24 Days and Counting

Hello all,

I am officially only 24 days away from the beginning of my adventure. I will be spending 1 year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia through the SALT program. I will be working for Peace Bridges, a local non profit involved in conflict resolution/mediation work. I'm not really sure exactly what I will be doing for them, but their mission looks interesting.

On August 11th, I head to Akron, Pennslyvania and the Mennonite Central Committee headquarters for orientation. I don't really know what to expect, except that the SALT orientation is combined with another program that brings people from other countries to the U.S. for a year of service similar to SALT. The orientation in Pennslyvania is general, country orientations don't begin until I set foot on Cambodian soil. On August 19th, I'll head directly from PA to Phnom Penh via LA and Hong Kong. (yeah for 30 hours of travel!) Once I get there, I'm pretty sure the first few weeks are mostly about language school and general cultural adjustment. I will be living with a host family (I don't know who yet), but I won't move in with them immediately (at least I think not). There are 3 other SALTers heading to Phnom Penh, and although we'll all be working in different places, I'm sure we'll form a support group for each other. I already met one of these girls since she lives in Seattle.

At this point, I'm gathering up the last few things I need and beginning to comtemplate just how soon I'll actually be leaving. It's really hard to believe that I only committed to this 5 months ago. My life has been in one giant transition ever since graduation in May and part of me is ready to get going. But the other part of me is ready to cling to the familiar. My prayer right now is that I turn to God in all of the craziness of this transition instead of to my own devices. And that I'll be open to all that there is to learn about myself, my future, Jesus, Cambodia, and the world in this year. And that I will joyfully serve one and all who I come into contact with. This whole experience is something I've dreamed about for years and its finally happening- such an amazing blessing. God has paved the way for me on this one and I'm going in with arms wide open.

While I am away, I won't have a phone (but hold onto the number, because I'll have it when I come back) but I will have internet access. You can reach me at nicole.r.geiger@gmail.com and on facebook. I'll be getting my mail address sometime this week and I'll be sure to get it out to all of you.

Thanks to all of you for all of your wonderful support during the last few months.