TOWER GARDEN Planted once again - 4/10/16

It's time for the little 'hatchlings' to take their place in the tower!

Fred putting them into their new pods 4/10. Grow grow grow!

They grew grew grew!!!! 5/17!

Parachuting Naked & Off to Mexico!!!! 4/9/16

Just over a half a year has passed since my last update. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re figuring out what to do with your life!

In this issue of Joy’s Journey I’ll catch you up to date with life since I left Tanzania and share what I know is ahead in the next few weeks & what I think is ahead more long term. I write to a very varied audience… the length of my epistle is for my retired friends & I’ll cater to those whose time is less their own with bolded bits for you to breeze through to grab onto what gets your attention. All right here goes:

Leaving Tanzania:  Soon after I sent my last update to you my brother, Peter, his wife, Tammy, and I drove to Kenya to visit my niece, Sianna, and nephew, Leighton.  They attend a boarding school called Rift Valley Academy (RVA) which was a rival school to the high school I attendedJ! The border crossing was long, but no snags. The road was OK. We took a shortcut that was pretty bumpy yet got us there without having to go through town. It was good to be back in Kenya where I had lived my 8^th, 9^th, 11^th& 12^th grade years. Some was the same, but so much had changed. On Peter’s birthday we took some time visiting our old houses and the International School of Kenya (ISK – Go Lions!). That school has become a fortress! We weren’t sure if they were going to let us in to walk around the place. A lot of ambassador’s kids & diplomat kids attend so security has to be pretty high. I’d like to say that it was a blast to the past, but so much had changed that I didn’t recognize much.

I left Africa from Kenya – got a taxi ride to the airport. Longest-ride-for-the-distance EVER due to the crazy traffic in Nairobi. Landed at LAX one tired “pooch”! Able to crash at Fred & Margie Stocks place in Duarte while they were in Thailand for a family reunion. They have become like my parents on earth. I now have a set in heaven & one on earth = nice.

It was nice to be back in Duarte with space to rest up a bit, but soon it was time to work on getting the items in my 10 X 10 storage unit dealt with. Suzanne, my long time friend, graciously came down for an intense few days of 'cleansing'. My, the items we keep that we don't need. Others helped me re-pack boxes and shift them multiple times. (THANKS, you know who you are!) Then, with the help of Armando - Mom's 'canary man' - who bought up what was left of the items I was ready to let go of, my earthly possessions were then jammed into a 5x7 & the monthly fee brought down considerably! Feels good to have more of a grip on what I truly own.

After getting the storage unit squared away and a check up with my Doctor, I headed up north. You would have enjoyed seeing my car STUFFED to the gills with 13 boxes of family pictures and treasures to go through with my sisters. Had a lovely THANKSgiving at my sister Alice's home. Good to dip into her, her husband, Mark, & their son, Logan’s life in Carson City, NV.  What a help Alice was in weeding out a lot of the pictures. Still flummoxed as to how we can throw away bags and bags of stuff and still have so much left! 

From Nevada I headed to Richland, WA with an overnight in Redmond, OR (Thanks Nygrens!) to Suzanne & Mike Caron's abode. I was scheduled to take care of the dogs while they went to FL. This is where I finally crashed!!!! My body didn’t want to push anymore so it rested and took me along for the ride. It was good to have space & a place to do that. It wasn’t fun to be in a hazy funk, but my body needed it. It helped to have the dogs to take care of otherwise I’d probably still be sleepingJ!

I was able to drive up – thanks to generous loan of an all wheel drive Subaru … (lot’s of snow) – to my sister Beth’s place in Mission, BC, CANADA. Where she lives with her husband, Mark. Good to rest – some more! - and have some breakthrough in the deeper recesses of my being. Was struggling with moving forward & why I was putting the brakes on in certain areas of my life. Fun to spend Christmas with them, Jonathan (nephew), Scott (nephew) & his wife, Kami, and their sons Elias & Theodore. This was my first face to face with Theodore who joined us back in October. My sister, Jennifer, was able to come up from California and join us the day after Christmas. We had some good times diving into old 8mm & super8mm movies. (Anyone have a good connection to digitize them?)

From there I back tracked to Mike & Suzanne’s and then hit Alice’s again in Carson City. She needed to see some of those home movies. It was mid-January when I landed again in SoCal.

“What now” specific point of view? I’ve been given the gift of a mission trip to Copper Canyon, MEXICO. I’ll be heading out this Monday, April 11^th and returning the 1^st of May. It’s a working mission trip down in the depths of Copper Canyon – which I hear is deeper than the Grand Canyon! We’ll be finishing up the 2^nd Teacher’s apartment at a school/orphanage for Tarahumara children. The 1^st apartment was completed last year by a team from the same church – Mike & Suzanne’s church in Eastern Washington. This is a gift as the teachers without the apartments are living in with the kids. I’ll be arriving early to help Mike & Suzanne take a supply run down. 10 hours to Creel & 5 hours to Guacaivo Boarding School the next day. Then on April 22^nd we’ll head back down with the rest of the team. They’ll be 12 of us in all.

This has been a good ‘trial run’ for the traveling I’ll want to do in the future. It is helping me to figure out how to deal with no internet, power & fresh “veg”! Beans, rice & tortillas will be the meals. Things I haven’t eaten for a year. I know it will all work out & am rather excited about it. Here is the schedule:

4/11/2016	El Paso, TX	4/22/2016	El Paso, TX – Pick up team
4/12/2016	Tarahumara Ministries, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico	4/23/2016	Creel, Mexico
4/13/2016	Creel, Mexico	4/24 - 4/27/16	Guacaivo Boarding School
4/14/2016	Guacaivo Boarding School	4/28/16 - 4/29/16	Creel, Mexico
4/15/2016	Creel, Mexico	4/30/2016	El Paso, TX 79925
4/16/16 - 4/21/16	Tarahumara Ministries, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico	5/1/2016	Fly El Paso, TX to LAX

“What now” global point of view? I’m feeling led, from the One who made me, to ‘home base’ here in SoCal. I traveled to three different countries and sense that is what I am meant to do. To have a place to launch from for a mobile hospitality ministry. What does that mean? So glad you asked – it means taking myself & my skill sets overseas to missionaries, coming alongside them and helping as I can. The bottom line goal is to be an encouragement to them and to leave them a little bit refreshed.

In light of that I am diving back into life here:

-into my Church and the various groups there

-signed up to help with Audio Visual once a month at church

-helping my 80 & 90 something friends with clutter & computers

-getting into a weekly rhythm of Farmer’s market, laundry and all that ‘normal’ stuff

I’ve been keeping busy with my side business, “Joy Russell At Your Service”. Mainly been helping people sort, toss & organize. I love it!

I’m hoping to find a place in Duarte or near it.  My heart still abodes at Westminster Gardens where I lived with my mom – love those peeps; I have a great Life Group that meets weekly in Duarte and I know the area well. My ministry will be here as well so I’m dreaming big – a two bedroom so I can have guests to be hospitable to.  So, if you know of a place or a good connection let me know.

I’m in the application process with a mission organization that, hopefully, will be the ‘umbrella’ under which my ministry can thrive.

My health: I am doing real well. Over a year ago, February 2015, I started a new way of eating (whole30) and have been feeling well overall. Basically most of my plate is vegetables with a palm size of good protein, good fat (coconut oil is my mainstay) & fruit for dessert. LORD helped me reach my goal weight while I was in Tanzania. Though my overall health is good my head & eyes are still having issues. The shingles came back – I’m not even sure when – and there is now a scar in my left eye that affects my vision a little bit. It’s like a little piece of saran wrap is in there making things fuzzy. I’m amazed at how the other eye picks up the slack. I’ve wrestled with headaches as well, but those seemed to have gotten under control.

Naked parachuting:  Nice of me to make you read to the end to explain the subject line J. Parachuting in speaks to what it's like for someone coming back to the US of A from an intense dip into another country. Feeling pushed out of a plane at high speed, figuring out as you're ascending what the target is AND hoping you hit it with your feet up. Oh, did I mention it's at night :-). The 'naked' part was added on this trip as I didn't have my own place to land as I did when I was living with my mom. I'm happy to say that my God has helped me to hit the target pretty well & have gathered my 'cultural clothes' to wear! As a Third-Culture-Kid* the concept of settling down in one place is foreign to me & yet appealing. Growing up we didn’t have the same home to return to when we came back to America so I’ve ‘parachuted’ a lot, but not many times naked!

In conclusion – JOY & PEACE: It’s been nice sharing with you. I wish there was some way to put into words the joy, peace and excitement for life I am feeling these days. There is a freedom to my days as a result of truly believing that God will never leave me or forsake me.**     That Jesus is not only with me every moment of the day, but has pre-planned purpose for me. I am able to lay down my striving & let Him lead as I gratefully trust. It is awesome to have what has been head knowledge for so long move to my heart and become reality. What an amazing and wild ride!

Thanks for ‘listening’, Joy

*Third-Culture-Kid = one who grew up in a culture different than their parents. Not really a part of their parent’s culture nor the culture where they are living so they create a ‘third culture’ so to speak.

** “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 New International Version (NIV)