[Vicariously Excerptuitous]

I was supposed to be doing homework, but instead I wrote a long email to a mentor of mine about the recent changes in my life. Here's a peek:

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My biggest lesson lately has been similar-- things are always CHANGING. God loves to see us grow, to mature, to journey, to live our story. After a "foggy" couple of years, I have finally understood His timing. In the past 6 months here, I have met my new best friend, my future wife, my helper. Although her brother was my roommate for 2 years, we became friends through a college church here. I had started to think I was alone in my life experiences, but then we started to talk for countless hours about our individual experiences with YWAM, DTS, travelling, Thailand, true love, missions, social justice, vacations in Europe and on and on. She is studying for a double degree: Voice (she's a beautiful singer) and International Studies. She encouraged me to finish my International Studies degree as well, part of which is studying a semester abroad. So, she'll be in Senegal from August to December of this year, and in 2013 I'll spend my semester abroad in Japan; by that time we should be married and she will come with me! I only started classes yesterday, but I'm excited for this semester. I am taking Japanese, Statistics, Chemistry, and Introduction to Asian Politics. Rachel has been battling some strange, severe form of Tendonitis so I understand how a "little" health issue can dramatically change one's lifestyle. We are praying for healing and understanding, but we have been able to see the good in it: it has been an extreme compatibility test! And we count our blessings: she still has her wonderful voice, she would have dropped out of this semester if I hadn't been able to type her assignments for her, we get to spend lots of time together as I help her with everything from chores to therapy, etc etc!

I have stepped down from some volunteer positions in town, but I will still work 20+ hours/week at fairly new, local Thrift Store / Community Outreach Center. It's a fantastic ministry and I have personally grown significantly just by working at the cash-register! Just this month I received a promotion to Assistant Manager, an answer to prayer because the pay is higher, but I reduced my hours to go to school, so it worked out perfectly.

I am watching other things change and grow all around me. My parents are in the process of transforming their house from a safe-house for troubled teens into a "safe-house" for my grandparents, who are 91 years old and still trying to live on their own! They should be moving in any time now. My brother Ryan has found his dream job in Boise, Idaho, about 6 hours drive from here. He now has 2 cute daughters, and I get to be the cool uncle. Our family tradition for the holidays is to rent a house in a town halfway between our cities so that we can relax, catch up, exchange gifts, play games, ski, etc. My other brother Kelly has found a great job as a manager at a sporting goods store here in Moscow that seems to suit him well. He is spiritually wandering, but seeking, and I pray that I can be the older brother he needs me to be.

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PS: here's a link to some photos of the Otto men on an excursion to summit He Devil peak... it only reaches about 3,000m but defines the adjacent canyon as the deepest in North America!
https://picasaweb.google.com/104840275282801858724/HeDevilSEP2011