short

well, Ukraine was great. i already sent out an email about it, so i won't write more.

like 2 days ago, the staff for DTS came. their names are andrew and caitlin. they're young, and recently married, but very cool. it's still kind of a little awkward you know, because they're adjusting, and now i'm adjusting to having them live in vazi too (it's good like preparation for DTS).

i can't write a whole lot because i'm about to leave to go to church for worship practice, but i wanted to write something.

sio.

like totally

SO here is an outline of what has been / is happening:

+ I leave for Ukraine on Wednesday (the 16th), and I'm actually really excited. I get to hang out with Keti in Kiev (she lived there for 13 years) and go to a YWAM conference, and get another stamp in my passport, which is really rather thrilling.

+ I continue to become more adjusted to life here in Tbilisi, and also life basically living alone. My most recent accomplishments include: riding the marshutka alone, buying ground meat from the market, and cooking a decently healthy and fairly tasty dinner.

+ DTS starts on *EDIT: SEPTEMBER 4th! (I had written the wrong date before)*, and now we have an estimated total of 6 students. It sounds small I know, but it's more than I was expecting! And I think that we will potentially get more (and hopefully we will). We definitely want the students, even I do, although I know that it will be a stretch for me to have that many people in this not too large (but beautiful and wonderful) place. Oh, and here are some pictures of my room. When DTS starts we'll probably have 2 or 3 + girls in here.

+ As far as serving goes, I've been helping with praise & worship at the International Fellowship, and last Sunday I was the worship leader. It's not too big of a church, especially during this time of year because I guess a lot of families go back to the States or go on trips elsewhere and stuff. But it's a good place, and I'm blessed to be able to go to a service in English and also to be around other Americans! I love the Georgians, but it is nice to be able to spend time with some Americans too, especially missionaries!

just so you know

for those of you who are comment-leavers, i enabled this "word verification" thing...but don't be afraid. just type the letters in the box and you'll be fine. i was getting comment spam and so i wanted to stop it.

but can you believe it? they (whoever "they" is) seem to find you no matter where you are.

what shall i call it

blogging is such a strange thing. you really want people to read what you're writing so that you know it's not totally in vain. but at the same time, once you are aware that people are reading what you are writing, it's like you can't really write what you really want anyway. really, it's like you're writing about your life, but subconciously hoping that it will please your readers, that it will sound exciting, or maybe intellectual. it really is bizzare.

i miss home. not to sound wimpy, or un-missionary material...but i really do. i miss my people and my car and driving and milk cartons with lids. i think part of my longing for home comes from my not-quite-so-busy schedule. like, i guess i feel like right now i don't really have a purpose. i mean, yeah i'm doing stuff. i help out with worship at the fellowship (the english speaking church). and right now i'm helping out the campus crusade missionaries here: keti and i are "house-sitting" while they are in ukraine with their family for some conferences. but i just feel like i'm missing something. like i wish i could do more. oh and especially i miss the kids i used to watch at mid-week childcare.

oh, and this might be slightly random, but...i've been getting these like dizzy spells the past day or so and it's so strange. i thought that it might be linked to not drinking enough water, but i feel at least decently hydrated. so that, for the the readers that i am subconciously aware of, is sort of a prayer request of sorts.

and speaking of prayer requests. i am almost positively sure that i'm not the only one who really fails in this area, but it's so like disheartening to see in my own character. you know, i tell people that i will pray for them, and i really am good intentioned when i say it, and probably even excited about the opportunity to pray for them. but it seems that more often then not, i somehow don't get around to it until it's too late. and then i totally let them down, whether they knew it or not. i'm glad that God knows us so well that we don't have to "fill Him in" on anything or remind Him to take care of things. because i'm sure that things probably wouldn't get taken care of as well as they do now.

on the brighter side of things (not that all that i've written so far is necessarily dark, but i guess i feel sort of slightly like pessimistic. which by the way was not my intention. i'm just writing about life, man.) i think that i want to be an english major. i don't know for sure, but i really want to go back to school and get my degree. i guess i think that it would be really interesting to actually know my own language. it's a little awkward when a non-native english speaker asks you about a certain verb in the present perfect tense, and you don't have an answer to give them. but, ya nasnyeoh ("i don't know", in russian)-- it's not a set plan or anything. i guess we will see what God does with it.