One Year Anniversary

One year ago today I was waking up in my grandparents’ house, my first whole day back in the United States after a year abroad.  It hardly seems like a year has gone by in some senses, but in other ways, that year seems so far away it’s practically just a dream.  

As all of us World Racers from A and B squad look back this week and remember our year together, there is now doubt a full range of emotions that accompany the memories. Mine are all good.  The WR was a year of growth, challenge and new opportunities for me.  In addition to those great benefits, I believe that through those experiences, doors opened to me.  I feel I have a greater freedom in life.  A freedom to fail.  A freedom to succeed.  A freedom to try new things and engage in new endeavors.  It’s an ongoing learning experience, which is proved by the areas in my life in the last year where I lived in fear and not in freedom, but at the same time, there were/are consistently areas where I have gone forward in boldness that I hadn’t possessed before.  This manifests in small things, like trying new sports, or foods, and in the larger arenas of life, such as stepping out to learn a new job in a new place by myself.  

One of the racers posted a great note, reminding us all to not let the WR be the best thing in our lives, but to always expect more bests to come as we follow Jesus and embrace the adventure he has for each of us.   For me it was a great year, a pivotal year, a life changing year, but the best is yet to come!

Why Idaho?

Why Idaho you ask?  I realized I haven’t fully explained that for those who may want the backstory. 

Back in mid October, my former WR teammate, Sarah and her husband had their stateside wedding celebration, so all 4 of us other ZEO gals took a trip to help celebrate.  Leah, Amy and I fly into San Francisco, where we met up with Lynette, and spent a few days in the city before driving to Twin Falls, ID together for the Humbach festival.  Twin is in southern Idaho, where there is not much more than desert, desert hills and a fabulous canyon.  To be, it is beautiful.  There is something about the west that pulls my heart every time I’m here.  We went a couple hours further north, spending a day in town of Ketchum, home to Sun Valley Ski Resort.  The town is cute, and the mountains are beautiful.  After the day there, we progressed further north towards Stanley, and the beauty only intensified as we drove.  We stayed in a huge, stunning log cabin overnight before we all had to part ways.  

In the midst of those times together, I grew more attached to the place, and was sick to think about leaving.  Having been born in Colorado, and being back over the years for visits, the mountains are settled in my heart, with their own definition of home.   I had this crazy idea about waiting tables and/or bartending in a restaurant in the resort area for the ski season.  The potential for money is great, especially considering the Sun Valley area services the wealthy folks of America, and I would have some opportunity to ski, something I have always desired to do.  I didn’t know if it was even feasible for me to think about such an endeavor considering that it was about the 20th of October and the ski seasons starts Thanksgiving week.  It would have to be a quick turn around.  

I decided that if my urge to move dwindled when I got home, as many of my other urges tend to do, then I would just let it go.  But when it didn’t, I just told the Lord to shut the doors if it wasn’t meant to be.

I applied online for a couple of jobs, one at Sun Valley Resort and one at Tamarack, about 4 hours further north.  I hadn’t heard response from either one of them before I left, but I just decided to go.  Sun Valley called during my drive up from Iowa.  I have been offered a job with them, working in one of their many restaurants, and living cheaply in the dorm housing, with a free season-long ski pass.  It came together more easily and perfectly than I had even thought, hoped or expected. 

I move in tomorrow, friday, Nov 21st and will begin working next week. I don’t know what the dorm room looks like, but I figure, I can’t be disappointed.  I already know they have wi-fi, among other amenities, an employee cafeteria with meals for about $2 and they are within walking distance of most of the resort area.  I’m excited for the new start!!

A First Time Adventure

There is something about doing something new, facing a new challenge, risking something, and tackling it that is so rewarding.  I’m not talking about moving, though my concepts include that decision.  For me, this week, it was mountain biking.  

Giving the fact that there are no mountains in Iowa, I have never experienced this great sport, but have thought it would be fun.  Around here, though, where hills and mountains are abundant, and outdoor sports are the norm, mountain biking is a short afternoon activity.  Sarah and I headed to the south hills and began our climb about 2:15 Tuesday afternoon.  I haven’t ridden a bike on a road in years, let alone on hills, so the uphill was quite a challenge.  I am not in good shape either, so I was quickly winded.  But we kept pressing on (Sarah encouraging me), and finally made it to the top.  By the time we reached the top, I had adjusted and probably could have climbed more.

Sarah had prepared me for the awesomeness of the downhill ride, and as excited as I was, I was pretty scared too.  She took off ahead of me and was out of sight in seconds, speeding down the dirt path, standing on her pedals and looking like a pro.  My descent was not quite so smooth.  I started rolling downhill, holding my brakes, but continuing to gain speed.  I ran through the instructions in my head - stand up, pressure on the handlebars, absorb the shock and respond.  It’s all simply head knowledge till you do it though.  The faster I went, the more I wanted to sick down and shut my eyes.  I did not shut my eyes, but kept sitting down, then standing, then sitting, standing... I had a hard time steering and staying in the well established, but small rutted trail, and finally, at one point, I knew any control I had was gone.  My bike bumped out of the rut, and into another, depositing me in the surrounding rocks and sagebrush.  Ripped pants, a skinned knee and bruises only made me more excited to get back on.  

I don’t think I ever continued in movement for more than 30 seconds at a time, but those 30 seconds were wonderfully exhilarating!  I crashed again a short time later, taking a dive off the bike into a ditch, where I somersaulted, and gained a few more bruises and scrapes.  I climbed back on, and finished the ride down.  I can’t wait to do it again!

I felt awesome at the end of it.  It may be a simple thing, but it was so rewarding.  I was reminded of my time rock climbing in Peru, another sport I never envisioned doing, but that I enjoyed, or bungee jumping in South Africa.  Doing things for the first time is wonderful.  

In general, most of us keep our routine (even me in the midst of my journeys), and don’t often try new things. But how often do we think of ideas we’d like to try, whether it be sports, cooking, learning a new craft, or taking on a project?  It may take risk, sacrifice of some time, perhaps some failure, but it would be worth it.  When was the last time you did something for the first time?

I just dropped Hannah off at the Boise airport.  We had a great time hanging out together.  Five days together is the most we have every spent together, just the two of us.  I enjoyed every moment of it, and I hope she did too. :-)  We saw some of this beautiful country and had fun listening to (and dancing and singing to) good music in the car, and she took a ton of fabulous pictures.  

I will spend the rest of the afternoon with Erin here in Boise, and perhaps another night, because there is a church I would like to check out here.  It's a 'seeker' church and I'm really interested to see what people are doing as such.  I haven't been to a different church in a while, and as that search is ahead of me, I will start tomorrow!  

Then back to Jerome for a couple days with Sarah and Adam before shifting gears and getting up to Sun Valley.

The Flat Tire Story

(Story took place on Friday - this is posted Saturday)

It hasn’t taken long for my (mis)adventures to begin here in Idaho.  I decided to take Hannah to Boise the longer, scenic route through the mountains.  It’s a lovely day, sunny and relatively warm.  Having left Jerome about 10:30am, we made it through Sun Valley (about 80 miles north), and another hour or so beyond.  The roads were all clear and totally dry, but had loose rocks.  Rather decent sized rocks.  

About 3 miles out of Smiley Creek, I saw two in the road.  An attempt to veer away from them both fell short and my front passenger side tire took the beating.  Busted a hole in the sidewall of the tire.  I quickly pulled over, laughed and dug out the jack from my trunk, along with my spare donut wheel.  Hannah and I successfully jacked up the car, but our female strength was no match for the lug nuts.  Several cars and trucks had already bypassed us in the past 20 minutes, but now we really needed help.  When I next heard a vehicle approaching, I stood up from beside my tire and stood in front of my car, wrench in hand, trying to look like I needed help.  The huge construction truck stopped.  Out jumped Cory and Pat, who, with great ease, loosened the lug nuts and placed my donut.  

“Your donut’s low.  You’re not going anywhere on this thing.” 

Ha ha!! Of course! 

Cory offered to drive us back the way we came (the direction he was headed) into Hailey to get my tire to a tire place, with full confidence that there is no fixing such a tire, only getting a new one.  We climbed in the massive truck, Hannah on my lap, Pat in the middle and Cory driving.  It was rather reminiscent of World Race travel, and I couldn’t help but laugh.  What else is there to do but laugh, I guess.  Oh, boy.

I know only a few people in the nearby area, namely Twin Falls/Jerome area, so I contacted them. I didn’t get a response from Sarah and Adam, but did from a friend that I had met at the wedding and recently hung out with.  He is graciously driving the hour from Twin Falls to Hailey to pick us up, then drive us the hour to our car, and help me replace the tire so we can get on our way into Boise.  

As I type this, I am presently sitting at a Subway across from the tire place waiting for Andrew.  And laughing.  

I have to say, I love my life.  My thoughts are again in blogging mode..... ‘oh, this is a fun blog-able moment!’  I am glad to share my adventures with Hannah.  It’s good to have such adventures.  I am so thankful that it was sunny and not snowy and cold, with stunning beauty all around.  And God sent good people to get us to where we are.  I have learned to not allow things to be such a big deal...what happens, happens, and you do what you have to do to keep on moving.  I realize now yet another thing the World Race taught me!!

I'm in Idaho!!

I fully intended to keep a blog from the time I got home from the World Race last November, but I didn’t follow through very well.  I suppose I felt like life didn’t offer much that was worthy of sharing so publicly, or maybe it’s because blogging was no longer required.  At any rate, I believe I only posted about 5 blogs over the course of the last year.

But, life has changed again for me, and now that I am away from home, I will perhaps have more to share since I my family and close friends are not a part of my adventure here.  

I moved to Idaho, and will be working at Sun Valley Ski Resort for the ski season, waiting tables and possibly bartending.  I moved without a job or a definite place to live, trusting that I would be able to find both when I got here.   I applied for two jobs online, one with Sun Valley and one with Tamarack, another ski resort further north.  The ideal situation in my mind was to work for a resort, live in the employee dorms and ski for free.  The secondary option would be to get a job or two at various restaurants in town and find a cheap place to live.  I e-mailed several churches in the area to see if anyone in their congregations would be interested in housing a young Christian lady while she works.  I got word back from one church that said he would ask around.  

After plenty of second thoughts and finally just following through with my decision, I left the morning of November 10th, for the two day journey with my sister Hannah.  It was a nice and uneventful drive through Nebraska and southern Wyoming, then through Utah, and into Idaho.  We arrived in Jerome, ID around 6pm on the 11th, and are now staying with Sarah, one of my World Race teammates.  

About two hours prior to our arrival in Jerome, I received a call from Sun Valley Resort company and we scheduled an interview for the following day (Wednesday).  It was the shortest, funniest interview I have had.  He asked if I was full time, and if I had experience, and then asked if I had questions.  I asked a few, then he said he really liked me and would work with me to see which of the 13 venues I would fit best in.  He told me to couldn’t tell me 100% that I had the job till next week, but that he would reserve a dorm room for me.  I can move in the day he calls.  He also mentioned that I could look for another job, but that in reality, once I start working, I probably won’t want both, and that there will as much work as I want or as little as I want.  Much is what I’m looking for.  

So, it looks like my ideal scenario is playing out.  Working for Sun Valley, living in really cheap dorm rooms (with 3 other girls and community bathrooms), and skiing for free in my off time.   I’m pretty excited for this change of pace.  I am looking forward to learning a new job, facing new challenges, meeting new people, and learning to ski, as well as perhaps some other fun winter sports.  

Sun Valley is an upscale resort, frequented by celebrities and millionaires, so it will be a totally new experience for me to say the least.  

Encountering God - An Old blog, but oh so good

Flight from London to South Africa, May 4^th and 5^th 2007, depending on which time zone I count.

It's very late and I am quite sure that everyone else on the plane is sleeping, but I am wide awake. Missing home, missing my family, particularly my 2 day old nephew, Aidan. I am feeling totally unprepared spiritually and emotionally for Mozambique in a matter of days. I have a cold and I haven't had any significant sleep in 2 days, and won't for nearly another day. Travel days are hard. I am fighting a stuffy head cold, so all these things combined are making each thing seem more dramatic than it is actually. I am aware that this is true, but my emotions are still so tangible right now.

I'm glad for the plane engine noise that covers the sound that my seemingly unstoppable tears bring, and for sleeping people who are unaware of my personal struggle. To be honest there is a part of me that wishes someone would awaken and see my tears, but for what? My own sympathy. But I know my tears are to be seen and carried by my heavenly Father alone.

How have I allowed myself to become so complacent in my time with Jesus, in honest seeking relationship with him? I don't know what will happen in Mozambique - what things I will be exposed to, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I will make it through, no doubt; the question is, will I be as God has called me to be within it all? Can I be the woman he wants me to be there and then, when I didn't prepare myself enough ahead of time?

I look out of the window into the midnight sky, but see only clouds. I know we are flying over north Africa, and I am suddenly overwhelmed with love for the people in that land. I begin to pray for the countries, for their people, for salvation and the knowledge of Jesus to penetrate the hearts, for missionaries to set foot there and prosper, for God's grace and truth to be known.

'Lord, I know it's dark, and I wouldn't be able to see much, but can you move the clouds so I can try to see the land?'

I continue to pour our my heart to Jesus, perhaps more accuarately, he pours His heart into me for these people for this brief time, and I embrace it, and the tears that come from that as well. Clouds still in place, I close the window, and my prayers go back to my previous thoughts.

What should I have done to be more prepared? A lot of things - more prayer, memorization of scripture, more time with Jesus, more time worshipping, etc... But I know I can't go backwards, only forward from here. How Quickly I am distracted, by things even such as ministry and other valuable relationships.

'Forgive me Father, and receive my worship. Forgive me for not being obedient in everything along the way.'

My heart hears him whisper, 

"It doesn't matter, Alissa. You are forgiven and my mercies and grace are new and abundant everyday. Grab them and go forward with me."

A few more tears of appreciation and worship, and my heart finally rests. I am ready to sleep now. I grab my pillow and rearrange my seating in order to get comfy for a couple hours of rest. I utter another prayer of thankfullness as I settle into my window seat and empty middle seat - that is indeed a blessing. Sleep can finally come now.

"Open the window and see the land Alissa."

'What God?! - you're kidding right? I just got comfortable.'

"Not kidding. Just check."

I know I can't argue with my loving Father too much, and besides, I am curious now. I get up and my pillows fall from position; I turn and open the window, and again the tears begin to flow. The clouds have completely dissolved, and from the light of the moon and that stars that shine in great abundance above, I can see the land. I can see the desert below. Not in detail, but I can see it.

This is how much my Father loves me - that he allowed me to see this sight, the beauty of his creation. But even more, the simple reminder that he hears my prayers. I am overcome knowing that if He hears a prayer to move the clouds so I can see the land, I can count on Him hearing all the other prayers that left my heart and mind. And He will be faithful to answer them. All of them... My prayers for Aidan, Julianna, the rest of my family; team ZEO and the rest of the racers; North Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland; prayers from my aching heart, my confessions, my praise, and my adoration of Him.

The emotions have been altered now, from sadness and feelings of overwhelmingness, to those of gratitude and joy, and I know that I can rest now.

The clouds are back now. But that's okay. I have see what I needed to see tonight. I have seen God.

'I have seen YOU, Lord. Thank You. I love you. Good night.'

I close the window and drift to sleep.