Saturday, June 30, 2012

Mosquito Bites and Blisters

Boot camp in a word: hard. 

That was the opening of our first letter from Laurie. Each morning begins promptly at 5:30 a.m. (except Sundays, when the kids are allowed to sleep in till 6:30). Can you imagine a teenager during summer vacation up at 5:30 a.m.? I have so much respect for these kids, who are living in tents, sleeping on the ground, and training hard all day for such skills as bricklaying, carpentry, digging, and laying concrete.

There isn't much personal time at boot camp. After an afternoon sponge bath from a bucket filled with water hand pumped from an in-ground well, the kids put on their fresh clothes for the next day before going to sleep, so they can just roll out of bed at the 5:30 wake up call. They're all scratching at mosquito bites and enduring blisters formed from long days wearing leather work boots. Tropical Storm Debby drenched boot camp for several days last week, and many of the kids slept with puddles inside their tents. At least I assume they slept despite the strong winds and heavy rain.

And yet, when we watch the live feed of the worship rally each night (4:15 p.m. Pacific), we see happy faces, including Laurie's! Here's more from Laurie's recent letter.

Loving boot camp isn't the point. The point is trusting God and remembering that a lot of the world lives like this, and not voluntarily. Still, this is really hard. It's funny, because I knew exactly what to expect about the lifestyle. It's myself I didn't know enough about. 

Boot camp lasts another week, and the team flies out to Zambia July 8th. I suppose life in Africa will seem like a breeze after boot camp. Every night at the rally we hear the kids chanting the countdown to their missions destinations: Eight more days! Eight more days! Even with mosquito bites and blisters and achy muscles, these teens are excited for the adventure (and hardships) ahead.

If you'd like to write to Laurie while she's away, you can contact me at lisa@lisaohlenharris.com and I'll reply with contact information and restrictions.

—Lisa
(Laurie's mom)


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Boot Camp

Laurie has been at Boot Camp in Florida for nearly a week now. Here are some photos of her with the Zambia team.

—Lisa
(Laurie's mom)






Friday, June 15, 2012

Goodbye till August!

Five days till my trip. I fly out to Florida Tuesday night.

All my supplies are packed in a large cardboard box. I'll be issued a duffel bag once I get to boot camp.
This is the last post I'll make before I take off, so here's what will happen on this blog while I'm gone:

I had initially planned to write blog entries in the form of letters for my mom to transcribe to the blog once she received them. Now it looks like I won't have much time to write more than the weekly letter home to my family. So my mom will write what she learns from my letters, plus what she learns from the TMI website, which will be posting regular updates. During boot camp, she'll also be able to put up pictures posted on the TMI Facebook page.

Anyone who wants to can go to the TMI website

(http://www.teenmissions.org/) or Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/teenmissions).

When I get back I'll blog about the details of my trip, and about the transition back to life here.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to making this happen!

I'll  fly back August 8. Goodbye till then!

Laurie