Christmas in the Tropics

This is kind of an update that I wrote about the whole year, its quite long, so have fun, sit back and see how my love was......

This is a long needed and over due update to my blog, for my faithful followers, sorry that it has taken me this long to get this caught up.  To those of you who are just finding me, I’ll fill you in on what’s happening this year.  I guess this will take the form of a “year in review.”  I guess I’ll start from about a year ago. 

 

I hailed in the new year as I usually do, sleeping right through it, I figure there is no reason to stay up that late because, there isn’t anyone to stay up with and it will come whether I want it to or not.  Everyone that was home decided to turn in at about 10:00 and I might have stayed up until 10:30, but that was it.  I was kind of savoring the “liberating” experiences of the past few months when my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. 

 

At this point in time I was in the middle of signing up to become a Student Missionary.  I had filled out the necessary paperwork and such.  I had all my money to the college, at that point I was just waiting to see where God wanted me.   Since I was enjoying this time of no serious relationships, I figured that I would extend it through my year abroad.  I thought that would be a good idea.  Union cautions against it, they don’t say you can’t go if you have a relationship, but they do say that it’s easier if you don’t have one. 

 

Sticking to that theme, I wasn’t even looking for a relationship.  Second semester started and my favorite job started, I was a teacher in the EMT program, I love that job and miss it greatly right now.  I teach with about 15 other people and we all just do what is necessary to keep the head instructors sane. 

 

At this point in life God decided to throw me a curve ball.  He decided to let me work with a girl named Beth Cook, a very able and willing EMT that had transferred in that year from Washington State.  I wasn’t sure how well we hit it off, but she seemed cool and very knowledgeable in the area we were teaching together.  The next day break started and so I worked on an email to send to her thanking for her expertise and saying it was good to work with her.  I worked for 3 days on it.  I didn’t want to make any hit of me trying to flirt or go after her or anything, just a professional email.  I’ve been known to flirt and its gotten me in trouble a few times. 

 

I finally got it sent and within hours I had a response, I thought that kind of odd, people don’t usually respond that fast, but we exchanged real email addresses and started talking on IM.  I remember the night well.  We were talking and I was listening to songs on my computer, the song came up on my playlist, “Cosmic Cowboy,” by Berry McGuire.  I thought she might like to hear it, so I sent it to her, she loved it.  I thought that kind of odd, most people can’t relate to it.

 

I told my parents about this friend of mine, they just made playful jokes that she must be a good girl, if she likes those songs.  I couldn’t really disagree.  For the next month or so we just talked as we found time, not super often, but we did spend time together.  One night I asked her what her plans were over Spring Break.  She said she was going to go to Moab for Spring Break.  I said, kind of in jest, well if it falls through you could come to my house for break.  Not thinking much of it I just left it there.  I didn’t think about it until Beth said that she was wondering if the offer still stood.  I was frantic; I hadn’t asked my parents or anything.  I told her I’d get back to her.  I called my parents and told them the situation, and that I hadn’t really intended on her saying yes when I asked her, they understood and said yes.  They were hesitant because my last ex had spent the last Spring Break with us and it wasn’t a good thing.  I assured them that Beth wasn’t anything like my ex. 

 

As the time got closer I was kind of getting excited, I still had my plan with God, but I didn’t know how Beth fit into this plan that I thought God had given me.  Usually I didn’t have anyone ride with me, so I was used to quite for 7 hours other than the occasional call from home or to home telling them where I was at.  This trip however would be different; we talked the whole 7.5 hours home nonstop.  We talked about tons of different things, likes, dislikes, family, friends, past relationships, you name it.  It was pretty cool, but as we got closer to home, Beth became quieter and quieter, she was kind of scared to meet my parents, there wasn’t anything I could do to change it either. 

 

We finally made the last right turn and were home.  There were big hugs waiting for both of us.  My parents and Beth hit it off really well.  Better than I had thought possible.  We did all sorts of stuff over the break, we walked the dogs, we went to museums, we played games, watched movies, and most of all got to know each other. 

 

I asked Beth one question important question…no not to marry me, you are jumping way to far ahead in the story….I asked her why my email had sparked that much interest, it didn’t have any spark in it, I made sure of it.  What she said scared me, she said I know, that’s what made part of it.  The other part was God was pointing her toward me for the past 3-4 months or so.  That was her last test, and I guess without knowing it I passed with flying colors.  That break to I got to meet one of Beth’s cousins, Mic.  She was about to fly out to Washington I think, and she and her boyfriend Andrew met us at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  We had a ball of a time, it was so much fun.

 

It was after that week that felt that it was Gods plan that we should persue a relationship together.  We didn’t know exactly how it was going to work, but we decided that as long as we both kept God #1 we would be ok with it. 

 

The second toughest day of the year or so I thought came about 3 months later when I said goodbye for what we knew would be quite some time.  I don’t think either of us realized how long it would be or how hard it would be.  Beth headed to North Platte to do her open water cirtification and I was heading home to spend a few days of break before heading to LE for the summer. 

 

The 2 months of LE seemed to go extremely fast, the communication between Beth and I was kind of difficult, we did our best, but our schedules didn’t mesh that well, once a week was about max, but we learned to deal with it and dare I say thrive on it.  Soon enough the summer was done.  The stories of the summer are totally amazing and need to be told, but in another place and another time. 

 

The hardest day I had ever had was when my parents dropped me off at the airport.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the next time I would see my parents, I’d be a very changed man, emotionally, physically and spiritually.  Some would have a hard time recognizing me later on.  The first leg of the trip wasn’t to bad, I sat next to a very nice older couple who go from Illinois to Texas every year, they used to drive, but got to old for that so started flying, we talked most of the way to Dallas, so it didn’t give me much of a chance to think.  The second leg of the trip did however give me time to think, we were in bound into Hawai’i and that is a longer flight.  The “fun” of the trip was still on me though, so I didn’t feel it yet.  It wasn’t until I landed and called my parents to tell them that I had a safe trip that I realized how far from home I was. 

 

WE spent the better part of 3 days in Hawai’i and most of that time was in meetings and activities that were supposed to “help” us when we got to our schools, I’m not so sure it helped, but it’s a nice thing to think.  The thing that made it seem less like half way around the world was Pastor Rich and a few of my friends that were there.  It kind of just felt like just being at some sort of Union event. 

 

I didn’t realize it during the summer, but only being able to talk to Beth once a week really worked out to our advantage, it made the transition to the school year were we only get to talk once a week also a lot easier. 

 

Soon enough the 3 days were over and we were having to wake up at 2 am just to catch our flight to the islands.  We boarding our plane and taking off.  That flight was a bit of a slap in the face by reality, I was leaving some of my friends, but I still had a few with me.

 

Our island is the first island that is stopped on, so my flight was shorter than the rest of the groups.  I’m not sure that reality was really working at that point, I was in a jet lagged state and all I wanted to do was sleep.  But like a good traveler I adjusted to the new time zone and went to bed in the new time zone.  The next morning reality hit me again when I realized that communication with the mainland would be very tough.  I talk to my parents very often normally, but here…….not so much.  I did make brief contact to say that I was here safely.  The next few days were spent in getting classroom, lesson plans, and appt set up.  I was also working on getting communications up and running better. 

 

Teachers are always told that the first day of class is the most vital day; it will tell you what the rest of the year will be.  So the first morning I walked into my classroom with an Iron Fist.  By the end of the first day I was feeling pretty good.  It wasn’t the easiest day, but it wasn’t the Hellish day that some of my esteemed collogues said they had, so I thought this is going to be pretty easy.  I’m not so sure now that easy is the right word, but for me, teaching defiantly isn’t the hard part. 

 

Having been pretty closely tied to teaching my whole life I’ve picked up skills and resources.  Having taught in many different levels has given me some experience.  This isn’t to say that I know everything about teaching, but I think I have a good grasp on it. 

 

I would learn in the later months that teaching wasn’t my hard part, it was friends here.  I don’t make friends that easily.  It takes a lot and it’s usually easier for me to make friends that are girls.   I leaned a big lesson during the summer that I had to be especially careful about how I treated girls lest they get the wrong idea.  Knowing that I made myself very distant for a long time until I felt comfortable that no one was going to “jump” me, and get me in trouble with relationships.  As I would later tell my mom, “Beth is THE priority; I won’t let anyone get in the way of that.” 

 

There are way too many stories to tell from the first 5 months of my life here in Majuro that I’ll tell as I get time. 

 

I’m writing this at the end of the first 5 months; just too kind of chronicle the first half.  I know from experience that the second half goes faster than the first, and I hope that continues to hold true.  I think most of the teachers here are ready to head home for some time of rest, but we all know that we have 5 more months.  As for me, I have 7 more months before I go home.  I fly straight to Denver for my summer LE job again.  Then I get some time at home.  But Denver is 1/10^th of the distance I am right now and certainly in the Verizon network. 

 

I guess that’s what I’ve got for now.  I’ll add more when the end of second semester comes I guess.