Saturday, June 12, 2010

Change of Scenery!

Hey Folks (as my Dad would say)!

My sister, Anna, has created me a new website which will make it a ton easier for you to comment, and for me to post!

it's at sinikka.weebly.com, and it's pretty cool!! I'm sorry about the inconvience without warning!

If there's any trouble let me know! :)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

May 13: Barging ahead

Hey everyone.
My ACP Public Speaking Teacher, Mr. Chamberlin has started my class on our last speech of the year. Guess what it's about... inspiration! To get the audience to cry, laugh, and be inspired.For those who are new to my personality, this is what I LOVE! I love to inspire, to create, to help, to serve, and to love. So I was completely stoked about this speech. I decided to write it about one of my best friends, Sami. She lives 837 miles away, and is one of the closest people to me. Crazy that someone could be so far away yet so close...
Anyway, to start writing this speech, Mr. Chamberlin said for us to just barge right through and start writing a rough draft, which is exactly what I'm going to be doing here.
I'm no pro at blogging, or a pro at really getting everything in my head to be coherent on paper, but barging through is going to be the best idea to get good at this, since it's going to be with me for the next year :)
Here goes-
For an update so far, I got into this whole program way, way late, and we've all been doing some intense catching up. I actually got into the program backwards. Usually, you go to your local rotary club, and then they bring the idea of you going as an exchange student somewhere to the district. But I just started calling people, got a hold of Brent (the district outbound coordinator), and was through many of the loops that I might have gotten tangled in, without even knowing it!

For your information, the Rotary, is a great organization that helps our local economy, the United States, and internationally. That's something I just learned when I went to the District Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana from April 30- May 1. They are internationally known and are actually raising a ton of money to eliminate the last 1% of the Polio that is still around. People get into Rotary to serve, connect with other businesses, or just hang out... there's a ton of reasons. There's rotary clubs all over the country. They are split into Districts to handle them all, and Northern Indiana is District 6540. That's who I'll be going with. The District is then split up into clubs, and I'll be going with the South Bend Rotary Club. They have meeting every Wednesday in the Century Center from 12-1pm if anyone is interested :) They are really interesting, and have been doing events, like the golf tournament coming up, or Done in a Day (where they're going to be planting flowers and doing things outside for South Bend) or a Diva'licious Dinner (if I got that right) to raise money for projects that are going on around our community, country, or world to help people in need. Honestly, if your interested, get involved. It's so cool.
Personal Testimony: Now that I really understand what Rotary is about, I love it. I love to help, and serve people and the Rotary does just that... when I was at the District Conference I kept thinking... this is exactly what I've been dreaming of... not even kidding. It's completely crazy how I love doing exactly what they're doing. I never knew about Rotary before this, and it's like a door has opened up very wide :)

Continuing on... everything has been coming together and we have half of the money that we need to get me to Indonesia, with airfare and insurance prices... I've been looking up tons of books on Indonesia, even though we don't know the host family, school, or language I'll be speaking (since Indonesia is a bunch of islands and there's over 250 dialects), we do know I'll be flying into Bali (the tourism spot) and will be living on Java, the most densely populated island. I just learned today that Nasi Goreng (which my family makes at home) is one of the main dishes in Indonesia!! I love Nasi Goreng, at least the way my mom makes it. I've actually been getting in contact with people who actually live there who may be great support for me, prayer wise, which is the most important thing right now.


With everything happening so fast, it's really been hard to get the sleep I need, in between work at Taco Bell, school, and tons of emails and calls for Indonesia, I've been not feeling myself at all. There’s been times that I am angry at myself and what I haven’t been doing (like volunteering, or hanging out with friends) because I’ve been so busy. There’s been times that I am terrified of going to Indonesia because I have no idea what I’m getting myself into even though I have so many books telling me what I can prepare myself for. I know that everything will be alright, and I will have time for what I need to do, but it’s really tough. It’s a moment by moment battle to think positively. You could write it off as what everyone goes through before they go away for a long time- like cold feet, but I believe that’s every feeling that comes to me that’s not truth is an attack on me, to try to get me to break down or something, because I know that this is what God wants me to do. There have been so many doors that have opened, and so many signs that I’ve seen, and I’ve never felt so settled on what God wants me to do, I know he wants me to go to Indonesia. So all these feelings are coming up against what I know is the truth. That’s what I’ve been going through. It’s not easy, but it’s okay. Intense prayer support is really needed right now, so all you prayer warriors out there, please start praying, because I’m already in battle, every moment of the day.

Actually, at Sunday School this past week, our teacher, Lee, was actually talking about going through fiery trials and standing on the truth that God tells us. Which was so perfect, because right before we started the lesson I told my Sunday School about what was going on and asked them to pray for me. I’ll leave you with a verse that is the truth that I’m really leaning on right now.

1 Peter 5:6-11

“So humble yourself under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaming lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of sufferings you are. In his kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen.”

Thanks everyone.

With Love!