Yep, we live in Utah...

Two weeks ago we became True Aggies. On Friday night at midnight under a full moon, Johnathan and I kissed on top of the Aggie "A" in front of several of our closet friends - including Johnathan's students. Weird :). This tradition occurs every full moon or homecoming at midnight. Then, the official True Aggie Patrol handed us a card that documented this occurrence.

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in over a month. Well, actually I can giving my track record and feelings about the internet! We have completed our first month of school! Adjusting to going back to school has not been as difficult as anticipated, especially for Johnathan. He is loving teaching and his classes. I have too much time on my hands; which should lend itself to incredible opportunities, but usually turns into lazy hours. I am trying to be motivated and trying to be passionate about living each day to the fullness that God has intended. I am working part time in the Graduate School office on campus and taking 9 hrs of classes. I am enjoying my History of Islamic Civilization class. I had known only a surface amount about this culture, but I am being enlightened to Islam's many years of elaborate empire building and conquests combined with impressive artistic and scientific works. Johnathan, and me by extension, is learning German. He is being a little language sponge and is filled with all the excitement that goes along with learning a new language. We had so much fun studying for his first test together and I am ready to go to Germany!!! We have met great people that are graduate instructors like Johnathan. They are really interesting people from all backgrounds and we have enjoyed hanging out/discussing things with them.

So I am sure anyone who knows us and is reading this is curious about our evangelical Christian existence in Utah. Our first impressions of life in a strange land are just that: it is a strange land, almost like another country. What I mean by this is that there is a definite dominate majority culture that permeates everything here. I have found myself observing and editing myself to fit in, just like I would do when visiting a foreign country. We have found ourselves being out of the loop on a few occasions. We have observed that Utah is a rare location where religion is talked about freely, a bonus! We have chatted with LDS followers, atheists, other evangelicals, and agnostics. I am convinced that there are not many places like this in the world. It is apparent that the LDS followers are sharing there faith with you while you hope to share yours with them. I have been a little taken back by the "everyone is assumed LDS until proven not to be" mentality, especially because our outward appearance/actions usually mean that we are assumed to be LDS. The LDS culture in Utah, as best that I can describe it, is a closed group of controlled religious people who have not been very exposed to the religious/social diversity that exists in the world. Some have, usually from their mission, but other than that I am not sure about their exposures. What I hope for is interaction with other faiths in an open diaglogue based on gaining mutual understand, but I don't know how realistic this is. This culture has influenced people of other faiths or people of no religion to be either very vocal about their views or to become quiet and inner dependent. I can't think about anything else, but if anyone has any questions about our life here please ask!!!

We have visited several churches and made some great acquaintances. We have yet to find a church home, but are continuing to pray about where the Lord wants us to be. There are several christian groups on campus and several bible studies - maybe we should go to one sometime :). We've been meaning to go but haven't made it to any yet.

I have lots of other exciting things to share, like curtain fabric decisions, new furniture, new/fun internet sites, the farmer's market, beer and wine in Utah, our favorite restaurants, Salt Lake City, our parent's visits, the shops in town, the sunsets, the mountains...too many things!!! I will hopefully be a more interesting blogger!