For my interview today, I had the privlage of interviewing Ruth Clark. She is a missionary to the Philippines. I think you will be very interested in hearing what she has to say. When you are done checking out the interview, why not check out her web page?
How and when did you first feel called into missions?
I first felt called into missions at the age of twelve. I had listened to missionaries in church, even some boring one, but still God placed a desire on my heart to want to be a missionary. Then at Lost Valley Camp at the age of 15 God confirmed to me at an alter service one evening I was to be a missionary. Since that evening at the alter I followed God’s leading in my life. First on short term AIM trips (two to Europe, then on to NCU) and then on a MAPS trip to the Philippines.
How did you know what country God was calling you to?
I did not have a particular call to a certain place just that the Philippines opened to me. I dint even know where the Philippines was on the map. When I was first going I had to get out the map and see where it was.
What is your favorite thing about being a missionary?
My favorite thing about being a missionary is that it is never the same. God opens doors you never think or dream about. I love meeting so many different people and seeing God work and move in their lives.
What has been the most difficult thing you have experienced on the mission field?
When I first went to the Philippines we did not have the communication like we do now. We seldom heard what was happening back in the US or around the world. Calling our families was $6 a minute so that didn’t happen. Much. It took a month or so to get mail from the US. At this time it was hard just because we couldn’t keep up with our families. I am so thankful things are different now.
How has Speed the Light affected your ministry?
I thank all the Michigan Youth for my Honda CRV the past 9 years. It was a blessing to me and so many others.
If you could give any advice to today’s youth, what advice would you give?
My advice to Youth would be to seek God and listen to Him. Expose yourself to many different people who know God. Like listen to guest missionaries, evangelists etc. Though these people God can speak to your heart about what he wants for your life. Be willing to serve in various ministries in the church. Even in areas you feel you may not be good. God can teach you many things and valuable lessons as you open yourself to Him.
Is there anything we can pray with you about?
Pray with me for funds for a new STL vehicle in summer of 2010. My old care was sold this year.
Pray with me for funds and people to open a Children’s Dream Center in Cebu, Philippines in late 2010.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
If you would like more information please visit my website. There is also a video to view.
By the way, if you ever have any additional questions about each missionary, please leave a comment. I would love to either follow up on the question, or put you in touch with the missionary personally. Also, many of these missionaries are on facebook. So go search for them on facebook and add them as your friends. Facebook is a great way of letting them know you are praying for them!
I’m pleased to welcome Class of 2k9 author Joy Preble to the blog for an interview today. Joy is on a whirlwind tour of the kidlitosphere, promoting her debut title, Dreaming Anastasia. Be sure to check out my review of her book, and comment on the review post for a chance to win a copy of Dreaming Anastasia. Welcome to Shelf Elf Joy!
If you had two sentences in which to sell Dreaming Anastasia to a teen reader, how would you describe your book?
Sixteen year old Anne bumps into handsome and mysterious Ethan and suddenly she’s got powers she doesn’t understand, a history altering mission she may not want, and a growing attraction to this blue-eyed stranger. Add in some determined bad guys, Baba Yaga the witch and Anastasia Romanov – not quite so dead, it seems – and much wackiness ensues.
Your novel is an amazingly complex story, with fairy tale/ fantasy/ historical/ contemporary elements all woven together. As I was reading, I wondered two things. First, how did you come up with such a creative, complicated genre-bending idea? Second what was your writing process? Did you do a lot of outlining to keep all the plot threads straight?
I really had to laugh at this question. Okay, I didn’t laugh. But the initial truth is that this is what comes of writing a debut novel. You don’t always know you’re doing something really spiffy like genre-bending. And then when you realize mid-way through that what you’ve done is attempt multiple genres with three alternating narrators in first person, you’re too far gone to go back! Even my agent at the time continued to re-define how she pitched the project. I think we were initially calling it urban fantasy until we decided that maybe it wasn’t really that, exactly. But it was definitely, in retrospect, kind of risky. Is this literary? Is it commercial? The good part was that I was such a novice that I didn’t know enough to be afraid! I just kept writing. The idea of Anne bumping into Ethan and getting super powers and being given the task of saving Anastasia came first. Which of course led to the alternate history aspects. The folkloric elements got woven in after that. Honestly, now I ask myself, what could I have been thinking? But that’s the beauty of the muse. Sometimes it just gives you a story and you have to brave enough to go for it. And yes, eventually, I did keep bullet point outlines and reams of notes, both handwritten and in the form of comments on Word documents. As you say, it was a lot to keep straight. I was also blessed with an amazing copy edit team at Sourcebooks who dug in fearlessly near the end to make sure that everything tracked. That part was also fun for me, because here is this group of people who’ve read your every word so obsessively that they can actually say, “You know, this contradicts something on page 15. You need to check it.”
What aspect of your novel are you most proud of?
That’s not a question anyone has asked me before, so thanks! I guess if I had to pick just one aspect, I’d say that I’m proud of creating more than one strong female character. I would say that’s a commonality in most of what I write – a consciousness that I want my female characters to meet the adversity of their situations with an inner-strength, even when they don’t know what the heck they’re doing. Anne may have no clue what to do with these powers she suddenly has, but she’s going to dig deep and try to figure it out. And I hope readers get that.
How much of a Russian history and culture buff were you prior to writing Dreaming Anastasia?
When I was about thirteen, I read Robert K. Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra, this great biography of the Romanovs and their assassination and the whole Rasputin thing. It was such a huge, tragic tale! My maternal grandmother was from Russia, so I suppose that factored into my interest as well. But once I’d dug into all that, I was hooked. In college, I read more actual Russian literature – Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekov. It was always so over the top dramatic. So much cold. So much suffering. So much vodka consumption! All those names and diminutives, like how Mikhail becomes Misha. I just ate it up. The fairy tale part came later, though, when I was writing Dreaming Anastasia. Collections of Russian fairy tales by Aleksandr Afanas’ev – it’s amazing stuff and very different from Grimm’s or Disney, obviously. Much less obviously moral. Much more eh, you didn’t expect that little sucker, did you?
Your best cure for writer’s block?
Do something else for awhile. Go for a walk. Go to the movies. My mind usually opens up again if I’m actively not asking it to.
What do you do to fill up your inspiration reserve?
One of the best things for me is talking with other writers, either with my critique group or at SCBWI events, or with my Class of 2k9 pals. Hanging with my family always gives me a boost. And travel – any time I get to go some place new, I’m always inspired. Interestingly, even though it’s somewhat stressful to teach full time and write full time and now promote full time, the fact that professionally speaking, I’ve never left high school also inspires me. I mean when you work in an environment where – as happened a couple of years ago – one of your students dashes into the classroom, pulls up his shirt and shouts, “Look! I got my nipples pierced last night!” and then proceeds to show everyone the video of it on his cell phone, you don’t have to search very far for inspiration.
Top 3 books for teens?
Tough one! How could I pick just three? But if you insist, I will say that everyone should read at least one book by Laurie Halse Anderson, one by Sarah Dessen, and one by John Greene. But we are in a golden age of YA lit. It’s really impossible to narrow it down.
In your opinion, what would be the greatest compliment you could receive from a reader who has just finished Dreaming Anastasia?
That it didn’t suck. Okay, beyond that, anyone who can tell me why they enjoyed a favorite character or who felt that I’d done Anastasia justice with my version of her would make me happy. And if someone told me they could relate to my portrayals of loss and second chances, that would make me happy, too.
It seemed like the ending of Dreaming Anastasia left things open for more stories about Anne and Ethan. Can readers expect a sequel? If yes, how about a few non-spoilerish hints? If not, then could you tell us a bit about what’s next for you?
I do hope I get to write a sequel. I actually designed the novel as the first of a trilogy. I don’t have a definite answer for you beyond that, so stay posted to my blog. But yes, there’s more in store – at least in my head – for Anne and Ethan. Let’s just say that I definitely want to heat up the romance aspect and that Anne’s power might not have disappeared… Plus I’d love to let you know what’s been going on with Baba Yaga and Viktor. And I’d like to bring Tess back. And there’s this malevolent creature called a rusalka…So we will see. Additionally, I have written a couple of other novels between 2007 when Dreaming Anastasia sold and now and I’m hoping to have more news to share on those eventually, too. Oh the secrets and mysteries of the publishing world!
Thank you for being here Joy! Enjoy the rest of your tour!
Joy is going so many places for her tour, it would take me a long time to link to them all. Here is a selection of her upcoming stops this month:
Presenting Lenore (September 12) Bildungsroman (September 17) Book Nut (September 20) Lori Calabrese Writes (September 25)
Dreaming Anastasia is published by Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks.
Vanaf het tweede seizoen verschijnt er maandelijks op onze website een interview met een lid van de Kortrinho-familie. We steken van wal met een uitgebreid interview met één van de drijvende krachten van Kortrinho: Speler en voorzitter Yordy.
> Hoe kwam je bij Kortrinho terecht?
Als tiener ging ik vaak met een vaste groep vrienden voetballen. Dan spreek ik over meer dan tien jaar geleden. In die tijd hebben we nog gekeken om samen minivoetbal te spelen. Toen is het er nooit van gekomen. Diezelfde vriendengroep heeft zoveel jaren later het idee opgevat een ploeg op te richten in de kmvv. Het was de geboorte van kortrinho!
> Jullie kregen al meermaals de vraag vanwaar de naam Kortrinho afkomstig is. Kan je de nieuwsgierigen hier een woordje uitleg over geven?
Als je een minivoetbalploeg wilt oprichten heb je een naam nodig! We hebben dus een heuse vergadering bijeen geroepen om een naam te bedenken en de clubkleuren vast te leggen. Er zijn een aantal mogelijke namen de revue gepasseerd, tot er iemand het idee Kortrinho opperde. ‘inho’ is – vandaar de namen van vele Braziliaanse voetballers- de Portugese uitgang die betekent ‘kind van’. Aangezien de Kortrijkzanen in de meerderheid waren was de beslissing snel genomen. Natuurlijk was de Braziliaanse referentie leuk meegenomen.
> Als nieuwe ploeg trad Kortrinho vorig seizoen aan in de hoogste afdeling. Had dit een specifieke reden?
Vol enthousiasme stonden we klaar om ons als nieuwe ploeg in te schrijven in de kmvv. Op de algemene vergadering werd ons door het bestuur van de kmvv nogal dwingend voorgesteld dat we ons konden inschrijven in de A-reeks. Net ervoor werd er gezegd dat er maximaal 50 ploegen konden spelen in alle reeksen samen. Aangezien we de kans niet wilden laten schieten om in competitie te treden hapten we toe. Anderzijds moet ik zeggen dat we van de kmvv de kans gekregen hebben de komende herfstcompetitie in de C-reeks te starten. Ik denk dat de inzet en het enthousiasme waamee we elke week het veld betreden daar wel voor iets heeft tussengezeten.
> Wat hebben jullie opgestoken in de A-reeks?
Persoonlijk vond ik het niveau in de A-reeks indrukwekkend hoog, ik heb daar hele goeie voetballers aan het werk gezien. Als ploeg denk ik echter dat we op tactisch vlak geleerd hebben hoe minivoetbal gespeeld wordt. Hoe je als ploeg de ruimtes moet bespelen, met welke taken de spelers het veld ingestuurd worden en dat minivoetbal geen dribbelvoetbal is. Vaak verbaasde ik me er over dat zulke goede voetballers zo zelden individueel speelden, maar als je ziet hoe zoiets rendeert raak je wel overtuigd dat het de manier is om te spelen.
> Kortrinho mag, zoals je zelf al aanhaalde, best trots zijn op de complimenten dat het vorig seizoen kreeg op het vlak van inzet en enthousiasme. Waaraan heeft de vereniging het te danken dat ze, ondanks de tegenvallende sportieve resultaten, zich toch echte week als een hecht blok wist te presenteren?
Ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat het niet altijd makkelijk was om week na week te verliezen. Zoiets legt toch een zekere druk op de groep. Anderzijds heeft dit ook de sterkte van de groep bewezen. De orkaan die wekelijks over het huis Kortrinho raasde kon wel wat barstjes in de muren veroorzaken, maar de fundering stond stevig.
> Van het voorbij seizoen naar het nieuwe seizoen. Jullie starten in de C-reeks met een versterkte kern. Wat zijn de verwachtingen?
Dat is natuurlijk moeilijk in te schatten. We kennen geen enkele van deze ploegen, dus voorspellingen zijn gevaarlijk. Ik hoop dat we in eerste een aantal zaken meegepikt hebben, die ons kunnen wapenen tegen wat komt. In de lentecompetitie wisten we al redelijk snel dat er weinig ging te rapen zijn. We hebben die competitie dan ook allemaal gezien als een leerschool naar dit seizoen toe. Zonder er resultaten op te plakken, hoop ik dat dit zijn vruchten heeft afgeworpen.
> Dit seizoen wil Kortrinho bewijzen dat de ploeg op het veld resultaten kan boeken. Naast het veld bleken de events door Kortrinho georganiseerd een heus succes. Opnieuw een bewijs van de sterkte van de vereniging?
Zeker en vast. Zo hebben we in juni een quiz georganiseerd waar alles samen kwam. Hoe alle mensen die betrokken zijn bij Kortrinho daarvoor hebben samengewerkt bewees dat de Kortrinho-familie tot veel in staat is. We kenden een fantastisch leuke avond waar we rond de 200 mensen mochten verwelkomen.
> Mogen er ook dit seizoen extrasportieve initiatieven verwacht worden?
Daar wordt volop aan gewerkt. Deze week nog zullen we op de Heulse Tinekesfeesten aanwezig zijn met een cava-stand. En naar ik hoor wordt er in de wandelgangen iets gefluisterd over een kerstmarkt. Ik kan u ook nu al vertellen dat er normaal in de lente opnieuw iets ‘groots’ op het programma staat. Of dit opnieuw een quiz is, of een totaal ander concept, kan ik nog niet zeggen.
> Naast de events hebben jullie ook een heus teambuildingsweekend achter de rug. Iets wat voor herhaling vatbaar is?
Absoluut! We hebben een fantastisch weekend gekend in Durbuy. Een goeie mix van ontspanning en harde fysieke labeur (lacht).
Tot slot: een pronostiek voor de volgende wedstrijd?
The whole interview process can be a little intimidating. There are ways to make it less painful. I always walk away from an interview with one thought in mind—did I say what they wanted to hear? And somehow during the interview my mind becomes a tape recorder, allowing me to spend the rest of the day replaying my responses. I always come up with the best answers afterward.
Chances are, your first interview won’t be your best. It takes practice. I get nervous, so staying calm is key. It helps me to take a few deeps breaths before I sit down in the hot seat.
I searched around for the best interview tips. Here are some of my favorites:
Maintain eye contact
Be friendly
Outfit passes the bending over test (Ladies- bend over in front of a mirror, if you can see your bra, your shirt is too low for the work place)
Ask your interviewer questions
Send a thank you note two or three days after your interview
For more helpful ideas go to: interview tips
Your friends and family are also good resources. Since most people enjoy sharing their own stories, it’s easy to learn from other people’s mistakes. I always have lots of questions.
The big ones that often plague my mind are:
What should I wear?
Do I have a good handshake?
Should I be more smiley than serious? And,
What if they ask me something I don’t know?
Do you have any “I can’t believe I just said that!” interview moments or any issues you’ve been wondering about?
• Matt: Alex and I meet in 9th grade at Calabasas High School and have been playing with each other ever since. We meet Don at a mutual friends house jam when we were in 10th grade and he was in 11th at Agoura High School which is next to Calabasas (this was 2005). We were all friends for a while and would occasionally get together to hang out and jam, but it wasn’t until 2007 that we got serious about making music together. We’ve had two bass players and two drummers who are no longer with us, Jordan’s been part of our family for almost a year and a half.
• What was it like performing at such a huge event?
• Alex: Oh man, it was awesome. Never have we been given so much free shit. Everyone has been great to us, it is such a huge and well run festival, one of the best experiences of all our lives.
• Were you inspired at all since you were performing in Golden Gate Park which is famous for hosting great music?
• Donald: Most definitely. The park is gorgeous, it is such a pleasure to be surrounded by thousands of giant, beautiful tree’s while playing music. We were blessed to have this experience.
• What are some of the advantages of performing at a festival like Outside Lands as an up and coming band?
• Jordan: The experience has been unreal, we’ve never played a festival before, we’re used to playing in small clubs, backyards and on the street so this was an great way to shake-up our relationship live performances. It was also amazing meeting musicians that we look up to. We played with Portugal. the Man in Santa Cruz on the Thursday before OSL then on the same stage as them here in San Francisco so we had a lot of time to talk and bond with them and that has been a dream. They are all great guys.
• What is next for Infantree?
• Don: Going back home to record our second album at the TreeHouse aka Matt’s basement, we are really stoked because we have like 22 songs to record and all of them are better than anything on Tree-P (we played all unrecorded material at OSL). It should be a grueling and fun process, we’ll be playing shows sporadically in LA and on 3rd Street in Santa Monica through out the recording. If anyone wants to be in the loop, we have a communal twitter.
It was nearly twenty-five years ago that Sir BOB GELDOF bought the images of famine in Ethiopia to the world, and staged the Live Aid concerts to raise money and awareness.
Now it seems famine has returned to the Horn of Africa, as a result of extreme drought, a serious lack of resources and a growing population of nearly 80 million – double what it was in 1985.
So what can we do about it?
World Vision’s Country Program Coordinator for Ethiopia, JOSEPH KAMARA spoke about this unfortunate but very real issue…
Well last night I got my first response back from a missionary, so today you get to read what they have to say. Today’s highlighted missionary couple is Matt and Carrie Love (missionaries to the Dominican Republic). When you are done reading the interview, I really suggest you check out their website at www.thewaytheyshouldgo.com. Enjoy! When did you first feel called into missions?
I (Carrie) felt called when I was 16 and Matt felt called when he was 28.
How did God call you into missions?
I felt called to missions when I was at Acquire the Fire. I went to Southeastern University in Florida and started with a missions major and later switched to education to have something practical to offer. I met Matt my last summer before graduation. When things started to get serious I was very upfront with him. I said that God had called me to be a missionary and if we got married, there would be a good chance that God would call him too, and asked him if that happened would he say yes. He thought about it for awhile and replied, if called him, he would say yes. A few years later we were on a short term missions trip and God called Matt to be a missionary to the Dominican Republic.
How did you know what country God was calling you to?
I just knew I had heard the voice of God and that I was supposed to be a missionary. I did not know where. Matt was walking through the airport in the DR on our second trip and Matt had an overwhelming sensation that he was home. When he got back to the states he prayed for confirmation and within 24 hours he received an email from the missionaries we had just worked with who said they had just accepted the position of Area Directors and was looking for a young and energetic couple to take their place as Latin American ChildCare directors in the Dominican Republic. That was enough confirmation for Matt.
What is your favorite thing about being a missionary?
My favorite thing about being a missionary is being able to see how our God back in the states is the same God for everyone else in the world. We are all one giant church and I love being able to see and help facilitate both countries working as one for the kingdom. Matt’s favorite thing about being a missionary is waking up every morning knowing that he is in the will of God.
What has been the most difficult thing you have experienced on the mission field?
Matt and I both feel that the most difficult thing that we have experienced is the general stress that comes from selling everything, saying goodbye to family and friends and trying to adjust to a new culture. I think we are doing fine, but every little task takes so much time and energy and your physical body sort of does a breaking down and rebuilding up. Little things like grocery shopping could take all morning or all day because you have to go to 4 different stores to get what you need, but after awhile you develop a routine and everything goes more quickly and smoothly.
How has Speed the Light affected your ministry?
We are driving a Toyota Hilux truck (it is halfway between the Tundra and Tacoma in size and power) that was bought by Speed the Light. We can’t say how wonderful it is to have the youth of Michigan giving to this program. There are so many things that we are raising funds for before we can get to the mission field. By not having to raise the funds for a vehicle we were able to get to the field months faster. THANK YOU!. Also, we have met a few missionaries from other denominations here who don’t have a program like Speed the Light so they ended up buying an older and cheaper vehicle and now they are spending a significant amount of their time and money dealing with car troubles and repairs. Please give to STL, we missionaries need you!!!!!!
If you could give any advice to today’s youth, what advice would you give?
Learn to be a giver. It is much easier to develop this way of life as a teen than as an adult, and it is God’s heart. Be a giver.
Make good decisions now for a better future. You might not know who you will be in the future but if you know that you want to be strong Christian in the future then you ought to be studying the Bible and praying now. If you want to have a happy and Godly marriage, then only date people who are well balanced and in love with God. If you want to be debt free, start managing your money better now. If you what to have a nice car and house and other stuff then study hard and go to college. Its all about delayed gratification, a big technical term, I know, but the more you can practice delayed gratification now, the better future you will have. Matt and I were very disciplined as young adults and as a result were financially strong when we applied to missions. We know of others who had applied to missions and were rejected because they had too much debt.
Always be open to God and his leading. We can be logical and disciplined, but ultimately no one knows the future accept God. There are times in life when God leads you to do things that are “stupid” in the world’s eyes but are brilliant in God’s eyes, like giving away your whole paycheck or signing up for a missions trip. Always have your heart tuned to God’s voice so that you can hear when he wants you to do something “stupid”. Ha.
Is there anything we can pray with you about?
Please pray that God would guide us in how we can help improve Latin America ChildCare in the Dominican Republic and help touch the lives of the 10,000 students that are in our program.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
Go to our website www.thewaytheyshouldgo.com to see fun photos, videos and read the latest about our ministry at Matt’s blog.
Well I hope you enjoyed this interview, because tomorrow you will be reading about Phil and Lisa DiMusto from Signapore! By the way, if you are enjoying what this blog has to offer, why not sign up for a subscription. The link for the RSS feed is in the top right corner of this page. You can even have my updates emailed to your email account!
