Because of Sandy, we've sort of had a really long weekend; our speaker wasn't able to come up so we had Monday and Tuesday off as well as our usual Saturday and Sunday, plus today (Wednesday, Oct 31) we weren't able to help as we usually do at the Bowery Mission because public transit still wasn't running. And as any of you who have ever had a long weekend know, no matter how much you promise yourself that you're going to get your work done early so that you can enjoy the rest of the weekend care free, you always manage to end up with a pile of stuff to do the last evening of the break. (If you're catching my drift, you understand that I'm really just making excuses for my being lazy by making myself sympathetic and relatable to you. If you weren't catching my drift, I just told you it so it doesn't really matter, just smile and nod).
I usually save this for the end, but I'm just so happy, thankful, and excited that I'm going to start off with this: I've raised all the funds for my trip! Thank you so much to every one who gave, I am truly thankful for all the support that everyone's shown me. But don't think that just because I've raised all my funds that you've lost your chance to give. Most of the team still need at least some of their support. If you felt or feel you were or are supposed to give, consider giving to other STEPpers. If you would like info on finances or donations, you can contact Toni at 7sons@fickett.info or Vicky at vlandis@bic-church.org. Thanks again so much! :D
This week was a pretty basic week, so I'll try not to bore you (or myself) and keep it concise and to the point, hitting the major events of the week that I'm now going to inform you on.
Sunday was an average Sunday. We went to church as usual, and it was good as usual. I took a nap after church (very characteristic of me, if you haven't noticed yet reading my blogs). I was woken up for dinner after which we watched End of the Spear. For those of you who have not seen it, two things: 1) watch it and 2) it's incredible and you should probably watch it. It's about some incredible people who were willing to lay down their lives to save an unreached people. After the movie I did my blogging which was posted last week at that time.
Monday came next, as usual, which I'm guessing you know, but since Rebecca Black left out half the week in her song "Friday" I thought I'd clarify the weekly order of days between Sunday and Thursday. So yes, Monday we again went to Doctor Lou's house to talk about biblical interpretation. It was cool for me, because most of it was stuff I've heard from Dad's sermons before, so I was building on what I already knew. We then came home for a quick lunch and were off again, this time to the after-school program. Now I know what you're thinking, "isn't that usually on Wednesdays and Thursdays, not Mondays?" And the answer is yes, but do to a previous, super exciting engagement on Wednesday that you will hear about soon, we helped with the after-school program on Monday instead. It was fun, as would be expected. It's cool to see the kids opening up and starting to except us as one of them, to be known as not only a volunteer but also a friend.
We got back around 6:45pm, had dinner and a chill, hang-together evening.
Now continuing our Days-of-the-Week lesson, I present to you the day that follows Monday: (dum-da-da-da-dum-daaaa) Tuesday. I woke up just in time for our morning group time after which I had some breakfast, which is usually a bowl of cereal. We then did two more sessions (#4 and #5) of the Anita Keagy series "Seeking God First." Wow, if you want an honest challenge and call to read your bible daily, you sure won't be disappointed in what Anita has to say. Definitely an encouragement as well as a reminder of how important our time with God really is.
We had the afternoon "off" so to say. I mostly did some catch-up reading in the books we were assigned. After dinner we (Reneé, Eryca, Beth, Aaron, and myself) had another Spanish lesson with Dorine before going again to the Spanish prayer/bible study service. So far we haven't really learned that much, but it's good to start conditioning our ears to hearing spanish and our minds to spanish culture. The five of us came home to discover Karla feeling very sick with a sharp pain in her right side. Believing it to be appendicitis, and in full awareness of the potential danger of such situations, Bonnie, along with Bekah, took Karla to the Hospital Emergency room. Those of us who had to stay back at the apartment pretty much just sat around praying, talking, and generally waiting on news about what was going on. Eventually only one person was allowed to be with Karla, so Aaron and I went and picked up Bekah via bus. We got back a little before midnight and waited another two hours before we finally got the news on the CAT scan results. Thank God it was not appendicitis. It turns out that it was just an ovarian cyst. Bekah and I were the only ones still up at that point, and were glad to finally go to bed in full assurance that Karla was going to be ok. Bonnie and Karla got back around five in the morning.
By process of elimination, taking out the days mentioned in RB's "Friday" and the ones we've so far used, can you guess which day comes next. That's right, it's Wednesday, the day after Tuesday and the one before Thursday. Oh my, what a good day. It started out nice and early with Aaron and me going to help serve with Fellowship Chapel's Breakfast Ministry. Aaron and I then went to join the others at Bowery mission. Since I still had my wrist wrapped from the sprain/strain I wasn't able to do my usual job of dishwashing. Instead, I got left doing all the little mundane tasks like wiping tables and organizing shelves. It wasn't actually that bad, I just missed my dishwashing job.
On our way home we stopped by a little corner convenience store and picked up Karla a small bouquet of flowers as a little "Get Well/We Missed You/Glad You're Ok/You're Important To Us" gift. She very much appreciated and enjoyed them. And the great thing was that she was already back up and kicking (after having slept most of the day).
We then all got dressed up for our exciting evening out. It started with dinner at a little restaurant called Carmin's off of Times Square with Vicky who had come up to go to our evening destination with us, which was...wait for it... Wicked! Yes, we went to see the Broadway show Wicked! I was so happy and so overjoyed. Oh my gosh it was so good. I just love musicals and all things theatre.
Thursday we did nothing exciting until around 2:20 in the afternoon when we went to help with the after-school program again. We were one team member short sense Karla was on her way home with Vicky in order to make a visit to her doctor. The after-school program was good as usual, with no things out of the ordinary happening.
When we got home, just as we were sitting down for dinner I got a text reminding me that my family was having a video conference to find out the gender of Micah and Tracey's soon-to-be. It's going to be a boy! I'm so super excited to be an uncle, can't wait!
Friday, Friday, gettin' down on Friday, looking forward to the weekend. So ya, Friday we did our usual thing and went to help at World Vision from about 10:00 until 2:00ish. It was a laid back day for them and they didn't have much for us to do, but it was good and productive anyways. That evening Eryca, Bekah, Aaron, and I went to Times Square church again before going to Penn Station to pick Karla up. On our way home we had to take a little detour because of an idle train on the tracks. When we finally got back (about an hour later than planned) we were greeted by Reneé's sisters, Angela and Alicia, who had come to visit Reneé for the weekend. It was then off to bed.
Saturday was an early morning since we were going out with Manna of Life again to help them serve meals to homeless families and to un-hired dayworkers. We had lunch on the job since they had some extra soup and sandwiches. When we got back everyone but Bonnie and I, including Reneé's sisters, went downtown to take the Staton Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty. I stayed behind because I was very tired and wasn't feeling very good. So can you guess what I did? Yes, as usual, I napped. Oh, how I love naps! When everyone got back I was awakened for dinner, after which Angela and Alicia left. That night we watched Cool Runnings, and it was still a good movie, even after all these years.
That sums up last week, even though it is already half-way through this week. If you have any questions or comments or would like my address please contact one of the greatest people you will ever have the chance to contact, Hope, at constanceh.95@gmail.com. Also, if you would like my prayer request updates you can contact Mike at biblebeach@hotmail.com.
Thanks again everyone for helping me reach 100% of funds needed. So blessed. As usual, with many loves and misses,
~Asher Fickett~
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