3/21/14-3/22/14 - Days 17-18

I'm finally home and it's wonderful :)

Happiness

• I like conferences
• Yesterday and today I attended the NACFLA (North American Christian Foreign Language Association) conference at Wheaton College. Basically it's just a couple dozen foreign language teachers who get together annually to present papers they've written, etc. This year the theme was immigration. I am taking a Spanish class on immigration, so the professor of that class (who also was the professor who went with us to Peru) asked if any of us students wanted to go. I said yes (especially since it basically meant a free ride home for spring break and being able to attend a conference for free) and I'm glad I did. Jenny Yang (author of Welcoming the Stranger--a great book about the immigration debate from a Christian perspective) gave the keynote speech which was amazing, and it was great meeting professors from other colleges and hearing some interesting presentations. This is the second conference I've attended this semester and I've really liked them both. It's a great way to meet new people, have good discussions, and learn lots of new things. I am also excited to attend the Festival of Faith and Writing in April at Calvin. I left the conference feeling very enlightened but also convicted to really go out and do something. We'll see if anything comes of it :)
• I love my family!
• I got to see my mom, dad, stepdad, and sister today so it was a pretty great day. My afternoon was full of laughter, games (Huggermugger, Clue, Triominoes, and Coda), and good food (lunch at the conference; Giordano's stuffed pizza, salad, and cheesecake for dinner). It's so great to be home and see them all again!

Bible Reading: Mark 1:16-39; Luke 5:1-39

The beginning of the first passage tells of Jesus telling Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, and John to come and follow him. I've always been amazed by how quickly the scripture tells that they literally dropped everything and followed Jesus. It makes me wonder what they left behind and how they knew right away that this was a guy worth giving up your family and past for and worth following. Then it tells of Jesus casting out demons and healing people. It ends by saying that Jesus travelled throughout Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.

The second passage tells of Jesus performing a number of miracles and healing people. He tells Simon Peter and the others to cast their nets and they catch a ton of fish. He heals a man who had an advanced case of leprosy. But often he would go into the wilderness to pray. Then he healed the paralyzed man and told him to take up his mat and walk. Then there is the well-known verse 5:32 which says, "I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough." Pretty amazing stuff!

3/20/14 - Day 16

Finally on Spring Break! All my classes are done and won't start back up again for another 11 days :)

Day 16 of Happiness

• Being done!
• I know it's not the end of the semester or anything, but it's been a long and busy number of weeks, so I'm really looking to having some time off this spring break to relax and hang out with my family. I'm not quite home yet, but it still makes me really happy knowing that I don't have to go to class tomorrow!
• Speaking in Spanish
• My Spanish prof and I drove to Wheaton today for a conference on immigration that's going on this weekend. We talked in Spanish for the entire car ride (and we did actually talk for the whole car ride) which was super fun. After going to Peru my conversation skills have definitely improved a lot and have seemed to stick around even now, 3 months after I've been back. It was even weird switching back to English once we got to the conference. 

Bible Reading: Luke 4:16-30

This is the passage where Jesus returns to Nazareth and goes to the synagogue and reads from the scrolls of Isaiah. At first the people who were there were amazed at first, but later they became furious, mobbed him, and took him to the edge of a hill and almost pushed him off the cliff.

3/19/14 - Day 15

One more day of class! I've finished all my homework and I'm pretty much all packed. Now I just have to sit through my classes tomorrow. Then I'll be heading to Wheaton for a conference and then home on Saturday. I can't wait :)

Day 15 of Happiness

• All packed and ready!
• Usually I don't enjoy packing very much, but since I know it means I'm going home, it made me really happy and excited. It's been a while since I've been home so I'm really looking forward to it.
• Puddle jumping
• Today was a pretty gray, rainy day. But my friend and I didn't really mind it and we had fun jumping in puddles on the way back from lunch.

Bible Reading: John 4:43-54

This passage tells about Jesus travelling through Galilee. He is asked by a government official in Capernaum to heal his son because he was very sick and about to die. Jesus then asks, "Must I do miraculous signs and wonders before you people will believe in me?" But Jesus tells the man that his son will live. Later the man finds out that his son is just fine and that his fever had suddenly disappeared at exactly the same time that Jesus had told him his son would live. How could anyone not believe in Jesus after a miracle like that? But I still understand Jesus' frustration that it often takes a miraculous sign for us humans to believe in him. We should trust and believe in Him even if he doesn't perform miracles.

3/18/14 - Day 14

Day 14 of Happiness

• Being done with my homework and classes for the day
• As I've mentioned before, Tuesdays are my fullest, hardest days. So basically I was just really happy when everything was over and turned in and I could just come back to my room and relax.

Bible Reading: John 4:1-42

This passage was about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well and offering her living water.

3/17/14 - Day 13

Spring Break is just a couple days away and no one feels like doing work (or at least I don't think I'm the only one...). Please pray for me that I will be able to focus and get everything done that I need to before I leave on Thursday. I can't wait to come home and see my family and have a break from school for a while :)

Day 13 of Happiness

• Spanish conversation groups
• This semester I am a conversation group leader for some students in Spanish 102. Basically they meet with me for half an hour each week and we work on pronunciation, speaking skills, review what they've been learning in class, etc. I have super great students and they always make me smile :)

Bible Reading: John 3:22-36; Luke 3:19-20

The first passage is about when one of John the Baptist's disciples comes and tells him that the man John had said was the Messiah was also baptizing people and that everyone was going to him instead of to John and his disciples. Instead of getting mad that Jesus was "stealing his business," John says that he is not the Messiah, but he is here to prepare the way for Him. And that He has come from above is greater than anyone else and everyone should believe in Him. Then the verses in Luke just tell of John the Baptist being imprisoned by Herod.

3/16/14 - Day 12

This weekend and this day have gone by super fast, but I only have one more week of classes before Spring Break so that's exciting! Today was one of those crisp, chilly days, but the sun was out and the sky was blue and it was beautiful :)

Day 12 of Happiness

• Ice cream and good conversation
• This afternoon I went out to eat ice cream (even though it was around 20 degrees outside) with my professor and some of the girls from the Honors English class I took first semester my freshman year. I don't have classes with them anymore really because they're all English majors, so I always enjoy our occasional get-togethers. It's nice to catch up with them and the conversation is always great and filled with laughter. And the ice cream was really yummy :)

Bible Reading: John 3:1-21

This is the passage where Nicodemus comes to talk with Jesus. I really liked this passage and I even read it twice. It just makes a lot of sense, even thought it is talking about the kind of abstract concept of being "born again." Jesus tries to explain to Nicodemus about how the Holy Spirit can give new life from heaven. 

I found a lot of the verses very full of truth. I thought I'd share a couple.

• "'The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.'" --John 3:5
• "'I assure you, I am telling you what we know and have seen, and yet you won't believe us. But if you don't even believe me when I tell you  things that happen here on earth, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven?'" --John 3:11-12
• "'There is no judgement awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. Their judgement is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants.'" --John 3:18-21

3/13/14-3/15/14 - Days 9-11

Sorry it's been a couple of days! I've been busy with homework and friend stuff and honestly just forgetful. So here's a 3-day combined post and hopefully I'll be back to posting at least a little bit everyday after this.

Happiness

• Some more nice weather :)
• Good lunch conversation
• The two days ago (I think), one of Tiaira's friends joined us at our lunch table and we spent the whole meal talking and debating about books and movies. Now that's a topic I could go on about forever :)
• Craig's Cruisers and Applebee's with our brother floor
• Last night we had a floor date with our brother floor and we went to Craig's Cruisers and played laser tag and did go karts. Afterwards we went to Applebee's for half off apps (appetizers are half price after 10pm). It was really fun and nice to hang out with the guys (and girls). 

Bible Reading: John 1:19-2:25
This passage tells of John the Baptist and Jesus and the first disciples. Then it goes on to Jesus' first miracle at the wedding at Cana where he turned water into wine. After that is the story of Jesus chasing the merchants and money changers out of the temple.