Home Sweet Home... Alone: Some Closing Thoughts

When I got home on Thursday, August 2, my family was away camping. Although I was more than anxious to see them, I got some much needed alone time.

I know I've already talked about some reverse culture shock, and after my stay in New York and Missouri, I was already reclimatized to the United States enough. But being home though adds something to the mix. I'm having some pretty condradictory feelings. There's so much to say, I hardly know where to begin...

I learned that I'm more capable and independent than I thought. I also learned that there will always be people I need to rely on, especially my church family. I took on traveling alone well enough, and I even thought I'd do alright in London by myself, but I was glad to find church family around the world to be there for me. In Lithuania, I found myself far more bold than I expected. I was okay with getting around, going places alone, and asking questions. It definitely drew me out of my shell. But again, I was greatful for my church family who made my stay incredibly more enjoyable and fulfilling.

I also learned a lot about culture and cultural differences. The program at ISM threw groups together from various countries, forcing us to work together and attempt to bridge the gaps and see eye to eye. This experience definitely helped me understand and appreciate the differences between people.

This leads me to say a little about my thoughts on globalization. I honestly didn't have too much of a positive or negative view of globalization before my travels, and now I can say much the same, only with a little more thought backing it up. I think globalization is a good thing in the aspects for what it can to for an economy. One of the friends I made in Lithuania at the church told me that in recent years, a lot of Lithuanian young people have been leaving the country to try to get a better chance for work elsewhere. Globalization can help this in a sense, possibly bringing more jobs to the country and thus boosting the economy. However, I understand that globalization can be detremental to a society's culture. All things considered, globalization is a good thing as long as the people of a society can hold firm to their culture and its elements.

After this experience and learning about people and places around the world, coming home to Colorado was bittersweet. I love this state, and I've lived here my entire life, but it almost felt like returning to a little box when I have had a chance to explore and venture much further out. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be back, but I feel like a bird that just was made to return to a cage. Nonetheless, I am excited to return to UNC in the fall.

I do plan on returning to Lithuania, and if you want that whole story, read "The Bigger Picture: A God Thing," a post on this blog that you can get to by following this link:  http://growinglobal.blogspot.com/2012/07/bigger-picture-god-thing.html

I'm excited for what the future holds, and I definitely recommend an experience like this for everyone who has the chance.

All Things Work Together for Good

My name is Denise, and I am a student at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. In this blog, I will be sharing about my travels this summer as I study abroad in Vilnius, Lithuania. First, I'd like to share with you how this all got started...

At the beginning of this year, I decided I wanted to do something new and exciting with my life, and I wanted to do it soon. I needed some adventure. As far as I could see, I had two pretty obvious routes that could get me there: I could go on a missions trip through a church organization, Apostolic Youth Corps (AYC), or I could study abroad through my college, the Monfort College of Business. Regardless, I wanted something completely different in my life.

I realized I would definitely have to choose one or the other. It wasn't a matter of applying for both and going from there; it was a matter of which to apply for, as they both had sizable application fees and processes, and I knew I would only end up doing one. Being a logical person, I took to thinking and asking advice about my decision. Being a spiritual person, I took to praying about it.

Now, I thought my decision would be obvious. After praying, surely I would end up being swayed to a missions trip. But I wanted to pray about where to go too; AYC offers several options for summer missions trips, and I didn't want to choose one solely based on that I knew the leaders of a certain trip or that I had friends going on a certain trip. However, as I prayed, I didn't feel particularly drawn to any place. In fact, I hardly felt anything, an oddity for me while praying about foreign missions.

Then everything started falling in place for the study abroad trip, something I had hardly looked into at all. I came across a study abroad fair at my school and got some information. Of course, I picked up pamphlets for places like Australia, Italy, and Spain, places everyone wants to go. However, I also picked up a packet of specific summer programs the Monfort College of Business was offering. Of these, only one seemed possible; there was only one trip that was both in my price range and didn't interfere with other commitments I already had. This trip was to ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius, Lithuania. I remembered where Lithuania was from seventh grade world geography, but I didn't know anything about the country. I had no real desire to go there. Nevertheless, I added it to my list of possibilities and to my prayers.

As the application deadlines approached, I knew I had to make a decision. I had been thinking and praying for over two months, but my prayers had changed from being about whether I should do a missions trip or study abroad to where I should go on a missions trip. But still, to my dismay, I felt next to nothing about the missions trips. This really lead me to believe that I wasn't in a good place spiritually, but I proceeded with the only thing I knew to do and applied for the study abroad trip in Vilnius, Lithuania.

My grandmother, who raised me in church, was a bit skeptical about my decision. She knew I'd been praying about the missions trips and couldn't imagine that I ended up deciding to apply for a study abroad trip instead. "Well, do they have any missionaries there in Lithuania?" she asked. I promised her I'd look, but upon searching our church organization's website, I found none. I decided to withhold this information from her until I knew for sure whether I was even accepted to the program or not. A few days later, the news came that I had been accepted. I was excited, but also conflicted. I told my grandmother and a few others that I had been accepted, but I did not share that I had not found missionaries there.

The following Sunday, I went to the church in Loveland I'd been attending that semester. Being the oldest "youth" but the youngest "adult," I had been switching back and forth between going to the youth or the adult Sunday school classes. This particular Sunday, I chose to go to the youth class since I hadn't been in a few weeks. The pastor, Pastor Greg Albritton, taught the youth class, and before we started he said he would like to show us a video of the ministry work that some friends of his had been doing. He played the video, and I'm sure my jaw dropped as the word "Lithuania" appeared on the screen. Then the caption "2005-2010" came up, and I assumed they'd already left. When the caption "2011 to present" came up, in my doubting nature, I speculated to myself that the church was probably very far from the university in Vilnius, because this was just too good to be true. Then the caption "Vilnius House of Worship" came up, and all my doubts were silenced. I was simply amazed. For me, this was confirmation of more than one thing. First of all, I took it as confirmation that I did the right thing by applying for the study abroad trip. Second, I had been a bit unsure as to whether I should be at the church in Loveland, as I had been going to church in Johnstown during the fall semester, but this seemed to be so much of a "right place at the right time" situation that I could no longer doubt that either. Of course, I couldn't wait to share this news! I told family, friends, and of course, Pastor Albritton, right away. Through Pastor Albritton, I got in touch with the missionaries in Vilnius, Tony and Shasta Miller. I've included their website below:
http://missionlifelithuania.com/

When I look back and reflect on how this entire thing worked out, I am amazed. I never imagined that I would get an opportunity like this, and I certainly never could have guessed how it all fell together. Seeing the big picture of this, the only thing that comes to mind is a Bible verse...
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

 Vilnius, Lithuania