ACU - Cultural Anthropology for Missionaries

This week there have been many blogs that I would have liked to have written but didn't. Mostly because nearly every waking moment was spent either in class or reading in preparation for the next day's class. Today was my last day of class. Not only my last day of Cultural Anthropology, but my last day of class ever! Ok, maybe not ever. I have to be careful when I say things like that because God often likes to turn it around on me... like "I will never live in a foreign country." haha look at me now! Whether I end up going back to school sometime in the future or not, today is the last day of class for my BTh degree. YIPPEE!!! I do still have two papers to write and a take home exam but they aren't due for a while.

I was a little nervous coming down here to take this class. Mostly because I was going to be in a new place with no one around that I knew. I flew in last week on Wednesday afternoon. after getting settled in my dorm room I decided to go walk around the campus and figure out where I was going to need to be in the morning. I was walking along a street on the edge of campus when this tan coloured truck honked at me as it drove by. I looked up and was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Reid Overall. Reid and I first met in Brazil when I was living there and he came on a campaign with Aggies for Christ. He came to Brazil a second, and maybe even a third time, while I was still there. We've shared lots of good times together in Brazil. He pulled his truck over and got out and said something along the lines of, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE???" We stood on the side of the road and talked for 30 minutes or so. It was great to see a familiar face! In our discussion we discovered that we were both going to be taking the same class this week and staying in the same dorm. That was good news for me because it meant I knew at least one person. It was really fun running into Reid like that. I think Reid had a little difficulty wrapping his mind around it at first. I had no problems placing him here in Abilene but I was definitely out of context for him, a Canadian whom he has only ever seen in Brazil.

On Thursday morning I ran into some more people I know through being in Brazil. Paul Gonçalves, his girlfriend Brooke, Josh Love, and Heather Alkire. All of whom are going to be back in Brazil this summer. Paul, Brook and Josh in Itu where my team and I will be and Heather in Salvador where Travis and Alicia Sass are. These four were all taking Summer Seminar classes as well just not Cultural Anthropology. It was good to see old friends. There have been a lot of other people that I have gotten to see this week even if very briefly. I also got meet some really great people and make a lot of new friendships. Those are all coming soon to a blog post near you. :)

Here is a picture of Reid and I taken today just before he left for his tour in South America. I am so glad that he and I got to hang out this week it was good times. He is right now flying to South America but by the time you read this he will probably already be there, so if you have a minute pray for him and his team. For that matter pray for everyone who has been a part of this last week and are going out into different parts of the world this summer to do God's work.