April 27, 2009

Unfortunately I wasn't able to do a proper blog Saturday, which is my goal every week, and of course more often if I have the time. :) We're dependent on our neighbors' wireless, which is on and off.

The term has officially started today. It's the equivalent of starting a new semester. New students coming in, old students moving back after a 4 week vacation, etc. This is the last term of the academic year, so many of our friends who came here in the fall will be wrapping up their studies this term. The term ends June 24th, which is really coming up fast.

The international work this term is studying some Psalms- all 3 groups are doing the same psalms. We're learning a lot from the psalms already. Understanding the OT well is a key to truly, deeply understanding JC's sacrifice, and Gd's character, so I'm looking forward to this term. We go to the 5pm service, where we're studying through Leviticus, which is SO interesting I can't even describe it! If you've ever thought that the OT and NT weren't related, or that Gd had changed, that is simply not true. When we study the OT through the lens of the NT we see clearly that they are one and the same. In a book like Leviticus it is clear that Gd relates to us at the same level now as he did then, though the means were different then than they are now that JC has come. We understand abt JC's sacrifice on a much deeper level when we understand the writings about the sacrifices and what they meant for a person of that time, and what they represented. If you've ever thought that Leviticus is just one long book of "this is how to do the ....offering" then you've missed the real depth of knowledge of the book.

We are so blessed by the teaching at StAG. We feel better prepared now to go farther afield than we were before, because we've rigorously studied through the OT and NT, and understand it more clearly. Since we expect to be teachers of Gd's word in other places, it's critical that we understand it well ourselves. I'm so looking forward to the rest of the series in Leviticus.

As I said, our 3 international groups are starting this week. Our first iBASE of the term is Wednesday. There were 20 new faces at the iBASE lunch, so we're hoping some will come along on Wednesday night. Our housemate, Zephyr, is part of iHUB, which is for the 20s and 30s, and they also start this week. There's an iHUB guest party at our house Sunday afternoon, so please pr that many new friends would come and that our house would be welcoming for them.

My photography business is going very well- growing slowly as I meet new contacts and take on new projects. I'm also doing a lot of volunteer work, which is generating great new ideas in new areas that I wouldn't have considered before. All very exciting. G's work is going well too, so we feel really quite blessed with peace and prosperity right now. We know that those are gifts from the father, and we just want to praise him for that.