Gravestone

Ok,

Don't get your hopes up.  I just wanted to make another post about my gravestone.  I forgot to mention that I don't want to be buried in a church cemetery.  Don't you dare bury me in a church cemetery, where the only people who could be swayed in their thinking are people who already are in church hearing the gospel.  Bury me in a community cemetery with the rest of the world.  That's what I want.  Please don't forget this when I die!  On that cheery note, this Xanga post will have to come to an end.  I am back home in Delaware finally after being away for about eight months.  It is truly wonderful.  I can't wait to see my buddy Jason next weekend.  See you all later.

In Christ,

Christopher

OK, this is going to seem like a weird blog entry, but I had the thought that a gravestone is a very important thing--it could potentially let me speak to people thousands of years from now (if the Lord doesn't come back before then--we don't know the day or the hour), and anything said on a gravestone carries some weight.  For this reason, when I die, I don't want to be put in a church cemetery.  Put me in a big cemetery where all the pagans and heathens are buried so they can see what's on my tombstone!  The fact that I'm dead may make what I write carry some weight!  Here goes (I didn't write this):

Remember friend as you pass by
Where you are now, so once was I
Where I am now, soon you will be
Prepare for death and follow me.

Romans 10.8b-10

"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,"^[d]
that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
That if you confess with your mouth,
"Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Read the Bible, friend, and you will find the way to eternal life.

Now if a tombstone with all that costs too much--I don't know, maybe you could put a shorter verse on there, or maybe just put the part about reading the Bible.  Another thing you all could do for me is put a stone plaque in the casket with me that says the same thing, cause that might last longer than the actual gravestone that's exposed to the elements.  Another thing that I'm worried about is that if you put too much text on there, the text might get lost, because I've seen gravestones where over time the smaller writing can get so worn down you can't read it, but the bigger writing is plain and clear.  Oh, here's an addendum--my cousin Deborah Yutzy tells me that granite tombstones stand the test of time more than all the others, so I want a granite tombstone, OK?  Don't spend much money on my funeral, that's such a waste.  But the gravestone is super important to me.  Please don't forget.  Not that I'm expecting you all to outlive me, but if you do, I want you all to know what to do.  OK.  Sorry if this was a little morbid for you, but hey, it's a fact, and you have to think about these things.  OK see you all later.

Life at CIU

     I just wanted to update and tell y'all a little about what's been going on in my life lately.  It is a lot of work to learn a new language.  You may be thinking a twenty year old would find it easy to learn a new language, but that is hogwash.  It is extremely challenging, and humbling, because one keeps making mistakes and saying things that sound stupid.  You feel like you are always trying to express yourself with something bulky and awkward.  It's like trying to play violin with gloves on.  Imagine that.  Did I mention that they were boxing gloves.  Yea that's more like it.  Imagine that : )  Ouch.  Well it's not that bad, and the good part about it is that there is always something new to learn, and I like that.  I also like not having deadlines to meet and papers to write.  That is just plain wonderful.  Today they are celebrating the festival of the Devil, which is kinda creepy.  We went to watch a parade which included a few floats with people all dressed up in devils costumes in double-headed ships and so forth.  I don't like it at all, but somebody told me that it's actually a day celebrating the demise of the Devil, though I imagined it has changed a bit.  Recently I have been hired by a nice restaurant to play violin the last two sunday nights in December.  Maybe that doesn´t sound that exciting, but I am very excited about it.  It´s especially nice to have some sort of income while you´re studying, especially if it´s from doing something you love.  I´d also like to mention something I´ve learned from reading the Bible in Spanish.  Even though it is at times very difficult to translate from one language to another, it is far from impossible.  And reading the same passage in Spanish and in English I can see that they both really are saying the same thing.  It allows me to see that we really are not losing much at all in the translation from the original Biblical languages to modern English.  Especially if we read the Bible in more than one translation.  For instance, if ten people translate something a newspaper article from Spanish to English, the more translations you read, the more you´ll know exactly what the article said in Spanish.  Even after reading only one translation, you would basically have all the information, but reading more translations would clear up any doubts or misunderstandings.  It´s the same way with the Bible.  Even only reading one translation, we are still reading the word of God, but using more than one translation can clear up any misunderstandings or unclear meanings.  Well that´s all for now--I have to go study.  ¡Orale!

Well time for another post.  I only have four minutes left in this internet cafe, so I gotta make it quick.  Just want to show you all some of my living conditions and the other students that are here.  Below is the kitchen where the food is prepared (pretty scary, huh?--I´ve only gotten sick three times)

And below is the gorgeous view from the balcony.

Interesting wild life at the school:

And at home.  I haven´t had any spiders in my room yet, but the lady in the room next to me has had a hard time.

They had an activity at the school and asked me to play violin.  That was fun.

My host Dad is an excellent musician, and has even been to the U.S. on an all expenses paid trip to play in restaurants in Miami.  We enjoy playing together.  In the future it´s possible I will play some payed gigs with his band.  How cool is that?

Here we are celebrating the birthday of one of the students with a Barbecue

And more music.

That´s all for now--see you all later, and may God bless.