Be forewarned that the following hurt and make you feel "blah":
* Typhoid
* Yellow Fever
* Rabies
* TB
So, after 8 shots, I still have 2 or 3 left! Can you believe it? NOT cool.
Other than that, the day was great.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
I was arrested during church . . .
So you may be wondering what exactly I am talking about. Well . . . let me tell you.
Last night was cultural worship. For that part I was in there for, it was awesome. East Asia was our focus. I've never sung in Chinese before. Way cool!! The auditorium was completely cleared of chairs and we were to enter without our shoes. There were papers on the floor to mark different provences. You were to sit in groups of 10-12 to simulate a Chinese house church. At one point, we were on our knees praying for the persecuted church. All of the sudden there is a bunch of yelling (some in Chinese and some in English). Before I knew it, my house church had been broken up and forced to leave the room. Once outside we were interrogated (asked what our purpose was, why we were there, etc). Wow . . . what an eye-opening experience. It gave you a whole new view on persecution and the church . . . a new respect. We weren't allowed to go back into the room because in China, you would never see them again after interrogation. But in China, as an American, you don't have to fear physical persecution. They will just kick you out of the country. One guy made the statement - "I am more safe in a security level 3 country like China than you will be in a level 1 country like Peru". Wow. That made me think. Contingency training will be good for me. Start praying . . . it's next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Apparently it will drain us all mentally and physically.
Tonight me and some of my fellow Journeymen got to visit with the president and VP of the IMB. It was a good time getting to know them, and a good time getting off campus.
This is a heavy week. Pray for focus. Jerry Rankin will be speaking on Spiritual Warfare. It should be an amazing time.
Last night was cultural worship. For that part I was in there for, it was awesome. East Asia was our focus. I've never sung in Chinese before. Way cool!! The auditorium was completely cleared of chairs and we were to enter without our shoes. There were papers on the floor to mark different provences. You were to sit in groups of 10-12 to simulate a Chinese house church. At one point, we were on our knees praying for the persecuted church. All of the sudden there is a bunch of yelling (some in Chinese and some in English). Before I knew it, my house church had been broken up and forced to leave the room. Once outside we were interrogated (asked what our purpose was, why we were there, etc). Wow . . . what an eye-opening experience. It gave you a whole new view on persecution and the church . . . a new respect. We weren't allowed to go back into the room because in China, you would never see them again after interrogation. But in China, as an American, you don't have to fear physical persecution. They will just kick you out of the country. One guy made the statement - "I am more safe in a security level 3 country like China than you will be in a level 1 country like Peru". Wow. That made me think. Contingency training will be good for me. Start praying . . . it's next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Apparently it will drain us all mentally and physically.
Tonight me and some of my fellow Journeymen got to visit with the president and VP of the IMB. It was a good time getting to know them, and a good time getting off campus.
This is a heavy week. Pray for focus. Jerry Rankin will be speaking on Spiritual Warfare. It should be an amazing time.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Life on the Farm
Wow . . . today was long. I was fighting to stay awake in the sessions. So, my good friend Suz drew a maze for me to complete. Gotta love friends. She even made it an Xtreme Team theme. The title was: "Help Amanda Get to Her Food".
This afternoon was Regional Office time. It was good. Got to ask some questions and we went over our regional team and some other cultural stuff. Apparently, I'll be the only person, besides the leader, on the women's team. No one new signed up at the last screening conference. It's all good though. My thinking is, it's better to be paired with someone that knows the jungle!
Steph, Suz & Sarah made dinner tonight. We had breakfast! It was awesome. Definitely reminded me of those Sunday nights growing up where Dad made breakfast for dinner, after Sunday night church. Suz even got me grits!!!! It was quite a spread. I'll post pictures some other time. It takes way too long to upload them to here.
Me, Graham, Sharon, and Matt may be going hiking this weekend. David (regional leader) told us about part of the Appalachia Trail that is 2 hours from here. It is supposed to be awesome. It is a 6 hour hike . . . 7-8 miles long, with a 1 mile rock scramble! I'm excited. The only hold up is finding a car to use for the day.
Everything is going great. My arm is starting to feel better . . . just in time for a 2nd round on Tuesday!!!
I'm off to bed. Thank you for your prayers.
This afternoon was Regional Office time. It was good. Got to ask some questions and we went over our regional team and some other cultural stuff. Apparently, I'll be the only person, besides the leader, on the women's team. No one new signed up at the last screening conference. It's all good though. My thinking is, it's better to be paired with someone that knows the jungle!
Steph, Suz & Sarah made dinner tonight. We had breakfast! It was awesome. Definitely reminded me of those Sunday nights growing up where Dad made breakfast for dinner, after Sunday night church. Suz even got me grits!!!! It was quite a spread. I'll post pictures some other time. It takes way too long to upload them to here.
Me, Graham, Sharon, and Matt may be going hiking this weekend. David (regional leader) told us about part of the Appalachia Trail that is 2 hours from here. It is supposed to be awesome. It is a 6 hour hike . . . 7-8 miles long, with a 1 mile rock scramble! I'm excited. The only hold up is finding a car to use for the day.
Everything is going great. My arm is starting to feel better . . . just in time for a 2nd round on Tuesday!!!
I'm off to bed. Thank you for your prayers.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Shot Day #1
So today was immunization day. I think that is a sugar-coated title. It's just shot day! I am not a fan of the shots. I would rather give blood than have a shot. That's how much of a sissy I am. But, I'm okay with that. I'll admit it. Not only did I have to get a shot . . . I had to get FOUR! Don't worry, I didn't cry and no one had to hold my hand! We have our 2nd clinic day next Tuesday . . . I'll probably get at least 3 more. Yay.
Things are still going well. Staying really busy and some days are longer than others. I enjoy the evenings when we all just get ot hang out and check email and such. It's quality fellowship. I've also been running every morning at 6:30 with my friend Sara. I think we are semi-crazy . . . because it is EXTREMELY cold. Like, "I can't feel my face" cold.
Pictures to come soon. The connection is slow tonight, so I'll try later.
If you care to send me "snail-mail", the address is (it would be much appreciated!!!!!):
Amanda Brock
MLC
16492 MLC Lane
Rockville, VA 23146
Things are still going well. Staying really busy and some days are longer than others. I enjoy the evenings when we all just get ot hang out and check email and such. It's quality fellowship. I've also been running every morning at 6:30 with my friend Sara. I think we are semi-crazy . . . because it is EXTREMELY cold. Like, "I can't feel my face" cold.
Pictures to come soon. The connection is slow tonight, so I'll try later.
If you care to send me "snail-mail", the address is (it would be much appreciated!!!!!):
Amanda Brock
MLC
16492 MLC Lane
Rockville, VA 23146
Thursday, February 15, 2007
The Helgren kids have my heart! I love them!!!
What a night last night was!! Since it was Valentine’s Day, a lot of the Journeymen volunteered to help watch kids so that the parents could go out. If only you could have been a fly on the wall!! It was great.
A friend and I watched the two kids from next door, Lily & Easton (a two year old and a 6 month old) and were in charge of getting two little boys fed and to the children’s activity. What an experience. It took quite a bit of effort to even get to the cafeteria for dinner. Once there, we enlisted another fellow Journeyman to watch the little ones, while we got dinner for the two boys and ourselves!
• Side note: dinner was amazing. We had filet mignon, purple potatoes, asparagus, lobster bisque, and a choice of: chocolate cake, carrot cake or cheesecake, for dessert. It was a nice evening.
Back to the excitement . . . we finally get seated, only to remember I had forgotten Lily’s food, my drink and silverware. So back in line I went! The boys were settled in, my friend was attempting to feed Easton and I was cutting my steak with a butter knife and feeding it to Lily. While finally getting to eat my food, I glance over to the next table to notice one of the boys entrusted to my care was lifting the table off the floor . . . while everyone on the other side was still eating! I stopped that just short of disaster.
When dinner was finally complete, our table was a disaster area. Food/crumbs/baby supplies/etc was scattered all across the table. When you walked around, the sound of croutons being crushed was heard. It was great. It was a team effort to get things picked up and the kids back out the door! As we are dumping the trash, Lily is throwing her milk carton in the trash . . . before we can stop it, she has turned it upside down over her head. Yup, she was covered in milk. Just lovely. Thirty minutes later, we were headed out the door and back home.
Our next task was bath time. Easton had fallen asleep on the walk back to the Quad, so we left him in the stroller and gave Lily a bath. Holy moly! Tonight was the night she didn’t want to take a bath. If you had walked by our quad, you would have heard blood-curdling cries. I was doing anything in my power to get her to quit crying and laugh . . . I resorted to having a splashing contest. Needless to say, she stopped crying and I was covered in water. Fun stuff. We set Lily up to watch White Christmas (a favorite of hers) and washed Easton. Piece of cake.
Don’t ever tell a mother you think being a stay-at-home mom isn’t a real job. She has every right to hit you for that comment. I have the utmost admiration for you moms.
So that was my Valentines . . . how was yours?
A friend and I watched the two kids from next door, Lily & Easton (a two year old and a 6 month old) and were in charge of getting two little boys fed and to the children’s activity. What an experience. It took quite a bit of effort to even get to the cafeteria for dinner. Once there, we enlisted another fellow Journeyman to watch the little ones, while we got dinner for the two boys and ourselves!
• Side note: dinner was amazing. We had filet mignon, purple potatoes, asparagus, lobster bisque, and a choice of: chocolate cake, carrot cake or cheesecake, for dessert. It was a nice evening.
Back to the excitement . . . we finally get seated, only to remember I had forgotten Lily’s food, my drink and silverware. So back in line I went! The boys were settled in, my friend was attempting to feed Easton and I was cutting my steak with a butter knife and feeding it to Lily. While finally getting to eat my food, I glance over to the next table to notice one of the boys entrusted to my care was lifting the table off the floor . . . while everyone on the other side was still eating! I stopped that just short of disaster.
When dinner was finally complete, our table was a disaster area. Food/crumbs/baby supplies/etc was scattered all across the table. When you walked around, the sound of croutons being crushed was heard. It was great. It was a team effort to get things picked up and the kids back out the door! As we are dumping the trash, Lily is throwing her milk carton in the trash . . . before we can stop it, she has turned it upside down over her head. Yup, she was covered in milk. Just lovely. Thirty minutes later, we were headed out the door and back home.
Our next task was bath time. Easton had fallen asleep on the walk back to the Quad, so we left him in the stroller and gave Lily a bath. Holy moly! Tonight was the night she didn’t want to take a bath. If you had walked by our quad, you would have heard blood-curdling cries. I was doing anything in my power to get her to quit crying and laugh . . . I resorted to having a splashing contest. Needless to say, she stopped crying and I was covered in water. Fun stuff. We set Lily up to watch White Christmas (a favorite of hers) and washed Easton. Piece of cake.
Don’t ever tell a mother you think being a stay-at-home mom isn’t a real job. She has every right to hit you for that comment. I have the utmost admiration for you moms.
So that was my Valentines . . . how was yours?
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Exciting Times at "The Farm"!
This weekend has been quite relaxing. I’ve had coffee with friends, borrowed a car and made a Wal-Mart run, and learned a new board game. This board game was awesome. It is actually from Europe and beats any American game hands-down! It was called - Ticket to Ride. I play with strategy, so often I was called the "speed-bump". So, needless to say, it got a little competitive . . . but all in good fun! Games are always a nice stress reliever and give your mind a much needed break.
Today was another “Day of Rest”. Many people may assume that we go to church somewhere . . . we don’t. We participate in “House Church”. Each small group is like its own church. Honestly, I was a little skeptical as to how it would function, but it was amazing. We opened by reading a Psalm, had a time for testimonies, sang and read from Isaiah 6 and followed that up by SPECKA questions (A Sin to confess? A Promise to claim? An Example to follow? A Command to obey? Knowledge to understand? An Application to my life? – I would recommend these when studying the Word). I recently read a book about church planting movements, and that’s how they flourish . . . through new believers meeting in homes. It’s a pretty awesome concept. If you have a free moment, read Church Planting Movements by David Garrison. You won’t be disappointed!
Tonight we have our Mapping Ceremony. Each of us will introduce ourselves, share where we are going, a prayer request and then place our picture on the country where we are headed to serve. I’m excited about it.
Oh, one more thing. To anyone that I normally communicate with through Facebook . . . the site has been blocked. So please, comment on http://amandabrock.blogspot.com, rather than on the note in Facebook. And if you have written on my wall or sent a message or poked – don’t think I’m avoiding you! Write on my blog or email me!!
Today was another “Day of Rest”. Many people may assume that we go to church somewhere . . . we don’t. We participate in “House Church”. Each small group is like its own church. Honestly, I was a little skeptical as to how it would function, but it was amazing. We opened by reading a Psalm, had a time for testimonies, sang and read from Isaiah 6 and followed that up by SPECKA questions (A Sin to confess? A Promise to claim? An Example to follow? A Command to obey? Knowledge to understand? An Application to my life? – I would recommend these when studying the Word). I recently read a book about church planting movements, and that’s how they flourish . . . through new believers meeting in homes. It’s a pretty awesome concept. If you have a free moment, read Church Planting Movements by David Garrison. You won’t be disappointed!
Tonight we have our Mapping Ceremony. Each of us will introduce ourselves, share where we are going, a prayer request and then place our picture on the country where we are headed to serve. I’m excited about it.
Oh, one more thing. To anyone that I normally communicate with through Facebook . . . the site has been blocked. So please, comment on http://amandabrock.blogspot.com, rather than on the note in Facebook. And if you have written on my wall or sent a message or poked – don’t think I’m avoiding you! Write on my blog or email me!!
Friday, February 09, 2007
1st Report from Rockville!!
FPO is in full swing now. So far, we have covered Servant Leadership, Personalization and Connecting (mobilizing churches), Personal Evangelism and Accountability, Deepening Our Spiritual Walk and an amazing Personal Spiritual Retreat! It all has been amazing! The FPO director is really passionate about what he talks about, and it is awesome.
It is really hard to sum up what it’s like here. Everyone here is so genuine. It is slightly overwhelming. It is cold. You are always greeted with a smile. I guess I can sum it all up like this: it feels like home. I know beyond all doubts that this is where God wants me, and there is no greater feeling. It has been a blast reconnecting with friends from the screening conference.
My quad-mate is really cool and going to my same region. So, we are going to study Spanish together in the coming weeks. Our next-door neighbors are a Godsend. They are actually from Texas and have two little kids: a 2-year-old girl and a 6-month-old boy. God knew I was going to need a baby fix, since I won’t be around my nieces for a while. I have so much fun with them. They are also a Godsend because they graciously allowed me the use of their car! Made my first (probably of many!) Wal-Mart runs last night. But honestly, I have already been encouraged by K & J.
Next week I get to meet with our regional director and probably receive a few more assignments to work on. So far, things haven’t been too overwhelming.
To everyone back at home . . . I love you and miss you all. Thank you for your prayers . . . they mean the world and are most definitely felt!!
If you don’t receive my prayer updates by email . . . please leave a comment or send me an email at: amandabrock24@gmail.com. Thanks!
It is really hard to sum up what it’s like here. Everyone here is so genuine. It is slightly overwhelming. It is cold. You are always greeted with a smile. I guess I can sum it all up like this: it feels like home. I know beyond all doubts that this is where God wants me, and there is no greater feeling. It has been a blast reconnecting with friends from the screening conference.
My quad-mate is really cool and going to my same region. So, we are going to study Spanish together in the coming weeks. Our next-door neighbors are a Godsend. They are actually from Texas and have two little kids: a 2-year-old girl and a 6-month-old boy. God knew I was going to need a baby fix, since I won’t be around my nieces for a while. I have so much fun with them. They are also a Godsend because they graciously allowed me the use of their car! Made my first (probably of many!) Wal-Mart runs last night. But honestly, I have already been encouraged by K & J.
Next week I get to meet with our regional director and probably receive a few more assignments to work on. So far, things haven’t been too overwhelming.
To everyone back at home . . . I love you and miss you all. Thank you for your prayers . . . they mean the world and are most definitely felt!!
If you don’t receive my prayer updates by email . . . please leave a comment or send me an email at: amandabrock24@gmail.com. Thanks!
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