The Mile High City

Denver welcomes the International Association of Women Police, September 23-27.

That is what the sign reads right in front of me while I sit in the Denver airport. Cool. I didn’t even know that there was an International Association of Women Police. Maybe there are International Associations of pretty much everything and I just need to get out more.

“Getting Out More” seems to be my life now. I am sitting in the Denver airport waiting for three hours until my shuttle to the MTI training center arrives. And I just paid $8 to access the internet. There was NO WAY I could just sit here and read for three hours.

This is my first trip to Denver and for you readers who don’t know…the reason I am here is that I am attending a three week training program at Mission Training International in Palmer Lake. Palmer Lake is between Denver and Colorado Springs.

I am looking over the MTI brochure right now and their mission statement reads: Our passion is to see cross-cultural messengers of God’s grace and their families experience effectiveness, longevity and a deep sense of satisfaction in their calling.

I am not sure exactly how to implement that yet but hopefully at the end of these three weeks I will be able to tell you. I am honestly not sure what these next three weeks hold in store for me. Hopefully, whatever I learn in these weeks will help me transition to my new culture in La Paz more effectively. That is my hope. I know that there are pitfalls out there that missionaries fall in when they go to serve in another culture and I hope I can avoid some of those.

Hopefully, whatever God calls me to do in La Paz will be more fruitful because of the weeks I spend here in Palmer Lake. Also, the opportunity to spend some time with other “crazies” like me who are leaving the U.S. to become missionaries is exciting to me.

I should be able to post regularly during these weeks with updates for you.

A few other tidbits:

When I opened my backpack I found a birthday card that my mom had snuck in there. It reads “Open on Oct. 9, 2007”. Yes – I will celebrate my birthday while I am here in Colorado and YES it is my 30th birthday. More on that in a few weeks…

And last but not least, I love to watch people greet other people at the airport. I am sitting here watching people run to each other and kiss each other and it just makes me realize how I want someone to run and greet ME at the airport. (And I am referring to people who run to greet CURT not DALE JR.) Ok, and I admit that it would be nice if it was a really cute girl that ran up and greeted me…but you know what I mean. There is something about time apart that somehow brings people closer together. Something about absence and the heart…

Maybe I am moving to Bolivia because I know that my “having someone run up and greet me at the airport” probability will be higher.