hello seattle!

hi all!


WOW I AM BAD AT THIS BLOGGING THING. my apologies yet again. i keep thinking that it's been not too long since my last post, maybe 4 days... HA just kidding; it's been 8. sorry :(


WELL this last week was probably the best week of trek so far! we studied cross-cultural ministry, and it was definitely what we all needed to hear last week. all 10 of us are just so excited to leave now, and thinking about  heavy, theological subjects is pretty hard on most of our brains.
a gentleman by the name of bryan, as well as a lady named christy, were our main speakers.
bryan spoke about cross-cultural ministry. he was such an incredible speaker - dynamic, engaging, real. he was a long term missionary in botswana for 12 years, and he inspired me to travel, live for Jesus, and love life, in no particular order. i was definitely sad to see our time with him go, because i loved every second of all his sessions. he even taught us how to dance like they did back in his church in botswana!
christy was our teacher on esl - she gave us many practical skills and tips about how to teach children, teens, and adults english as a second language (esl). it was fun to learn about how english works, and also how easy it is to incorporate teaching into games. she was a really interactive - she helped us to learn by engaging us in the exact activities we could use with the students!


God works in neat ways. i had to get some shots last week in order to travel, and i had a hard time with one doctor not wanting to give me one of my very important vaccinations - which i wasn't too happy about, so i called my dad and he contacted a doctor here, who immediately agreed to take me on as a new, temporary patient in order for me to receive this vaccination. it was definitely a blessing to see God work so immediately in this situation to help me get the needed vaccine, because if i hadn't, i could have been at risk for some un-fun illnesses in the philippines.
God also has been gracious to my teams in relieving some stress about small details, such as our visas. so what i mean really is that He is taking care of all the big things that we have been stressing about, because God is good. so encouraging!


this evening, we had a banquet! it was fun to see everyone all dressed up and then take pictures together. we were served some very delicious appetizers, caesar salad, steak, asparagus, potatoes, and dessert by the trek leadership team. it was an evening to celebrate getting this far in trek and to enjoy hanging out with each other. i think every single one of us had a great time, and i definitely was blessed by our time to just hang out!

some of us at banquet! :)

my team also made tie-dye shirts! we had a lot of fun - and even more adventure - doing this! it was a crazy time trying to figure out how all the instructions worked, and then dying shirts at 10:30pm in the pitch dark was also a new experience! the shirts turned out really well in the end, though, and i will definitely enjoy wearing this one during and after trek :)

charis and i washed these shirts so many times - what a project! 

this past weekend, my family arrived here!! they are here for the week to visit both me and family/friends who live in the area. on saturday, they picked me up and we went to seattle for the weekend to visit my mum's cousin and family. it was really great to see my family again and just visit with some extended family i hadn't seen in a number of years. we had a fun time hanging out with my second cousin, who is 5! she is really cute, and VERY outgoing! we ran around the mall near their house holding hands and giving her piggybacks for a couple hours, which was definitely a highlight!

i also got to eat indian food again, so i was a happy camper all weekend :)
the best part was just to be able to see my parents, siblings, and my grandma again! it will be hard to not see them for another 3.5 months, but at least i am able to see them for 1 week here.


well, i'm tired, and you're probably bored by now.
talk to you soon!
tejal :)