Here I am at my desk about to wrap up the year. Notice the pack of gummy bears on the right - they really kept me going towards the end!
That Saturday I got to be outside in the "heat" helping with a cookout after the home baseball game and running errands. Sunday was busy with two services and some practicing in between (and then finishing the finances afterwards) but everything got done. On the way to the grocery store for the cookout the "Long Van" (i.e. work van usually filled with things from concrete to wheelbarrows to instruments or baseball gear, and the hot rod we interns occasionally get to take to the grocery store...) ran out of gas. While we waited for the pastor to bring us gas from town I got the other intern to take a picture of me with the firehoses. It hasn't started raining here yet so the interns make it rain (so to speak) on the baseball field. Using a firehose is not a lifeskill I had previously developed, but I feel confident in my watering skills at this point.
This weekend I got a lot of work done on the library and I finished shelving the books this afternoon. Once I label the shelves that will be my second project finished. I've been downloading sermons on my iPod to listen to while I do more mindless tasks like weeding, cleaning, and shelving books. Now, whenever I go into the library I think about the book of Ruth because I spent enough time in there last week that I was able to finish an entire sermon series on it.
Life here is anything but monotonous. For example, earlier this week I just got started weeding outside the church when one of the other interns called. "I'm on my way to go watch a helicopter land on the baseball field...wanna come?"
I also got to go visit a popular vacation spot, just a few minutes drive from our apartment complex. I went with one of the kids here and we ran around, and then later that weekend I got to go again for a city-wide youth group event. This picture was taken close to 10 PM. I gave up trying to tell time by how dark it is...or isn't, rather.
At this point most of the kids have warmed up to me and my favorite memories so far are playing with them, cuddling with them while watching movies, or having picnics with them outside. The church services are pretty loud because even the babies are there and the pastors just tune out the noise and keep going. Gustav is almost two years old and he makes me laugh every Sunday. "Titta" ("look") is about the only word he says. He's still a little shy of me and usually won't talk to me, but then when it gets really quiet during the service - like in the middle of the Lord's Supper when no one is talking - he'll suddenly start saying "Titta - Amy!" really loudly. It's so hard to keep a straight face when he starts that up.
This weekend was slower than last, and a nice change of pace. Caroline, a college student who's moving in with me this week, was here and I enjoyed having someone else at the apartment. After living with 4-6 other people for a year, an empty apartment is pretty boring. In just a few days we bonded over really important things like a mutual love for hot tea, Jane Austen novels, and Sunday afternoon naps. We had the guy interns over Sunday night and managed to go through 2 cartons of ice cream with them. She's going to teach me to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.
Jenny comes a week from tomorrow. We'll be putting on a music camp together and as of right now I have no idea what that's going to look like. Please pray that I'll have lots of good ideas in the next few days! Our musicians range quite a bit in age and ability, but hopefully I can put together at least one piece they can all play together. Jenny will be giving a concert after Prayer on Thursday night. I'm excited to hear her and to get to play with her on that.
Have a good week,
Amy Lane
