Time Warp

Evidently I've been so busy living life that I haven't written here in forever. Just being back in the US has made it infinitely easier to communicate with most of you. I get to make phone calls and sometimes even see people. Even though both of those don't seem to happen often enough, it sure happens a whole lot more than it did last year when I was in Austria. It makes me so happy. I just love being closer to most of my friends and family. I've also started sending out a newsletter for my ministry with YD Adventures. If you haven't been getting that and would like to, please let me know.

So what has happened since I last wrote on here in Sept?

I moved to little Plain, Washington, between Leavenworth and Stevens Pass on Highway 2 in the middle of the mountains of WA.

I started a year long internship with YD Adventures, an adventure-based youth ministry.

I made plans to learn how to ski and got a mid-week seasons pass to Stevens Pass as an early Christmas present from my parents.

I met/re-met a boy at Plain Community Church (of all places to meet a guy, I find one in the middle of nowhere when I least expect it) who I had met at church in Bellingham and who I had a German class or two with at some point. We started hanging out.

I biked a lot to get to work (7 miles) since I didn't have a car. Beautiful ride but it started getting colder and darker every day.

Stacy and Mike got married and I had the honor of a front row seat as a bride's maid. It was so great getting to hang out with the ladies again. And we danced like crazy. Yay.

I bought my first car on my own, a 2000 Subaru Forester.

The boy asked me out for real. I said yes. His name is MJ (stands for Michael John).

It finally started snowing for real. Started making plans for winter training at work. Did a recon on Blewitt pass, went moonlight snowshoeing with MJ. The pass finally opened just before Christmas and I got to go ride. MJ started teaching me how to ski. Having your manfriend teach you to ski is a lot cheaper than paying for lessons--that worked out well : ) He's pretty skilled at it too since he's been teaching skiing since he was about 15 and is now in charge of the ski school (for kids) at Stevens.

Got to see Mom, Dad, and Jared as well as the Nelson extended family at Christmas which was great.

MJ started a Bible Study/Fellowship group up at the pass. Lindsay, Steve, and Katy were our most faithful attendees with other folks dropping in from time to time. We would eat dinner together, talk and learn a bit about Jesus, and then go night skiing together every Friday.

At YDA we got to work with several groups of students in the winter on single day snowshoe and ski trips which was sweet.

I rode a raft down a sledding hill.

I almost became a snow machine guide in my spare time, but then I didn't. Jared is really bitter that I passed up such an opportunity. Sorry, it smells bad, is loud, and I'd rather be snowboarding, skate skiing, or skiing.

In Feb. I finished my certification to be the head guide on YDA's climbing trips. I'm now officially a "Rock Senior".

I convinced some friends to come skiing with me. Julie, Sean, some of their friends, Deb, and Brent all came at certain point to play in the snow and stay up at the pass at MJ's cabin. Some YD friends also came up for a day of skiing, dinner and game playing. A huge quantity of snow came in March after a big dry spell. We had 3 or 4 days of 1-2 feet of new pow in March!

I got older. A quarter of a century old. Got to celebrate with some friends coming to visit in plain, then MJ took me to Seattle for a fun couple of days, we had sushi, went to Owajimayas, walked he streets, lingered in a coffee shop, went to an Irish pub for a delish dinner and beer, then went to a play set in Ireland, "The Seafarers".

Spring training with our volunteer staff started at the beginning of March. Spring actually came pretty late though; the first weekend of raft training we had snow falling hard and several inches piling up on our boats. Oh so freezing cold. We did a lot of character building the first few weeks of training.

I rode a horse. I saw a horse poo in the Chalet at the ranch.

Miranda and I sang Karaoke.

I guided my first class 4 rapid, Boulder Drop, on the Skykomish river!

I completed my taxes. Yes! It was remarkably difficult because I had foreign earned income form Austria. Don't ever earn income in a foreign country, or have someone do your taxes. Or make friends with sweet Dani so she will help you.

I totalled my car on Easter Sunday after a sunrise service MJ planned up on the pass. The slushy snow overcame my car and I had an intimate moment with the guardrail. This was a week after getting my snow tires off.

MJ and I drove down to Portland for Beth and Danny's wedding. We got to hang out with my Ladies and some of their men. it was such a fun time, and so good to be with some of the people I love the most!

I flew up to Alaska last weekend to see my Brother graduate from UAA with his bachelors in Justice. It was awesome since him for the first time since Christmas. The weather up there was way better than in Plain. It was 70 and sunny all weekend! We also got to hang out with some old family friends which was great.

This weekend MJ and I are coordinating our first multi-family holiday day, heading to Everett to have lunch with the Nelson's and then south to North Bend to make dinner with his fam.

In a week and a half I will move on site to the ranch for the busy summer season an the week after that summer staff training starts. Then it's go, go, go until the end of August pretty much.

It's been a great, unique, and at times challenging year, but a really a good one. I've learned a lot and made lots of new memories that I won't soon forget.

Sorry for the binge blogging. Hope you enjoy though.

Nesting?

A deep thought after digging around in a few veggie gardens the last couple weeks (P.S. I really would like to have a vegetable garden one day.) I was over at Ron and Lee's and told her I would help pick some stuff since they had so much and she couldn't do it all by herself. We ended up collecting two full plastic grocery bags of green beans, I think 4 stuffed with cucumbers, five or six green peppers, a few ears of corn, and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

As I was out there discovering cuc after cuc hiding beneath huge prickly leaves, I couldn't help but think of Luke 10 where Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." And that is when he tells the 72, "Go!" If lettuce doesn't get picked at the right time it starts growing really tall and it tastes really sour, if you just leave a vegetable on the vine, eventually it will just fall off and rot. That is what happens to hearts ready to accept Christ, or ready to dig deeper when there is no gardener around to help. How sad is it when someone takes the care to cultivate the soil, find the best there is, plant the seeds, water, and fertilize the little heart, and then no one is there to harvest.

I think it is very interesting that right when Jesus told the group of 72 disciples to pray for more workers, that is exactly when he sent them out. I think whenever we pray for more workers, more missionaries out in the field, we should immediately ask ourselves if we should go. Are you willing? Are you looking for opportunities to water, or plant seeds, or harvest every day? You have to constantly look under the big prickly leaves and in the corners to find the ones that are ready.

Sorry it's been so long. From my return home at the beginning of August I quickly headed up to Alaska for two weeks with mom so we could spend time with Dad and Jared. Then cousin Parker, Darby, and Aunt Janice came up for a long weekend-their first Alaska experience. It was awesome until Darb broke her wrist and collar bone on the 4 wheeler. Poor lady, at least she had two injury free days first. When I flew back into Seattle I went North to visit with friends, had a couple meetings for work, and started on support raising.

By the time I drove into Anacortes the first night and found Sarah and Miranda's house, I was feeling so exhausted, disconnected from the world and the people around me I was just ready to finally rest in the arms of a good friend which I hadn't done for a long time. I was not excited when I saw a big group of people through the window in the house but praise the Lord, before I could get my stuff out of the car Miranda came out and we just hugged. It was the beautiful, long, don't care if you stink, good friend/sister in Christ hug I had been waiting for. I cried. What can I say? the next day we celebrated Sarah's birthday and then it was off to B'ham.

It was awesome being back in Bellingham my old, rainy college stomping grounds. So many people have scattered since graduation but I got to hang out with Missy and Kurtis and help a couple people move.

Upon my return to the Tri-cities, I unpacked, repacked and headed to Dallas, Texas for a two day ministry support raising training. Wow, it was already September by then! Mom came with so while I was in class 10 hours each day she got to visit with an old friend and hang out by the pool.

I got back and started my fund raising for real, hard core. I was at the Tri-cities base camp for a couple days, planned, preped, and, as usual, repacked so I would smell pretty and headed to the Portland area for about 3 days. What a joy it was to see more of my favorite humans on the planet! Pull weeds, pick fresh veggies, cook together, laugh together, and laugh uncontrollably just like the good old days when we were roommates--except now there are multiple fiances around; crazy!

Back to the TC base camp, got to go to my old church, the church picnic, hang out with the youth group. Wow, that made me feel old; I didn't know almost any of them. Lots of phone calls, stamp sticking, and people meeting, more veggie picking, and yes, you guessed it, repacking. On Friday I finally got to drive over to YD Adventures Stonewater Ranch to meet with my boss, go to Adam's wedding and see lots of YD friends. Oh yes, and dance like a crazy person. I love it. On Sunday before heading home I spent the day climbing up at Castle Rock with Kurtis. It was my first trad climb in over a year which made me a bit nervous. I became slightly more nervous after a hand hold failed causing a melon sized rock to fall. Yay for helmets!

Based on the last sentence and following picture, I should note that we wore helmets the whole time, until we made it safely to the top where there was no longer any rockfall hazard. Just in case that looked a bit suspicious. : )

Sweet Home Washington

This is just a copy of the e-mail I sent to most of you but I think some of the addresses aren't good anymore, so just in case you did not get this:

Dear family and friends,

I’m back! I returned to the country of my birth last week, stopped on the east coast to visit my friend Kristin for a few days and am currently hanging out at my parent’s place in Tri-Cities, WA. In case you forgot, or were perhaps in therapy to try and block me out of your memory, let me help you refresh it. After graduating last June with my degree in German and (almost) a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try and use my degree, improve my German, and travel a bit. So I went to Austria (not Australia), conveniently a German-speaking country, and worked from September 2007- May 2008 as an English teaching assistant in two public secondary schools. I was able to use the job as my practicum for the TESOL program and now have my minor/certification in TESOL.
I lived in Landeck, a town of 8,000 squished in a valley between the Austrian Alps west of Innsbruck. I had a nice (although retro looking) basement apartment under a sweet family that brought me apples from their garden, homemade desserts every once in a while, and invited me up to try homemade Schnapps too. The social scene left a bit to be desired so I spent lots of time reading, visiting people in Innsbruck, or people from my church in another nearby town, and trying to play outside. There were great places nearby for trail running, hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing so I tried to take advantage of those opportunities as much as I could.
When I finished my job at the end of May I packed up and headed to Spain-alone-for a month. It was my first time traveling alone for more than a day or two and my first time in a country where I didn’t speak the language for more than a few days. But I guess that makes a good combination for learning the language, which was one of my main goals. I spent two weeks working on an organic farm through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and living immersed in the language and then two weeks traveling and climbing in the Northern half of Spain. At the beginning of July I flew back to Innsbruck to meet Allie and travel for three weeks before returning to the states. We started with a hut to hut hike for 3 days in the Alps near Innsbruck and then from Slovenia to Northern Croatia, climbing and running from bad weather as we headed south.
And now I am back. Even if I could use as many pictures and words as I wanted, I would not be able to adequately encapsulate my experience in its fullness. It was good, it was hard, I learned new things about myself and the world. I’m glad I went but I’m glad I’m back. Here’s a few tidbits from the last year…
The greatest joys: not being crazy busy for once (time to read, journal, talk with God), living between beautiful mountains and rivers, all the visitors (Allie, Mom and Dad, Kurtis, Jason and Thom, Allie again), being affirmed in my ability to teach and speak German well.
Challenges: getting bored and feeling purposeless at my job about half way through the year, not connecting or having many opportunities to connect with people.
And here are a few leads to (hopefully interesting) stories you can ask me about:
· How trying to turn the hallway light on turned into a party with wine, traditional Tirolian songs, and an ice climbing partner
· Near Burgos, Spain: the Battle of the Wine, jumping off waterfalls, camping 40 feet off the ground and in caves
· How I got to go climbing with the Spanish lady who was in the Everest IMAX film.
· Covert camping with scorpions in Croatia
· What would lead us to say things like this: “I don’t think the evangelical reformation is a huge draw on New Year’s Eve…except for us” –Allie, “I look like a naked business man.” –Becca, “If you’re going to travel with me, you’re going to eat mold.” -Becca
· What to do when your tent rips open on day 2 of a 2 week camping trip
I hoped that doing the TAship would help me decide whether I want to be a teacher or not. I have gathered a lot of information and experience, but alas, my mind is still not made up. Some of my biggest passions in life are God, people, and adventure; so based on that and after much prayer and consideration I decided to do a yearlong internship with Youth Dynamics Adventures (YDA) starting in the fall. This is the adventure-based youth ministry that I had served with for two summers and I’m looking forward to exploring what it’s like for a longer period of time and in the off-season. I’m so excited to get to serve God in this ministry for a whole year and see if it is something I should be doing in the long-term.
Over the next month I will be up in Alaska to visit my dad and brother and will be also be wandering around Washington to visit people and prepare for my internship. I am so excited to get to see a lot of you or at least talk on the phone for those of you who are far away. I am still using the same cell phone number (if you need it, let me know, I don't want to post it on the internet). Hopefully I will finish putting pictures up on Facebook in the next week or two and then posting the link to my blog which you can find at: http://beccawholehearted.blogspot.com/. So if you want to see pics but not be forced to look through all my photo albums, feel free to check that out at your own pace.
Drop me a line and let me know what’s been going on in your life and if you will be around in August (for the Washingtonians) for me to stop by and harass you. Also, once I start the YDA internship, I will be sending out a newsletter every few months, so let me know if you would like to hear some stories.
Wholeheartedly,
Becca

"This is what it means to be an adventurer in our day: to give up creature comforts of the mind, to realize possibilities of imagination. Because everything around us says, ‘no you cannot do this, you cannot live without that, nothing is useful unless it's in service to money, to gain, to stability.’ The adventurer gives in to tides of chaos, trusts the world to support her -- and in doing so turns her back on the fear and obedience she has been taught. She rejects the indoctrination of impossibility." -Unknown
“The value in experience is not in seeing much but in seeing wisely.” Sir William Osler

Espana es muy bonita!

Sad.  One thing I love about this blog site is that it automatically saves your post every couple minutes so you don^have to be an idiot and lose everything you just wrote, but as has been my luck the last week or so with computers and internet, I managed to mess things up anyhow.  So I just deleted 4 fat paragraphs and since it is already 1 am and I have a plane to catch tomorrow, I will give you the summarized version of Spain:

It^s rad.  I climbed.  I picked delectable midget plums on a farm.  I jumped off a sweet waterfall.  I made my ugly Spanish a bit less ugly.  I laid on a beach.  I read some books.  I climbed limestone.  I cartwheeled in the night.  I hung out with some cool Spaniards.  I climbed conglomerate.  I danced the night away.  I celebrated in a teepee.  I climbed my hardest routes ever.  I slept in a cave.  I slept in front of a church.  I slept on the side of a cliff.  I made a 113 Euro phone call to my wonderful mother who continually complained by e-mail that I hadn`t called in so long.   I pulled weeds.  I watched the moon in a giant telescope.  I climbed with Araceli Segarra who is a local climber who just happened to be in the Everest IMAX film.  I dug holes in the ground and made circulos around cilantro. I started a list of things I want to do the next time I come to Spain :).  

I am flying back to Innsbruck, Austria tomorrow (the 8th) and Allie is meeting me there on the 10th when we will embark on a bit more adventuring, hopefully mostly climbing :)  and then on the 29th--less than a month!!--I will be home SSWWWWEEEEETTT home.  And I^m ready for it, especially after traveling solo for a month.  

Highlights from Barcelona and prayers

Barcelona is great. So far the highlights have been consistently pleasant weather, warm and suny but not too hot, always a nice sea breeze. Relaxing on the beach yesterday afternoon. On my walk back to town, coming across a rad local band playing in front of the harbor for free. Starting up a conversation with some guys from the US and Austria and hanging out at a park with them and some folks from France, Spain, Austria and slack lining. Super laid back, super fun. Going to the fresh market for breakfast, oogling all the beautiful new produce I've never seen before, sipping a coconut-banana-chocolate fresh fruit smoothy shake thing. Yum.

As I embark on two months of travel I would very much appreciate prayer. Some ideas for you:

Pray that whatever I do, whether in word or deed, that I do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through him (Colossians 3:17)

Pray that I am purposeful and prayerful throughout my days beyond just looking at old buildings and taking pictures: Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful...be wise in the way you cat toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. -Colossians 4:2, 5-6

Pray that I wouldn´t feel too alone or isolated as I travel alone and that I would get the chance to meet and be a friend to other travelers.

Pray that I would learn more about God, about this world, about humanity, about justice, about loving...the things that will help me live fuller, and love God and others better.

Thank you friends! Know also that you are also in my prayers. Let me know if there are specific ways I can pray for you.

¡Soy en Barcelona, Spain! ¡Soy Feliz!

I made it safely to Spain yesterday. Woohoo. I haven`t done much yet because I got here in the evening but I walked down to the harbor in the dark. Beautiful. I`ve got a few days here and then on Sunday I`ll be heading a bit west to where I will be WWOOFing.

Do Cows Attack? and other Tirolean Tales

This week we had another 4 day weekend, sad (and yet not). On Thursday I decided to explore more on my beautiful borrowed bike. So I headed towards Italy. Unfortunately the trail ends up joining the twisty mountain highway with a super narrow shoulder so it was at that point that my helmet-less brain decided it was time to turn around. Sad. But on the way back I encountered a small heard of cows on the trail. I didn't think cows were violent but I haven't actually ever been near cows not behind a fence. My first inclination was fear since in Alaska, anything as big as a cow is usually something you don't want to get near, but as I thought about it, I decided that cows were not dangerous after all. I survived.

It had been overcast but pleasantly warm the whole day and then I felt a raindrop, then 4, then within a few minutes it was absolutely pouring. So I had a half an hour of rain riding. Luckily it wasn't cold but after my rainy bike accident a few weeks go, I was super careful when making turns or going over bumps and lumps.

On Friday I got tons of stuff done planning my trip to Spain, and then I rode my bike to Imst (1 hr one way) to hang out with my friend Raphi. The weather was nice so we sat outside at a cafe and had ice cream and "Suesser Weiss" a "sweet white", which is white wine with some sort of sweet soda or something, super good, you can get it with red wine too. She gave me a beautiful book of the 40 coolest mountains in Tirol and a CD. So cool, she wasn't sure if I'd like the book, but she couldn't have found something more perfect. It is big an had great photos. We've actually got plans to head to one of them on Monday. The Zugspitze is the tallest mountain in Germany but it is right on the boarder of Austria so the summit ridge is the line between the two countries. It's only a 30 minute drive from Imst. I guess you can take a cable car to the top (wow! That is weird) and then hike around from the top. I told her that in the US we usually have to start our mountain hikes at the bottom. But it is pretty common here to have something like a lift or cable car at least part way up. Oh, yeah, and after the hike we are going to go to the best ice cream shop in Tirol.

How could it get any better? A day in the mountains with friend and ice cream afterwards!

I also got to go climbing with Johanna on Saturday. We met halfway between Innsbruck and Landeck. We led some fun routes and then got to share a few ropes with another group and so we got to try some hard stuff on top rope. What a good challenge.

I can't believe I won't be here in a week. I am just starting to realize it. When I went on my run today and looked around at the mountians and my regular trails and the river, I realized, I will only run by this river on this trail a couple more times (assuming I am not too lazy this week). And I'll only go to the bank where they actually remember my name one more time, and I won't get to stick around till mid June when they finally open the mountain huts behind my town. And I have to start saying good bye. Hmmm.