~ May ~

This May I spent a lot of time cooking on the weekends for camp. During one week I hosted our Bunco group at my home. It was so much fun. Katie and I took some shots of the decor before everyone got there. I made two Thai dishes; a Thai Massan Curry and Green Chicken Curry. They were so delicious. I'm on a Thai kick this month. Not sure what I'll be in the mood for next month. Oh wait, I'll be living in the camp kitchen....probably won't be cooking anything extra curricular.

It was a Thai food theme, and I put banana leaves around all the tables which looked pretty cool. 

The High Table

 

Katie cooked up some yummy veggies for us.

 

I try and get out around camp a lot during the week either running/walking, hiking, horseback riding, or whatever. One evening Katie and I adventured out into the canyon on the property to check out the creek. It was full of gorgeous views and we would have stayed out way longer if it wasn't for the mosquitoes that were eating us alive!!

 

 Sweet pool that looked fun for swimming.

 

There are Manzanita trees all over camp, and they are my favorite trees because of their beautiful red new growth that weaves around the dead branches from the fire...

 

I loved how the sun was pouring through the trees on the creek.

In the beginning of the month we had my parents over for dinner. It was so nice to have a great place to invite people to. Katie and I enjoy entertaining when we have the opportunity (sadly doesn't happen enough).

Here is my new house up at San Marcos Camp. I moved up here in April and love it. I'm in the mountains where all I can hear are birds, creeks, and the wind. I miss PNG a lot, and this is the closest thing to it that I can get to here. I'll post some more pictures of the area too. I'm now up here cooking full time fore different groups that come up. Once summer kicks in we'll have a full staff and lots of people running around.

My house is looks kinda like a cabin, but from the porch it looks like a pirate ship because of my moroccan lanterns....

I've got a nice little kitchen and dinning room area connected to the living room.

My living room has huge windows that look out on different views which are beautiful now matter what time of day.

Here's my porch. I have my chiminea in the corner (which I can't really light because it's under some big oaks). Maybe I'll turn it into something cool which doesn't require a major fire.

My relaxing porch swing.

My office which I am still fixing...

My upstairs loft where I sleep.

Back from PNG and back to this blog :)

Hey Guys,

I've switched back to this blog site now that I am back in the States. Enjoy the updates.

Website Change

Just so you all know, I am closing this blog and I have started a new website. I recently got back from pre-field orientation at the New Tribes Headquarters, and while there I switched over to their system for my email and website. Here is the new info:

www.ntm.org/laura_aijian

laura_aijian@ntm.org

I hope you enjoyed getting the updates on this blog, however, I will be able to communicate more effectively through my website with New Tribes. Check out the different sections on the new site, it's kind of fun =)

Garage Sale!

Scott and Rachel offered to host a garage sale at their house and donate the proceeds to me for my plane ticket. I was so blown away by the results. God totally blessed it. Tons if people came by to drop stuff off before, and then we sold almost all of it! We had a lot of fun and I was amazing at how many dedicated garage-salers came. Some came so early that they needed flashlights to look at stuff.

Special thank you to my family, Nicole, and Courtney for helping out. You guys were great.

Here are some pictures of the day:

Here are two pictures I found of the campus that I will be living at. Enjoy!

October!

Well everyone, its official. I got accepted as an Associate Member of New Tribes Missions!! Praise the Lord. You should check out their site. My info should be on there as well.

I bought my plane ticket for training that I am going to in Florida in November for a week. This has been quite the whirlwind process. It has been really good though. God is constantly expanding my faith and giving me a peace that I didn’t know was possible. The doors just continue to be opening, and I am very excited to see where the Lord takes me with all of this. If you are interested in what I will be doing specifically here it is:

I will be providing food service for Interface students, staff, and conference attendees throughout the year. The purpose of Interface is to assist the ministry of the local church in mobilizing people for the task of tribal church planting among the world’s unreached people groups. Interface is a college level missions course held in Papua New Guinea that educates students by exposing them directly to what is involved in church planting among tribal people. The campus is also used to host short-term mission trips, field conferences, and other events.

I would definitely appreciate your prayers as I continue in this process. Please pray for:
Guidance and energy as I meet paperwork deadlines while balancing full time work
Wisdom on figuring out the apartment situation that I am leaving
The Lord’s peace as I face the thought of leaving my loved-ones
Continual assurance from the Holy Spirit as I move forward in this process

I will try and post some pictures soon that show my family’s trip to PNG in 2000 to give you a better idea of where I will be going. I would love to hear from you all to be able to pray for you as well.

- Laura