Dear friends and family!
Well I am about to leave for Christmas break tomorrow morning and I don't know when the next time is that I'll be online. I will have tons to tell and TONS of pictures in 3 weeks when I come back to school here! I wish you all the best, have a fabulous Christmas! or as they say in Paris, Joyeux Noel! =)
Love to all!
~Sarah
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Our last full week of school before Christmas!
Happy Saturday! Another week has come to an end. In fact, this was our last full week before Christmas break. It’s hard to believe this time next week I will be in Paris!! =D
This is our room's mini Christmas tree! The staff boys found it for us a few weeks ago and we decorated it with whatever we could find and topped it with my yellow hair ribbon! =)
I’m not sure if I ever shared my Christmas plans, so here’s a quick summary: I am traveling with my roommate Karena and we are going to Paris for 12 days and staying with family friends, then to the Netherlands to visit our roommate Angelique, and then finishing in Austria, outside of Vienna to visit another roommate, Tamara! =) It will be very exciting and I can’t wait to share everything with you all.
This week has been bittersweet as we all look forward to Christmas break but also cherish our last week with our current roommates and room (as we will change after break). Also, Christmas marks the halfway point of school and I don’t want to think that we’re already halfway through!
This weekend is the school’s Christmas program. The students write, produce, and perform a program for the community each year. People come from surrounding churches and neighborhoods and we’re told it’s a tradition for many people and they come every year (so no pressure, haha). I’m in the choir and we had 3 afternoons of practices this week, with the dress rehearsal last night so the rest of the student body that is not participating could see the program since our 2 performances on Sunday and Monday nights will be full.
Last Saturday, I went to a town called Preston with my roommate Karena and our friend Erin. We walked into Carnforth, which takes about an hour and a half or so (yes, we are very much in the middle of nowhere country!).
Here's Karena and Erin as we were walking along the trail to Carnforth. It was so cold, the stream was frozen. It didn't even break when we threw big stones at it!
And we took the train from Carnforth into Preston. Karena got a much needed haircut (our main purpose for going into town) and Erin and I enjoyed shopping a bit while Karena got her hair cut and then we had dinner together in the mall (which has a very different feeling from our malls). All the stores here close incredibly early, this mall closed at 6pm on a Saturday!!
I thought the train station in Preston had great coloring, it was red and green and white, perfect for Christmas! =) It was probably the prettiest train station I've seen.
I have found England is not one for word economy. For instance, instead of having signs say "exit", they say "way out". Or instead of writing "caution" at a train stop, they write...
Mind the gap! We thought this was notable enough for us to act out. (Karena is doing "mind" and i'm doing "the gap"). =)
Here are the 3 of us: me, Erin, and Karena. Erin bought holiday crackers while in town and let Karena and me each have one. They had a paper crown and a little plastic whistle inside.
I also enjoyed going into Carnforth twice this week on the school’s free minibuses. I bought some supplies at the local grocery store, Tesco, and enjoyed perusing in the old bookshop. It is so much fun to be in, the store is full of random nooks and crannies full of books and perfect for exploring. I even discovered it had a cabinet of old sheet music that was really neat to look through.
This statue is in downtown Carnforth and is dedicated to all the soldiers lost in WW1. It is amazing that from even a very small town like Carnforth, there was a long list of names of young men lost in that war.
Last Sunday, I continued my weekly ballroom classes and taught the waltz, which people enjoyed learning. I am continually pleased with how many people show up each week, adding new recruits too. =)
I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this either, but one of my friends here plays the piano and we enjoy singing and playing together, esp. The Phantom of the Opera. We’ve sung that most of the way through twice. =)
Each week we have a missionary hour where some mission organization comes and talks to us about their ministry. This week, we got to hear my friend Bethany’s parents speak about their mission work in Africa. They are here in England for one year, studying. It was neat to meet Bethany’s parents and hear more about what their family has been doing in Djibouti for the past 15 years.
Also, some of the missionary kids (children of missionaries) here who live in Muslim areas of the world have started a weekly informational and prayer meeting for Muslim peoples. Three of the MKs (missionary kids) told us about some of their experiences with Muslims and then we broke into small groups to pray.
Friday morning we were woken up bright and early! 4:45am to be exact! We had a fire alarm go off and then all had to line up outside the castle and stand in the freezing cold for 20 min. while they made sure everything was safe. Nothing serious happened, but we were all a lot groggier than usual at Friday breakfast!
Also on Friday morning, we had our bi-weekly seminar on evangelism. We split into groups and were given scenarios to act out of how we would talk and reach out to people in different situations. We did this partly in preparation for the 10 day outreach in the spring. I don’t have much informational at all about this event. All I know is that there is a period of 10 days during spring where groups of students are sent to all different places and work doing various sorts of ministry, and stay in local church members’ houses.
There was lot more that went on this week, but those were some of the highlights!
Lastly, today (Saturday) I chose to go on our optional Saturday event to go see a professional English football (soccer) match.
It was a good experience but I can’t say I’d rush to sign up again soon. It was very cold. I wore 4 layers on top, 2 on bottom, a hat, scarf, and gloves. Still, my toes almost went numb with cold! I was very thankful that we at least had an awning over our heads to protect us from the rain! We enjoyed trying to pick up the cheers for the local team and the home team won (no thanks to our cheering skills!). It was interesting to see how passionate people were for their teams, and it was very much a family outing too. There were lots of little boys that stood as close to the field as they were allowed so that they could throw back a ball anytime it popped over the (surprisingly very small!) barrier. It was interesting that there was no large net or anything behind the goals were the ball often flew off the field and into the stands. I almost had one hit me (we had good viewing places). =) Also, there were no seats! Only in the expensive “box” area were there seats. Everywhere else was standing room only.
Here is part of our school group demonstrating the lack of seats. =)
Another girl here named Laura taught me how to make these very cool paper stars! She said her family enjoys making a lot of them around Christmas time and use them to decorate their house. They are very simple to make, I felt like Buddy the Elf (from Will Ferrel's movie "Elf") decorating the house with snowflakes! Next, I'll just have to learn how to make a rocking horse from a TV cabinet! =)
And to top this week off, tonight we have our 2nd school Ceilidh! I am excited for that as I loved the first one.
I know our last few days here at school before break will fly by! Tomorrow and Monday evening we have the Christmas program, Tuesday we have the school formal Christmas dinner (our room is excited to dress up for that!), and Wednesday is our last full day here which I’m sure will be full of packing and cleaning. And then Thursday we are off to Paris! Whoo… what a week!
I hope everyone's lives are not too hectic as we enjoy this wonderful season of the year! Love to all,
~Sarah
P.S. I was just talking to my roommate Angelique, whom we will visit in the Netherlands. She just me that when we visit her we will hopefully get to visit Anne Frank's house and Corrie Ten Boom's house!!!! Their real houses!! I'm am so SO excited to see them! =D =D
This is our room's mini Christmas tree! The staff boys found it for us a few weeks ago and we decorated it with whatever we could find and topped it with my yellow hair ribbon! =)
I’m not sure if I ever shared my Christmas plans, so here’s a quick summary: I am traveling with my roommate Karena and we are going to Paris for 12 days and staying with family friends, then to the Netherlands to visit our roommate Angelique, and then finishing in Austria, outside of Vienna to visit another roommate, Tamara! =) It will be very exciting and I can’t wait to share everything with you all.
This week has been bittersweet as we all look forward to Christmas break but also cherish our last week with our current roommates and room (as we will change after break). Also, Christmas marks the halfway point of school and I don’t want to think that we’re already halfway through!
This weekend is the school’s Christmas program. The students write, produce, and perform a program for the community each year. People come from surrounding churches and neighborhoods and we’re told it’s a tradition for many people and they come every year (so no pressure, haha). I’m in the choir and we had 3 afternoons of practices this week, with the dress rehearsal last night so the rest of the student body that is not participating could see the program since our 2 performances on Sunday and Monday nights will be full.
Last Saturday, I went to a town called Preston with my roommate Karena and our friend Erin. We walked into Carnforth, which takes about an hour and a half or so (yes, we are very much in the middle of nowhere country!).
Here's Karena and Erin as we were walking along the trail to Carnforth. It was so cold, the stream was frozen. It didn't even break when we threw big stones at it!
And we took the train from Carnforth into Preston. Karena got a much needed haircut (our main purpose for going into town) and Erin and I enjoyed shopping a bit while Karena got her hair cut and then we had dinner together in the mall (which has a very different feeling from our malls). All the stores here close incredibly early, this mall closed at 6pm on a Saturday!!
I thought the train station in Preston had great coloring, it was red and green and white, perfect for Christmas! =) It was probably the prettiest train station I've seen.
I have found England is not one for word economy. For instance, instead of having signs say "exit", they say "way out". Or instead of writing "caution" at a train stop, they write...
Mind the gap! We thought this was notable enough for us to act out. (Karena is doing "mind" and i'm doing "the gap"). =)
Here are the 3 of us: me, Erin, and Karena. Erin bought holiday crackers while in town and let Karena and me each have one. They had a paper crown and a little plastic whistle inside.
I also enjoyed going into Carnforth twice this week on the school’s free minibuses. I bought some supplies at the local grocery store, Tesco, and enjoyed perusing in the old bookshop. It is so much fun to be in, the store is full of random nooks and crannies full of books and perfect for exploring. I even discovered it had a cabinet of old sheet music that was really neat to look through.
This statue is in downtown Carnforth and is dedicated to all the soldiers lost in WW1. It is amazing that from even a very small town like Carnforth, there was a long list of names of young men lost in that war.
Last Sunday, I continued my weekly ballroom classes and taught the waltz, which people enjoyed learning. I am continually pleased with how many people show up each week, adding new recruits too. =)
I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this either, but one of my friends here plays the piano and we enjoy singing and playing together, esp. The Phantom of the Opera. We’ve sung that most of the way through twice. =)
Each week we have a missionary hour where some mission organization comes and talks to us about their ministry. This week, we got to hear my friend Bethany’s parents speak about their mission work in Africa. They are here in England for one year, studying. It was neat to meet Bethany’s parents and hear more about what their family has been doing in Djibouti for the past 15 years.
Also, some of the missionary kids (children of missionaries) here who live in Muslim areas of the world have started a weekly informational and prayer meeting for Muslim peoples. Three of the MKs (missionary kids) told us about some of their experiences with Muslims and then we broke into small groups to pray.
Friday morning we were woken up bright and early! 4:45am to be exact! We had a fire alarm go off and then all had to line up outside the castle and stand in the freezing cold for 20 min. while they made sure everything was safe. Nothing serious happened, but we were all a lot groggier than usual at Friday breakfast!
Also on Friday morning, we had our bi-weekly seminar on evangelism. We split into groups and were given scenarios to act out of how we would talk and reach out to people in different situations. We did this partly in preparation for the 10 day outreach in the spring. I don’t have much informational at all about this event. All I know is that there is a period of 10 days during spring where groups of students are sent to all different places and work doing various sorts of ministry, and stay in local church members’ houses.
There was lot more that went on this week, but those were some of the highlights!
Lastly, today (Saturday) I chose to go on our optional Saturday event to go see a professional English football (soccer) match.
It was a good experience but I can’t say I’d rush to sign up again soon. It was very cold. I wore 4 layers on top, 2 on bottom, a hat, scarf, and gloves. Still, my toes almost went numb with cold! I was very thankful that we at least had an awning over our heads to protect us from the rain! We enjoyed trying to pick up the cheers for the local team and the home team won (no thanks to our cheering skills!). It was interesting to see how passionate people were for their teams, and it was very much a family outing too. There were lots of little boys that stood as close to the field as they were allowed so that they could throw back a ball anytime it popped over the (surprisingly very small!) barrier. It was interesting that there was no large net or anything behind the goals were the ball often flew off the field and into the stands. I almost had one hit me (we had good viewing places). =) Also, there were no seats! Only in the expensive “box” area were there seats. Everywhere else was standing room only.
Here is part of our school group demonstrating the lack of seats. =)
Another girl here named Laura taught me how to make these very cool paper stars! She said her family enjoys making a lot of them around Christmas time and use them to decorate their house. They are very simple to make, I felt like Buddy the Elf (from Will Ferrel's movie "Elf") decorating the house with snowflakes! Next, I'll just have to learn how to make a rocking horse from a TV cabinet! =)
And to top this week off, tonight we have our 2nd school Ceilidh! I am excited for that as I loved the first one.
I know our last few days here at school before break will fly by! Tomorrow and Monday evening we have the Christmas program, Tuesday we have the school formal Christmas dinner (our room is excited to dress up for that!), and Wednesday is our last full day here which I’m sure will be full of packing and cleaning. And then Thursday we are off to Paris! Whoo… what a week!
I hope everyone's lives are not too hectic as we enjoy this wonderful season of the year! Love to all,
~Sarah
P.S. I was just talking to my roommate Angelique, whom we will visit in the Netherlands. She just me that when we visit her we will hopefully get to visit Anne Frank's house and Corrie Ten Boom's house!!!! Their real houses!! I'm am so SO excited to see them! =D =D
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Week 9 ...and SNOW!!
Greetings to my wonderful friends and family back home!
Another week has past and Saturday morning has rolled around again!
This week was marked by the first of winter weather. On Sunday morning, I had just woken up, roled out of bed, and walked down the hall to the bathroom when I looked at the window and was quickly woken up out of my grogginess! The world was white! Unfortunately I discovered it wasn’t snow, it was frost. But it really was very white and it looked just as beautiful and exciting to a California girl. =)
Sunday and Monday mornings, we had gorgeous, white frost, and then (one of the highlights of my week), it actually SNOWED!!! Sunday morning before church I took an hour long walk in the beautiful fresh frost. It was both refreshing and freezing. I had to go in when my hands were finally going numb. =)
Here's my friend Bethany and me enjoying the snow (in true English fashion it was just into rain so it doesn't look nearly as impressive as it did 2 minutes earlier!) Bethany is a missionary's kid and has grown up in Africa so this was her first time seeing snow fall! We were both extremely excited. There were about a dozen or so students standing out there with us (all from hot climates of course. all the Canadians were laughing and shaking their heads at our excitement) =)
Last Saturday was an event filled day. After brunch, I ran into 2 of the few kids who live here on campus. I just started talking to the girls (ages 5 and 9) and ended up playing with them for several hours! We climbed all 102 of the tower steps (yes, they counted) =) and played with dominoes. Then we even went to their house and played dress-up, danced, and all that fun stuff. It was also an extremely foggy day! We couldn't see the ground from the tower.
Then, Saturday evening, school had a costume night! Each person was assigned a category by their last night (aka, the last names beginning with P dressed up as geeks, ect.)Categories included: 80s, 60s, hippies, hobboes, futuristic, Disney, historical characters, super heroes, geeks, and I'm probably forgetting another one or two.
I was assigned the 80s theme. Here's all our 80s people:
We definitely all had fun dressing up! =)
My roommate Tamara and I. She was a pirate. =)People were very creative with their costumes and I'm planning to upload pictures on facebook so you can see people's costumes. I think the night's dress-up party was unique in that we all had to make costumes out of clothing we brought to school with us (in case you're wondering, I borrowed the neon pink tights I wore). =)
And in what's become a weekly event, I taught another ballroom class on Sunday afternoon after church. This week they learned the cha cha. =) Everyone really enjoys it and I enjoy teaching them and passing on the love of dancing to others. =)
This week we have continued practicing for our Christmas program at school. I am in the choir. We are singing 3 songs including the Hallelujah chorus. We had our first run through of the whole performance on Thursday night. The production is a mix of choir, solo songs, and a drama with 4 acts. The script was written by a girl here at school and the theme of the evening is "Great Expectations" (that was an assigned theme) and each act of the drama looks at what different people in Jesus' time were expecting of the Messiah.
On Wednesday, I went over to Dougie and Lisa's house (which is on campus but the equivalent of walking several blocks)and hung out with their family. I played with Hannah (age 5) and Ethan (age 3), heard stories from Hannah about her day at school, and had a nice talk with Lisa. As on Saturday, it was nice to be in a normal house and around family for a few hours.
On Thursday, our last assignment before Christmas was due. We had a paper on Ezra which was a lot easier after doing a paper on 1st and 2nd Samuel. Ezra only has 10 chapters versus Samuel's maybe 45 added up?
That evening, I watched the 1st half of "White Christmas" with a few girls since we all wanted a Christmas movie!
Speaking of Christmas...
Yesterday for work morning, I got to help decorate the castle for Christmas! Every Friday morning, half the study body sits in a seminar while the other half works cleaning the campus or doing whatever odd chores need to be done (and then we switch the next week, the students who worked sit in seminar and vice versa). We put up Christmas trees in the dining hall, garlands around the castle on the staircases, etc.
Here's us and our Christmas trees! Rosa is from the Netherlands and Joel is a missionary kid who now lives in Oklahoma but grew up in New Zealand. (you meet all kinds of people here at school! it's so neat to hear about people's different experiences. i love it!) =)
And speaking of the the Netherlands and holidays...
Yesterday, December 5th, is a big holiday in the Netherlands! (by the way, the country is called the Netherlands, "Holland" is actually an improper title because it is the name of 2 of the provinces in the country) December 5th is Santa Klaas day. The Dutch give each other gifts in memory of St. Nicolas and traditionally don't give each other gifts on Christmas. Christmas in the Netherlands is much more focused on Jesus' birth, but in recent years it is becoming more commercialized like the rest of the world.
Our room celebrated Santa Klaas day with Angelique, our Dutch roommate. We had the traditional Santa Klaas cookies and Angelique taught us some Dutch songs that they sing to celebrate. Our pronunciations were terrible! They have so many sounds that English doesn't make. Angelique's mom sent Angelique a present of marzipan and sent each of us a chocolate bar in the shape of the first letter of our names! (it's a Dutch tradition to have initial chocolate bars)
Last night for dinner, we had our first taste of good Mexican food here (it may not surprise you, but so far we have not experienced good Mexican food in England). Even though I'm not a Mexican food addict or huge fan, it was nice and reminded a lot of us Americans (mostly Californians and Texans) of home. =)
And then, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol in the lounge! I had just been thinking that I would miss the tradition of watching that movie with family at home and was excited to hear that the school was going to show it. =)
Well it's almost brunch time here so I need to go. Today, I'm going to a town named Preston with 2 friends after brunch. So you'll get to hear about that trip next week! =)
I have been able thankfully to upload more pictures on facebook while I've been writing this, so if you want to see more pictures from this week you can check them out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74590&l=5a71e&id=720019947
Tons and tons of love to everyone!
Another week has past and Saturday morning has rolled around again!
This week was marked by the first of winter weather. On Sunday morning, I had just woken up, roled out of bed, and walked down the hall to the bathroom when I looked at the window and was quickly woken up out of my grogginess! The world was white! Unfortunately I discovered it wasn’t snow, it was frost. But it really was very white and it looked just as beautiful and exciting to a California girl. =)
Sunday and Monday mornings, we had gorgeous, white frost, and then (one of the highlights of my week), it actually SNOWED!!! Sunday morning before church I took an hour long walk in the beautiful fresh frost. It was both refreshing and freezing. I had to go in when my hands were finally going numb. =)
Here's my friend Bethany and me enjoying the snow (in true English fashion it was just into rain so it doesn't look nearly as impressive as it did 2 minutes earlier!) Bethany is a missionary's kid and has grown up in Africa so this was her first time seeing snow fall! We were both extremely excited. There were about a dozen or so students standing out there with us (all from hot climates of course. all the Canadians were laughing and shaking their heads at our excitement) =)
Last Saturday was an event filled day. After brunch, I ran into 2 of the few kids who live here on campus. I just started talking to the girls (ages 5 and 9) and ended up playing with them for several hours! We climbed all 102 of the tower steps (yes, they counted) =) and played with dominoes. Then we even went to their house and played dress-up, danced, and all that fun stuff. It was also an extremely foggy day! We couldn't see the ground from the tower.
Then, Saturday evening, school had a costume night! Each person was assigned a category by their last night (aka, the last names beginning with P dressed up as geeks, ect.)Categories included: 80s, 60s, hippies, hobboes, futuristic, Disney, historical characters, super heroes, geeks, and I'm probably forgetting another one or two.
I was assigned the 80s theme. Here's all our 80s people:
We definitely all had fun dressing up! =)
My roommate Tamara and I. She was a pirate. =)People were very creative with their costumes and I'm planning to upload pictures on facebook so you can see people's costumes. I think the night's dress-up party was unique in that we all had to make costumes out of clothing we brought to school with us (in case you're wondering, I borrowed the neon pink tights I wore). =)
And in what's become a weekly event, I taught another ballroom class on Sunday afternoon after church. This week they learned the cha cha. =) Everyone really enjoys it and I enjoy teaching them and passing on the love of dancing to others. =)
This week we have continued practicing for our Christmas program at school. I am in the choir. We are singing 3 songs including the Hallelujah chorus. We had our first run through of the whole performance on Thursday night. The production is a mix of choir, solo songs, and a drama with 4 acts. The script was written by a girl here at school and the theme of the evening is "Great Expectations" (that was an assigned theme) and each act of the drama looks at what different people in Jesus' time were expecting of the Messiah.
On Wednesday, I went over to Dougie and Lisa's house (which is on campus but the equivalent of walking several blocks)and hung out with their family. I played with Hannah (age 5) and Ethan (age 3), heard stories from Hannah about her day at school, and had a nice talk with Lisa. As on Saturday, it was nice to be in a normal house and around family for a few hours.
On Thursday, our last assignment before Christmas was due. We had a paper on Ezra which was a lot easier after doing a paper on 1st and 2nd Samuel. Ezra only has 10 chapters versus Samuel's maybe 45 added up?
That evening, I watched the 1st half of "White Christmas" with a few girls since we all wanted a Christmas movie!
Speaking of Christmas...
Yesterday for work morning, I got to help decorate the castle for Christmas! Every Friday morning, half the study body sits in a seminar while the other half works cleaning the campus or doing whatever odd chores need to be done (and then we switch the next week, the students who worked sit in seminar and vice versa). We put up Christmas trees in the dining hall, garlands around the castle on the staircases, etc.
Here's us and our Christmas trees! Rosa is from the Netherlands and Joel is a missionary kid who now lives in Oklahoma but grew up in New Zealand. (you meet all kinds of people here at school! it's so neat to hear about people's different experiences. i love it!) =)
And speaking of the the Netherlands and holidays...
Yesterday, December 5th, is a big holiday in the Netherlands! (by the way, the country is called the Netherlands, "Holland" is actually an improper title because it is the name of 2 of the provinces in the country) December 5th is Santa Klaas day. The Dutch give each other gifts in memory of St. Nicolas and traditionally don't give each other gifts on Christmas. Christmas in the Netherlands is much more focused on Jesus' birth, but in recent years it is becoming more commercialized like the rest of the world.
Our room celebrated Santa Klaas day with Angelique, our Dutch roommate. We had the traditional Santa Klaas cookies and Angelique taught us some Dutch songs that they sing to celebrate. Our pronunciations were terrible! They have so many sounds that English doesn't make. Angelique's mom sent Angelique a present of marzipan and sent each of us a chocolate bar in the shape of the first letter of our names! (it's a Dutch tradition to have initial chocolate bars)
Last night for dinner, we had our first taste of good Mexican food here (it may not surprise you, but so far we have not experienced good Mexican food in England). Even though I'm not a Mexican food addict or huge fan, it was nice and reminded a lot of us Americans (mostly Californians and Texans) of home. =)
And then, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol in the lounge! I had just been thinking that I would miss the tradition of watching that movie with family at home and was excited to hear that the school was going to show it. =)
Well it's almost brunch time here so I need to go. Today, I'm going to a town named Preston with 2 friends after brunch. So you'll get to hear about that trip next week! =)
I have been able thankfully to upload more pictures on facebook while I've been writing this, so if you want to see more pictures from this week you can check them out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74590&l=5a71e&id=720019947
Tons and tons of love to everyone!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Liverpool, Thanksgiving, and more glorious times!
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope your day was nice. I have so much to catch you up on!
I went for a walk with a friend and God treated us to a beautiful rainbow! (notice the wind, you can see it in my coat, cold England weather + wind = very cold English weather! don't be deceived by the momentary sunshine!)
Steve, do you remember telling me how silly and immature your class’ boys were and how they made a list of the prettiest girls at school? Well apparently boys haven’t changed much in 15 years because the boys this year did that too! but wait, there’s more. Not only did they make a list of who they thought the prettiest girls were, they made a list of who they thought the girls would pick as either handsomest or most datable! Incredible! I was just laughing in disbelief when I heard that one…true story though! Thankfully, I don’t think most girls know about it so it hasn’t been a big deal.
One little English tidbit I thought you might appreciate from one of our English lectures: he said that the old phrase “Red sky at night, sailors delight...” in England is actually said to be a “shepherd’s delight” instead of a sailors! Isn’t that funny? It makes sense though, probably a lot more shepherds around here.
And I’m not sure if I ever shared this, but I thought it might be interesting to know that the students here range in age from 18 to 28! The oldest guy is 24…which makes the oldest girl here 28. =) There are actually 2 German, female doctors attending school here, as well as a female dentist (who happens to be one of the doctors’ sisters).
Two weeks ago (the last time I wrote a real post) we had an outreach here on campus for local teenagers. It was a mix of worship, students sharing testimonies, a short message, and a dance! I had a very small part in the dance. It was fun to do and I think the students really enjoyed having something a bit different. One of the students here, named Kate, is really into dance and headed the team up. She choreographed a dance to the song “Jesus Freak” which told the story of 3 different people with various problems or things they were trying to fill themselves with (drinking, popularity, boys/relationships) and how they came to know Christ.
So, just a few highlights of last week (Nov. 16-23) since I didn’t post last Saturday:
We had a Korean noodle fundraiser night on Tuesday to raise money for the starving people of Zimbabwe. One of the students here named Belinda is from Zimbabwe and had presented on the situation there several weeks earlier. In response to this, another student here from South Korea (1 of 3) named Soku decided to organize a fundraiser among the students for Zimbabwe. I helped him, along with a big team, cook noodles in the school’s kitchen and serve almost the entire student body (it was an optional event to attend). Afterwards, everyone retired to the lounge where Soku’s visiting sister who is training to be an opera singer, treated us to a few songs. It was great fun and we raised over £700!!
We also began choir practices for our Christmas program. I have to admit the practices have been trying. It’s hard to blend people from all different musical backgrounds and experiences into 1 choir in only about 3 weeks! Lord willing it will all work-out. We are singing 3 songs as a choir: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, “the Hallelujah Chorus”, and a Jewish song, “Shalom” (I have no idea where they picked that one from!).
Also, we finally have Christmas decorations up at school. During work morning last week, I was part of a team that helped take all the decoration boxes down from the attic and dust them off. Then the team this week (working yesterday morning while the other half of school was in seminar) put all the decorations we unpacked up. The place looks very festive =)
Lastly, the overwhelming theme of last week (Nov. 16-23) was a test on personal evangelism and a paper due on 1st and 2nd Samuel. I was so focused on those two assignments, I felt like a hermit that week! But we all survived and were happy to be done. (of course now we have a memory verse test on Monday and a paper due on Ezra on Thursday. But they’re smaller tasks)
Last Saturday (11-22), I went on our school’s weekly, optional day trip. In fact, almost the entire school went! We took a bus to the city of Liverpool, about an hour away (1 ½ hours maybe? I wasn’t paying the greatest attention). The city is famous for being the birthplace of probably the greatest band ever, the Beatles!
A lot of us from school took a bus tour together that went to lots of Beatles spots including Strawberry Fields...
...and the famous Cavern Club.
to see more of my pics, check out the facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73204&l=d3f32&id=720019947
Last night, our school put on an improv comedy night. it was really funny!
here's a long promised picture of my family group =)
.jpg)
here's my friend Kate modeling how incredibly green this tree is! if that doesn't give you an idea of how damp it is all the time here, i don't know what will! =)
And last but not least (at least for now), here's my table at our school's thanksgiving dinner on thursday.
I've added more photos from Thanksgiving, the comedy improv night, and other events to this album on Facebook: (if you've already looked at it, just flip to the newest pics at the end of the album)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70631&l=69f42&id=720019947
Well i have to run now but i will hopefully update this post soon because i have tons more to share!!
Love to everybody!!!!
~Sarah Jordan Hope =D
I went for a walk with a friend and God treated us to a beautiful rainbow! (notice the wind, you can see it in my coat, cold England weather + wind = very cold English weather! don't be deceived by the momentary sunshine!)
Steve, do you remember telling me how silly and immature your class’ boys were and how they made a list of the prettiest girls at school? Well apparently boys haven’t changed much in 15 years because the boys this year did that too! but wait, there’s more. Not only did they make a list of who they thought the prettiest girls were, they made a list of who they thought the girls would pick as either handsomest or most datable! Incredible! I was just laughing in disbelief when I heard that one…true story though! Thankfully, I don’t think most girls know about it so it hasn’t been a big deal.
One little English tidbit I thought you might appreciate from one of our English lectures: he said that the old phrase “Red sky at night, sailors delight...” in England is actually said to be a “shepherd’s delight” instead of a sailors! Isn’t that funny? It makes sense though, probably a lot more shepherds around here.
And I’m not sure if I ever shared this, but I thought it might be interesting to know that the students here range in age from 18 to 28! The oldest guy is 24…which makes the oldest girl here 28. =) There are actually 2 German, female doctors attending school here, as well as a female dentist (who happens to be one of the doctors’ sisters).
Two weeks ago (the last time I wrote a real post) we had an outreach here on campus for local teenagers. It was a mix of worship, students sharing testimonies, a short message, and a dance! I had a very small part in the dance. It was fun to do and I think the students really enjoyed having something a bit different. One of the students here, named Kate, is really into dance and headed the team up. She choreographed a dance to the song “Jesus Freak” which told the story of 3 different people with various problems or things they were trying to fill themselves with (drinking, popularity, boys/relationships) and how they came to know Christ.
So, just a few highlights of last week (Nov. 16-23) since I didn’t post last Saturday:
We had a Korean noodle fundraiser night on Tuesday to raise money for the starving people of Zimbabwe. One of the students here named Belinda is from Zimbabwe and had presented on the situation there several weeks earlier. In response to this, another student here from South Korea (1 of 3) named Soku decided to organize a fundraiser among the students for Zimbabwe. I helped him, along with a big team, cook noodles in the school’s kitchen and serve almost the entire student body (it was an optional event to attend). Afterwards, everyone retired to the lounge where Soku’s visiting sister who is training to be an opera singer, treated us to a few songs. It was great fun and we raised over £700!!
We also began choir practices for our Christmas program. I have to admit the practices have been trying. It’s hard to blend people from all different musical backgrounds and experiences into 1 choir in only about 3 weeks! Lord willing it will all work-out. We are singing 3 songs as a choir: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, “the Hallelujah Chorus”, and a Jewish song, “Shalom” (I have no idea where they picked that one from!).
Also, we finally have Christmas decorations up at school. During work morning last week, I was part of a team that helped take all the decoration boxes down from the attic and dust them off. Then the team this week (working yesterday morning while the other half of school was in seminar) put all the decorations we unpacked up. The place looks very festive =)
Lastly, the overwhelming theme of last week (Nov. 16-23) was a test on personal evangelism and a paper due on 1st and 2nd Samuel. I was so focused on those two assignments, I felt like a hermit that week! But we all survived and were happy to be done. (of course now we have a memory verse test on Monday and a paper due on Ezra on Thursday. But they’re smaller tasks)
Last Saturday (11-22), I went on our school’s weekly, optional day trip. In fact, almost the entire school went! We took a bus to the city of Liverpool, about an hour away (1 ½ hours maybe? I wasn’t paying the greatest attention). The city is famous for being the birthplace of probably the greatest band ever, the Beatles!
A lot of us from school took a bus tour together that went to lots of Beatles spots including Strawberry Fields...
...and the famous Cavern Club.
to see more of my pics, check out the facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73204&l=d3f32&id=720019947
Last night, our school put on an improv comedy night. it was really funny!
here's a long promised picture of my family group =)
.jpg)
here's my friend Kate modeling how incredibly green this tree is! if that doesn't give you an idea of how damp it is all the time here, i don't know what will! =)
And last but not least (at least for now), here's my table at our school's thanksgiving dinner on thursday.
I've added more photos from Thanksgiving, the comedy improv night, and other events to this album on Facebook: (if you've already looked at it, just flip to the newest pics at the end of the album)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70631&l=69f42&id=720019947
Well i have to run now but i will hopefully update this post soon because i have tons more to share!!
Love to everybody!!!!
~Sarah Jordan Hope =D
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Media Fast...
My dear family and friends,
I'm just writing you a quick note...to tell you I'm not really writing a note! Our school is having a media fast this week (no ipods, computer, internet, DVDs, etc.) and I forgot about it until they reminded us it was starting today. This past week so super busy: we had a paper on 1st and 2nd Samuel and a test on personal evangelism the day after, and then we went to Liverpool (home of the Beatles!) yesterday! whoo... what a week!
I wish I had remembered about the fast sooner so I could have written another real update on here. But now it will have to wait until our fast is over on Thursday (they're ending it early so that all of us Americans can skype with our families on Thanksgiving).
So next week I promised a good update on the past 2 weeks! =)
Blessings to all and happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Sarah
Fall is almost over and winter is definitely on its way here! the leaves are pretty much gone and it's dark at an ungodly early hour of 4:30!
more to come next week...
=)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Good Morning California!
Good Morning California! I am writing at 9am on Saturday morning, which is early for us because it’s the only morning we can sleep in! Saturday morning is one of the few times when the castle is quiet. I am up so early by Capernwray standards that I am one of only 3 people in this room. Usually when internet is on almost all of the 25+ chairs are filled. As you can see below, it is quite a funny sight to have all of us lined up with our laptops, cheering on our computers, and praying the internet connection speeds up.
(Steve, this internet room is now called the prep room I am told was one of the dining rooms that you must have eaten in before the current dining hall was built a few years ago)
I thought I'd add this picture to show you a bit more of the castle. This is in the main hall/entry way area. This is what i see when i come out of my room.
This week overall has gone quickly but each day is a long day if that makes sense. I’m actually having trouble remembering what I’ve done this week (that’s how long ago Monday feels).
Well for starters, on Sunday after church, I taught another ballroom lesson. This was the 3rd time we did this and we plan to do it again tomorrow. We're working on swing at the moment. We have about 35ish people come. I'm not really sure because I've never actually counted. I'll try to remember to count heads tomorrow. People really enjoy the lessons so I think I'll keep going as long as they enjoy it.
This week we had 2 lectures series: one on Colossians, and one on Exodus. The woman who spoke on Exodus used to be on staff here and is a really good friend of Sue Gilmore, the school secretary (essentially #2 on campus after the school principle Rob). Instead of using powerpoint, she used an overhead projector. I hadn't seen one of those in years! haha =) she was so funny because she used illustrations on the overhead. she had an artistic friend cut out silhouette style pictures to illustrate different parts in Exodus. they made us all laugh! she also imitated Sue's accent perfectly! that was hysterical!
the days of the week kinda mesh in my head, so a few other highlights of the week included:
-watching the office with my roommate Korina a few nights in a row (Korina is a big fan and brought 4 seasons on DVD). one night she even found a recipe and made our little Office watching group cookie dough! yum =)
-getting to spend Tuesday afternoon with my family group at Dougie's (my "dad") house. since family groups meet on wednesday morning and Lisa, Dougie's wife (our "mom") works at her kids' school on wed. morning we never get to see her or the kids. but since we met during the afternoon, we got to see Lisa, Ethan, and Hannah! All the students in my family group are nice, but I don't perticularly click with any of them. So i enjoyed playing trains with Ethan for a two hours. he is really cute (has a gorgeous head of curls!). It was good therapy for me since I've been missing babysitting Hali, Kyra, and Jude each week! and Lisa invited me to come back and play with the kids any time... =)
Yesterday afternoon was the first free afternoon I had all week! So I was finally able to resume working out with the girls. we meet Monday, Wednesday, and friday; but i had meetings during the time we meet on M&W.
Oh! I almost forgot, another highlight of the week is that we had try-outs for Christmas choir! We had quite a few people try out (we have a *very* musical group -I'm not sure if i've ever been in a group of people where so many people sing, or play an instrument well!) and I'm not sure how big of a choir they want. So we'll see... =)
Today will be a very busy day because Capernwray is having an outreach for teenagers in the community called "rock solid". i'm helping out with it and need to go to brunch now so i can get my day started.
While i've been writing this i have been able to upload a few more pictures on facebook of my time in New York that I didn't put on the blog. I'm sorry this posting is short, but until i can write more about my current happenings, you can check those out. =)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69846&l=558b0&id=720019947
The Lord was so good as to let me be able to upload a *whole album* this morning of pictures of Capernwray! There are several you've already seen posted here, but there are also a lot of new ones interspersed!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70631&l=69f42&id=720019947
Thank you Lord for fast internet!
Love to all!
~Sarah
(Steve, this internet room is now called the prep room I am told was one of the dining rooms that you must have eaten in before the current dining hall was built a few years ago)
I thought I'd add this picture to show you a bit more of the castle. This is in the main hall/entry way area. This is what i see when i come out of my room.
This week overall has gone quickly but each day is a long day if that makes sense. I’m actually having trouble remembering what I’ve done this week (that’s how long ago Monday feels).
Well for starters, on Sunday after church, I taught another ballroom lesson. This was the 3rd time we did this and we plan to do it again tomorrow. We're working on swing at the moment. We have about 35ish people come. I'm not really sure because I've never actually counted. I'll try to remember to count heads tomorrow. People really enjoy the lessons so I think I'll keep going as long as they enjoy it.
This week we had 2 lectures series: one on Colossians, and one on Exodus. The woman who spoke on Exodus used to be on staff here and is a really good friend of Sue Gilmore, the school secretary (essentially #2 on campus after the school principle Rob). Instead of using powerpoint, she used an overhead projector. I hadn't seen one of those in years! haha =) she was so funny because she used illustrations on the overhead. she had an artistic friend cut out silhouette style pictures to illustrate different parts in Exodus. they made us all laugh! she also imitated Sue's accent perfectly! that was hysterical!
the days of the week kinda mesh in my head, so a few other highlights of the week included:
-watching the office with my roommate Korina a few nights in a row (Korina is a big fan and brought 4 seasons on DVD). one night she even found a recipe and made our little Office watching group cookie dough! yum =)
-getting to spend Tuesday afternoon with my family group at Dougie's (my "dad") house. since family groups meet on wednesday morning and Lisa, Dougie's wife (our "mom") works at her kids' school on wed. morning we never get to see her or the kids. but since we met during the afternoon, we got to see Lisa, Ethan, and Hannah! All the students in my family group are nice, but I don't perticularly click with any of them. So i enjoyed playing trains with Ethan for a two hours. he is really cute (has a gorgeous head of curls!). It was good therapy for me since I've been missing babysitting Hali, Kyra, and Jude each week! and Lisa invited me to come back and play with the kids any time... =)
Yesterday afternoon was the first free afternoon I had all week! So I was finally able to resume working out with the girls. we meet Monday, Wednesday, and friday; but i had meetings during the time we meet on M&W.
Oh! I almost forgot, another highlight of the week is that we had try-outs for Christmas choir! We had quite a few people try out (we have a *very* musical group -I'm not sure if i've ever been in a group of people where so many people sing, or play an instrument well!) and I'm not sure how big of a choir they want. So we'll see... =)
Today will be a very busy day because Capernwray is having an outreach for teenagers in the community called "rock solid". i'm helping out with it and need to go to brunch now so i can get my day started.
While i've been writing this i have been able to upload a few more pictures on facebook of my time in New York that I didn't put on the blog. I'm sorry this posting is short, but until i can write more about my current happenings, you can check those out. =)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69846&l=558b0&id=720019947
The Lord was so good as to let me be able to upload a *whole album* this morning of pictures of Capernwray! There are several you've already seen posted here, but there are also a lot of new ones interspersed!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70631&l=69f42&id=720019947
Thank you Lord for fast internet!
Love to all!
~Sarah
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Week 6!
Well, we’ve come to the end of another week here at Capernwray! This one has flown especially fast since we had a long weekend and didn’t resume school until Tuesday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had the 2nd part of Walk Thru the Bible program, looking at the New Testament. Everybody loved having the presenter, Paul Keyes, back. He has been one of my maybe 2 or 3 favorites so far. He has such great energy and humor and it made sitting through 6 lectures a day much easier. I think it was a very smart way to break us back into school. Even though we only had a 4 day break, I only spoke to one person who was excited and ready to go back to lectures! =) At the end of the lecture series, Paul had us put the Old Testament and New Testament keys words and motions together and it took us about 5 minutes to go through the whole thing. He said we were the first group he’s ever tried that with! =)
I think Paul enjoyed having an audience of solely young people because it allowed him to do certain things that he wouldn’t do with an older audience. For instance, one of the NT phrases was ‘a storm stilled’. When he introduced it to us, he was talking normally and then all of a sudden, he yells “A STORM! – stilled (in a quieter voice)”. It made me laugh so hard! He said he never dared try that with an older audience for fear of giving one of the members a heart attack. ;)
Anyway, the Walk Thru seminar was great and I now have a much better understanding of events and their timing and placement.
On Thursday we had another break in our routine by having a day of prayer. The day was a combination of personal prayer, group prayer, worship, and communion. It was very refreshing and nice to have a quieter day and to be able to just calm our hearts, sit silently, and talk with God. Even though we are at Bible school, it is still a struggle to find quiet time each time (both in terms of devotions and literally finding a quiet time and place with so many people running around campus).
At the end of the day, we were in the mood for a nice and relaxed girl hang-out time, so we watched a chic flick, ‘Wimbledon’, with a few other girls from our dorm corridor.
Then, yesterday (Friday), was work/ seminar day as usual. Every Friday, the students are split into 2 groups. One half attends a seminar, while the other half works, cleaning the entire campus. The boys do outside work like raking, cleaning out drains, cleaning the pool (even though that’s not outside), and I don’t know what else. Then the girls clean the inside: changing sheets, vacuuming, dusting, and everything else necessary to keep a large place like this in good shape! However, I got off with an easy job. Every so often there is a need that isn’t necessarily cleaning for the girls to perform. So yesterday, I got to decorate menu covers for the huge Christmas dinner that is held at Capernwray every year (after the students are gone). Even though we didn’t have much freedom to be creative, it was nice to do crafts instead of hard-core cleaning! =)
However, the gem of the day was our evening’s activity: A SCHOOL TALENT SHOW!! Let me just say it was way better than I expected and it was HILARIOUS! I was able to catch most of it on video. Unfortunately, I have no idea when internet might be fast enough to upload any videos. But *some* day, you will all get to see lots of videos that I’ve taken both of last night as well as videos in all my travels! =)
So… today! Today I went on our optional weekly school trip to Skipton (we go to a different place each time, the 1st time was that infamous lake district trip!) =) Skipton is a small, really pretty and picturesque town that boasts a 900 year old, well preserved castle! The castle was really pretty (and one day you'll get to see pics). The castle is even still occupied by some of the descendants!
It was a very fun trip. It took us about 1 ½ hours to get there via our school minibuses. Not too many of us went so it was a nice change-up to not have dozens and dozens of students there and get lost in the crowd. After visiting the castle, I walked around with my roommates Maggie and Angelic, and another student named Adrielle from Manitoba, Canada. Today was market day in Skipton so we got to browse lots of street vendors in addition to all the cute shops. Surprisingly, there were at least 4 thrift stores in town! There are lots of different chains of them here in England, and I haven’t even seen a Salvation Army or Good Will store! It seems to be an almost trendy way to get clothes. All the thrift stores in Skipton were down the main street! Since things are so expensive here, thrift stores are a pretty popular destination for students here. =) Before heading back to school, Adrielle and I stopped for a snack at a local bakery (we had split up with Maggie and Angelic by that point).
And now this evening, the optional school activity is a game of capture the flag. However, I’m not playing… it was raining today and I don’t feel like getting all muddy just now. But you know, while I’ve been sitting here, we’ve heard fireworks going off in the distance and I have no idea why. Today is not a holiday, as far as I’m aware.
God’s been really good to me, esp. in the past few days. Making friends is just an on-going issue. Everyone here is really nice, but it’s been hard getting to know anyone well since there are so many of us. My room was talking about this and I know I’m not the only one feeling a bit lonely at times. But slowly and surely I’m know I’ll get to know people better and make close friends. Specifically though, my answer to prayer is that I’m developing a Christmas travel plan with my roommate Korina. I was praying for someone to travel with and was getting a little bit nervous about it because SO many people (most, actually) are going home for Christmas! I’m still hoping we might be able to find another person to travel with for a least part of the time. But we’ll see. All in God’s timing!
I’ve uploaded a few more pictures from Scotland onto facebook. Again, slowly but surely, I’ll get more up for you! =) I probably sound like a broken record, but the internet connection here is really medieval. I always upload pictures whenever possible so if you haven’t seen some in a while it doesn’t mean I haven’t been trying. =)
Well I’m going to go be social now!
Thank you for all your prayers.
Tons and tons of love to all.
~Sarah
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had the 2nd part of Walk Thru the Bible program, looking at the New Testament. Everybody loved having the presenter, Paul Keyes, back. He has been one of my maybe 2 or 3 favorites so far. He has such great energy and humor and it made sitting through 6 lectures a day much easier. I think it was a very smart way to break us back into school. Even though we only had a 4 day break, I only spoke to one person who was excited and ready to go back to lectures! =) At the end of the lecture series, Paul had us put the Old Testament and New Testament keys words and motions together and it took us about 5 minutes to go through the whole thing. He said we were the first group he’s ever tried that with! =)
I think Paul enjoyed having an audience of solely young people because it allowed him to do certain things that he wouldn’t do with an older audience. For instance, one of the NT phrases was ‘a storm stilled’. When he introduced it to us, he was talking normally and then all of a sudden, he yells “A STORM! – stilled (in a quieter voice)”. It made me laugh so hard! He said he never dared try that with an older audience for fear of giving one of the members a heart attack. ;)
Anyway, the Walk Thru seminar was great and I now have a much better understanding of events and their timing and placement.
On Thursday we had another break in our routine by having a day of prayer. The day was a combination of personal prayer, group prayer, worship, and communion. It was very refreshing and nice to have a quieter day and to be able to just calm our hearts, sit silently, and talk with God. Even though we are at Bible school, it is still a struggle to find quiet time each time (both in terms of devotions and literally finding a quiet time and place with so many people running around campus).
At the end of the day, we were in the mood for a nice and relaxed girl hang-out time, so we watched a chic flick, ‘Wimbledon’, with a few other girls from our dorm corridor.
Then, yesterday (Friday), was work/ seminar day as usual. Every Friday, the students are split into 2 groups. One half attends a seminar, while the other half works, cleaning the entire campus. The boys do outside work like raking, cleaning out drains, cleaning the pool (even though that’s not outside), and I don’t know what else. Then the girls clean the inside: changing sheets, vacuuming, dusting, and everything else necessary to keep a large place like this in good shape! However, I got off with an easy job. Every so often there is a need that isn’t necessarily cleaning for the girls to perform. So yesterday, I got to decorate menu covers for the huge Christmas dinner that is held at Capernwray every year (after the students are gone). Even though we didn’t have much freedom to be creative, it was nice to do crafts instead of hard-core cleaning! =)
However, the gem of the day was our evening’s activity: A SCHOOL TALENT SHOW!! Let me just say it was way better than I expected and it was HILARIOUS! I was able to catch most of it on video. Unfortunately, I have no idea when internet might be fast enough to upload any videos. But *some* day, you will all get to see lots of videos that I’ve taken both of last night as well as videos in all my travels! =)
So… today! Today I went on our optional weekly school trip to Skipton (we go to a different place each time, the 1st time was that infamous lake district trip!) =) Skipton is a small, really pretty and picturesque town that boasts a 900 year old, well preserved castle! The castle was really pretty (and one day you'll get to see pics). The castle is even still occupied by some of the descendants!
It was a very fun trip. It took us about 1 ½ hours to get there via our school minibuses. Not too many of us went so it was a nice change-up to not have dozens and dozens of students there and get lost in the crowd. After visiting the castle, I walked around with my roommates Maggie and Angelic, and another student named Adrielle from Manitoba, Canada. Today was market day in Skipton so we got to browse lots of street vendors in addition to all the cute shops. Surprisingly, there were at least 4 thrift stores in town! There are lots of different chains of them here in England, and I haven’t even seen a Salvation Army or Good Will store! It seems to be an almost trendy way to get clothes. All the thrift stores in Skipton were down the main street! Since things are so expensive here, thrift stores are a pretty popular destination for students here. =) Before heading back to school, Adrielle and I stopped for a snack at a local bakery (we had split up with Maggie and Angelic by that point).
And now this evening, the optional school activity is a game of capture the flag. However, I’m not playing… it was raining today and I don’t feel like getting all muddy just now. But you know, while I’ve been sitting here, we’ve heard fireworks going off in the distance and I have no idea why. Today is not a holiday, as far as I’m aware.
God’s been really good to me, esp. in the past few days. Making friends is just an on-going issue. Everyone here is really nice, but it’s been hard getting to know anyone well since there are so many of us. My room was talking about this and I know I’m not the only one feeling a bit lonely at times. But slowly and surely I’m know I’ll get to know people better and make close friends. Specifically though, my answer to prayer is that I’m developing a Christmas travel plan with my roommate Korina. I was praying for someone to travel with and was getting a little bit nervous about it because SO many people (most, actually) are going home for Christmas! I’m still hoping we might be able to find another person to travel with for a least part of the time. But we’ll see. All in God’s timing!
I’ve uploaded a few more pictures from Scotland onto facebook. Again, slowly but surely, I’ll get more up for you! =) I probably sound like a broken record, but the internet connection here is really medieval. I always upload pictures whenever possible so if you haven’t seen some in a while it doesn’t mean I haven’t been trying. =)
Well I’m going to go be social now!
Thank you for all your prayers.
Tons and tons of love to all.
~Sarah
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