Much has happened in these past two weeks, I've been quite busy. I loaded Windows onto my computer last week with Boot Camp, so I have a fully functional Windows operating system as well, I loaded my E-sword onto it and I'll probably load other stuff onto there as well. Last Monday for Christian Association class, we were partnered up, I got paired with Jeffer, a Swedish guy, and each group got an egg which we were to keep from breaking all week, it was our "baby" to take care of, I guess to help us learn what it would be like, I don't know. After last year's electronic babies that would cry all hours of the day and night, we'd have to change its diaper, feed it, rock it, burp it, and keep its neck from getting "injured." So this egg business was not too hard. We promptly wrapped it in ten paper towels and nestled it into a plastic cup and saran wrapped it. At the end of the week we dropped it several times to see if it would break inside, but it did not, it worked great. Yvette had her birthday, so we bought ice cream and had a little surprise birthday party for her. A new guest teacher couple came from America, they talked to us several days about pastoral abuse and how it is a problem, though many times you do not hear about it. Many of the principle they shared though could be applied in other areas. We learned a little bit about how to counsel people as well, so that was good. We continued to have our Christian Association, Agriculture, Revelation, How to Lead, Nehemiah Leadership, then also a lady who's been a missionary in India came and talked to us about the work going on there. I continue to work on the farm, most people have been assigned to different places, but I got reassigned to the farm again for this month. It's not all that bad, I enjoy learning about the farm, I don't think I would learn anything really working somewhere else like grounds or the kitchen. I've driven a couple of the tractors here with trailers, hauling stuff around, one of the tractors rear wheels was not driving so it was interesting driving a tractor with only one wheel moving it along! On the farm I've hauled lettuce, worked the soil, pulled many weeds, planted tomatoes, harvested some lettuce, and much more as well. I moved rooms so Leo, one of the Swedes we met in Sweden at Ambassadors for Christ could stay with one of us, so I moved out and got a new room and Leo is rooming with Matt. I now have taken up running in the morning, I have to get up at 3:30 or 3:45 so I can have Devotions before I run the five mile loop. I start running at 4:45 from the dorm and it loops back around and ends right near the dorm again, there are a couple of decent hills I have to run up, but it is good, then I shower and try to get a ride up to the school, if not, then I walk the mile there. I continue to play ping pong every once in a while, I enjoy playing that, I would like to get good at that again, but I'm not as good as I was my Junior year in high school when I played all the time, bummer. We have different groups in our class that put on the different Sabbath services and Friday night vespers and last weekend was ours. I had Scripture and prayer, and helped lead in a Sabbath School lesson. Our group has done a great job I think. That Sabbath, Robby, the 21 year old dean, asked me if I wanted to go on a hike that afternoon, so I went. Four of us went, Martina, one of the EBS students, Robby, Emily, and I. It took an hour to drive to the starting point, we ate on the way there. We hiked up this mountain, starting at a ski resort, then veered away. There was snow still in some places, and we had to walk through that, towards the end it started to rain, but we all had waterproof jackets on, so it was alright. We had a great time, I think we hiked somewhere around 20 kilometers or so. We got back and had some strawberry smoothies to top it all off, not to mention a little ping pong action. This week started off with Sunday classes, because May 17 is a Norwegian holiday and we would not be having school, they had it on Sunday. This past week for every class period we have had a guest teacher from Germany named Oliver Glanz, he is an Adventist philosopher, and his classes were quite good. He went over many things including how to reach certain groups of people, mostly how to converse with the academically minded people with much learning and what they think in regards to religion. We learned about the basics of philosophy and how it can be tied in with the Bible and its philosophy. I continued working on the farm and my supper clean up chores. On Thursday, the holiday, most of the students went to Oslo where there was almost a constant parade of young people with flags and marching bands in front of the king's palace. It was fun, I bought a little flag, and would walk a ways up then hop in with the parade and walk past some of my friends waving my flag, it was fun, I don't think anyone really noticed at all, there were thousands and thousands of people there. The parade wasn't super organized, but it was good. I saw an African man with a lanyard around his neck with the Adventist logo on it, so I went up to him and talked with him. He is here in Norway colportering during the summer and going back to Africa after that. His group of like twenty from Africa sold like $1 million US this last summer, that is a crazy amount, somehow they have an avenue to people that most don't. I talked with an Mormon missionary from Utah also, along with a couple from Chicago I had notice they were wearing a US/Norwegian flag pin, so I asked where they were from and stuff. It was a good day meeting people, watching the parade, taking pictures, hanging out, and walking around. Then we went to some Old Building Museum, they take apart old building and restore them in some area in Oslo, it was interesting to see. This last week I have also been working on our group project, we were assigned Farm as our topic, so we are making a video about farms, with EGW quotes, interviews, a picture slideshow, and music. I'm editing it, so I hope it turns out well. I spent two and a half hours working on it, then lost all my work unexpectedly when the program decided to shut down, I was dumb and didn't save it, so I had to start all over. Yesterday, I got a new roommate at 2am, I said hi asked a few questions, then rolled over and fell asleep again, only to wake up at 4am to work on our video project some more. Well, that is a much overdue update on what's happening with me. Continue to pray that all will continue to go well with our WFL group here!

I have fallen into the same routine. I get up, have devotions, take a shower walk up to the school, eat, have classes, eat, work, and go back to the dorm, then sleep. You know it sounds like fun! There is stuff in between as well, but I'd be writing in this about details you'd never care to hear. This last Tuesday was a Norwegian holiday, so we had the day off from school. We took two busloads of us and headed up to a lake about 45 minutes away. At first we came to a beach that was all trashy, so some took six canoes and headed over to a better spot. Evangeline, Emily, and I walked around on a trail part of the time, and making one of our own the rest of the time. We all ended up at the park, it was very much nicer than the dump we first went to which was all littered by trash and junk. We had a worship with singing then we spent our time canoeing in the lake, playing ultimate frisbee, soccer, eating, and hanging out. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed going out in the canoe and cruising around. I learned how to throw a frisbee around, and how to do some soccer stuff, much fun! It has been pretty nice outside lately, pretty sunny. It might get a little weird weather-wise soon, so we'll see what happens. This last Sabbath was very nice, i took a walk on a nine kilometer loop near here, it felt good to get out. Some evenings people will play frisbee catch, so I've done that a bit and played a fair amount of ping pong as well in between studying different stuff. This next Sabbath I'm supposed to do the Scripture reading and prayer along with leading out in a Sabbath School lesson. I know I need to pop out of my comfort zone every now and then! We have another guest teacher now teaching about true education, its pretty interesting. Time has been flying, its hard to imagine that I'm half way done over here in Europe, almost done with Witness For Life!

I have continued to be busy lately. We have had classes on Nehemiah, Revelation, Leadership, Relationships, Communication, and Organic Agriculture. As we get guest teachers we will have different short term subjects. For practical education I have been working on the farm, specifically the greenhouses. I have learned how to plant many plants and all about different things like grafting tomatoes, keeping cucumber plants growing vertical, the properties of soil, and the one I'll use most in the future would have to be weeding. Yesterday I spent four scorching hours pulling weeds in a plastic covered greenhouse, but I had some good conversations with people, so it was good. We are starting to get into a groove here at EBS. I wake up at five or a little earlier, have devotions, take my shower, walk or sometimes get a ride up, have breakfast at 6:45am, small break then classes until lunch at 1pm, then practical education in the greenhouses, dinner at 6pm. People hang out for awhile then go to their dorms, sometimes I play ping pong, study, or go on a walk or something, and finally to bed at around 10pm. I have been doing my own personal study on the origin of the Bible canon, it has taken me quite a while and I'm still working on it. This last Sunday the EBS students took us WFLs to this forrest area where we played a game called "God's Smuggler." Basically it is like capture the flag or cops and robbers, one team would try to get the "Bibles" from one base to another. It was fun, a bit cold, but we warmed up quick. I tripped getting chased by a big muscular guy who works on the farm named Hans, quite appropriate I think; I tripped, and he tripped to and fell right on me. That evening they had a special program kind of for the WFLs, we had this mystery food thing where they had a list of weird things like monkey, iceberg, toe, sunshine, etc., and they were all some real food like olives, homemade ice cream, garlic cloves, salt, etc. I soon figured out what was the ice cream and got a bunch of that, it was healthy. So that has been the update...

It's been a week, I wanted to post a few days ago, but I was pretty busy. Since getting back from Sweden we have had our official classes. This last week we had Gayle and Bill Clark from Miracle Meadows School in West Virginia come and teach. They taught about active listening, being assertive when being pressed to do things morally wrong, conflict management, knowing God's will for our lives, how to have a balanced life, the power of thinking, and the four temperaments. I really enjoyed their classes. They would teach us about some of these and then we had to demonstrate how to use them effectively whether it be conflict management or how to be assertive. I worked in the greenhouses here at EBS with tomatoes and cucumbers. Getting the plants ready to plant, by putting stabilizing sticks with the plant and fastening them to it with a small ring, I did that for four hours straight a couple of days. I did some other stuff like hanging plastic twine to the tomato plants so they could grow up straight, supposedly they will get eight or ten feet tall, so they have to be stabilized that way. We found that there was a ping-pong table in the guys dorm, so it has been getting utilized. I got slaughtered by a Swedish guy, like 5-21, bad news. I have been staying busy going to classes meals, work, chores, and then getting back to the dorm at about 7:30 or 8:00, and I've been trying to keep up my own personal log of everything, a bit more detailed than this blog unfortunately, it would take forever to type! This weekend I ended up staying up till midnight or later and waking up at five, I'm kinda tired. On Sabbath a few of us took a walk and I thought I'd have a quick nap...

Back from Sweden... Well, I'm back from Ambassadors for Christ here at EBS, I just got in. It feels nice to wear shoes, I'd been wearing my flip-flops all week because I forgot my shoes here. Bummer, but I survived. On Friday we as a WFL group had the day off. We all went to the rocky beach and took some group pictures and just walked around. It was nice to have a free day, it seemed as though every day was packed with something.On Friday night, Sabbath, and Sunday we heard from Sebastian Tirtirau and Scott Moore. Sebastian has been going to remote areas in the Amazon, far north in the Arctic Circle, and to the deserts of southern Africa reaching people with the Gospel that have never heard the good news. Scott Moore has been preaching this whole past week about various topics, the last one on how to trust in God completely. It was a great week, though quite full. We left early this morning at 5am to walk half an hour lugging our suitcases and stuff to the bus station. Eight hours later we were back in Oslo, Norway from Sweden. Then we took a train to a small town which I don't know how to spell starting with an H, near Skotselv where EBS is. And here I am!

Trip to Sweden... We had to meet the van that would take us to the bus station early in the morning, so I got up and made sure I had everything, and met outside of our dorm at 5:30 to go. The van pulled up with the girls and their stuff already in it, us three guys rolled out and threw our stuff in. I ended up looking like I had brought the most stuff, but I compacted my belongings quite nicely and it didn't appear that way any longer. I got the cold seat right next to the door that doesn't shut all the way, so I had the gusts of wind to keep me nice and awake the whole way to Oslo. We got there and we took the bus all the way to Malmo, Sweden, with a transfer and a break to let excess weight go... It was an eight hour trip on the buses. I sat by myself and to keep it that way, I would set my backpack on the seat next to me and look like I was digging through it, it worked well, I could see the longing looks for my seat, but it remained unoccupied, I'm exagerating of course, there were plenty of seats. We waited an hour at the station waiting for someone who knew how to get to the church we would be staying at. She came, a girl who had decided to go to Sweden and work with Lifestyle TV there instead of continuing on Witness For Life. When we got there they [Lifestyle TV] were recording a doctor telling how to put on a health expo. I was starving, make that ravenous, since we really didn't have much food in the way of a meal, then all there is is tomato soup. I was disappointed. We then went to the evening worship meeting where Scott More was preaching, and being translated for the TV. Everything here is translated one way or the other, though 90% of the Sweden population speaks English. We then found out afterwards what we WFLs would be doing as part of the program. We would be cleaning bathrooms, preparing all the breakfasts, and helping out with the evangelism. Since that first day we have been attending the morning worships, along with our other duties, passing out flyers advertising the Health Expo, then working with the health expo doing the various booths. The last two days I worked in the exercise booth checking their pulse and having them do the step test. It was kind of interesting getting those who do not speak English at all and then having them do the various stuff, but it all worked out. I've had fun doing that work, then they get invited to come to the meetings the church and the TV station will be putting on, but the Health Expo, though it helps them realize their own health and what they can do to better it, it opens a door that otherwise wouldn't be there to have them come to the meetings and learn more about Christ.Last night we had the first official meeting and several guests came. We all here have handed out about 15,000 flyers, so the word is getting out, along with being on television. There are about 30-40 people here helping out, so it is interesting getting to know people from here. Well, I must go, I'm having quite a bit of fun here, and I will continue to try to keep this thing up to speed.

Finally, to EBS... Hey there friends! I have now been here six days after flying out from the U.S. Right now we are in a kind of transition phase here at the European Bible School (EBS) between the health quarter here and the Leadership quarter, which we came for. This week they have been taking a few tests and just finishing up. This next week beginning early on Sunday morning until the following Monday, we will be going to Malmo, Sweden to a conference called Ambassadors 4 Christ and we will be there eight days helping out with some Bible work I believe, but we'll see what happens. When I typed the last blog entry I was in the Chicago airport waiting for 2 1/2 hours for my flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. I was having my devotions a few minutes before boarding time and I look over and I see Emily and Alex, two of the WFLs, I was pretty surprised to see them there, I was supposed to meet them at Denmark. The flight was only about 1/2 to 2/3 full, so I was able to go and sit with them. They gave us a small dinner, and I read a bit and caught up with what Emily and Alex had been up to since I had seen them last. I got five or so hours of sleep, and that felt pretty good, I slept when it would be night in Norway to try to get on the sleep pattern, it worked pretty well. I woke up hungry and just in time, because they brought the breakfasts by. I gobbled mine down, ate some of the food Emily and Alex didn't want and then asked for another breakfast from the stewardess, they gave me one. We finally got there and then got onto our next flight without any problems. Matt didn't make it to the flight with us, he told us later he just missed being able to get on, and watched the plane sit there for five minutes without letting him on. We had a short flight to Oslo, Norway. We went to get our luggage, mine came through, but only one of Alex's came through. It all got figured out and it came on the next flight along with Matt. We went through customs and there were the rest of the WFLs. We met the guy that was going to take us to EBS, and changed our money, and drove an hour and a half to the school. It was a pretty drive there, Oslo is a big city, and it took a while to get through it. We had to drive under a few fjords in long tunnels. The people here drive on the right hand side of the road like we do in the States. It almost seemed as if the only difference between the States and Norway was the language, signs, and the cars. Anyway, we had dinner and the girls went to their dorm right near the main school building that had the classrooms, the computer lab, and the cafeteria. The us three guys were driven down to our dorm and we had to do rock, paper, scissors to see who would get the single room. Ricky got it. So we unpacked our stuff, the rooms are like old hospital rooms, we have hospital beds and there is nurse call buttons in the room too. The mattresses are hard as rock, but it worked out fine, I've slept like a baby on it just fine until now. The next day we had orientation and they told us what to expect from the program and we were shown around the campus. From then until Friday, we went to some of the classes, but the regular EBS students were finishing up the last quarter and were having some tests and stuff. We had agriculture classes and Bible classes, not to mention the practical education, aka work. I worked in the greenhouses moving dirt around, which reminded me a little too much of last summer's landscaping...I also worked on a ton of tomato plants putting sticks into the little pots and securing the plant to it so they would grow up straight and not lean over. The food here is pretty good, vegan of course, its different than most food I've had so far, but I'm surviving quite well. Friday night we had vespers and it was pretty interesting, they had translators who would translate both ways, Norwegian to English and visa versa. Well, I'm having a lot of fun so far! I will be going to Sweden tomorrow morning and I will be at the Ambassadors 4 Christ conference in Malmo, so I will not have internet access there, so I will have to post again when I get back! Pray that all goes well with this conference, we are supposed to be doing Bible work, but I'm not at all sure what that entails.

Spring Break... Well, here I am in the airport. I realize I haven't posted for quite a while. I will be trying to keep up this blog more regularly while being in Europe. This spring break, starting March 4th, has been a good one. David, Matt, and Chris, some of the guys from Witness For Life, came over to my house since Sonora is not too far from Weimar. They had scheduled flights before Weimar changed the Spring Break dates, so they had to go somewhere for three days, so, to my house they came. We played many games of Risk into the wee hours, we went to Yosemite and checked out the Sequoias and other great views there, and then we checked out a big gold mine near my place.Before we knew it, it was time for me to take them to the airport. Off they went, and I went to work for Hub 3 Networks in Sonora. It is primarily a internet provider, but many other computer related things happen there too. I came just in time to start helping Bryan, the head ted, to get office next door in good shape to move over from the other office. I'm really glad I was able to work there, though it was very short, I learned much about a whole lot of different things there. The next weekend I went over to Rio Lindo Academy, the boarding academy I graduated from. My sister, Alison, is currently going there as is my good friend Kirk and a bunch of other Sonoraites. It was great seeing people I hadn't seen for a long time and seeing some of my old teachers. My sister left with our Sonora SDA church for Belize where they will be preaching, building, and putting on a VBS program for the people there. Pray for that trip, that it is a success and many people will be touched as a result! After that I again worked at Hub 3. Right now I am typing on my new Apple MacBook. I'm pretty stoked about that! It is working famously. All too soon my Spring break ended. I believe it was successful though, I was able to see my family and friends, who I won't see for three months and I was able to earn a few bucks so that I will be able to have fun in Europe and pay for this Laptop! Well, I said goodbye to my parents and grandparents today and I flew from Sacramento to Chicago today. I will be flying in a little over an hour to Copenhagen, Denmark. There I will meet three other WFLs, Matt, Emily, and Alex. Then we will fly to Oslo, Norway where we will meet up with the rest of our group and then travel to the European Bible School. Adios for now....

The Weimar Experience... Boy, life is great when you are having fun I've decided! That's what I'm having here at Weimar College. The quarter is now in full swing, and I can officially say I feel at home now. I'm sharing two dorm rooms with four of us Witness for Lifers (WFLs), one room is supposedly dedicated to sleeping, and the other to all of our accumulated junk in general. I have my class schedule all lined up, I'm taking Massage/hydrotherapy, Into to Cooking School, Christian Writers 15th-17th centuries, and Christian Marriage, Family, and Children class. I'm enjoying the classes for the most part, I seem to lose track of all of my time here. I'm working for the grounds department and so far all we've done is split wood, each day, I'm glad I only work Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The WFL crew here is great, I've gotten to know each and every one now, and they are all cool. There are thirteen of us this year. We've been able to hang out and do all sorts of things together: hike on the trails here, go to town and do fun stuff, snowboard, play games, and generally hanging out. Fun stuff! We hail from all over the U.S. from Louisiana, Indiana, Georgia, Washington, New York, New Mexico, California, Texas, and Kansas. Weimar has been a different experience for me than Mission College, but both are great in my opinion, one focuses on Bible work and the other on Health Outreach and Evangelism. Soon we will be doing some health expos and a cooking school before an evangelistic meeting takes place nearby. I hope and pray that all goes well for us in these efforts. I definitely glad to be a part of the program here at Weimar! It has been a blessing. Pray that all goes well with the outreach we are doing here and for our Witness for Life group as a whole too, that we may be true witnesses for Christ in all we do and say!

From Mission College to Weimar... Wow, so much has happened since I last posted! I was really bummed to have to leave Mission College and all the great friends I had made there. It really hit me how much I missed the atmosphere and the friendships I had gained when I was driving the eleven hours home by myself. I am very glad I decided to join the crew there at the last minute even. All the plans I had layed out for myself were nothing like the plans God had in store for me! I grew so much in my personal walk with God, like I had never grown before. I definitely encourage those of you who read this who desire to have a closer walk with God, and share the awesome message we have as Christians to all around us to go to Witness For Life, for those of you in high school, or Mission College of Evangelism, AFCOE, or ARISE, there is nothing more important than our walk with God, so why not strengthen it? I had a Christmas at home with my family and my grandparents. We had some good food, and then opened gifts on Christmas Eve, I'm not sure why we didn't do it on Christmas, oh well. Christmas break was great! I was able to visit people I hadn't seen in a while from MLAJA, Rio, and others in Sonora. I was able to hang out with Rob Erich, who I hadn't hung out with since Rio's graduation. One of the highlights of the break though would have to be GYC, General Youth Conference, in Baltimore, Maryland. A group of us from Sonora flew over there on December 27. There I attended some awesome seminars on entertainment, changes in the political world that are affecting Adventism, and others. It truly was a blessing. Just walking around at the Baltimore Convention Center I would see so many people I knew from Mission College and from other places too. I was able to meet three of the WFLs, Shannon, Allie, and Ricky, that were at ARISE, so it was great to meet them finally. The whole thing as a whole was such an uplifting experience, there were like 5000 people there on Sabbath, yeah, whoa buffalo is right! The speakers were great, and the messages definitely hit home for me, challenging me to be more and more Christ-like in all I do. We all were able to do a mass outreach event with about 30 or so bus-loads of youth going out into the surrounding areas to knock on doors and witness to others, giving them the chance to have Bible studies, I had a blast! Soon, though, It all drew to a close all to quickly, as fun things tend to go. We flew home on New Year's Eve, on the plane ride back four of us played something like twenty-five or thirty hands of Rook, best card game in the world! We finally got to Sonora like an hour and a half before New Years. My sister, Alison, and I went to the McMurry's house where there were a group of people and hung out till about 1am. Fun stuff! Then I had to pack up for the next part of my Witness For Life adventure, Weimar College. I drove up to Weimar on January 2, got mega lost on my way there, but made it eventually! I moved some of my stuff into my dorm room, and hung out in the dorm with Wezley, one of the WFLs I got to meet, he's a character alright! By the end of the night I had met most of the WFLs. In the morning I met the rest, they are a great group, I'm pretty much excited. We had registration and orientation and tomorrow classes start! Boy, with a group like we have here and the nice campus here, we're bound to have tons of fun!