South African dinner and Brazilian sand.

My dad made some "South African" food for dinner tonight.  I use the quotation marks not because it was nasty (it was awesome!), but because he found the recipe on the Internet, so who knows if it really is South African or not!  But either way, it was great.  He made some white stuff that was a mix between mashed potatoes and grits, and a tomato sauce that had onions and green bell peppers in it.  It was good and interesting to my taste buds!  I had seconds.  Nicci (one of my best friends who joined us for dinner) had two bites of it - she didn't really like it a whole lot.  Dad, being how awesome and laid-back he is, wasn't offended.  I think he liked it too.

It made me realize how much I love trying new things.  I love trying new foods, reading new books, watching new movies, hearing new languages, seeing new places, learning new stories.  I'm thankful that I have a dad (and a best friend) that like trying new things too.

Today's been a good day, except my back has been hurting pretty fiercely.  Hopefully it'll feel better tomorrow - I'm too scared to go to a chiropractor!

Well, to wrap this up, I want to share a picture with you.  It was taken by Diego, my fellow AIMer.  He's from Brazil - so this is a picture of the names of our team members, written in Brazilian sand!  I thought that was pretty awesome.  Also, a quote from him.

Hum.. if I could just say a phrase resuming my 8 months AIM EXPERIENCE in America… I would say:

“IT´s ABOUT LOVE”

It is not about the language…

It is not about the culture

It is not about you

IT´S ABOUT LOVE. It´s about God´s love. 

-Diego dos Anjos

Not Just A Credit Card.

Here's another update that I forgot to mention.

My team and I had to go through the fairly complicated and ultimately frustrating process of getting our visas to go to South Africa.  There are three consulates here in the States (in LA, in DC, and in Chicago), and you have to apply to one based on where you live.  The consulates all have different paperwork that they require you to have, so the process can get pretty crazy - what I had to have to apply, some of my other teammates didn't have to have, and vice versa.  

But luckily, the Chicago consulate's requirements weren't too hard to meet.  We had to have a letter of invitation from the organization we'll be working with in SA, and a letter from AIM, and a letter from our home congregations, and a physical form filled out by a doctor, and passport pictures, and a travel itinerary...the list seemed to go on and on!  But my team and I were really lucky, because we had a handful of people to help us with this crazy process - the AIM team from last year's class helped us, our coordinators, the mom of one of the girls currently there, and our parents, of course - so it wasn't too hard to keep it all straight.

I sent mine in on May 01, and just got it back yesterday.  It was such an awesome feeling!  That's the last final detail I had to cross off the to-do-to-get-ready-to-leave list.  I have most of my support raised, and I've visited most of my supporters.  I was most worried about getting my visa, but God is good.  God is very, very good and He is very, very faithful.

I think I just needed a reminder.

-Tara

PS: Please remember my team in your prayers, because only 3 of us have gotten our visas so far.  The other 4 visas are very important to our team and to how things will work out over the next few months, so pray hard for us!  And remember - 

Visa.  It's more than just a credit card.

:)

Long Time, No...Anything?

Hey all.

Man, it has been forever, huh?  I'm sorry.  I could give you a lot of excuses, but I won't, because they'll just take up space.  Let's use that space, instead, to fill you in on what's happened since you last heard from me.

Well, I made my top field list (refer to last post).  I got put on a team of seven (four girls, three guys) going to Port Elizabeth, South Africa (we have a website - check it out! www.teampesa.org).  I came home for Christmas Break.  I went back to Lubbock and proceeded to move into my new apartment with my new teammate (the girls shared two apartments so that we wouldn't have to cram four girls into one apartment).  

We started Mission Term - the third and final term of our time in Lubbock, where we have strict limitations on the "luxuries" of our everyday life.  These limitations are in place to make us think about what it will be like on the field, when we might not have them.  We couldn't eat out, watch TV or movies, drive our cars, play any video or computer game.  We couldn't be on the computer unless it was to get information for school, or to email.  We could, however, make phone calls anytime we wanted - which was nice.  :)

We had all-new classes, geared more towards team building and growing closer together than gaining individual knowledge.  We did team papers and team projects, and got team grades for them.  It was a great - and extremely challenging - time for our team, as individuals and as a group.  I learned a whole heap about myself and about the people I'll be spending two years in South Africa with.  I grew close to them, I learned to trust them, and I love them.  They are my family.

Also, we took a trip as an AIM class to Mexico City, Mexico.  It, without a doubt, was the trip that has most impacted my life up to this point.  It was a crazy-long bus ride (and hot on the way down - the air conditioner didn't work!), but it was more than worth it.  I stayed in the Pink House, a house started by Sunset Church of Christ for missionary families working in Mexico City.  It was amazing.  We did a lot of community service, and we saw a lot of the city.  I learned so much that week - about different cultures, about different people, about the real world outside of AIM, about what it means to listen and to love and to work hard.  I took a whole mess of pictures - let me know if you want to see some, and I'll figure out how to get them on here!

Then we had March Madness - the craziest month an AIMer can experience.  We went on a trip to Childress, TX, we held a week-long camp for over 90 high-school-age kids who were interested in the AIM program, we took a two-week-long trip to Arlington, TX and Tulsa, OK.  It was exhausting!  But a lot of really wonderful things happened during March.  I met some people who are now my financial sponsors, I got to give a devotional for over 120 girls during Camp Adventure, and I got to go on a massive road trip with my classmates.  It was awesome.

April also held some good times.  My team went to The Woodlands, TX (a suburb just north of Houston) for our AIM Challenge Week, our last project as AIMers in Mission Term.  Our team went to The Woodlands for a week all by ourselves - no staff, none of our fellow AIMers, just us.  It was great!  We learned even more about each other than we knew before, and we did a lot of good work with the church there.  I met some great people who would later financially sponsor me.

Coming back to Lubbock was difficult, because we knew we were coming back to saying goodbye to our classmates and the staff.  Our time in Lubbock was finally coming to an end.  I'm still not sure how that happened - it flew by so fast!  But that last week was a killer.  We said goodbye to the staff, and to each other, and then we all came home.  

So that's the big update.  I'm home now, and I've been working on raising more support, getting my visa, and taking a breath and relaxing.  It's been awesome to just hang out and take it easy, but I'm ready to reunite with my team.  I'm ready to see them again.  

I'm ready to be on the field.

Until next time (which will be much sooner, I promise!),

Tara

You're the Tops.

Here are my Top Six Fields -

Durres, Albania.
Tomsk, Russia.
Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Tlalpan, Mexico.
Santa Ana, Honduras.
East Kilbride, Scotland.

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've gotten on here...but life has just been crazy, and it's hard to remember to come here. And I really wish this was more interactive -
so comment and ask questions and come back often! Keep me motivated!

-Tara

Surprised and Disappointed.

Q. What has surprised you the most about being in AIM?
Q. What, if anything, has disappointed you the most since you've been in AIM?

We have the first questions! I'm really excited about this...I don't know who asked them, but those are really good questions.

Lots of things have surprised me about AIM. I've been surprised about the type of people I met - I think that before I came to AIM, I had this crazy idea that everybody here would be perfect little Christians, wonderful people who never messed up. That's completely wrong. People here - especially the staff - will flat out tell you that they are sinners, that they are wrong, that they mess up, and that they need God to forgive them more than they need anything else in the world. I've also been really surprised about myself, and how I react in certain situations. Sometimes I think I would act one way, but I don't. I've been surprised at how much I've learned in such a short time - it's wonderful. So much information...information that's so important to life. I can't believe that I didn't know it before, and I can't believe that I haven't been spending my life teaching others this awesome information. Because it's amazing, and there's a whole world of people out there who need to know. I'm constantly learning and being surprised by new things - small things, huge things, everything. It's a blessing.

But not every day is wonderful. I've had days that have been so hard I just sat in the backyard, with my legs folded up to my chest, and I just cried. It's been a struggle - learning so much about others and about myself, and about God...I'm learning new things and uncovering new things, and that's hard because that knowledge sheds light on all the dark stuff. I'm starting to see how bad the world actually is, and how much people really need to be loved.
It's true. Did you know? People really need to be loved. I was told something a few weeks ago, and it really changed how I look at people.

"A person won't listen to you if they think you don't care about them. Love them - really LOVE them - before you try to talk to them about beliefs. Don't cram Bible pages down their throats."

That's why people in America don't open the doors when you knock on them to tell them about Jesus. That's why, when you ask people how they feel about God, they automatically get defensive. That's why people are uncomfortable when people even mention prayer, or heaven, or Jesus. Because somewhere along the line, somebody claiming to love God came along and shoved the Bible at people before loving them. And they taught others to do the same.
But that's exactly the opposite of what I'm learning to do here. I'm learning to look at people through God's eyes, not through mine. I'm learning to look past their flaws, past their dirt, past their sins, past their words, past their smell, past their anger, past their hate - I'm learning to look past that all and love them. Because God looks past all of that in me, and He loves me.

I think I went off on a tangent. Sorry. But my biggest disappointment is two-fold, and both parts have to do with Christians today.
Hardly anybody is really loving anybody before teaching them about Jesus.
Hardly anybody is teaching anybody about Jesus.

Listen to this. We had a field presentation (where missionaries present information on their fields and tell us why we should come there for our AIM field time - the 18 to 24 months after our classroom time here in Lubbock) on Tomsk, Russia. They told us that in the ENTIRE country of Russia, there are, at most, 1000 Christians. A thousand. That's all. In a country that's twice the size of the United States. There are nearly double that amount in the Sunset Church of Christ congregation alone - think about how many are in Lubbock. And in Texas. And in Oklahoma. And in the whole of America.
But guess what? Nobody's going. Nobody is going to Russia, where they only have 14 missionaries. Nobody's going to Albania. Nobody's going to Ecuador. Nobody's going to Scotland. Nobody's going to Peru. Nobody's going to Africa. Nobody's even going next door.
Guess why? We're too scared. I was too scared. In the month before I came to AIM, I had a lot of questions. I doubted by decision. Nobody really knew it, except maybe my dad, but even then it probably just came out as nervousness. But I seriously doubted that I could do this.
Me? Talk to people about God? Me? Go to a foreign country, with a different language, and tell them how I feel about Jesus? Me? Go right across the street and start up a conversation with somebody about their life? Me? Can I really do that?
I didn't think I could, and I'd bet my bottom dollar that there are other people in the world that feel that way. We don't go because we're scared. Because we question. Because we doubt. Or maybe because we just don't believe. Maybe because we just don't believe in God. Maybe because we just don't believe that God is that powerful, or that He can use us.
But you know what? He can. He can, and He did, and He will. One of my teachers says something that I really like -

"God works in, through, and in spite of people."

So my biggest disappointment, I guess, is really that nobody is listening to that. Nobody is believing that the world needs help and love, and they need Him, and we have to go take Him to them. Nobody else can do it but us. Nobody else can do it but me.

And I refuse to just sit by and not do anything.

Interactive.

This week is finals week, and it's been stressful to the max! Ugh. No good.
But it's definitely been good for me to go through all of this. I'm learning how to better manage my time, and I'm learning what NOT to do. I'm learning that it's important to work really hard, but it's also important to step back and take a break.
I am working really hard. I understand what a HUGE blessing it is to be here, and I'm so thankful to all the people it took to get me here - I don't want to let them down. I don't want to let GOD down. So I wake up every day, I go to school, and I try my hardest on every test and on every paper.

So I had an idea. I am kind of having trouble finding things to write about - I know how everything is here, but I don't know what all you know. I want to know what you want to know about my life here and my experience!
Basically, I'm asking you to post your questions. What do you want to know about what I'm going through? It'll be easier for me to understand what to write about if I know what you want to read.
And seriously, this blog is for YOU. It's for me to keep in touch with you, and for me to keep you updated on how my life is going. Because you helped get me here - you deserve to have your questions answered! Please don't hesitate to ask anything.
I can't wait to hear back from you! It'll be like an interactive blog - we'll share it. ;)

Love you guys! Miss you!

Bye Hair!

Hey everybody! I got my hair cut! It's really short, but I like it. Hope you do too! One of the AIM girls here has her beautician's license, and so she cuts our hair for free. Yay!

I'm so sorry it's been such a long time since I've written. Life here has really picked up and gotten busy - we had midterms and some big tests and some hard assignments, so I haven't had a whole lot of time lately. But I will try to get better at writing and putting pictures on here. I know I keep saying that, but it's so hard!

I really need to go and get some homework done, but hopefully I'll get to write more later. I love you guys, and I miss you. Thank you for helping to get me here...you are a blessing.