Kitchen duty

This week has been insane. I honestly couldn’t even give you a break down of 1 of my days because I have been so crazy busy and running all over campus! We are hosting a conference right now… IEW (Intro to Epistles Workshop). Missionaries from all over the country are here with their National translation helpers. I am doing my normal job (whatever that is!) and also helping out in the kitchen.

Working in the kitchen is not so bad! I expected to be doing dishes and chopping onions the whole time, but instead I’ve been actually cooking things. It makes me feel extremely productive to be able to make something from scratch.
Here I am mixing dough that I made for 300 tortillas!

Here I am making a huge thing of Kool-aid.

And here’s the sausage that I made this morning (enough for 100 people – crazy).

*Note – I think if my nose gets sunburned one more time it may actually fall off. Seriously, ever time I go outside my nose gets sunburned… still not used to the intense sun here! :o)

It’s really exciting to be able to meet all of these tribal missionaries, but also to be able to be a small part of their ministry as they work on translating the epistles into new languages. I’m really enjoying just talking to them at meals, and serving with some of them in various ways around ITF. The more missionaries I meet, the more I realize that they do NOT fit into the typical mold that I expected. They are all cool, down-to-earth, very REAL folks. They struggle just like the rest of us, most of them have a great sense of humor. I think it’s a requirement.

Last night I was SO excited to talk to my whole church over Skype. How COOL to live in a time where technology enables us to keep in touch that way. It was such a blessing and an encouragement to talk to them… I’ve been smiling all day. I just love how God provides exactly what I need at the moment I need it most. It’s been so hectic here, and easy to get lost in the busy work. Thankfully God knows me well enough to give me a jolt of relational time – with my church family and also with a group of single girls (visiting and helping out with the conference for the weekend) who randomly showed up at my cabin and plopped themselves down in my tiny room. We sat and talked, sang some songs, and giggled a lot. It may be silly, but it’s just what I needed, and I love my God who knows my heart well enough to provide me with the silliness necessary to refuel my batteries.

Aloneness can lead to loneliness. God's preventative for loneliness is intimacy - meaningful, open, sharing relationships with one another. In Christ we have the capacity for the fulfilling sense of belonging which comes from intimate fellowship with God and with other believers. ~ Neil T. Anderson