Posted in Training Camp by Tara Ptacek on 7/11/2011
That title is a misnomer. A fiberglass splint and crutches of metal and rubber isn’t all that I came away with from camp that I didn’t have at the beginning. That week in the middle of the Tennessee mountains, out of reach of cell phone service and my social media addictions, has proven to be one of the biggest life-altering weeks of my life thus far.
I’ve learned so much more about myself, my God, my peers and the world we live in.
I'm still processing all of it, but here are some of those things, in no particular order:
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I like camping. (Wait, what?!?)
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I am capable of forgiving myself of my past and others of their actions.
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I know God is always there for me, but this week that knowledge moved from my head to my heart.
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When people can call out your strengths when they barely know you, it’s overwhelming.
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Tears are sometimes best shared.
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Napkins are optional.
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Racers adopt more of a five *minute* rule regarding food’s edibility.
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Protein before dinner is a treat, and pulling the spine out of your fish-soup breakfast actually isn’t as gross as you’d suppose.
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Snacks are allowed at Training Camp, but you’ll still feel like you’re a kid breaking weight-loss camp rules.
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You’ll laugh about that over a snickers bar with your squadmates.
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Dirt doesn’t hurt. Neither does sunscreen.
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Most times, less is better. See: Packing. Also: Mental prisons and chains.
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Bugs absolutely love your headlamp’s light, although it’s never given them anything.
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My Squad A is comprised of some of the most amazingly self-sacrificing people I’ve ever seen.
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They are also incidentally, incredibly hilarious.
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Complements on handbags are sometimes God giving you a chance to talk about Him.
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After a few day’s deprivation, just the smell of coffee makes my mouth water.
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If you have weak ankles, be careful when loaded down with supplies, those ankles might give.
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If one does twist, God is sometimes gracious enough to give you 50+ people to pray over you, bind you up, lift your spirit then haul all your gear, setting up and taking it down each day.
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God will give you not-so-minor miracles when his warriors of prayer storm the gates of heaven.
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The previous point is a blog topic all on its own. 0.o
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I found my voice this week!
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Caution: that does means I sing now too.
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That voice that got liberated is loud and set to “Proclaim Truth, Love, Hope and Joy”
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Sometimes that means shouting out while laying on a trail in hope-filled agony, from the top of a table in affirmation, or jumping up on the chair you were just sitting in and declaring your joy and faith in your eternal Daddy.
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Sometimes it’s getting the nerve up to start a conversation, and ask the very first stranger in your life if they know God.
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And sometimes it’s being ok that your spontaneous prayer circle has taken over the patio at Starbucks.
God will never, ever give you more than you can handle, but often it will be more than you THINK you can handle.
Then you’ll grow.
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Posted in General Posts by Tara Ptacek on 7/1/2011
I’m reclining in my father’s leather chair. The leather is soft and broken in, it smells like him. I hear light chatter and footsteps overhead as my mother, father and youngest brother ready themselves for a square dance tonight. Spicy and sweet barbeque my mother made is filling my stomach to the brim. With the garden tended to, the chickens put up in the coop and my other brother not yet arrived back home, I had a few minutes to myself to relax and take in the essence of my parent’s house and soak in gratefulness for a life that is so full.
I am so very blessed.
It is in these quiet, everyday moments that bliss is so apparent for me; that my soul is overflowing with thanksgiving. Some find it only on a vacation or only during boon times and prosperity, some never find or see it.
I try to look for the tiny miracles.
Learning how to hold a chicken, listening to my mother’s instruction on how to make it slumber for a few minutes. It’s a smile, or a hug. Sometimes it’s typing this with a Guitar Hero controller strapped to your back while little brother checks the dryer between each song we play for the status of his not-yet-dry pants. Sometimes it’s the lemon cookie that mom just gave us two permission to indulge in.
There is so much to be grateful for.
This gift of insight became something I was aware of daily after my admittance to the World Race. I suddenly found hot showers a daily pleasure, as well as the ritual of making a steaming quad espresso, waking up to my cat purring a contented “Good morning.” I’m keeping my definition of what constitutes happiness open, and working to appreciate every small moment. I have faith that cultivating this will help me overseas. Hope may be very hard to find when confronted with such suffering, and it will be then that the smallest moment may contain a seed of joy that I might be able to share with my squad as well as the people around us.
One last word about what is filling my life with gratitude. My sponsors have lifted me up immensely; I’m about 25-30% of the way to being fully funded in addition to having Heaven rung with prayers on my behalf and help with everything from borrowing equipment to setting up a website. I’m so used to being so self-sufficient. This initially uncomfortable feeling of reliance on others to help fill my need resulted in the unexpected blossoming of deep gratitude towards those that are helping me in so many varied ways. I am so deeply grateful for how much my friends are sacrificing for me to be able to go on this ministry trip. Words cannot express how my heart sings with love and thanks for each and every one of you. You’re helping me find small moments of hope and joy in places that are so far removed from it.
Much love,
T
P.s. Little brother and I rocked out lead guitar and bass on the Dead Kennedy’s “Holiday in Cambodia.” I had to smile. I don’t need a vacation holiday there to find joy, hope, love and moments of gratitude for my surroundings, but I will find it in Cambodia, somewhere.
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Posted in General Posts by Tara Ptacek on 6/3/2011
First off, thanks for finding my blog! Whether we're friends or I've only come into brief contact with you at some point, I'm grateful you're taking the time to look into my life and what I'm doing! Keep checking back, the good stuff is yet to come. :)
It's been an insanely busy few weeks for me here recently, but I woke up the other day and realized that my first fundraising deadline was in 2 weeks. Oh my. It's now time to see if God can work some miracles for me, because those little numbers look so big when you put a "k" next to it...
3k in two weeks?!?
I'm praying heavily about it and hopefully this is His will and thus there will be a way. I want with all my heart to be able to go minister to the poor and downtrodden overseas, but that can't happen until the funding comes through.
So I'm sipping on a hope cocktail. It's mostly Hope and my heart is at ease with the uncertainty, but it is shaken up with a bit of Worry and Trepidation. I'm a little scared folks. I have to find a lot of money in not-so-much time. I'm going to be living a life unlike anything I've ever experienced in my upper-middle-class upbringing. It's going to be a lot of changes I feel called to live out, but still, this seems so much bigger than something I can do. But that's were God comes in and meets me.
I know that if it's his will, I'll find the fortitude and financial ability to go.
And that, my friends, is what my hope cocktail is based on.
T
Ps, This is my support letter I'm in process of sending out!
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Sometimes it’s the smallest moments—the tiniest things—that have the power to totally alter the course of your life. Sometimes it’s as simple as an offhanded comment and ensuing conversation with your hairdresser…
Let me back up... This past year I’ve felt very lost (a symptom of my generation, perhaps) after graduating college with excellent marks I felt only a huge loss regarding what direction my life should take. In the words of John Mayer, “…a quarter-life crisis”. Nothing within my reach stirred my passion and got me excited about what my future meant.
Little did I know, that conversation in the chair of my favorite salon would be pivotal in directing the course of the next year of my life. She mentioned she would be leaving the country and I’d need to find another hairdresser. When I inquired why, I could feel the river of my life turn around a bend: “I’m leaving with The World Race to spend almost a year of my life serving others.”
Now this is becoming my story as well. I will be giving eleven months of my life to volunteering in some of the poorest and most downtrodden countries in the world, eleven in all, on The World Race. I am both excited and scared about going because I know that September ’11 to July ’12 are going to be some of the hardest, most challenging, enlightening and hope-filled months of my life. I’ll see firsthand, in the trenches of the third world, the suffering of many while being in a position to help improve their condition. Our work will run the gamut from directing VBS and leading to worship to working in orphanages. It will even including less fun pursuits like building latrines and heart-breaking ministries in “sex-tourism” countries filled with street prostitutes and sex slaves. Whatever the community needs, our team will answer the aching call. While serving others and working to better their lives, I’ll also be working on my own patience, self-discipline, servant leadership skills and exercises in bringing about grace, mercy and justice.
I’m contacting you because I need help to follow this dream.
Firstly, I need your thoughts and prayers. In addition to the many prayer requests that will undoubtedly come up in the course of the next year, some things we need in abundance:
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My team will need plenty of guidance as we do servants’ work for our contacts, addressing their specific needs within each country.
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For perseverance and dedication to our calling, we’re going to be experiencing a lot of potential hardship as we live like those in the community we’re serving.
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I’m personally scared about what this year overseas will entail. It seems so much bigger than something little me can do. I’m tenacious, but the idea of no running water or being exposed to malaria does scare me a little. But I know this is something I’m meant to do, so reassurance throughout the year would be very welcome.
If you would pray for these for us, in addition to whatever else your heart calls to add, we would be in your debt.
Secondly, while I will be volunteering the year of my life to training and fieldwork, it’s still going to cost $14,800 for me to be able to do this.
If there is any way you can help me by giving a tax-deductible gift, however small, to allow me to spend my year making some small, but yet incredibly significant impact on this world, I would be so incredibly grateful.
I will be celebrating my 26th birthday working in the Ukraine if I find enough support to go, and a gift towards my trip would be a fantastic birthday present for both myself and those I will serving in:
Ukraine
Romania
Nepal
India
Tanzania
Uganda
Rwanda
Thailand
Cambodia
Malaysia
And one country yet to be determined on basis of need.
Electronic donations can be made at Http://tinyurl.com/SupportTara
Please select “World Racer” in the drop-down and type “Tara Ptacek” in for the name.
The credit card company deducts 5% for charge card processing, so if it’s convenient for you, it’s preferable that checks be sent to:
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 534470
Atlanta, GA 30353-4470
Be sure to indicate the purpose of your gift on your check:
“The World Race (Tara Ptacek)”
*Deadlines I need to meet for my funding:
$3,000 by June 18th, 2011 (20%)
$6,000 by August 18th, 2011 (40%)
$10,500 by December 1st, 2011 (70%)
$14,800 by March 1st, 2011 (100%)
I will be chronicling my journey on a blog,
Http://TaraPtacek.TheWorldRace.org/
Please keep tabs with me. I’d like you to see the good you’ve helped me to accomplish!
In closing, I want to thank you first and foremost for being a friend of mine. I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and your interest in what my life is gearing up to do. If you are able to help financially support my trip I thank you immeasurably. Your prayers mean so much; please keep me in your thoughts as this year progresses and I try to give back by helping out those in need. I’ve been blessed greatly in my life and indeed, “from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48)
Yours truly and sincerely,
Tara Ptacek
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Posted in General Posts by Tara Ptacek on 5/13/2011
“Not all who wander are lost.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien
Recently I’ve fallen in love with that quote. I’m certainly a wanderer and the last few years of my life has shown that to me in living color. I’ve been on a search to find where I “fit” in life and what exactly I’m called to do within this big old world we live in. College graduation came and went. I got great marks in school, but what am I meant to DO? Having no idea what my life should do, I prayed. A lot. You have to be careful what you wish for though, sometimes the answer isn’t what you expect…
God has a way of showing us that he has absolute control over our lives. I’d tried to plan out parts of my life, the way -I- had wanted it and thought it should be, and it completely fell apart. Last summer I learned I wouldn’t be marrying a man I loved greatly. Suffice to say, I was wholly crushed and had to look to God to sustain me. The beautiful silver lining to that mushroom cloud of my life was that not only did God sustain me and walk with me through my devastation, he rebuilt my heart and charged me up to give a year of my life to serve others! My heart is so full of love for the people that I will be ministering to and I’m terribly thankful that I was given this opportunity to serve my God and my fellow man.
I’ll be documenting my life in preparation for World Race in (hopefully) weekly or bi-weekly blogs, and I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that you’ll be hearing a lot more in the coming weeks and months! I’ll be sharing a lot of my Present and bits of my Past as they become relevant to share. I’m looking forward to involving you in my journey as I explore and “become” the person God has made me to be!
“You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.”
~ Margery Williams, "The Velveteen Rabbit"
A little about me in this first of many, many blogs:
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I’m a fiery and passionate person with a sunny disposition, when I’m excited about something, everyone really KNOWS!
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“Snarky” is one of the favorite descriptions people give me. I have a dry wit and usually can find humor in most situations.
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One of my favorite things is laughing!
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At 5’10” I’m tall… but the shortest of all four kids in my family.
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I was a Mass Communication and Theatre double major in school, so you can probably guess I love talking (maybe too much) and half my closet is costumes. True story.
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It’s ok that you can’t pronounce my last name. (The P is silent, so it’s TAA-Sick.)
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I’m looking forward to seeing how God uses me to help others in need and further his kingdom. I can tell I’m meant to do great things for Him, so I’m so eager to start!
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