Been a while...

So it’s sure been a while since I have updated this thing  I guess now is the best time. I am sitting in my room with the glow of candles lighting my face. Gotta love when the power goes out. Thankfully it only happens once and a while and for only a short period of time. Julie tells me it happens more often in the winter..no worries… I am prepared with all my candles and flashlights….ahhh---and as I finished typing that sentence the power came back on. Well there you have it.
Well…let’s see here…what has been going on here in Kstan-land. A couple weeks ago I went up to the capital city for a national leadership conference. I had a great time meeting more of the national staff and the material we covered was very encouraging and motivating. We had a lot of down time so that was also good. We went roller-skating (who knew they had roller-skating in Central Asia), viewed the city, sang karaoke, and danced! Our new teammate Jordan also arrived so that was fun meeting him and hanging out. Probably the low part of the trip was my wallet being stolen on a marshutka. I mean—whoever stole my wallet (which had my debit/credit card, drivers license, mucho mula, etc.) was definitely a professional. I still have no idea how they got it…but they did…and I can’t turn back time so all you can do is move on…as I have. Thank the Lord for my mom back at home who helped me with all the logistical stuff. (Thanks again mom).
A couple days after we arrived back in our city we had a vision team come from UNC. My good friend Jenna was on the team and so that was VERY exciting for me! I really enjoyed getting to hang out with her and catch up on the last year or so. Jenna and I had traveled to China together a couple summers ago. We had a great time with the team here. They were all very encouraging and brought such a spirit of refreshment. Acting as a tour guide and explaining things about our city and the culture really helped me to feel like this place is my home and that I know my way around…that was fun 
A day after the UNC team left Mike, from the regional office came for a few days to hang out with us and to “care” for us…which he definitely did. It was really fun to have him around and I definitely felt cared for by him and the team back at the regional office. He seemed to have enjoyed his time here, even though it was only for a few short days.
So basically these last few weeks have been full of encouragement and joy (other than the wallet incident). Language learning has been quite the different story. I have felt more stressed and frustrated with the language learning process more these last few weeks than I have since I started. Last week I had a pretty rough day in class. My teacher was very impatient and short with us and that didn’t go over very well with me. She kept cutting me off as I was saying (pronouncing) the words and correcting me every 2 seconds…grrr. She kept telling us we weren’t learning and that’s why we’re moving so slow through the book. Which may be true, the fact we’re going slow, but I mean…I want to LEARN the language not “memorize” it for a test, you know? However, today’s class was very good and encouraging and since the “dark” day in class I have been more motivated to study and get on the language wagon…so what I took as bad, God has used for good.
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FUN FACTS:
There is a new Turkish restaurant next door…we basically eat there every day  Their lamb and chicken are amazing. You should come and try it some time 

I rode the bus the wrong way yesterday and was about 10-15 minutes late to my teaching class. Oops. Haha. I didn’t mind though…I saw a lot more of the city and even got to talk to a target girl and practice my language. I hope to meet up with her again some time.

We (Jonathan, Miranda, Julie, Jordan and me) are going camping this weekend. I’m really excited about that!

Today was probably one of the coldest days we’ve had so far. I guess snow is on its way…at least that’s what the “weather” students say…haha. Hopefully we won’t freeze up in the mountains.

Check out new pictures: www.picasaweb.google.com/shannontrafton