Graduation!

This is the video that was played at our graduation. It was really fun watching the students watch themselves.

An update

Hello friends and family,

There has been quite a bit going on in my life lately, so I thought that I should probably write an update to catch you all up.

I will start with the good stuff! As many of you know, I was able to go to Jerusalem and surrounding areas a few weeks ago. It was a wonderful little vacation. We stayed in a convent just outside of the Damascus Gate, which is a great location to walk to all of the Old City sites. We also rented a car and spent some time at the Mediterranean Sea just north of Joppa, and also in the areas surrounding the Sea of Galilee. It is pretty crazy to travel such a short distance and feel like you are in a completely different world.

Here are a few pictures from my trip.

On to other news...

I received a surprise phone call from my school district on Tuesday informing me that they no longer have a job for me when I return. As you can imagine, this came as quite a shock. Due to budget cuts I was bumped because of seniority... or lack thereof.

At first I was pretty upset and not sure what to do. After having a bit of time to think about it, I still am not sure what to do, but somehow that is kind of exciting. Even though I was quite surprised by the turn of events, I know that it did not surprise our Heavenly Father. I also know that He has good plans for me. So, I will let you know as He let's me know! I covet your prayers for this situation.

Also, if you have not heard, I will be returning to Hood River in mid May. I definitely have mixed emotions about the move, but I am confident that it is the right step. I am excited to be reunited with my family and friend, and especially excited to worship with my church family. However, it will be really difficult to leave my friends and teammates here. As I sit and think about this year I am in awe of the experiences that I have been privileged to have.

In His Grip,

Tina G.

Ajloun Castle

Saturday I went on a little adventure around Jordan with the Mangham family. We went north to Ajloun to see the castle, stopped for a picnic in the Jordan Valley, stopped in Pella (one of the decapolis cities) and ventured back to Amman (another decapolis city fyi). It was a GORGEOUS day! I was shocked at how green everything was! Here are a few pictures.

The castle:

Our tour guide, Ibrahim, at the castle:

Here is the castle from afar (taken from the car with the point and shoot)

Jordan Valley

On their way to find green grass

from our picnic spot

Pella:

Cell Phone

Last Thursday I took a taxi to visit my friend in Abdoun. I navigated to the regular drop off point, got out of the taxi, and went to phone my friend when I noticed that I had left my cell phone in the taxi. The taxi was now gone. Bummer. I did a little positive self talk and decided that I needed to find a phone quickly to call my own phone and see if the taxi driver would be kind enough to return to the place where he had just dropped me off.

I spotted 2 women on the opposite side of the street. I found some boldness deep inside and asked the women if they had a "mobile" that I could borrow. I explained the story and they had compassion on me. I called my phone and there was no answer. The kind younger lady redialed my number and the taxi driver answered. All of the sudden she started speaking arabic really quickly and forcefully while pacing back and forth on the street. She would frequently make eye contact with me, smile, and return to arguing with the man. In my limited arabic I pick up the following.... America girl.... American embassy.... police... she will pay.... American embassy...

She finally hung up the phone and said (through a laugh) that he would be back in 10 minutes. Apparently she told him that I worked for the American Embassy and that they had called and said that he must return my phone or they would call the police.

She then continued to stay with me, invite me into her aunt's home, invite me to dinner, and offer any and every service that she could. Even dental service. It turns out that she is an oral surgeon, and a pretty big deal in Jordan.

So, the taxi driver returns, and he is not very happy. Dr Maya told me to pay him 5JD for his time, so I went to the pharmacy that was near by to get some change. While I was doing that, she talked to the taxi driver, got my phone, then took the money from me and returned it to him.

I am so thankful for Dr. Maya and Jordanian hospitality. This is one of the many reasons why I love this country.

UPDATE

Much has happened in the last few months that I have neglected to update my faithful readers about, so now that the weather outside is rainy/snowy, I will spend some time getting you up to date. I feel like this one could be a long one, so I will weave pictures throughout to keep your attention!

MOM AND AMANDA CAME TO VISIT!

This was of course a highlight in my time over here. It was so nice to get those big hugs at the airport! I'm so proud of my mom for having the courage to enter another world for a few weeks. I have incredible friends here, but nothing compares to having someone from home come and experience your life along with you.

I kept them quite busy while they were here. I rented a car and we drove all over the country. Our first stop was Petra. We were anticipating getting there in the early afternoon so that we could relax at the hotel for the evening and then hike around Petra in the morning. When we got to the hotel we were informed that there would be a "Petra by Night" tour that evening. For the Petra by Night tour, they light the siq leading to the treasury with candles. It is quite a beautiful site. Once you get to the treasury, you are met with a beautiful site, with a bedouin playing a rababa and singing. You sit in silence, drinking tea, and soaking in the moment. I had not been able to have this before, so I sort of coerced my mother and friend into doing this. (It wasn't too difficult). However, I hadn't thought through the plan too well, because my mom had just had knee surgery and Petra demands a lot of walking in one day, and my plan required it two days in a row! Mom and Amanda were troopers though, and we had a great time.

Day two in Petra:

This was an incredibly long day. We had many firsts to say the least. Mom and Amanda coerced me into doing things that I had resolved never to do... like ride a mule. I like my own two feet! Anyway, it ended up being a great day filled with many memories.

One of my favorite things was when a bedouin family invited us to sit and have tea with them on our way up to the monastery. Their hospitality and nice conversation reminds me of the importance of slowing down in life enough to enjoy the people around you. The mother of the family proceeded to charge my mom and Amanda WAY too much for some necklaces, but I think it was worth it! :)

We also took a trip to the Dead Sea. We floated in the sea, had great food, took lots of pictures and had many laughs. I had been to the Dead Sea several times before, but every place seems like a new place when mom is around! :) The weather was not so nice, but the rain held off long enough for us to go for a float.

We had some special time in Amman with some friends of mine. We had a friend over for tea, went shopping downtown, and also were invited to a WONDERFUL meal. I loved for my mom and Amanda to meet the people that I have been so blessed to call friends. I think it became evident as to why the Lord asked me to come to this place at this time.

Unfortunately the 20th rolled around and they had to leave. However, I think that we made memories that will last a life time! I'm so thankful for the time that we had together.

OTHER NEWS:

I moved! Some circumstances changed and we had another female teacher coming to join us, so we are now renting a really nice apartment in a different part of Amman. This apartment is much closer to the rest of my teammates, which makes visiting very nice. I am not sure if you all are aware, but one of my regular service activities is to tutor a young man in math and science. It has been a huge blessing for me to be able to assist this family in such a way. There were some circumstances which lead to his family making the decision to home school him, but they needed someone to teach math and science. Of course I am always looking for someone to sit still long enough to do math with me, so it was a perfect fit! I now live within walking distance of their house, which makes it all quite convenient. Isn't just like our Father to set up such unique circumstance for us to serve each other?

SPRING SEMESTER HAS STARTED:

February 1st marked the first day of our new semester at our English Center. I am teaching a morning conversation class for women, and an evening class of mixed gender. I love both of the classes! Most of my students from last semester are continuing this semester, which I love. My morning class retained the few from last semester and added a few which is really encouraging. I love the freedom that comes from that class. The last lesson was a conversation that followed from a youtube video that I showed them about the tragedy in Haiti. It was a powerful time where we were able to talk about things in life that really matter!

FUTURE PLANS:

After much prayer and contemplation, I am now ready to announce that I will be returning to Oregon in May. I have loved my time in Jordan, but it appears that this chapter will close in May. I am very excited about the next chapter in my adventure of following the Lord. I have a feeling it will be just as exciting as the last. I am very thankful that I will be able to step back into my position at the High School. It will feel good to be teaching math in the classroom again!

Well, that is the short of it. Please shoot me an email if you have a chance and let me know what is going on with you. I can't wait to schedule massive amounts of coffee dates when I get back to catch up on your lives. Thanks for being part of my journey!

Blessings,

Tina G.

Thailand!

Happy New Year everyone! 2009 ended with a bang for me, as I was blessed to be able to spend the last couple weeks of the year in Thailand traveling around with a friend. The trip turned out to be one of refreshment, reflection, perspective, time with the Lord, and lots of fun and laughs.

Our trip started out with a trip to the northeast of Thailand to visit about 30 teenage girls. We spent an early Christmas with them and we were totally blessed by their worship service. It was a celebration unlike any that I have ever seen before. All of the kids came up with their own dances and drama to express their hearts to God regarding the birth of the Messiah. Intermingled between all of the dances and drama were testimonies of lives changed. It was truly a moving experience that was centered on Christ, and it got me thinking as to how to do a celebration like this in the future!

One of my favorite memories from the northeast was when my traveling buddy walked into a room where I was eating some fruit with the house mother and she said, "are you eating the seeds?" I replied, "yes." To which she quickly said, "you might die." I thought that she was kidding, but she wasn't. Now, before this story goes too far... I asked if you could eat the seeds and the person that I was eating it with said that she does all of the time, so you can imagine my shock when I heard about my impending death. Apparently there is some rumor that these seeds can get lodged in your spleen or something, but I assure you that I have had no side effects of eating the fruit. However, I did not eat any more! After this experience I had a talk with my friend to let her know that she might think about a more tactful way to bring about news of warning. We had some good laughs.

From the northeast we took an overnight bus to Chiang Mai. Travel in another country is always an adventure, but this trip was quite special. There were a few times when I thought my friend was going to go relieve the driver of his duties. Also, our bus left at 8:30pm and arrived at 11 am the next day. One would think that these would be prime sleeping hours in which one does not really need any food. Not the case. Our bus stopped at midnight and 4am to eat meals. Who eats at that time?

Chiang Mai was great. Here is a picture of what was awaiting us as we woke up in the morning.

Chiang Mai was great because we got to spend time with the girls that live at the Remember Nhu houses there. I have been praying for these girls and this ministry for quite some time, so it was great to spend time with them. We celebrated Christmas with them, and had a great time watching them decorate a Christmas tree for the first time.

Christmas morning was spent worshipping with the girls, followed by a time where they got to open their Christmas gifts from their sponsor parents. It was very fun to watch their eyes light up by what was inside their gift bags.

The day after Christmas we took an overnight train back to Bangkok in order to begin a few days of rest and relaxation! Once we were back in Bangkok we quickly made reservations at a resort in Koh Chang (Elephant Island) and boarded a bus, followed by a ferry to get there as soon as possible. We were not disappointed when we got to the resort after a long day of traveling! It was absolutely gorgeous. We put our stuff down and headed to the beach where there was a wonderful seafood bbq.

The next few days were spent at the spa, snorkeling, playing Phase 10, people watching, spending time reflecting on the year, and looking forward to the next. It was a very refreshing time, and I am so thankful for the buddy that God provided to spend it with.

As I sat down yesterday to go through my pictures I realized that I had far less pictures than I normally do. Part of me was a little sad about this, but also I realized that so much of the trip I was experiencing and taking part in the moment and enjoying every bit of it that I forgot take pictures. Of course taking a few pictures for me is still several hundred... here are a few of my favorites from the beach:

This was our beach entertainment on our last evening in Paradise (that was actually the name of our resort)
My buddy :)

We were brought to this beach to eat our lunch on our snorkeling adventure. The water was soooo beautiful. The morning started out a bit wet, but it turned out to be gorgeous!

And now I am back in Jordan! I hope that your Christmas and New Years was a wonderful time with family and friends. I missed my family a TON, but at the same time I had an unforgettable time.

Merry Christmas

Hello family and friends!

I can't believe that it is December 17th already! 8 days until Christmas! This Christmas season has been like no other Christmas season I have had before. Obviously I am celebrating in a place that I have never previously celebrated, but it is so much more than that. Without all of the crazy consumerism my heart has been awakened to grand statement that God made when He sent Jesus to earth. But even more than that, I have noticed Mary's response to the craziness happening inside her body. Her soul responds in magnifying the Lord! As I sit and reflect about Christ's first coming, and the glorious news of reconciliation, my heart longs for my friends here to have the response to Jesus that Mary did.

On another note, even though I am having a wonderful time here in Jordan, I am still missing all of the fun family and friend functions. It was difficult to be away from home for thanksgiving, and I am anticipating Christmas to be all the more difficult. I actually kind of like that I feel my heart is in this dynamic tension. Every day I am reminded how much family and friends mean, and how I could not be doing what I am doing without their love, support, and prayers. However, at the same time I couldn't be more excited about the work that is going on here. God is so good, and I am so thankful to be serving in this part of the world in this season of my life. This Christmas I will be celebrating in a very unique way, and I will share about it on the flip side.

Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Tina G.