...days gone by...

just driving by

2007-12-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

so, i guess i havent really, seriously, heartfeltily (is that even a word??) blogged in a while.. oops. although, i probably blog every day in my head.. taking the world around me, writing its story in my mind, picking out the words i would use to descibe the scene, to give it life... i just never feel like writing it down later. or i forget.. or dont have a chance. i think it would be better to write what is happening, when it is happening, so i can remember it all, not just little bits and pieces. the last time i "blogged" in my head, was this morning, as we were driving back from Oban...

Oban, "gateway to the Hebrides"... a sweet little coastal town, that is literally, the door to the Hebridean Islands. if you want to get to any of the many isles that dot the waterscape (?) of scotlands western coast, you go through oban.. you can take a ferry to almost any of the islands out there. if you have ever read a Katie Morag book, her stories take place there, on the isle of Mull.. or Skye... i think. i know its one of the islands there though. anyways, Oban.. sweet little harbor town... it was rainy when we got there. for the two days we were there, it rained off and on most of the time. it would start out as a light shower, then big wet drops would fall... then it would be over. then it would repeat itself, over and over throughout the day. the building we were staying in had a tin roof, and the sound reminded me of home, and the sound of the rain on our tin coverd deck. the main stretch with all the little shops faces the water and its like the town curves around this little inlet. (yikes! now i am getting frustrated, because i dont know how to describe it! i can see it in my mind.. oh, i wish i could draw...) there are some tall hills in the town, one has a roman style coliseum on top.. but it is not very old. im not sure what the story is behind it... there were lots of people on the sidewalks, locals, tourists, and islanders coming in to get stocked up on whatever cant be bought on their isle...

-one thing i love about scotland is how umbrellas and "wellies" (rubber boots) are necessities that have evolved into practical fashion accessories. i think you can get your wellies in almost any color and pattern. they are sold in all the cute little lady shops that my mom and auntie likes to visit when we vacation or check out new towns.

...as we left Oban, i just sat, silently looking out the window at the land.. scotland is so.. wet! salt water inlets, lakes, marshes, ponds, streams, rivers... water runs off the land. and the hills were such a beautiful color.. a vibrant fiery red (but i guess fires arent all that red... more yellow and orange), with a dead orangey grass mixed in. and a dark shade of green was contributed by the evergreens... all the colors complimented eachother so well. it looked like a typical fall landscape, even though it is almost january. and the lakes... sometimes there is a misty fog hovering above the waters in places, and there are hills that surround and hold the water on all sides; you cant see their peaks, because of the fog. constantly swirling (an oxymoron? constant swirling.. hmm) moving and everchanging. it is not a thick fog, that blocks your vision. the movement in this fog teases you, giving you hints and little peeks at what it is hiding. mysterious. usually there are small tree covered islands and rocks in the water. the water is like a living descrition of depth... dark and deep and it gives off a slight haunting feeling, but in a good way. a way that makes you appreciate the moment and the serenity. the whole scene makes me think of the color grey. a wet, dark grey... like cold stone. it saddend me to just drive by all this, that we couldnt get out and soak it all in... scenery like this tries to make me sad that i will be leaving scotland soon, but its ok. i am ready to come home.. im tired.

some things i learned in egypt

2007-12-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

they have people who sweep the streets
it is the biggest, noisiest city in Africa, and is so big, it is divided into 3 states
the majority of cairo is muslim- 30% are christians belonging to the coptic church.. which pretty much means 30% of cairo has a tattooed cross on their wrist, and is super religious
people who drive in cairo drive onehanded... the other hand is on the horn. constantly
traffic lights are for decoration
arabic is definately hard to speak
bananas in egypt are better tasting, but smaller
egyptian hospitality- you cant refuse.
toliet paper?
i think pepsi and 7-up are the only soft drinks they have heard of
i think every egyptian knows how to say "welcome to egypt"and "how are you?" in english.. but that is usually it
they might be able to say "i love you" as well
"you are like the moon" is a compliment
they have lizards in the houses.. but nothing a little RAID wont take care of (if you ask the lady downstairs..)
sometimes, kids poop in the streets
sometimes, you see a pig butchered around the same spot a few hours later

there is more, i am sure...

(there you go jorgen.. i blogged. but i will try to do a more "thoughtful" one later..)

following footsteps of the past...

2007-11-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

the past 2 weeks have been quite the adventure for me...

all of the DTS students left Paisley on october 22, for melrose... we planned on doing a trek called St. Cuthberts Way... 100 km of scotland and england, following the footsteps of St. Cuthbert, out to the tidal island of Lindisfarne.. also known as the Holy Island. we did the trek over the time frame of a week, then spent a week in some cottages by the ocean.. all of it (well, mostly) was an amazing expirience, but i think the last stretch of our journey was my favorite...

Lindisfarne is a tidal island, meaning it is only an island when the tide is in... on the last day of our trek, we walked across the sand when the tide was out, out to the island. there are over 200 tall posts in the sand, marking the way... but i am not sure what they are for. it is a tradition, or custom of celtic "men of the cloth" to quote scripture when they go on journeys, to help them remember, so on the way across the sands, we quoted scripture at every post... most of the posts we didnt stop at, someone would just call out a passage as we walked by... walking the last miles of our trek in bare feet, feeling the cold, wet sand and slipping in puddles.. made it feel so real. we weren't even half way across when we ran out of memorized scripture, and had to start pulling verses from the bible.. i couldnt imagine memorizing the bible itself- or how much time and dedication that would take..

Isle of Iona- a thin place

2007-10-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

Iona.. a tiny island in the Hebrides, off the coast of scotland. it has been prayed into for nearly 2000 years, and it is one of the root locations where celtic christianity started. St. Columba, and his team of missionaries started up an abbey there, among the pagan people group of that era. the base of celtic christianity is community; they would start up a celtic christian community, that was open to the tribe.. let them see what they were about, inviting and welcoming them into the christian culture. it really is an interesting history, and you would be surprised how many "churchy" ideas are based on the values of Celtic Christianity. maybe i will write about it one day...

Iona is known as a thin place, where you feel closer and it is easier to talk to God. it is such a beautiful island.. we were lucky and had really nice weather during our stay, which just means it didnt rain on us. it was windy and chilly, but nice despite that. we took a ferry off the mainland of scotland to the island of mull.. caught a bus to the other side, then another ferry to iona. when you first see iona, you think of the small village in the katie morag books (if you have ever read them as a child..). most of the houses and buildings face the ocean and line the shore... we walked about for about a mile to the hostel, which was a small farm near the beach, that raised black angelhair sheep. (their wool is a Hebridean pride.. really soft and warm.. you can buy blankets for only 117 pounds. they had them for complimentary use at the hostel, i was tempted to buy one after my first night). we spent an hour or two at the beach, battling the wind and blowing sand. i could of spent all day there though, searching for seashells, climbing on the rocks.. the sand was very white and the water was such a pretty shade of blue that you forgot it was cold. of course i had to roll my pant legs up and wade in the water... which didnt last long, thanks to the cold. then we went back to the hostel.. ate some supper, played some star munchkins.. after supper we all ran out to the top of the nearest hill to watch the sunset. it wasnt as neat as we hoped, since it was too cloudy, but we all had fun playing in the wind.. it would literally hold us up if we leaned into it. we spent the next morning exploring the island by ourselves, to see if we could find that "thin spot" with God.. i honestly feel closer to God on top of a mountain than i did on iona, but it was still good to sit and pray about stuff. we all went into the village and toured around.. iona is a real touristy place.. from charging close to 8 dollars to tour the abbey, to all the shops and stores selling pieces of iona to take home. it made me sad at first, to see how commercialized it was.. but then i realized that tourism is what provides the people with jobs, so they can stay on the island. they do pretty good with it too, since lots of people head out to iona to vacation, or get away. iona was a really good time for my team.. we bonded well, and friendships were made/strengthened...

The Cobbler..

2007-09-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Cobbler.. one of the closest hills that scotland has to a mountain. what a beautiful hike.. and it was so different than any other mountain hike i have done. when you are at the top, you were on the same level of all the mist and clouds, which were constantly moving, changing, blowing.. you could see for so far. all the way to the ocean, and the other highland hills.. and then sometimes you could barely see the bottom of the hill, or any of the other hills because the mist was so thick. it was so awesome. it took us about 3 hours to get to the top.. it was really steep at first, and wet. the path was muddy, and there were a dozen or so small streams to cross. to get up to the top, reminded me of canyoning, how you had to follow the water trails to get to the top through all the rocks. and the sand in the water was all sparkley, with ground up quartz mixed in. all the rocks had an interesting sheen to them, like they were painted with a slate/gray shiny nail polish. the ground was really boggy in places too, so you had to watch where you stepped. it was a really good day to do the hike too, no rain, which was a total blessing. probably the first day in 2 weeks we didnt get rain. it was really cold at the top, and windy, but it felt nice after working up a sweat on the hike up. at the top, there was a big rock, which you could climb out then up on. it looked like a cobblers bench, which is how it got its name.. you had to crawl through a small tunnel in the rock to get to a ledge on the other side, to get to the place where you could pull yourself up to the top. i only went to the end of the ledge, which was like a cliff over the hills below. seeing all the small paths worn into the crest of the hills below was really neat.. haha.. made me think of lord of the rings somewhat. and braveheart. it was more like scrambling on the way up, picking through the rocks. we took the backside on the way down.. there where stone steps most of the way down to the trail that wound around the hill to the front. the stones where huge, but perfectly aligned and placed for steps.. it would of been alot of work to get the stones there, and make them fit into the side of the hill. im impressed, and would love to know the story behind them, who put them there and how... it was such a good feeling, to be up there. the wind, how far you could see.. it makes me feel closer to God..

a day in paisley..

2007-09-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

today was a good day.. after sleeping in as long as possible, until guilt over took me and forced me to wake up at 10, hannah, kimberley and i walked to morrisons, to buy some snacks and cookie making stuff. it was a good walk.. kinda chilly out, a bit of mist and wind, but it was still nice. i think it is good bonding time for the three of us, we get into some pretty good conversations, since everywhere we walk to is at least a good 30 min away. i bought some juice, just to keep in the fridge for personal use.. you know when you are so excited to try something new? i walked the whole way home, thinking how good that "apple black current" juice would taste. i poor myself i nice full glass, and inhale the wild fruity tast.. mmm. then i took a sip.. wow. at first i thought it was just a little sweet, and didnt mix well with my minty gum. another few sips convinced me it just couldnt be the gum. it was almost syrupy.. did you know in scotland, alot of juice that you buy is sold in concentrate? uh huh. i got a "buzz" from all that sugar.. 1 part juice to 4 parts water.. . i felt sick, i couldnt concentrate, and i could feel my eyes jumping around.. haha. yep. hopefully it is better the next time around.

hannah and i made cookies after that.. sooooo good. chocolate chip... soft, warm and gooey.. sigh. we had to get tim to turn on the gas oven for us though, so we didnt blow the house up, or burn off our eyebrows.. :)

then we walked into downtown paisley, with wyatt, katie and their 2 girls.. paisley was a hub of excitment.. we went into a couple of shops, and i bought some wool socks.. i was really just looking for slippers.. but i love my socks! then we went over to "the last post" which was a restuarant/pub. i got a beer and burger combo (replaced the beer with fruit juice.. ). that was really good too.. it was so busy.. you have to go up to the bar and order. this lady who was waiting her practically pulled us through the crowd to get to the till and order, before the bar tender ran off to serve another customer. but the food was fairly quick to come, and the service was good. just outside the pub was a german "fair" like event going on. there were a ton of booths, selling candy, sausages, wool scarves, pancakes, dutch doughnuts, huge cheese wheels, bread, candied nuts and dried fruit... and of course an outdoor pub serving "german" beer, which some cheerful accordian music playing. after that, we caught a taxi for the ride home, which was fairly cheap, since we split the fare between the 4 of us.

haha.. then we had game night tonight.. and played 2 rounds of star munchkins.. which i wont even bother to explain, since it was crazy.. and i dont even get it still... but thats ok.

yep, i had a good day. and i think i will go for a walk in the braes tomorrow.. and enjoy some gregorian chanting at the abbey tomorrow night... we will have to see.

VAGABOND

2007-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

I know of a man who lives on the other side

On the other side of this mountain

They say he's calling the weary home

I've been told of a man who walks on the other side

On the other side of this mountain

With a heart full of stories of hope

So run like a vagabond, carry the flame

Run for the children and run for the slaves

Hold it up high with a message of faith

Don't ever stop moving on

Just run like a vagabond

His book is a gun that he reads for the people

The words that he speaks have been colored illegal

But the law that he's under is bigger than paper and gowns

He stayed in the streets where the beggars are broken

He's risking is life, a bullseye in the open

But he won't stop to rest until he's reached every town

So run like a vagabond, carry the flame

Run for the children and run for the slaves

Hold it up high with a message of faith

Don't ever stop moving on

Just run like a vagabond..

- Bethany Dillon

imagine..
running, breathing.. heart pounding.. moving forwards.. you are bearing a light, a lantern.. a beacon of hope for those consumed by the dark..
you move on, constantly, never stopping. you have purpose.. a mission given to you, by one with authority.. you move on and spread the light, in his name..
the rays cut through the dark, pushing it away, banishing it.. light and dark cannot exist in the same moment, pocket of time, breath.. the light is growing.. bigger, stronger.. soon it will cover all the earth, the darkness gone, forever...
you are being chased, yet you are the one who is doing the chasing, pursuing.. moving, constant. the dark is moving in, yet fleeing from the power of the light.. you dont run with fear, you have faith in the lights power, its strength.. you know the light will always be there, will never leave you.. you hold the source, a single flame, its small now, but you can feel it growing, its power maturing.. a light in the darkness.. reaching out... always reaching. everyone is welcome, come dwell in the light, the truth.. the light shines for all the world to see.. and we are drawn to it.. to its warmth, and clarity.. the dark is so cold, and hides what it doesnt want you to see..

"these people who live in darkness will see a great light. they live in a place covered with the shadows of death, but a light will shine on them." Matthew 4:16

5 months of dating and distance..

2007-09-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

so.. it is 5 months today, of dating jorgen. and it makes me sad, that i am half way around the world, and cant tell him thanks in person, for how much he has been a blessing in my life.. but it also makes me happy, that i have had the chance to spend 5 months in a relationship with him. and when i am done here in 5 months, he will still be there... the last 5 months have been amazing for me, and the next 5 will be hard, but i know i have his support, and he will wait for me till i come home. he is good that way.. like i said.. a blessing for sure.

Celtic Blessing.. for a journey...

2007-09-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

"Bless to me, oh God,

the earth beneath my foot.

Bless to me, oh God, the path whereon i go.

Bless to me, oh God, the thing of my desire.

Thou evermore of evermore,

Bless Thou to me my rest...

As thou wast before at my lifes begininning,

be thou so at my journeys end...

As thou wast besides at my souls shaping,

Father, be thou too, at my journey's close..."

highland excitment...

2007-09-08T10:51:00.001-07:00

the pitlochry highland games.. wow.. that was a very neat expierience. we got in the big dts van, and drove to a town about 2 hours away. it was really good to finally see some country side, including forsests with trees that look a thousand years old, the edge of the highlands, the stirling castle, and the mounmental tower for william wallace (braveheart..), and fields of wheat, surrounded by low stone walls.

the town was humming with excitement when we drove in.. the streets where busy, shops displaying their wares, cafe's and pubs full.. everyone was waiting for the bagpipers to march down the street to the fairgrounds, starting off the excitment. it was so neat when they finally came.. about a dozen different sets of bagpipers came, following one after the other yet still spread out, each wearing the kilts and colors of their clans. it was neat that they all played so synchronized, marching, and all to the same celtic tune. we were standing in line, waiting to get in, and i couldnt help but turn to the elderly couple behind us.. i might have been a little excited. haha.. they were from england.. very sweet. they explained several of the events to us, like the claiborne (spelling?).. the point is to see if you can throw the log in a straight line, as well as distance. i think that log was probably 4 times taller than me.. im not sure how much it weighed.. it looked like a small power pole. crazy. there were tons and tons of people walking around in kilts, bagpipers every where, and little highland dancers practicing for their turn on the stage. it really was a neat affair, and a fun time.. i very much enjoyed myself. and the people.. it is fun to sit and watch, most scots, if they notice you watching them, will smile and nod, very sincere.. perhaps even walk over and chat. its not like i was being a creep watching people.. i was just interested in the culture, and soaking up everything that was happening around me...

days of old..

2007-09-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

today i had the privilege of cleaning the jacobean style staircase in the mansion i live in.. it s like the center piece of the house. when you first walk in, its there, in all its antique glory.. the work and detail that went into its construction draws your eyes to it.. you want to walk up to it, run your hands up and down the brass railing, let your fingers feel the grooves in the hand carved oak and thistle designs that cover the posts.. i wonder how many generations of people walked up and down the 3 flights of stairs.. the stories it could tell you of the people who lived here before.. and the history it holds. the wood for it is imported american white oak...

haha.. i just wanted to make my day sound more interesting. really, all i did was clean the house.. mop wood floors, weed flower beds, dust, prepare lunch and dinner... and of course the stair case, which really is neat. this will be my schedule every friday, which means we put down the books and pick up the brooms. but it was still a good day.. it was nice to do something a little more active than sitting in chairs and discussing. not that im not enjoying it.. i was just having a hard time paying attention.. ignoring the desire to slouch in my comfy, pillowy chair for a nap. tomorrow should be more interesting. we get to go to the highland games, in a small town 2 hours away, just on the edge of the highlands...

change of heart and settling in

2007-09-06T09:55:00.001-07:00

yeah.. ok. so my first post.. thanks kirsten for the idea to do this! i think this will probably be more of a journal type blog, than a travel blog. of course i will note of my travels here too.. just being in school doesnt give me as much of a chance to see the world as i would like. one day though...

i have been in scotland for about a week and a half, and with everyday that goes by, i have a change of heart. at first, not only was i scared (this being my first big adventure by my self..), i was home sick, missing my family, friends, boyfriend. mom kept telling me, everything is the same here, dont worry.. but it was the constantness of home that i missed, and i dont ever want it to change. but now that i have been here for a while, and new distractions keep coming up, i am learning to be at peace with where i am.. i know this is where god wants me to be.. but what good is it, if you are where god wants you to be, and you dont want to be there? in order for him to show you all the wonderful things he has planned, you have to want it. thus the change of heart.. but its been good, and its gonna be great.

i just got back from a homeless shelter... well, actually, it is like a soup kitchen in a church. i met a few people there, but one man in particular stands out.. kevin. he was dirty, and his accent made it hard to understand ( i did alot of smiling and nodding), but when i couldnt understand, i made eye contact, and tried to listen that way. i now have a sore throat, and burning eyes, just from his breath, which was laced with smoke and some kind of alcohol.. but it was worth it. i didnt know if i could believe half of the things he told me about his life, but a few thing were clear: his passion for scotland, the people, and a change in the church.. he wants the church to be able to communicate better. tired of rules no one can keep, and being judged for who he was. he was angry for the missionaries who come over, and try to force god. they should come over, embrace and understand the culture, listen to the people. thats what reaches people.. listening, and love. people didnt follow and believe in jesus, just because of the miracles he did.. the people he healed got sick from something else, and the dead he raised died later on... no, people listened and followed christ because he loved them.. he cared. that is the example modern missionaries need to follow.. that is what people respond to. he later thanked us for listening to him "gab", said it was just what he needed. i am excited to be taught by the people i came to reach out to...