It’s official folks, our cross cultural immersion trip for 2008 is taking us to Madagascar. That is so amazing and terrifying all at the same time. We leave from Saskatoon on January 3rd and arrive in Antananarivo on January 4th. This is so exciting. I am looking forward to experiencing something like I have never known before.

Our first week of classes has finally come to a close. Only 11 more to go in this term, but who’s counting!! We are trying a new thing in chapel this year with the introduction of International Vespers on Thursday. This week we had African Vespers, next week is Asian, the following week is South American and then it is North American followed by a pot luck (how lutheran!). I had hoped to share with you some photos from this frist International Vesper service but I am trying to figure out how to resize them from such a huge file to something a bit more managable for the computer. Bear with me, I will get it figured out sooner or later.

Blessings!

Well, yes here I am on my knees…..it has been qutie a time since I have entered a post. To you Larry, I apologize. What can I say except that well I dropped off the edge of the world! But…..I am back. It is a new year of seminary; one filled with many opportunities for growth.
I am now in second year – or middler as we are known here – and it is interesting watching the entering students find their way and greeting the returning interns who are both glad to be back and wishful for this year to be over. I wonder if that is how I will feel when my turn comes.

Summer was good, although I found that I pushed myself to hard. I was trying to do a reading course and recouperate from such an eventful first year. By August my body and mind gave up. My Academic Advisor here calls it a delayed reaction from Dad’s death. All I know is that I burned out, well that in conjunction with an impacted wisdom tooth that required surgery and large doses of antibiotics all set me back. But, grace abounds here and for that I am grateful.

Yes, it is a new year and as Arnold Schwartzneger (I am not really sure how to spell his name) says……” I’ll be back!”

Well, i realized that I haven’t been keeping up with this blog and my humblest apologies goes out to anyone who checks this on a regular basis – that would be you Larry.
I am dumbfounded that the end of school is fast approaching. I can’t believe it!! I am procrastinating working on a theology paper becasue I keep finding much more interesting things to do. I can not wait for term to be over.

It’s an interesting time right now at the sem. Emotions are really high as people are realizing that life is changing for them. The fourth year’s are preparing for graduation and calls to parishes, the second year’s are getting ready to go on internship, and we first year’s are readying ourselves for CPE placements or finding jobs or taking the summer language classes. In our Friday morning Narrative Hermeneutics class the presenters were all emotional as they (myself included) were coming to terms with the impending changes. My biggest change for next year is I am moving in with my mother. She gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse and besides, I like my mother – we get along well and understand each other. Now, telling my friends that I had change plans on them was a different matter. They were understanding saying I had to do what I had to do but really I felt bad that I had let them down because we had been planning to move in together for a whole year now. I hope that somehow they will forgive me. So this is my public confession.

Anyhow, I am looking forward to returning home and resting in May. If I don’t post until I get home please don’t think I am lazy or stupid – I have 5 more big assignments left to do in two weeks – so go easy on me eh?