Our speaker last week was Scott Bessenecker, author of the New Friars, so he has a bit of a famous touch (though he would deny this). One thing that I now understand better is the idea of submission. I always thought submission had a taste of obedience, when it doesn't always have to. You don't have to obey or agree to submit to someone. I got this idea that says, "I don't agree with what you're saying and I won't obey it, but I will submit to any consequences to that."

I was challenged this week to not audibly burp for 24 hours. The first time, I forgot and failed at 85 minutes. Oh so sad. But they gave me another chance and again, I failed, but lasted 10 hours! I guess we can't really surpress who we are... ha!

On Wednesday, we all watched Freedom Writers. I hope you've all seen that movie because it was amazing! It's a story about a woman, Erin (Hilary Swank), who devotes herself to teaching inner-city high school kids. The school is highly segregated by gangs - clans against clans. Revenge. Murders. Erin works relentlessly to change the way things are. And she does. I'm amazed by people who give of themselves for what they believe in because in my mind, does what I believe in deserve anything less?

The hard thing is that she loses things. Big things. Her husband. What a sacrifice! We discussed how important it is to have clear direction in life before you get married. God has a plan - would He provide a spouse that thwarts that plan?

Funny, yet sad, story: I'm sure many of you have heard me say that technology hates me. We just don't get along. Well, I guess I've developed a bit of a tiff with Mike's computer. Once, he was handing it to me and he thought I had it... but I didn't. So, I pretty much dropped his computer! So then he had to get it fixed. Then, I was using it a few days ago, not even doing anything to it, and it just started to flip out! I don't even know what went on there. But then the worst thing happened. Oh it was bad. We were all in the living room and I was walking through with water and peanut butter toast. It doesn't even make sense to me what happened, but I got a little wobbley. I dropped my plate of peanut butter toast and tried to catch it with my other hand (which was at the time holding the cup of water). Jamie, who was sitting right there, somehow moved the mid-air water out of the way with his hands. But, I looked down to see the peanut butter toast face down right on Mike's keyboard. Oh. My. Goodness. Jamie thought it was the funniest thing on the face of the planet and started laughing like I've never heard before. I guess that made things more humorous and less terrible!!

Scene.

Me sitting with Mike's computer with a bunch of Q-tips and barely damp paper towels.


Speaking of computers hating me, my computer has recently won the award for World's Slowest Moving Thing. So, if my posts become less frequent (as they have), it's due to frustration. But stay tuned! I'll try my best : )

This Sunday we tried a new church - City Church. We were told it was African, but when we got there, we realized how incredibly multicultural it is! Africans, caucasians, asians, natives... it was amazing! It brought me back to my J-Term class last year. We talked about how ridiculously segregated Sunday mornings are. Races just seem to go their separate ways. But that brought up the question - can it be easily integrated? Could you bring a black family to a white church and give them a worshipful experience? People worship in different ways - could that in some ways be tied to race?

But at City Church, I saw that vision. People just worshiping together. Cultures embraced. They have a Karen choir - not exactly sure what that means, but it was oriental. What they sang wasn't westernized at all but was purely their culture. And it was GORGEOUS! And we sang songs in different languages, heard a french prayer (mmm so pretty), and learned some Swahili! I was amazed at how loving they were towards each other. So many different faces.

Things you guys can pray for:

We leave for outreach on January 4th (coming up really soon!!!). Just pray for our preparation. That we're as ready as we can be. That things come together smoothly and soundly.

For Christmas. Oof this will be a hard time as I won't be seeing my family. I do have a family that Carolyn is graceously sharing with me and I know I'll love it, but it just simply won't be the same. It will be very difficult not being home for Christmas.

For calm. I have officially become overwhelmed. This is such a busy time - there's so much to do and I'm a bit emotional as it's the end of lecture phase. Sad! I'm very excited to go to Uganda (VERY), but there are people not going - and with them, I have about 2 more weeks total. Ends just aren't easy for me unless I'm really ready for them. And with this one, I'm just not

There's just... a lot to deal with right now.