I live in an Oval

-photo credit: Kellie Covert, fellow DTSer! -


The Highfield Oval to be precise.
Today was my second full day in Harpenden.
Jet-lagged. See below!

Countries represented: Argentina, Ecuador, Denmark, the Faroa Islands, England, Australia, Canada, the U.S., Columbia, Egypt, and Germany.

Work Duties: Dinner Cleanup which today consisted of scraping noodles from pots with Theresa, "our German."

Time Difference: 5 hours. Thus, I was exhausted during lecture from 9am-1pm (4am-8am Detroit time) and wide awake at 1 am (8pm Detroit time).

Fave: Getting to use the Bible as a textbook
Walking to town in the persistent rain
Turns of phrase like - "won't be a moment," "taking the mick"

Needs: Sheets and washcloths! The pound is worth almost TWICE our dollar! I spent a pretty pence on a pillow case, duvet cover, and towels.

I literally have NO money! God provided just enough for me to purchase a visa and plane ticket. I am now virtually penniless.
The cost for the lecture phase (first three months) is due the seventh week (5 weeks from now) and the outreach phase (last three months) is due later. I am truly living by faith right now that God brought me here and will somehow provide.
So if the Lord has laid giving on your heart, skip Starbucks and remember your sistah Kaylan! Who will otherwise be stranded in England with not even a return flight.

Observe: convenient Paypal option to the right.

Love from Harpenden,
Kaylan

For my beloved Grandma Jo, who, as of Thursday, is no longer with us.....
She was the glue that held us all together. She lead us with the strength of a soldier and the grace of a saint.
I stumbled across this poem, feeling quite sad. Although the title is rather grim, it is quite beautiful.
If anything, read the last verse....

The Reaper And The Flowers
a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


There is a Reaper whose name is Death,
And, with his sickle keen,
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between.

``Shall I have nought that is fair?'' saith he;
``Have nought but the bearded grain?
Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me,
I will give them all back again.''

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,
He kissed their drooping leaves;
It was for the Lord of Paradise
He bound them in his sheaves.

``My Lord has need of these flowerets gay,''
The Reaper said, and smiled;
``Dear tokens of the earth are they,
Where he was once a child.

``They shall all bloom in fields of light,
Transplanted by my care,
And saints, upon their garments white,
These sacred blossoms wear.''

And the mother gave, in tears and pain,
The flowers she most did love;
She knew she should find them all again
In the fields of light above.

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath,
The Reaper came that day;
'Twas an angel visited the green earth,
And took the flowers away.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow