Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Racing to the end of the first year

Hello again,
I am sorry that I didn’t get up a post later in the week last week about what had been going on at the seminary since Holy Week. I was just overloaded with meetings and such. I will post this tonight and since I also have to write a reflection for the nursing home for tomorrow I will post that in a couple of days.

So Austin and I made it back to the seminary in the early evening of Easter Sunday. Monday was the day that people had to return so it was nice to kind of have the area quiet for getting things done. I was looking forward to seeing my friends, but it was nice none the less.

Class and the hectic schedule started again with a vengeance on that Tuesday. It was the start of a three week mad dash to the finish of the quarter. The weather was also starting to turn really nice which made me want to be outside. It is days like that when I really get to missing my forestry job since those were the days to enjoy walking in the woods. So I have made a lot of walks on the road around the lake that is on campus. The road can be either a 3 mile or a 2.5 mile loop depending on what exact route you take. I really enjoy that.

Class has been pretty standard, quizzes, lectures, and homework. We do a lot of reading for each class and it overwhelms some people, but it is manageable. I manage it by figuring out what needs reading, what can be skimmed, and what can be ignored. I think that I have this down pretty well. Probably my biggest study issue is the Latin class. In this I am so confused that I feel like I am spinning my wheels when I study. One nice thing about the lady that is teaching Latin this quarter is that for the quizzes we have had she allowed us to retake two of them with her taking the best grade from each quiz. So I did that today and it really felt like I think that Latin is finally starting to sink in. I guess that is good since I only have two classes plus the final left.

This is the time of the year that people are starting to ask if I am coming back to seminary next year. I say that I am unless God speaks clearly to me before then. It is up to Him. During the winter quarter I had a week or two period where I was really starting to question it, but that passed without me ever thinking that I was for sure going to leave seminary. Last week one day I had one day in which I really thought I was going to leave. There was nothing in particular; it was just that on that day I really started to think of how I was going to leave. I think that this is probably normal, Satan works through causing doubts. I was over it by the end of the day and even more convinced that I am staying. This is a part of the discernment and I imagine that times like this will come and go. Before starting seminary I set in my mind that I would take it a year at a time. I committed to this year. When I start in the fall next year I will be committing to that year. I am thinking that this will help me to evaluate if I am truly discerning out of seminary or just having a bad day or two.

This past weekend was the seminary graduation. Some of you may think that I typed wrong and should have written Ordination, but this is a University at which guys are issued degrees. The graduation is separate from the Ordination. An Ordination takes place with the Bishop of a guys home diocese but this was just like a commencement at any other university (although smaller no doubt) except that there was of course a Mass of celebration before hand.

There is a group of guys in my class who have been working out together. As you know from my previous posts I had thyroid cancer a couple of years ago and gained significant weight during that time. I had lost 10 pounds from my peak before starting seminary and as of this morning I have lost 40 since starting seminary. I peaked at 307 pounds and started seminary at 297, today I weighed in at 257, I am sorry to brag about something like this but it is something which I am proud of. I have about another 70-75 to go before getting to my goal, but I am very happy to be going in the right direction.

That is enough for now. I hope you all have a great week.

Peace,
Adam

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