Feeling International

The last few days have been very international.

On Thursday, I went to the Cosmo Club on campus. Each week a different nation is highlighted, and this week it was Iran. The stew was savory, the music enchanting and the historical and cultural presentation quite eye-opening. I live for these types of things. Two weeks ago it was Lebanese night and last week it was an international trivia night (our team took a close second place...we just missed out on some huge Toblerone bars!). I try to make a point of having at least one conversation with someone new and I hit the jackpot this week. I found myself in a very long conversation with a guy from Saudi Arabia. Cool guy. Very curious. Lots of questions.

The next day, after spending some time with one of my friends from Singapore, I got a call from my new Saudi friend. He wanted to hang out and grab some tea. He another Saudi friend and I spent the next two hours in deep discussion about American politics, oil, my faith, their faith, the cultural landscape of Saudi Arabia, not to mention a decently thorough Middle Eastern geography lesson. I've invited them over for dinner for some "authentic village cooking" as they so requested. Should be fun.

Friday night I went to our weekly international bible study and for the past two weeks we have had a couple students attending who are at the basic level of investigating the person of Jesus Christ. We started week one with "This is the Bible..." if that gives you some indication.

Every Saturday night, I attend our weekly evening worship service, Saturday Night Grace, and this week we topped off the night with a Latin American Fiesta. I am helping to lead a team of 15 from Illini Life down to Honduras for a spring break missions project and we decided to throw a Fiesta after SNG so that we could raise money to hopefully purchase a washer and dryer for the Malnutrition Clinic that we'll be serving at. The food was spectacular and the turnout even better. Get this...we raised nearly $800. Isn't that incredible? This is a party attended mostly by college students!

As if the weekend hadn't had enough international flare, I spent most of the Fiesta chatting with a friend who hails from Ghana. Quite the weekend. It's a good thing I had the day off to spend with my fiancee...