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| I made the switch...you can find me here from now on.
-mri
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| 3 weeks from now, my semester will officially be completed.
To do:
Jesus & Christianity Exam
Expo #11
Social Work Exam
Self-Image Fast
Scripture Memorization for Henderson/Jesus & Christianity
Expo #12
NT Backgrounds Papers (3)
Social Work Projects (2)
Social Work Final
Jesus & Christianity Final
...and I know there are more things that should be on that list...
God is good and has provided encouragement and proper timing for
assignments, work schedules, etc. It will be nice to see the
month of summer school...
-mri | | |
| I have become horrible with updating my xanga. However, this is
good and bad. Bad for Grandma who likes to read this to keep-up
with my life. Good because I am staying busy. Bad because I
am so busy that it goes 2 weeks or more before I really have time to
update it. This last week in particular has been one of the most
difficult weeks for me. The Lord is truly challenging me and
trying to teach me so much. Trust. Love. Faith.
Flexibility. Submission. The beauty of imperfection.
I could continue and literally write a book just listing the topics
that God has been placing on my heart.
I am so thankful for those people God has placed in my life who simply
love me despite the condition of my body, heart, mind, and
emotions. I am incredibly blessed to have friends who will
listen, comfort, and discipline me. I just have to let
them...sometimes I need to remember to be easy to love. Actually,
it is more like all the time.
Today's discipline is tomorrow's reward.
-mri
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| I just returned from Italy last night. The last 9 days have been
some of the most tiring, stretching,
challenging days for me personally. Academic challenge is so
different than personal, relational challenge. I can handle the
academic challenge--my brain is trained to handle it. Yet, when I
am told to travel to another continent (and back) with a group of 90 of
my peers, I am tasked more deeply than most people realize. I
have grown up traveling and am so used to doing it myself for the last
5 years that it is very difficult for me to maneuver with and around a
group. It was a good challenge though; I needed it.
sidenote: next spring break I am pursuing pure relaxation...
Italy was enjoyable. My favorite stop was Florence, though I was
not predicting that (I'm not such an art buff, but with Clara as our
guide, I was able to appreciate Florence in its entirety). The
food was very different from what we westerners consider to be Italian
food. Forget a creamy alfredo sauce! haha-the closest to
it was a cream sauce I had on tortellini while in Tuscany. It was
delicious though! My favorite foods were Tortellini in Florence,
Lasagna in Venice, Bruschetta in Rome, and Panini's and Gelati in
Florence. I will never be able to eat another panini and say I
enjoyed it as much as the one I had in Florence (sun-dried tomatoes,
salted ham, and some type of cheese I had never tasted before).
The Italians we encountered were cordial, but only one sticks out in my
memory as being welcoming and engaging. The others in
shops/hotels/etc. seemed only to be interested in our money. I am
sure that was not the case for all of them, but that was what we were
exposed to.
We saw so many "churches" and cathedrals that it was numbing.
Yes, they were beautiful and there was so much art and skill in every
detail; yet, none of them were proclaiming truth. It was
oppressive for me personally to be in St. Peter's in the Vatican--it is
such a waste of space and resources. It was stiff and rigid, with
a haunting sense of death and despair. There was nothing joyful
about it. In conversing with Clara we also found out that there
are no BBFI churches or missionaries there. Bottom line, they
need
missionaries! There was jaw-dropping art and such sincere
devotion; yet there was no truth--it makes my heart ache when I think
about it.
If you would like to see some of my pictures let me know and I will give you the link to my snapfish...
-mri
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| Spring Break begins tomorrow! I am headed out tomorrow evening to
see a bit of Italy. It will be a brief trip, but I am sure that
it will be incredible. We will mainly be in Rome, with a quick
stop in Florence and Venice. I am thinking of shoving something
else in on our last free day, but not sure what to do yet. It's
going to be amazing!
Looking forward to some incredible pictures (and excited for some warmer weather!) Please keep us in your prayers.
-mri
ps-Grandma, hope the changes make it clearer! I love you!
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