the days of our lives

Friday changed my week completely.  I realized then how a week can change from great to sad and even frustrating and aggravating and then into a resolved state that becomes fulfilling.

I'm not sure how to describe it.  The week felt long but there was a lot of learning involved in it.  Dustin and I had a few misunderstandings at the beginning of the week - I believe that part of the reason we were to come out here was to work on our relationship and make in stronger - so this week was one of those weeks - of rebuilding and fixing...

I had a great afternoon off campus with one of my friends - Rosanna - she took me to her home and we just chatted.  Sometimes I think you just need someone to talk to and she also has a counselling degree so she's helpful and listens well.  We got to make dinner together and just enjoy each other's company - which was quite refreshing.  

I came back on campus with a lot of things on my chest - per say - to talk to Dustin about.  I learned a lot about the things that I need to work on - realizing that I was causing some of it.  Dustin and I had a great talk that night - just laying out our hearts.  We started a devotional that Aey, my student, bought for us and that has really brought up some issues that we didn't know we had to resolve.  So that evening we talked over all of the things we had on our minds.  It was good.  The rest of the week just got better and better (even though I couldn't feel it).  The end was just good - well friday. 

The final deadline for tuition fees was this weekend.  Because of that, there were a few people in a number of schools that still needed to get in some of their money.  If they didn't by Friday, they would have to leave by this coming Monday.  Aey, my student, was one of those people.  She is from Thailand and because it is considered a third-world country she didn't have to pay as much as us from north america. But she has been doing volunteer work for 11 years and her monthly "salary" that she receives from Campus Crusade goes mostly to her father - as it is tradition for the children to pay for the elders in their family.  Anyways, there was some miscommunication and CC decided to not give her the rest of the money because they wanted her to go to a college in California instead - supposedly it's more relevant to her future job - even though she resigned to come here and learn English.  Either way, it was completely risky and not sure so she, probably for the first time, asked God to show her what she was supposed to do - putting her desires before what others wanted of her.  So she decided to stay and we chipped in to make it happen.  It's just so exciting how we can make that happen - or rather that God allows us and gives us money to make that happen.  Really, we are helping them get to the place that God wants to be.  It's just great how we can help in that process.  

So that's how my week really was great - after the rain there is always a rainbow and that refreshing clean smell - that's my week.