April Fools!

I've never really been one to pull pranks on people; I try and then I usually feel bad afterwards or I plan them and I chicken out and it all results in a poorly executed prank, or not one at all.  This year however, I thought, "Hey, I'm on a ship, nothing too bad can happen, I kinda want to pull an April fools joke on someone."  Well, one of my friends gave me the perfect opportunity when he walked up to me, and our friend Emilie, and asked "Which one of you wants to pose as my girlfriend on facebook? I want to really get my friends back home."  Well, being Tierah and wanting to prank somebody, I jumped at the chance!

Jonathan and I took a picture together and he had to go back to work so he gave me his facebook info and I made it "facebook official" that we were in a relationship.  We told people he had asked me when we went camping a few weeks before, and I hadn't said yes right then because I wanted to make sure my heart was in the right place and I wasn't saying yes just to say yes.

Not only did people on facebook react, but our friends on the ship came up to both Jonathan and myself and asked us about it offering up congratulations and hugs. It was playing out even better than I expected, it also helped our cause that I couldn't stop smiling!  I was so excited about this prank that I literally could not stop smiling and giggling.

However, like every good prank, it must come to an end.  Ours ended when my "ship dad" Matt sat down next to Jonathan and asked why he hadn't come and talked to him about dating me.  Matt had approached me earlier in the day offering up his congratulations but was disappointed that I hadn't told him about it and that he had to find out on facebook, of all places.  I apologized and told him he should talk to Jonathan about it.

Matt told Jonathan that he approved and was happy for us, he just wished that Jonathan had come and talked to him about it first.

Jonathan: "Well, Matt, I would have but, do you know what day it is?"
Matt: "April 1st."
Jonathan: "Yeah Matt, it's April 1st..."

If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure we would have melted on the spot with the look Matt was directing at us.

Thankfully both Jonathan and I are alive, although no longer together.  He dumped me on facebook later on that evening.  We are still on talking terms and great friends, actually I am now friends with most of his family and one of his close friends from back home.

I ended up hiding the original facebook post of being in a relationship because people were still "liking" the post a day later, and although I appreciate the love I didn't want people to misunderstand and  I guess they didn't see the breakup post.

When I was talking to Mama about it later on that day we both just laughed about the whole thing and how well it had played out.  We talked about the love peopled showed and how happy they were for us, and how if I was actually in a relationship I would have told a majority of those people in person before putting it on facebook, but it was still good for a laugh, even if I gave a few of my sisters a heart attack.



P.S. Matt may have declared war when he had chaplaincy email Jonathan about a meeting that all new couples are required to have with the entire chaplaincy team....  

Matters of the Heart

If I thought I could leave home and move across the world and it not effect my heart, I was wrong.  My heart has been many things since I've been here.  Full, broken, sad, hurting, overflowing, happy, joyful, scared, healed, and more things that I don't have words for.  With all these going on, what feels like everyday all the time, I haven't had the heart to tell people what is happening here or how I'm doing.  There are somethings I just don't know how to say, or if I do say it, I can't convey how much it means to me.

I am going to try though...so, my hope and goal is to express what amazing things I have seen here, what Jesus is doing in my life, and what it's like for this little princess on this big white boat in Africa.