Week Two

Hello!
Well, I've made it another week! It's been a roller coaster, but like I said last week, it's good and I'm glad about it! Classes started today. I have a morning class; Christianity in the Western Civilization, and then a night class; New Testament Survey. Western Civ will be quite the class. Our professor has done so much in her life and has really has had quite the life of study. It's a blessing to be taught by such an educated woman, however, her teaching style...and word choice will be challenging to say the least. My New Testament class is awesome. We have two professors who happen to be married. They are so awesome and friendly and knowledgeable and completely opposite of my other professor. It is nice to have a variety, and helpful to have the more exciting class at night, to help keep awake and alert! I think I will really learn a lot this semester and I am excited to really dive in!

I feel more at home here as things are getting started which provides the opportunity to spend more time with my peers and fellow interns who I am sure will quickly grow to become family. I have gotten close to a few girls and I really see the passion of ministry in them, which is so encouraging to be around. I have really began to figure out this city I feel, and can at least recognize road names now! Our neighborhood is nice, which I've learned from running it. We have a park a block away which is next to an elementary school so there are a lot of families around. "Downtown" Modesto is only about a ten minute drive without traffic. It isn't much, but it has a good coffee shop, Serrano's. It is the only location, and is a small place with a small menu. But I like the feel of it and spent a fair amount of time there on Sunday. It felt good to find a place I could sort of call my own, as we are all desperate to find alone time, haha.

I really feel God is working in me to teach me to have a spirit of willingness. I feel that by teaching me this, it really takes my faith to a new level in the sense of beginning to speak out what I believe. So often faith can become this standard or concept we hold ourselves to in our mind, however, lack to portray through our actions. I also feel He has really been putting a passion for people inside of me. Not that I wasn't passionate about people and having relationships with them before, but in a new way. A passion for knowing their hearts and all the details that make a person who they are. With that has come patience. Patience to listen, in order to hear these peoples' hearts more and more and remembering and caring.

I will leave you with some pictures I have taken this week.

These are not so great:
But here is my street:

Here's a little sneak peek at my every day vegetation I see here:

Here is my house!!

Here are a couple pictures of a ritual some of the girls and I have developed. There's another coffee shop that holds an open mic night every Sunday. So to start the week off in a fun way, we always go out there for a couple hours and listen to some (very interesting) aspiring musicians!

Hope all of you are doing well!! I'd love to hear from all of you!

Soph