My First Week in Oxford

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It has been one week in Oxford and still loving it. It has been a busy week, and time flew by…

The first day (Sunday Jan 14’07) we heard the staff’s testimonies (what God has done in their lives). It was really great to hear their stories. The next day (Monday Jan 15’07) all the student’s gave their testimonies (30 of us, about 5min long each) it was very emotional but amazing. Right away you feel closer to everyone and it is a very open and accepting atmosphere. Oh and my bags arrived! That was a huge relief ?

Tuesday Jan 17’07 our first day of Lectures. We learned about Worship, the different ways you can worship God (not just through song, but also serving others and pretty much everything you do). We also learned about Intercession (which is praying on the behalf of someone (individual, city, nation…) and hearing God’s Voice, both were very moving and challenged me to step out of my comfort zone.

We had our first small group meeting, we tried to go for coffee and 4:00 pm, but everything was closed! (Oxford is a really small town) We found something, and it was good to talk in a smaller group, and I think we are going to have fun together.

I’ll give you an outline of what a week day looks like for me. We have breakfast (7:00-7:30 am) then we have personal devotions (7:30 - 8:15 am) we each have a work duty (mine is cleaning the kitchen and helping out the cooks). We meet in the classroom at 8:50 and have a time of worship or intercession. The first Lecture starts at 9:00 am and we have the practical application at 10:00 am, we have a tea break at 11:15 am (tea is big here). Second Lecture at 11:30, lunch at 1:00 and the practical application of the lecture at 2:30 pm. The rest of the day we will have small group time, BASE/community work duties, and fun night, outreach prep, map/memory verse tests, study time dinner and free time.

We will be doing 3 book reports, and memorizing EVERY country in the whole world for out map tests. We also will each prepare a sermonette/creative presentation, and we have a journal that is evaluated each week (we do God Character studies and personal responses to the lectures). We are kept busy, but it is all a good time.

We have the weekends off. Saturdays there will be an opportunity to do an activity (surfing, go in to Christchurch, rock climbing, caving, camping…). Yesterday some of us tried to go to the beach, but it was cold and started to rain!! So we went for lunch and for coffee. The weather has been on and off, we have had 2 full days of warm sunny weather, and the rest have been cloudy with sunny breaks. Today is Sunday, Jan 21 ‘07 and I’m going to church, and hanging out maybe I’ll do some home work…

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Photos

Some New Friends
Peter (Dutchy) Sarah (OZ) Rae (USA) Taylor (Canada)

Tim Tam Slams!
Shannon and Megan doing Tim Tam Slams. Which involves sucking up hot chocolate through a Tim Tam (a chocolate coverd cookie waffer)and then when it gets soft tiping your head back and leting it slide down your throat. YUMMY!

Fire Drill
Taylor and Katy save Rae from the burning house (it was only a drill)

Me and Becky :)
Becky is one of my housemates, she is from Holland and is here with her husband Dan, who is from Portgual.

The High Street House Gang
These are the lovley people I live with.

Two Silly Canadian's
Rebecca and I hanging in the sun :)

Will Getting Caught
Will (one of the leaders) was taking pictures of himself with my camrea, and this is one is when I caught him.

Eliane enjoying her work duty
Eliane is from Switzerland.

My Small Group
Cesar (USA) Fleur (NZ) and Peter (Dutchy)

Comments

[Rahel]

Wow cus!! sounds like you're having a blast down there. im glad you are enjoying yourself. stay strong! love ya, Rachel