Glacier National Park

Fun, Awesome beauty and new friends

 

Lakeside Montana - SBS Wk 1

What an incredible place. I can't begin to describe how awesome this place is. The first night was a spinout. I had a bit of jetlag but this first pic was my first sunrise! (Yes I got up for a sunrise). I will take lots more pics of my new home for the next 9 mths. The people are incredible. From the first day I could tell it wa a great group. There are 44 other students in the School of Biblical Studies ranging from 18 to 58 years old. They are a very diverse group of people who like me, love God and want to know Him more. You know me, I was right in there making friends for the first day. Actually the day before classes started I got together with another student from the DTS and we had a bonfire to bring all the new students together. It was great, about 100 people came down. See, even when I don't have a house I can still throw a party. I even knew all 44 students and 14 staff names before the end of the first class.
I can't express how blessed I feel to be here. Who gets this gift to take 9 mths out of life just to hang out with God and be with great people ... AND EAT DAIRY QUEEN. (For those of you who have you to experience DQ, it is the best ice cream eva! You choose what you want in your icecream and they mix it up into a thing of pure bliss called a blizzard). The first week of class was ... overwhelming. Just learning the basics of Inductive Bible Study was crazy. They say you read the bible 5 times but in the first week I read Philemon about 15 just trying to do all the steps. Basically we learn to take all of our preconceived ideas and just let the text speak for itself in relation to the original audience/reader. Very cool but challenging to take all the years of bible teaching out of my head, taking my personal investment out and just letting it be. I had a mini breakdown on the second day and decided to leave ... but my great classmates and staff were very supportive and laughed. I stayed and was fine ... just like they said. By Friday when I had to hand my first book in I had started to get it.
Which meant that Saturday was free to go for a hike to one of the most beautiful places on earth Glacier National Park. What an incredible place. What a fun day. The air is 5 times thinner here so I felt like an old lady huffing up the mountain. Hehehehhe. But once we got there, WOW! SPECTACULAR ... the true sense of the word (not being used to describe a new pair of shoes). It is an amazing place. And the day was hilarious. I drove up with a couple from the SBS, a crazy norwegian girl and and lovely but quiet Cambodian guy. We had a fun hike but the drive home was the funniest part. We got pulled over (but not booked) by a real life Montana Sheriff. So the foreigners in the back thought it was great to have this new American experience while the Americans in the front were quietly freaking. All was fine so we drove, slowly, to get Montana coffee where I was given a "real coffee" that was sooo strong that my eyeball literally popped out of my head. hehehe. Then came another great american tradition, Wendy's fast food. A huge bucket sized (supposedly medium) Dr Pepper and we were off to Walmart - the store you can buy an iPod, new outfit, get your groceries and a GUN!! heheheh. The Norwegian girl had shaved her head the day before and had commented that the locals thought she had cancer so they were smiling at her with a pity. So you can see why she got so excited she screamed that she got asked for her digits at the supermarket. Too funny to see this "cancer girl" jumping up and down in the carpark screaming, I still have it ... with an Aussie jumping too and a confused Cambodian and a puzzled american couple. What a great day.
Then I get to come back to hang out with my great roomie – Lisa who is 22, from Canada and just wonderful. We have a great time together and she can handle my “uniquness”. So far … all is good.

Leaving Australia

Ahhh ... Leaving.
You would think I would be better at this by now but I really love the incredible people God has put in my life. Family, Friends, Fellowshippers!! Awesome life I have in Canberra and here I was getting on a plane to travel for 30 hours to get to bible school in the middle of no where.
And yet it was great. God gave me an incredible sunset in New Zealand reminding me of His promise for this next 9 mths. The flights, immigration and transits were all fine.

Now comes the fun part!