Sunday, June 27, 2010

American Samoa - Day 2

Saturday 06/262010
10:00 p.m. ISLAND
4:00 a.m. CST

Today we had the day off from camp. Today and tomorrow are the only two days off from camp. We start camp back up on Monday and go thru Thursday when we leave.

Eventhough we had the day off, it was still a great day. We took some time and drove around the island. We also went to the ocean/beach today. FYI the ocean here is not like what I am use to. It was very rocky, and you had to wear shoes while you were in the water due to the rocks.

The Team:
This was a great day to be around everybody on our team. I am new to the group, and still learning about the guys, and they are still learning about me. To be honest, I have been rather quiet because I am just trying to soak everything in. (I know this might be somewhat of a surprise to some people, but it is very true.) The guys on our team have great minds, and are great to listen to. I have learned so much in two days, and I thank GOD for our team. Today was also a great day to catch up from the 12+ hour flight from Thursday.

Turning in for the evening. Can't wait for church in the morning.

Thought of the day: "Who am I" Thanks Tim for this thought.

American Samoa - Day 1

Friday 6/25/2010
9:32 p.m. ISLAND
3:32 a.m. CST

IT HAS BEEN A LONG BUT AWESOME DAY!

It is amazing how I feel right now. Full of about every good emotion you can have. My first day with the people here has been great. My first day really started last night, but I knew then I was were GOD wanted me to be as soon as we were through customs and outside of the airport. I was standing there when a group of high school age kids walked by, and said, "Hey Coach." This caught me off guard and amazed me all at the same time. These kids have never seen me, but yet they knew who I was because they knew what group of people I was with. Better yet, you could hear the excitment in their voice because we were here. Needless to say, I was completely surprised, and didn't get much sleep last night because I kept thinking about that encounter.

1ST DAY OF CAMP
To be honest I was a little nervous, but was soon calmed by the voices of the kids. Before we got started all of the kids sang a 'vesper,' which is a praise song. I thought this was cool to see the unity between teams, and it sounded really good. These kids have amazing voices, and sounded amazing.

Practice went well. I know that GOD showed me a lot about the type of people I was working with today. While working with my group, I could see how passionate, and respectful they are. I just thought it was cool, because I don't think we see much of these two traits practiced at the same time in our culture.

HUDDLE GROUP
During this time, I really took most of the time giving a testamony. Mainly to let the students know about me, and explain to them what GOD has/is doing in my life. I probably rambled a little, but had tons and tons of emotions going through me at the time.

THE REST OF THE DAY. . .
after both camps was great, and also a good time to rest from the previous day's flight.

Tonight we had dinner that was provided by a local church. It was neat, because their is another group of people here doing disaster relief at the same time. It was good to share that time with the others that were here, especially since they were also from Tennessee. Dinner was great, but the best event happened was right before we had the blessing. The pastor from the church led us in a hymn of 'Because He Lives'. I have heard/sang this hymn many times, but this time it was different. It is hard to explain, but I just knew that moment in time was something special. While singing, I got goosebumps like never before. I felt this experience was another example to me to assure me that I was in the right place.

Day one has been great. We have the next two days off from football, I can't wait to see what will happen next. I pray that GOD continues to bless me and our group with new and exciting experiences throughout the week

Goodnight and GOD BLESS!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Scarlett Rhea Dickerson

Weird title if you don't know the news, but My brother and Sister-in-law are having a baby girl and 'Scarlett Rhea Dickerson' will be her name.

I am extremely excited for them, and know that they will be awesome parents. I wish them the best, and can't wait for my little niece to be born.

Mission Trip: Tomorrow is the day

The title of this post pretty much sums up my thoughts. I can't wait. I don't know that I have ever been more ready for a trip to get here than I am now. My emotions are a little overwhelming right now. It is a complete culmination of being excited, nervous, and a bunch of other things all combined into one. Let's just say I'm ready for this trip to get here.

Updates throughout the week:
I am going to try to keep everyone up to date as much as possible depending on if I can get to the internet sometime through out the week.
I might try to update through several avenues: Facebook, Twitter (@titodickerson), and here. I will probably update here first, and direct others to my blog. I'll try to update as much as possible.

Thanks:
I just want to stop, and say thanks to everyone who have wished me luck, and said they would be praying and thinking about our group. Those of you know who you are, and I can't explain to you what they mean to me. I was telling someone tonight, that if I had any doubts about this trip they are all gone now. It is unexplainable what kind words from people would do to the heart and mind. Just wanted to stop and thank everyone.

I'm out. Don't know that I will be able to get much sleep tonight, but I am going to try.

God Bless

Thursday, June 3, 2010

High/Low

High:
Gained a new appreciation for the older generation. Sat and talked with an older lady a while back and was amazed by the conversation. This lady was amazing to me. She lives in this area, and doesn't really have a lot if any family around, but it doesn't seem to phase her. A devout Christian is an understatement for this particular person. After five minutes of conversation you can tell that she is a individual with a purpose in live. I hope and pray that I can be that type of person when I am her age.

Low:
Been a week of over analyzing. Topic of choice this week, 'Relationships'. I go through phases like this every now and again, and it kind of sucks (to be plainly honest). I don't necessarily look into this as I wish everything was different, but "Am I in the right places across the board?". I tend to value relationships differently than others. As most of you know I view things very black and white, so my relationships tend to fall into those categories. Agree or disagree with me if you want, but that is just how I am. So what I tend to do is put one pile of relationships into that extremely close category, and the others kind of go into that 'acquaintance' category. I often times find myself creeping to the middle of that gray area, and that is when my analytical side kicks in. That is when it sucks, because I want things to be extremely defined, and categorized. That is usually when I will a) try to morph things into that extremely close category, because I feel like that is where it should be, or b) I will just let it go the the wayside. Sounds weird, but I think we can see situations in life were we have done that before.