Job Complete

I taught the book of Job last week and the students had a special assignment to create videos telling the story creatively.  There is so much to this book, but here are a few things I took away from this book:

• When life hurts, answers won't make things better.  We need God more than answers.
• When we cry out to God in our pain, we join with many others who lamented to him in the Bible:  David, Jeremiah, Job, and Jesus... just to name a few.  Those laments weren't edited out of the Bible... they stand as a reminder that it's okay to talk with God in our pain.
• If a person is suffering, it is not necessarily a result of sin.  On the other hand, if someone is "righteous" it does not mean they will not have suffering in life.  God is relational, not transactional.  Things aren't always cause and effect.  

In less than 3 weeks I will be teaching Micah for our CSBS and the Tijuana CSBS, so I must keep this update short as I have much work to do!  I will teach on December 10th in Tijuana and on the 11th in Los Angeles.  Really looking forward to diving into the prophets.

Oh yes, here's a video from Job from one of the groups - hope you enjoy!

Is it November already???

Frontside of Trailer 15 - My house!  I have 4 awesome roommates and the other side of the house is a nice Australian/American family with two kids

Here's me grading homework in a vacant cubicle

Here's the SBS Classroom - Our Theme is Illumination

Campfire at Joshua Tree National Park

Our new yellow wall!  

CHOC Walk at Disneyland - with Phineas & Ferb

I'm pretty excited to share that the CSBS in Los Angeles is well underway - they've finished Genesis through Samuel and are gearing up for the Wisdom Literature section (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Job - which I will be teaching!)  We went to Joshua Tree National Park for the "Wilderness Wandering" a few weeks ago, where the students reenacted stories from Exodus and Numbers.  I've been quite busy in the last month, mostly with grading, meeting with students, and prepping my own teaching times as well as working Friday nights in the coffee shop on base.  But, no excuses, it was time for an update!

In my free time, I've been settling into my home here in Lake View Terrace.  My roommate, Emily and I painted our room (we have a happy yellow wall now), I've seen some old friends in Orange County, and I participated in the CHOC Walk - a fundraiser for Children's Hospital of Orange County.  I've also found a home-away-from-home church down the road - Winds of Hope, a Spanish/English Church with a similar feel to it as Hockinson Community Church and Central Kona Union - it's small, but full of life!  

Some fun news, I'll be bringing two girls from the school home to Washington with me for Christmas - Eva and Emilie from Germany and Sweden.  We will be driving up on Saturday, December 22nd and arriving on the 23rd to stay for 2 weeks!  

So a few prayer requests:

- For students to keep going strong for the rest of the quarter (and the 2 quarters after!)

- For my upcoming teaching on the book of Job on November 19th-20th

- For strength & energy for myself (and the other staff) as we grade, teach, and help with base responsibilities

- For my back, I tweaked it at the beach last week and it's still quite painful :/  

Thank you so much for your prayers and for taking the time to read what's been happening with me in California!  Dios te Bendiga!!!