{"id":553,"date":"2018-10-21T22:43:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T22:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/?p=553"},"modified":"2018-10-21T22:43:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T22:43:56","slug":"dont-stop-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/21\/dont-stop-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Stop..READING!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello there!\u00a0 My name is Maiya, and I am a STUDENT in the Bible Core Course (BCC) here at the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) Madrid base here in Torrejon de Ardoz.\u00a0 All of my belongings have been moved into the bedroom, in which I share with my 2 roomies, on the fourth floor of the base.\u00a0 However, I have [unofficially] moved into the basement.\u00a0 Let me explain…<\/p>\n

\"\"

An example of one our “readings” week<\/p><\/div>\n

Our BCC classroom is in the basement, and whenever we are doing work for the BCC, upstairs in the fourth floor, is off limits.\u00a0 The reason behind this, is to separate “school” from “living space”.\u00a0 Our school work consists of reading various books of the bible, and studying at least 2 books a week.\u00a0 We typically have about 4 days studying a book, and the whole week to get the rest of the readings done each week.\u00a0 With studying, we have various tasks that have to be completed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. read the book without stopping\n
      \n
    • if the book has more than 10 chapters, it must be read out loud, with a group<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • read again – do observations (observations are done by reader chioce)\n
        \n
      • I typically reread and focus on:\n
          \n
        • people, places, the Trinity, imperatives, repeated words\/phrases\/ideas, difficult terms\/ideas, questions I may have, looking for the key verse<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
        • \u00a0Horizontal\n
            \n
          • titling each paragraph<\/li>\n
          • putting the paragraphs into sections<\/li>\n
          • placing the sections into segments, then to division, etc<\/li>\n
          • meeting with our assigned tutor to make sure all the above info is done correctly, and talk about any questions we may have had for the book<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • Additional\u00a0 work assigned (varies each week)\n
              \n
            • one of our additional works, for Hebrews (with Exodus & Leviticus), was to create the parts of the Tabernacle, then to present the tabernacle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
            • Methods (critical, panoramic, historical)<\/li>\n
            • Global Method (application)<\/li>\n
            • Card<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              \"\"<\/p>\n

              With all of the above work, I practically live in the basement – as I stated before, and life outside of school is practically non-existent.<\/p>\n

              I am enjoying every minute of being here, even with all the work.\u00a0 It’s been very challenging for me, MANY times, especially in the area of being a student again.\u00a0 Growing up, I always had my “smarts” to fall back on; I fought to make sure that I was one of those students that were “top of the class”.\u00a0 When everyone would brag about their “new expensive clothing & shoes”, I had my brain & good grades to show for it, to brag about.\u00a0 Being here, I have truly felt like the “low group” student.<\/p>\n

              \"\"

              Study session outside was nice, when the weather was nice<\/p><\/div>\n

              My desire is to become a bible nerd; to be able to use God’s word like a true sword to speak truth over people\/situations, with confidence – but I wasn’t quite there upon arriving here.\u00a0 However, my classmates all seem to be so much further than me on that scale, and it has been so frustrating for me.\u00a0 This is an area where God has been working in me.<\/span><\/p>\n

              During this past week, with preparing for the Tabernacle, I lost it.\u00a0 I was so frustrated because it was in this moment that I finally reached a point where I felt like I knew absolutely NOTHING!\u00a0 Ya girl even fell to tears – AH!\u00a0 But I had a “heart\/spirit check”.<\/p>\n

              \"\"

              Tabernacle Presentation<\/p><\/div>\n

              This place, the tabernacle, was the only access these people had to God, but only one man (the high priest) was even allowed to go into the presence of God, and that was only ONCE A YEAR.\u00a0 Once a year, one man was allowed to go into the presence of God, and that was to atone for the sins of the people as well as for himself.\u00a0 The presence of God resided in the most holy place, atop of the arc of the covenant, closed off by a veil.<\/p>\n

              In front of the veil was the holy place, where the incense, the bread, and the golden lamp stand resided; this place is where the priest was allowed to enter at any time.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t imagine going into the holy place, seeing the veil and knowing that behind the veil was the presence of God, and that if I entered into that place without being instructed\/permitted, I could die.\u00a0 The amount of fear they must have had of God and His presence.\u00a0 But God changed that for us with His Son, and that\u2019s what is so special and what really changed things for me.<\/p>\n

              \"\"

              Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat<\/p><\/div>\n

              Jesus changed everything for us, and I have never truly appreciated this before this experience.\u00a0 Thinking about the Israelites at this time, and how God must have been such a \u201cfar away God\u201d to them; a God so scary.\u00a0 Now, because of Jesus, we get to know this God; we get to be in His presence any time we want to.\u00a0 This is such a privilege we have, that the Israelites couldn\u2019t have even imagined doing without having certain certifications.\u00a0 I have truly taken this for granted \u2013 I have freedom to be in God\u2019s presence whenever I want, however I want.\u00a0 I can go to Him with my needs, to say thank you, or just to be \u2013 like a child would go to his\/her parent.<\/p>\n

              I was missing all of this because I couldn\u2019t get past my own issue of feeling inadequate; of feeling embarrassed for not knowing stuff like the rest of my classmates.\u00a0 I realized that in my moment of feeling inadequate, building up this wall, I forgot to go to God about this, entirely.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until God sent my pastor to message me, that I remembered that I NEED HIM!\u00a0 It\u2019s crazy how I was feeling inadequate about something from God\u2019s word, but I completely forgot to go to Him about it.\u00a0 Just like the Israelites forgot what God had done for them, many times, there I was in this process.\u00a0 Praise the Lord, though, that I can go into my God\u2019s presence to ask for His comfort and for His help \u2013 even after spending a few days forgetting.<\/p>\n

              \"\"

              Looking inside of the Tabernacle (with the veil still there)<\/p><\/div>\n

              There have been many moments like this for me – where God has been “re-wiring” my thought-process, or even my actions.\u00a0 I’m learning to put aside my pride, and truly trust God.\u00a0 He continues to ask me, “are you going to trust Me?”\u00a0 “are you going to continue to trust me?”.\u00a0 It’s said that He even has to ask me these questions continuously, but I’m thankful that He does, and doesn’t just “through me by the wayside”.<\/p>\n

              Like the Israelites, I too am having to REMEMBER; remember what He has said to me and what He has already done for me.\u00a0 How quickly we forget, especially when things get a little “rough” – but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!<\/p>\n

              >>>>><\/p>\n

              To other news…<\/p>\n

                \n
              • I have joined the worship team here at the base [vocals only as of now – although I was recently asked to play the piano, so I guess I’ll be exercising these fingers again]<\/li>\n
              • I purchased my [Round Trip] ticket home for December\n
                  \n
                • This in itself was a God thing and I loved to share that with you (call\/text\/DM me)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                • I have [more] little siblings\n
                    \n
                  • with the Hip Hop DTS going on right now, I have 3 “little brothers” and 2 “little sisters”, and it has definitely been enjoying getting to know them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                  • Some friends of mine, from 11 years ago when I lived in Mexico, came to visit me for a short time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    I have another month and a half left of the BCC, and I look forward to what else God has in store.<\/p>\n

                    I do apologize for my lack of blogging\/communicating, but I do appreciate your support :).<\/p>\n

                    Enjoy the rest of these pictures – we don’t take many because, well, you read above :), so enjoy what we have taken :).<\/p>\n

                    \"\"

                    Celebrating my church’s [20th] anniversary from spain!<\/p><\/div>

                    \"\"

                    Rocking my CG gear for my church’s [20th] anniversary<\/p><\/div>\n

                    \"\"

                    Mexico Reunion with Cleto y Sebas<\/p><\/div>\n

                    \"\"

                    Hangs on the terrace<\/p><\/div>\n

                    \"\"

                    We had barbacoa and Hector y Paola’s house one Saturday (they’re they teachers)<\/p><\/div>\n

                    \"\"

                    Lorenzy y Angy. Angy put me on the worship team \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

                    \"\"

                    Typical picture with umbrellas \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

                    \"\"

                    Rainy Days call for cute pix with umbrella<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    Hello there!\u00a0 My name is Maiya, and I am a STUDENT in the Bible Core Course (BCC) here at the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) Madrid base here in Torrejon de Ardoz.\u00a0 All of my belongings have been moved into the bedroom, in which I share with my 2 roomies, on the fourth floor of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,3],"tags":[83,86,7,8,21,46,6,12,16,17,31],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG-20181021-WA0003.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":569,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetnostrangers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}