What a Semester!
Wow, where do I even begin to share about this semester?! I had always planned to be in Hungary at this point in my life, and I have to admit; it was quite a shock to me when the Lord ended up bringing me to America. But I am so glad that He did! Truly did the Lord speak in Isaiah 55:8-9 when He said, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" This is not what I had planned for myself, but as always God had a better plan for me.
As most you well know, I had a great summer working at Horizon's Camp Indy, and the Lord really taught me through that time. Truly, ever since I arrived in America He has been teaching to be slow to speak and quick to listen. After camp ended I had a few weeks off, and then before I even knew it I was meeting all of my classmates for the first time. It is so strange to think back on that time when I was first meeting these people that I would literally be laughing and crying with. I can't express in words how dear some of these students have become to me, as they are basically my family in Indianapolis at the moment.
To begin this semester, we all packed up our sleeping bags and grabbed our swimsuits as we went to the lake house where we had our orientation. That was seriously such an amazing few days out there! We got to go tubing and knee-boarding, and we all became humbled as we failed at our attempts to get up on a wake-board. I was on the water so much that one night, as we were having our devotions, me and my friend Jody were convinced that the secure balcony that we were on was rocking back and forth like the water. I thought it was just me, but as I began to tell someone on the phone what I was experiencing Jody shot his head up and chimed in on how he felt the exact same thing! But really, it was such an incredible time and I am getting goosebumps just remembering my first few days that I would spend with those wonderful people.
If any of you know me personally, you know that I am usually the class clown and the life of the party. Well, I hate to admit it, but at the beginning of this semester, I was Mr. Anti-Social. I wasn't trying to be, but I was not aware of how much I was neglecting people. I had grown accustomed to studying in my room and getting extra homework done, because I can be a bit of an over-achiever. Whether my motives were good or not, either way I had not clicked in the beginning as I eventually would with my fellow classmates. I enjoyed their friendships, but I wasn't investing in them.
I thank God for the change that He brought into my life after the mid-terms. God broke me and showed me that sometimes, in the words of my friend Grace, "I can be an idiot sometimes." I say that in absolute love because I needed friends who could show me when I was being a loser, and that alone has really helped me to grow. After the mid-terms I began to draw closer to my friends and I drew closer to Him, and these last few months have truly been life-changing months for me. Just one semester here truly has influenced me more than my whole first year of online classes.
While I've been studying I have been both blessed and challenged by the job that the Lord provided for me...working at Starbucks! I really enjoy working behind the coffee bar and I love smiling at customers as I take their orders even more. This specific job was something that I had prayed for and the Lord was very faithful. God is using me even in Starbucks to be a light to the people that I see on a daily basis.
As fun as working at Starbucks is, it does have its challenges. My coworkers are kind people but they all need Jesus very much. Some of the people that I work with have absolutely no filter on their mouths and they say the most filthy things. I truly don't judge them for the things that they say, but rather my heart breaks for them because they are so lost. I have been seeking the Lord's guidance on how best to show His love to them, and so far the greatest influence that I have had on them has been my genuine heart and my passion for the things that I need to do. They see me working there and even when things are difficult for me, they can see that I have joy in the Lord. When my friends that work their hurt, they don't have anything that concrete to fall back on and they just look lost. But I believe that they are never too far for the Lord to touch them and so I ask for your prayers as I continue to minister to them and try to show Jesus in everything that I do.
If the mid-terms were crazy, the finals were crazier! I generally like to be ahead on all of my homework so that I can go to sleep at a decent hour, but the term 'sleep' became a long lost friend who would not return during finals week. For the most part I got good grades in the mid-terms, except for in one class: Revelation. The Revelation mid-term was a very difficult exam in which only two students actually did well; everyone else had about an average of 30 points out of a possible 55, some had even lower than that. Needless to say I was quite upset to see my low grade on the mid-term and so I wanted to be as prepared as I possibly could for the finals!
Did I mention yet how much I love my fellow students?! Because if I didn't, I'm about to again! I grew up home schooled, and I am so thankful for that; if I could go back and do it differently, I wouldn't even try. But it was so amazing as I got to study with my fellow students. I stayed up until about 2 A.M. every night with the three other people in the picture above as we studied for the finals. We quizzed each other on that test until we could recite the whole thing backwards! I still remember my friends Savannah and Tumnus watching something in Spanish as I asked Grace the same question for the hundredth time, and the look on her face mirrored my own; it was a look that said that if she heard any more questions her brain would probably implode!
We were all so exhausted but when it came to game day it payed off; when I sat down and looked at that test I knew every question on there. In fact, I only missed one question out of 87 and the one that I missed was one that I accidentally forgot to answer. But it was such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment! I went into my Revelation class feeling like I would never learn anything about it because it was too hard. After my mid-term I just wanted to curl up and die, I was so disappointed with myself. But after I took that final not only did I do well on the exam, but I had learned so much! And one of the greatest things is that I enjoyed doing it! I enjoyed staying up with my friends as we studied and I enjoyed a specific project that we had for Revelation. In fact, if you would like to view it, this is a video that I made for one of my final projects, and you can view it by clicking here! I want to take this moment to thank the people that were involved in this video and for all of the help...you got me a 100% on it!
As I said in the beginning of this post, God really touched me and changed me in the last few months of this semester. God used my friend Carter to show me that I am not as patient as I should be. Carter, if you read this, thank you. God used my roommate Jimmy to show me that I need to step it up in my prayer life, and if you read this I want to thank you, Jimmy, for your constant example of a good and healthy prayer life. Thanks to you my prayer life has improved so much. The biggest change came after my friend Grace was bold with me and pointed out that a pastor needs to be a servant. I have a desire to be a pastor and she knew that and very boldly told me that she doesn't see me making many efforts to serve. God took the words, planted them in my heart, and gave me a stronger desire to serve. He showed me that I am not as perfect as I like to think that I am and that I have a long ways to go still, and once I was aware of that God was able to start working at my heart and He has been carving away at my flesh ever since. I am still not perfect, and I never will be; but now I am more willing to admit when I am being an idiot. I can't thank you enough for that, Grace! Thank you all for the part that you have played as instruments in the Lord's hand while He is shaping me in this life on earth. I thank the Lord everyday for these friends that He has put in my life and all of the other students. God has really ministered to me through almost every one of the students at the Bible College, but unfortunately I don't have time to write about every one of them in this post. So for now I will leave it at that and I will share more about these crazy people next time.
To end this off I just want to give you a quick update about where I am and where I am going. Currently I am in Ukraine, visiting my family for Christmas and it has been so wonderful being back here. On January 9th I fly back to America where I will be continuing my studies at the Bible College in Indianapolis. My plan is to be working and studying again in Indy this next semester, and then I will go to Hungary to finish college and acquire my bachelor's degree. That is the quick form of my update and I will write more to you later. Thank you for reading this and have a Merry Christmas!!!
-My roommates!
God bless you all,
~Alex R. Pratt
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