Being on this campus keeps me humble...

I would not claim to be a highly educated person, but... I have generally thought that I could hold my own in conversation with folks with many differing levels of education...

But... sometimes, here at the International Linguistics Center, even the bulletin board entries make me think that I am very uneducated, or maybe that folks here speak a different language than I do.

A couple of recent examples:

Any of my blog readers ready to sign up for this?

This was the title of a talk held here on campus last week...

Here are some more details about the presentation:

Diagnosing Symmetrical Voice in Little-described Languages
Symmetrical-voice languages are ones that display more than one default transitive
pattern. Each pattern, called a voice, correlates with a different thematic role which acts
as the pivot of each voice. The pivot of each clause is available for wh-movement or
relative clause gapping. The thematic role which correlates with the voice is the pivot.
This talk discusses the nature of symmetrical voice and how a fieldworker might go about diagnosing the voice alternations in an undescribed or little-described language.
Symmetrical-voice is found commonly in Austronesian languages, there are potentially
hundreds of undescribed symmetrical-voices systems in the Pacific.

It was during lunch time, and I was serving in the dining hall, so I didn't sit in on it... I wonder if I could have understood any of it?!?!?

The Promise

On Saturday evening, I joined some other folks from our church to go see The Promise in Glen Rose, TX. Two folks that I know from church are performing in it this year (I think this is the third year that they have performed in it) - I've been wanting to go each year, but, we haven't normally been in Texas in the fall, so it hasn't worked out. I had asked Kelly to let me know if folks from church were planning to go, so she let me know that her Community Group (Sunday School class) had some folks going this week, so I arranged to go with them. It is about an hour's drive from the campus where I'm living; I drove to Glen Rose and met them at Hammond's BBQ.

The show is a musical that presents the life of Jesus.
https://thepromiseglenrose.com/
If you follow the link, you'll see a brief clip / gif from the show -- what one of my friends had mentioned, who went a few weeks ago, was what a joyful expression the man who portrayed Jesus wore through so much of the show - when he came up out of the baptismal waters and God commended him, when he called the children to come to him, when people were full of joy because of the healing of their loved ones -- and you can see that in the clip on the website.

For some reason, I don't usually think of Jesus with a face full of joy, but, I have to believe that He *was* joyful - at the times I mentioned above, and other times in His ministry - when people "got it"!

A few pictures I took:

Before the show - a picture of the stage. In the front, there is a water-filled "moat" that was used as the Jordan River (during Jesus' baptism) and the Sea of Galilee (when Jesus calmed the storm). There were elaborate sets that rolled onto the stage at various times during the show. On the far right, on the second story, was the "home" of the narrator of the show...

He had been a shepherd boy in the fields of Bethlehem and heard the announcement of the angels - he was telling his family about Jesus -- his daughter was played by one of our friends from church.

Her real-life Mom, Kelly, was also in the show, playing Jairus' wife (whose daughter was healed / brought back to life).

This is one of the final scenes - after the resurrection.

It was quite an impressive show - 150-person cast and crew, live animals, in its 31st year. It is an outdoor amphitheater, and since the temperature was to go down into the mid 50s by the completion of the show, I brought several layers and was able to stay nice and toasty warm.

If you have the opportunity to go -- go! The last performances for this season are this coming weekend, 11/1 and 11/2.

The reading of the scroll

As the new year in the Jewish calendar is just starting, some of the Hebrew speakers / professors / students are having a time to read the scroll each Thursday afternoon. It happens to be part of my Basic Biblical Hebrew class, and I happen to have the key that gets us into the closet that has the table used for displaying the scroll, so I'll get to be part of this through the fall...

Last week's portion - the advertisement on the screens around campus.

We are at the very beginning of the scroll - Several folks read the first line, and a couple sang it.

I am enjoying being part of this!

I don't like snakes...

Have I mentioned that I don't like snakes?

I decided to dump the tanks yesterday...

I have always banged on the wet bay door before opening it, not wanting to scare anything that might be hidden in there (more precisely, wanting to give fair warning to anything hidden in there so *it* would not scare *ME*). I didn't bang yesterday, and I didn't see any critter, but 

You probably can't tell what that thing is that is below the red rag...

 Here, let me zoom in on it...

 

It is a snake skin...

 

So a snake has been in there... (I was trying to come up with an alternate explanation, like, someone found the snakeskin and put it in there... yeah, no, I don't think that's it either...)

Oh, I do NOT like snakes. 

 

Dwayne used to tell me that it was Biblical that I not like snakes (enmity between the woman and the snake - Genesis 3:15). 

 

I just DON'T LIKE THEM... 

Argh! Where else might the snake go? Can it get from the wet bay into other parts of the bus?!?!? Argh! 

Did I mentioned that I don't like snakes? 

Not a happy camper... 

Iris

I have posted about the sweet little girl that I get to work with:


http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/09/some-of-my-co-workers.html
http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-sweetie-that-i-get-to-work-with.html

In that first post, I had a picture of Iris in her walking chair:

Well, it turns out that this chair changes into a walker, and Iris is SO proud of herself using it:

There is still a bit of a problem with steering, but, she is really doing great!

Sukkot

Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths, was this past week in the Jewish calendar. We had a Sukkah (I think that's what it was called) outside the building where I work at the Welcome Desk:

And a few of the students elected to live outside in the Quad during the observation of the feast:

It is fun living on a college campus - or, a campus where college students also live. They have so much zest and excitement in their lives - it is a blessing!

The rolling of the scroll

In my Hebrew class, we are learning about the Torah portions - the names of the sections of scripture in the first 5 books of the Old Testament that are designated for reading each week. This past week, the last of the Torah was read, and this Saturday (Sabbath), the first section for the new year will be read. Our Hebrew teachers are planning to start reading / singing the Sidra on Thursdays (actually, it will be part of my class) with the first reading, B'Reisheet, today, Thursday, October 24. In preparation for that, in class on Tuesday, we "rolled the scroll"...

The scroll was almost to the end...

We rolled it out until we got to the very last words in Deuteronomy...

What would be Deut 34:12 in our Bibles with chapters and verses...

Then we started re-rolling back to the beginning.... Chazak, Chazak, v'Nit'chazek! (Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened!)

Eventually getting back to B'Reisheet - "In the beginning"

"In the beginning created God the heavens and the earth..." (Gen 1:1 in our Bibles with chapter and verse).

It is so cool to be learning these items of Jewish life and culture as well as Hebrew!

Additional status update...

A couple of days ago, I posted that we were okay (Miss Doozie, Miss Kitty, and me) after hearing reports about tornado activity in the DFW area. (http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/10/status-update.html)

I didn't realize then that there were tornadoes all around the area.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/weather/2019/10/22/4th-tornado-confirmed-as-power-gets-restored-to-thousands-across-dallas-fort-worth/
https://www.wfaa.com/article/weather/neighborhood-hit-hard-by-dallas-tornado-one-of-the-most-exclusive/287-4c151250-c79b-46b6-938e-b07afc3b32db

We're still okay, but, after seeing the destruction, I'm rethinking my decision to stay home when I heard the sirens going off... I think, in the future, Miss Kitty and I will be heading to the Travis Building here in the RV park when we hear tornado sirens!

Know your "why"

This video was shown in the Perspective class that I attended recently - check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytFB8TrkTo

Status update

Just in case you've seen any reports about a major tornado causing damage in Dallas... it was in the north part of Dallas County, and we are parked in the southwest corner of Dallas County. As I was about ready to go to bed, the tornado alert sirens started going off... I remembered the conversation that one of my RV park neighbors and I had, just on Saturday, on where to go on campus in case of a tornado warning, and I briefly considered putting Miss Kitty in her kennel and going, but... I didn't... as it turned out, it wasn't a problem here, but I suppose I should have responded to the siren and gone to the shelter area...

The thunderstorms continued through the night, but they weren't too bad either.

News reports indicate that the power went out for a lot of people, but, it is fine here.

The view from my office

My "office" - the volunteer office - is on the second floor of the Key building - which gives a nice view over the campus and over to Joe Pool Lake beyond.

It was rather cloudy and rainy on the day I took this picture...the Boutique is to the left in the foreground, the Dining Hall in the middle of the back, and the Member Service building to the left of the Dining Hall.

... cropping the picture - you can kind of see the lake beyond...

I think that I will soon be changing offices - the office is way bigger than we need for volunteer coordinating, and space is needed for some other departments on campus. So, I'm enjoying the view while I have it, and I'm sure I'll enjoy wherever I'll be placed "next"!

Another tiny house

A couple of weeks ago, another tiny house moved into the RV park (I wrote about the first one here: https://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-house-moved-into-rv-park.html

The new one has a different configuration - the entrance is along the long side of the unit instead of the "front", and it is configured so it could house two singles (same gender) who would share a bathroom. I think there is a "Murphy" bed in the living room. I haven't seen the inside of it yet - it arrived and was being worked on to accommodate visitors during the BT conference, so there wasn't a "tour" or open house of it scheduled.

Aquaponics Greenhouse on campus

Earlier in the summer I posted some pictures from the inside of the Aquaponics Greenhouse that is on campus: https://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/06/aquaponics-and-cafeteria.html

But I don't think I ever posted a picture of the outside:

The side has been open for the summer -- I suspect the sides will be rolled down pretty soon as we're starting to have cooler weather.

With the sides up, it has allowed all of us campus residents and guests to see what is growing inside even from a distance. The Aquaponics manager, Cherish, has started selling items in the entry area of the greenhouse - she has a refrigerator where she keeps the items and they are sold on the honor system. Nice to be able to acquire fresh veggies right here on campus!

Individualism versus Collective thinking

In our Perspectives class this week, the instructor was raised in Korea. One of the things that she talked with us about was the difference in cultures - specifically those cultures that value individualism versus those that are a "collective culture".

She stated that the US is probably the most individualistic culture in the world. We have sayings that emphasize this, like, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."
She compared this to her own culture, where one of the popular sayings is, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" -- you don't want to stand out from the crowd.

She said that, in Korean, though there is a word for "my", it is almost never used. It is not "my car" or "my house" or "my food" but always "our". In these types of cultures, it is less common that an individual would come to faith in Christ; rather a community, or a family, would come to faith. The culture of the Bible was much more a collective culture than the US, and therefore, we see stories like that of Cornelius (Acts 10) and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16) where the whole household / group / family came to faith.

I just found this interesting... I am often so caught up in my own experience that I have a hard time conceptualizing how it could be quite different within a different culture - whether at a different time, or just separated by space.

The BT Conference

I mentioned that we were having a big conference on campus - it started on Friday, October 11, and continued through Tuesday, October 15, skipping Sunday (there was a plenary session on Sunday evening, but that was the only event scheduled on that day). I was involved primarily in serving at the dining hall = we served meals for the conference attendees on Friday evening, Saturday lunch and supper, Monday lunch and supper, and Tuesday lunch. Tuesday night there was a banquet at a hotel off campus. We normally serve ~100 people (sometimes more, sometimes less) on Monday-Friday lunchtime. For the conference, we were serving 350 additional. Some of the food was taken to another site on campus where we anticipated about 100 people to eat, so we had about 250 coming through our dining line, in addition to our regular customers on Monday and Tuesday lunch. It was "interesting"! We did not offer as many options as we would normally provide to our customers (it was a "fixed plate" meal unless people had food allergies). We would be super, super busy for 45 minutes, and then have just a few more come in through the remaining half hour that we were open. The nice thing is that it makes the time go really fast!

On Wednesday after the conference, we were getting some of the badge sleeves and lanyards into the Information and Welcome Center so they can be reused:

A sampling of some of the different lanyard colors...

Each lanyard color had a meaning - the only one I know for sure was yellow, because that was for volunteer. That meant that we had not paid for the conference, and we weren't to have a seat in sessions unless all the paying attendees were seated. I had a yellow lanyard.

We'll have plenty of badge sleeves and lanyards for a while!

I think the conference went well... and I think we're all glad it is finished!

Such a good, but convicting thought

I saw this on Twitter...

Such a good, but convicting, thought...

How do we pray?

Several years ago I heard a Christian speaker and comedienne, Iris Blue.
https://www.duaneandirisblue.com/

One of the things that I remember from her was, "As Christians, we spend more time trying to pray people out of heaven than pray people in..."

She went on to say that, particularly in our prayer meetings, we spend time praying for healing of our friends and loved ones who follow Christ (who, if they pass away, would be in heaven), but rarely are even comfortable *sharing* that we *have* a family member or friend who is not following Jesus. We lie to ourselves, "He walked the aisle when he was 8." "She was baptized as a teenager." "He isn't living the way that he ought to be, but I'm sure he is saved." Ultimately, we could be condemning them to a life in hell.

I don't remember really anything else she said (although I remember that she was funny!) - but that poignant thought...

The sweetie that I get to work with...

I have posted pictures of Iris before - like here: http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/09/some-of-my-co-workers.html

Her mom was in a meeting across the hall from my office on Thursday... Iris was wanting to be a bit noisy, so Mary wasn't able to participate fully in the meeting. I went out in the hall, and Iris gave me a big smile and came to visit me in my office for a little while.

We took some selfies - she enjoyed seeing that cute little girl on my phone screen.

I played some nursery rhyme videos on my phone for her. She is, I think, 9.5 months old - and crawling like mad... I am blessed to work with some really wonderful folks!

The yurt is here!

I posted a few days ago about a yurt being built on the campus: http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-yurt-is-coming-yurt-is-coming.html

About a week ago, I was in the area where it is and it looked like it was about finished:

I didn't walk down to it - I have heard that it is to have French door, so it looks like one of the doors is open.

Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit it - we were setting up for a big conference that is being held on the center starting Friday night. They wanted to have the ability to have a place that folks could print boarding passes or maybe other small jobs down near the event center. There was a printer in the office I use which is not very much used, so we decided to relocate it to the yurt. So, I went with Doug to put it in (not that I was any help, other than recommending caution that he not hurt himself!!).

I took a couple of pictures of the interior:

I think that the center hole is covered by a plexiglass kind of window. There is just the one carpet on the floor - I'm thinking that it may have origins in Mongolia.

That's the French doors from the inside.

I understand that it has windows that can be unzipped (the canvas unzipped) and then those black-edged things on the left side of the bottom picture could, I think, be used to cover the opening - to allow light in but not outside air. They looked like plastic sheeting with black heavy-weight material around the edges.

I think there is up-lighting at the top of the walls to provide indirect lighting when it is dark.

It will get used this weekend!

4th Nomad-iversary!

October 10, 2015 was the date on which we completely moved into Miss Doozie - 4 years ago. We had both retired in 2014, Dwayne at the end of May and I at the end of July. In July 2014, Dwayne had flown to Virginia and he and my brother looked at a used RV that I had found online, Miss Daisy. We decided to make an offer on it and it was accepted, so we were starting our RV-life.

After going out in Miss Daisy for a few short trips in 2014, we left in December to spend 4 months traveling in the winter of 2014-2015. On that trip, we decided that we wanted to go fulltime, but not in that rig. So, when we got back to Dallas in April, 2015, we got Miss Daisy ready to sell, started getting the house ready to sell, sold Miss Daisy in May, and bought Miss Doozie in July, 2015. We finished getting the "stuff" taken care of in the house, and finally completely moved in and left October 10, 2015.

Here's my post from that day:  http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2015/10/on-road-again.html

What wonderful adventures we had in the years of our travels! What a good home Miss Doozie still is for me! I wish it could have been longer... I am grateful for the time we had... I wish Dwayne and I could have had more time together... I'm trusting God for what is next.

Tuesday

I serve at the food pantry on Tuesday mornings. We got another donation of chili at the center where I work on Monday, so I was going to take part of it with me to the food pantry. I started a little earlier than normal so I could load the Jeep and still get to the pantry and to unload the chili too. It turned out that the warehouse manager for the center was there, so I didn't have to load the chili all by myself. Then, when I got to the pantry, the day manager, Jane, was arriving at about the same time, and her husband, Jim, came with her, so he helped me load the hand-cart and get the boxes inside. The lady who generally manages the freezer space, Sandra, (who had told me how much they could take) was already there, so Jim and Sandra were loading the chili into one of the freezers. I was in another room - heard a crash, and ran in there....

This is a *slightly* posed picture...

The top shelf gave way, and took out the middle shelf on its way down... It took us a while to get everything picked up - we had to find the clips that held the shelves in place (one was hiding in the middle section of the 3-door freezer) - we finally got it all put back together, and the chili loaded in, but... it was "interesting".

Last week, we had run out of donated water at the pantry. We put a bottle of water into the bags of "lunch" that we provide to the "road warriors" (homeless). It has been so hot. When I served last week, we had prayed that we would get a water donation... Sandra had told others to reserve the spot where we had been storing water because God would answer our prayers ("carry an umbrella if you're praying for rain!").

See those crates? they are full of potatoes - where the water is supposed to go.

So... today, God provided a large donation of water from Aldi's...

But the space was gone. So, we needed to find another space - which you can see in that last picture... but... there were 5 large boxes of oranges already there - and no other available space that wouldn't be in the way... so we moved the 5 large boxes of oranges onto the shelves of the walk-in refrigerator - which was "interesting" because the bottoms of the boxes were bowed out and caught on the wire shelving, but we got them in there.

Later in the morning, we were re-packing eggs (we get eggs donated in 18-count cartons and boxes of 60 that we re-pack into dozens). I was moving the crates with the eggs to be re-crated out of the walk-in, and then moving the crates with the re-packed cartons back in. Sandra came by and said, "You know, it would be great if we could move those orange boxes into that back corner in case we get a large donation of produce tomorrow from Operation Blessing." 

Okay... move the oranges again - the top box of 5 was at about my shoulder height, but Sandra and I together could get it in place. So, then we could store the eggs in a space in front of the oranges, leaving lots of shelf space for produce for tomorrow.

Let's just say that I was *tuckered* by the end of my serving there...

A Heart for Foster Care

A friend of mine was interviewed for a podcast recently - would love for you to listen to it!
https://www.bravemoms.com/a-heart-for-foster-care-an-interview-with-candace-jonesep-22/?fbclid=IwAR3lETrNtuWRHF5__89RPTGtHr1EZjN0yA-fgJdn8VfNjm4GPyYHFr4rO_k

Feast or Crumbs

Hey, y'all - remember that back in May, I attended the "Explore Bible Translation" class here on campus? (http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2019/05/explore-bible-translation.html)
A couple who attended that class with me has been accepted as members of Wycliffe Bible Translation!

They shared this video to share the heart of Wycliffe Bible Translation:
Feast or Crumbs


I think that they probably have additional training that they will be going through - on partner development, more on their roles - but you can start praying for Claudia and Michael now - thank you!

His Mercy is More

Another contemporary hymn that I appreciated hearing and learning during the CaringWell conference, His Mercy is More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijsjA5Yf8XA

.... our sins they are many, His mercy is more...

Thank you for your prayers for me during the conference. As anticipated, the topics were difficult to hear, but they were truths that I needed to hear. I'm now seeking to understand how God would call me to use the information that I've learned... I would appreciate your continued prayers as I sort through this...

Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor

The worship leader for the CaringWell Conference that I am attending is Matt Boswell. Today, we sang one of the hymns that Matt Boswell and Matt Papa have written.

Check it out: "Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58LVnt_PIs8

A chili donation

The dining hall on campus keeps prices more reasonable by making use of generous donations.

This past week, we had a donation of many hundreds of pounds of frozen chili - more than we could use on campus - so we contacted other organizations that help various groups in the DFW area. Many of them came and got many boxes of the chili (each box was 30 pounds):

I took 820 pounds of chili to Crisis Ministries, the food pantry where I volunteer on Tuesdays. I took it on Monday evening when I go to Perspectives class (which is held at a church which is close-by) - the two ladies who ride with me, one a college student, and the other a very active 70+ year old, were fabulous at helping me get it unloaded and put away in freezers at the ministry. They did a fabulous job! We've been giving the chili out to all household clients of the food pantry - everybody gets to eat chili!

Come join me!

Did you know that more than 100 million people do not have even a single verse of scripture in a language that they understand? There are more than 2100 languages which do not yet have any scripture in their language... for them, John 3:16 looks like this:

"________________________________________________________"

Are you aware that another 2600+ languages only have portions of scripture in their language?
Are you saddened that, out of over 7300 languages in the world, only 677 have the whole Bible available in their language?
I am so glad that English is one of those 677 languages, that I can read and study scripture in the language that I can most easily read and understand.

Would you like to make a difference in getting the Bible translated so the people who currently don't have scriptures available to them would have it available? Do you have the faith to believe that it could occur within this generation?

Come join me here at the campus of the International Linguistics Center (ILC) in Dallas, Texas. Join folks from Wycliffe Bible Translators, SIL International, Pioneer Bible Translators, Dallas International University, and others as we make progress in accomplishing the proclaiming of the gospel throughout that whole world that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24:14:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

I think that I have posted before that the campus where I live and work makes large use of volunteers - many of whom come in their RVs in the winter - "Winter Volunteers". The numbers of folks who come has been reducing as the folks who have been accustomed to coming are aging and are no longer able to come. Sooooo - we need some new folks who would be willing to come and volunteer!

While the DFW area may get some cold weather in the winter, it usually doesn't last long. I used to say, when we lived in this area, that if it snowed here, the snow was very "civilized" - it snowed and looked nice for a day, and melted the next! Full disclosure: I haven't stayed in the DFW area through the winter in the RV before - but I've been here through December, and as early as the end of February. My experience in those stays tell me that ou would definitely want a working heater in your rig but it is not normally a bad climate for the winter.

The RV park (and the whole campus) is really beautiful - I took some pictures in the RV park this week - we don't have irrigation and have had almost no rain this summer, so the grass is looking a little peaked...

Looking "up" the hill - there are a number of trees in the campground, which has been great through the summer!

Some available slots just across the campground road from my spot - currently occupied by current residents' cars, but they will be moved when the campground starts getting full.

Miss Doozie and the Jee-rage in my space. I have an "interesting" space in that there is a walk path right next to my site that leads to the retirement apartments (retired missionaries). I get to talk to the most interesting folks! "Retired" is not a concept that missionaries quite understand... they are almost all still very involved with various projects here and around the world!

For volunteers, the campus charges $200/month for a full hookup site, all included (no additional charges for electricity). They ask that singles in the RV park volunteer at least 20 hours per week, and if a couple is in the RV, that a total of 40 hours be volunteered between the two of them, however the couple decides to split that up.

If you don't have an RV, there is also rental housing available on campus - I honestly don't know the details about that... I know that there is a Guest House that has rooms like dorm rooms, and there are apartments and mobile homes that the campus rents out. I don't know what the cost or availability are of those options, but I can try to get information if anyone is interested, or you can email housing_dallas@sil.org and request information.

If you are interested in volunteering, information about volunteer opportunities can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/a/sil.org/dallas-center-ilc/volunteer-opportunities
At that site, there is also a link to the volunteer application, and to the id to send housing requests - you can use that same id for requests for RV sites. There is also an email address and phone number to use if you have any questions.

If you are just passing through DFW and would like to visit the campus, please let me know! I can arrange for Vanay to provide a tour so you can learn more about what work is supported through the activities on this campus. Use the teamsil_dallas@sil.org id and I can get messages to Vanay to schedule.

If you are only available to come for a short time, it is possible we can also use you as a volunteer for less than committing to the whole winter season. We could discuss by email or phone what you would be interested in doing and try to get a lot of the "onboarding" accomplished before you get here so you can hit the ground running. 

If you are traveling in your RV through the area, you can stay in the RV park just as a "guest" (I think the rate is $30/night for full hookups, but you'd need to check with housing to be sure). I'd love to see you here and get to visit!

Come join me at the International Linguistics Center in Dallas!

Caring Well Conference

I am signed up to attend the Caring Well Conference that is being held here in the DFW area, Thursday, 10/3 - Saturday, 10/5. I am anticipating challenging and difficult truths being presented.
https://erlc.com/upcoming-events/2019-erlc-national-conference

I was looking at the schedule, and, particularly Friday, is going to be a LONG day - 8:30am - 9:25pm.

I would appreciate your prayers that I would be able to absorb what I need to hear and absorb, and that God would give me strength to persevere.