Imperishable Inheritance

Ok, well a short update. We have started the leg of the project, fol­low­ing Per­spec­tives, that focuses on var­i­ous world reli­gions and some other mis­cel­la­neous topics. First, we learned about chrono­log­i­cal Bible teach­ing and spir­i­tual war­fare. In Bridges, we did Chrono­log­i­cal Bible teach­ing, but we didn’t do it nearly as thor­oughly as the speaker described. It took him almost a year to get through the gospel! He answered crit­i­cism to the idea that it takes to long by saying that God took 4,000 years, and he is right! We heard a speaker on spir­i­tual war­fare who was very charis­matic. I’ve often heard the topic of spir­i­tual war­fare, but he was very explicit in how he described demonic pos­ses­sion. It just kinda freaked me out.

Then we went to the Mosque, and they actu­ally let us go into the prayer room (called a “musjeet” pho­net­i­cally, but I don’t know the exact spelling). We went on Friday, which is their hol­i­day day, during their “holy” ser­vice in the early after­noon. The Imam did a Q & A, and he man­aged to con­tra­dict him­self at least half a dozen times. We also went to a Hare Krishna temple, which I had never even heard of that reli­gion before this trip. It is a cult of Hin­duism, and the ser­vice was really freaky. We also had a Q & A, and the guy who talked to us tried to get us to do the Hare Krishna chant which they recite over 1,700 times a day! They are truly devoted to their faith, and they would be awe­some Chris­tians (no fake believ­ers there).

I got to see my dad also. He came out to do some work, and we got to hang out of and on for three days. He went to our weekly ser­vice, and he also went on our com­mu­nity night (we went glow-in-the-dark putt putt golf­ing!). Him and I then went down to San Diego by our­selves stop­ping by Venice Beach to walk around (I wanted to see the muscle beach). We went to a great Thai restau­rant in down­town San Diego, which is very beau­ti­ful for a big city down­town, and then he dropped me off at a church we stayed at.

At that church we did a tribal focus where we met a guy who went to an unreached people group, the Iteri tribe, in Papua New Guinea. He spent twenty years there trans­lat­ing the Bible and teach­ing the Word. It was so inspir­ing. And he also gave me some encour­ag­ing words as to the accep­tance I’ve received from cer­tain mem­bers of my family. He also taught us how to surf; well, he tried to show me, but I just kept falling off. And I also man­aged to get burned all along my chest and tops of my arms/shoulders. I know, you’re envious.

What else? Oh yes, I went to Tijuana for my small group week­end; and it was a dump. But I can say that I’ve been to Mexico! On the way back up I got to visit Christy Thede who is stay­ing in San Diego for the summer. It was neat to see her 4,000 miles away from where I met her!

Lastly, I miss my family. Perry sent me a great card that bright­ened my week! It has pic­tures of us grow­ing up, and that is surely a trea­sure. He got approved to live in the park that we cur­rently are with Miriam (a new home). It’ll be weird to go back, and help my brother move out on his own. Wow, I have to plan a bach­e­lor party when I get back.

My sig­nif­i­cant other I miss ter­ri­bly. I look for­ward to coming back and seeing her again. It was very weird to start a rela­tion­ship and only a month into it be gone for 50 days. I now have 10 days left until I see her again. It’s def­i­nitely been a chal­lenge work­ing this out so far away, but it looks as though we might actu­ally make it. I wasn’t sure it was going to last at some points of the trip, but we some­how made it through. I just miss being close to her. ~sigh~