4 21 11

The final two days in homestays. They’ve been quite enjoyable, and I’m definitely going to miss this place. Not to the point of tears, but I know that I’ve formed a bond with this family and everyone who spends time here in this house. I’m going to miss a lot of people, and that will be tough for me. It’s going to be weird to say goodbye tomorrow afternoon.

On the morning of Good Friday, we went to church. Matt and I were tired from staying up late the night before (I was up until 2) and the service was long. Xavier played drums, and he did great, and the preacher spoke about some emotional bullshit again. Literally, the entire sermon was stating a fact about Jesus’ crucifixion, and then telling me how I should feel about it. I hate people telling me how I should feel. After church, I went right back to bed and Matt did too. After I woke up, I worked on the message I’m giving in chapel on Monday a little bit, and worked on some homework. I finished another reflection paper, and am feeling really ahead of the game as far as homework goes. We spent all day watching movies and television shows and game shows (Japanese ones, to be exact) until a little after 8. Then Matt and I went with Nathan again to another stay in with the youth with Living Hope. It was fun, starting with us playing Kerrim (sp?) and then playing dominos. At around midnight, we had a stew-type thing, which wasn’t exceptional, but considering the only meal I had all day was fish (which I hate with a passion), I enjoyed it. Then we sat down and decided to watch a movie starting around midnight, so they brought a projector screen into the only room with hardwood floors, and everyone laid down to watch it. It was moderately crammed, but I could fully stretch out my legs so it was fine. We watched 5 or 6 episodes of Glee, which were from the first season so they really weren’t bad. After that, Nathan shut them off and said we should watch something that actually makes sense, so we did; we watched Paranormal Activity 2, followed by Paranormal Activity. They had watched the first one the night before, so they skipped the first half and went straight to the scary parts of that one, but I didn’t watch them at all. I listened a little, and looked up for a couple moments, but I really didn’t want to watch those movies (I don’t like scary movies in the first place, but I’ll make an exception if I’m with a group of people who decide to watch them. I can’t watch Paranormal Activity because 1. It’s not like any other movie where I believe whatever is happening is fake or extreme. I really believe in demons, and I think that movie is 100% realistic and believable. 2. I don’t want my perceptions of spiritual warfare to be influenced by Hollywood more than they already are). I rolled over to fall asleep, but it was difficult. From 4:30 to 7, I probably slept for an hour, but the whole time I was laying on a hardwood floor, with no padding underneath, and using my rainbows as a pillow. I was wearing my jacket but I was still cold, and I could only lay on my right side, so my shoulder is still killing me. But it was fun and hilarious and so worth it, for a wonderful night. At 7 everyone got up to clean up, and by 7:45 we walked back to our house and we slept.

I woke up again at 1, and headed downstairs. I worked on a project a little bit, and watched TV. I was starving from yesterday, but unfortunately I just had toast with cheese, an ear of corn, and coffee for brunch. We hung out until around 3, when we went to Brian’s house for his next door neighbor Logan’s birthday. We spent some time hanging around, then picked up Logan and Derek from the church. Everyone is switching their homestays, so the groups at homestays last week had to go home today, and the new groups are now in the homestays. But Matt and I are the only students hosted by our family, so we still have a place to stay, so we decided to stay an extra night. We knew that if we asked Quinton, he would say no, so we asked Reagen if we could stay an extra night to celebrate Easter and he said yes. While I don’t think we’re supposed to, we have permission to be here and enjoyed the rest of the evening at the party. After we got back, there was a little soccer, a little dominos, a little dancing, and a lot of meat. It was a wonderful brai party, and we stayed for 9 hours, just leaving at midnight. Now it’s officially Easter, and it’s weird. I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s been a wonderful week, and I’m so grateful to be allowed to stay here, but I definitely miss home. And it’s hard to know that the family is going to be spending time together in 24 hours, and I won’t be able to make it to that. I’m sure I’ll get to spend plenty of time there soon enough, but for now I miss it. And I’m trying not to count down the days until I get back, because I don’t want to miss out on my last two weeks here, but I’m definitely aware of the fact that there’s less than two weeks left. And I’m even more aware that there’s only one week of classes left. I like that part.