I'm going to Georgia!

The country that is, not the state. For our 3-month outreach (which starts mid December) I and 4 other people will travel to the country of Georgia. I'm excited to experience a new culture, though I'm sad that I won't be with the whole DTS team. I don't have a lot of details right now, but when I do I'll let you all know!

Classes have been going really well. Last week Kelly, the director of YWAM Eastern Europe spoke about Biblical worldview. I was ready for a "stay in the church, think more about Jesus" talk and would have shut him out, but instead he talked about what the Gospel really means, about what Christianity is, not religion. Religion is separating the world into 2 parts- the spiritual and the physical and saying the spiritual is good and the physical is bad. However, God created it all (government, environment, arts, family, etc.) and we are called to live in every sphere and live well. To me, that is what it means to be a Christian- to live life well as God has shown us. It's not about who prays the most or who spends the most time in church (though obviously those are good things and we should pray and fellowship) but it's about living life as God called us to live it.

This week's teaching is cross-cultural communication. Tomorrow we have to give a presentation to the class about something (holiday, song, book, art) that represents our culture. I'm going to do 4th of July since it's my favorite holiday and come on, what's more American than fireworks and barbeque? I'll dress in red white and blue and act as obnoxiously American as I possibly can. All. Day. Long. Yessss....

Speaking of cultural differences, I really miss American food. Yeah, we have McDonald's here, but what I love about the States is the variety of food available. Right now the only green vegetable I can find at a reasonable price is cabbage. And to me, cabbage just doesn't count. I want peppers, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, hummus and pita chips, guacamole, salsa.... the list goes on but my mouth is starting to water. I generally try not to think about what I'm missing too much since there's not much I can do. So let's hear it for meat and potatoes!

And speaking of meat and potatoes, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It doesn't feel like it since it's not celebrated here. However, I saw a few Christmas decorations in the store the other day, and the base here is planning on celebrating Thanksgiving together- complete with turkey, pumpkin pie, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on the screen! I'm kinda excited.

This post turned out to be mostly about food. Can you tell I'm hungry? I should go find a snack. Hope that fall is treating you all well...snow's coming soon! (OR it's already there for you New Yorkers, hahhahahahahaha!)