It has been a good past couple of weeks. And about half the time I even don't feel incredibly behind. Two weeks ago I did preach my first sermon at a church that wasn't my home church, and I preached it three times in a row! That was a decidedly interesting experience, because the sermon changed somewhat form time to time, and I'm pretty sure the people who came to the late service got the best rendition. After my full day I came home and ended up passing out until evening.
That evening, a couple of my friends who graduated from Trinity last year, Russ and Sarah, came into town, so I was pleased that I was able to wake up from my long nap in time to go to dinner with them. I got to spend time with them on Monday night too, and it was great to see them again and catch up with everything going on in their lives beyond seminary.
I finally attended my final first class, which was Church and Sacraments. It is a systematic theology option, where I'll learn both about what it means to be the church, and what we believe about the sacraments. We only meet once a week, which means I have a lot of reading to do in between every week, but I love the class already, and I'm excited to see what comes of it. My week after that went quite smoothly, getting into the swing of my classes, and trying to sort out exactly how much time I'm going to have to spend reading every day (it's a lot).
Then this past weekend, Silas came into town to visit and celebrate valentines day with me! Of course a wicked winter decided to join him, which was a bit of a shame. I drove in near white-out conditions to pick him up from the airport, which is an experience I'd be okay never having again in my life. Saturday night we went out for a lovely dinner and all was well until I slipped and fell in the skating rink that was the parking lot on our way back to my car. I wasn't hurt badly, so it was mostly comical, especially when I nearly brought Silas down with me while he was trying to help me up!
Sunday we spent most of the day cooking proper Texas chili to share with my friends from the north who don't understand why I'm always a little disappointed when I try chili here. We made it with ancho chilies, dark beer, stew beef, and bacon, and it turned out amazingly. When I tried it, I kissed Silas and told him I loved him even more than I had before. We had a great dinner and evening with my friends, and it was lovely to eat something so warm when it was so cold outside.
On Monday we did venture out a bit, but the cold kept us from taking any long walks. That day it snowed more, so after going to see a movie, Silas introduced me to snow ice cream, which is something I had never heard of before. It was a fun thing to do with all the snow we were getting.
My weekend with Silas was absolutely wonderful, and during his visit I had another interesting experience. There was one internship supervisor in town early this week, and I had not intended on interviewing with him. However, he read my information and asked to have a meeting with me. We talked for an hour and I found I was really pleasantly surprised by the supervisor and the church. It's now a place that I think I might be happy at for internship and that I'm keeping in mind. All of the rest of the interviews will take place this next week, and I have nine more to go! I'm really excited about the whole process and excited and anxious about where God will send me.
This week I also got to spend some time babysitting an infant for the first time, and it was her first time having a babysitter! We had a good time together, and it's nice to take a break from school to spend time with a baby every once and awhile. I did read her a few psalms out loud, which she seemed to enjoy. Being the daughter of two pastors to be, I'm sure she'll be hearing things like that plenty.
Finally, this morning I had my first ever experience with a dead car battery. Luckily, my entire apartment complex is full of people I know, so I was able to get a jump and my car came right back to life. You know it's too cold out when the cold is draining your car battery! I'm planning on staying inside as much as possible until it warms up again!
This weekend my plan is to spend my time reading and working on a text critical study and translation of the Bible passage I'm working on in New Testament. I think this semester is going to keep me plenty busy! I still love all my classes though, and I think I'm getting quite good at reading quickly, so that I understand enough without having to take in every word deeply. It's the only way to get through.
Now off to read Who is the Church? and a book about Hermenutics!
Peace be with you all.
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