information overload

this is crazy of me to be writing in here with everything i need to do, but i thought this would be a good "break" for a few minutes. thankfully this weekend we don't have the entire weekend planned out for us and saturday is Yom Kippur, which means that EVERYthing stops in Israel. for us, it is a day of prayer... or just a day of quiet. so i'll have the chance to spend much of the day in prayer, reading, and doing homework. sunday we have a field trip for Jerusalem Studies so i'll be gone that whole day, but i'm looking forward to it!

lunch conversation at my table today was rather interesting. two of the girls at our table had already spent a semester in Israel and somehow it came up that we would experience intense culture shock upon returning to the states. somehow i hadn't really thought of it, though i know it happens. but i've never spent this much time outside of the country. jamie told me that she just appreciated that life was much simpler over here. going back to southern CA and its fast pace was difficult. and things that matter in the states just don't matter here and you start to get used to it after 15 weeks here. she said people cried when they left IBEX and when they got home. even though i have a hard time imagining it now, i guess it's common for IBEXers to always want to be together because they understand each others' struggles in coming back to the states. i'm not sure how that one will work out, but i am thankful for the group that is here. i'm learning a lot about how to love my brothers and sisters in Christ. it's definitely not always easy though!

well, i'd better get back to work. i certainly have enough to do! :-)

"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Col. 3:17