Well, I have about 2 weeks left of ARISE, and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on that, but first, let me tell you about what’s been going on here.

We have had quite a few speakers come since the last time I wrote. First is a lady named Lea-Anne. She talked about the Pentecostal movement, its origins, and how it relates to Adventism. It was a very interesting class and very information-heavy. I found that with her style of teaching, it was difficult to take notes. I did somehow still take lots of notes, they might just be really disjointed.

Lea-Anne was an incredibly knowledgeable person on this topic; She is getting a PHD in the subject. I think overall, though, it’s not something I will be pursuing much. I don’t have any history with the Pentecostal church, and the knowledge I have now is just from her class. I was interested just for knowledge’s sake, but it’s not truly special to me.

The next speaker we had was Suke. She was Amazing! She went through church history with us. We started in the apostolic era and went all the way through the Reformation. After the reformation, we switched to just the SDA church history. We had her only for 4 days, but it was so amazing. I am not sure I could actually tell you anything specific about that class. There was just so much information! But I took lots of notes and I fully intend to do more research on my own. The way she taught was so entertaining, though also very difficult to take notes for. She often spoke like she was telling a good story, which I suppose she was. She was just so energetic and it felt like she was excited to share what she knew with us. She also took us through some of the Daniel and Revelation prophecies with us. Stuff like how we know which church is the remnant, what the little horn is, and 1844. We really didn’t get too deep in that because her focus is on history. It was absolutely necessary from our perspective though. To see history play out in the bible thousands of years before it happened was so cool. Again, could I tell you anything specific? Probably not. It all made so much sense when she was explaining it though, and I look forward to doing my own research and being able to explain it myself someday.

Last but not least, Jeffery! This guy had quite the job. 3 and a half days with us, and he went through How to Study the Bible, Sharing your testimony, and The Judgement. He did a very good job with all 3.

First was how to study the bible. He shared with us a process by which you can understand what you read.

1. Plot
2. point
3. principle
4. present
5. plan

Plot. This is where you just read the story without reading into it. Who are the people? Where are they? What is happening? Is there a conflict, and what is it?

Point. What was the point for the original audience? What should they have understood?

Principle. What is the timeless principle that can be found in the text?

Present. Where does this apply to my life?

Plan. What is the first step in applying it to my life?

That was a very enjoyable class. We had a few practice texts where we tried to go through the whole pyramid in a small group. We definitely did not have enough time, but it gave us a chance to understand how it really works in practice.

My group text was Luke 16:19-31 if you happen to be interested.

The sharing your testimony part was pretty simple from what I remember, which isn’t much to be fair. I have a handout from that day I will have to look over again when I get the chance. My notes simply say “how has God opened your eyes”

Jeffry’s next class was The Judgement. There were two classes and it was very, very fun. His first topic was “If God is loving, why is there a judgement?” and the answer is Because He is Love. It would be unloving not to have a judgment.

Boiled down here, the idea is that if there was no judgment but an eternal life after life then we would simply be robots without freewill. But because God is Love and love requires free will, a judgment is required.

That’s a little taste of his classes. The rest of it was about the second coming and the raising of the dead and stuff. Honestly, there was so much there I could do a whole post breaking down everything he said during those 2 classes. That is a bit much I think though, so I will not be doing that

Let’s see what else I’ve been up to.

We had the opportunity to join a pottery class, and we just had our last class on Sunday. I got to try using a pottery wheel (though I didn’t actually end up making anything to fire). It was really fun, and if I ever have money again, I definitely want to try again. What I did was make 2 mugs by hand and we just glazed them on Sunday. About half the ARISE class joined the pottery classes and it was just really fun. I don’t think I took a single photo, though, so you’ll just have to trust me for the time being:)

We had a lady come and stay with us for the majority of October. Her name was Sari. She does this thing she calls “stranger of the day”. She made a New Year’s resolution a few years ago and has mostly kept up with it. She has this script, and at least once a day, she tries to find someone to go through it with. It goes like this

“Excuse me, I do this really weird thing. I made a New Year’s resolution. Where once a day I find someone I don’t know. Just to let you know that you matter and I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers for the next 24 hours”

Fun, huh?

We started doing that for our city outreach days and I enjoyed it more than the other stuff I’ve done. It’s something I think I will be continuing when I get home.

What is happening in the near future?

So many things!

That’s not really true, it’s just such a short amount of time that it feels a little overwhelming. The program is ending in 2 weeks, and isn’t that just crazy? We have a preaching practicum the last week of the program. It’s a 10-minute sermon on the topic of “someone who had an encounter with Jesus”.

I chose Pontius Pilate and I’m quite excited about it now. I am going to record it, hopefully, and depending on how it goes, I thought of maybe doing it for the next coffee house at church. I am currently undecided on that though

Something I’ve been struggling with a bit is trying to figure out how to turn some of the “friendships of convenience” into real, long-lasting friendships. There are 32 of us, and while they are all lovely people, I cannot maintain 32 friendships. That is just not how my brain works. I will burn out:( So now I am trying to figure out which friendships are the best to lean into. Who actually wants me around, and who is going to be the best long-distance friend to have? It’s tricky business but I’ve got at least one for sure. One of my classmates, Tawni, lives in Montana, and she’s only about a 9-hour drive away. I like her quite a lot and hopefully I will get to see her in person in the future.

I can’t believe this program is almost over! I feel like Koivikko just started feeling like home and now I’ve got to leave. This has been such an incredible learning experience. Getting to be around so many Christian young adults is amazing, and the casualness with which they speak of the bible, praying, and God moments is something I hope to learn and bring home. ARISE has given me a much better understanding of what I can and can’t handle, and has pushed me to do things I Never would have. I’m not sure what’s next yet. I do have the opportunity to come back in February and stay a minimum of 6 months. It’s something I find very enticing, but I am currently in debt to my parents (love you mum and dad) and unless God provides quite a lot of money, and quite quickly, that isn’t going to be happening. It would be really awesome though. I would get a lot more one-on-one mentoring, I would learn how to help run the hotel business here, I’d be doing more outreach, and just overall getting more time to settle into the good behaviours that I would like to be habits.

If ARISE For Life doesn’t happen, though, I have another idea that I think sounds like a lot of fun. I have been taking so many notes while I’m here. I was trying to think what I could possibly do with them. I think I would like to start a podcast or some other platform going through all my notes, expanding on the parts I really enjoyed, and just see where it goes from there. There is just so much that I could say about every single class and what better way to learn than to research and tell someone else about it?

Well, I think that’s it. I don’t know what God has in store for me at this point. Every step is like walking in the dark, and I am so excited to see where I end up next!

Until next time,

Ahnikha