Week Number Five Has Arrived

October 12^th, Wednesday

Well, I learned the Greek alphabet on Sunday night. That was exciting. Greek letters are so much harder to write than the letters I have grown up writing. Perhaps that’s just because I’m not used to them yet. In addition to Koert’s Greek class, another mentor, Marcie, will be giving a public speaking work shop on Wednesday nights starting next week. That is something I definitely need to work on. I have, however, been speaking up in class a few times. And Dr. Bauman has called on me a number of times. I definitely looked like a fool though. Speaking of Dr. Bauman, we get him back tonight. I’ve really missed his lectures and questionings, even though we’ve only gone a week without him.

God has really been working on my heart the past couple of days. He’s revealing some bondage and I’m trying to relinquish it to him; however, it’s incredibly difficult. I’d rather not go into too much detail. You’d probably rather I didn’t either. J

I feel like relationships are beginning to deepen here, which is wonderful to me. For a while I thought that the relationships I had made were going to remain shallow, but I see them deepening. That’s an answer to prayer for me. I’m getting a lot closer to my small group as well. I’m beginning to open up more and more to them. And I love getting to know each of them on a more personal level. My mentor, Sarah, is so amazing too. She is definitely a gift from God. She is praying with me and encouraging me as I struggle to relinquish my struggles and burdens to God.

It’s warm again here. The weather here is a lot like Utah, probably because they’re so close together. hehe.. It went from snowing last week to in the 60’s this week. I like it a lot though. I can still take my tri-weekly walks without worrying about snow or rain.

Pretty sure I’m almost a pro sander by now. Actually I lied. Nathan, the property manager who directs work crews, says you become an expert at something after you’ve done it 1200 times. So I have about 1194 more sanding jobs to do. Two weeks ago, Dr. Bauman told us that at our age, most of us have watched about 1200 movies. So I’m definitely an expert movie watcher. Speaking of, I have to go watch Leap of Faith with critical eyes. I might just take notes!

October 13^th, Thursday

Well, in my honest opinion, Leap of Faith disgusted me. Probably because Steve Martin is the main actor, and I can’t stand him. However, it was important for me to watch, because afterwards Dr. Bauman asked us what we saw. As my classmates brought up point after point regarding camera angles, music, actions, dialogues, articles, themes, etc. I realized that I don’t watch with critical eyes. After my two week Summit Session, I started watching movies more critically, however, that faded after a while. So now I’ll definitely be trying harder to watch more critically. The film producers and directors have place everything in a place for a reason. The actors act and talk a certain way for a reason. Certain music is played for a reason. The camera angles are placed strategically for a reason. I need to remember this and watch better.

Right now I’m reading Mere Humanity by Donald T. Williams. He will be our professor all next week. Dr. Bauman claims that he is a brilliant poet(I do thoroughly enjoy his poems in the book) and writer. I am definitely excited for next weeks’ teachings. His book is pretty confusing to me, so I’m hoping I can read it a second time during next week. And hopefully he’ll explain it a bit. His book focuses on G. K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and the Human condition. It makes me think of my Dad a lot, especially the parts about Narnia. It even quoted, “Further up and further in!” hehe…

We are continuing to read through Historians of the Christian Tradition and Church History in Plain Language. Dr. Bauman gives us a quiz each week on a chapter.

October 14^th, Friday

Social security…debt…welfare…macroeconomics…microeconomics…utility…value…money…working…wealth…marginal value…brains………We’ve been talking about economics. And I have a test on Ronald Nash’s book, Poverty and Wealth, tomorrow afternoon. I really want to study economics more in depth. For some reason it just intrigues me. And confuses me. So I don’t know how I will do on the test. L I guess I’ll let you know tomorrow!

October 15^th, Saturday

Woo hoo! I only got one question out of forty one questions wrong on my test today!! Technically I got two wrong, but there was an extra credit question that canceled out one wrong question. I’m so happy with my results! However, I need to change my study habits. I need to read slower, memorize important terms, take more detailed notes, etc. So that’s what I’ll be working on. I’m so stoked for next week. Donald Williams arrived this afternoon, and he’ll begin teaching English Literature on Monday morning. We’ll actually be acting out a play some time during the week(definitely out of my comfort zone) and going through a lot of his own poetry.

I’m also starting a new book: Romeo and Juliet. We students might be acting this out together in a study group; that’ll be pretty awesome. And we’ll be watching the movie, not the most recent one, the week after next. Hurrah!

I can’t believe that I’ve been here for over five weeks. It’s going by fast. I’m trying to take it day by day and enjoy every minutes of it; it still goes by quickly. L