi-sympton medication
• a heater
• a comfy bed with good pillows, warm blankets, and a TV close by
• "Gilmore Girls" on DVD
• Gatorade, just to replenish fluids
• chicken noodle soup...tell yourself it's homemade, even if it's not
• and my number one, feel-better-already, probably-only-psychological-remedy-but-I-don't-care-'cause-it-works, is SudaCare Shower Soothers in original mint. These things are amazing. They're this thick disc of fabulous-smelling strong mint and menthol that you put on the floor of the shower and let them dissolve while you just stand there. Ahhhhh.

So, I hope you can avoid the sickness that's making the rounds...but if you can't, just come back and visit Mama Megan for a little TLC.

Praying for Northern Illinois University...

Today a gunman who had previously been a graduate student in sociology at NIU last spring opened fire on a geology lecture at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. He killed five students and injured 2 dozen more before committing suicide.

What kind of terrible disservice must we be doing to our students to compel them to this kind of horrific act, less than one year after Virginia Tech?? How can we be so blind to their needs so as to not reach out before it's too late? These questions seem insurmountable in the face of such tragedy...but we have to start thinking about it now before it is too late again and we lose more of God's children in the face of desperate violence.





"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." -Psalm 23

This Little Old Coffeeshop

It seems that as far as great moments go, this coffee shop, called It's a Grind, has the market cornered. Let me tell you what I mean...

On more than one occasion when I have been here there has also been a group of people from what I can guess is probably a group home or community-living center (similar perhaps to what Devereaux used to be in Santa Barbara) out for an hour or so. This group comes in, accompanied my a social worker and they create their own little community here in the coffee shop. To be honest, I get kind of jealous. I got the incredible chance to work with developmentally disabled adults when I was in high school at a summer camp and fell in love with them. If you've ever had a conversation with me about developmental disabilities, you'll know that it is one thing I am impassioned about...providing compassionate, adequate, and invested care, not just physical and mental, but also emotional and spiritual. And so when I see this group of people come in, all with their own apparent ailments yet caring for one another, conversing, and even smiling at me, the stranger in the corner, I am reminded of what I love about these people. They love one another in spite (or perhaps because) of their physical and mental difficulties. They watch out for one another and laugh at each other's jokes. They have invested in a community of their very own without even knowing it. And to the outside world, to me at least, they are in a place I would very much like to be in. That being said, I wonder why we, who have just as many problems, though they may not be as obvious, have such a difficult time of investing in one another. It gives me hope for the future though...

Today an old couple was wandering around the coffee shop looking for a place to sit, seeing as all the tables are taken. It was obvious in the way they walked together that they have loved each other for a very long time. The way they are sitting now, close together, nearly on the edge of their seats, positioned at a perpendicular angle to one another, says that they still are not tired of each other and that they both believe there is more to be learned about the other. It makes me happy, to know that this couple is still in love with one another and looking forward to every day they have together. They are the kind of couple that makes me excited to get married, grow old with someone and share every day of my life with them, knowing that at the end of it, we will still both believe there is more to be shared.

Thank heavens for this little old coffee shop.







"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." -T.S. Eliot

Better Late Than Never...

Current Princeton Temp: 25 degrees

I think the beginning of a new semester is the best time to tell you all about the last one (and by that I mean my first semester, and the most recent one) of my grad school career. Just the bones here (it's too late for anything more)...classes, professors, likes and dislikes. So, here goes...

• Church History 101, taught by Drs. Kathleen McVey and Paul Rorem. It turned out OK, but not my favorite course.
• Orientation to Old Testament Studies, taught by Drs. Jacqueline Lapsley and Dennis Olsen. Great class, lots of information, and a captivating course on the OT, but I was frustrated that I took it, especially when I realized I didn't need to because I could have gotten advanced placement. Grrr...oh well. You live and you learn.
• Introduction to New Testament Greek, taught by Dr. Shane Berg. Interesting course, and I like the idea that I can pick up the Greek New Testament and read it, or I'll be able to at the end of this semester. Tedious work, but I imagine it will be worth it.
• Pluralism, Dialogue, and Witness, taught by Dr. Richard Young. A history of religions course that would have been more aptly named "Christiantity and the Abrahamic Religions" since that was most of what we talked about. Not at all what I was expecting.
• The Self in the System, taught by (although in this case, perhaps the word moderated or facilitated by would be more appropriate) Dr. Robert Dykstra. Great course in pastoral counseling where we looked at several methods of addressing issues related to pastoral counseling. This course included a peer counseling component where we were both counseled by a peer and counseled a peer for 5 weeks...both terrifying and rewarding.

Like I said, the new semester starts soon..7.5 hours to be exact. I'm excited about this semester...oh, but I can't tell you about that yet. ;-) I've got to make you all wait with baited breath. I promise to be more...timely...with this type of thing this semester.

Also speaking of last semester, prayers of thanksgiving are in order. I've received back all but one of my grades and have gotten all A's and B's so far. I'm relieved and thankful...not to mention that working hard on finals and then getting good grades is a great motivator!






"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein (a Princeton man himself)

Winding down

Current Princeton Temp: 34 and snowing =)

This is me, just coming up for air between finals. I am 80% done with my first round in grad school. That's a good feeling...the one and only left is Old Testament, which I've started (barely) prepping for. It's on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30, and by 5:30 at the latest (5:35 if you take into account packing up my "Relax" lotion, Kleenex, and pens, putting on my scarf, coat and gloves, and walking out of the building) I will be free from all the testing, with one semester of grad school firmly under my belt. I'm excited for that moment. I've been looking forward to it for several weeks now, particularly when I realized how drastic of a change I had made in my life over the past few months and how I was longing to just feel...settled. That isn't quite the right feeling, but it's close. I'm looking forward to know I can make it, that I can survive a semester because surviving this one means I have a pretty good chance of surviving the next one and so on.

Since I am tired because I haven't gotten much sleep (I had my church history final this morning...3 hours long, and then a paper for my religious pluralism class due this afternoon) I'm going to go to bed early tonight and get cracking early tomorrow on my prepping for OT. Prayers, as always during exam time, are coveted as are encouragements, however brief they may be. It's always good to be reminded of why I'm doing this.

Blessings on you all!