Yellow Fever

It's ironic...

2009-09-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

...the reason I did not want to send an update on my life for so long was probably the very reason I needed to send one. The last several months have been filled with twists and turns, unexpected changes, and confused feelings. There were times where the future felt extremely uncertain, and I felt I needed to wait until the dust settled and report that I had life completely figured out. What a certain friend helped me understand though, was that is in those times when we need people behind us the most. So I apologize for trying to carry my burden alone, and for being arrogant enough to believe that I could. I am slowly learning that the only real sense of security is found in a Father, not a future.

There were many times this summer I felt I could relate all too easy to this guy... Prepare to sympathize. It's four minutes long and can sort of drag, so if you watch the first minute you'll get the basic idea...

Here's the pictorial update since April...

It took me over 90 hours of driving and 5,000 miles, but in April my 1994 Saturn and I made it from the Midwest to Alaska. Other than a semi blowing snow into my car and knocking the wiper off my windshield, it was a pretty smooth cruise. And beautiful. That much time in the car alone is interesting, but in a lot of ways I really enjoyed the solitude (although most of you probably don't believe me).

Then at the end of May it was back down to the Midwest for my friend Jacob's (top) wedding in Minnesota. Luke's (left) pose may be the funniest of all time. Look at that picture for more than five seconds and try not to laugh. I dare you (apparently at least I was enjoying it).

Then it was back on the road again, driving my parents' two vehicles with my mom and some friends up the Alcan (Alaska-Canada Highway) as they were moving from Indiana back to Alaska.
This time, later into the summer we got to see a lot more wildlife than I did on my April trip...

Whoa, bear!

No matter the thousands of miles, the trip never ceases to awe...

Doin' some reflection of my own... hahahahahaha! (Hey where's the yellow??)

This summer I was asked to lead the Young Adults Group. Probably the apex of our activities was the First Annual Hillbilly Olympics.

We had the lighting of the Eternal Flame...

I "cleaned up" in the Pie Eatin' Contest...

Looked great in the Can Shootin' Competition...

And even though we fell behind in the Car Push Off...

It didn't stop our team (County Whitey-Tighties, named after the Hanes visible from my overalls) from winning a Diet Coke Silver Medal Can Badge! What a triumphant event!

So now what? My plans are to be overseas by August of this coming year. I have some certification I have to complete, which is going even more quickly than anticipated, an encouraging fact. What else will I be doing in the mean time? Glad you asked!

Okay, so I get a call from the principal of my alma mater high school, asking me if I wanted to teach... and I'm not making this up... High School Spanish. I had nothing to offer but laughter. I laughed even harder when I realized she was being serious. Mary, I said, um.... where do I start? How about, I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH! And I'm not a certified teacher!! Apparently that didn't matter.

So here we are! I teach third period every day with twenty-one overly eager and academically hungry "estudiantes". It's been a lot of fun- I love language and teaching, so why not combine the two? Plus, it's a great learning experience, especially for the area of work I'm preparing for.

I'll also be attempting to live off my former glories. Above is a picture of me in my senior year of High School, co-captain of the State Champion basketball team. *gets the dirt off his shoulder*

So I'm hoping that magic can spill over into this next endeavor. My friend Jacob and I have been given the opportunity to coach the varsity team this season- quite a once-in-a-lifetime privilege and opportunity. The season starts in December, but we are already way too geekily preparing!

Thanks again for all who have been helping me prepare for my upcoming adventures. If you have any questions, or would like to know how to partner with me, please email me at grainofsandman@gmail.com.

Although the future is uncertain, and I don't have all the answers, I look forward to the lessons along the way, learning them in community with others, and have nothing to offer but gratitude to the One who IS both the journey and the destination.

Life After Dentistry

2009-02-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

After months of preparing to head overseas, it has been easy to feel like this kid...

David After Dentist (Original) - More bloopers are a click away

And at times, honestly, this period in my life has felt like pulling teeth. It has often been filled with anxiety, impatience, and feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness. There is a tendency to feel like I have to put on a show for people to convince them to partner with me. What He has shown me is to simply be honest with people and honest before Him. There is freedom in vulnerability and truth. I am weak, on my own, but I'm not on my own!

That is why I sincerely want to say thank you to the countless people who have shown me support these last six months. I've seen how true it is that there are those who go and those who send, but both are completely vital to the story. So now I see the gifts I have been given, more like this kid....

Here's what I've been up to since my trip to Asia (see previous entry for that story), as told by the pictures...

I've been living in Indiana with my family since September, working in a local factory with my brother. We run machines that makes tools like you see above, which are used for orthopedic surgery. They haven't let me design, research or precisely engineer yet. Weird.

In November my family and I took a trip to southern Ohio to my aunt's cabin where we met up with some of our relatives to go four wheeling and hang out. Here are me and my muddy siblings.

And some older muddy siblings. (My mom is on the left)

Janel and I got dead last in our euchre tournament.

But I was able to redeem myself winning a game where apparently being able to reenact "Hungry, Hungry Hippo" is pretty essential.

For Thanksgiving we had friends travel to our house from Alaska, Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio and Washington D.C. Here they come, storming in with authority.

Finally, in January I went to Oklahoma to visit my friends Luke and Jamie. Jacob flew in from Alaska for the occasion.

Luke with their 6 month old baby, Elijah. He was awestruck by my camera skills.

Doing our best impression of the old "girl-best-friends-who-could-be-anywhere-on-earth-but-you-can't-tell-because-all-you-can-see-are-their-faces-smushed-together-three-inches-from-the-camera". This was one of our last opportunities to hang out together before some big changes take place. I am moving to a different hemisphere, and Jacob is getting married in June!

It has been good spending time with my family before I leave, and a lot of progress has been made in being ready to go. In April I plan on driving my car 3,845.17 miles up to Alaska. It will be nice to have a vehicle up there, instead of having to bum rides off people all the time, as many of you have been victims of in summers past! I will be in Alaska until my August departure. There is still a lot to be done, and I would appreciate you all keeping me in your thoughts as I prepare.

I will be sending out another newsletter next month with some more detailed information. If you are not currently receiving my newsletter, or would like to know how to partner with me, please notify me at grainofsandman@gmail.com. Thanks again, and Alaskans, can't wait to see you!

Around the World in 17 Days

2008-10-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip, literally to the other side of the planet. I traveled to Asia, where I was able to get valuable insight into my future plans, and meet some incredible people. The Father truly did a lot in my life in a very short period of time. It was pretty crazy, seeing and experiencing more than I have even been able to absorb at this point, and probably never will. So here are some highlights, as seen through the lens of my really expensive camera.

Quick note- I will be sending out my first newsletter via the Postal Service in a few weeks with more details about my future. If you would like to receive that, please email your mailing address to grainofsandman@gmail.com. Thanks!

On to the snapshots...

My friend Jacob and I, in fierce preparation for our impending trip. Our friend Erin gave us an emergency care package- top of the list, stroons (straw-spoons with famous Kellogg's friends attached). Nothing gets you ready for a global trek like a good stroon race.

It was great having Jacob on the trip, even for more reasons than stroon support. He was an invaluable encouragement, confidant and in the future will understand places and faces when I talk about them. Goooo Jacob!

Jacob stretched out in the luxurious business class fully-reclining wonderment.. that we briefly walked by on the way to OUR seats. 15 1/2 hours in the air enroute to Asia- but they treat you RIGHT. All the food you could possibly imagine and individual tv sets with over 100 movies, 800 CD's, tv shows and games... and I guess you could interact with each other if you really wanted to.

We spent our first night in Asia on a 17 hour lay-over... luckily in cities where virtually everything is foreign to you, there is McDonald's... We are evidently "lovin' it".

Traveling overseas always entails strange and exotic foods. Move over burger and fries, here comes an entire duck and fried grubs. Dinner is always enhanced when your food watches you eat it.

... gross, but hey, when in Rome...

Faster than a speeding bullet, you can barely see me, but here I come screaming over crocodile infested waters in the dangerous Asian jungles, surely doing something heroic.

...speaking of heroes...

... sinister poses with the 'phants...

...we even got to steal one...

As you can tell, we soaked up quite a plethora of new and exciting adventures...

... drank in spectacular scenes...

... and dove into some amazing relationships...

(a friend from the States with some of our young new friends)

Our friends abroad had a whole host of amazing experiences planned for us, but the most memorable was one none of us saw coming. We were visiting a local village when we ran into a man on a motorcycle who had traveled from his village to buy some local vegetables. He invited us back to his home so he and his friends could play some music for us on these really cool guitars they had made by hand.

When we got there, he had invited the entire village. In they streamed one by one, just to see us! By the end of the night, not only had they played for us, they had taught us to dance, fed us an enormous meal, played games with us, and taught us some of their own local language and songs. Despite a language and culture barrier as wide as the ocean, we had bonded with these new friends. We walked away that evening shaking our heads in disbelief at what He had just allowed us to experience. What an amazingly intimate snapshot of things to come! This night will no doubt stay in my mind as I prepare to move to Asia to serve these lovely people.

There will definitely be more challenges, adjustments and moments of fear as I move ahead, and that was even more highlighted being there. However, it was such an encouragement being able to meet with friends who are currently going through these things, and finding rest in Him. It was good to hear their struggles and advice about what they've been doing.

My plan is to be in Asia full time by next fall. Please be thinking of me in this time of transition and preparation. I will be doing a lot of traveling and sharing with others about my future. It has been easy to be fearful and anxious, but He has been so good, reminding me of truth and I am excited about what He has in store for me down the road. If you would like to know how you can help, please email me at grainofsandman@gmail.com.

Goodbye, Humidity....

2008-07-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

Click on image to enlargeAfter spending four months in considerably warmer weather, which was nice, I am back in The Last Frontier for the summer, getting out just before the wall of humidity and torture hit. I guess I've become a snowbird already, and I'm only twenty-four. But with these hips, I guess I could qualify for the elderly.

Click on image to enlargeAfter graduating in December, I spent the last four months with my girlfriend, Christin, who is preparing to head overseas to be involved in the same work as myself. It was really good to meet her family and grow in our relationship, finding out a lot about myself, for the good and for the not-so-pretty at times, but learned a lot. I was able to take a trip to Mexico with her and her family's organization to help people out down there, which was cool (see pictures below).

We helped some local friends build a storage facility for goods distribution toward the less fortunate in the area. Do not be fooled by the hunch back in yellow- Martine is doing all of the profitable work here.

Concrete. That's the way they roll in Mexico- EVERYTHING is concrete. These are the forms we made for the roof. By this point I've scared all the other workers away- that's intimidation.

Making rebar forms. This is me fending off a local rebar thief.

Christin and I developing teamwork. Improvising is key in a situation like this. We had to create a pulley system out of scraps to get heavy buckets of concrete and water up to the second floor. I can't see anything going wrong here.

It's been great to be back again and see so many friends, and encouraging to hear how many people have been thinking about me and checking out my letters and blogs. That means a lot. I'm up to my old tricks again, interning- working with college students and anywhere else I can help, space camp counseling and manny-ing (that's being a male nanny) with my buddy, Vince. (remember the golf club incident from last summer? See my first post for a refresh)

I've been preparing for a trip to Asia in the fall to see where I will most likely be working in the future, meet the team there, get exposure to the language and culture, and take cool videos and pictures to bring back and share with you all! Things are coming together pretty well for that. Tickets have been bought and we are in the process of gettings visas, shots and insurances of all kinds. There's a lot that goes into international travel, as I will probably be experiencing for the rest of my life! So thank you for thinking about that trip with me.

Things continue to go well with Christin. She is coming up to visit me in August for a couple weeks, then we will fly back to her home for a little while before the Asia trip, which she will be a part of. I would appreciate if you would be thinking for wisdom on our behalf in that relationship, as well as wisdom and clarity as to what the future looks like with heading overseas- time lines and rest in the midst of ambiguity, which is never easy.

This is actually at a friend's wedding, but, being the best looking couple at the reception, we were confused for the bride and groom and flower petals were immediately dumped on top of us.

If we haven't had a chance to bump into each other, shoot me a note and I'd love to catch up with you while I'm in the area. I'm here until the end of August. Thanks again for all the support from so many friends and family- couldn't do it without you!

But you said...

2008-02-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

When we last left our hero, he was making bold claims of graduating and heading to Alaska. Wow, things have changed since then. (Guess I should update this thing more often) I DID graduate in December, and spent the holidays with my family in Indiana, which was wonderful.

I DIDN'T head to Alaska. But it's not my fault, honest. Blame her.

Christin. That's the name of the girl from school who mandated that I move to Pennsylvania and date her. And I learned a looong time ago not to argue with that intimidating gender. (the picture is of her and I at our graduation) So sorry ladies, I'm off the market. (the female community collectively mourns) It has been a ride both exciting and scary, but as much as I miss Alaska and am bummed I couldn't come up there as soon as I wanted, there isn't a place in the world I'd rather be than here with this incredible girl. I'm having a great time meeting her family, looking for a temporary job and beginning to develop partners for my future opportunities.

Welcome to the Quaker State.

The tentative plan is to stay here until June, then hopefully travel up to Alaska for the summer (don't want to make any promises though- look what happened last time!). I am also beginning some plans for a trip to Asia in the fall to check out where I will possibly be moving to in the future.

If you would like more information, I will be sending out a newsletter in the next few weeks. Please email me your email and/or physical address (however you'd like to receive it) if you are interested. Also, if you would like to partner with me in my future endeavors, please feel free to contact me. My email address is justinfranchino@gmail.com

I'm an Indian Outlaw...

2007-11-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

I've spent the past month in Oklahoma with 10 other students studying the Cherokee language. It's been quite a time, but bar none the best part was meeting a laundromat owner who moonlighted as a stunt double in the Last of the Mohicans (how do you forget your camera at a time like that?!) However, here's a pictorial tour of what I did catch on film.

Ok, not exactly a "Welcome" sign to Cherokeeland. I wasn't sure what sort of an education I would be receiving for the next 6 weeks. It was only a while later when I found out there was also a "Whitekiller, OK" that I got really nervous.

My breath-taking campus on which I studied and slept. What could possibly make this 5-star resort more attractive?....

... being situated in a cemetery! (location, location, location)...

... gourmet dining...

...and beautiful sleeping facilities. Here is a hole in the wall right by my head, where one morning I awoke to a bright-eyed squirrel staring at me, two inches from my noggin- I hadn't wet the bed in years too... that's why I got this guard-eagle: to save me from future attacks.

It wasn't all bad though. This is my partner and I (no, not THAT kind of partner) with our language helpers. (They make great fry bread, and had Direct TV!)

This is where we'd sit for two hours every morning, picking our language helper's brain, attempting to gather language to analyze. It was a crazy language. "Łɑ yidodɑstiŁʌ·Nni̜" is how you'd say "you will not sleep", but only if you were talking to two people. If you were talking to three people you'd say "Łɑ yidodɑǰiŁʌ·Nni̜"- obviously. This is helpful, because I'm often telling people not to sleep, in Cherokee. My favorite expression though, was ǰiskɑyʌ, which means "I am the man!"

After our morning sessions with the language helper we'd come back home and spend the rest of the day analyzing the data we got. It was nice to be able to work as a team, although as you can see, I'd often hang back and let the rest of them do the hard stuff.

I don't know which is more disturbing- the problem on the white board or the object in your face in front of it.

Eventually the language would burn your brain until spinning around in circles at Mach 3 was the only way to maintain sanity.

Well, that's all for now. "dodʌdɑɡohʌ̜i"!! (see you later) from me and the dɑloniɡe̜ uskolʌ̜ ɡɑliǰo·hɩdʌ̜ ɑskɑyʌ̜ (orange fat man). I will be in Oklahoma through the 17th of November, then it's back up to school in Missouri until Christmas, when I'll finally be done with school! Then it's up to Indiana where I'll spend some time with my family. I hope to be back in Alaska in February, and we'll see where it goes from there!

iǰedo̜lɑhi̜ (come back)!!

Getting Started

2007-07-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog. Did you know "blog" is actually taken from the phrase weB LOG? I just heard that. These are the kinds of life-altering factoids you will imbibe from this web log. So thank you for logging onto this portion of the web.

I have spent the summer in Alaska with friends and family, which was a difficult decision to make considering my parents have moved to Indiana. However, it has been confirmed increasingly on a daily basis that this was indeed the right choice, as friends come along side to encourage and help out in so many ways. I have already had at least three families share vehicles and homes with me since I got here in May. I could not make it without the support of these people in my life, and "thank you" just doesn't seem to quite suffice.

I will be returning to Missouri in the fall for one more semester of school. I will be studying linguistics, learning how to take a language in oral form, analyze it, make an alphabet for it and turn it into something the people of that language can read and write- something they could not previously do. We will be going to Oklahoma for six weeks to study the Cherokee language in order to put the techniques we are learning into practice. It's going to be tough, but I'm looking forward to it.

So that's what lies ahead on the yellow brick road. Thank you to all for your continued support and for thinking of me.

Here are some visual highlights of the summer so far....

The joys of babysitting... props to the 8 year-old, and his accomplice, the 9 iron.

Public Boardgaming Society (P.B.S.)
(click for the official myspace page)
"Quaint...yet revolutionary"

Got friends? Got the boardgaming itch? Why not go public?

Here we are, 11 of us playing Cranium in the grocery store coffee lounge area. The fever is spreading, the idea is simple.

Take your boardgaming public- you have no idea how amazing this can be. You'll make a passerby smile, you'll get strangers involved, you'll make memories that last a life time... join the society!

Aaah, space camp! Nothing better than hanging out with 34 astronauts -to-be... and what an age range, 10-15 (see left for visual explanation) Victor and Ruslan, meet Carson! For the past 3 summers I have been a counselor at the local science center's summer space camp-it's as great as it sounds!

Our area was hit pretty hard by a forest fire in the Caribou Hills, where over 60,000 square miles was destroyed including summer cabins and other property. This is the sky about an hour up the road from the fire. Pretty apocalyptic.

Three studs posing in the next Pac Sun ad. This is what happens on high school retreats... (where are all the high schoolers???)