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