Hello Everyone!
Once again,  I have to say this, I can´t believe how fast time is going by! The weeks just keep getting faster and faster. I know I say this in almost every post, but really, it´s crazy! And now it´s already February and we´re heading into week #4. The weather here has thrown me completely off from a normal winter. For the past week we´ve had completely clear skies both during the day and at night. The tempuratures during the day range from 15-20 degrees. The beach is beautiful, and we all go there as often as we can. The weather has also pushed me to get more exercise. Now that it´s nice out, I´ve been walking and running a lot, and there is usually a group of people that go out to play soccer. There is a ´soccer court´nearby- it´s exactly like an outdoor basketball court, but it´s specifically for soccer. There are no public grass fields here, because it is such a dry climate. So we have to play on the beach or on the rubber courts. But it´s definitely worth it to play anyways!
This past week, I didn´t get to do many cultural things, but the classroom learning was great! In a week, we generally have two main topics. This past week´s topics were ´Biblical Worship´and ´The Life of Peter´. Both of the topics were so interesting, and I think that I learned the most during the past week. ´Biblical Worship´ was a class not just about how to worship, but why we worship. There was a lot of history, and going through the bible. It was a ´theology of worship´, so it was on the topic of worship, with all of facts and research pulled from the bible. It was so interesting to learn what our worship is based on. I think I take it for granted at home... I mean going to church every sunday and singing was meaningful, but I never knew why we really did everything the way we do it. By going through ´Biblical Worship,´ I have really learned about the foundation that modern Christian worship is built on. The other topic, ´The Life of Peter,´was also so interesting. We learned about Peter the Apostle, and how he grew from a regular fisherman into a mature follower of Christ. He made many quick, thoughtless decisions, but by asking lots of questions and by being a teachable person, he grew into someone who we can all look up to. He grew into a fisher of man, and brought many people to Christ. He grew in confidence as well, and was able to address large crowds and heal sick people. Many things in the life of Peter, I found, are so relatable to where I am in my own life right now. Peter is a very inspirational person, who can so easily be overlooked! So learning this past week was really incredible!
Today (sunday), after church, I got the chance to go to a Spanish, evangelical wedding! It was a really good experience. The ceremony was so different than any typical North American wedding ceremony. The audience was really only the church congregation, and the ceremony was over an hour long. It started with praise and worship time. We stood up and sang modern worship songs, and then the pastor even preached a sermon. The weddings vows and rings were only exchanged at the end, in the span of about 10 minutes. It seemed more like a church service than a wedding ceremony. It wasn´t very formal either, but the thing that struck me the most was the joy that the people worshipped with. Everytime I am around Christians here in Spain, it is just incredible to see them worshipping my God, in a different language! And it makes me think of how he isn´t ´my´ God. We have a God who is bigger than North America. He understands all languages and all people. He is pleased with any worship, and anyone who praises Him from the heart and in sincerity. Singing praise songs at the wedding today made the whole world seem a little smaller, because we are drawn together by the One who is constant and present in everyone of our lives, all around the world.
This week we will be studying the books of Judges, and James. We also have a beach soccer tournament, and I´m on team Spain! It will be a busy week, but of course, I am looking forward to all of the new experiences and adventures!
Have a great week!