CAM Orientation

Bryan and I are now officially CAM appointees. Last week was full of all sorts of interviewing, psych tests/results, counseling, seminars, presentations, lots of food, and fellowship. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. No, not really! Although, it was pretty exhausting. We were forewarned that orientation is pretty intense. Now we know!
But amidst the exhaustion, we had the best fellowship. We were privileged to have CAMers in from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Uruguay to share their fields and their stories with us. We got to enjoy the whole CAM staff/team throughout the week and we even had some CAM board members join us for the celebration dinner where we were hailed in as official appointees!
So, now the real journey begins!

September 29, 2008

I'm finally being forced to write my first entry. Being bed-ridden from a stiff neck will do it for me apparently! Yesterday I was getting ready for church and was looking for my shoes in the closet (which was more difficult than usual because the day before Bryan and I had thrown practically every piece of clothing we own in there due to the fact that my mom and my 2 aunts were visiting our new apartment, the place had to look nice of course!) Anyhow, as I was leaning forward something suddenly went wrong in my neck. I felt something move forward and then everything went stiff and the spasms kicked in upon that. This is not the first time that it's happened to me, maybe the 4th. So, I knew what I was in for: 2-3 days of motionless bed rest.

Besides this little episode things are great. Bryan and I are most looking forward to our upcoming orientation we have with CAM in November. It is supposed to be a pretty intense time of personal interviewing, training, hearing about all of CAM's fields of service. For us, it is the point we have been waiting for where the process to the mission field becomes officially REAL! And a part of that REAL process is raising support, an aspect of missions that sometimes freaks me out, but also an aspect that "they" say is one of the best! I definitely look forward to the relational side of it anyhow.

The school year is off to a pretty good start for me. I enjoy my students more and more as the days pass. Bryan is taking his second Spanish class which is going pretty well. I should be speaking a lot more with him than I do, but our Spanish conversation for now is limited to our outings to Fiesta and Gloria's. We have enjoyed having our cheap knock-off vespa type scooter so far. Bryan uses it for main transportation because it takes 1 gallon and lasts for ever. I only hop on for fun when we go to Crooked Tree Coffee House or Whole Foods. The only problem with it is that the Dallas driver has no eye for a scooter. They pull out right in front of you no matter what and some of those Dallas drivers, in our experiences, even hit and run, leaving you to do deal with the medical bills and physical consequences on your own. Anyhow, having one is still pretty fun, but I don't recommend it to those of you who are thinking about getting one and have not plunged into the commitment as of yet. Not worth it (not until the city sees the need for putting out ample road signs that are warnings for scooters).