So- where have I been? Simple answer: East Asia. First- some quotes from earlier this year.
January 2, 2013
I was so nervous before we got on the plane- but there's something about planes that just calms me right down. Not sure what it is. I love take off. I love landing too. It could just be the fact that you're actually in the air going toward your destination, or it could be the noise of the engines. I'm not sure. I like airplanes though.
Let's see... 24 hours later, we're in East Asia in our Hotel. It was kinda nice, very humid, a little chilly, and very rainy. I discovered the use of a good umbrella pretty early on. Got one at a 7-11 a couple days in. The city we were in was beautiful. There were trees all over the place- it was like someone dropped a city in a centuries old garden. The people were really friendly too. The first day we just wandered around the city, the second day we went to a college and made some friends. I learned a lot about the culture, and a lot about the differences between America and this area of East Asia. Obviously I can't really say where we went, so that really limits me as to what I can say about the trip. I didn't really get to talk to many people about the Gospel- but I did a lot of praying while God brought people to the others on my team. There were so many people! Every day I ended up in my room sitting on my bed enjoying the silence. I never have handled large groups of people well, and that's all we ever had. Large groups. Very large groups. I'm an introvert, so I was way out of my comfort zone- but that was the whole point I think. If I thought I could do it without God's help, then I'd have done it without God's help.
It was a really good trip, but by the end of it I just wanted to be home. I missed people. A lot. I had no phone useage- so I couldn't call my parents or fiancé at all. The only way I had to communicate was on a borrowed laptop with spotty internet, and no access to my main mail account, so I had to make a secondary mail account and go from memory on the emails. the Good news is that I thought to get Dakota's Email and memorize it- though I was only able to send five emails over 14 days. That was, I think, the thing that wore on me the most. See, I've always had a member of my immediate family on a trip with me, or else I had the ability to call them and talk with them at least once a day. This time I really had no way to contact them other than spotty email on a borrowed machine- and then my parents don't check their emails often. That and apparently I have a whole realm of emotions that I simply write off as weakness or personal failing. Nervousness, missing people, loneliness, uneasiness, being tired, irritation, apparently these are all emotions that I can't have without feeling like a failure. I finally figured out that these emotions are okay- particularly the loneliness one- when we got to the hotel and one of the husband/wife groups, who'd been separated on both of the planes and on the bus and taxi to get to the hotel finally met back up. the husband looked over at his travel tired wife and said "Darling, I missed you like crazy today," She laughed and said she missed him too. 'Well,' I thought, 'If it's normal for Corey to miss Ashlee, and Ashlee to miss Corey while they're going to the same place, than me missing Dakota must be a normal thing too- He's roughly 8,000 miles away now.' So after I gave myself permission to cry into my pillow without feeling like a failure over it, I felt a lot better. Like I said, the distance was the worst part. I started a couple notebooks to chronicle what happened while we were in East Asia, one for my own use, the other was basically a really long letter to Dakota about what I was up to. I found out after I got home that my grandfather did the same for Nana- He was a chief petty officer in the navy, and every time he went to sea he would write in a notebook to my Nana what he was thinking, what he'd been doing, imagining what all she was doing, etc. Didn't know I was carrying on family tradition. LOL.
But yeah, We made a bunch of contacts, checked out a few places that our friends (who are moving there) might live, checked out about four colleges, went to a couple cities, tried all sorts of foods, traveled by plane, bus, train, metro, taxi, and foot (lots and lots of foot). Walked miles and miles every day, went to a couple really awesome malls, and did a lot of praying, growing, and writing.
By the time we started heading home I was so ready to be home I didn't know what to do with myself. Then I finally got off the plane, and we finally started back toward the meeting zone. I was about thirty feet in front of the rest of the team- I was tired, and I was ready to be home- and I was ready to see my family and fiance. Saw my mom with the camera first- she was closer than the other forty people who were waiting for the entirety of the College and Career class. So I walked over and gave her a hug and kiss and she made my mind up about my next target. "You better go find Dakota first! Your brothers have been terrible!" So I look over at the group (Who hadn't noticed me yet because the rest of the team was so far behind.) and Sure enough in the back of the group I spot the top of Dakota's beautiful fuzzy head trying to get away from Jared, who pretty much had him in an arm bar. There really wasn't much competition- I just wasn't sure if I should hug dad first or Dakota- this is the way your brain works when you're tired. So then everyone starts shouting because they see the rest of the team behind me, Jared let Dakota go, and I made a dash for him as he came around the side of the group to see me. Forty six people there, including my Nana, aunt sissy and uncle chuck, mom, dad, and all my brothers, I didn't notice a one of them. In my own little world. And ya know what? Best thing in the world to hear at that moment, "Welcome home love."
And not for the last time, or the first time I said "8,000 miles without you- never happening again. Not if I can at all help it."
January 2, 2013
Yesterday night I got a text while I was coming home from work, a text that read 'Hey Tristany, J and I were wondering if you were at all interesting in going to East Asia with us in March? It's a ten day missions trip around easter- it's going to be about $1900 dollars.' Me? Go to East Asia? On mission? It's at once God putting me back where he wants me, and me going someplace I've always dreamed of going. I was uncertain at first, but it was too perfect for God to not have orchestrated it- So I said I was interested and tonight I went to the information meeting after church. I only just got home- and there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to do this on my own. For instance: the price is $1900- which is four hundred more than I've ever raised for missions- and I have to have it all in by February 1st. I have thirty days (more or less) to raise $1900 dollars. I've never heard of that happening that fast. I'm not sure how to even start raising funds- but I do know- I KNOW- that God is telling me that I'm supposed to go to East Asia, that this trip is My trip, and I've been called to go. So I am totally going, and God is totally going to provide. Trust God? I have to- there's no way this going to happen unless he does it.January 7, 2013
I'm fully funded for my trip to East Asia! I can't but hardly believe it! I don't know why I'm so surprised- really, I don't. I knew God would come through- I KNEW IT! I always said it, I've been praying for it, I've been telling everyone "God will provide!" -but I never expected his providence to be so soon or so full and so sweet! I'd almost expected it to be a last minute rescue from the jaws of defeat on the 30th or the 31st of this month- not on the 7th!!! I'm completely floored! I mean, this is beyond everything that I'd ever expected! I prayed that God would provide, and while praying I told God that I knew he was going to completely blow my mind with the way he was going to provide- He's amazing at doing things that I didn't expect- and I totally didn't expect this! I've never felt so much like a daughter at a surprise party, whose dad just rolled out the best present ever! I mean, WOW! No way could I have done this. God is SO good.And now, April 1st, I got off a plane from East Asia to RDU. Wow, these last few days have been unforgettable, incredible, indescribable and completely overwhelming. Where to start? Where to start? So my last post was on the 15th of March, when Dakota proposed. Probably there, but now I think about it, that's a lot of information. Maybe I should start at the very beginning of the trip instead? So- March 21st. That'd be the day before the HCBCEAT (Hales Chapel Baptist Church East Asia Team) rolled out. My Aunt Ellie and Uncle Russ, and their five kids stopped at our house on the way home from South Carolina. It was great fun- I played makeup with my cousins Rebekah and Sarah. I always get really nervous and emotional right before leaving for a trip, so naturally I bottle this up until I have a panic attack. I ended up calling Dakota and crying for a while. He's a trooper! He prayed with me for a while and I felt better. I'm so thankful for how focused he is. He really leads by example. So after I got off the phone with him, I went to bed and got up three hours later. We were at the church by 3am, at the airport by 4am, on the plane by 6am, and off we went.
I was so nervous before we got on the plane- but there's something about planes that just calms me right down. Not sure what it is. I love take off. I love landing too. It could just be the fact that you're actually in the air going toward your destination, or it could be the noise of the engines. I'm not sure. I like airplanes though.
Let's see... 24 hours later, we're in East Asia in our Hotel. It was kinda nice, very humid, a little chilly, and very rainy. I discovered the use of a good umbrella pretty early on. Got one at a 7-11 a couple days in. The city we were in was beautiful. There were trees all over the place- it was like someone dropped a city in a centuries old garden. The people were really friendly too. The first day we just wandered around the city, the second day we went to a college and made some friends. I learned a lot about the culture, and a lot about the differences between America and this area of East Asia. Obviously I can't really say where we went, so that really limits me as to what I can say about the trip. I didn't really get to talk to many people about the Gospel- but I did a lot of praying while God brought people to the others on my team. There were so many people! Every day I ended up in my room sitting on my bed enjoying the silence. I never have handled large groups of people well, and that's all we ever had. Large groups. Very large groups. I'm an introvert, so I was way out of my comfort zone- but that was the whole point I think. If I thought I could do it without God's help, then I'd have done it without God's help.
It was a really good trip, but by the end of it I just wanted to be home. I missed people. A lot. I had no phone useage- so I couldn't call my parents or fiancé at all. The only way I had to communicate was on a borrowed laptop with spotty internet, and no access to my main mail account, so I had to make a secondary mail account and go from memory on the emails. the Good news is that I thought to get Dakota's Email and memorize it- though I was only able to send five emails over 14 days. That was, I think, the thing that wore on me the most. See, I've always had a member of my immediate family on a trip with me, or else I had the ability to call them and talk with them at least once a day. This time I really had no way to contact them other than spotty email on a borrowed machine- and then my parents don't check their emails often. That and apparently I have a whole realm of emotions that I simply write off as weakness or personal failing. Nervousness, missing people, loneliness, uneasiness, being tired, irritation, apparently these are all emotions that I can't have without feeling like a failure. I finally figured out that these emotions are okay- particularly the loneliness one- when we got to the hotel and one of the husband/wife groups, who'd been separated on both of the planes and on the bus and taxi to get to the hotel finally met back up. the husband looked over at his travel tired wife and said "Darling, I missed you like crazy today," She laughed and said she missed him too. 'Well,' I thought, 'If it's normal for Corey to miss Ashlee, and Ashlee to miss Corey while they're going to the same place, than me missing Dakota must be a normal thing too- He's roughly 8,000 miles away now.' So after I gave myself permission to cry into my pillow without feeling like a failure over it, I felt a lot better. Like I said, the distance was the worst part. I started a couple notebooks to chronicle what happened while we were in East Asia, one for my own use, the other was basically a really long letter to Dakota about what I was up to. I found out after I got home that my grandfather did the same for Nana- He was a chief petty officer in the navy, and every time he went to sea he would write in a notebook to my Nana what he was thinking, what he'd been doing, imagining what all she was doing, etc. Didn't know I was carrying on family tradition. LOL.
But yeah, We made a bunch of contacts, checked out a few places that our friends (who are moving there) might live, checked out about four colleges, went to a couple cities, tried all sorts of foods, traveled by plane, bus, train, metro, taxi, and foot (lots and lots of foot). Walked miles and miles every day, went to a couple really awesome malls, and did a lot of praying, growing, and writing.
By the time we started heading home I was so ready to be home I didn't know what to do with myself. Then I finally got off the plane, and we finally started back toward the meeting zone. I was about thirty feet in front of the rest of the team- I was tired, and I was ready to be home- and I was ready to see my family and fiance. Saw my mom with the camera first- she was closer than the other forty people who were waiting for the entirety of the College and Career class. So I walked over and gave her a hug and kiss and she made my mind up about my next target. "You better go find Dakota first! Your brothers have been terrible!" So I look over at the group (Who hadn't noticed me yet because the rest of the team was so far behind.) and Sure enough in the back of the group I spot the top of Dakota's beautiful fuzzy head trying to get away from Jared, who pretty much had him in an arm bar. There really wasn't much competition- I just wasn't sure if I should hug dad first or Dakota- this is the way your brain works when you're tired. So then everyone starts shouting because they see the rest of the team behind me, Jared let Dakota go, and I made a dash for him as he came around the side of the group to see me. Forty six people there, including my Nana, aunt sissy and uncle chuck, mom, dad, and all my brothers, I didn't notice a one of them. In my own little world. And ya know what? Best thing in the world to hear at that moment, "Welcome home love."
And not for the last time, or the first time I said "8,000 miles without you- never happening again. Not if I can at all help it."
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