Elder Wand

After crossing the border into Serbia, the bus stopped for the familiar smoke/bathroom/long coffee break. We cruise into the parking lot and as soon as we exit the bus, a couple of dogs are having a welcome party for us. It’s normal for dogs to just be chillin anywhere because a lot here are homeless. I couldn’t stand waiting in the warm restaurant because of the smoke. Side note, everyone smokes over here, the grannies, the business men, the teenagers and babies. I stepped outside into the cold and had this amazing ice cream bar bearing the Nestle Crunch name and walk around a tid-bit and see one of the welcoming party dogs that is a light colored dog. The dog’s radar goes off that someone has actually noticed it and comes towards me with a slight limp and I can’t do anything but bend down and give it a loving pet and talk in a stupid tone to it. The second dog comes up and I notice that even though it’s a dark colored dog, it looks just like the inverse of the first dog, but cowers to the offer of love.

I know that my personality is more like the first dog. Even when I’m hurt, I try to get the love that I can and open myself up. Before this life altering experience that we call college, I was the second dog, cowering from accepting that people really loved me, which ultimately led me to desperately reaching for Christ. It’s interesting how God can send us little messages that we would normally miss unless we just look a little deeper. I love verses about illumination in the Bible. To be illuminated by God’s presence and Christ’s death and know that we have light in this world of darkness, the lighter dog was illuminated by love, while the darker was scared to accept it. Wouldn’t you rather be illuminated by a Perfect Love?

As I have mentioned, I’m taking a History of Christianity class here in Bulgaria with a professor that I was super skeptical about. I have learned a great deal, not only about the history of Christianity, but also about non-believers. According to the most recent census of Bulgaria, around 80% of the country claims to be Orthodox Christian. If 80% of Bulgaria is truly Orthodox, I certainly do not see that statistic ringing true. Not everyone fills out the census though which makes it more like a sample and people may have simply checked a box to move to the next one in the form. Bulgaria seems so secular, especially among the younger people from my view. It’s a whole different ball game here than it is in the Bible Belt of America. A typical person, even sometimes an educated person, has a completely skewed vision of what Christianity is.

I have forgotten about the severity of hell until my dear friend Whitney posted a video from Hey Arnold about a ghost train and after viewing it, it kind of reminded me of having faith and the hideous doctrine article, and I remembered why we evangelize. Sometimes I get so caught up in…… everything else, I question or forget what the use of evangelization is for.

Predestination.

That’s been my semester focus, both personally and for a grade. I have to write a 14 page paper for class and have my presentation prepared Wednesday. This has been a very challenging thing for me to research, not because I can’t find information, but because both of the main ideologies/theologies associated with this topic are strongly Biblically based but very different. I only have to have the more heard of and familiar topics research finished for the presentation, which is Calvinism. The other part is Arminianism, but I haven’t done a ton of research on this doctrine yet. The paper will not be an opinion paper, but based on facts. Hopefully, I’ll do a decent job and if you would like to read this paper when I’m done, I have no problem shooting you an email. This is truly a difficult topic to explain, but all things in Christianity are not to be explained, which is where our faith in the Father comes into play.

I went to Macedonia this past weekend with Kelsi from Montana and Cody from Indiana. We decided to stay in Ohrid the whole weekend, which is on Lake Ohrid and one of the oldest lakes ever and Ohrid is also one of the oldest European settlements. I cannot even describe the beauty of this place. They’ve got a good share of Byzantine era churches and breathtaking sunsets every night, the ones that are pink. Unfortunately, there are some screaming birds and a creepy Skipper running around calling you a liar.

We set out Saturday morning to sight see and went up to an old church where they were digging around. Then we notice that there is a whole set of bones that they uncovered and a man that could speak English and very friendly asked us a few questions and came to find out that Kelsi is an archeology major and Cody is a minor. This man was the head of the dig and basically gives us a private tour of what’s going on in the dig. The excitement in their eyes was priceless and that will be a memory to never be forgotten because we saw a lot of great things. The reason for telling this story was because it’s incredibly convicting to me. God is the thing that I have the most passion for in my life, but has that been evident? I don’t feel like I’ve shown as much excitement about God to unbelievers as Kelsi and Cody showed about an old pot this whole semester.

I want to shine God through my life, but did I put a screen door over my life? Why isn’t everything easy in the Christian life? When I turn away from sinful things, I do it to show my love and dedication to God, not because I’m afraid of the consequences. If it was so easy to say no to everything, how could I really prove my love to Him?

Summer Plans!
Will it be CWE or internships with the Navs, Wycliffe, YWAM, WGM, or OM? I’m not sure, but I could use some prayers about this! Pray that I would finish all my applications soon and trust God in this decision.

Randoms:
-I saw HP7 in IMAX in Sofia, Bulgaria on opening day. I might have teared up and gotten scared a little.
-I have a Web Design test on Monday.
-I have Japanese roommates next semester.
-I have great roommates now from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
-I’m thinking about cutting all of my hair off. Thoughts?
-I need more music on my iPod.

I wish that I had kept my blog more up to date, because I just have so much that I want to say, but I don’t want to make this too long and unbearable to read.

Cold Hands

Back in Blagoevgrad.
Back in Class.
Back in Business.

If you ever go to Istanbul, be prepared. Prepared to spend money. All the little shops had beautiful things, beautiful little keepsakes and perfect presents. I liked Istanbul, but it wasn't stunning to me.

I did get to celebrate Halloween in Istanbul though, how many people do I know can say that? I was a "workout girl" due to lack of costume and trying to be creative. Everyone said I looked like someone from the Call on Me video even though I was totally wearing clothes haha. I enjoyed the night and the weekend and the girls I was with. On the bus back I met some kids and we were practicing my Bulgarian at 4 a.m. because they knew little English and I know little Bulgarian.

It reached freezing a couple of nights ago. It's cold in the morning, nice for about 3 hours in the day and then freezing at night, mountain life. I would like to maybe live in North Carolina or Colorado at some point. I enjoy this scenery.

Struggle. Being a Christian is a struggle. Being a student is a struggle. Not being in a familiar environment is a struggle. I love this experience and what God is showing me, but it isn't easy. I'm 20 and only lived a quarter of my life. To sit and think of how much more life I have to live is just crazy! I have so much more to experience and learn.

Recently, I heard about the site Total Frat Move and I started reading. It's sad to read, the fact that it's okay to treat girls like that and the girls don't mind and wear it proudly, the term "sorostitute". Apparel, money, cars, houses, etc. are everything on that site. Sometimes I take a step back and realize what world I'm in and man, I've really got to keep myself from being depressed or something. I pray that God makes my heart bigger for the people who don't know Christ, but sometimes it's too hard. Luckily, I know that it's not in my hands, but in His hands and what a burden I have released from me.

This post is rather scatterbrained in my opinion, but I'm having a rather scatterbrained day.

This is old news, but NEEDTOBREATHE and Lecrae released some pretty awesome albums recently. Go. Listen.

I Don't Feel Like I'm in a Different Country

I'm on my fall break and yet I'm stressing a lot about school. With a huge paper and presentation, design project, web design project, and the Bulgarian language and a project. On the side I have trips to plan, registering for next semester, dealing with ASU residence life, and my summer. It doesn't seem like much, but boy oh boy is it!

I started really praying last night about all these things. I see this as an opportunity to really lay my worries before God. One time I heard a woman say, "Look at your hands and see how small they are and what little you can do with them. Now, imagine God's hands and how big they are. He can take care of things much better than you or I can." Constantly I think of this wonderful picture. This may be one of the biggest things I still struggle with in my walk with God. The ability to put full trust in my almighty God to take care of things, the ability to back up and say that I truly can't do it on my own, because really, I can't.

On Tuesday we went to the city of Ephesus. It is so intact compared to some others ruins I've seen within the past couple of months. Paul really wanted to reach the people of Ephesus and after a couple of failed attempts he finally spends two years preaching to the people. I was where Paul sent a letter that is now in the Bible, to really stand back and think about that, is just..... wow. Besides the Biblical importance to me, I just can't get over how beautiful this city or any ancient city must have been. These buildings are just massive, decorated, and made of heavy marble. It makes realize how cheap we are, making things out of wood and concrete, I mean....... come on!

The thing that is consuming my mind the most is plans for next summer. I'm a planner and even though it's October, I still want to know what may be in store for next summer. I applied and interviewed for a job at a summer camp that I went to in high school and have been trying to work at for the past few summers, but it just hasn't been in God's plan. So, I got the job! Which is great news, but I'm not quite convinced I'm supposed to be there this summer. I'm praying a lot, so we'll see. The other option that I've decided to open the door for is an internship. I should be doing an internship, but this wouldn't be a typical internship because it involves two things I really enjoy doing. Journalism and pursuing God's purpose. There are a lot of missions organizations out there and most of the time, newsletters are being put together or other means of communication. I've emailed about nine organizations about the possibility of this, I've gotten 5 responses in 1 day. For this, I would have to raise support and move to a different place for the whole summer. It sounds like a good deal to me, but what does He want me to do. This will be eating at me for quite some time, so prayers are appreciated for my confusing summer opportunity and which to take.

I must be diligent today. I must be productive today. This is the theme for the day.


I'm so excited for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But, this picture..... Daniel Radcliffe, what are you doing?

The Fact That Everyone is Searching Speaks Volumes

I promise.
I haven't forgotten about you.
Distractions such as: illness, midterms, projects, planning, e-mailing, etc. has consumed my life for the past 2 weeks or so.
Here I am to update you on my life.

Let's back up and do a quick summary of what's been going on before these past few days that I can remember more vividly.

After my trip to Thessaloniki, I went to Plovdiv the following weekend. Plovdiv is a larger city in Bulgaria and quite nice in my opinion. We took a scenic train through the mountains and it literally took up the whole day. Kelsi and I stayed up through the whole ride viewing the trees and the small mountain villages, most others fell asleep. We talked about a lot of things and it was a good conversation and we also tried our small amount of Bulgarian language skills on some of the people on the train. It probably made the people cringe, but we tried! Finally we got into Plovdiv and made it to our hostel and then asked for a reference on somewhere to eat. We went to this small place and I had a chicken earthenware dish with a homemade cake, it was quite delicious. I've really decided to love Bulgarian culture, it's very.... cozy? We saw the sites and walked a bit and went back that Saturday.

The next week, I had many projects due and of course with stress to make sure they're finished, I was unseen during that time because I was glued to the computer or a book. I saw a presentation of a banjo and tamboura and it was...... interesting, but I missed that sound of a banjo. Lately I've been listening to the folk radio station through AOL, I would recommend it and also I've listened to the indie station on it. If I combined how much time I've spent listening to music throughout my life, how many years would it be?

I've been attempting to go to Croatia for a few weekends, but as you notice the usage of "attempting", I haven't gone yet. So, then I was considering Romania (in Bulgarian it's pronounced Romuhnyah) with a big group who was going to see Dracula's castle, but then I got sick. They all had a great time and apparently Brasov was beautiful with the fall foliage, but I got to sleep and stay in the main building working on a project on one of the prettier fall days I've seen. Throughout these few weeks I was having sort of a weird situation going on in my relationship with God. I really felt........ pointless. As if I wasn't being used, I wasn't trying hard enough to know Him or talk to Him and there was no encouragement. God so reminded me on that weekend of His beautiful love through His creation of nature. The weather had been rainy and gloomy, but on this day the sunset was incredibly moving. I'm walking back to the main building to work on my project from taking a break to go get some dinner and I looked out and saw the greatest painting. Colors of pink, blue, gray, white, purple, gold, and orange were in the sky and just below was green, orange, red, and yellow all seen in one eyes view with the sound of children around. God knows to romance me with nature, He gave me a beautiful present that day, a lovely memory of the place of Bulgaria in a time I really needed it.

We've moved on to the week before this one now. During this week, I didn't feel like it meant much because I was looking forward to the current week that I'm in, fall break, the escape from school. I finished up some projects, the server/internet/power went out, I interviewed for a position to work at Camp War Eagle next summer, and I got to know my roommates a little better. I went to lunch with a girl from St. Petersburg named Roxy and what a beautiful person she is. The fire that she has for God is unexplainable, you can see a light turn on in her eyes when she speaks about Him. She's been going through a hard time at AUBG, as do most in a new place. I hope God used me to really speak to her and encourage her, because He used her to help me.

"Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame!" -Song of Solomon 8:6

It is currently my fall break for a good week and a half. Last Friday to next Tuesday and oh how I needed it and how much He has blessed it so far. I took a bus from Blagoevegrad to Istanbul and it was a whopping 12 hours with 2 of those hours at border control. We stopped so many times and I didn't think we'd ever make it, but the good thing is that I never had to worry about having to go to the bathroom and holding it on the bus. In eastern Europe, there are "turkish hole" bathrooms or you have to pay for the toilet. After crossing the border I had to pay 50 stoteenkee for a bathroom and to my horror, it was a hole, but then I looked around a bit more and alas I found a toilet. I vowed to never pay for a hole.

With little sleep I board the plane to Izmir in Istanbul and totally pass out and wake up when we're landing, how convenient. In Izmir, I have an aunt and uncle who live here with their 2 children. After finding out that I was studying in Bulgaria, I saw it was so close to Turkey and contacted that and here I am blogging from Turkey. On Friday upon my arrival we went to a potluck style dinner with some of their friends and it was my first time to have home made food in 2 months and I was.... fully satisfied. On Saturday we didn't do too much, but that was nice. Most of the students studying abroad have gone on these huge 3 country trips and I'm staying in one place with family and relaxing which is really just what I need. The thing is, my aunt and uncle are followers of Christ and really great examples and so this has been the most encouraging environment I've been in quite a while, possibly even since spring semester as ASU.

On Sunday I decided to go ahead and tag along to the turkish church service with them. Although it was much different than what I'm used to, it was beautiful. Upon walking in I met a few women and although there was a language barrier, it's always interesting seeing how much you can love someone you barely know just because you are in Christ's family. I could see the fellowship working in a very healthy way. During worship, it was completely in Turkish and there were some worship songs that were originally written in English that had been translated and I knew the English meaning, so it wasn't totally foreign. The passion and realness in these people when worshipping was overwhelming. They had tears and quivering voices and it makes me sad to look back to how worship can be in America, we have so much pride and don't want to seem too into it, although I've always been so respectful of the people who will break down and cry out to God. He also very much provided for me in this service today. There was a speaker who had to use a translator who speaks English, so I understood the Word and my aunt and uncle told me that they never have English speakers, so I was really blessed.

Studying abroad and being here has really let me see that God is so big, SO BIG. For some stupid reason I thought God only understood English, well not literally and I can't explain it, but truly I've understood that God is multi-lingual and it's so crazy to me that He understands all of us. Because.... I can't understand everyone. I sometimes think my brain is only made in English, but really my brain thinks just like everyone else does and I have to train it to say things in a particular language and finally, FINALLY understanding this has really been a break through for me. This is a strange thing that I've realized to explain and I wish I could sit down and really explain it in its entirety, but I surely cannot in the small post.

Open your eyes and see what He wants you to see, because I promise that He has so much to show you.

Now, I have a lovely cooked meal waiting for me and I'm going to fully enjoy it.

Here a few pictures though:


Grandma Pancake with Grand Grandma Sauce on a traditional Bulgarian Plate.


A Gypsy Woman.

Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours

For the past 3-4 days, it's been raining here in Blagoevgrad. It's only rained one other time and so it's been great weather here and typically I can appreciate the rain. But, this rainy week so far, hasn't been appreciated in my book. I think it may be because I've been so caught up in studying and having to get things done, that I haven't been able to take those great rainy day naps.

I've been to one lecture today and most of the time I come out of that class a little disheartened. Today though, was just not good in any way. Christianity has had a huge role in the way society is shaped today, it's true, no denying it. But, to think of it only as that, as many do here, is just hard for me to comprehend. I believe in the Bible and it's entirity with every single part of me. I just can't imagine me wanting to know so much and believe in Christianity with the intensity that I do, just because it's a cultural thing. After being saved, I just knew that I wanted to pursue God and put everything secondary to Him. I don't understand how my interests could change that drastically from just plain old information, which is why I believe what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 of us becoming a new creation. Looking back, I really see that something had to change within me quickly for me to really be that faithful in the Bible.


Last weekend I went to Thessaloniki with a girl and it was really a nice weekend. We only went for one night because it's only 4 hours away and we saw the city and I liked it a lot more than Athens. On the way to Thessaloniki on the train, Chrissy (the girl I traveled with) and I met a guy who goes to school there and was traveling back from Moskow and we could tell he spoke english and so we talked to him the whole way there and it was really entertaining. He told us that we were the first Americans he had ever met and although he took english in classes he said that he learned english from "cereal boxes and south park" and then Chrissy and I were slightly worried about what kind of english he knew haha. We also went to part of a arts festival that was going on called the Dimitria festival, but unfortunately we went on not such a great night. A band called Basement was playing and to me sounded like a mix of post-rock and Kammerflimmer Kollektief, which....... don't mix. It was the weirdest hour of my whole life. Overall, the trip was a success and a nice getaway.

I'm considering many options on how to spend my next few weekends here. In 3 weeks, I'm heading to Izmir to see my aunt and uncle in Turkey for about a week and then spending some time in Istanbul, totally stoked. I can't believe how fast time has gone by here, before I know it, it will be time to get back on a plane to come back to Arkansas.

I have been so blessed in my life, so blessed. I really don't believe I could be where I am today without God having something to do with it. I originally didn't really look extremely forward to going to Arkansas State, but now I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. I would never have imagined to study abroad, but here I am. I'm only 20, but I feel like I've seen so much and then I look at my parents life and I realize how much more I have to go. It'll go by fast, but it doesn't feel like it will. I want to use up my time wisely, excluding my few lovely naps which are time well spent on occasion, and just live it up for God. Sometimes it's hard being a Christian, but I can always at least say I'm happy, happy for the sacrifice of Christ. Even if I'm going through a tough time, I can definitely always rely on my Creator to dazzle me.

Life is good, even though it has some hard times.

I got a birthday card from my mom (even though it was a month ago, it's okay because of the mail lag) and it made my day yesterday and also reminded me of how I should be sending postcards.

I can't wait to see you guys back home and just eat cookies with you. But, I'll miss the people here more than imaginable because I don't know if I'll ever see them again.

Do you have any new suggestions for good music?
Lately I've been listening to:
-Trampled by Turtles
-Mumford and Sons
-The Tallest Man on Earth
-Chad Vangaalen
-Radiohead
-Big Band Jazz: Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington

One More Thing:
I'm improving my Bulgarian skills.

Learn. Plan. Realize.

So, I'm here listening to Yann Tiersen on a rainy day. We don't have many rainy days in Bulgaria, so I think that maybe I'll actually take a nap today. I do miss my dark room with great sheets from last year though, I think a nap will be a slightly difficult task here with my terrible pillow, Nemo sheets, and blinds that are kind of pointless due to the mass amount of light that comes through them.

I know a ton of people, especially the Americans here at AUBG getting sick and I haven't gotten sick yet and consider myself extremely lucky. My mom used to think that I got sick way too often, I guess I should stay in Bulgaria where I don't get sick.

I've been in Bulgaria for a little over a month and can't believe that it's gone by so fast! I have some short projects due in a couple of weeks and trying to tackle those in my down time. But, I've been dealing with intense emailing to ASU about financial aid and all of that and it's taking up way too much of my time. Planning trips is quite time consuming as well. This weekend I'm planning to go to Thessaloniki and Kavala/Phillipi. It's only like a 4 hour venture and where Paul preached. Being somewhere from biblical times is quite an experience and God used Paul's life so greatly and what an honor it would be to be somewhere that Paul has been, but sometimes when I put so much emphasis on the fact that "Paul has been here" I feel as though I'm making him higher than every one else who has shared their faith. I suppose it's because we just have some great documentation from Paul's life that it's easier to know who he is.

This past weekend I went to Varna in Bulgaria, it's on the coast of the Black Sea. We went to the beach, but it was way to cold for me to go swimming. I got to know the few girls I went with a little better and lately I've just been feeling like it's incredibly hard to show some people that I truly love them, yet sticking to my faith without them feeling like I may judge them. I think that has been something God has been showing me a lot, is to properly balance these things.

In Varna:
-I finally had some hummus in Europe, it's strange that I can't find it anywhere.
-I bought some Christmas presents.
-I saw way too much at the beach.
-I ate both a pasta dish and pizza in one sitting.
-We spent 3 hours looking for a hostel. Joy.
-I went to a Zara store, but quickly left because the temptation to spend a lot of money was too much.
-We successfully got into 2 quarrels at restuarants over the bill.
-We looked for things that we could never find.

I read a few chapters of Matthew recently and wow, I've forgotten how powerful the gospels can be. Typically if I want to look for something to enlighten my view on something I don't go to the gospels, but I have just been so convicted. I also feel like I could be pouring more of my life into people instead of doing so much studying and traveling. I really want to get to know some Bulgarians or basically not Americans, but this is so hard because of my traveling on the weekends. I've been praying for some opportunity, so we'll see what God is going to do with it.

There is an American here who is actively seeking her relationship with God and I would just like to assure you back home that I at least have one person that I see quite often to get encouragement from and be vulnerable with. We had a great conversation the other day about what we've been dealing with and sharing our outlooks on God and life. I really just thank God for her, her ambition also really pushes me and I've learned a lot from her. I've met a few really amazing girls who are my sisters in Christ and the fact that they are believers in this school quite amazes me, because it would be hard for me to be here for 4 years without the kind of body of Christ that I have back at home.

I've been realizing so much about the world and how naive we are in America. I though I was okay, but dang, after coming here, I just had no idea of how different it is. I also have been here without a cell phone the whole time and strangely it's been okay. Americans are known as being friendly, but I think that actual relationships mean more here. I rarely see someone texting, instead I see people with people here. They are indepedent, but also dependent on each other. We are independent and only dependent on our technology. It's been kind of refreshing. Someone said that they were curious as to if upon arrival back in the U.S. if since being here they could resist from using their phone as much and I replied probably not. I honestly believe that I would never really see any of my friends without being able to text them and see what they're doing. Here, I just stop by and then we end up talking. It's so different in that way to me.

I already have to start thinking about what classes to take next semester.... What the heck? I just got to this school and have to start thinking about when I go back. I also may have a paid internship next semester, which would be AWESOME. Summer plans are also needing to be thought about. Sometimes, life is just a bunch of planning. I really just sometimes don't want to plan anymore. High school is a plan for college, college is a plan for a career, dating is a plan for marriage, blah blah blah. Anyway........

I think being here, I've had to put a lot more into my relationship with God, which is worth every minute of preparing to come here. I've been growing and seeing what God can do and He really just puts me in awe.

Prayers are welcomed and I can of course still be praying for anyone, if you have any requests, let me know.

Take advantage of the fall, it's the most beautiful time of the year to me.

Pick My Brain.

Let's just say this is my life:

So, at least 4 times a week, I enjoy to drink a little alchohol. Sometimes so much that I can't remember the previous night. I also constantly worry about guys. I worry about which ones want to dance with me or if I might end up kissing the guys. I don't know what to tell them when I see them in daylight, I don't know if he wants more than that dance and possible kiss. I most of the time try so hard to make sure I look good, but deep down I never think that I'm pretty enough. All of this consumes my mind so much that sometimes it's hard to concentrate on my studies. But, I'd be a failure if I didn't do my studies and I just want to be known as a girl who does good in school, but also knows how to have fun. Little does everyone know, I'm a mess.

OR

So, I love to look like the good girl. I have a reputation to uphold. I don't drink, I only kiss guys every once in a while, I do decent in school. I severely care what everyone thinks, but I don't give that impression, I tell everyone that I just don't care, but I really do want to know what your thinking. Sometimes I do just want to let loose, but I want to end up with a decent guy when I'm older so that I can be a perfect wife and not be mistreated. Therefore, I try and respect myself, but all of this act now is to get what I want later in life. Sometimes I sit and ask, when will the act end and when will my real self come out. Who am I?


So many peope look down upon taking God's offer to be His child and live their lives in a way that can cause much more stress than I'm so happy to never deal with. Saying no is hard, saying no is hard..... but, worth it to me. One, it's glorifying to God to turn away from sin for Him and two, I don't have to worry about consequences. God gives us His law to protect us, not to hold us back. This is the view that so many of us do not understand. When we were young, didn't your parents prevent you from doing things and now looking back, you see that those rules were put in place to make us a happier person and maybe even to keep us alive? And it was all because they love us. God loves us and that's why we have His law. I can't even imagine the stress I would have if I wasn't a Christian, I feel so at peace and safe in my faith for many reasons, but this is a pretty great reason.

Today I took some time and read Matthew 5. Wow! Talk about a hard realization. I already knew everything that was being said, but to sit down and read and study it again was so convicting.
Jesus sat and told His people:
-Blessed are the poor in spirit (the humble and seen as insignificant) have the kingdom of heaven!
-Blessed and enviably happy are mourners (for the lost) because we will be comforted!
-Blessed are the meek (mild, patient, and long suffering) because we will inherit the earth!
-Blessed, enviably fortunate, happy, and spiritually prosperus are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because we will be SATISFIED!
-Blessed are the merciful, because we will recieve mercy!
-Blessed are the pure in heart, because we can see God!
-Blessed, happy, enviably fortunate, and sprirtually prosperous are we whenever we are persecuted falsely on Christ's account!

Notice how blessed we are. I have a hard time with thinking that I'm blessed to be persecuted, but in 1 Peter it says that when we are persecuted it's okay because we bear the name of Christ. I would much rather be persecuted to know Christ rather than not know Him at all. The part about Followers being enviably fortunate because we want righteous is so true. When people find that I don't drink, do drugs, have sex, most people really respect me for it. I've even had people tell me I'm lucky. But, the few that persecute me for it, let them.... because maybe I can tell them of the peace and happiness I have from knowing my creator.

If you are a follower, I'm challenging you to be bold and so strong in your faith. We are the salt of the earth, if salt wasn't potent, what would be it's purpose? Nothing. We must be so into God and unashamed that we are lights. You never really notice a dimmed light, it allows darkness to come in. Be a bright light! Shining for God! Also, be sure that you're understanding that there is so much to God that you can't focus on one thing. I'm not asking for you to be strong in believing one aspect of the Bible. Shine with a maturity and understanding of the Bible, with love, with compassion, and pray for the Holy Spirit to help you understand.

Now that I've been in Bulgaria, I don't know how any Christians can take their relationship with God so casually back in America. Even I took it somewhat casually. You cannot make this faith to suit you, you must mold yourself to the Bible, to what God intended you to be. We so often think it's okay to ignore some parts of the Word, some commandments, to only focus on some, but really we must understand that it is all so darn important. I see here the need for the gospel and yet this is a reached people group. What about the groups who have no idea? My heart aches for this.

I watched a movie a couple nights ago called The Other Side of Heaven and it was based on the memoirs of a mormon missionary to islands called Tonga. Now, I do not believe that what the Church of Latter-Day Saints preach is right, but I will give them respect for their evangelism practices. I was watching this movie and just so disappointed in the lack of people at home that I know who would be too scared or just simply do not want to go out into the world to share the Gospel. I believe that we are all told to go, the only time we should stay, is whenever we are called to stay. One part of the movie really sticks in my mind, the missionary asked one of the locals as to why he believed what he said and the local said because he came an awful long way for him to tell a lie if he was lying. People can see that we truly care about them if we travel a long way to tell them about God.

I think that Bulgaria is a beautiful country, but I know that if I had to just rely for my satisfaction of the trip to just come from my travels, parties, etc. I would get used to this place fast. But, I have a focus in life, to glorify God and trust me, that never gets boring.

Although I am talking about all these things with somewhat an authoritative tone, the truth is that I'm not worthy to. I sin so much and today I had another realization of it and I was pretty down on myself. But, I know that because I'm repenting of these things, God will forgive me because of what Jesus did on the cross. I'm reading Search for Significance and it's allowed me to see how much of a problem my pride is. I don't want to admit it, but sometimes I think I'm better than others, which is so devastatingly wrong. I'm just as terrible as anyone else, I just know the truth of forgiveness. I want my pride to go away, I only want to boast of Christ, not of my own deeds. I'm going to be praying for God to show me more of this.

I've decided to write an in depth story about religion (in general) at AUBG and the only worry is the readership. Many people in Europe just do not see relevance of religion to their life, so why should they have to read it? But I'm excited to see what will happen through this. For my own personal knowledge to see how people are here, to listen to them and not just speculate.

I have many assignments starting to pile up for the beginning of October and I'm not too excited about it, but I'm trying to stay caught up in my reading. I'm also planning trips and thinking about semester. Being a student can be hard, but I can't imagine not being in college at this point in my life.

This is what's been on my brain for the past few days. My relationship with God is THE most important thing in my life, nothing else even compares. So it's sometimes hard for me to see other things of Bulgaria. I'll be traveling to the coast (on the Black Sea) this weekend, so I'll have some traveling stories when I return. There will probably never be a blog post of mine that doesn't involve something to do with God.

I still don't have internet on my computer, so that's why I'm never ever on skype.... sorry everyone.

Let's Make This Brief.

Procrastination.
I'm sorry about waiting almost two weeks to update you guys.

I've spent the past two weekends in Blagoevgrad. Traveling will start almost every weekend from this point on. I really liked just being here though, last weekend I met some sisters in Christ and that made staying in Blagoevgrad all worth it. We watched The End of the Spear in a discussion group meeting that is open to everyone and later that weekend I went to an informal church/bible study meeting and it was so great to be able to worship God with the few people who do here. I've learned a lot about this culture and how religion plays in these peoples lives, in general it just doesn't. The people in Bulgaria just don't even see the importance of it in any way and it's really hard to approach.

God has been showing me a lot here, about how He works in peoples lives differently than most people I know. Even this summer He was showing me that there is no set way. I always seem to think that everyone will believe and do the same things I do, but it's not true, I'm a sinner and think everything is about me. I've gotten to tell people what I basically believe, but not expand a whole lot, for the most part people are respective.

I can't remember a whole lot about the weeks before this past weekend because I have so much going on. Homework is piling up, which isn't great, but I think I've been doing a pretty good job of getting it done and balancing it with a social life. This Wednesday we have no class and it's great, but I always feel like my schedule is so scatter brained. I've also been having to deal with financial aid and that is, as always, a nightmare, but worse because all I can use is email.

This past weekend a group of 14 people went up into the Rila Mountains to see the seven lakes and we spent the night up there. We hiked and ate lots of carbs and protein to stay alive. The soreness in my body is starting to kick in. Check out my facebook pictures, the place was gorgeous. I also just really enjoyed the people who went, we had a pretty great time and have awesome skills at building last minute fires. I could see God's great work in the mountains, but I was reminded recently in Ephesians that God's greatest work was bringing Christ from the dead and I never really stop and think of what a triumph that is, but it is bigger than any mountain.

One of the things I was so excited about in Europe is getting to experience dj's playing some kind of electronic music and getting to dance. There is no scene for this in Arkansas and wow, now that I've been here, I wish there was. I went to a big outdoor party with a dj who was playing House and it was great to just be able to dance. I did have a bad few minutes, when I realized how much people love their sin and I was there witnessing it, that was slightly heartbreaking. The music was great though and getting to dance.

I've realized how much I'm going to miss Bulgaria when I leave. The hardest part will be leaving these relationships. At least at home I know that I may see them again or we can plan something, it's hard to come just to Europe, so when I leave, I may never see these people again and it's an upsetting thought. I miss home and ASU a lot though, my heart is torn and I always think it will be.

This may be my most unorganized post, but I don't have a ton of time to write this. My bulgarian is getting better. I can almost recognize the alphabet and how to read it, I just don't know what the actual words mean. It's so much easier (but at the same time, more pressure) to learn the language in the actual country where it is native. I remember taking spanish in high school and I didn't actually need to learn it, so I didn't retain any of it.

I think that I'm going to pitch an idea to a magazine on this campus of writing a story dealing with religion on this campus. At AUBG, it is supposed to be similar to an American University and I don't feel like it's that way at all in the religion area. Most people just don't care, but the fact that it is so hard for there to even be avenues to explore what you want to believe at this university is where the problem lies. I wish I could just sit down with you and tell you all I've learned about everything here, it's all so interesting.

Next weekend I'm heading to the black sea and it will be beautiful, after that I'll start making plans for Croatia, Turkey, and Macedonia. I don't even have enough time to see all that I want to see here, but I'm going to try and get all that I can out of it.

I hope to get closer to God and the people here, I want people to see that I truly love them and I want my heart to grow bigger. I want so much to happen throughout this experience and I pray that God will surprise me and teach me more than expected.

For all of you back in Arkansas that are dear to me, I want to talk to you. Message me, ask me questions, I want to encourage you and to receive it from you. I love you all so much and miss you and can't wait to share my experiences with you next semester.

I have class starting soon, but I will update this more frequently so that you can know every detail of my life. :)

Travels and Classes

In 11 days I will no longer be a teenager and I'm writing this while eating a "Lion" bar which is basically a Kit Kat and 100 Grand mixed together and so darn good. Today I got off of a bus at 5 a.m. and got to my room, showered and then passed out until 10 and spent most of my day planning and reading and then went to class at 5:45 p.m. and learned about Adobe Illustrator, which is pretty cool I'll say.

Classes started last week and the way classes are put together are so weird. I have Monday/Thursday classes, Tuesday/Thursday classes, Monday/Wednesday classes and they are all an hour and fifteen minutes. Luckily, I don't have class of Friday so that I can travel or just have a long nice weekend.
This is my class list:
1. History of Christianity
2. Bible as Literature
3. Intro. to Bulgarian
4. Investigative Reporting
5. Design and Layout
BUT, I dropped Bible as Literature for Web Design due to Bible as Lit. and History of Christianity being taught by the same professor. Although it was different content, many points were being made in both of the classes and the professor is so intense that it would be hard for me to be in both of those classes. I understand that all people believe what they want to believe and I wasn't expecting a Christian to teach these classes but on the other hand I didn't expect such a devout Atheist to teach the classes. On the first day of class he said "There is no God, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news." The only problem is that he teaches in a way to prove God to not exist, when it should be unbiased, but I'm trying to look on the good side and see how an Atheist would argue, what points that will be made in a conversation against God. It breaks my heart to hear him say what he does, so I am praying, praying, praying and also trying to take in what I can from this man to be more assured of my faith. He is also so very educated and it would be intimidating to get in a class discussion because I feel as though it will more so be a class attack upon what I believe. I know with everything in me that I am so blessed to have faith, to really know and be pursued by the God that created me. So, please pray for me as I take this History of Christianity class, for it will test me and the enemy will use it.

Last week I decided to travel with some people to Athens, Greece. We had Monday off for a Bulgarian holiday so we hopped on a bus on Thursday night and spent 4 days in Greece and that's why I got off a bus at 5 a.m. this morning. We arrived and spent the first day seeing all the sights of the Acropolis, great things built by Hadrian and the Ancient Agora. Wow! it's so amazing to be in a place so old and so stupendous. My favorite thing out of the whole trip though was when we came to Aereopagus Rock/Mars Hill/Rock of Ares which is where Paul gave his "Men of Athens speech" and it is spoken of in the book of Acts and he spoke about Athens being a city of people being "religious" and worshipping idols. He basically laid down the Good News to the people right where I was standing at that point. I almost had goosebumps. It was also slightly convicting because Paul dedicated his life to spreading the Word and I don't feel as though I've been truly doing so lately. I look at the map and now that I'm here, I realize how much time Paul just had to spend traveling to spread the Word, what an inspiration. The enemy has made it so "uncool" and frowned upon to be so intense about what we believe that it actually affects us and I get upset thinking about it. Evangelism is so important and especially because now I see how many people do not want to believe here, I see the need and I feel the need.

Then, I stayed my first night in a hostel, which wasn't bad. I would definitely recommend staying at hostels because the people who work there are typically travelers and know cheap awesome things to do. The shower situation slightly sucked, but I got clean..... eventually. Side Note: The bathrooms in Europe are simply terrible and don't flush any toilet paper down the toilets. On Saturday we went on a ferry to a nearby island and when you think of Greece in the movies, the islands are where you need to go. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to a really nice island, but we got to go swimming on the island Aegina and I have never in my life seen such beautiful water. It was pristine and the perfect temperature. We spent the whole day at the island and maybe got a little too much sun. Half of our group stayed the night and the rest of us went back to Athens. The girls I was with had a few drinks and then we went to go see what Athens night life is like and it was PACKED and ridiculous. People really enjoy they're partying over here, but all the places were bars and we were more interested in finding a disco (primarily for people who just like dancing and appreciate the music), which was no where in the Gazi district. So, we went back to the hostel and fell asleep.

The next day we met up with the rest of our group who came back from the island and then we went to the museums. It was really handy to be a student in Bulgaria, because any student in the E.U. got to get into everything for free, so we didn't have to pay any entrance fees. I saw things that we had learned about in FA Visual back at ASU, so it was actually some knowledge that I could use. I did notice throughout Greece at the few churches that we stopped in that they were very bright. The Orthodox churches that I've been to in Bulgaria have been so dark inside and the ones in Greece were much more inviting. We stayed in Greece for a couple more days and mostly shopped around, but once we got out of the tourist areas, we came to find out that Athens is quite the sketchy city. I, at least saw two big groups of gypsies on the side of the streets making and shooting up herione and they were crouched down and when we walked by this scene, all of us kind of knew to almost start jogging because it was pretty scary. We also believe we saw a girl on the side of the street who had overdosed the night before and was dead. All of these streets were not dark alleys either, just in the open broad daylight. Grafitti was everywhere and I would suggest only spending about 2 days in Athens, because that's all you need to see everything.

In Greece I ate:
-prawns that weren't that great
-awesome ham and cheese phyllo dough pies
-the best pastries I've ever had in my life
-chicken gyro
-lamb gyro
-lamb souvlaki
-legit tsatsiki
-awesome slushes that I can't get in Blagoevgrad

I really need to meet people at this school from other places, lately I feel as though I have only hung out with Americans, which I really like the girls that I do know and think that we'll have some really great friendships. But, I want to get to know people and where they come from. I can't wait to travel some more and see these other places. This is definitely the most exciting thing that has happened to me.

If you have been praying for me to be able to get encouragement, I feel as though it's worked. I have been asking God to give me at least one person to have the same beliefs as me and I believe that I found her now and we're having lunch soon. I might cry from the excitement of having someone to talk to God with who is easy at hand. Now, I'm just trying to concentrate on getting to know people and finding the time for my quiet times which is so very hard, but I will make sacrifices because I never realized how MUCH I need it, until it was all I had.

Bulgaria and God will treat me well, please keep praying and following and I'll try to put more posts up more frequently because if I can encourage you be sharing what God is doing in my life, then the purpose of this blog is fulfilled.

I encourage you to read Acts 17:15-34, that was what Paul was telling the Athenians upon that very rock that I stood not but a few days ago.

Classes Start Soon

It is Friday. My last post was on Tuesday, so I have much to review, but these past few days weren't as eventful as my first few days in Bulgaria, please forgive me if I forget things.

Tomorrow a few girls and myself are heading into Sofia, the capital with a population of about 2 million. We leave bright and early at 7:30, we'll check out some sites and how the shopping is.

Tuesday night was karaoke night at the local bar (Piano Bar) and I myself have never been to a bar, so this was a first experience. Most people that were at orientation went, but before going, I was talking with one of the girls from America and she just really seems like someone I can get along with easily. We don't necessarily have the same views on things, but we respect each other and we had a pretty good conversation. At the bar I didn't drink, but I was asked to dance and I don't like to give guys the wrong impression, so I didn't really dance. I will say the karaoke was pretty terrible except for a few people. Now that I'm looking back on the night, I realize that I had fun, but doing that every night and only looking forward to "nights out" would be such an empty life. I know that Christ is the only fulfilling thing, but I think I really understand a lot more now.

On Wednesday we had computer training, which basically told us about rules of using the universities internet and also showing us how to set up the internet. Speaking of the internet, it is the BIGGEST PAIN IN THE WORLD to get an internet connection to your laptop through the school here at AUBG. Settings must be changed, you have to put in an application, and I'm still waiting for my internet to be authenticated. Back to my day of Wednesday, I went to the registrar office and officially registered. My classes consist of: Intro. to Bulgarian, Investigative Reporting, Editing and Design, Bible as Literature, and History of Christianity. One girl from America is going to take Bible as Literature as well and actually asked me if I was taking it and I said yes and she commented back saying that she's taking it because the teacher is an atheist. One, I'm not sure as to why you would take a class just because someone is atheist and two, I didn't exactly expect the professor to be a Christian, but I suppose I didn't realize that an atheist would teach the class. The same professor teaches both Bible as Literature and History of Christianity. So! These classes will definitely be challeging, but in the end I think worth it. I'll definitely keep updates on it, but pray that all this talk of no God, won't get my mood to always be frowning.

Continuing with my Wednesday activities, after registering myself and some girls decided to go to Varosha, the old city. I will put pictures up when I get internet on my computer. We met an artist who really made some beautiful paintings and he tried really hard to get us to buy something, but we're all broke college students. We talked shortly to him and he mentioned living in Austin for a while, so it was good to talk to him, his english was good. We also went to the old orthodox church there. I have never been to such a dark looking church, I attempted to ask the women in there when it was built and after about 10 minutes of long painstaking language barrier I found out that it was built in 844 a.d. The woman gave me some holy water, I suppose I'll use it if I go to Draculas Castle in Romania :) (interesting fact that I learned today: Vampire is a Serbian word and the only Serbian word understood worldwide). I was really quite sad in that church, that people don't understand the good news of Christ and do these ritualistic things. It was a beautiful church, but sad to me. After roaming Varosha, we decided to climb some stairs which led up a mountain, so we ended up slightly hiking, it was beautiful. A couple girls climbed a trail, but me and another girl stayed behind because we didn't have the appropriate shoes and we watched this leech, which sounds weird because it was.

On Wednesday evening, I met a guy named Marten from Bulgaria who is actually got a really funny sense of humor to me. He went to America this past summer for an International Soduko Challenge type thing, apparently he is quite good at Soduko, one of the best in Bulgaria. He and his roommate Radik from the Czech Republic went to see Salt with myself and Stefany, the American that I like quite a bit. The movies here are in English with Bulgarian subtitles (works for me!) and are WAY CHEAP, I paid 4 leva which is roughly 3 american dollars. By the way, I will get to see Harry Potter for cheap and before all my friends back in the States because of the 8 hour time difference, totally pumped! Salt was quite good actually and Marten ate all his popcorn (popcorn is 1 leva) and talked of how his lips were kind of burnt from the salt, so when he drank water, he said it was like a "pool party" on his lips. I still chuckle from that statement.

Finally! On to Thursday, you basically know all that is going on in my life, from these long blogposts. I went to International Student Orientation, which once again was not necessary for me to be at. Afterwards I ate a sandwich and had Cherry Coke and cleaned my room a bit and then started on the long dubious task of trying to get internet, which I'm still trying to get authenticated, and so that took up most of my day. Later I went to a local place to eat and I had tuna and began reading 1 John 4 and it's kind of amazing that God knows exactly what to say to you through His Word at the correct time. I was about done doing my word study and overheard an older man talking to an student from Serbia and I heard him mention being a professor at a school in New York and that he worked as a journalist for 14 years. So, I HAD to interrupt and meet him haha because connections mean a lot in the journalism world. I introduced myself to both him and the Serbain student and found out that he will probably be my professor for Investigative Journalism. After a few short minutes, the people the man was meeting showed up and I met the department chair. Then I turned my attention to the Serbian student and actually we talked for quite a bit about America, Serbia, and Bulgaria. His name is Igor and I met his friend Marco and we watched YouTube videos for about 3 hours that night. I had a really great time, the students from Serbia have proven all to be very friendly and I quite like them.

Today is Friday. I woke up late and then attempted to get my internet fixed and then went to a bakery and got a donut, the donuts here are stupendous, it had a chocolate filling and icing. I read 1 John 5 today. The earlier chapters of 1 John have basically laid out how to act as a Christian, the later chapters really emphasize the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ and praying for any who struggle with sin. I feel as though in the last year, I have grown in truly loving my family in Christ and He has shown me the benefits of it. Now being in a country with not a lot of great encouragement, is hard.
"For the love of God is this: that we do His commands. And these orders of His are not irksome" -1 John 5:3
This verse stuck out to me because it will be hard to not do as the world wants me to here, but I must ALWAYS remember that it isn't a burden to do as God wants me to. After my time in the Word, I went to the aquapark with guys from Serbia and a girl who goes to MTSU (Middle Tennessee) named Kayla and the water is so cold in the pools in Europe!! They told me that it was actually a bit warmer than most pools, holy smokes, it was cold, but I suppose they know what refreshing means in Europe. At the aquapark, the mountains were right next to us and so magnificent. After that we returned and changed and went to the talent show. A girl from Russia danced and it was beautiful, I decided in that moment that if the Russian Ballet ever came to Sofia that I will go. I took pictures of some people that I knew in the crowd and they'll be posted. I love being here because of all the wonderful interesting people from different countries and hearing their stories. AUBG is technically about 70% international students, although if you think about it, an international student is like our "out of state" student here at AUBG. Then we ate some food and now here I am, blogging to you.

I did my day by day observations and activities, but I have other random things to talk about.

You may have heard of the term Gypsy before, but I didn't REALLY know what was meant by gypsy until coming to Bulgaria. A gypsy is basically a beggar and I asked Marten to explain it better to me. Gypsies live in big groups, in camps basically, not in houses, and their education is not good. Gypsies also can sometimes have their own language as well. They are below poverty, because they have no education it's hard for them to get jobs period. Also, their skin is darker and you can just tell who a gypsy is and people are prejudice. Even if a gypsy attempted to get a great education, it would be hard to get a good job because of their color. Sometimes while eating outside in a cafe, gypsy children will come up to you and beg for money, of course we don't understand them, but you know what they're doing. You have to ignore them because they aren't begging for themselves, they have to beg for something like what a pimp is. They have to give all their findings to these adults and they only buy drugs and alcohol with the money. Yes, you are probably thinking about Slumdog Millionaire, it's just like in that movie. It's so heartbreaking though, because you want to help the child, but you simply cannot. The problem of gypsies simply shows the importance of education. France actually has been cracking down on gypsies and I heard that they made all their gypsies leave France, apparently this has caused the UN to look down upon France. I'm curious as to if there are any missionaries who go into Gypsy communities, what a terribly exhausting task, but wow, what God could do with it.

Cats and dogs run around on the street and beg for food and attention. Yes, there is much begging in Bulgaria. Cats primarily hang around the cafes and meow preciously and look so cute and win crumbs and leftovers. The dogs more so run around the streets and beg to individual people, some have some pretty good begging faces and poses, some will even do tricks. There was a problem with the dogs going into packs and attacking people, so the government in Bulgaria decided to start a catch and release type program. They will pick up dogs and fix them to not reproduce and vaccinate them, you can distinguish which dogs have been caught by a tag on their ear. I don't like PETA, but I just wonder what kind of stunts they would pull over this type of stuff of cats and dogs being on the streets.

I read Genesis over the summer and now I am reading Exodus. I'm about half way through and reading the old testament has really shown me much of the roots of everything I know of the Bible. What lengths God had to go to show that we are to do as He commands. What He had to do to convince Pharoah, oh wow. I've never really looked at in this light, I've always known that these things were miraculous. It's amazing what God will do to make Himself know, too bad we never REALLY see. Reading Exodus is kind of like my side reading, but it really shows me a lot. Also Moses had a speech impediment and made him go and tell Pharoah His commands! God uses people that others would never believe in, so please believe that He can use you.

I'm praying for opportunities, but I have learned so much about God already. If you have the chance to study abroad, take it.

I'm quite exhausted and must wake up early. Skype dates will happen, please keep in touch and keep reading. I hope I have encouraged you in some way.

Last Randoms

-Some girl beside me is listening to Justin Beiber.
-Lots of people smoke here, I feel as though most of my clothes sort of smell like smoke.
-Every food that I have had uses the spice Chubritza, it's a weird spice, but it is used in EVERYTHING. Therefore, Bulgarian food has a very distinct taste.
-I will take a hiking trip soon through Rila mountains to see some of the Seven Lakes. (Google pictures of it)
-A boy from Germany tried to argue with me that the correct pronunciation of Arkansas is Ar-Kansas, not Ar-Kan-Saw. Everyone in Europe says Ar-Kansas.

My First Thoughts of Bulgaria.

I am here.
I am here.
I have been preparing since February to be where I am now.

I officially arrived in Bulgaria on Saturday and it has already been so interesting. I haven't had an internet connection at my room for a few days, so right now I'm in a restaurant using the wifi. Being without internet has also been a little hard, kind of ridiculous how much we rely on technology. Everyone, I mean everyone is not doing too well without internet at AUBG (my school).

Currently, I am in orientation week for freshmen and international students. A lot of the sessions I have gone to, I already know the material, so actually I've been skipping the ones that look like they are for only freshman. I have met so many intriguing people in the past few days, but I'm going to start from a few days back and then explain things as they are now.

I didn't sleep the night before my flight to help get over the jet lag when I arrived in Bulgaria, advice from my dad. I think it did help, because I am for the most part over the jet lag. My dad drove me to the Tulsa airport and we got there quite early, so he sat there and talked to me for some time and I enjoyed that, I wanted not to sleep from the flight from Tulsa to Chicago and sleep on my international flight, but it was pretty hard. I was so nervous about the trip that my mouth became really dry and so I kept drinking lots of water and the outcome of that was going to the bathroom often. I also had some pretty chapped lips for the past few days. I kept praying that God would quiet my nervous mind, because this is an out of this world experience. I also prayed multiple times for me to remember that I am an ambassador of Christ and that I would represent Him well in this totally different country.

I had a close connection in Chicago, but obviously I made it. I flew with Lufthansa, a german airline, and I really enjoyed the flight, good food, good movies (Fantastic Mr. Fox GRANT!), and they even had warm towels. The best part of the flight was who God blessed me with as my seat neighbors. To my left was a woman named Nora and to my right was a man named Phil, they were talkative (unlike most people you sit next to on a plane ride), and really just amazing people. Nora was flying into Kazakhstan to teach with her husband, who was already there, in an American school. Phil was flying into Istanbul to visit some friends. He was a college professor, but he and his wife left their tenure to become missionaries in South America, he served for 15 years doing that. He actually went to seminary in California and he was going on sabbatical around Europe for a month at the time that I met him. Nora grew up Catholic but actually came to Christ later in her life and we were talking about different religions and our own lives. Phil commented that on all his flights, this had never happened and we all believed that this was truly an act of our wonderful and loving God. I slept most of that flight, but God really calmed me with these people. Phil prayed for us when we landed and then I was in Frankfurt, Germany.

The people working in the airport in Germany were not too pleasant and I paid almost 5 American dollars for a bottle of sprite. The plastic they use in their bottles is quite thick, just a random tidbit. Before I even left out of Tulsa, I had a pretty painful knot in my back and the plane rides did NOT help, so I was in pretty excruciating pain lugging my backpack and laptop case around this huge airport, I felt as though I walked about a mile through that airport, at least. We took a bus out to the plane and on this plane I had a weird German sandwich with horseradish mayo or something, but the German coke tasted different than American coke. If you have ever been in a plane, then you know how cool the clouds look, instead of looking into the sky and just seeing white things, you see them 3D suspended in the air, I very much enjoyed looking at the clouds. While flying over Austria, we saw the Alps and they were magnificent, it truly is amazing how many details God had to think of when creating the world. He always seems to blow my mind with just how beautiful He made the earth.

Finally, I am now in the airport in Sofia, Bulgaria on Saturday and going through customs was not terrible at all. Blagoevgrad is about an hour and a half from Sofia, so I was in a van with a girl from Kazakhstan, 2 girls from the University of Maine, and 2 boys from Mongolia. Most of us were jet lagged and the roads were SO curvy, me and Denny (the girl from Kazakhstan) were having a hard time not throwing up, the fact that they drive much more aggressively in Europe didn't help either. Tailgating and passing whenever they want is completely normal, also they drive on the same side of the road as us, apparently only that island with the UK on it drives on the other side of the road really. Myself and Hannah (from Maine) talked a lot of the way and she is a sophomore and we became friends. When we got into Blagoevgrad we had to go get our i.d. cards in order to check into our rooms, so all of our pictures are of us being wonderfully unshowered. Eventually we get checked into our rooms and I'm in Skapto 2, which is more for upperclassman, and to our horror, no air conditioning. But, luckily, it's a lot cooler here than in Arkansas, but I definitely was wanting to rather be outside than inside.

On Sunday morning, I woke up and found a shop with bread and ate this strange bread with a cheese baked on top, all the labels were in Bulgarian, so I did not know what it was except for how it looked physically. I read 1 John chapter 3 and it was good, God keeps reminding me to be righteous and not fall into temptation. I also looked over my notes from 1 Peter from about a month ago and that really helped me as well to not worry about being "uncool" because even if I am persecuted, at least I have the name of Christ with me. This will not be easy, I know, and it is settling in more and more in fact. Then me and a some girls from Maine went to the Health Center and then to a pool. Now, everyone in Bulgaria, I mean EVERYONE wears a bikini in Bulgaria and all the men wear euro trunks, they also listen to Ja Rule, G Unit, and all those other people from middle school, kind of a blast from the past. That night was the Presidents Welcome Dinner and I met many other Americans doing exchange. Actually, I met a married couple studying at Missouri Southern and the guy grew up in Prarie Grove, PRARIE GROVE, that's about 30 minutes from where I grew up, crazy............ I also met a couple of girls from Belarus, who are very pretty and skinny, some people from Turkmenistan, the guys were quite funny. That night I slept well.

Now we are on to Monday, which was yesterday for me. We had some orientation things, I felt like a freshman, because they were explaining how college works, but I already know and as I said earlier, now I am skipping out on the things that seem like they are for freshmen. I met a few people from Russia, a girl named Redina from Bulgaria and Israel, she spent most of her life in Israel and actually she was supposed to enter the Israeli army at her age, because it is law for all Israeli citizens to be in the army, even women, I didn't know this law. I also met many people from the country Georgia. One thing that I like a lot about this school is that people from so many countries come here, I am really learning about the world. All of the students seem to be tri-lingual or know more, many know Russian, I think that it would be a very valuable language to study.

In Europe, the drinking age is not 21, so alcohol is very popular here and many people smoke. I have seen so many liquor stores and everything is quite cheap. There is no alcohol policies in the residence halls, actually reslife puts on parties with alcohol. My RA's door has a sticker on it that states that he is not an alcoholic, because alcoholics go to meetings. Most everyone drinks here, as far as I know, I'm the only one who does not. During orientation, there was a skit that the RA's did on how not to act in a classroom and two of them were legitimately making out on the stage in front of the administrative staff, that was a bit shocking to me. Things are so different here, everything is so much MORE casual than in America. I've been praying quite a bit actually and I actually could use some, because the influence of everyone here will be for me to not do things that are glorifying to God. I have faith that He will use the Holy Spirit to keep me accountable, but man, everything screams to not be righteous.

The food here is cheap and everything seems to have chicken in it. There is no such thing as refills and the the drink that you do buy, comes in a small portion. The oil that they use here or some kind of seasoning, makes the food have a very distinct taste, I'm not too sure if I like it, but I'm sure I will soon. The coke tastes the same here :)

I'm just praying that God will use me in this place, that I will learn so much through this experience of His character. I believe in the power of prayer and that is all I can desperately hold onto throughout the next few weeks. The rest of the students show up this weekend, please pray that I will find at least ONE person to have fellowship with. I am also hoping to find a missionary family in Blagoevgrad and meet with them. The church is of the Bulgarian Orthodox which is part of the 14 churches in the Orthodox church, I have learned this from a Georgian, who I had a short discussion of religion with already.

This experience has already shown me so much, please keep me in your prayers and keep reading my blog, I don't want to be talking to myself. I am off to advising right now, may God bless you as you start back to school and whatever else you may be doing, I still pray for you.