Greetings from the slacking blogger! I've got a lot to catch up on now! Wow--what an amazing 2 weeks it has been! In every way, the past few weeks have probably been the high point of my time here so far. The teaching on Spiritual Worldview from Ann (the same teacher we had for the Art of Research) and Spiritual Warfare from Dean Sherman were both incredible. We have been blessed to have some amazing teachers share their wisdom with us! During both weeks, I was impressed with the fact that the modern West is the only society that has been skeptical of the "spiritual" realm, while the rest of the world easily incorporates the spiritual into its concept of reality. I have gained so many tools that will be helpful in understanding Kyrgyz culture and being able to relate to the Kyrgyz people. As for spiritual warfare, the subject has often seemed a bit weird and complicated to me, but Dean Sherman did an excellent job of demystifying it, and not making it seem scary. On the whole, I feel much more equipped for my Peace Corps service, and I'm so grateful for the "extra" training God is giving me :-). That's a very brief overview of what has been a very impacting two weeks of teaching. Compared to the first half of the school, which involved more adjustments and struggles, this second half has been absolutely amazing!
Last Wednesday I was asked to share a short testimony at the community meeting held here at the base. So I decided to share about how God is teaching me to practice hearing His voice. I talked about how I have a really structured personality :-), which is great in many ways and I love that I'm that way! But at times I can almost structure God out of my life. What I mean is, I can make so many plans and come up with so many schedules that I don't need to listen to God about anything, because I already have everything worked out! And God has been showing me recently that I will be able to hear Him better if I practice listening; and I will be able to listen better if I actually give Him opportunites to speak! So I've been laying asside some of my "structures" in order to give God more opportunites to lead me. Of course it's a process, but I'm trying to involve Him more in the little things--the things that might not seem like they matter. If I can learn to hear Him in the little things, I'll have a much better foundation for hearing Him in the big things. So that's part of the journey I'm on.
I can't end this post without mentioning how much FUN I've had over the past few weeks. I've really been going deeper in relationships with people here, and I'm so grateful for all the awesome people I've been able to meet. As part of my strategy for being social, I've been taking my computer downstairs to the living room to work. Then I don't look like I'm just sitting there with nothing to do, but I also open myself up to interruptions from friends who periodically walk through. More often than not, the working portion of that strategy gives way to the socializing part within minutes. It's fabulous :-). Leaving friends will be the hardest part about coming home. The fun experiences I've had recently include: starring in my first music video (all of you will have to see it when I get home), an impulse decision to go to the McDonald's in town with friends (on a school night!), making scrambled eggs after 11pm, playing my first game of Settlers (and almost winning, causing Gunstein to comment that that was the best first game of Settlers he's ever seen anyone play), and staying up until 2am with friends in a near state of delirium--those types of experiences are always funnier while they're happening than when you try to explain them :-). Anyway, I've been having a blast. Below you'll find pictures from a little experiment photo-shoot we did in town. We were trying to kill time while waiting to meet our driver, so I would call out expressions, and Gunstein, Gunna, & Lina would act them out. These are just a sampling of the hilarity :-)
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