Sunday, March 21, 2010

YAV Can 3

Everyone always says that things aren't going to turn out the way you planned them to be. It's completely true. (Or they say, "God has a sense of humor.") I originally wanted to join the Peace Corps and go to Latin America. That ended up not working due to interviewer issues (he was an interesting character). I decided based on that experience I wanted to do something faith based (still in South/Central America) instead.

I attempted to look up long term mission trips and searched google for days, asked pastors if they had any ideas about it and eventually decided I would apply for YAV through PC USA. They had Peru and Guatemala on their sites list and I thought Peru would be amazing. All of my application stuff was filled out and turned in before August '09 (including references). I was gearing up for Peru.

I had my initial interview with the YAV office staff and that went well I thought. That was in December. I intended to practice but when I decided to take more classes so I could finish grad school in April instead of the end of June... it got a little hectic. When you add flying home every other weekend for dad's birthday, sister's bridal shower, and sister's wedding and the regular traveling I do on top of that for marathons. Let's just say I was busy.

I had no time to practice Spanish. I hadn't really spoken a word since Guatemala in 2007. Basically I was terrible this weekend when I got here and I'm still not much better. For Guatemala you don't have to be fluent, for Peru you have to be before you go. The day we got here they showed a slide show of all the sites. I thought Tucson looked interesting. I hadn't looked at national sites and never considered them. It's near the boarder of Mexico so Spanish is recommended, but not required. You do go to Mexico a lot though. They have a Community Food Bank site where you get to work with Farmer's Market stuff and organic food as well as the food bank. I thought that sounded awesome and I went for a run with the site coordinator and asked about the program in Tucson. It was intriguing. I decided to interview with Tucson on Saturday afternoon. (I had already interviewed with Guat on Friday afternoon and was interviewing with Peru Saturday morning).

The interview for Peru was pretty much all in Spanish (so obviously I sucked, pretty much the worst interview I've ever had in my life). I could understand what she was saying, but I was so slow to answer when I was trying to think of how to formulate my answers in Spanish, it was pretty bad. I wanted the immersion experience so even though I didn't feel too great about Peru, I figured that's what I came here for.

My interview with Tucson went a lot better. I felt like I was able to be very honest and communicate what I was thinking a lot better (well obviously because I can speak English... :P ). I had a good conversation prior to the interview so that probably helped also. I felt quite comfortable with what it sounded like was going to be happening in Tucson, AZ (even though I'm not a big AZ fan, at least they have In-N-Out Burger! There's one that's like a half mile from where I'd live if I was in the community house).

We had to turn in our decision sheets and I thought about it and turned it in before hitting the trail with the site coordinator from Tucson and another YAV candidate. She had ranked Tucson high and was hoping to go.

We went to dinner afterward, I prayed that it was what God wanted and not what I wanted and that everything would work out. I was confused about what I was hoping for. It was internally conflicting.

We had our concluding worship and then we got our letters. I didn't look until I got out of the room. It was written that I was accepted at Tucson, but they encouraged me to look elsewhere in case I wanted to go to another national site. I didn't really see a need to and was wondering why they said that. I talked with the site coordinator and it was because I didn't put it as a one for my options.

The more I hear about Tucson, the more I think it will be a good experience and something I really need to do. I don't have to decide just yet if I am going to go or not which is nice and I don't need to raise as much money. I feel like I should be more disappointed about Peru since I was hoping to go for so long but I feel oddly relieved. I am just praying that God will work out the wedding situation. It looks like I will probably be able to run a marathon in AZ and TX next year as a YAV which would be awesome since I'll be there anyway. Riding bikes is grand, I will actually get into shape I think..! God needs to give me some good clear direction. Please do. More homework... annoying right now especially because my group members gave me incomplete information to work with and I can't really do anything until it's done... what the crap? I'm really frustrated right now... I'm going to sleep and then eat some breakfast and get things done soon after I hope...

- run for life

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