Week in Review 14

Sarah Wennersten

January 10-18, 2011

Week in Review 14

This week was interesting and long. I was just looking back on my calendar to see what all happened and I was shocked to see that it was this last Monday that I sat and had my first real conversation with Jen. It seems like so long ago. So Monday I decided to talk to Jen and bring to her attention some of the grumblings going on among the students. There were so many rumors going around about the staff spying on us and about them not really caring about us. It hurt me to hear these things but over time I was getting to the point where I believed some of it so I decided to go the source to sort it all out and hopefully quell the rumors. We had a really good talk and I tried to be honest and open. Rich addressed the class that night and put an end to the rumors. Kelsey also addressed the girls in tears about how she really cares about us and is trying to spend time and invest in all of us but it is super hard when you have 28 girls. I almost felt kinda bad for bringing all of that discontentment to the surface and to the attention of the staff but at the same time I don’t because the issues were able to be addressed rather than having the students grumble about it. So it made some pain but not as much as if all of it were kept secret.

Thursday I SWEPT in Pondy kitchen again. Megan and I were put to work in the dish room again and rocked a boat load of dirty dishes. We did really well and Dani really likes us so it all served to make a nice work environment. Although I am a little sad that SWEEPs aren’t really what they were cracked up to be. We were all hoping to be learning new things and being trained in how to cook, do maintenance and electrical work, and all this other cool stuff. I really don’t mind doing the dirty tasks and grunting work, but I have had to change my expectation from getting to learn to getting to just work. Thursday night was also a theme dinner night. The theme was “Dr. Suess” so after SWEEPs I dressed up as a “Who” from the Grinch. We ate green eggs and ham and had green applesauce and other breakfast foods. It was an enjoyable evening followed by the movie “Masada”. This is the second time we have been able to watch part of the movie. Through it we are learning the story of Masada and enjoying relaxing a bit.

Friday began a 4 day work weekend. I was working in the Ponderosa pantry with Matthew and Cheryl. Working under Paul Greg Quinn was really fun. We had a great time of getting work done, joking around, and sharing lots of laughs. PGQ had just shaved his head Thursday night and most everyone who saw it made a comment about it. We chopped lots of fruit and vegetables, lots of onions (ouch), and refilled lots of salad fixings on the camper and staff lines. The first 3 days we didn’t have to start work until 10:45 so I would get up early and go downstairs and for a few hours spending time in God’s Word, reading my book, and starting work on my all my scholarship applications I have to get done. I have so much on my plate right now. From all the essays I have to write, I have to read all of Isaiah 2x, write the Isaiah paper, I need to write a resume and finish packing for the Dominican. Ugh.

This week once again I am going to be praying for the Dominican Republic. In 6 days we will be in the DR. I am so stoked. I am going to focus on my ministry site and the people I will come in contact with. As well as I will be praying for our whole team and everyone involved. I pray we will be able to have a huge impact on the workers and locals down there.