London Adventures: Feb 13-26

School:
 Manic couple of weeks.  Turned in an essay, gave a presentation, and came up with three possible dissertation topics.  I'm exhausted.  Seriously just weary.  That's the only way I can describe it.  Just weary.  So ready for the term to end so I can just focus on the dissertation and nothing else.  Hard to believe the first of the two weeks covered in this post was Reading Week aka Half Term!  I'm now more than halfway through my last semester of my masters!  Four weeks left.  The end of April after Easter break will involve turning in an essay and taking two exams for the start of 'third term' but that's all.

Been super tired, but I'm very glad I have some classmate buddies to do work with this term, namely Francesca and Andrew.  Francesca and I have been tag-teaming the research for our Silk Road essays.  Since our topics are related, we have to look at a lot of the same sources, which means we can each take half and tell each other if we find anything!  So far so good.  We had to present on our essay topics last week and we were the only ones who didn't get negative comments from the professor so far.  That was a huge load off.  At least I know I'm on the right track for this essay.


Work:
 I've gotten my full 20 hours in these past few weeks.  It's probably contributing to the tiredness, but I'll be glad to get that paycheck!  I've been really glad to get more opening and closing shifts rather than ones in the middle of the day.


Hockey:
We've had our games cancelled the past three weeks.  The first two were due to so called frozen pitch.  This past Saturday the opposition cancelled for a reason unknown to me.  Training this past Thursday was fun though because the guys' team needed another keeper, so I got to play with them.  Love the faster pace!


Church:
Last week, for the Sunday evening service we watched the movie Courageous as a church.  If you haven't seen it, you really should.

Last week was also the breaking of the fast.  Like NLAG, CBC also did a 21 day fast.  It's funny how things I thought I would get answers about are not what I got answers about, but instead I got answers and reminders I wasn't even looking for or didn't realize I needed.

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD.  "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

"The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?" (Proverbs 20:24).  Do I need to understand everything?  No, I can still do what is required of me without that.  "No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

We had a visiting pastor come in from Minnesota on Wednesday.  He preached to us Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights as well as Sunday morning and evening.  The theme was overcoming demonic strongholds in our lives.  Something to think about - "Addictions come when you choose the wrong master.  When you don't choose God as your master, you get Satan by default."  What have you chosen or not chosen?  If you've chosen God, are you allowing him full access to the entirety of your life?  Is he your master on more than just Sunday morning?  Do you give everyday, every action, and every thought to God?

"Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts" (1 John 5:21).



Randoms:
Thank you for praying for my cousin Stephen.  He is back in the States. :)

Ran my fastest half-marathon of my life on Friday!  Guess I should run scared of being late for work more often lol... however, I then just wanted to nap for the duration of my shift...

The weekend was beautiful and sunny.  Loved it.  After a recovery run on Saturday, Paula and I sat in the hot tub at her and Bobby's place and chatted about life.  I stayed with them Friday and Saturday nights so that I wouldn't have to tube back and forth for all of the preaching this weekend.  It was really refreshing and so nice to relax a bit before heading back into school stuff.

The Friday of Reading Week I got to spend some time with Ingefleur at the National Gallery.  We were amused that we both wanted to head to the Impressionist section first.  She is an awesome sister in Christ and I enjoy hearing what she has to say.  And then this past Sunday her mom visited from Holland and brought me stroopwafels!  Guess I should keep her around! ;)

The ladies of CBC met for pizza this past Saturday before the service for pizza at an authentic Italian pizzeria.  Oh boy was it different!

Introduced the Messersmiths to Chinese mooncake.  I bought some at a bakery in Chinatown for one of the six children's birthdays last weekend.  I'm pleased to report that everyone loves red bean!

Sang a quartet with Lisa, Emily, and Cori on Sunday.  Kenny is visiting from the Messersmith's home church in Maryland and since he's a piano performance major he has given Cori a break from playing piano.  Funny thing is that all four of us since the alto part in choir (Cori would if she weren't the pianist.)  Lisa and I ended up with the soprano.  It was one of those songs that I feel like if it were a half step higher I would not be able to sing it!  Thankfully, we all hit our notes. :)

So incredibly thankful for my church family both here and abroad.  People to mourn with you, rejoice with you, learn with you, and teach you.

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God.  But if you love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us... All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.  We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love" (1 John 4:9-16).

Thinking about a flight home for part of the summer.  Prices skyrocket at the end of June, so I'm thinking end of May or early June.  Any leads on good deals let me know.

London Adventures: Feb 4-12

School:
Been a bit crazy with essay and dissertation proposals.  A bunch of stuff due in the next two weeks.   This coming week is reading week (Half term - what??  I'm halfway through my last semester of masters classes???) which means there are no classes.  Need the time to get all this stuff done.  It will be nice to not have to worry about being in and reading for class and instead just concentrate on the work.


Work:
I've managed to get my regular shifts changed to closing Tuesday night and opening Wednesday morning.  This is much better than having them in the middle of the day.  Now I can pick and choose the others as they come up and it gives me more time to be in the library while it's open.  The coming two weeks I'll be getting a full 20 hours in (the most allowed on my visa).  There will be a bunch of double shifts, but I like that so much better than coming in more often for smaller increments of time. 


Hockey:  

 The game I spoke of in the last post actually never happened and here's what I had to say about it on Facebook in case you missed it, as well as some memories donated by teammates:

Hockey cancelled due to "frozen pitch." LOL I know plenty of people who would remember playing in an ice storm at UVA as icicles formed on the goal posts! Or how about 6am on the turf dodging snow mounds? It's 32 degrees, feels like 25, and it MIGHT snow 1-3 inches tonight. Yup, Longwood hockey would still be playing!

Katy: I still tell people about those practices! Miserable!

Carra: OH MAN SOOOO TRUE!!! I remember dodging the snow mounds whilst wearing TWO pairs of gloves and Multiple layers of shirts.... 1109 ♥

Dani B: Yeah, and what about when we couldn't put our water bottles on the turf because they would freeze.

Murph: oh my oh my crazy times!   

Seriously.  This is not an exaggeration!!!  But I wouldn't trade it now.  It's just so funny though to come from more serious play to recreational play.

 On top of this, training and the game was cancelled again this weekend due to so called "frozen pitch"...

Church: 
It did end up snowing last Saturday night and it was a good thing I had come to Chiswick before it started because London can't handle snow.  It was only about two inches, but you would've thought it had been a foot the way public transport shuts down or gets delayed.  London Heathrow (the airport) only has ONE snow plow!!!  So anyway, headed to church early and shoveled out the stairs and entrance.  Only main roads get plowed here and nobody does the sidewalks which is annoying because everyone walks and when it turns into slush it's so nasty.  Because there was concern over people slipping and falling going home after evening service, all afternoon and evening church activities were cancelled.  A bunch of us went to the Messersmith's and hung out for the rest of the day.  It was nice to have down time to chill and just hang out with other church people in a casual manner.


This week (today) we had another interesting Sunday because the heat broke in the church building.  I seriously don't think my feet have ever been so cold in my life.  By the end they were just in pain.  We were huddled together in the pews with blankets, coats, scarves, hats, and gloves.  But at the same time it kind of brought everyone together and oh my goodness the world ended there was some clapping during the hymns!  Afternoon meetings were cancelled again and we held the evening service in the creche downstairs because there were dehumidifiers with a heater of some sort in them.  I loved it because it was reminiscent of cramming 18 people into one dorm room at Longwood for a few hours of praise songs and Bible study.  No guitar, just a cappella out of the hymnals, but it was so soothing and joyful.  I miss getting together with friends just to sing praises and pray for hours on end.


Randoms:
Please be praying for my cousin Stephen who was on a mission trip in a country hostile to the Gospel message and has been missing now for three days.

 

London Adventures: Jan 6- Feb 3

Well I seem to have fallen of the rocker a bit here, but I'll do my best to recap.  I left Dulles the night of the 5th and landed at Heathrow the morning of the 6th.  Praise the Lord I managed to sleep nearly four hours on the plane!  That is seriously a major rarity for me.  A couple Messersmiths picked me up from the airport and the kids were in charge of keeping me up all day, which they may have enjoyed a little too much hahaha.  Great seeing everyone at CBC again that weekend.


School:  
 Somehow I managed to turn in 9,000 words worth of essays in the first week.  Seriously, homework over Christmas should just be illegal.  One of my professors highly discourages people from going home because we should be working on essays.  Really??  It's Christmas!

My schedule is the same this semester because all of my courses are full units, meaning they go the full year.  It's nice in that I am finally getting to know these classmates.  Apparently I'm not the only one who felt like no one talked last semester.  A group of us has started hanging out after class a bit and of course there are always the library parties.  One of them goes to the gym I work at, so I've started having a gym buddy again which to me is super exciting.

Right now I'm in the middle of two essays, a presentation, and three dissertation proposals.  And of course all of the weekly readings, but that is just assumed.  Thankful that the SOAS library has longer hours than the UCL libraries!


Work:
I've been able to get more shifts so far which is exciting because I want to earn as much extra as possible to be able to visit some other countries while I'm here.  This week was a bit insane because I worked two doubles on back to back days on top of everything else but I was glad to get the hours in.


Hockey:  
 Spring season has already started!  Crazy, I know.  Today will be game three already.  The weather had been really mild up until last week.  Now it's freezing and, speaking of which, Thursday night training was cancelled this week because it was too cold.  The problem though was that it was sent via e-mail only a couple hours beforehand and since I don't get e-mail to my phone here I didn't see it.  Therefore I ended up standing around a bit at the turf and then waiting an hour for the bus back to the Underground in the freezing cold.  Not fun.  Hopefully today's game won't be too cold.  It took me well until yesterday afternoon to feel warm again!


Church:
Like I said, it was great to see everyone again.  One of the Sundays we visited a nursing home, the same one we visited once in the fall.  We sang hymns and gave a Gospel message.  It's really neat to see some of the really old people who can't even really talk or anything anymore mouthing a lot of the words to the hymns along with us.  The next Sunday at church I had the privilege of praying with someone to accept Christ!  That was super exciting!


Randoms:
I'm wondering why I have been calling this the "Randoms" section instead of Miscellaneous, especially in light of my blog title.  Oh well.

The Chinese New Year has come and gone.  The New Year was on the 23rd.  Rachel and I went to Chinatown that night, ate Chinese food, and took in the atmosphere.  It was really cool to be there and it was nice to get out a bit.  I hadn't done anything except church, school, work, and one hockey game at that point since coming back.  The Chinese celebrate for a week, so this past Sunday Emily came with me between morning and evening services to Chinatown and Trafalgar Square where they had the end celebration going.  There were booths with food and souvenirs, lots of lanterns, and traditional Chinese entertainment on a big stage in the middle of Trafalgar.  I introduced Emily to baozi and I am happy to report that she loves the red bean one like all people should!

Yesterday I swam a mile and a bit at the gym.  It felt so good I wonder why I don't do that more often.  I hadn't swam since sometime last semester.  I think I'm going to start incorporating it into my training more.  It's a nice change especially when I don't like running in the cold or on a treadmill.  Oh summer, come quickly!!!  I also seem to have a new squat max!  My body just appears to have some miraculous way of hanging onto strength.  My lifting was so scattered last semester due to being sick a lot and I didn't have a gym over break and now after only a month of lifting regularly I already have a new all-time max??  Crazy in my opinion but I'll take it!

Received a penguin beanie with ear flaps and a penguin snuggie in the mail just in time for all the cold... thanks Kris!!  And it looks like some good friends are going to come visit in May!  I'm excited :)

Overall, I feel so much better about being here now than I did last semester.  For whatever reason I finally feel like I belong.  Like I walk around campus and I feel like this is my school.  I'm not just some random visitor.  I am so thankful for that.  Makes it all so much easier.