Campus Blogs

[caption id="attachment_522" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Dr. Angulus Wilson[/caption] My ministry leadership and growth development plan for the past 19 years has consisted of an ongoing cycle of training and formation that has taken place on a daily and weekly basis. Over the course of this journey I have found myself consulting God for wisdom, direction, instruction and help for the task that is ahead of ministry. In the past nine years I have conducted national and international mission trips, conferences and seminars. I have planted and served four congregations, completed doctoral level training, organized a school for bivocational ministers and served three major Christian Universities as a University Pastor, Director of Ministry Development and Minister at Large for Global Evangelism. I have reviewed my journey of ministry growth and development and placed my thoughts in three categories, they are as follows;

1. Corporate Ministry Development
2. Personal Ministry Development
3. Spiritual Growth Development

In the area of corporate ministry development, I have consistently made it a priority to have a plan that helps me to be available for instruction in community by sitting at the feet of great pastors who preach and teach internationally, as well as locally. Studying by radio, internet and other technological advances has helped me to take advantage of instructional resources that address the church at large and help to develop the leadership skills that I need to be successful in the work of the ministry. International schools of ministry, conferences, seminars workshops and Seminary level classes have all shaped my thinking over the Past 9 years.[1]I have looked forward to searching various resources that encourage me through dialogue, study sessions, and other resources aimed at helping the man of God to navigate the deep waters of leadership. Over the past 19 nine years I have served on Evangelism committees, Baptist associational boards, expository preaching conferences, key note speaking events, community evangelism events and developed networks, connections and resources to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. I have learned about corporate ministry Leadership and development. As a result of what I have learned, I have grown immensely in my own ideas and professional experience. One such conference that has shaped me over the past 5 years has been the Biblical Exposition Conference of Chicago Illinois. At the conference, preachers share local concerns and ministry issues that affect the community at large. Leaders from ministries across North America attend and together there is prayer, spiritual formation, and preaching and teaching that is designed to encourage and equip the man of God. In addition to this I have also developed and led conferences across the country that inspire, and help pastors to grow in the preaching and teaching of God’s Holy Word. It is in these conferences that I have been able to meet others who are walking in the same brand of leadership that I am walking in. In the area of personal ministry development, I have always had a desire to learn how to cultivate a heart to study God’s word in a systematic format. Preaching through books of the bible has helped me greatly in the past, and because of this desire I have been able to develop this skill as a teacher of God’s word. At my church planting sites, I have had the responsibility of teaching through books of the bible. Each lesson has required multiple hours of preparation and writing. This has helped me in leadership to be studious in the word. Personally, I have been made a better man by this journey, and have grown closer to God in this endeavor, because of expository preaching and teaching, reading and writing, and knowing that I am responsible for others has enhanced my desire for ministry growth and development. [2] Prior to my seminary masters degree, my prayer life and personal spiritual formation was inadequate as a leader in ministry. However, I have grown in the disciplines of spiritual formation, and I continue to have a quiet time hour each morning before daybreak. This is where I get alone with God. In this time period, I am able to bring my cares before God and lay them on the altar. It is my special time with the Lord, a time for introspection, reflection, recollection and confession. I long for this time because I know he is meeting me there and will bring to our meeting the necessary correction and information that I need to be a better servant for him. This time of formation (for 19 years) has helped me to begin my day, and to look forward to the work that is before me. [3]

Personal Devotional Plan

As previously mentioned, early morning intercession and formation is where I find my devotional life in this season of my journey. Before the day begins, my house is quiet, my heart is quiet and my head is less noisy. This is the perfect opportunity for me to connect with Jesus. I have also included into my spiritual disciples, the practice of isolation and spiritual retreats. Often times I get the privilege to spend time at a cabin, hotel and other remote areas near the ocean, mountains, and beaches that I may observe the hand of God through creation. This has been a powerful form of devotion for me. In many of these times I will take a hymnal, a journal and my bible and begin to seek his face in worship. I have discovered that spiritual formation is a saving grace in the time of crisis. A great portion of my devotional journey has been to go back and read the writings of the saints of old. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Brother Lawrence were men that walked and struggled with God and man. I have learned a great deal from their journey as well as my own. My personal prayer life, devotional time and spiritual formation with God has served me well, as a leader in the Lords Church.[4]

Family Relationship Building

Dennis Rainey did a great work in his Book titled “Ministering to Twenty First Century Families”. He challenges the Preacher to understand the culture in which we live. The author gives the minister tools for understanding, and reaching the new family in the church pew. As a leader, I have really blown it at times, by putting the church before my own house. I want to do better this year. I want to make ball games, and have regular date nights with Sharon. Attend school plays, and be home for dinner several nights a week. I want to share movie times and take mission vacations and holidays together. I realize that the spiritual formation of my own family is crucial and very, very important. If the Pastor cannot take care of his own home how can he take care of the house of God? My goal is to make regular appointments with my Kids, date them, hang out with them and be available for them whenever they need me to be available for them. I want to Minister to them and my beautiful Queen, so that they will love the Lord, and look forward to seeing HIM. It is my heart’s desire that they fall in love with Jesus and allow Him to lead and guide them in their own spiritual formation and development. This is my plan and I am sticking to it. For Christ and His Kingdom AW     [1]Leadership Ministries Worldwide. The Ministers Handbook. 1996.Chapter 1 part two your daily walk.Chatanooga TN: Alpha & Omega Ministries, [1] Spiritual leadership, Henry & Richard Blackaby, Chapter 3The leaders preparation: how God develops leaders pg 31-84Published by Broadman and Holman 2001 Nashville TN [2] Chapell Bryan, Christ Centered Preaching, Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids MI, 2006 [3] Spiritual leadership J.Oswald Sanders, Improving leadership pg 108-111, The Moody Bible Institute 1994, Chicago Il

When it comes to leadership in the church, I have found myself to be a servant leader. My style is to lead by example and to lead in a team. I like projects, and consider myself to be project driven. I am also a team player, and between both of these passions I like to lead on a team and run ahead of others serving them as they serve those we have been called to serve. I love to cast vision, teach leaders, serve leaders, empower leaders and enable them to grow and take over where ever God has led them to lead. In my own personal style of leadership I expect others to give like I give, and do as I do. I love hard, serve hard and give all that others have the opportunity to achieve success. I work hard as a leader to do a good job and to help others to do the best that they can in leading others. As a leader I want to reproduce myself in the hearts and minds of others so that there can be opportunities for men to grow and to lead others. As a part of my personal leadership development I am going to continue to submit myself to mentors and coaches that can help me navigate the waters of ministry and life. In my learning style I need my Pastor and board of leaders that have the right and privilege to speak into my life and to encourage me in the work of the ministry. They also rebuke and straiten me out in areas that are needed as well. I have come to learn that as a leader part of my development was being able to have mentors who could deliver constructive criticism.[1] This is good for me, and it helps me to stay on the straight and narrow as it relates to leading others. My Motto is that “Every Pastor ought to have a Pastor”. So in leading others in personal leadership development, I practice the submission to leaders who train and teach me. I have a mentor group that I am a part of here in the United States. We meet together every year for one week out of a month. There are ten of us, and we have agreed to walk through life together and to spend ten years of formation with one another. Every year when we gather we read a book, discuss its meaning for our lives and share it’s most precious encounters that have helped us over the past year. Personal prayer as a spiritual formation One of the greatest mysteries in the gospels is the mystery of having to prepare before doing ministry. It is said that Jesus (The Son of God, the Word of God, Visible image of the invisible God) Spent numerous hours in Prayer with his Father before going out to heal and to minister to others. In my goals of spiritual formation in the New Year I plan to intensify my prayer life with the Father. Throughout the gospels it is written 15 times that Jesus prayed. In these times He prayed in the early morning hours in various places of solitude, such as on the mountains or in the wilderness prior to doing ministry. It is the opinion of this writer that it is of extreme importance, that the servant of the lord, resemble the life of Christ if they want to be successful in the ministry of leading others. If Jesus Christ practiced the spiritual discipline of prayer in solitude, to be prepared for the work of leadership in the ministry, then surely I need to double the time that he had, if I am to be successful in my efforts. If Jesus labored in this world to gain victory over spiritual battles, I too must use prayer to form and to shape my life to do the Fathers will.[2] I believe that there are many dynamics to leadership and many tools that are needed to serve others well. However, there is none more important than the dynamic of spiritual formation and intercession for those I will be serving. In order to be a good leader, I have to first be led. It is in the closet of prayer and preparation that I know I can get my heart in line before I get my script in line. In Marks gospel I see what prayer and preparation did for Jesus before ministering to others who were in need. There are six observations I have discovered in this text.

1. Jesus before doing any ministry desired communion with his Father.
2. Jesus delighted himself in maintaining conversation with His Father who had all power of heaven and earth in his hands.
3. Jesus did nothing before consulting with His father prior to ministry responsibilities.
4. HE sought out fellowship with the triune council of Heaven.
5. Jesus through prayer would trust in the Spirit of God to illuminate His way while serving on earth.
6. Jesus dove into the great depths of prayer as a model of spiritual living that we may have an example to follow.

In Marks gospel I see a picture of the Father in Heaven waking the Son to spend time with Him. It is a consistent picture of the fellowship HE has always’ had with HIM throughout eternity. This type of spiritual formation is what I desire for the New Year in my leadership walk. As the triune God kept intimate fellowship with one another, so I desire the same thing as I journey on earth. God in this passage is looking for the opportunity to meet with Jesus so he can give him instruction concerning the cases he will have for the day. The Father wants to use Jesus in the earthly realm just as He wants to use me. I can’t help but notice that there is something very precious about an early morning meeting with the Father. I believe that Jesus knew the importance of prayer and wanted to give His undivided attention to the Father. Jesus knew that interrupted prayer, was not true devotion to God. He knew that prayer that was not in solitude could never be as rich of an encounter as that which was done in total seclusion. It is the observation of this writer that prayer in a solitary place is sweeter than a hurried encounter surrounded in noise. In the solitary place my devotion is sacred and intentional. It is there that I can fully devote myself to the Masters voice and wait patiently for him to speak. As a form of my spiritual formation I want to practice this discipline with diligence. I have discovered that praying while in solitude will enhance my thought processes. Praying while in solitude will reveal greater depths of intimacy with God. Why, because, my mind, body, and soul is not in competition with anyone or anything else. Praying in solitude will change me, before it changes anything else. This is why I must practice this discipline with great vigor in the New Year. I have learned that praying while in solitude exposes my real motives, and secret desires. When I pray in solitude it brings me bare before the throne, and makes me rely upon the work of the Holy Spirit to get my prayers right. Having the right place of solitude, makes the prayer experience sweet and refreshing. As I grow as a student in the ministry of leadership I am convicted with knowing I must have a consistent place of solicitude, if I am to draw near unto God. As I close this paper, I thank God today for giving me a model of preparation and spiritual formation, in the life of Jesus. It is in this model that I see the importance of the one who is a leader, to first be alone with God in order to meet the needs of those who are awaiting interaction with God. Every good student of the gospels takes serious the life of Christ as he is the model minister of the new covenant. In Jesus is the example of a leader. He took care of his own soul before attending to others.[3] [1] The Leadership secrets of Billy Graham, Zondervan Grand Rapids MI. 2005 Learning and leveraging weaknesses pg. 237-240 [2] Sermon lecture delivered at Samford University, Beeson Divinity School Pastors conference, by Rev. Angulus D. Wilson, Pastor of New beginnings family Baptist Church. Birmingham Al, 2005. Published by Beeson Divinity School [3] The life and times of Jesus Christ, By Fulton Sheen

[caption id="attachment_522" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Dr. Angulus Wilson[/caption] Grace and joy to you, I borrowed these wise tips from a fellow Pastor skilled in discipleship, and thought that I would introduce them to our University family, as we grow together in Christ. (I pray that you enjoy them as much as I have) How to Do Soul Care..... There are many topics and issues which are being taught concerning leaders and leadership; however, Soul Care is not one of them. How do we care for others as we lead them in a Christian University? This is a battle and a real struggle - many university leaders struggle most with knowing how to care for the people in their departments and divisions. The following is just a small sample of how to do soul care, as we lead those who find themselves following. 1. Put people before tasks. People should always come first; but in the age of professional ministry, people often come last. Think strategically about how to put people first in your ministry. 2. Accept others faults and failures. Forgive people when they hurt you. Wounds in the University seem to live on forever. As the leader, you must forgive other people’s faults and failures so that it does not impact your ministry and the Kingdom. Ask God to reveal to your heart people whom have wounded you but whom you have never forgiven. 3. Schedule time to renew. Leaders cannot give to others what they have not received. One of the most important things that you as a leader can do, is to get away and connect with God. I tell my church that if I don’t have a good relationship with God, then I am of no good to them or to the church. 4. Tell people about the real struggles that you face. Be open with people about your life. People want to follow someone who is real and authentic. Share stories of success but more importantly share your life failures as well. 5.Open your heart and listen to people’s stories. Everyone has a spiritual story. Some stories are an amazing transformation of moving from dark to light. Others stories are stories of long journeys with many a twist and turn. The key to soul care is to listen to people and their stories. 6. Remember significant events in people’s lives. People will realize that you care if you are still thinking about an important event that occurred in their life a year or two after it occurs. This can be remembered by simply putting it on your calendar a year in advance. This event was significant to them, and it should be significant to you as their pastor or leader. University Soul care is critical to the work of the ministry, I pray that as we make disciples, we too would be cared for in a loving community. For Christ and His kingdom AW

[caption id="attachment_522" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Dr. Angulus Wilson[/caption] As A University Pastor, my greatest joy is leading someone into a personal encounter with Christ. My favorite subject to talk about on campus is having a relationship with God. There are several things that I wish every student at Fresno Pacific knew about God. Here they are: I wish they knew that God made us for Himself and our souls are restless until they find rest in Him. I wish they knew that Only God can fill the void in your life. I wish they knew that the answer to their search is accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their life. I wish they knew that to become a Christian, you need to know these basic facts from the Bible. 1. God loves you. Because of God’s love for all persons, He desires that you have unbroken fellowship with Him. (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4-5) 2. You are a sinner. All persons are sinners in that they disobey God. Sin is choosing to go your own way and do your own thing as opposed to being obedient to God. (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:10) 3. Sin separates you from God. Sin forms a barrier that prevents you from entering into unbroken fellowship with God, who is Holy. As an unholy sinner, you can’t have fellowship with God. You are headed for a Christ-less eternity that the Bible calls hell. (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 3:23 4. You can’t save yourself. People often think that through their efforts they can overcome the sin barrier between themselves and God. This isn’t true. There’s nothing you can do to restore the broken relationship with God. You can’t earn God’s salvation. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:4-5) 5. God sent His Son Jesus to remove the sin barrier. The death of Jesus Christ (God’s Son) on the Cross, removed the sin barrier between you and God. Jesus died for your sins - taking your punishment on Himself. God did for you (in Jesus Christ) what you couldn’t do for yourself. (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 5:8’ 2 Corinthians 5:21) 6. You can receive Jesus Christ through faith. Faith is trusting in what Jesus has done for you, rather than trusting your own efforts to restore fellowship with God. Faith is complete reliance on Christ to put you in a right relationship with God, allowing Him to live His life through you. Faith also involves repentance or genuine sorrow for sin and the willingness to turn away from sin. (John 14:6; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10) Through prayer you can trust in Jesus Christ. 7. Admit to God that you are a sinner. Express sorrow or repentance for your sinfulness. Ask Him to forgive your sins. Invite Jesus into your life as Savior and Lord. Thank Him for entering your life. Commit yourself to live for Him. Accepting Christ is the beginning. After accepting Him, be obedient by following Christ in baptism and by uniting with a church. When you do this, you will find that life truly does have purpose and meaning. Talk with another Christian about your decision for Christ. These powerful six things are so important that I am committed to sharing them with every student that I come into contact with. Will you help me today, to spread the good news? For Christ and His Kingdom AW

John 1:6-9

⁶ There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Introduction: At the time of this text there was complete silence in heaven; God had not said a word to mankind. Between the Old and New testaments there was 400 years of silence, no prophets, no proclamation, no demonstration of HIS power and no miracles to point man to himself. God was silent. From the closing of the ministry of Malachi to the opening on the New Testament, Heaven didn’t say a word. According to biblical history, The office of the priesthood was in order; organized religion was the event of the day. People were going through the motions with God, the Pharisees and Sadducees had polluted the temple, and made a mockery out of the Old Covenant. God’s people were without a witness, and then came John! When John came he was a voice from heaven. When John came he was a voice of salvation. When John came he was a voice of help for the helpless. When John came he was a sight for sore eyes, and he came and fulfilled scripture by being a witness for the messiah. What the Prophet Isaiah said would come had finally come, “A voice of one crying in the wilderness”. John was a witness for Christ. John’s task was to be a witness in the New Testament by God. He was a prophet from the Old Covenant but a voice in the New Covenant. John would be a witness for all to see. John’s ministry is what ours is to be as a church. We are called to be modern day John’s calling out to a dying world, warning them of the Savior to come, calling for all to come to Jesus while they have a chance. We are to build spiritual highways for others to come to Jesus. This is our sole responsibility as a Church, preparing a way for others to come to Jesus. Who was John? The bible teaches that John was of the priestly tribe by both of his parents. His father, Zechariahs, was a priest of the division of Abijah, and his mother, Elizabeth, was one of the daughters of Aaron" His birth was a miraculous intervention of the almighty. (He was a miracle baby) John’s ministry was foretold by an angel sent from God, who at the same time assigned to him the name of John. He was born in the hill country of Judea, six months before the birth of our Lord Jesus. John was the cousin of Jesus by birth, and Johns name meant Jehovah’s Gift. What was Johns Mission? John’s mission was first to come into the world as a witness of God. His name tells us he was a gift from God. From the beginning of time He was created for this mission. The witness of John was given that men might believe. He was God’s gift to humanity, to prepare the way for Christ. John’s mission was to witness to the world not to the Christ. (He was a gift sent from God to the world) Jesus needs no one to witness of Him. He is God, He can witness of himself. John’s mission was to be God’s ambassador to a fallen world to make way for the coming king. John’s mission was to be a voice in the world for Christ.He was sent of God to tell the world that the long-looked-for Messiah was now come, which would be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel; John came to testify that Jesus was truly the light of the world, so that all people might put their trust in Him. What was Johns Message? The message of John was unlike the message of the day. He didn’t preach what the Pharisee’s preached, He didn’t preach what the scribes preached, and He didn’t preach what the eastern religions preached. He preached about the coming Messiah of Israel, and the need to accept Him as their King and God. John Preached that heavens Light had come into the world to save men, and everyone should get ready to receive Him! John came to point the people to repentance, and prepare them, to receive the cleansing of their souls through Christ. John’s message was to show people how to confess their sins and turn from them. John’s message moved people to be baptized and confess their sins, and make the first step towards receiving Jesus Christ. According to the other gospel writers, (Matthew Mark and Luke) The results of John’s preaching caused his hearers hearer’s to do five things.

1. Prepare to Repent and turn from their sins
2. Prepare to receive the baptism to come from the messiah
3. Prepare their minds for the coming Kingdom of God
4. Prepare to depart from the religions of the world
5. Prepare the way for Jesus

Application: According to the word of God, once you and I have received Christ as our Lord and savior we too have a job like John! We are also sent witnesses of Christ and for Christ. We are also modern day messengers called to witness to men and women lost in darkness about the light. We are also to prepare a spiritual highway for non-believers to come to the lord. Where are we to tell it?

1. On the job, we are to tell the story
2. At home, we are to tell the story
3. In the community, we are to tell the story
4. At play, we are to tell the story
5. Where ever people are, we are to tell the story

We are called to witness for Jesus, and prepare the way of His return, by bringing in those who are lost and without a personal relationship with Him. So as we move about the Kingdom today, let’s be like John, and witness for the coming Messiah.

Καλημέρα, Sunbirds. This is your fellow carbon-based organism, Fabio Avetisyan, blogging live from Greece. I have never in my memory set foot outside California, and I have never really been big on travel, so this particular adventure is special as it is my first trip in which I can potentially get three different types of motion sickness within a couple of days. The first location we visited that really stands out to me was the Greece National Archeological Museum, one of the most famous museums in the world, located in the heart of Athens. Upon entering the wondrous museum, the first exhibit we encountered was that of the illustrious Mask of Agamemnon. You know, the one with the epic nineteenth-century European mustache on it. As it is the death mask of the king who plundered Troy, this artifact is considered to be Greece's very own national treasure. A fitting label for a mask depicting the man who sacrificed his own daughter and led countless Greek soldiers to their deaths to protect his own family name. What a hero. The next item that caught my attention was a crumbling statuette of the Minotaur. It was in the same room as the giant bronze statue of Zeus/Poseidon throwing his weapon (lightning bolt or trident, respectively), which was itself quite the buff spectacle. The Minotaur was a monster created from the unholy union between a bull and a woman. King Aegeas was forced into giving it seven boys and seven girls to feed on. Upon seeing this creature, I proceeded to give it a piece of my mind by challenging it to a staring contest. Unfortunately, my efforts to shame the beast proved futile, though I'm sure Dr. Pam would have been victorious at such a competition. I will be quite sad to leave Greece, as I will probably never set foot in this museum ever again. But not to worry. I've seen enough naked men to last a lifetime. Fabio Avetisyan

Greetings, FPU blog sphere! My name is Will DePledge, and I am one of the travelers from whom you will regularly hear. I am a business major with accounting and finance emphases at FPU, and this is the third study-abroad trip of my undergraduate career. As previously mentioned by Anthony Fredette, we have just joined our FPU cohort after an informative and life-changing week in Rome. If you are at all interested in reading about our experiences in Rome, please feel free to visit our personal blogs: http://anthonyjfredette.com http://adventureswithwill.weebly.com For some brief context, our group has been traveling in Greece for approximately three and a half days now, and we are currently visiting archaeologically and historically significant sites around the island of Crete. We will return to the mainland on Monday. On Wednesday, May 28th, following an expedient taxi experience in Italy, we quickly made it through security and landed in Greece. Immediately apparent to me are the similarities between the Greek and Californian climates. It is very dry and warm here, which is almost comforting since these types of summers are what I'm used to back home. Our taxi driver from the airport to our lodging was a very nice Greek man who was "night-and-day"" different from our Italian taxi experience. He cruised down the highway, grandly motioning and pointing out his favorite sights to us while weaving in and out of the traffic lines. After arriving at the hotel, we quickly reunited with our jet-lagged contingent and had lunch. Following lunch, I and a few other brave souls went on a quick walking tour of the part of Athens in which we are staying. We are very centrally located and are only a thirty-minute walk from the Greek parliament. Greece is a fascinating city to explore after living in Rome for a week. Though the two are not truly comparable, there are certain things that I am immediately starting to appreciate about Athens. First and foremost is the fact that I am no longer walking on cobblestones twenty-four-seven as I was in Rome. This means that my feet are now very happy and far less sore than they were in Rome. After our quick walk around, we went on to our orientation at College Year in Athens, our hosts for the entirety of our tour. They are a study abroad college that works with college groups in the summer to organize trips like ours and provide much-needed in-country support for our venerable group leaders. Following our orientation we had a wonderful family-style dinner that featured feta cheese (my reason for coming to Greece; just kidding!) among other meat and salad dishes. The next day, Thursday, we had a "late" start at 9 a.m. (late for me, since I had been rising at 7 a.m. or earlier all last week in Rome). I am extremely satisfied with the breakfasts here. Here, my breakfast is pretty much confined to a vat of the best Greek yogurt I have ever had, Greek coffee, and fresh orange juice. Energized and ready for the day, we proceeded to the New Acropolis Museum, which is constructed at the base of the acropolis. It is a fascinating and modern museum. The building is built with see-through floors that allow visitors to look on the excavations of ancient Athenian dwellings below. The theme of this museum is the construction of the Parthenon and the carvings that adorned it, but it also holds some very famous and early Greek statues. This museum seemed much less cluttered, without so many statues seen in almost every Roman museum we visited, and more focused on the progression through the years of both the Parthenon and the styles of the statues. This museum was really great because they have life-size reconstructions of what the friezes and carvings around the Parthenon would have looked like, including some of the original carvings that were not taken to the British Museum. In some ways, this museum felt more personal to me than some of the Roman museums. I still love all the museums in Rome, but there was something that was really appealing to me about this museum. Sadly, no photos were allowed in the museum. Following our stint in the museum, we started a hunt for a place to exchange currency here in Athens. I call it a "hunt" because for some strange reason none of the banks do currency exchange here, as is the case in the States, Southeast Asia, the UK, and Ireland. Once we found a specific exchange, I had the pleasure of attempting to bargain for a better exchange rate, which the manager agreed to give us after my finagling. My Vietnam bargaining skills definitely came in handy! Though the manager explained everything to us, and it looked like we received a better rate, I am still not convinced that we received a better rate than was posted. At any rate, it makes for a fun story! We cooked dinner in our apartment in order to conserve money for later in the trip. We had a fun night of chatting and getting to know each other a little better. On Friday, we visited the National Archaeological Museum, and it was truly spectacular! Like the museum yesterday, this museum holds some of the best preserved artifacts in the world. Not only did we see statues, pottery, and jewelry from the archaic period, but we also got to see what is thought to be the world's first calculating device, the Antikythera Mechanism. I am still processing the full enormity of this great musuem, and will go into more detail in my next post. I spent the afternoon roaming Athens with one of our student groups and am really getting a feel for the city. Until next time! The next blog post will be written by another student in our group. And so we go, Will DePledge

Kaeli Hanson "They're ruby slippers, Adrian. Put these on and say 'there's no place like home', 'there's no place like home' and you can be there." - Adrian Cronauer "Good Morning Vietnam" The short term study abroad trip to Vietnam was an experience of a lifetime, but it is good to finally be home. Vietnam was the first time I had ever been across seas to another country and the farthest I have been away from my family. I have made great friendships and was able to build relationships with my professors that I could never get from the classroom. Vietnam was a culture shock! Saying the weather was hard to get use to is an understatement. There were times when it was 110 degrees outside with 80 percent humidity.  I now appreciate air conditioning more than ever and I will never complain about the heat again. At one point on the trip our air conditioner on the bus broke, but Tony (our tour guide) pulled through and got us a new air conditioned bus. It is the little things that make a difference. Getting use to the weather was hard, but learning how to interact with the local people and your surroundings was a challenge too. Every time I walked down the street I had women offering me stuff to buy, they are very persistent. They don't really know the word "no" or they just choose not to listen to you.  Being in the big city of Ha Noi was crazy. We were just thrown into this new way of life and it was very overwhelming. The night life in Hanoi was great. One night a group of us went and joined in a Zumba group by the lake. Ha Long Bay was my favorite part of the trip. The scenery was incredible. There were many islands; 1969 to be exact, all unique. Some of these islands even have little brown monkeys inhabiting them.  After Ha Long Bay we took a night train to Hue. I have never been on a train, let alone a night train. Me and another student even made friends with some Vietnamese business men who made the train ride more fun. When we arrived in Hue, we got our first little taste of Vietnam's thunder storms. It rained hard but I think many of us were happy because the rain made it cooler outside. We were able to visit the Imperial City and the tomb of Khai Dinh. From Hue we went to Hoi An; which is a calm little tourist town not far from Da Nang. Hoi An was my favorite town, mainly because it was quiet. There were less people trying to come up and sell you things and you could walk down the street and not worry about getting hit by a motor bike. When we were there we road bikes to a beautiful beach. The water was amazing and clear and you could walk out fifty yards and still have water up to your waist. The only thing you had to watch out for were the occasional jelly fish. We also hiked a huge mountain called Marble Mountain. It was a struggle to reach the top (so many stairs!!), but the view was worth it. In Hoi An we also learned how to cook some great Vietnamese food; spring rolls (which is harder to make then it seems) and fish. Staying in Hoi An was the best place to end our trip in Vietnam. When we left Vietnam we had a 12 hour layover in South Korea. South Korea was cooler in temperature; no complaints there, and we were able to visit a couple religious sites. We were all very tired from the plane ride and most of us were running on only a couple ours of sleep. I wish we had more time in South Korea,but I am still thankful to say I have been there.  I am so thankful to have had this experience. This was the best way to start out summer and I would recommend this trip to anyone. Vietnam is an amazing country with rich culture and history and my life had been enriched as a result of the opportunity to have seen and experienced it.