Christmas Cafe

A week ago tomorrow, we had a "Christmas Cafe." I've not written about it yet because I've been waiting on pictures and a video. Well, I got the video today! Thanks Ivy! :) That Thursday started out to be quite a day! On Thursdays we have classes with our dear American friend & professor. He has an 8am class every Thursday and this class wears us out every week! There are only 7 or 8 students in the class but each (minus one sweet, quiet gal) is VERY opinionated...even at 8am in the morning! Well, this week the student's presentation was on the topic of "Fate & Destiny." With this class inparticular, the student who is presenting usually starts off by going around the room and asking each individual person their opinion about something. This week the question to start was "What is your opinion about destiny & fate...do you believe in it....etc etc." So we went around the classroom and each gave his or her opinion. This gave Scott and myself a great opportunity to openly tell the classroom that we both believed in a very very personal and loving God who is very much still working in our lives but who gives us the free will to make our own decisions...etc etc. :) Later on during the class we were split up into groups and given topics such as "horoscopes, I Ching, tarrot cards." I was in a group with two great ladies...our topic was "terrot cards." Again, I had the chance to give my opinion, they gave theirs, and then one of the girls returned to the opening question on fate & destiny and asked me a few questions about my answer to that question. For example..."You say that God is active in your life, but you also say that He gives you free will...how is that possible?" GRAND question at 8:00 in the morning...but thankfully as it tells us in the book of Matthew when Jesus is speaking to his disciples, He says "...do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." (Matt 10:19-20) Now, I understand that in this passage Jesus is speaking about being thrown in jail & whatnot...BUT I've known this promise to be true in many situations...and this 8am class happened to be one of them. I went on sharing specific examples of how the Lord works in my life from a day to day basis and she asked more difficult questions and somehow I ended up sharing a bit of testimony about my brother and that one of the differences in being a Christian is that when terrible situations, unpredictable situations, unstoppable situations befall us...I still have a joy that overpowers all of my sorrow. Though it doesn't take away our pain...I can still find joy in my Father...I have, I do, and I will. When the presenter cut us off, my student had tears in her eyes. I had nothing to do with it, praise the Lord. :) It's like they soaked up every word I said...at 8am! I KNOW I had nothing to do with that. I'm suprised that I was even able to say their names at 8 in the morning. haha

So....that was a good class. I even noticed that Scott was chatting with his partner (another VERY opinionated, proclaimed athiest) about Protestants, what we're doing here, and how he "admired" the joy that Protestants seem to have. Makes me mad at myself for sometimes "not feeling like" going to that class because it's so early.

Now! The concert that night....SO FUN! Here's a pic of our friend Jason at the concert. Really, this guy is one of our closest friends here and he and his family are very very dear to us. It was such a blessing to have so much fun with him. Here he is with a Christmas gift that my parents sent him in the mail...he was very very very thankful.

Jason LOVES Oreos. :) (That's Scott trying to steal them from him!) This concert also allowed several students to come to our church who had never been there before. They all LOVED the atmosphere and some even chatted with Wojtek (pastor) and Bev (our friend & Sunday morning translator) about the church services. We're hoping to see some of them in church soon! :) (This is me & one of my favorite students, "Matt"...he is ALWAYS smiling and so happy to talk to Scott & me. We were very suprised to see him show up at the church to attend our coffeehouse. :) Not real sure what he's doing in this picture though. haha

So....here are a couple of AWESOME videos from the concert. The first one is of me & Jason and Scott singing "The Peace Carol." Jason wanted to sing this song...he remembered it from the Muppet Christmas with John Denver so we practiced for a couple weeks and here's the result! The second one is an "encore" for two late students fcoming in who missed the first go at it....I like the second one. :) Enjoy!