Oh Hey, I'm in Assisi, Italy!

May 17, 2010

Wow! I am finally in Assisi! There was quite a lot of travel to get here, but it was well worth it. The landscape from the plane was breath-taking and so different from America. On the bus that we took from Rome to Assisi, we saw all these beautiful hills and a few fields of sheep! It was incredible to see all the sweeping slopes of Italy. The houses on the way over looked a lot like the homes I saw in Arizona last summer, which was strange to me, and unexpected. Nonetheless, they are still molto bella!

Upon our arrival, we were greeted with, literally, a city on a hill. Assisi had all these levels and you can work your way up or down, depending on where you want to go. We had to take a bus to get to the top of the city so that we could take our luggage down the slopes instead of up them. And when we got to CEFID, the monastery we are staying at, I was welcomed to my room by a beautiful view of Assisi and the surrounding area. During the day you can see all of the activity down below and at night you can see all the tiny lights. This view is really something.

We got pranzo, (lunch), at a tiny restaurant in the piazza, (main square), and most of us got pizza. Italian pizza is definitely much better than American. (There is so much less grease!) And after pranzo, I got a cioccolato, which was like a hot chocolate... but not at all. It was more like hot pudding and it was great! I couldn't get over how different it was from American hot chocolate! But, regardless, it was good and some of my new friends had a taste of it as well. They enjoyed it too.

As we walked through the city, we were able to see some ancient buildings, such as buildings that were around at the time of Christ! There was even a building from before Christ! (Don't worry, I got pictures.) The buildings that Wendy showed us are from Francis' time, and many were buildings that he had preached in front of or lived in, or were just around during that time period. Many of the buildings, however, look as though they've been around for a while.

After pranzo, we had some free time to get to know the town. A big group of us did some wandering and we got to go up to an old tower. We walked through the back-roads of Assisi and saw some dogs that we barking at us from on top of a roof. At the end of the night we went to a cafe/bar in the main piazza and shared wine. I still don't know if I can get used to that taste, but I will appreciate the cultural aspect of it.

Well, that is all for tonight! Tomorrow we are hitting the ground running with our projects and interviews of the local townspeople. So until, tomorrow, arrevaderci! (sp?)

When Life Give You Lemons... Make Chili

When finals come around, there are two things that happen... freaking out or extreme procrastination. When crunching for an exam, usually people freak out and go into a frenzy that makes them seem more like a demon-child than a human being. Claws come out and it seems as though a steady stream of tears is always upon their faces. Others "chill-lax" and sit back, watching the world stress by. Bliss, some call it.

I have tried to learn to be in the middle, even though at this very moment I am certainly leaning more towards the procrastination end of things. I had a speech and a huge final today and my brain decided to take a mini vacation and peaced around 6:00 pm. And now at almost 9 pm, it is only slightly returning. Hopefully it will come back soon so I can better prepare for this exam tomorrow. I mean, come on, it's the last one! I have to finish strong!

Finals are hell. There is no way around it. Just hell. This campus is like a nervous bubble just waiting to explode all over the place. Once finals are done I will be mentally deteriorating... just kidding. Can't do that! I will be in Italy four days after returning home!

At least that will be fun learning!

So when life gives you lemons... make some freakin chili.

Roads

Sometimes there are things in life that you want really really bad... and many times you do not get this thing that you really want. What many people have trouble with is the fact that these things happen for a reason. You can't always get what you want. That's a fact.

As Americans, we can be pretty selfish beings who always want things to happen the way we expect them to and instantaneously. We want everything at the tips of our fingers ad at our own disposal. There will never be a time when we can get everything just perfect, it doesn't work that way. Nothing can ever be truly perfect and we need to stop trying to obtain this false perfection.

Take the road less traveled. The bumpy, rocky, uneven half-paved, wacky road. Know that whatever choice you make, you can make the most of. If we look at things as impossible right from the get-go just because they aren't the way we wanted them, then we need to stop looking. The things that we see as hard to reach, are! And that is okay! If you work hard enough to make something semi-perfect or workable, it will be worth it. You can get a variation of what you want and the work will pay off and be worth the struggle.

Foot Washing and How to Lead

Have you ever had your feet washed? It is a humbling experience and it takes a lot for someone to get down and do that task. Jesus did it, though, so what is holding us back from getting on our knees and humbling ourselves that way? As a leader, this was all brought to the surface through a conference I just attended for leaders at the college I attend. It was eye opening to realize just what it took to complete this job and what exactly it entailed.

When washing feet, especially back in the days of Christ, it was a grimy, dirty job. The men had dirty feet from all the dust in the area and it was a busy time of year, being Passover. The population was all of a sudden enlarged and needless to say, there was no plumbing... gross. Feet back then were really nasty business and usually the person who had to lowest social standing in the household was to do this odd-job. We also know that Christ should have considered himself of highest standing. However, our daring Lord got down on his knees and humbled himself to the lowliest of tasks... washing the feet of his disciples.

Peter refused at first saying to his Lord that he wanted to switch positions and wash the feet of Jesus instead. Jesus did not accept this and said to him "Unless I wash you, you have no part of me." (John 13:8 NIV) Jesus was the greatest leader of all time and here he is bowing down and cleaning the most unclean part of the body. Jesus goes on to say, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:15 - 17 NIV)

As a leader of multiple things on campus, I have to humble myself and get on my knees to wash the feet of those I serve. I am not higher than anyone else and I do not have any more worth or importance than the person sitting next to me. Lowering myself to the lowliest of positions should not phase me. I want to emulate Christ in all I do, and I will strive to humble myself as he did. Leading is not always about being the voice of authority. It has to do with sacrifice and being able to set aside what you want and allow yourself to fade into the background. Leading is not glamorous. It is hard work, but most rewarding when done right. When you make yourself lower than you really are, you know what it is to be a leader. When you can humble yourself as Christ did and do the tasks that no one else wants to do, then you know how to be a true leader.

"I won't quit until I know that I've truly tried"

This year I have a goal. That goal is to grow my hair out and cut it off to donate it to lock's of love or a similar organization. Lately, all I've wanted to do is chop off my hair and have it short again like I did last year. I mean, I like it long, don't get me wrong... but it does get annoying when I have thick hair and a lot of it.

The reason for the title of this blog is that I will not quit my goal to help others just because I am sick of having long hair. My goal is to donate my hair so that someone with cancer can wear a wig and hope. This isn't just a me and my hair thing. This is a I want to help someone get better deal. I refuse to let this be a good idea and have it stop there. This is something important and it could change someone's life. Why would I want to prevent that?

So my hair continues to grow and I continue to remind myself that I can't quit until I know that I've truly tried. Meaning, I will not quit until my goal is accomplished and a cancer patient has a beautiful wig that makes them feel like they are healthy again. This isn't about me. It's never about me.

Giving away pieces of yourself can be such a rewarding experience. When in Mississippi, I definitely learned about never quitting until I knew I truly tried. I did not want to stop a project just because it seemed impossible or that it would take too long. One project that we did was working on a house for a family whose first home burned down. They were moving to another house in the same run down neighborhood and their family was in danger. The oldest son was going to be the first in their entire family to graduate high school. The teenage daughter was staying with an uncle who tried to rape her with three other men. My team needed to get this family back together as soon as we could. The project was scheduled for two days and at the end of the first day it looked as though we weren't going to finish the project.

The next day we set to work early at 8 am and we hit the ground running. We were scheduled to tour a movie set later that day and when I was asked about my opinion on that I said that I was not going to allow my team to leave the property until the project had been finished. I was not going to quit on this family and I was not going to let my team do that either. There was still so much trying to do! We still had a ways to go!

At the end of a 13 hour day, we finished the house and got the family all settled in their new home for the night. It was one of the most rewarding days of my life. We were able to reunite this family and get them all safely together. We repainted the entire interior of the house, gutted the kitchen, tore up the kitchen floors, replaced said floors and cleaned the whole house. It was a tremendous project, but we finished it because God gave us the strength to continue trying and to never quit. He gave us the encouragement from one another and the resources to get the projects done as well as the joy in our hearts of knowing that we were really doing something special. We were able to spread God's love and bless His people.

A final thought: don't ever quit. If your heart is fully in something, don't quit. Try until you have succeeded to the best of your ability. God gives us strength to carry on and He is the truth. With God, all things are possible and with faith you can take a chance.

When in Rome...

This May I will be journeying across the Atlantic Ocean to the beloved home of my ancestors... the Italians! I will be traveling to Italy is pursuit of journalistic truth and seriously gorgeous pictures. I am getting very excited about this trip and really want to keep up this blog so that I can write about my experiences there and to other places that I travel. For instance, I still need to make a post about the missions trip I lead to Mississippi! I will do that soon, because that was such an incredible trip.

But anyway, back to Italy! What an amazing journey! I am going through school and it is a journalism seminar. We are going to get the opportunity to interview a family member of the Amanda Knox case and cover this huge debacle. This is going to be crazy, getting to write about this huge case that has already gotten so much coverage. As I said before, I will have to keep up this blog and give updates about my new journalism skills. (I'm much more of a creative writer than a journalist, but, heck, I can deal for Italy!)

When you see an exciting opportunity like this, take it. I was slightly hesitant about going on this trip because I am not so interested in journalism. However, the more I hear about this trip and the more I think about it, the more excited I get! I am going to be going to Italy to cover this huge case and then I get to write about it. How awesome.

Because of this trip, I am also getting more into blogs and blogging. I am really doing a horrible job of keeping up with this thing. Maybe if I get off of Facebook more, I will be on this more! We shall see. I need to just keep getting things out there and I am very thrilled to share my experiences with the blogging world. Hopefully someone out there cares about what I have to say... We shall see.

Poor Characters

I am writing a novel called Ripple and it is a tribute to the famous The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. This story means a lot to me and I am getting quite attached to my characters. The problem with this is that I just had to kill someone off... and I still feel extremely guilty. I haven't killed them yet, because I feel as though that is cruel. But I know that he has to die to make the story flow as smoothly as it can. Still, he was a great character.

This was not an easy thing to do, you know. I had to strategically plan every event and every word to properly describe the event which takes place. And I found that that is hard to do when you become emotionally attached to a character. It is very hard to kill someone, I am beginning to realize.

You end up investing all this time into them and their story and then all of a sudden, they are dead in their kitchen! The kitchen that YOU yourself created! It just seems all so barbaric. Why did he have to die? Really, was it entirely necessary?

And being so attached is a little silly too! He isn't even real and I feel this horrible weight that I have done something utterly terrible to someone. I haven't even killed him yet, he is in the process of dying. J.K Rowling said it was difficult to kill Sirius and now I am finding the same problem with my own character. I didn't really believe her. Now I certainly do.

So word to the wise... If you are going to write a book and kill someone, do not get too attached. It can be devastatingly heartbreaking.