Dear Friends and Family,

This has been an interesting year to say the least! You know something out of the ordinary had to have happened over the year when you are writing your Christmas letter from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. No, I am not overly jetlagged and hallucinating, I am actually in France. I haven’t had a chance to set foot on French soil yet, but I did at least set foot on French asphalt (like that counts, I know). It’s probably my own fault, but there is a chance that some of you don’t even know I have been in England for the past 3 months.

Yeah, I know, “What kind of correspondent am I?” I arrived in Great Britain on September 7th (2000) for the autumn term of a new extension campus of Calvary Chapel Bible College in York, England (Yorkshire). I suppose I should start this letter at the beginning of the year, but I’m not sure I can remember back that far. Well, I’ll try.

When the year 2000 began we (Mom, Dad, Jenny-Rose, Minuit, Marshmellow and I) were still living in Boulder (Superior) Colorado. We were pretty sure we were supposed to move closer to my Grandparents, who were living in Canon City, Colorado about 2 ½ hours away, but we were going to wait until the spring to actually make the change. At the time I was attending Calvary College of the Bible, which had at one time been an extension campus of CCBC (Calvary Chapel Bible College), but had broken with them and was seeking accreditation as a separate institution. I learned a lot through that semester, especially about relationships with people, and what it is like to work with, and take courses from, people whose beliefs and ideas differed (if only slightly) with my own. Somehow I felt that it was a little taste of what it will be like in a secular college. Although at the rate I am going I probably won’t get to college this millennium anymore than I did the last one, so maybe I shouldn’t worry about it.

After the spring term was over (the college folded so it doesn’t exist anymore) we packed up the house again (why do we never learn?) and moved everything to Colorado Springs. Now we are only an hour away from where Grandma and Grandpa were living at the time. Summer came and Bridget did not get a job, I just stayed home and hung out in between chauffeuring Dad et al to the Grandparental abode and back.

Over the summer my Grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, and that’s when it all starts to get fuzzy in my memory. Grandma did not know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior when she was diagnosed and I spent many days wondering if she would die and go to Hell because of her unbelief. My earnest prayer was that she would have a chance; that the good news of Jesus would be presented to her and leave her in no doubt of the choice she had to make and the eternal consequences of her choice. Eventually it came to the point where I knew that she had heard the message and I called it quits. I gave up hoping, because I figured that if she hadn’t accepted Jesus when she was presented with the truth, there wasn’t any point in trying again.

I was wrong. God was much more faithful to Grandma than I was, and two days after I gave up on her Grandma accepted the Lord. I wish at this moment that words could express the joy I felt when I heard the news (many tears of joy and family group hugs). Why do I doubt that God still does miracles? Grandma died about a month later (after I had left for College), and is now in Heaven praising God for eternity. More stuff went on with the folks back home, but you’ll have to get it from them because I wouldn’t be able to get the story straight, even if I tried.

Hey, now we are back to where I left off at the beginning. Okay, September 7th, 2000. God is so cool. To begin with, after my semester at CCB I didn’t know what I was going to do with my time come autumn of 2000. I looked into some of the community colleges and stuff around the region, thinking maybe I would start my Bachelor’s Degree studies, but nothing seemed to wow me out of my skin in that area. I have to confess that I didn’t do as much praying and seeking of the Lord as I should have (it is a constant struggle for me), but He was gracious and showed me His plan anyway.

I received a letter late spring/early summer from a friend in Murrieta telling me how she was going to go to this new extension campus in York England in the fall. I have to say I wasn’t struck by lightening or anything, I just thought “Oh, that’s nice; England huh.” It was really Dad who started me thinking about maybe going myself. After the week was over (I had to decide which path I was going to pursue because I had to get the SATs done and apply if I was going to regular college). I decided to go to England for three basic reasons; (1) It was an awesome opportunity to live in another culture (where they speak English) for three months with people I could trust, (2) I didn’t have to fill out or send in an application or anything because I had already been to the school in Murrieta – no SATs either J and (3) I really had a peace that this was what God wanted me to do.

It took me a long time to actually order my ticket for the flight to the UK, and when I did I really wasn’t thinking about like meeting up with people or anything. I did get in touch with one of the guys from the school and was going to meet him in Manchester, England (where the airport is), because our flights were arriving only an hour apart. It turned out that my good friend Cecily Davis (Cecily White after 6 January – the one who sent me the letter talking about the school in the first place) was on standby for the same flight I was on leaving from Atlanta (God thing). We ended up traveling together and meeting up with Jeremiah (the guy from college) in Manchester, and also another one of the students who happened to be on the same flight as Jeremiah leaving from Newark, NJ (another God thing).

Jet lag was rough those first couple of hours. We had a two-hour train ride from the airport to York and then we drove to the flats (apartments). We were so tired and grumpy. I knew that I was going to hit something (or somebody) or just cry, so I did not listen to anyone telling me not to sleep until that night, and went to bed in the middle of the afternoon. God was so good to me and allowed me to sleep pretty much the whole night through to about 09:00 the next morning. After that I didn’t have many problems entering into the new time zone (except that as the semester wore on I got up later and later in the mornings). J

We arrived on Thursday the 7th of September and orientation was on Monday the 11th, with classes commencing the next day. I took classes on the books of Acts and John, Old Testament History, Prayer, and then the compulsory classes of Public Devotional Speaking, Public Worship (church on Sunday AM and PM), and Servanthood (practical ministry – I was in the Café). Much was learned over the course of the semester, but if I tried to get into all that I could be here for a very long time (and you would skip over it anyway). One thing I will mention though is that I learned a lot about waiting and trusting in Jesus. One can get so caught up in the doing that the waiting and watching gets pushed aside.

It will be hard for some of you to believe this, but I really didn’t do a lot of talking this semester (for me). I watched and listened and absorbed, and I think I am much wiser for the experience. I have learned from experience that God was right (wow – novel thought) when He told us through James that the tongue “can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” It was really a blessing to not talk all the time and I think I saved myself some heartache by not saying things without thinking and later regretting it. Forgive me for using so many quotations, but there is a perfect one found in a children’s book that goes “Think ere you speak, for words once spoken, once flown, are no more your own.” My prayer is, and probably always will be, that my tongue be God’s instrument of encouragement and truth and not of evil and poison. See, I did learn something in between all the sightseeing. J

I loved England, I loved the people at the College, and I am planning on going back for another semester in February. God taught me so much and I learned so much, and I don’t want to stop doing that – ever.

That’s about it up to date. Future plans past next spring are still flexible, although if I don’t start going to college sometime soon I can say goodbye to a career in surgery (at least before I am 40). The cool thing about trusting God though is that I don’t have to worry about any of that stuff. I am where I know I am supposed to be, and until God issues me new orders, that’s perfectly fine with me.

May God bless you this Holiday Season with His abundant riches of Grace and Mercy,

Bridget

P.S. We got a new little kitty because Marshmellow ran away. The kitty’s name is Jeeves and he is a pistol. He is even now trying to chew on my mouse cord (bad kitty). I guess there is just something about Cats and mice.