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queen_of_irony
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Name: Sara
State: Arkansas
Metro: The Delph
Birthday: 2/11/1987
Interests: her Savior :: books :: tea :: C.S. Lewis :: singing :: World Cup soccer :: haute couture :: playing the mandolin, piano & bass guitar :: P.G. Wodehouse :: ballet flats :: knitting :: rainy days :: theology and apologetics :: quarks :: sonnets :: Mozart requiems :: cricket ::dark chocolate with almonds :: orange roses :: tennis :: fencing :: being British :: skiing :: swing dancing :: lavender :: learning languages :: The Theory of Special Relativity :: celtic knots :: debating :: black and white photography :: London :: boys' choirs
Expertise: Being somewhat witty at sporadic times. Writing HTML. Making my friends laugh. Driving my parents crazy. Speaking (some) Spanish.
Occupation: student
Industry: medical
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  nickelcreekfreak
Member Since:
12/8/2003
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| hokay, guys. this is the last item in my list of ideas for procrastination. also, it may be easier to apply my mind to the intricacies of the immune system once I've emptied it of some miscellaneous things.
I think we're getting to the bittersweet part of the semester. I hate last things. and I'm still not fully aware of how big the hole will be next semester, with so many wonderful friends leaving here. No tears yet, but came close tonight.
Pray for me this week, if you think of it. I have alot of trip-related things to take care of still, on top of dealing with the stupid company that's not shipping my camera and studying for 4 [yes, four] science exams. 2 anatomy, 1 botany, 1 organic. oh boy. only 2 more weeks.... i can make it, right?
This has been a fun, if not terribly productive weekend. You see, I spent alot of it with stopwatch and clipboard in hand, or else knee-deep in mud calling tug-of-war matches. Great fun, but those amino acids remain unmemorized. It was worth it anyway. Tiger Traks 2007 was quite a success.
Why have all the things I was thinking about evaporated upon exposure to the light of day?
Kurt Vonnegut is pretty cool. His speeches are quite existentialist, but very insightful and made me laugh.
I'm thinking seriously about trying to find mandolin lessons next year. I'm going to pick it back up if it's the last thing I do.
Only 19 more days 'til I'm in Maryland. : ) | | |
| Dear Friends,
I’m writing to ask for your prayers and solidarity as my family in Christ as I’m planning to minister with Operation Mobilization in Zimbabwe for two months this summer.
Zimbabwe is a country in which the gospel may now be freely preached and which has experienced strong church growth in the past couple decades. A little over 70% of the people claim to be Christians and the number of churches in the country has more than doubled between 1992 and today, reaching over 20,000 strong. Despite all these figures, it is a country in desperate political and economic straits and there are still many rural areas without a church or full-time missionary. Under Robert Mugabe’s 20+ year regime, land has been wrested from white farmers and redistributed to the people, resulting in widespread economic depression which the government has aggravated with high inflation rates. Zimbabwe’s annual inflation is now at 1,700%, the highest anywhere in the world, and a source of intense suffering for almost all the people. Those who have not emigrated struggle to afford food and shelter, often cannot afford to marry, and face a time of great national unrest, with frequent riots and demonstrations. On top of all these problems, the country faces one of the worst AIDS crises in the world, with 1 in 3 adults carrying the virus and orphans now comprising about 9% of the population.
I will be in Zimbabwe from May 21st through July 16th, working in Siabuwa, a village in the Zambezi River valley. I’ll be on a team with two other college girls and an RN, working with Vicky Graham, an OM missionary in the area. Vicky is the only source of medical care for 7 communities of the Tonga people in that area. We’ll be working at the school in the area doing health education and AIDS awareness, helping with clinics, and making home visits to many sick people, most of whom are HIV positive. More importantly than any medical work, though; we’ll be working with an established missionary to plant seeds of the Gospel and share Christ’s love with people as we care for their bodies.
I’ll have very little to no access to the internet during my trip, so I’ll share what prayer requests I can and trust that God will continue to direct your prayers during my trip.
-Pray for Jesse, Erica, and I as we finish school and prepare our hearts for our ministry in Zimbabwe, that we would have loving, sensitive hearts as we enter an unfamiliar culture and would be used to bless others.
-Pray for coordination of travel logistics and safety as we fly into Harare, the site of recent demonstrations.
-Pray for the government of Zimbabwe; for peace & economic restoration, and for the AIDS crisis there.
-Pray for the Tonga people of northwest Zimbabwe, with whom we’ll be working. They are an indigenous group who have been evangelized relatively little.
Missions is not something in which only those who go may participate, but a responsibility for us all. Your prayer is just as important a part of ministry as my going. The church needs unity and a sense of ownership in each other’s ministry; that’s why I need you, my brothers and sisters, to participate with me in prayer.
You may contact me at sarakmcdonald@gmail.com or 816-223-7838 if you’d like to ask me any questions, hear more about the trip, or would like be on an email list for an update at the conclusion of my trip. For more information about Operation Mobilization, you can visit www.usa.om.org.
I’m so thankful for your friendship and care.
For His glory,
Sara McDonald
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| by Jack Johnson
I would turn on the TV but it's so embarrassing
To see all the other people I don't know what they mean
And it was magic at first when they spoke without sound
But now this world is gonna hurt you better turn that thing down
Turn it around
"It wasn't me", says the boy with the gun
"Sure I pulled the trigger but it needed to be done
Cause life's been killing me ever since it begun
You cant blame me cause I'm too young"
"You can't blame me sure the killer was my son
But I didn't teach him to pull the trigger of the gun
It's the killing on this TV screen
You cant blame me its those images he seen"
Well "You can't blame me", says the media man
Well "I wasn't the one who came up with the plan
I just point my camera at what the people want to see
Man it's a two way mirror and you cant blame me"
"You can't blame me", says the singer of the song
Or the maker of the movie which he based his life on
"It's only entertainment and as anyone can see
The smoke machines and makeup and you cant fool me"
It was you it was me it was every man
We've all got the blood on our hands
We only receive what we demand
And if we want hell then hells what well have
And I would turn on the TV
But it's so embarrassing
To see all the other people
I don't even know what they mean
And it was magic at first
But let everyone down
And now this world is gonna hurt
You better turn it around
Turn it around
This song is strangely appropriate to conclude the week -- I'd never heard it until tonight. I've spent quite a bit of time this week thinking and reading about the shootings. Don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been said, and better than I could say it. Suffice it to state that the racism manifested throughout this country and on my own campus this past week makes me sick and furious. We deserve every bit of the bad rap America gets around the world if this behaviour is a sample of our true atttitudes. Yes, I said "our". Maybe it's time to learn something from more collectivist cultures, like the Koreans, whose government has apologized profusely to our own and taken some blame for the violence. Can we allow them to do this and continue to smugly distance ourselves from the situation and the hateful attitudes of our peers? It's something we need to face in some way. And I don't know how this would work or where or what. But enough with the arrogance, America.
Anyway, end of rant. I think. sorry, guys. Three nights of working in the coffee shop = a very long and exhausting week. I"m spending a quiet Friday night in, trying to catch up with school and life in general. A month from now, I'll be climbing onto a plane in Washington D.C. | | |
| I'm really, truly going to try to get back into Xanga. Cross my heart. This post is my first baby step toward that ultimate reality. Or maybe it's just 1:45 a.m. and I'm sitting in Val's room still completely uninspired to write the 2 page paper that needs to be done before bed. blast all organized education.
Alot has gone on since I've last revealed anything to the general blogosphere readership. [no, I don't really sound like this in real life, I'm sort of at the delirious rant stage of consciousness. Maybe that will help in the paper-crafting endeavor. hm.] I'm leaving for Zimbabwe on May 20th... a prayer letter is in the works and will be out the first half of this week, Lord willing. Let me know if you'd like more info to be able to pray for my ministry this summer; in other words, comment with an snail mail or email address you'd like the letter sent to. Here's a little teaser for my xanga readership: The Tonga people (with whom I'll be working) were encountered by David Livingston during his sojourn in the area, at which meeting they performed the traditional greeting for important figures: turning their backs to him, bending over, and wiggling their derrieres. Pretty interesting stuff, which is why you should get your hands on this prayer letter -- to find out if Sara's going to come back at the end of the summer performing similar manouvres. manouvers. manuvres. darnitall.... I'd never make it in the national spelling bee.
I'd better write the paper now. I'm setting a bad example for Val. This was pretty fun -- I think it's working. Maybe I'll post again quite soon. | | |
| John Piper's father
this story
precious Marielle.
what a day this has been. the tears keep rolling down unbidden.
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