day twelve: to the mouth of hell and back...

(with a stop at church along the way)...

this morning, Krisanna and i went to church with my cooperating teacher, Meredith, at an international church that had an English service. the message was entitled "don't tolerate the intolerable." as i live my life, do i tolerate the intolerable in my life and excuse it? or do i use the Word of God as a reference point to see what i shouldn't be tolerating. God's Word is somewhat like a recipe book for life. If we don't constantly compare what we are making to the recipe, we'll veer off... but if we are CONSTANTLY checking our lives with the manual, we'll know when we've messed up and be able to fix it, rather than just hoping we're doing things right. how often do i check myself against the Word of God???

this afternoon brought an adventure to Boca do Inferno (the mouth of hell), a GORGEOUS place along the ocean where the water has carved our the cliffs from thousands of years of wear. it amazes me that our God created such amazing things in nature... we ate lunch at a cafe along the ocean...

 we tried to make today's adventure into a longer one, but thanks to technology and car accidents, we were delayed... and wondering why we were stuck in a GPS-vortex. [definition: when a GPS spins you in pointless circles due to either a detour, closed road, or accident that the GPS doesn't know about]. we took a nice little tour of Portugal today, both the countryside and the coastline. this country is simply gorgeous. its hills, its coast, its people, its language, its sunshine, its rain...

tonight brought a lovely Skype date with my family :) grandparents and all! some days, i forget how funny my family is. :)

and... some things i'm still getting used to: no central heating (even though it's not terribly cold); military time... even though it helps my mental math skills; and the dates here... today is 06/03/11. not 03/06/11. that really threw me for a loop at the grocery store last week when i realized that the meat expired on 01/03/11. i thought these people REALLY have no sense of being "on time!" but i'm gettin used to that too. :)

things are getting to be more familiar. like, i don't have to do a double-take every time i see a road sign. or every time someone looks at me funny when i say "excuse me." but... i'm beginning to feel more normal. almost. ;)

tomorrow... spain! :)