Sight Translation and Sleeping In...

Hey all,
Last night I went to bed around 1am and I didn't wake up until quarter 'til 11. Crazy!! I can't believe I slept so much. Oh well, I was tired. Today I need to go over to the center for language learning (CAL) and do my sight translation homework which is scaring the pants off me. I went to do it yesterday but I was so foolish and forgot to go buy a cassette to use for recording (Don't ask me why on earth we're going that old school when the building is mostly made of computers) so I went out and actually found a place that sells them (Thanks God!) and bought 2 because I got all nervous haha. But now I am going to get dressed and go in and do my homework. I did finish my reading for European Union so that's great, and I had a dream about talking to Aunt Zoya about it (she's from Macedonia) so I think I will try and work out a time to talk with her about it. I feel like Aunt Zoya knows everyone in Macedonia, so there you go Devlins, I have a whole additional country that I can link up with in my 5 degrees of Nora Barth haha. Also, she was an interpretor for Bill Clinton multiple times in like 1994 so I mean, I got a lot of connections there :p! So yeah, I will be doing that soon.
At 3pm Liz and I are going over to the missionary friends' house and helping bake cupcakes (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then we're going to go with the church youth group and play with orphans (OH MAN AM I PSYCHED!). Now, I know there aren't any babies, so I have already prepared myself for that, but I'm still excited to play with kids who don't get to play with adults much and I also just want to hug them, because can you imagine being able to count how many hugs you get in a week, or a month, or a year? *Sigh* I want to just hug those kids so much. Plus, they're cuter on average than white kids, so it should be a lovely time. I'll take pictures (they'll love it). I'll also bring lots of cards with me, and we'll play games :D

Anyway, I miss you all, especially when my Spanish sucks and I just wish everyone would just let me speak in Englsih. Oh well, I'll get better soon.
On the bright side, the thing I have to translate is in Spanish :) so it'll be going into English which is less hard by a lot.
I might practice a couple times before getting dressed and heading over to CAL. We'll see. My prof said it would take me at least an hour, so I should probably get my butt into gear!

I love you all and thanks for your love and prayers!

Prayer Requests:
1) I opened a new bank account, so prayers that all of that stuff will work out
2) I am going to go white water rafting next weekend, but I still haven't found someone who can go with me, so please do that, other wise I am paying 800 pesos for no one to go with me (yikes).
3) My homework is more than a lot of people who have more classes than I do (I'm in 2 400 level classes) so prayers that I will be motivated and not get discouraged.
4) Involvement in the church would be a blessing and that Liz and I can bring blessings to the church as well.
5) Liz and I have the opportunity to live differently and show the people around us that there is something different about us (besides that we're so white).
6) That our trust in God would be overwhelmingly visible to everyone.
7) That Liz and I don't get sick of each other and can be encouragement and love when we feel alone or hurt.
8) The orphans that we will be going to see today, that their hearts would be prepared for a lovely day where we can meet with them on a fully human level.

Thank you so much for everything! I know that your support has been helping me throughout these pretty difficult past two weeks. I have been feeling really stressed but I know that your love and prayers have be helping me through. I have been reminded many times of how blessed I am.

Also, last night I finally finished the book: No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner, arch bishop of cape town south africa), and it was so beautiful. If you have any interest in social reconciliation, forgiveness, counseling, political forgiveness, etc. I highly recommend this book, and if you have interest in understanding yourself as a person more, please read it. I would like to leave you with some beautiful food for thought, as I know that I need to hear these words every single day as well:

"We shouldn't underestimate the power of conditioning. That is why I hold the view that we should be a little more generous, a little more understanding, in judging perpetrators of human rights violations. This does not mean we will condone what they and the white community in South Africa did or allowed to happen. But we will be a little more compassionate in our judgment as we become a little more conscious of how we too could succumb as easily as they. It will make our judgment just that little less strident and abrasive and possibly open the door to some being able to forgive themselves for what they now perceive as weakness and lack of courage. It might then persuade them perhaps to be a little more willing to acknowledge their frailty and make them more ready to accept accountability.l And it might make us say to ourselves as we sit in judgment, 'There but fo the grace of God go I'" (252-253).

"There is no longer Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free--instead of separation and division, all distinctions make for a rich diversity to be celebrated for the sake of the unity that underlies them. We are different so that we can know our need of one another, for no one is ultimately self-sufficient. The completely self-sufficient person would be subhuman" (265).

I just love what he says there, and I love the way he describes ubuntu as well (page 31). I think this book is a must read, but there are definitely parts that are so real, you'll be crying and trying to move past as quickly as possible. But isn't that the kind of book we should be reading? A book that teaches us to love and forgive despite the horror of the stories that are being told? He talked a lot at the end about the holocaust and how hard it has been for Jews the world over to forgive and how hard it has been the newer the generation to feel that they have the right to forgive on behalf of the dead. What Tutu says is that these perpetrators need forgiveness to help them to move on and forgive themselves. They don't necessarily need forgiveness from the particular person they wronged, because a human rights violation is more than an attack on one person - it's an attack on humanity itself, and on the perpetrator as much as the victim. Forgiveness must come from someone to allow for a future, and why shouldn't it come from you? or me?


Deep stuff, man.
I am going to get ready for the day. We'll see what God has in store and I'll write again soon.

Sending lots and lots of love <3

Norita