Dana - My Updates from

Class of 2017
Business For Transformation in
Track: Business
Region: Asia - Central
BA in International Relation

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My Letter to Future Goers

Posted on December 12, 2019

I thought I was ready for the unexpected. But how can you ever be ready for the unexpected? Simply put, you can’t. But you can trust God to provide.   As I look back, there are so many things He orchestrated ahead of time, in some cases years ahead, that I could never have imagined. Here are a few examples: I moved countries one month into my assignment. Lo and behold, we moved from a city where I knew no one to a city where an old college friend lives. God provided. After we got apartments, we found out that new friends lived very close by. Friends who would become mentors, confidants and... Read more

Can you fix this?

Posted on October 4, 2019

This is a phrase I use more often than you’d think. This country has an abundance of skilled craftsmen and women whose businesses are all about fixing or altering what you already have.   I have a ring I've worn since I was 13, and recently I’ve noticed it seemed too big, and I really wanted it to fit properly. There is a gold market in the north part of town where they not only sell gold jewelry, but silver, gems, and some antiques. The market is in the lowest level of a mall, and is a large open area filled with rows of glass display cases. Further back is a row of small, individual stores... Read more

Language Like a Boss

Posted on October 3, 2019

Here's something that happened back in March....   A year in my apartment and I still hadn’t gotten anything hung on any walls, partly because my walls are wallpaper over concrete, partly because I needed some picture frames. Custom made, because the pictures are odd dimensions. Lucky me, there is no shortage of craftsmen in this city, for everything from picture frames and electronics to shoes and clothes. So, off I went one Saturday.     I got to my destination, a sort of permanent open-air souvenir mini-market, and immediately spied a multitude of picture frame samples. I approached the... Read more

Through The Ceiling

Posted on October 3, 2019

Dear Readers,  Firstly, I'm so sorry you haven't heard from me in forever. Somehow over the summer this website wouldn't let me post anything. It seems to be working again so Let me start my catch - up with a story from back in May .... The thing about concrete block buildings is you never hear your next-door neighbors. You do, however, hear your upstairs, downstairs, and diagonally situated ones. Sometimes even from two floors away (we’ve had a neighbor complain about loud noises from my boss’ apartment...when they weren’t even home).  My upstairs neighbors are a young couple, I’ll call them... Read more

Never not in need of Grace

Posted on February 28, 2019

I want to be perfect. I want to be likable, agreeable, always appropriate in word and deed. But I’m not, not even close. I’ve been struggling with this lately; feeling as though I’m constantly saying or doing the wrong thing, as though I give offense at every turn, and that my colleagues don’t really like me. Not a fun place to be, emotionally. But those are lies. That is, my colleagues might not like everything I do, or might need to correct me (often), but that doesn’t mean they don’t like me. They extend grace when I fall short. But I don’t want to be in need of grace, I want to be... Read more