Summer 2009!

Hello all,

I thought it was (high) time I added some pictures from the summer... well, and high time that I appeared here at all. (I know most of you gave up checking my blog about a year ago... and for good cause!) Well, there are a lot of stories that could be told of that last year, but I'll skip most of them and just give you some of my favourite pics.

So, first we have to start with May 2, graduation day. Since I am a senior (traditionally the last year in the American university system), many of my friends and classmates left Corban on this day. I myself am on the "5 year plan" and do not graduate til this coming spring, but still it was an extremely emotional and meaningful day! The end of a school year is always difficult yet beautiful... but particularly so when you are "celebrating" with friends you have grown used to seeing every day and suddenly realise you will never share a class or a study night with again. Still, all good things must (and, at any rate, do) come to an end... such is the way on God's earth.

These three are my "brothers" and some of my closest buddies this entire past school year (and most of the two before it). The three of them were quite close (and were also roommates), and I was quite honoured to be included in their group as "The Sister." It was a hard day for all of us when Chris (wearing the cool hat) graduated. Well, not hard for Chris, necessarily... :)

These are two of my closest girl friends from school. Karen (on the left) and I started our first class together our first year -- 8 a.m. -- and shared a lot of great memories after that (slumber parties, music events, and lots of macaroni come to mind!). Megan (right) was a music buddy from the beginning, too, and eventually grew to become one of my most encouraging and caring friends. It's still so hard to imagine Corban this fall without them!

A change of scene. A week after I got out of school, my twin got out of HIS school. His first weekend back in Oregon, we got together with some mutual friends and headed to the beautiful Oregon coast.

A very drastic change of scene. Welcome to Bulgaria! On June 6, I arrived in this beautiful and beloved country... my second time in the country, although my first time in many of the areas I visited. I went knowing I would probably love it... I left knowing I would later need to make it my home. (But that's another-- and a long-- story.)

Below is the monastery at Rila, up in the mountains south of Bulgaria's capital city, Sofia. Our hosts took us to Rila on our first full day in Bulgaria, as a chance to (1) get out of the city and enjoy the relaxing and refreshing country, (2) get to know each other, and (3) get over jetlag. All three goals were well met.

This is me above "my city," Sofia-- an image taken from the roof of our hotel. Why can't other hotels have rooves (sp?) on which you can walk around and take pictures? Jolly decent, if you ask me.

In Sofia itself, listening to the street musicians (these two, and many others, are blind). Bulgaria has a lot of needy people including disabled or crippled beggars on many street corners.

A rather well-known sight of Bulgaria, Sofia's Nevski Cathedral rises solemnly yet beautifully in the heart of the city. You can see the golden roof from the moutains around the city.

When I was a child I believed that sunlight bursting through clouds, like in the image below, was a sign that "Jesus is coming down." While I don't technically believe that now... I do believe that God is hard at work in this city. In this image (and in reality) the Light is shining down upon Bulgaria's National Parliament.

Emily Slater doesn't travel far without making new guyfriends... most of whom turn out to be "brothers." This one is my dear younger brother Viktor, a student from Sofia who joined me and my group on most of our travels. Group dynamics forced the two of us to spend a lot of time together, but I don't think either of us ever minded. Sometimes you just need an extra sibling around.

And here is our whole group... people I had never even talked to until I arrived, and people whom I now, in some cases, consider dear and lasting friends. From left to right: Lance (host), Michelle (hostess), Stacie (teammate), Chuck (teammate and Stacie's fiance'), me, Viktor. We are standing in front of the Danube. The trees beyond the river are Romania.

Fellowship is rarely sweeter than the kind we enjoy in other countries with people of different languages but similar hearts. This image is from a dinner we enjoyed with Pastor Pavel and his wife, friends of our hosts and heart-friends of all of us.

And this was what I got up early on my last full day to see-- the beautiful Baba Vida fortress (left over from the olden days of Turkish rule) at the side of the Danube. The river is so beautiful in the early morning sun. And life is so beautiful when you're where you know you need to be.

A new change of scene. On June 13 I (sadly) left Bulgaria and (happily) joined my adored grandparents and friends in England for a quite delightful 10 days.

Below is a fairly non-significant yet still (to me) moderately pleasing image from my "other" hometown (I am starting to have a few), Swindon-- just across the street from our church there.

This is a lovely little house in Lacock village, a town left over from far earlier times, whose leaning houses and historic inns are used as settings in movies like "Pride and Prejudice," "Cranford," and even "Harry Potter."

And very close nearby is the village of Castle Combe... holding even more history, greenery, and absolute charm.

Well, of course, no trip to England would be complete without a cricket match! In fact (and it is a very sad fact), every one of my previous trips to England have been devoid of this most pleasing event. But this time my sweet, obliging grandfather and his friends helped me fill the void.

(Gloucester won, if anyone cares. And yes they DID get two more wickets in the last hour or so, when everyone but Roy and I thought it too optimistic to even imagine.)

My (perhaps proud?) grandfather and I. :)

The beautiful thing (among others) about having visited my grandparents so many times is that I now have real friends in their area as well as family! Here I am with a gaggle of giggling girls in pink. (I wish "pink" began with a "g"... it would have made the aliteration so much better.)

Well, sad to say, eventually I had to come home. On June 24th I returned to the States and to "normal" summer life... whatever that means. Thankfully I returned to a summer job (the people I'd been working for in the spring took me back! yay!) and to opportunities to do a lot of in-state traveling.

So, for the rest of my summer, I mostly just worked, attended weddings, and visited Keith, Breena, and my darling niece Kienna. Here are some favourite pictures of her:

And finally, in prepation for school to start up again, I trimmed my hair. It's still long in the back, just slightly more "layered" in the front.

And that's Summer 2009!! Tune in next time for updates on Fall 2009, Emily's last semester in college... :)

The Story of a Vine and a Branch...

Exactly one year ago today I wrote in my journal about the lessons I was learning. Today I look back and find that those truths are still vastly applicable to my life... and maybe to yours as well. So let me share with you the story of a Vine and a Branch:

"Keep God at the center." Those are the words that a friend told me as I began my travel adventures last year. It's a year later now; I have had great adventures; I have gotten accustomed to new worlds; I have found new and wonderful sources of joy, direction, and fulfillment.

But something has been missing. Through all the delights and learnings of this little life, I've still been left feeling that something's missing. I'm discontented with myself; I'm too often feeling guilty; I'm at a loss for understanding my own identity?

What can be missing? That was the question. Then I think back to a book I read recently about Martin Luther... and I find the first few pieces of the answer puzzle. Martin Luther-- he knew Scripture. He knew the ins and outs of it. And he knew God. Christ was everything to him-- I mean, really, truly everything.

Now I ask myself, "Are you at that place?" I know that I'm not there with Scripture. For long years now I've known that many of my deepest problems would be solved if I just made myself delve more deeply into the Book of Wisdom-- actually took the time to get to know God better. Okay (I say to myself), that's doable.

But then it strikes me-- it is not just a matter of not spending enough time in devotions. It is a matter of not having God truly at the center. It is a matter of not having Christ as my above-all and over-all focus.

Oh, yes, I have a very Christian outlook on life. I see the world as a mission field and I think and talk rather Christianly. But deep down-- deep down, I hardly know the Christ I serve, and I hardly truly focus on Him. It's hard to explain, even to a silent, patient blog post screen-- but I think my idea of what it means to serve God is not quite set up on the right foundation.

Because, you see, this is what has just occured to me: it is not quite enough for me to just make myself read more Scripture, and then assume that I will automatically "get to know God" better that way. That is part of it, certainly-- but I must start at the very heart of things. "My" life must be completely disassembled, and begun on the proper foundation. Christ must be not just a tag-on, an added feature, a side dish to bring added pleasure to myself and other. No.

He must be my all and everything. He must be the self that Emily is formed around. He must be. And then through Him, I can be.

I tend to live my life as though I am a tree and He is the water I occasionally drink from for added strength. Or, sometimes, even as though He is merely my neighboring tree, bigger and more powerful, but not distinctly a part of me. What foolishness is this! For He is the tree itself, and I am but a branch off of that tree! He is the vine itself, and I am but a feeble, dependent tendril off of that vine.

Or, I tend to live as though He is my job-- as though I am a salesman, carrying Him with me wherever I go, but being my own person on the inside, enjoying the tourism along the route. Yet He is so much more than merely the product or the employer. He is the foundation, and the reason for the journey, and the sight to be seen there. He pays for the trip and He is the trip. He is the traveller-- and I am the sleeve on the traveller's arm.

So this is it. The paradigm must not merely shift. It must be completely made new.

But, wait-- making new-- that is, after all, what He does best. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).

So, then, there's hope. Hope for a remade paradigm-- a new understanding of who I am in Christ. And hope for the love, joy, peace, wisdom, warmth, safety, and strength that come from being not just a Christianese-speaking "follower" of Christ... but a branch gaining all its direction, nourishment, and life from the True Vine.


"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love."
John 15:1-10

Western World, 2009

It's brilliant being an English major at college (or, as you English I think would say it, "taking an English course at uni"), because I'm forced to read some of the best things ever written. (Of course, that's not all I'm forced to read. But that's another story.)

This particular piece spoke to me. It's titled "London, 1802" and was written about that place in that year. But I think the message fits a broader people, place, and time. I think it fits London, 2009. And England, 2009. And Europe, 2009. And let's not forget America, 2009.

In 1802, the author was calling on the poet Milton to come back and save us through his majestic, powerful, and yet godly voice. So my only change for 2009 (and I would have recommended it in 1802, as well) is to remember that Milton with all his glorious voice was only that-- a voice. "...the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" (Jn 1:23). Milton was not and is not a saviour; he was only a voice of peace that can point us to the Saviour. So let us, in 2009, across our selfish, broken world, call the Saviour to "return to us again"-- and then let us return to Him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

London, 1802
- William Wordsworth

Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their anceint English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virture, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.