Irresistible Appreciation

I guess it's ironic that it's great weather here (75-85 degrees) but it's not the best weather in Abilene. Well it wasn't for a while anyway. 

So, it's gorgeous here. It's warm and tropical-like here. It's like surreal that it's February! I'm walking around in shorts in humid weather here. The humidity doesn't bother me that much though. We also walk most places that we go. I suppose we get a lot of exercise that way. It was very worthwhile to study abroad here. Like, it's amazing. We go to class right before some of us go to the beach, get gelato (really good and expensive ice cream) and we are given so many good foods for meals.

I'm just thinking that all this stuff we're around are blessings. We have the option to learn about God-in Spanish. Overwhelming at times though it may be, it is such a cool language!

There are just too many blessings to count. If anyone ever comes here, it will be well worth your time and money.

I love it here.

P.S. - I tried to import some photos but the internet doesn't work here all the time. It's kind of fickle. But that's cool.

Periodismo (Journalism in Spanish)

For all of you hundreds of thousands of wonderers who have been eagerly awaiting this tasty update, I have been eating bananas, cantelopes, watermelon and drinking Constant Comment Orange spiced tea quite frequently. Pictures coming soon.

Deceitful Blessings

Wow. God is good.

Today we went to Casa Pueblo, to a small island and ate a wonderful and gorgeous dinner.

Aside from the previous Spanish phrases exclaiming how we're all doing well, today was a day full of overwhelming blessings. We left Casa ACU at 8:00 A.M. to first visit Casa Pueblo which was a really cool art museum. That place was just plain neat. Next, we went to this little island to eat lunch. Guess what all we did there aside from eating lunch? Chill on the beach for 3 hours. Yeah. I hung out with a couple kids for a little while (I'll tell you about them later) and read for a bit. When our not-so-laborious time on the island concluded and we escaped our intensive studies on the beach, we then went to a monument for a moment and then off to a superior dinner. 

We had dinner at a superior restaurant on a hill. We had a view downtown of a city nestled aside their own beach. To make things better, we were blessed with a glorious sunset to watch as we ate our 300 peso ($15) dinner. As we sat there eating, some of us re-capped the day's events and we were pretty much overwhelmed with how cool the day has been. I agreed. I thought of how

ridiculous

all of our blessings had been so far. It was not ridiculous in a bad sense, but in a good one. Our first full week of classes concluded and I hadn't expected things to go so smoothly this soon. Myself included I think it is safe to safe we as students love it here and have quite successfully adjusted to being here. Again, along with an exquisite dinner, a glorious and tasteful sunset was the icing to on our evening's dessert. We talked of how wonderful the day had been and were sure God had a large part in it. 

It's hard to notice these occurrences sometimes to acknowledge them as blessings. A day's events can be thought of as simple happy chance or sweet morsels of good luck. It's funny how blessings can merely look like 'cool things' that take place when they are seemingly disguised. Fact: I was surrounded by loving Christians all day involved in ordered events. 

Fact: You couldn't have paid for a sunset like we saw as we were on top of that hill.

Yes, some things were set in motion and planned but other things were obvious additions to our schedule. God is good.

Okay about the kids who are 5 (nearly 6) and 4 years old. Wow. They're one of our temporarily permanent blessings here. Hansen who is almost 6 years old and Sophie who is 4 are our host parents kiddos. They're awesome. Honestly, Hansen looks like Machauly Culkin more than he resembles me when I was 5 years old. He kind of acts like I did when I was younger too!

Noticias Bueno!!

Nosotros hacemos muchas cosas en uruguay: estudiamos, visitamos museos, tocamos fotos y muchas otros cosas. Estamos muy, muy bien!!

Amiable Existence

Yesterday, I spent a good hour talking with a few employees working in a small grocery store nearby. Raoul, Raphael, Anibal and Carlos talked with me about politics (their dislike of Bush), economy and religion. They asked me many questions about Oklahoma (as expected) and, surprisingly, about movies. I mentioned the movie City of God and how it was filmed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and they told me that it shows how life is really like how it is shown in the movie. That's how things really are there. Anyway, I joined up with some friends, fellow students, at the park later and took pictures of them playing football.

My classes are more intensive here than in the states because the academic life is more condensed. Fortunately, I honestly enjoy the subject matter of the classes that I'm in. Conversing and learning about the gospel of Luke, movies and Spanish interest me. Most of the time, I like it here. I like interacting and making new Uruguayan friends but school is not always good. No complaints about doing a semester in South America surrounded by loving people while learning Spanish and appreciating my life.

:)

Ironic Rememberance

Wait, Heath Ledger was killed?!  WHAT?! Drug Overdose? UGH

I wish this was one of the joker's elaborate jokes or that Heath was only imitating Andy Kaufman. Boo.

I find irony that he overdosed on drugs because the last role he played was 'the joker' in the Dark Knight as many parts of life are jokes to him. In a preview and in pictures, the words are stated "Why so serious?" I suppose he isn't really joking about the sincerity of things now.

Seriously, along with the many other "bloggers" out there stating their opinions of this news, I only wonder if he went to heaven or hell? I don't consider the fact that he played the joker a moral weight in this matter, but after playing a demonic-like character, would he be in heaven or hell now? Did he lead a life of virtuous servanthood? Did he believe that Jesus Christ was the true son of God? Was he faithful until death?

His legacy was and will be the movies he was in. What is the legacy you're leaving?

Marvelous Happenings

Through adapters and converters, I got power to my computer and am now typing on it. Yesterday some of us (4 girls, 6 guys) went to the beach and played soccer! It was awesome. Today we went to Iglesia de Cristo y hablamos con muchos personas. (We talked with many people) It was awesome as well. 

:)!

Awakening...again

So there is a computer lab here. I am only going to pretend I knew that and was trying to see if you knew that as well.
My explanation for not posting as often> Im in Uruguay!
The keybpoard is different here so bare with me.
Pictures coming soon!!
Amor y paz

Enlightened Awareness

I'm here! Uruguay is an expected difference.

Lets start from the beginning: Our adventure began as our bus left at 9:30 A.M. from ACU to go to the Dallas airport. It began with conversations consisting of jokes about how little Spanish some of us knew to our mutual admittance of expecting to forget something. We flew from Dallas to Miami to Montevideo. We got here and rode to Casa ACU all the while exchanging visual dialogue with the buildings, scenery and cars we saw. All the while I was in awe knowing I was finally in South America!! Some may not have caught the moderate irony in the bus ride: the song "Coming to America" was playing on the radio. I thought it was referring to North America but I suppose it could be for South America as well. We walked around Montevideo, did a scavenger hunt and I got very good raviolis at a restaurant.

I thought that I would pick up Spanish a bit faster than I did. Oh well. It's only the first full day.

Joyful Sincerity

The time i've spent at ACU has been short but meaningful. I went to church on Sunday with my parents and spent the rest of the day with friends. Monday (yesterday) was a day of study abroad classes which were really more like briefings. Today comprised of additional briefings and various delightful confrontations.

What I would like to highlight is Monday night, the last supper. I'm referring to the last supper that I consider my "last" before I leave the country for the semester. I know. Not very much of a last supper. As I grin thinking about the smiles that were shared between friends, I know how central Jesus is to students' lives. As I walk in this house with my Gourmet fast food, which was Taco Bueno, I smile when I immediately know the song that was playing: Sweet Baby James by James Taylor. As my glorious feast ensues, we were laughing about one thing one minute but sharing what was on our hearts the next. I truly loved seeing some of my best friends at ACU laughing about the little things and talking about the big things. I hear the same things from a friend who dropped out of school and chose to become homeless in Abilene, a student who did some mission work over the summer, another who said he will drop out because he has some radically awesome convictions and a student who is a spiritual anchor i've looked up to for a while: love one another. Throughout my very brief time in that house, I was reminded of Irresistible Revolution and how there are some Christians who are in love with Jesus and there are also some who are out of their minds. Yet, shouldn't loving Jesus and being out of your mind be pretty much the same thing?

I saw a girl today who had on a shirt that said 'Jesus Christ' on the front and 'Friend of Prostitutes, Tax Collectors and Sinners' on the back. At the time those words didn't really resonate within me but now I think of how

ridiculous

it was for someone to be hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors just like they were any other person. Maybe that's just showing some unconditional love for your neighbors. 

I don't know.

I do know that in nine hours I leave for Dallas to catch a plane for Miami to catch a plane for Uruguay to have a remarkable semester. I'm just thinking that these couple days at ACU have reminded me of the most fundamental Christian action: how to love others. I don't suppose loving others will ever go out of style.

Beginning Resolution #1

This is a symbolic Christian picture to me. I took it with my new camera and this is the first picture I took with it [(notice the wit of this blog title)hint: pictures have good or bad resolution] To me, It really means what cup are you carrying? A full, nearly overflowing cup, an empty, apathetic cup or a half full/half empty cup? This cup, similar to a full one, is a cup teeming with vibrant life. You may wonder how I see symbolism in an empty cup. I say, woe to your deceitful eyes! Yes, this cup is empty-lacking water, or, wine, in Jesus' case. Likewise, there are many times when we don't seem to see  Jesus. But Jesus is everywhere. I will be able to appreciate my life by pleasantly encountering Jesus in South America. One of my many personal goals for my trip is to carry a Jesus cup with me so anyone who is thirsty may have a drink of love. All you have to do is simply love others. As the book Irresistible Revolution says, 'Christianity is simple, but not easy'. I think that it would be simple to carry a Jesus cup-a cup of love-but it won't always be easy to use it.

Beginning Resolution #2

So far I've documented my feeling of detailed ambiguity, found bliss from being ignorant, studied a caped crusader known as Bruce Wayne and finally completed my massive assignment (small victory cheer)!  

It actually wasn't all that terrible. I was just complaining.

I am, however, nearly finished with reading a required book Traveling/Studying Abroad which is basically about being analytically observational. As an aspiring journalist, I'm that way anyway. 

That's a convenience.

I've actually been reading a book on the side called Irresistible Revolution. It is amazing. There are many valuable insights to Christianity that expand my depth of understanding Christ (Phil. 1). It's partially about what I know I should do: love people. Coupled with my excitement to be in Uruguay, I am only left wondering why I shouldn't be as kind as possible to the people I encounter during the semester. 

Along with loving Jesus and those people around me, it's nearly an oxymoron to say that i'm looking forward to the coolness of going to see The Dark Knight (7.18.08). I'm also, of course, quite excited to see Machu Picchu (uppermost picture), Iguassu Falls (picture below) and a video production company in Uruguay.  To let you know, I may be posting some Spanish phrases at random. I'll let you know how Uruguay goes and I'm looking forward to going to the Dominican for a bit this summer (hopefully) and being in Houston over the summer (hopefully).

Wondrous Mediocrity

After much procrastinating by looking at Batman stuff, I have begun the painstaking studying process and was surprised to find that this particular section of my daunting study abroad assignment was, dare I say, enjoyable. Today, I got some things for my time in Uruguay with my mom. As I figure out how to do some multimedia things with this blog here, expect to see pictures (like the Joker here), videos and any other multimedia from Uruguay. Coming soon: pictures from my new Canon Powershot SD 1000!!

Why So Serious?

I'm still kind of amazed that I spent two straight hours last night looking up stuff for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. I watched previews, learned it was filmed in Chicago and it comes out 7.18.07.

hehe

I believe in Harvey Dent

Bleak Outlook

So, i'm enduring a study abroad assignment that requires more strenuous work than I expected. Is an absence of Christmas break pleasure evident? I think so...

I have a week left of enjoying my not-so-free time at home. I have places to go, people to see and things to pack that await me. 

Pleasant Neglect

As I turned twenty-one yesterday, I was and still am partially overwhelmed with study abroad assignments I have neglected to do. I'll get them done though, pack and be down at ACU a few days before the other study abroad students and I leave for Montevideo, Uruguay.  

Specific Uncertainties

It is now the first day of a new year. As this eventful year begins, I choose to record its events by writing onto a blog. I have some specific plans for 2008 and some plans that are uncertain. I plan to go to South America to study abroad in Uruguay, visit some missionary friends in the Dominican Republic and my specific plans end with spending the summer in Houston, Texas by interning for an inner city church of Christ. I believe God will take me to wherever He wants me to go as I pray for my future.

My future is a journey and my blogging may change during that journey. My writing style while I am in Uruguay may be different, the content of my blogs may differ in the Dominican Republic and my blogging may not be as formal leading up to my arrival in Houston, Texas. Even though those are my specific plans, God may have different things in store for me. I have an open mind and even expect many changes for my future. I chose to blog to simply record the events of my eventful journey.

I did keep a blog for personal reasons before I started this one. It chronicled my recovery from a traumatic brain injury. Although it may be informal to write this, I suggest that you ask someone if you would like to know about that story. As I write some informal things and other things formal, I also ask you to bare with me. 

As I plan to be in South America some of my time with this blog, many of my references may be in Spanish. As I leave you, I write 'Vaya con Dios!' (Go with God!)