=) last week was the most boring week ever. i was stuck at home doing problem sheets, lab writeups, tutorial assignments.....biophysics was driving me insane. fortunately I had the biochemists arnd to keep me sane =)

but! this week was excellentexcellentexcellent praisetheLord!
=) hmmm...soooo. on monday I got a bit of work done for my tute then it was ifocus which was good...a good time of fellowship and learning abt God.
It's mission week this week and the Christian Union organized a series of lunchtime talks which were gd...I only got to go for the one on tuesday and on thursday I had to leave halfway thru =( but well, it was nice just to take time off in the middle of the day in the middle of the week to gather to listen to God's word. They also held a series of talks in the night...on tuesday, there was a talk by a professor of theology who was once a scientist, in response to the book the God delusion by richard dawkins. It was too short to address stuff in-depth but food for thought still and now I want to read both books - the God delusion and the dawkin's delusion. Yinyin and alex (my future flatmates) went along for the talk so praise the Lord for that. In general, praise the Lord for this week! It's been such a blessing. It's gotten many many people thinking abt faith, religion, God, and asking questions. Pray that He'll work in their hearts and that all Christians in Oxford will reach out to those around them even after this week and also that we'll all continue seeking the Lord wholeheartedly.
Praise the Lord for answered prayers!

the little parts of your life that you convince yourself you are seeking God in and am abiding in His will, but your wants and anxieties reveal how you're just stubbornly refusing to let go completely and accept God's plan. even when you know He loves you and knows how your life is meant to run and wants what's best for you and you want to surrender all. only by His strength! hais.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else
- C. S. Lewis

so tuesday afternoon I went for archery...i think I'm just getting worse at it! haha, but nvm, I will persevere! and wednesday was amazing. After classes I hurried down to cowley...to the Helen & Douglas House. It's such a beautiful compound and the weather was perfect - sunny and cool. =) I felt so comfortable there...and the carers were all wonderful, kind-hearted people. It was nice to talk to people who aren't related to the university in any way - reAL people. real people who care. met a guy who spoke just like paul/saneliso....so i asked him where he was from and he said ZIMBABWE! hahaa. I told him one of my best friends was from there and we talked abt shona(the language...) although I couldnt remember the bits of shona you taught me tate =( sorryy. So I spent the afternoon with Laura, another carer, who used to study greek in oxford. She was absolutely lovely. and so was the little girl we took care of =) We just chilled in the sensory room with a few other people, listening to music, chatting....As she showed me all the photos in her photoalbum, it was....haha, I cant really describe what it was like. then we took a trip down cowley road to the pharmacy to pick up some medication and then to tescos to buy a colouring book =) little things along the way made me smile =) How she's so pure and caring and loving. When she first met me she gave me a bIG hug and kiss on the cheek =) I pushed her along in her wheelchair for part of the way, I was reallyyyy nervous. never done that before! but it turned out okay =) after our little outing, we played pool and I got trashed...haha, I've never been good at that game. but it's not just that I'm terrible at the game, she's rEALLy good...
I also couldnt help but be marveled by the power of love - of parental love. Their struggles, strength, energy, perseverence. Everything about the hospice is so carefully thought through; thought through with a genuine desire to help families with terminally ill children in every way possible. wow. and it's small scale and personal too.

yupp. so on the way back I picked up a pot of tulips =) pretty white tulips. yinyin named it tulio. haha. it's our spanish word for tulips. but that afternoon was simply. amazing. it was so simple, but it just touched somewhere deep within....I'm looking forward to next week!

AND. it snowedddd! and snowed! =) prettyyyy. snow covered everything.
snowfights while slipping and sliding along, trying to keep our balance.
lovely.

lovely week.

next week's a nightmare though. in terms of the amount of work. but well. got to learn to deal.