Studies and Travels...

Hello! Hello!
Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. I have been having a wonderful time though. The newness is wearing off, which means the reality of being here is really beginning to set in a bit more. But this also means we are diving more into our studies and into deeper topics on lectures, all of which I am drinking in. Free time has been reduced do to the homework and things that I have to do! I don't mind though. I have been learning so much.
We just finished a lecture series on Personal Evangelism which has been so cool to go through because we talked about how Jesus interacted with people and the different ways that he dealt with different situations and different people. I have always struggled with being able to naturally bring Jesus up in conversation with people and even simply start conversation about people's lives. I have always admired friends of mine that are able to do that and wished that I was better at it. But our lecturer for this series, who is also our principal, has walked us through the simplest things and I have been drinking it in. It's kind amazing how the studies we have and assignments we are doing all tie into getting to know Jesus better. Clearly this should be the focus of a Bible school, not only the head knowledge, but getting to know my Lord and Saviour better. This week we started a lecture series on the first 12 chapters of Acts and that has been interesting as well. Last night I was thinking of so many things to post, but I honestly can't remember most of it. At some point, I will sit down and write out a bit more about what I have been learning.
Last Thursday we had a prayer day. Instead of lectures, we had a day of quiet where we spend time praying with our roommates, time alone with God and spending time at worship stations they had set up around the campus. It was so good to spend a prolonged period of time with God focusing more on listening to Him than spending most of my prayer time talking to Him. It was a really good day for me.
I went on a Saturday trip to Chester, which was so cool. It is about 2 hours from the school and has a lot of Roman history. Instead of shopping, we spent our time walking around and found several interesting historic places and old churches. It was fun to see so many historic sites and a church that was built only a couple hundred years after Jesus walked this earth and humbling to see a Roman Amphitheatre were Christians were persecuted.
This weekend I am heading off on my travel weekend to Edinburgh with some friends to stay in a hostel and explore the city. I'm really excited and ready to have a little bit of a break and see some of Scotland.
I purchased tickets to Germany for Christmas because my roommate invited me to go home with her. I am so excited to go stay with her family (most of which don't speak any English!). But it's so funny because she keeps telling me how excited her family is for an American to be there with them.
I've got to go catch the bus back to school now, but hopefully I will be able to post more soon and reflect a bit of what's been going on in my own heart since I have been here.