PI Extravaganza!

Here it is...what you've been waiting for. The results of my pi day fundraiser. I was able to recite 330 digits of pi from memory.  Wonder what that looks like? Here they are:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067962148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920

And here is the video.  My friend Bits, graciously volunteered her birthday party to be a joint fund-raising party for me. So here I am, reciting 330 digits of pi to a room full of 25 people! It's way harder that way than in my house by myself.  Apologies for the slight technical issue, we lost a small chunk near the end, due to iphone video recording space issues, but know that I really did get them all. (I did make 2 errors, so we may want to only officially count 328 digits!)

Thank you so much to everyone who participated, whether by pledging some amount per digit, helping me practice, coming up with the idea in the first place (Sharon and Bits), or by being a supportive audience.  I really enjoyed using my quirky talent in this fun way to raise money for a great cause.

Tomorrow

Starting to sell most of my worldly possessions...

Compelling

“He who loves a hundred has a hundred woes. He who loves ten has ten woes.  He who loves none has no woes,” says Buddha, and therefore in place of love Buddha enjoins his followers to a kind of impersonal and invulnerable benevolence. But the God who is in Jesus loves no matter what the cost because that is the innermost secret of his nature, and he enjoins all men to do likewise because it is also the innermost secret of theirs. Buddhism and Christianity agree that to love is to suffer, because wherever the ones we love suffer, our love suffers with them and for them; but whereas Buddhism says that this suffering is above all things to be avoided, Christianity says that it is above all things to be embraced, because it is by suffering in love for one another that we can help work each other’s redemption and our own too, thus participating in the redemptive activity of God himself.

                              -Frederick Buechner

I think my greatest fear is loneliness. Which is why the work of Mercy Ships is so compelling to me.  For most patients the hospital ship serves, surgery provides more than physical healing.  In parts of the world where disease is often attributed to evil curses, people with deformities such as tumors, cleft lips, and bowed legs may be kicked out of their homes or ridiculed by their entire community. I’ve heard stories from the ship of people who have to scavenge for food at night, because they cannot even go to the market because of how neighbors will mistreat them. Receiving proper medical treatment means a person can be integrated into his community again; it means she will be seen. Seen as a person. And I hope it means he knows he is loved by the God of the universe; I hope she knows God sent a big white boat with hundreds of volunteers across the globe just for her.

Claire

Someone recently asked me what I am most excited about.  It’s this. To participate in the suffering of the poor in a way that brings about both their healing and my own.  I’m not just joining Mercy Ships because it is a noble cause (although it is), or because I believe God called me to it (although He probably did), but because I believe what Buechner said.  That finding wholeness is wrapped up in working towards healing and justice for others. I am afraid of being lonely.  And so I can think of no better choice for my life than to participate in work that relieves the suffering of some of the most lonely people on earth. 

Hawa

The photos featured in this post are some of the beautiful people who have been treated on the Africa Mercy. Photos are courtesy of the ship’s communication team. 

Sabany

Ravette

Pi Day Fundraiser

As you may know, pi day (March 14) is fast approaching. This year's day will be epic for 2 reasons.

1. It is the year 2015 making the date 3/14/15 which are the first 5 digits of pi.
2. I will be reciting the digits of pi from memory as a fundraiser.  My friend, Bits, has graciously offered her home (and her birthday party!) as an opportunity for the recitation!  We will be filming and posting the event online.  If you would like to participate in the fundraiser, you can pledge a small amount per digit.  My goal is to get to at least 250 digits. 

This was not my idea, by the way. My friends came up with this crazy idea.  They know me well; some people run marathons, but I prefer the more brainy side of life. Who knew my weird talent of memorizing long strings of numbers would be put to use!  If you want to pledge, you can sign up here.  

Got Book Recommendations?

Hello Friends,
I'm making a compilation of books I want to read, so that I can load up my Kindle. I'm not sure what my access to books will be like in Madagascar and I'm not sure if the wi-fi on the ship will allow me to download books (I've heard it is very slow).  So I'm playing it safe and taking lots with me! So if you've read a great book lately, send me the title! I like all kinds of fiction, especially historical fiction as well as non-fiction.

Here's a couple of books I would recommend if you looking for a good book to read:

• Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende
• Between Love and Honor by Alexandra Lapierre
• Where The Pavement Ends by Erica Warmbrunn
• Iron & Silk and True Notebooks, both by Mark Salzman
• Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Thanks!

A Clean Closet and a Coincidental Quarter

My preparations for moving overseas continue.  I finally told my principal this week that I will be leaving at the end of the school year.  It was a hard conversation because one of the biggest challenges my school faces is retaining teachers long term.  So even though I think teaching on Mercy Ships is the right thing for me in this next season, leaving will be difficult and bittersweet.

I want to be 100% present at school for the rest of the year; I also have a huge to-do list begging for my time and attention. So my goal is to knock one thing off my list every weekend.

Here a partial look at my To Do list...

• Get a new passport 
• Create a blog
• Sort through my belongings and decide what to keep and what to get rid of.
• Choose health insurance
• Have a garage sale
• Go to the dentist
• Figure out what to pack and what not to pack
• Raise some money
• Start to learn French/Malagasey
• Read Foreign To Familiar and Old Testament Template (assigned pre-reading)
• Get required vaccinations and malaria medicine
• Sell my house
• Sell my car

So as you can see I've already accomplished the first 2 things on my list! This weekend I started on the third and tackled my closet.  Even though I love to organize and declutter, I am somewhat of a packrat.  Which mostly means I have shoeboxes full of letters and cards from my entire life.  Because all the letters and cards remind me of meaningful relationships, I find it hard to throw them out.  

But I think you will share my delight in what I found.  A homemade card from my childhood best friend, Nicole, with a quarter still taped inside with the following note:

The card is over 20 years old (1993) and I don't remember the story behind it or why I never spent the quarter.  But I hope Nicole will be happy to know I am finally spending it on its intended purpose.  

Why Mercy Ships? Why Now?

Every 7 years I try to take a "Sabbatical Year." I quit my job in order to rest, to volunteer, to travel, to seek God's direction for my life...to do things I might not have time for while working full-time. During my last Sabbatical I wrote my Master's thesis, participated in Hurricane Ike clean-up, mentored students, and worked part-time tutoring.  I think my last sabbatical was instrumental in preventing burn-out and has allowed me to stay working in high-need public schools.

I first heard about Mercy Ships back in college from some visiting authors who had met on the Anastasis, the very first Mercy Ship. I was intrigued by the organization's mission, but didn't think much about it since I was not going into the medical field. Fast forward to the present; I have been exploring ideas for how to spend my upcoming Sabbatical Year. I was hoping to find a place where I could live in community, use my gifts as a math teacher to serve others, and have some new experiences. I read everything I could get my hands on about Mercy Ships and their mission still resonated with me, specifically their desire to follow the model of Jesus in caring for the poor.

So after thinking and praying about it for over a year, I finally applied last October. I had a couple ideas for Plan B if I didn't get accepted to Mercy Ships (live on a farm in the Appalachians, teach overseas with WorldTeach), but nothing I felt as strongly about as Mercy Ships.  So I was absolutely elated when I got the call in January offering me the position of math teacher on the ship.

Leaving Sharpstown High School (my current job) will be extremely hard, because I love it there so much. But I believe that this change is the right thing for me at this time.