Beach Day and Sweaty Vans

Blog 9-24

As I am writing this, I am watching Seinfeld. I think this is an episode I have never seen. Hard to believe, but true. But instead of being excited about a new episode, it makes me feel a bit weird. It is like finding out exciting news from a casual friend about your best friend. You feel like you should already know this information. That made sense in my head but it may not have made it out of the head okay. Enough about Seinfeld.

Yesterday we had worship in the morning. I like morning worship but I don’t like the part where you get up early. In the afternoon, the whole base went down to Beach Day. We went to a beach across town that is nicer than the ones by our house and has a volleyball net. We had to pile 20 people in the van. Good ole’ YWAM! Luckily I called shotgun and therefore got to ride like royalty. Beach Day was fun. I played some beach volleyball. I was at times really good and at times really terrible at the game. This is to be expected. My sports prowess is very streaky.

After beach day we drove back to the base sardine-style again. This time I was not lucky enough to get the shotgun seat. I did get a window seat. I ended up sitting next to one of the students. The girl is really nice but a bit socially awkward, if you know what I mean. I was definitely not in the mood to have her touching me in the sweaty crowded un-air-conditioned as she read aloud over my shoulder some of the magazine I was reading. I wanted to punch her but of course I refrained. I think I was just in a bad mood.

Later a bunch of us watched a tape of Ellen Degeneras stand-up and lots of hurricane footage. Thank goodness the hurricane did not affect Houston too much. Praise God!

I have come to a realization lately. I can be really nice and giving to people I like and am friends with. I have a hard time being nice and giving to people who I do not connect with or am not friends with. This is no good. This is not how Jesus was. He was nice to everyone even if they were boring or socially awkward. Beth Gossett is like that and though I really admire her ability to befriend anyone, part of me does not even want that. I don’t want to have to hang out with people I do not find fun or interesting. There is a girl here who is a mission builder- someone who pays their way here and works for three months in exchange for room and board. We have two boy mission builders and two girl mission builders. This is a good program but unlike DTS where you are with this same group of people so much, mission builders end up having a lot more alone time and have to go out of their way to make friends. One of our girl mission builders is really homesick so I have been trying to be extra friendly to her. It is difficult sometimes because she is not someone that I click with really well so it is hard for me to not get annoyed. This is something I really need to work on. I think it just boils down to selfishness.

Today I took my basketball team to the mall to go shopping. I ended up having four students tagging along making for nine people total in my car. A bit crowded. Of course, we went to Wal-Mart. We bought red tank tops that we plan to put puff paint numbers on for our uniforms. I also got a big nice fan for my room. My mom paid for it. Thanks, Mom. It is unnaturally hot here today. It seems that the lack of breeze combined with the high humidity combine to make Hell on Earth. This better end soon. It is not normal to sweat profusely just taking a pee in the bathroom. I liked being able to take people around but by the end, I was just so drained. I need some alone time or at least time with smaller groups of people who I know better. I think I am going to seek out some alone time tonight.

Today I didn’t do my job in housing very well. I had a couple of frantic calls about no toilet paper. We were unable to get some on Wednesday to deliver to the houses on Thursday. Instead, we had to get the tp on Friday. Luckily I was able to distribute it and avert a real crisis. A toilet paper shortage could result in a base-wide riot. Close call!