Really?

What? It's February already? Yeah, I guess I did see a bunch of red and pink, chocolate hearts, and extra flowers in the grocery store last time I was shopping. I suppose that means Valentines Day has passed too? *checks calendar*  Yep, turns out that we're already in the St. Patricks Day/Easter approach. Look out malt-filled Easter eggs, you will soon meet the conqueror, and her name is ME.

This semester has been quite busy. I'm taking three 400-level classes currently: Integrative Seminar, Topics in Theology, and Topics in Old Testament. Lest you think that I'm complaining unnecessarily about large amounts of work, realize that I will be completing the latter two of those classes at the end of next week. Yes, 2 1/2 classes completed in 7 weeks. Of course, I'm also leading a small group on campus and working in the dining hall... so yeah, life's a piece of cake! [you know the feeling of eating dessert as you run out the door in order not to be late for something? that's the sort of cake my life is right now!]

Nevertheless, I'm enjoying it. I've been studying the Hebrew word Hesed as used in the Old Testament, and in the process learning a lot about the nature of God. I also just finished a study on Liberation Theology, which helps me to understand the push for social justice today. There are certainly a lot of good things that the church as a whole can learn from Latin American theologians. [of course, there are also some problems with l.t., but how often do we find a theology with which we agree entirely?] [that was a rhetorical question, by the way]

The weather here in Three Hills has been amazingly temperate of late. After a couple weeks of -40, I've been loving the days of +2 or 3... (celcius, of course). Most of the snow has melted, which leaves it looking awfully brown out... but at least the sun shines regularly!  =) 

Homemaking here remains a pleasure. For Valentines Day, Vanessa and I hosted a few other girls for a meal of tacos... complete with homemade corn tortillas! I used some of the Maseca that I brought from home (it's impossible to find here in Three Hills) and used a textbook for a tortilla press! The textbook shall remain nameless, in order to protect its reputation.

Well, that's as much of an update as I have in me right now. I'm still working on figuring out a plan for after graduation. I'm sure something will work out. Ta ta for now!

A Poem

I don't think I've posted a poem on here before, but here's one that I wrote a little while back which I actually really like. It's written in a somewhat free form:

Being
Masks and mirrors, hopes and fears
hidden from human sight.
See what's not, know a lot
Fail to see what's real
Illusion rules well, delusion brings hell
Masking makes safe the heart.
Yet safety is dangerous and
danger can kill
And the mirror is already cracked.
Cracked? Yes, and broken too
Likewise my whole world
It hides and warps but
fails to heal, for healing means letting go
Drop the mask, turn the mirror
See reality.
Open up, show yourself
Be as made to be--
Whole.

What good datatechs do

Many of you are likely wondering "what is a datatech?" Simply put, the datatech is the person who runs the computer in church so everything that is supposed to show up on the monitors/projectors does at the right time in the right way and nothing that isn't supposed to appear does. I volunteered run the datatech position at my church once every few weeks. The great thing about this (as opposed to worship team) is you don't have to show up for the mid-week practice. You do still have to show up two hours early on Sunday though.  Thus, here I am, at church, with a computer... so what do I do in the spare time?  Blog!  [how's that for a long explanation of why I'm blogging Sunday morning?]

We got some real snow here recently... only about 3 inches... but man is it frigid out there! Last night it reached -30 celcius... whatever that is in fahrenheit. I realized awhile back that, while I'm more comfortable in F with the higher temperatures, I really only know Celcius for the low temperatures. I'm kinda hoping this cold spell doesn't last too long. It's far too early in the year to be stuck with cold weather.  =)

[Sidenote: this week's worship team is mostly highschool kids... and man are they fun to watch. The sound guy who works next to me is fussing about how stiff they are; but they're quite good for being in highschool.]

I feel like there's not been much noteworthy stuff going on. Last night Timo hosted a nacho/nacho party. We made nachos and watched Nacho Libre. As stupid as the movie is, I was doubled over laughing quite a bit.

Oh, here's an interesting thing I've been studying lately. In my current topics in missions class we were studying modern day slavery this week. Here's some crazy things I learned:
-- There are over 27 million people slaves in the world today (this doesn't include sweatshop workers or minimally paid employees)
-- The average cost to buy a slave is $47
-- The slave trade grosses 42 billion a year. If you think that's a lot, realize it's only 1/10 of what Walmart grossed last year. http://www.doughroller.net/personal-finance/10-largest-companies-in-the-world/.  If you're still concerned about losing that free labor, consider the possibilities if all 27,000,000 enslaved people were gainfully employed and had the money to buy from other businesses.
-- The average cost to sustainably free a slave is $400
--------> This includes buying them, counselling/therapy, and training so they can support themselves.
-- To free all the slaves in the world would take an estimated 11 billion dollars. That means that if half the people in the world gave $4, all the slaves could be freed.
Now, does the fact that slavery still exists today seem like a stupid thing? Consider some of the things you buy that are likely made/harvested by slaves:
-- chocolate
-- coffee
-- cotton t-shirts
-- electronics (certain metals that make electronics function are mined by slaves in Africa)

If you're still interested, take a look at this website: http://slaveryfootprint.org/. The state department put it together to help raise awareness of all the ways in which people support slavery. How many slaves are working for you?

Well, that's all for now. Leave a comment if you feel like it, letting me know how you're doing and what's going on in your life.  =)

My life of late

 Ness and I went to Banff last weekend with another friend, Sarah. Good times were had by all.  =)  Here's a few pictures from our time.

Mountains!

The party of three, on our way up

Yes, we do like having fun

A random car we saw in Banff... Rebekah, remember Worldview Academy?

Sarah and I... and a little patch of snow!

I like heart-shaped cookies.  =)

What do good Bible College students do when they climb a mountain?  Read the Bible! Isaiah was the author of choice.

Yes, we did try on the hats and not buy them... excuse the red eye... obviously the camera did not flash twice.

French-pressed coffee and fudge! We visited a new coffee shop in Canmore, and brought some fudge from the Rocky Mountain Candy Company.  =)  Yum!

Sarah and Vanessa, the city girls.

Oh yeah, the day ended with us pushing the car home... woot.

So there ya go. We succeeded in having fun... whaddaya know?

I don't remember whether I mentioned what classes I was taking last term... and I'm too lazy to go back and check. But this term I'm taking Theology of Worship and Current Topics in Missions. I'm pretty stoked for those classes, 'cause I love studying theology, and missions is my "thing". As an interesting coincidence, the sermon this morning was on worship. Briefly summed up, Pastor Greg talked about how worship is the outflow of our relationship with God through Christ which is enabled by the Holy Spirit. Interesting quote that I wrote down: "You can worship in the midst of any circumstance except sin."  There were another few interesting quotes, but along non-serious lines... "When I grow up, I want to be a firetruck"... "you can come up here and hug a pumpkin"... "are you a pumpkin kicker?"... but those, like I said, were not so serious.  Gotta love a preacher with a sense of humor!

It snowed here on Friday... beautiful flaky white stuff. We only got about 1 1/2 inches, but it's still around. That tells you how cold it's been lately. Seems that winter has officially arrived. We'll see if I get around to putting up pictures of the snow. Maybe later when there's more of it.

Well, there ya go. I'm still alive, still doing school, loving life and the friends I have here, and reading good books. Until next time,

~A

School again?

Classes have been underway for a month now, and it feels like forever. It's starting to actually hit me that I'm actually staying in the same general area until mid-December. Of course, I didn't start the year out staying put. In fact, a week after arriving at Prairie, I headed south again, this time to Utah, for a wedding! It was an amazing wedding... one of the best I've been to. Here are a couple group shots from that trip:


In this first picture we were trying to figure out how to get into the place that says "keep out"... evidently they figured their plywood wasn't safe.


The second one was from exploring Salt Lake City around midnight, after cleaning up from the rehearsal dinner. 'Twas fun, but we learned something-- there aren't any coffee shops open in SLC at midnight. =( Oh well.

These last few weeks have been pretty busy. I'm taking classes, Impact leading (leading/discipling a small group), working in the dining hall, taking voice lessons, and trying to keep up with friends. It's been a good process though, figuring out a new rhythm in life.

Oh, my housemate showed up while I was gone to the wedding. We've been having fun setting up the apartment even more. Our kitchen/living room look great, and her room looks great... I haven't really decorated my room to speak of, but that might happen some day. Probably the same day as I post pictures of the apartment, like I mentioned in the previous post.

This weekend is Thanksgiving; Canadian Thanksgiving, that is. It'll be my first time in 4 years to be in the right country for Thanksgiving Day. The previous three I've been in the US for Canada's holiday and in Canada for the US holiday. Ness and I are heading to a friend's for the weekend, so that will be nice. We're stoked for good time with friends, getting out of Three Hills for a weekend, and... well... life in general. =)

Last week, one of my friends had a birthday. (exciting, I know) We celebrated with her, but then decided it hadn't been enough. She said (at around 10 PM) "We should do something really crazy!" So, we did the only crazy thing that we could come up with on the spot-- dressed up in ridiculous clothes and went around town taking pictures. As seen in this particular picture, we are loonies. =)

Yeah, my face is black. Maybe I've not dedicated enough time to personal hygiene of late? =)

This post has been a mish mash of all sorts of things, but I think it's better than nothing, right? Well, 'till another time.
~A

And back to Canada I go!

Well I'm back at Prairie. This time I took the Beast (suburban), and drove through Montana to pick up a friend. Here are some pictures of the drive-- I hope you enjoy them. =) If you want to see slightly larger versions, just click on the picture.

This first is the view heading towards Snoqualmie Pass:


Getting closer to the Pass:
And closer:


Snoqualmie Pass:
Now I'm heading down the pass:

Still have a long ways to go:
Getting close to Idaho:


Woot-- I get to go fast!


Getting close to the summit on the Idaho/Montana border:


The Montana Border:


I stopped at Camp Bighorn in Montana, visited with some friends there, and picked up my friend Timo so he could get back to school too.

All our stuff, driving away from Camp Bighorn:


Driving through northern Montana:


Timo getting ready to cross the border:

Me, quite ready for the border:
Wait! which passport do I use?


Like the think hanging from my rearview mirror? Yeah, my tea ball needed to dry.

So, I guess we're actually doing it... time for a border run!
Oh, it's serious, for sure:
Hmm, I guess we made it across, since this is B.C. now!




Yeah, it's Alberta alright:


Mmm, look at those dark clouds!


See the thunderstorm following us?

So there you go! We arrived at Prairie last night, unloaded The Beast, unpacked a little, and zonked into bed. Today I got all my stuff out of storage at the dorm and moved it up to my apartment. And, guess what... I'm completely moved in and settled! =) I've got a beautiful view and a great apartment... now to just find a kitchen table! Next post I'll share some pictures of the apartment.

Signing off,
~A

The frog

El Sapo Cancion

Habia un sapo, sapo, sapo
Que nadaba en el rio, rio, rio
Con su traje verde, verde, verde
Que temblaba de frio, frio, frio

Su mama la sapa, sapa, sapa
Siempre le decia, -cia, -cia
Que tenia un Amigo, -migo, -migo
Que se llama Jesus, Jesus!

Proximo vez, mas rapido!

(now in English)

There was a frog, frog, frog
That swam in the river, river, river
With his clothes of green, green, green
That trembled from cold, cold, cold

His mom the frog, frog, frog
Always told him
That he had a friend
Whose name is Jesus, Jesus!

This song is one that we taught a lot of kids and sang with them for kids clubs and Sunday School activities. The simplicity of the words, silliness of the frog story, but reminder that Jesus was their friend packed a powerful punch for kids who were tired from standing in the sun, distracted by our poor Spanish, or might rather be hanging out with their friends doing their own activity.

When I was swimming in a pool (in El Salvador), directly below a fresh water spring, I spotted a tiny frog that had just finished leaving its tadpole stage. It reminded me of this song, and I just about sang it to the frog. Instead, I just took a picture for you folks to see!