Cramming

Dearest Rachel –

It’s the sort of situation you would find yourself in (and which I occasionally find evidence of as I go through your old Bible study notes), so I’d like to think you wouldn’t fault me for this particular shortcoming.

The thing is, at the briefing a couple weeks ago, prior to any of the groups taking off for Honduras – and at this point, I’m flying out with the last of three groups in the wee hours of tomorrow morning – there was some mention of required reading beforehand. It was during one of the VBS sessions (a week or so later) that Jill, one of the staffers from Just One, presented me with the book that I understood I was to read before flying out. However, since I was on my third trip down there, I figured I could wait until I was on the plane to go through with that, since I was already an ‘old hand’ at this, to a certain extent. I could have your letter posted before heading out (or at worst, at the airport), and I could spend the flight time reading up before landing.

A problem presented itself as I paged through the book, though. This wasn’t a straight read-through, no; this was a workbook for a class. Most of the pages contained questions for me to answer, with space to do of, course, but requiring a certain level of thoughtfulness in response, as opposed to simply absorbing words on a page.

Moreover, sections contained a QR code that the reader was supposed to access, linking to a video that was to be viewed as part of each class. Again, this couldn’t just be read through at my own (considerable) speed; this had to be watched and responded to. This wasn’t a volume I could just cram as though preparing for a test.

As I continued to page through it, I realized we’d all been caught short. There were eight sections to this book, meant to be studied a week at a time, not unlike many of your study notebooks. By rights, we ought to have taken a couple of months to go through this material. And yet, we’d been given only three weeks to do so; two, for those who would be returning from their own “vision trip” (the Just One team prefers this term to “mission trip,” for some reason) today. I won’t say that there would have been no way to have gone through everything – especially if I’d looked into the book from the day I’d received it, and just tried to do a session every day or every other day – but I can’t imagine how most of the others would have been able to accomplish it while juggling their everyday lives.

Of course, I’ve had fewer such demands on my time and attention than most, so I have less excuse for not going through it. It’s my own fault for having set it aside until now. Even now, there are the demands and desires on the periphery demanding my attention – including, I might add, the one compelling me to tell you about this (complete with my failure to realize what I’d been assigned to do until it was this late) – that I’d rather take care of than actually read through and respond to like I’m ‘supposed’ to. At this point, I’m almost hoping that it doesn’t come up during the trip down there, or in the briefing that we’ll have upon arrival.

At the same time, now that I know what needs to be done – and observing that it’s likely I won’t be the only one to not complete the entire assignment – it’s probably best that I take on at least what answers I can address between now and then. Hopefully, the boys will want to hang out together during the day, allowing me the solitary time to accomplish some cramming before heading out tomorrow morning.

Of course, at the same time, I still have to handle the even more practical aspects of preparation. While it shouldn’t take long, I haven’t really started packing my clothes (at least the ledger books are assembled in my suitcase) and toiletries. In fact, I haven’t checked to make sure that my passport is where I think I left it – although I should be able to address that when I pack my computer up for the trip (unless it isn’t where I think it is, in which case I’ll really be in a bind). And now that I think about it, I really should schedule my ride to the airport today, rather than try to arrange something first thing in the wee hours.

Yeah, this is going to be a pretty frantic day, all things considered. I’m nowhere near the point of being able to travel at the drop of a hat, should I so choose, like I’d like to be. Still, I want to think that most of this could still be possible, even down to cherry-picking the odd answer in each of the sessions listed in the booklet. Maybe I’ll be able to tell you about it while I’m down there; or not, as things get pretty busy there, too.

Either way, I’d appreciate your eye upon me, honey, and whatever well-wishes you can offer. I dare say I’ll need them.