Summer '99
This first entry is made on June 29, 1999. I feel like I just got out of school, and the summer is already a third over.
I went to a missionary conference for my church last April. One of the people there from CEF(Child Evangelism Fellowship) asked me if I'd be willing to go to missionary training. I thought about it, and prayed, and I felt it might be a good thing to do. I asked a deaf friend of mine if he'd come, since it's not fair to leave a newly converted Christian at a church without an interpreter for about seven weeks. He agreed to, but is having a hard time dealing with a bad habit. I have a respect for him for feeling this close to God after a few friends have committed suicide and his family has two divorces in it, one being his parents.
We decided we would go for the training, and see if we thought first, that it was God's will for us to be doing that. Second, if it was God's will,would our ministry to the deaf community be here or in Maryland where we received a nine day training period. Last, if it is in MD, how long would we stay, 4 or 5 weeks; or if it's in PA, how many churches would we be able to teach Bible school in. Little did I know that when I signed an application for the training that they considered us committed for the whole summer. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for sure. I'm praying and asking God for guidance, and if I'm to go to MD, for strength(I've never been away from home w/o my parents more than 9 days). I completed training school there, which makes me the first in CEF history to complete training as both an interpreter and a missionary, and my friend is the first to complete training as a deaf missionary.
Next week I'm scheduled to be at my grandparents' camp in Warren, PA for the 4th of July week. After that, I have to decide whether I'm spending the rest of July in PA or MD. If you read this page, please pray for me.
I'm writing this on the week of July 12-17. I learned the prior week that we didn't have to have 4-5 weeks support like I had thought. I don't know whether that's the way it is for everyone there, or if they're making an exception for us since we're a unique team in that we can communicate with deaf people. I prayed alot about it, and I just didn't feel that God was giving me the strength to stay for a week, so I left. The next day I received a call from a lady friend asking me to go to her Youth Group with another deaf teenager, who likes to have a friend his age to communicate with. During the Youth Group thing, we would play miniture golf and do go-cart driving. I really enjoyed it. I spent the rest of the week relaxing and playing "Monopoly" with my cousins, to see who had the best strategy and luck:). Needless to say, I'm good when I don't have my brother to compete with. I'm planning to spend some time this summer teaching my cousins sign language, so they can hopefully take over my ministry in PA when I go for a certification in interpreting in a few yers.
Next week, I'm either going to be doing other things with my cousins, or I'll be going on a fishing trip with my mature family members. In my family, I'm stuck in the middle. We have the adults, me (young adult), then my cousins in which the oldest is 2 years younger. My youngest cousin is in 1st grade. During the fishing trip, my dad was telling me that they're expecting to see some really big fish, so if I go, I think it'll be really neat to actually catch something! I haven't gotten anything big since '95. After that week, I have to decide to either go to MD, or stay home. I think I'm going to MD, but I can't swear to it right now.
Well, as it happened I didn't go to MD at all. I didn't get to do Bible School either like I had hoped. However, I did make a new friend on the internet. A deaf girl my age called Jillian, from NY. We got to know eachother quite well this summer. If the Lord so leads it to happen, I'm hoping to meet her next year.
July, we didn't do much of anything. The first week of July the car blew the head gasket. So, we spend the next couple weeks deciding what to do with it, and putting in a whole new engine. So my days included doing whatever around the house. Such things were working on sign language with my cousins, playing more Monopoly, and more. In the evenings, I'd chat with Jillian on the internet. My deaf friend that I trained with stayed in MD. He sent me a postcard telling me that he had gone to Antietam Battlefield, and would learn later that he went to Washington, DC.
August brought three suprises. The first was that my grandma Miller moved back to PA from SC. I hadn't seen her in PA since before my 7th grade year, and at all since 8th grade. The second suprise was seeing my deaf friend at Youth Group. I interpreted the meeting for him, and gave interpretation of his testimony. He had lead three deaf children to Christ the first week. The third suprise is that my mom was hired full time this year with my school for study hall teacher. To my understanding it's as close to staff as one can get there without having a degree. I'll be practicing quite a bit for the upcoming archery season. I hope to get a deer before small game, as deer in my area repel blaze orange. My school starts this coming Monday, summer is almost over *frowns*. I'll be a senior, and I look forward to a good year. Go Class of 2000!
For any questions or comments, e-mail me.
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See what I did during my 1997 summer
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