Just another week

Sarah Wennersten

March 7-13, 2011

Week in Review 21

This week started out kinda low and heavy but ended high and light.

Monday we had an Israel test on lessons 7-9. This was our last smaller test until the big final before going. We have to pass to get to go to Israel, I know I will pass. I started memorizing a few verses a day of Philippians 4 this week so I would have it all done. But this weekend I fell behind on the last little section. I will nail that down in the next 1-2 days and then have the next 3 weeks to get all of Philippians perfect.

Tuesday for SWEEPS I am doing “Joshua Jobs” which basically means I help out with random Joshua related stuff. But instead of doing that Josh and I were sent down to High Adventure to help with the Charter School PE class. We ended up doing the climbing with them. It had been a long time. One exciting thing is that as I was putting up one the ropes it came undone and fell. Yea. Now I had to climb up the wall with the rope and reattach it. Jordan and Danielle work the PE class but Jordan is not trained in HA. So while Josh and Danielle started sending kids up I strapped on a harness, gave Jordan a quick lesson on how to make sure I didn’t fall, and started climbing. The belay system is great because as long as you keep the slack in and don’t let your hand off the break rope you can catch anyone’s fall. Plus Jordan is a strong dude so he could have held my weight even without the bar. Of course I dropped the rope on the more challenging wall but I made it quick. Once to the top I had to figure out how to cling to wall while getting the rope through the pulley. I was on the pulley for the course next to the one I was working so I was parallel on the wall to where I was connected. Once I got the rope through I put it in my mouth and preceded to let go of the wall and swing a great big swing back on the other course. I soon realized having a rope in my mouth while descending down was not wise so while Jordan was lowering me I was wresting with the rope. It was exciting. Jordan did an awesome job for his first time. So we got the connecting rope through, strung the big rope up, and then I started belaying kids. I miss working High Adventure, working with rope and heights. We got done there really early and we got a ride back to the building. So by around 2:30 I was back reading my book and getting ready for KP. I almost forgot I had KP, that would have been bad. I do really enjoy working in the kitchen for the most part. Ever since High School and working with Mr.Voges on Heritage Dinner and Graduation I have loved it. Wednesday night we had speaker but I don’t really remember anything except the speaker saying “in conclusion” 40 minutes before saying “in conclusion” again and then 10 minutes later saying  “in conclusion” again and then it ended. I had a really hard time following the speaker this week. I didn’t really get where he was going and just didn’t track. I feel kinda bad, but then again I have gotten so much from the speakers this year that having one or two that I don’t connect with isn’t bad.

Wednesday was just another day. We had lunch KP and then book discussion. For book discussion we spilt up into groups for an hour. That was way to long. “The Cost of Discipleship” is good but thick and kinda dry. I find I don’t follow it very well and thought I was just reading the same page over and over again for the first whole section because it was so repetitive. I guess it is a translation which is part of the trouble.  So I haven’t been getting much out of the book or book discussion this time around, but I have gotten some, it’s just taking some digging. That was another big part of the issue. I don’t have time to dig. We have so much going on here that you have to kinda pick and choose what you will really invest your time and heart in and what you will just get done cause you have too. I feel like I have no time to soak anything in. The main reason for my lack of time was my portfolio that my parents and I have been working on for the SDCC scholarship. I knew that up till Israel I would be spending every second of free time working on it. This is why I felt low and heavy all week. So much to do, so little time. More on that later.

Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and had breakfast KP. Yippie. After speaker we had some time to chill before lunch so I came in my room and began working. I told my roommate how I would be spending all my time on the portfolio. She looked kinda sad and asked if it was worth it. If it was worth missing out on the Joshua experience just to work on this college stuff. I gave the reason that I can get lots of money for college. But I really did think about her words and was feeling really down. Thursday afternoon I had the whole afternoon so I finished up a package for my grandma for her birthday, did laundry, and walked down to the post office. After that I went to the DeLaRosa’s to work on my portfolio and scholarships till Pause. When I got on the internet I checked my Facebook and had a message from Mom. It said that we didn’t need to do the portfolio. It was really vague so at first I wasn’t sure. I checked my email and there was more detail there. I had expressed to Mom what Julie had said that morning about missing out on Joshua. Also I thought of how what we were doing was above and beyond, no one else was doing a portfolio, so it didn’t need to be so huge a thing. So Dad called SDCC just to see if they would accept a portfolio. And I guess they said that they have so much planned for the scholarship day that a portfolio was unnecessary. Wow. What a relief. At the same I was kinda disappointed not to finish such a cool project.  We had been putting so much time and energy into this thing, especially Mom, and now it was just over. But now I have so much more time. All I have to do is the Joshua homework and some essays. I feel so free and light. I can relax a little, enjoy my time here, and live life. Pause was good. Simple and short. I went up to the Mulls with the DeLaRosa’s cause Mrs.DeLaRosa was sick. We had sushi and curry for dinner. So good. The Mulls didn’t get there until around 6:30. We played some Apples-to-Apples and just chatted. I was getting frustrated by how nothing was getting planned for Mock Rock. I feel like ours is going to stink because no one is really getting on it. I am so used to planning things from the dress up days in high school. But I don’t want to be bossy. So am trying to organize more from the back and encourage the others to get on the ball. We left pause around 9pm which was super early. Mr.Mull had to be back down at the fire station the next day so he needed rest.

Friday after lunch we had deep cleaning like we do every week. I went in and was put on organizing the pantry area. I was able to do a lot in there and really straighten up. When I was done I went to go get another job to do but let go. What a blessing. So I went to my room and worked on stuff till 2:45ish when I went down to the post office and sent some more packages. I had to be at work at 3:30 and I had almost 30 minutes to kill. So I went to the clothing store, bought an 8$ t-shirt to use in Israel, and then sat at a table in the sun looking at the lake. It was great. This weekend was only a three day weekend and I was in the bakery. Becky and I had a good weekend working with soon-to-be-married Ashley. Saturday we made 8 different kinds of cupcakes for hundreds of people.  I was on frosting duty and made those 8 kinds of frosting like nobody’s business. We got out around 9 and I decided to go to my Pause families house. So I didn’t accept a ride, but part way there Paul Greg Quinn stopped and said he would totally drop me off since is right up the hill. So we all drove up there and then he and the others waited for me while I went to the door. My Pause family had already turned in for the night so PGQ gave me and the boys a ride the rest of the way up. I took a nice shower and then went to bed.

Today, Sunday, was decent day. We had to be at work at 7am, which according to our internal clocks was really 6am because of the time change. Everyone was tired. We baked a little but mostly worked on deep cleaning the kitchen. We worked till 2:30 and then Ashley gave us a ride up after stopping to mail one more package. Once at the building I took a nice shower, sat downstairs on the couch, enjoyed the view, ate a bread bowl and other baked goods for dinner, while listening to a John Piper sermon. I then proceeded to eat lots of sunflower seeds while listening to anther JP sermon. It was a good little “church service” for myself. Then I did a load of laundry, had a bowl of cereal, talked with some gals, beat on a drum a little, and now am going to turn in for the night. Maybe I will crochet a little... it’s been a long time. I feel so free without the portfolio hanging over me! It’s great!

This week I am going to pray for Japan. The tsunami that hit there just reeked havoc. I have some good family friends: Adrian and Mr. Frye who will probably be heading over there for relief efforts. God bless them and all others who go to help. Hundreds are dead, many more wounded. I can’t imagine the devastation. I pray that God will use this disaster in some big way to bring many to Himself.