A Shift In Direction

Some of you may have seen my last post on this blog, in which I stated I would be going on a tour of Scotland (the Knox @ 500 tour with author Douglas Bond) in June 2014.

That was then.

Since then, I attended Summit Ministries' summer worldview conference. In June, I spent two weeks in an old hotel with 300 other Christians, learning about Christianity, competing worldviews such as New Age, Islam, Secular Humanism, and Marxism; and learning how our Christian faith should affect our interactions with our world. The conference, although hugely overwhelming at first, ending up being a wonderful time to grow as a person--spiritually, emotionally, educationally, and mentally. Why am I telling you this?

Because, at the Summit, I attended an info session on another program of Summit Ministries--Summit Oxford.

Summit Oxford is a semester long (15 weeks, about four months) study abroad and worldview program. The first few weeks are a worldview intensive, where they have deep discussions about battles of ideologies, how to talk about and live out your faith, and close studies of Scripture. After that is the Oxford semester (with weekly worldview meetings throughout). The Oxford part consists of two tutorials with Oxford professors. These tutorials are specialized, one-on-one meetings that involve a lot of assigned reading and writing. One tutorial will meet once a week, the other meets every fortnight.

I'd heard of Summit Oxford previously. Actually, looking back, I'd looked at it a few times. First thought--'eh, that'd be too hard for me.' Later, 'oh, it looks like they prefer students from four-year universities. I don't qualify.' 'Even if I did, it's way too expensive.' But, I though, I have some free time, why not attend this info meeting? At least I'd know for sure if I qualify.

Turns out, I do. But, it's way expensive. But I really want to do this. I came back, found out more. Applied. Waited.

And...I have been accepted into the Summit Oxford program!

I'm INCREDIBLY excited about this opportunity! However, this does mean I won't be going to Scotland in June, as Summit Oxford is about four times the cost and I'll need to put every penny I can toward Oxford. As it is, funding will be a major difficulty and act of faith. While that's a little sad, my excitement at the prospect of studying for four months in OXFORD far outweighs any disappointment in not going on the tour. Plus, students of Summit Oxford typically have a week for travel--so I may still get to revisit my beloved Scotland!

To find out more, please visit selinargonzalez.com/summitoxford.html. Thank you!

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Yeah. I'm ridiculously excited. How excited? At least this excited.

Probably this excited.

Back to Scotland!

Back when I was still looking for a tour to go to Scotland for the first time, after the tour I'd been hoping for fell through, my mom stumbled across author Douglas Bond's website (for those who don't know/remember, Bond's books are part of what got me so excited about Scotland) and discovered that he does tours, and had led a tour based on locations in his books of Scotland. Unfortunately, I'd missed that tour. But I emailed him telling him about how I loved his books and was disappointed to see I'd missed his tour and I'd love to know about future tours of Scotland.

Then, we found Reformation Tours and I went on that tour. It was amazing, and I think about it often. Almost a year later, the photos from that trip are still my screensaver. Needless to say, I want to go back. I know the experience I had on the Heritage of England and Scotland tour can't be repeated, and I wouldn't want it to be. But I would love to have another travel experience in Great Britain, and see more of Bonny Scotland. But the issue was getting there, because I/we can't afford to take my whole family, and don't want to go alone.

About a month ago, on March 19 (2013), I got an email from Mr. Bond saying that he'll be leading a tour of Scotland next year (2014) with an emphasis on John Knox for Knox's 500th birthday. Needless to say, I was excited.

Since then, I've been praying a lot about whether or not I should go, and trying to determine if I can afford it. There's been a lot of debating with myself and looking at pros and cons. Eventually, it came down to the issue of affordability.

It's going to take a lot of saving, but God's blessed me with some good financial aid, so I don't have to worry about school funds. I've felt nervous, but I finally feel pretty peaceful about going. So I'm working on registering! I say working, because I've been having trouble connecting with the tour leaders to make my reservation, but I'm confident it'll all work out. I don't think God would have made it clear that I can afford to go if I'm not meant to.


So, I'm happy to announce that I'll be going to Scotland again, June 24-July 4, 2014! I'm SUPER excited. Ever since I got back, I've been wanting to go again. And now that's possible, praise God! :D