What I’m Up To

The pace of life is quickening these days. The following is a quick overview of what the rest of December has in store for me:

First of all, I had the youth pastor’s wife take a look at my injured shoulder (read Camel Racing to find out why it’s injured) and she thinks that it is probably just sprained. She’s a massage therapist, so she knows a thing or two about stuff like this. So, God willing, I should be able to make a quick recovery from it. I just realized how embarrassing this sounds. I sprained my shoulder while getting off of a camel. I sound like I’m eighty already! Oh how swiftly the years come upon me.

After this ministry week is over (Friday night is our last event of the week), we (the youth staff) are heading off on a staff retreat to Dahab, which is in the Sinai. Dahab is the Arabic word for ‘gold.’ Sounds like a luxurious trip to me. Planned activities include snorkeling in the Red Sea, 4-wheeling, and climbing Mt. Sinai to watch the sunrise. Expect some interesting stories from this trip!

A day or two after I return from Dahab, I will be celebrating Sinterclause with my Dutch family here. Sinterclause is a Dutch tradition normally celebrated on December 5th where participants exchange gifts accompanied with humorous poems explaining the gifts. It’s pretty much the commercialized portion of Christmas celebrated at the beginning of the month so that more emphasis can be put on Christ’s birth on the 25th.

And For Christmas itself, I shall be spending it with the youth pastor and his family, as well as the other intern. I hear they’ve acquired a ham somehow, so we’ll be eating that for our Christmas dinner (pork products are very rare in Muslim countries because pork is not kosher in their religion).

Following Christmas, a few of my friends are arriving and I will be taking my two weeks holiday as we travel around the countryside seeking out adventure. So, forgive me if I don’t write fairly regularly in the coming weeks. I am merely seeking out inspiration for my future blog entries.