three cities, one country

back to santa barbara

berliner

travelers

Athens Crew

paris in blacks and whites

Black and White is the only way to capture the City of Light

you sound like you're from london

US Embassy

5 years of pain

Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee

Today marks exactly 5 years since I woke up from a stomach surgery in the extreme pain that has been a constant in my life since Dec. 20, 2006. One fourth of my life I have now spent in this pain. It has been something that I have let define who I am and what I do. But no longer.

I posted while still in Israel about that transformation that happened to my outlook on life while at the Sea of Galilee. That experience has dramatically changed how I view my pain. Over the past five months abroad, and especially in our last month in Israel, the Lord has shown me how much I can do (despite but sometimes because of my pain), as long as I put my trust in Him. This pain no longer has to be a burden, but a tool used by God. It forces me to put my faith in Him day in and day out in order to survive, an extremely humbling new way of life for me. It is still a process, but I know I'm beginning to finally point my life back in the right direction, towards Christ my King and Savior.

Normally on this day of the year I would mope around and think about how depressed I am or how much I think my life sucks, but not this year! I get to go down to Newport to see my best friends and have a giant Christmas Party will all of my Westmont friends that live anywhere near here.

GOD IS SO GOOD!

This is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame

I will bring praise, I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

Film: back to Glasgow?

If only. I have finally had all of my film developed from my adventures over the past six months. I sent 12 rolls home with my sister when we she left Scotland in August, and I brought back another 18 with me the other week. I've spent most of today going through them all and reliving my entire semester. I posted a lot from the 12 Scotland rolls a few months ago but I received a pleasant surprise today when I looked at the prints of my 18 rolls I brought home: more Scotland! I guess I forgot to send my sister home with the last black and white roll from Glasgow. I'd give anything to be back in that city for Christmas!

team Vespers squad

Naturally within 48 hours of me being home from Europe I made my way up to Santa Barbara to see everybody I've been missing for the past six months at Westmont! I was asked to take some pictures of the Vespers team and since I'm friends with every single one of them I was more than happy to! These are some of the most genuine and fun people I know at school. They're also some of the craziest so trying to get a picture that isn't completely blurry from them laughing and jumping all around was a challenge. I stuck around and hung out with the team during their practice and the actual Vespers night (every sunday in Page Hall, be there).

Here are some of my favorite shots I've gone through so far:

Money shot

Always laughing and always moving

These people rule

Wes is a boss, as usual

Some of the most amazing voices at Westmont

What the heck just happened to me?

It feels like yesterday I was sitting in the Athens airport updating my blog, and now it’s been an entire month and I’m sitting in the Tel Aviv airport doing the same. What a month it has been. I haven’t updating this blog in over a week only because I haven’t had a moment of spare time to write. This has been the craziest week to end the most insane month, finishing off the most amazing four months of my life! I don’t say that lightly. My life has dramatically changed on this trip, especially in the past week.

Now I’m on my British Airways flight to London, and this has probably been the most fun flight I’ve ever been on! Ok, back to my time in Israel. Wow. That’s really all I can say about it: wow. These past four weeks have dramatically changed my life. Here’s why…

When I landed in Israel, I had an agenda and a plan. I wanted to find God and to know what God has in store for me. Instead, I got something dramatically different. Last week we went up the the area of Galilee. We stayed at a resort right on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, it was absolutely beautiful! Our time there focused almost only on the New Testament, something I have been wanting for so long! I saw so many places where Christ walked and influenced. On our last night in Galilee we sat on the banks of the sea and read the end of the Gospel of John. Christ has been resurrected and shows himself to his disciples close to where we were standing. He called them to be shepherds to he sheep until his return. Our professor/guide/friend Cyndi gave us some time to sit on the rocks and reflect on the last month. As I sat, “It Is Well With My Soul” was stuck in my head. I sang and prayed, that’s when it hit me. For the first time in my life it truly is well with my soul. I have never been able to let go my back pain and my anger fully until now. At that moment, and all throughout that day, God had been showing me not my future but my past in a completely new light! 

In the past five years, I have been told by doctors, teachers, lawyers and other
“smart people” what I can and more often can’t do. According to them: I should not have been able to do what I have done in the past four months. I should not have been able to make it through my 12 hour flight to Europe. I should not have been able to hike up and down Scotland. I should not have been able to sit on countless hours of bus rides across the entire continent of Europe. I should not have been able to walk the 85 miles we trekked in Israel. But I did. Doctors would not have been able to explain it, but that’s because of something they don’t know: MY GOD. They don’t know how strong my God is, and until recently, I didn’t really understand it either. In Israel, God showed me how strong He really is by how much strength he has graciously given me.  

Because of this, I have finally been able to give everything up: my pain, my anger, my past and my future. Everything given to Christ, He payed the price and took it all. There is a song that goes something like “Christ payed the price on a hill far far away”… here it goes something more like “Christ payed the price on a hill down the block.” The President of JUC (Jerusalem University College) told us this during out last night in Israel, and it could not be more true. 

I'm back in London safely in London now. I continue to realize more and more ways this trip has already changed me, and I'm not even done with it yet! I'm staying here in London for a few more nights with some friends before I finally make my way back to the United States of America next week!

Death by salt

Adventure day!

We started our day with an early morning (not sunrise :/) climb up the cliffs of Masada! This didn't kill us, but it came close. Some of the guys decided to race up the hill to the top, and they collapsed a little more than half way up. I think my professor actually made it up the highest with a constant stride, and he's not exactly what you would call 'young'.

From the top we had spectacular view of the Dead Sea and all the way into Jordan! I didn't realize how high we actually were until I saw people down below. They didn't look like the size of ants, they looked like the size of the tiny crumbs ants carry! 

Next we drove to the Dead Sea, and this was just bad news. So normally the Dead Sea is perfectly still and actually reflects the mountains beyond it and is all around peaceful and calm to float in. No, not today. The winds were so intense that they were causing surfable waves to crash on the shore. We didn't exactly pay attention to the "DO NOT SWIM PAST THIS SIGN" warning, so we walked right past it to find the mud. After we smeared the black mud on our skin, we one by one got in the water. We were instructed to NOT get our faces wet because that much salt in our eyes would be the worst thing ever. I was one of the first in the water and we were floating around all calm and yelling how cool it was and for everybody to get in. Just when most of the group is in the water, the winds and currents pick up again and the extremely salty water starts to splash everywhere, mainly directly into our eyes. What started out as being a pleasant beach day quickly escalated to the scene from Titanic when everybody is screaming in the water. Nobody could see a thing as we were attempting to swim back to the shore blind without getting anymore salt in our eyes. Titanic then evolved into Saving Private Ryan trying to get back onto the beach. We were crawling on all fours and clinging to rocks for dear life as the waves crashed on us. When I finally got out, I remember looking back and seeing Charlotte pulling Jenny our of the water, both crying. Charlotte was pouring water into Jennys eyes and her own eyes trying to see. Bry's entire leg was bleeding, so were some other people's. Colby was acting as a medic, dressing peoples wounds and pouring rubbing alcohol on them (causing even more pain). I tried my best to go back in the water (once I could see again) to pull girls out of the rocks trying to not think about the pain in my own bleeding feet. I guess we should have payed attention to the sign telling us not to swim there. I think there was much easier access in the designated spot. I have to say that I've never had that much fun while being in that much agony! I wasn't able to take any pictures during the chaos, but here are some pictures just before:

Even though the Dead Sea was painful and complete madness, it was still one of the most entertaining and fun moments we've had on this trip as a group! I was completely weightless in that water floating around (before the waves) and it really was nice! Plus the black mud has all of these minerals in it made my skin softer than it's probably ever been.

We then went to the springs at Ein Gedi. These were much more refreshing than the Dead Sea! We swam around and stood under waterfalls. It was almost polar opposite to earlier in the day. 

We ended our adventure day at Qumran! I have been looking forward to see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found for so long, and today it finally happened! It was even cooler than I imagined it, and I can't wait to go see the scrolls this weekend here in Jerusalem. We're now back in Jerusalem after our 5 day road trip around southern Israel. We're here for about a week and then we do another week long road trip to Nazareth and the northern country! 

My day with the Bedouin

Me and The Sheikh

The Bedouin are tribal nomads that have roamed these lands for thousands of years, not really changing in most of their traditions and ways of life. They were gracious enough to feed us a delicious traditional meal on Monday night. We then spent hours driving around trying to find accomidationis for us in Arad, eventually splitting up into three groups. All of the guys slept on floor mats in an apartment with Sudanese refugees. The next morning we drove back to the Bedouin compound for breakfast.

Bedouin Brakfast

After an extremely filling breakfast, the Sheikh, or leader, of the Bedouin tribe (an extremely influential man in not just this area, but the entire country) shared with us the history of the tribe and how currently political situations in the area are effecting them. The Bedouin used to be able to roam where ever they wanted, following the water. But because of nations and borders, they have been forced to settle into semi-permanent communities. The community that this Sheikh is the leader of has 1,000 families! It was a true honor to be able to speak with him and hear his story. He only spoke Arabic, so a friend of Cyndi had to translate for us with the help of our rad bus driver Omar. 

Talking with the Sheikh

After breakfast and our talk, the Sheikh took us on a tour of the animals he has at his compound. They had goats, sheep, chicken, camels (big and small), donkeys... It was basically Westmont farm time! 

Ugliest animal ever

Baby black lamb

The Sheik and a baby camel (stupid pole)