Don't Blink....

I forgot to publish this post....since March 1. So here it is...1 1/2 months later. :)

Yokwe, eta in Q.

Oh.....*ahem....Hello, my name is Q.

   It is March and I can hardly believe it. I feel like I just recently arrived in Ebeye. Yet....I also feel like I've been here for a lot longer than 6 months....to the day, in fact!

   So much has changed ... I have changed. I'm not even Leanna anymore. I am Q. That is my name. I will answer to:    Q,     Miss Q,     Missaaah,     Misteraaah (sometimes accidentally),     Rikaki  (Teacher)....

But call out "Leanna"..... and I might answer you in 5 minutes... if I realize you are trying to talk to me.

Now my name is definitely not the only thing that has changed....I have changed a lot.

When I go back to college:
I will have to "remember" my name is Leanna.

I will become familiar again with hot showers, strawberries, applesauce, frozen yogurt, bananas, WWU, burritos, smoothies, cold, mountains and other unlevel ground, driving my car, flying a plane, having open spaces, pine trees, rivers, shoes, and technology.

I will again sing in choir, fly in aviation class, study math in Kretschmar, eat in the cafeteria, run or bike on the roads in the valley, hike and drive in the hills, visit my family and supportive friends around College Place, eat at Taco Bell, drive to Walmart, maybe buy something that I don't need - we do that a lot you know, 

Yes, I'm being silly to pretend that I would introduce myself first in Marshallese. No, I do not speak the language well; I've only learned a handful of words and phrases. But I love this place, the people, and their language. I will miss it!
So, my name is Leanna Quaile, also known as Q, and I am a student missionary who is praying that God will keep my heart and mind open.

I am praying that

I may never be who I once was

but that

I may never forget who I was.

That what I have learned and experienced as Q, teacher and missionary, will help me as Leanna, university student and ambitious girl who wants to learn everything God puts before me. Who wants to remember all the people who have touched my life.