Yes, I am out of school...briefly

Man, eight weeks goes by really fast. I had a lot of fun at the language school in La Crosse, and learned a lot as well, although I'm sure I've already started to forget what I was learning. If you have never learned a foreign langauge you have no idea how fast it begins to fade. I have been trying to keep up some of it by reading childrens books (that is the highest level I can read without serious problems), but lately I've had about zero time. It was possibly the hardest school I've been to, but that is probably because I am not remembering my junior and senior years in the Physics department. It was the equivalent of taking 10 credits in eight weeks, so like taking over 20 credits in a semester. five hours of class a day, and at least an equal time dedicated to study and homework, plus having to use Arabic all the time (which I learned to actually enjoy quite a bit). I also made some friends while I was there, one of which I am actually going to go see today. He lives in northwestern washington...pretty cool I think. It is strange the connection you gain from being with the same group of people and sharing everything together for 8 weeks.

When I finished the school in La Crosee I went over to eastern Wisconsin to be with a church in Kaukauna, then flew to Seattle. After a few delays I finally got into Seattle, waited 5 hours for the bus to take me to the amtrak station, hopped on the train to Portland where my grandfather met me and went to his place, about 45 minuets away. There I picked up my uncles spare car (which is much cheaper than the 330$/week the rental car companies wanted!). After talking for a couple hours I headed out for Washington, made it about 12 miles then broke down...which is about par for my experience with cars. As it turns out it was just the alternator, so I was able to limp it back into town and buy a new one and replace it at my grandpa's place. It actually felt really good to do some mechanic work after being stuck behind a desk for so long. Anyway, every is working out well, and I have made all my appointments and had a wonderful time meeting new people.

My mom and sister are scheduled to come into Portland in a few days. I can't wait. It will be good to see them one last time before heading over seas. I leave for Israel on the 7th of September. I'll spend a couple days with the Shakkours then catch a taxi over to Amman and move into my apartment, which I found online about a month ago. Hopefully everything will go well with that and then registration for the University in Amman.

I am sorry I didn't take very many pictures while I was at language school. Here are a couple though: one from the last night of the program and one from a trip we took on the Mississippi.

Take care and ma'a salaama

catch ya on the flip side

As promised, I am making one last update before I go into silent mode. I actually sign the language contract today, so what I am doing is semi-legal, but I feel I ought to make one more post.

I finished up the first part of my deputation with brother Harbin in Dubuque. I had a great time with him. I also wish I could spend more time with the pastors and churches that I visit, but I only get the time that God gives me. At least I got to see brother Harbin play some softball; that was pretty fun – just watching I mean.

As of yet I do not know how much support I have acquired, as there are some churches that I am still waiting to hear from. However, I am confident that I will have no trouble going back to the Middle East in September as planned – the Lord always provides. I have decided for sure to go over to Washington before heading over seas. My mother is coming for sure, and possibly my sister. I talked to my grandmother and she is going to set up a date for my dad’s side of the family to get together so I can see them all (some for the first time, others for the first time in 17 years). I will arrive in Seattle the 14^th of August and spend two full weeks visiting churches there before my mom arrives and we head down to Oregon. I have not purchased my ticket for overseas, and am debating whether I should go see the Shakkours on my way over or go straight to school.

I am looking forward to all of it, but right now I am thoroughly engulfed in language study. I found out I did make it into the advanced level at the school here. I was complimented by two of the teachers on my speaking ability (largely because of my pronunciation)…God receives all the credit for any abilities I have. I am so blessed to have Him as my Helper and my Strength.

Before I started school I talked to all of my family; mom, dad, sister, and brother. I think I cherish the time I talk to Monk the most. Tomorrow is his birthday. I can’t call him then, so I took care of it already.

I don’t have much else to share except a kind of funny story about arriving in La Crosse: Brother Harbin dropped me off on Thursday, and insisted I have a hotel for the days before I could check into school (Saturday). I told him I would not stay in a hotel for more than a day (I had already been in a hotel the last two nights and could feel my Alaskan identity wearing off), so he agreed and I was able to spend that night finishing up all my emails and checking out the city briefly. However, Friday I took my pack and grabbed a bus to within 2 miles of a nearby park. After walking a while I finally got to the park, but I couldn’t find any camp site, so I stashed my stuff in the woods and went to find a place to get water and some food. The park was nice, situated right on the bank of the Mississippi. I found a small store across the road, that also happened to offer campsites…for a price, which was 20$. Well being the stubborn, cheap person I am there was no way I was going to pay 20 bucks to sleep in my own tent. So I took my stuff a little deeper (about 70 feet) into the woods and set up my tent. There happened to be a Frisbee golf course in the park, and since I still had my disk from when I was playing with James Norberg in Grand Forks I found some other guys and decided to play a round. Well I didn’t even finish because at hole 16 some juvenile delinquent stole my Frisbee. How low and pathetic is that! I wasn’t gonna use it anyway, so I hope he does as well with it as I did (I was at 7 under at the time of ‘the incident’). Once it started to get dark I decided to go back to my hide out. It was the first time in my new Cabelas tent with my new Cabelas mattress (both which I got an awesome deal on). The tent and mat were great…the humidity was not, but I am not that picky so I was asleep without much problem. All went great until I awoke at about seven to the sound of thunder followed quickly by a torrential downpour. The tent held up well, and even stayed dry inside (thankfully since I had 3,000$ worth of electronics inside), but the rain didn’t stop. Once it slowed down a bit I decided I better just go for it, so I wrapped up all the electronics in plastic bags (part of my survival kit) and headed for the University. I made it in about two hours, only half way wet.

So the question is: would I have taken the offer of the second night in the hotel if offered? Well everyone who knows me a little already knows that answer to that…Attached is a picture of the Mississippi as well as my portable home.

Talk to everyone in two months,

With Love,

Noah

Near the end

Looking at my blog makes me miss my niece. In fact it makes me miss all of my family...my brother the most.
I am currently sitting in a motel room taking a break from studying Arabic, trying to get ready for the language school that starts in five days. Sunday morning I was with the Sickmeyers in Worthington, MN (of which I had a incredibly good time with them, and with the church). Brother Sickmeyer asked what I did in my leisure time...I told him I'll figure it out when I get some haha. All my church visits have been wonderful. I so much enjoy meeting new people. My only regret is that I don't get to spend more time with them, but the lost, unreached world cries out and I dare not linger.
Tomorrow brother Martin and I are going down to Dubuqe, or rather he is taking me down there (I am such a mouche). Actually he was planning on going down some times soon anyway, and this gave me convenient reason to go down. I am excited to meet brother Harbin.
I am now almost positive I will be going over to Washington and Oregon after my language school in La Crosse for about three weeks before I leave for the Middle East. I am almost positive that my mom is going to come down at the end of August, and maybe my sister and Devynn as well. That would be really neat. I am trying to line up meetings for the whole time I will be there. I am confident things will work out...they always do with God.

I will post again before I start the school, since I will out of contact for those two months due to the nature of the language school. I will try to post some pictures next time. Until then,
مع سلامة

نوح

Off to South Dakota

I cannot believe that I have been in North Dakota for almost two weeks now. The time has gone by so fast. I guess that is a good sign that I have not been bored. I wondered how much empty time I would have, and as it turns out I've had about zero.
Before I left Alaska I read a paper about deputation in which a preacher said (in large bold letters) that deputation will be the hardest thing you ever do. Now, I know that I have not been "on deputation" (I still feel weird saying that) for very long, but I don't know how this could be so hard. I can understand that with a wife and family it would be more difficult, but come on. Some people spend their whole lives waiting for a chance to travel around the US. I not only get to travel around the US (or a small part of it) but I get to meet all kinds of incredible people. If there is one thing that is difficult it is meeting people who you wish you could stay with longer, but know that you have to move on. There are so many people already in Grand Forks that I consider true friends. Pastor Custer had to leave on Saturday, so I didn't get to spend tons of time with him, but the little time I did I enjoyed greatly. I hope I will get to see him again before I leave. I was out in Larimore all day on Sunday with Pastor Shaffer (that is the church the Taylor's came from), and had a marvelous time. He let me take all of Sunday school hour to do my presentation, and it went very well. After the services I went to brother Shaffer's house. I had an awesome time getting to know him and his family, or part of it, only his daughter, Cherith (which I thought was a very cool name) still lives with them. Oh and I got to meet brother Silcox and his wife...I felt like I got wisdom just listening to them; it was really neat.
Last Tuesday I drove down to Fargo and met the Langes and the Paulsons and dinner with them and another family from the church in Fargo. Brother Lange had just come back from Thailand. I also got to meet Mark's family (Mark is the guy I stayed with in Chicago) and hopefully will get to spend friday evening with them. Monday, Memorial Day, the church in grand forks had a big picnic at one of the parks. I wish I could accurately describe how awesome it is to meet so many great people. And then to be told that I have been a blessing to them, when they have been such a blessing to me...well it is humbling to say the least.
I go to Fargo on Saturday and from there to Sioux Falls. I found a bus that will take me there for 55 bucks, which is cheaper than the gas it would cost to drive (gas is 3.25 here).
Thanks to everyone who has emailed, called, or left comments...I appreciate it.
Until next time
Sorry I don't have any pictures...

NOTE: Since this website is public domain from now I am not going to be including any specific details about the Middle East. Most notably peoples real names, city names, locations, or dates. Not that it is dangerous now, but it could be in the future, and it is a good habit to get used to. So, please don't include any "sensitive" information in the comments you post.

On the road again

Hey everyone, as promised I am going to start updating my blog again. I am currently sitting in the Seattle/Tacoma airport. You all won’t see this until sometime later, because the wireless internet is not free here, and there is no way that I am going to pay eight dollars for internet. I only have a three hour layover here in Seattle, then I fly to St Paul where I have a five hour layover there, then finally over to Grand Forks.

I had a wonderful time down in Ninilchik. It was really great to see the mission work, and be able to share about the middle east with them. As well as just spending time with them. I was able to spend a bit of time with the Lamberts. They are great friends, and I love them very much. They have been so instrumental in my Christian life. Aside from my pastor Ron was the first person to congratulate me after I was saved. He was also the first person I talked to about being called to the ministry. I’ll miss them…

I also got to spend quite a bit of time with my sister. Not as much as I wanted to, because she had to work, but we were able to spend at least a little time. Plus, she let me take care of Devynn (my niece) while she was at work. She is a beautiful little girl and she has an incredible smile (apparently George girls get all the pretty genes and the boys get…nothing). She is over 7 months old now, is 18 pounds, has two teeth, and is pretty close to walking. The next time I see her she will be walking and probably talking (which she does already, just not in a language I understand…a phenomena which I am pretty used to by now).

Most of my short time there was spent with my mommy. She only had to work one of the days. We didn’t do anything special per say, but we didn’t need to; just spending time with her was special. We went to the beach and walked for a while with Devynn. The beach was really nice and it made me realize that I miss the ocean…and commercial fishing on it. I guess no matter how far a fisherman is taken from the ocean part of it never leaves him. I got to see a couple of old friends from high school. One of the meetings was completely unexpected, but incredibly delightful. I was really glad to be able to see people who I grew up with; it really puts things in perspective. Jacob Klapak was one of the friends I saw. He and his wife are running the Boardwalk restaurant for the summer.

Other than that not a lot happened. I spent a lot of time thinking, wondering how many more times I will get to see the little town I grew up in or the people I grew up with. My mom said she never expected me to be the one to leave, she always thought I would come back and live near home…I thought so too, but God has a way of changing lives. And I would have it no other way. I would give a thousand lives for Christ as long as I might serve him and further His kingdom. I think right now I am too excited to be sad. The incredible possibilities that lie ahead of me spur me on to an almost dream like state at times. I expect God to do a great work in the Middle East, and it is my greatest desire and privilege to be a tool in accomplishing that. God forbid that I would ever doubt His great plan by allowing my zeal, passion, or hope to fade. If we do not dream, then who will. If we do not yearn and believe that God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” then we ought not call Him the Almighty.

It will be interesting getting to the states and visiting churches. I am excited about that too. I only hope that I can relate the burden and the vision that God has given me to the churches.

I uploaded a couple of pictures of my niece, mom, and sister. I guess you could say these are the women in my life.

Until next time…