And a lovely Thursday night to you all!! It’s approaching the time when I should be going to bed…but no, writing a bit would be *far* more fun! Tonight is the first night I’ve had by myself in quite some time…and that’s not a bad thing, but a little rest and relaxation is most definitely appreciated!! And so you may be wondering what I’ve been up to these past few days…but before I get to that, time for a little announcement. I have my USA return date…April 4th it will be! And sadly there won’t be any time to visit Florida, but I WILL have an approximately six hour layover in Houston! So any of you in Houston that have a few spare hours that day…just saying. Oh and wait a second. I never mentioned where I’m going, did I? Well, Oklahoma City it is! At least…for a few months. Apparently on May 2nd I’ll be receiving word on where my more “permanent” assignment is. But it’s a bit odd…a few months ago I was thinking that I was definitely looking forward to being back in the States…but now that I have my departure date, I feel strangely sad. Or maybe not so strange! Just thinking about leaving Aberdeen now…and not leaving the city, really, but the people. I mean, sure – I’ll miss the sweet narrow streets of Aberdeen embracing me close and the way the sun sets through the perfectly blue northern sky and the chill air’s touch on my cheek and the twinkling of the morning star as I drive in to work…and being reminded every time I step outdoors of the beauty of the earth that the LORD has made…but that is not all. And see, I’m trying to postpone my sorrow at leaving by not writing about what I’ll miss the most. I’ll miss the friends that the Lord my God has given me here…the church so providentially placed before me…the late nights and the early mornings and the coffee conversations and the cinema moments and the wonder and joy at sharing my life with such dear friends…Aiysha in her many distracting ways(I’m pretty confident in saying that we’ve had some pretty radically awesome conversations..)…Steven in his total awesomeness(we may have far too much fun together, but is that a bad thing, hm??? Oh God’s blessed me with his friendship)…Anna in her sweet intensity and joy(oh but we have a glorious time discussing the goodness of the Lord together….that He would bless such fallen ones as us!!)..and well…I could keep going, but it would take a while to get through everyone! Just know this – God is good. And He has blessed me exceedingly. As always. And then…well my church. Gilc is a place filled with people longing to glorify God and teaching the Word and reaching out to Aberdeen around…and it is beautiful. A place where the truth is preached mightily(went through the first half of Jeremiah 7 last Sunday evening. Yeah. That was a bit intense…Jeremiah was told to stop praying for the people…because God would not hear him, for His people had abandoned Him for that which does not save and for gods which do not move and for things which do not satisfy. And so the God of the universe prepares His wrath. Although his patience is exceedingly great, it will not last forever. And..yeah). A place where our glorious Jesus Christ is exalted.

And new paragraph time, neh? Because I did intend for this to be an actual update of what I’ve been up to lately…and I’ve failed miserably at that and instead turned it into random musings! But, I should stop thinking about leaving Aberdeen, since I have a good month and a half before I have to go! And that time will be spent glorifying the Lord, I so declare. And enjoying His goodness!

And now I have very little energy left for writing(or rather, little desire…since my writing muse has been used up on the previous! And my emotions are spent…), so it appears that the afore promised update will be a bit…er, short. ANYWAYS. Last Friday night, went down with some of the guys to Arbroath, where we were having our Gilc Young Adult Weekend Away trip, huzzah!! We started off having a good dinner together(must have been about 30-40 of us? I’m rubbish with estimating head counts) and then playing some intense challenge-type games. We were all in teams and each competed in separate tasks. Mine was to roll marbles across a table trying to catch the sticky tape at the end. Yeah. It’s harder than it sounds. Anyway, my team fell behind quickly, but came back to make it 3rd(out of 8 teams). Good show. And after that, a few of us stayed up for a while talking and chilling…

Next day, I meant to get up early! Alas, this did not happen, but made it down to the dining room for breakfast(the food all week was ridiculously good. Seriously. For Sunday dinner we had roast beef, potatoes, vegetables, Yorkshire puddings…cobbler…ice cream…and that was just one meal) and then later saw Steven and Anna! They couldn’t come the night before because of work so was most glad to see them arrive. We then had our first seminar…and to save time, I’ll try not to give you a blow-by-blow account of his teaching, but it was a most encouraging and exhorting time of realizing how important theology is to our walk with Christ(a good theology is critical in three areas…our sanctification, our service towards others, and our worship – yeah, that pretty much covers everything). Later that day, a bunch of us went on a walk along the coast of the North Sea…and oh it was beautiful. I can’t really describe it…other than to say that looking at the sea lap up to the cliffs below our feet as the clouds descended upon the distant horizon in splendor…I could have spent all afternoon sitting on the edge of the cliffs watching the sea(me and Steven climbed down to the edge to the great chagrin of some of the girls there…) but alas, I was with a group and so had to rejoin the party soon enough..

And walking back along the coast as the sun began to set and making sweet conversation with Anna, praying mightily and rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord. That’s a pretty good afternoon, no? After getting back to the conference center, Anna owned me in ping-pong(yes, I will admit it. 21-14, 21-18 I believe. Ow) That evening was more fun times engaging in costume hilarity(the theme was “Farm”. I was wearing my Iowa Hawkeye jersey shirt. Get it? Iowa? Farm? Yes? Yes) and more games. Stayed up late again…got some pool in and more talking. The next Sunday morning was our last breakfast together…then worship service time! And finally we all had to make our way home. If you’ll notice, I accelerated near the end there, but be assured that there was much more awesomeness than I’m revealing here!!

And now we come to Sunday afternoon, where we got back home to Aberdeen about 4pm or so. Made it to Gilc for evening service(for the aforementioned Jeremiah sermon of sobering intensity) and rejoicing with my fellow brothers and sisters(sidenote – read Psalm 130 that morning..sang it in the evening…oh God is awesome!)…and then me and Aiysha hung out for a bit(first time we’d seen each other in ages!!). The next day I was quite exhausted(work was tough, I’ll admit. My body cried for sleep). But Monday night did I sleep? Of course not!! When do I ever listen to my body, anyway? Steven came over for some Unit-watching action(Unit = an amazingly awesome special ops Army squad show. How did I miss out on this one??). Steven has the German version but thankfully we’re able to hear it in English. Anyways, we finished Season 1 on Monday and started in on Season 2, all the while enjoying some classic chicken caesar salad action…

So Tuesday night did I go to bed early? Of course not, once again! I think I mentioned this in my previous entry, but me and Aiysha hit up the cinema that night. Wednesday night was my weekly Starbucks dinner night(and by dinner I mean coffee. Shhh) and then worship/study/prayer at Gilc! We went over Romans 8:22-39. Just saying, Romans 8-11(particularly 8) have been some of my favorite chapters EVER these past few months(one of these days I’ll have to actually write up a mini-essay on that chapter..)…and so yet again, my Father continues to bless me. It was a glorious night.

And tonight? I rest. Can I write more? I can. Should I write more? Hm…if I actually want sleep, maybe not! Do you all want me to write more?? (No answer required)

But as I sip my mint chocolate tea and ponder on my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…I can’t help but give glory. And I think I shall do a bit more of that in the privacy of my own head apart from this coldly glaring computer screen.

Love y’all.