Arrival

After a long trip, I was finally able to lay down horizontally for some sleep this morning after arriving at the place I am staying in Almaty.  Tomorrow morning I will be going to the airport top pick up the youth delegation and traveling to Taraz by bus.  It should be a fun and entertaining trip (although possibly hot).  I did have someone warn the bus drivers that American's like air conditioning, so maybe it will be cool on the bus instead of 110 degrees. 

My flights were fairly uneventful.  The only problem was a two hour delay on the airplane in Newark due to wind and rain.  Since I already had a 12 hour layover, the two hour delay did not effect any of my other travel.  In amsterdam I left the aiport and went on a canal tour.  It was an interesting way to see the city, although I am not sure it is a good idea to sit on a slow-moving boat when jet-lagging.  At least I stayed awake.  It was nice to get out of the airport though.  Thankfully the young child on the plane to Almaty didn't scream after take-off.  I was worried that it was going to be a long flight, but it ended up going pretty quickly as I slept during most of the trip. 

Tomorrow will be our drive to Taraz.  I will get to spend some time with my Kazakh family in the evening.  Then we will head to Vanofka orphanage for three days.  I will try to update you as much as possible!  I am looking forward to seeing Kazakhstan through the eyes of this group of youth. 

Preparation

I have spent a lot of the last couple weeks in preparation for my trip to Kazakhstan.  The youth team that I will be helping finished packing today.  We have 23 crates of fun supplies to take over.  I will be helping facilitate their delegation, which basically means that I will be helping to make sure they have all that they need during their time in Kazakhstan.  We will be spending time at an orphanage and with a local youth center.  The delegation will be there for two weeks and then I will remain one more week. 

During this week I will be saying goodbye (for now) to my Kazakh friends, children, and family.  I will also be helping Kids Connection staff plan for the upcoming school year.  We have a lot to think about as the number of staff has decreased (with my being here for now and one of the other staff coming back to the States for four months).  I am really looking forward to going back "home".  I do know that it will be hard, since I will be having to say goodbye to those that are so special to me.  I leave on Sunday and will arrive in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.  I will try to update this blog fairly often in order to keep everyone aware of what is going on. 

Update

Wow!  I can't believe it has been so long since I have written.  I leave for Kazakhstan in less than a week.  I will be there for 3 weeks.  I will help facilitate a youth delegation that I have been helping to prepare and will do some planning with the staff for Kids Connection.  I am looking forward to seeing good friends.  I know that it will be a very good time, but also a very difficult time as I say goodbye, for now, to friends. 

The last few weeks have been a lot of fun.  I got to go to King's Island and ride lots of roller coasters.  I think my favorite might have been the Fire Hawk because I got to lay on my stomach and fly like Superman.  On Saturday I went to a friend's wedding and saw many friends from Taylor.  How fun to see people that I hadn't seen in over three years. 

This week is pretty busy as I prepare to return to Kazakhstan.  During my trip I will try to keep you updated on my blog (as well as the Interlink blog).  Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.  I can't wait to be back home in Kazakhstan, even though it is only for a while. 

Serve 2009

God has been doing some exciting things in my life recently.  Although it is extremely difficult to not be in Kazakhstan, God is continuing to make it clear that I am supposed to be in Muncie right now.  I have the opportunity to house sit for someone starting in August 2009 and going through July 2010.  It is fun to see the way that He provides.  I will be making a three week trip to Kazakhstan this summer to help with a delegation and make sure things are taken care of while I am not there.   Also, He is giving me things to look forward to in the Muncie area.  One of those things took place last week.  

I got a chance to be a part of Serve 2009.  I spent last week working with 10 youth that were part of over 200 kids and youth that were doing community service projects throughout Muncie.  I had such a great time.  It was fun to work with youth again and not have to deal with a language barrier of any type. 

Our group worked with a local group called Blood and Fire.  We did work around the community for those that couldn't do the work for themselves.  We also cleaned up a neighborhood park.  We spent two afternoons hanging out with kids from the community center at the pool. 

Although it was a very tiring week (sleep at 12pm, waking up at 6 am and hard work in between) I had such a blast.  I thoroughly enjoyed being able to serve alongside some amazingly hard working youth.  We had a lot of fun as we worked, which made the time go more quickly.  The week gave me energy despite the grueling schedule. 

I think my favorite part of the week was being able to clean off an entire sidewalk that had been overgrown.  We were originally only planning to do a part of it, but we got done with more than we originally expected and were able to complete the entire sidewalk.  We filled up two pick-up trucks with the dirt and grass that we removed from the sidewalk.  It was extremely tiring work, but very rewarding. 

Conner Prairie

Today I got to go to Conner Prairie with some friends from my small group.  We had a fun time together as we traveled back in time.  There was a hot air balloon, a whole prairie town set in 1886, a stable, and some fun science stuff.  It was fun to just be able to hang out and spend time with friends while catching a glimpse of life in the past. 

I am really looking forward to this next week.  I will be spending time with a group of 10 youth that are a part of over 150 youth here in Muncie that will be spending the week doing work projects in the community.  I can't wait to work with these youth in order to help our neighbors.