We're All Humans, Aren't We?

This is going to be two posts for the price of one. Yesterday, I had
the unique experience of speaking at Praise & Worship at Trin. It
was Disability Awareness Week and I was asked to speak. Walking up
there on the stage, with the wireless mic in my hand, I had no idea
what I was going to say. I knew some general ideas on what I wanted to
say, but it was like this thing took me over and I started talking and
people were laughing at stuff I said and… it was just cool. I know public speaking’s
not for everyone, but for me, it’s fun. There are a lot of things I
didn’t get a chance to talk about; I feel like I could have spoken for
a good 20 minutes. I think one thing that I did well enough was that I
got across the point that this life is just temporary and the eternal
life that we’ll have with our perfect bodies is one of the many things
we can look forward to. I don’t know. I feel like I ought to write a
book or something on my experiences. God knows my life has been
interesting enough. Any thoughts? Anyway, on to the second part of that multi-post
entry.

Every time I take a mission trip or go somewhere with a group of
people, when I get back, I like to journal my thoughts on everyone that
went with. It helps me remember things better and longer and at the
same time, it allows me to remember who I went with and how
fun/cool/crazy/insert your own madlib here they were at the time. So,
without any further ado, here are some of good-looking people from Wednesday’s post (and yes, Joel is one of them)…

Shannon
What can I say? I really didn’t get to know her that well on this trip,
which is totally tragic. But what I do know about this education major
is that she’s cool and funny. She enjoys sign language (she helped sign
at P&W yesterday) and she was the one, along with Michelle,
who spearheaded our signing of The Dream Maker. She had a lot of patience, putting up with our goofy rehearsals!

Kristen
There’s this awesome picture (I think) that I took of her that I think
embodies who she is. I’m a big fan of photographs taken when no one
knows they’re being taken because then you get to see the
person, not their persona. Kristen’s a sweetheart and despite not
knowing much sign language (she was one of the work team members), she
worked hard on trying to communicating with the kids. They understand
when you’re trying to communicate with them and they love that even
though there’s this language barrier. She’s a fast learner and came
back from Jamaica with a handful of signs.

Julie
Well, I better say nothing but good things about her since I’m dating her. Julie was my co-teacher for our fourth grade class. I originally wasn’t
supposed to teach full-time, but since Sara couldn’t make it until
Wednesday (more on that later) I took over her position. Some of the
kids drove us nuts, but it was definitely worth it when they learned
things that we taught them. She’s an education major and wants nothing
more but to be able to teach kids (even though they may drive her
batty). She’s funny and sweet with a great heart.

Rick
This was Mr. Powell, Patti’s husband. He was the head of the work team
and our documentary cameraman. He would never be seen without a camera
in his hand or a paintbrush in the other. Rick was always ready with a
quip as well. He didn’t know much sign language, but that didn’t stop
him from having fun with the kids and the work team. The guy was a
saint, being always the first one to bed and the first one to wake up,
living in the same room with four other guys who stumbled in late at
night after hanging out at the porch. He and Patti got the chance to
meet the girl that they sponsor. She was in my class, one of the
brightest students there.