Christmas Crackers

Merry Christmas! No, that's not the Virgin Mary. It's me, with a lovely scarf wrapped around my head that my mom knitted me for Christmas. Precious!

Christmas crackers are an integral part of British Christmas celebrations, so I felt it only appropriate to bring this Scottish tradition home with me for my family to enjoy. A Christmas Cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized piece of candy. The cracker is pulled by two people, pops open, and (much like a wishbone) splits unevenly. The person with the larger portion of cracker empties the contents from the tube and keeps them. Typically these contents are a coloured paper hat or crown, a small toy, and a motto, a joke or piece of trivia. The best part is that everyone puts on the paper crown and wears it thru the entirety of the Christmas dinner meal. Fun, huh? My whole family participated without complaining (they didn't know I was going to post the picture on the internet. Hah)....

No, seriously, we eat Christmas dinner in our pajamas.

This is what I do with my free time when I'm at home.

Eating Tips

My friend Jessica sent me this yesterday and it was so funny I couldn't resist putting it up. I have no idea where she got it, but the whole time I was reading it, I kept hearing Dwight Schrute's voice narrating it in my head....

Tips For Enjoying Christmas
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots,leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.

Fixing it

About a month ago one of my friends asked me if there is ever a time when I feel completely inadequate for my job. I thought about it, and there is something that I've been mulling over in my mind...

Since most of our students are newer Christians that had no religious backgroud before they got saved, I get asked A LOT of questions. I don't mind it a bit. Actually, I quite like it because I really love to teach, and I'm really passionate about people knowing the truth, so when I can help them find it, it brings me great joy. Some of the questions are kind of basic stuff that I've been taught all my life. Others are more in depth or thoughtful. Most of the time I don't have a problem answering them, but if I don't have the answer then I just go and find it for them. So, basically, I guess what I'm trying to say is that

I usually have answers for them.

I usually have something I can say to aid them, or to answer their questions, or to help them understand. This is one of the neat things that come with ministering to people who have no church background. BUT, another thing that comes with it is the fact that most of them were well into the world and wild living before they got saved. That's all they knew, that's all their friends know, everything is centered around getting stoned out of your mind and sleeping around and partying as much as possible. Here's the part where I start to feel inadequate, super inadequate for my job....

There have been so many times where I've sat in a coffee shop with one of our students and, after answering all their questions on the Trinity and speaking in tongues and the fall of man, they then start to talk about the temptation they're experiencing and how hard it is to really live for Christ and not go back to their old life. The old man dies hard. And what I've been thinking about a lot lately is that there's nothing I can say or do that will make it not hard from them as their learning how to live in the light when their whole lives they've been living in darkness.

When they say stuff like,

"It's just so hard, there's so much temptation. None of my friends understand me. I can't even hang out with them because all they want to do is get drunk and party. But I don't want to go back. I'm not gonna let the devil destroy my life"

...there's nothing I can say to make it better, or to fix it, or to make it not hard or not lonely for them. There's nothing I can do to make the temptation go away and make it easy for them to live for Christ.

So, yeah.....I do feel horribly inadequate sometimes. But I realize that what they're experiencing is just a part of being reborn, and learning how to walk again, and it's just hard. But I wish I could make it easy for them in some way. I feel like all I can do is just be a listening ear and a friend, and pray for them. So that's what I do.

During our last Big Sunday service of the semester we had a time of prayer. We broke up into groups of three or four and prayed for Radiate, for our unsaved friends, and for each other. It was during this time that one student in my group lifted her voice and began to pray for me. “Lord, thank You for bringing Anna to us. Thank You for all the things she has taught us and helped us walk thru…” Needless to say, I completely lost it. I feel incredibly humbled to be here. Honestly, I can’t believe God is letting me do this. I am convinced that I have the best job on earth. Really. I can’t tell you how many times each week I sit back and *sigh* and say, “Wow…I can’t believe this is my life.” I feel really, really blessed, and very undeserving of such an honor. It's the most challenging and the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I feel alive.

Home

Hey Everyone! I'm so sorry it's been ages since I've written on here. I honestly have so much to say and so much to update you on, the past week and a half have just been incredibly busy. God has been teaching my fellow missionaries and I lots of exciting things and giving us new vision, lots of new ideas for next semester. More on that later...

For now, here are some pics from HOME (Oregon)! After nearly 20 hours of traveling, I arrived in Portland, OR at 5:30pm on Monday night (1:30am, Scotland time). The past couple days have been filled with wrapping presents, decorating the christmas tree, shopping, visiting friends, hugging my dogs, and falling asleep by the fireplace. My siblings and their spouses are arriving tomorrow and saturday, along with my grandmother. I can't wait to see them!!!

The "freezing fog" gives a Narnia feel to the neighborhood trees.

A bitta snow

Mickey, the cutest little baby in the world

Edinburgh

On Saturday my Scottish friend Dave, American flatmate Kristianna, her Swiss friend Esthi, and I took the Megabus to Edinburgh for a day of fun in Scotland's capitol city. It was fantastic! The bus ride was long (about three hours) but well worth every minute. We mostly just walked around, did a bit of Christmas shopping, saw a few sites, etc, etc. I took so many pictures, it was hard to decide which ones to post! I look forward to visiting this wonderful city again sometime in the near future. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them...

First of all, I would just like to say that this scarf saved my life (which is obviously why I am cuddling it in this picture). I forgot to wear a scraf that day, which was a really bad move on my part. Lucky for me, H&M was one of the first stores we came across. I bought this scarf, which saved me from dying of coldness.

We caught the early bus to Ediburgh so that we'd have full day to spend in the city. As a result, we made a bee-line for Starbucks once our bus arrived.

The only thing I enjoyed more than my cup of coffee at Starbucks was the view of a castle out the window.

This is me in front of the castle. You can't see the whole thing in this shot, but it was really pretty and really old. I guess it's super nice on the inside, but we didn't take a tour cause it costs about $24. Mabye sometime in the future, when I'm a rich missionay (a.k.a. never)....until then I'll just stick with touring the free castles.


This was along the Royal Mile.

The Castle

The Royal Mile. Something important happened here, I'm not really sure what.

I think this used to be a church.

Thank you, Mr. CrazyMan, for showing us all how they did it in the days of William Wallace.

This is me avoiding frostbite.

All lit up at night

Shortbread, shortbread, and more shortbread. It's a Scottish thing.

I randomly got to hug some very cute and fluffy dogs, which is proof that God loves me and wants me to be happy. I love animals nearly as much as I love other humans.

Friends are for hugging.

Radiate Christmas Party

Friday night was the Radiate Christmas party. This year we did a Murder Mystery party, which are actually really popular around here. Murder Mystery parties are basically life size Clue games. All the guests come as a certian character, in costume, and act accordingly throughout the night. It's TONS of work to plan (of which Dave and I are now keenly aware), but it is also loads of fun. Here are a few pics to give you somewhat of an idea of what this festive night entailed....

Look! It's Santa and his little helper. Dave and I we're the "hosts" for the Christmas party. At a Murder Mystery party there always has to be at least one person who know's the game that can host and make sure things keep moving along. Because this was our Christmas party, we felt it only appropriate to dress this way.

Before the game started Santa explained all the rules.

Martha played the character "Jenna Feline." Basically she was a weird cat lady (notice the small feline in her right pocket).

A large part of Murder Mystery games is just letting the guests mingle with each other "in character." Each guest knows one or two clues and has a certian amount of fake money, which they use to bribe and extort other characters in order to gain as much information as possible so that they can solve the murder mystery.

Bryan and Deborah played the characters "Charles" and "Carol," the detectives of the game.

Ross's character was "Mr. Tophat." Among other things, Mr. Tophat had a bloated ego, and was not shy about asking people if they wanted his autograph. I didn't have a bit of paper, so he signed my hand.

KC was "Ginger Roberts," a pushy red-haired (hence the name "Ginger") reporter who was overly possessive of her pink pen.

Dan and Rachel were "Lenny" and "Linda," a couple who dropped out of college to start a rock band.

Bethany and Christine were a couple more crazy characters...

Sarah played a character called "Sally Forth," a psycologist that over-analyzed everyone she met. Here she is diagnosing Jessica.

We're dorks. And we love it.

A happy little elf....

Group game/Mass choas :0)

Last Home Group

Wednesday night was our last Home Group Bible study before all the students depart for Christmas break. It's that time of year again--the time when everything starts to wind down to a season of rest and celebration. The days get shorter, the weather gets colder, Christmas shopping and decorating take an ungodly priority, final exams and essays have students cramming as much as they possibly can, wishing they hadn't left so much reading until the last minute (been there, done that....too many times ;0) The last couple weeks have been busy, busy, busy. Wednesday night, like I mentioned, was the final Home Group until everyone returns to school in January. Tonight is our Radiate Christmas party (a Murder Mystery--tons of work to plan, but SO MUCH fun), and this Sunday night will be our last Big Sunday service. On Saturday I'll be heading to Edinburgh for a day of fun with a handful of students. Next week my schedule will be full of coffee dates with my students as we meet up one last time before we all head home for the Holidays. Joe, Jayne, Sarah, and I will also be spending the better part of Tuesday praying, planning, and discussing the calender of events for Radiate next sememster. Please pray for us. We're thinking thru a lot of things and we really need God's direction and creativity. Then, a week from Monday (18 Dec), I'll be heading home for a 9 day holiday in the States. It will be good to be home and spend time with my family in Oregon.

_________________________________________

Our last Home Group meeting was super fun.

My best friend Emily sent me a bag of Jet Puffed Marshmallows from the States in my birthday box. The marshmallows here in Scotland are quite a bit different, but surprisingly most of the girls had "heard" about American marshmallows. Oh, the wonder. Thanks, Em...the marshmallows were thuroughly enjoyed :0)

Martha is in awe of the microwaved marshmallow

Not sure how Sarah got marhsmallow on her face....

Ooey gooey yumminess

Thanks Emily!!

Roasting marshmallows over my gas stove. Hey, we take what we can get.

My lovely ladies enjoying hot chocolate with American marshmallows--what a treat!