Teachings of Jesus

Excerpt from Jaroslav Pelikan's "Jesus Through the Centuries":

"Asserting that not reason but faith was the foundation of "our most holy religion," he concluded with the argument that faith was itself the greatest miracle, and indeed the only miracle:

'On the whole, we may conclude that the Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe that is most contrary to custom and experience.' " --David Hume

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a world dominated by the importance of science, cold-hard facts, and reason, I find myself looking more enviously on those around me whose faith is strong enough to not be rumbled by the question of "evidence". I think that is what makes faith such a beautiful thing. It is the ability to believe in something unseen....to be certain of something without evidence....to commit yourself to a cause that you will never be 100% sure of but in your heart you know it will bring you divine happiness. My best friend Megan told me in Chile one morning which we were stretching together that she understands that she can live without religion in her life...people do it every day, and both she and them get up each morning and go to bed each night after a long day. But then she said to me: "I could live without it...but why would I? Doing everything with the love and support of Jesus makes it all so much more worthwhile."

I challenge you today to think about where you are with your own thoughts on faith in this very moment. I, personally, am still on the journey from naive believer to skeptical college student to theologically-educated adult. It's been a journey of almost 22 years, but I thank the lord that he has patience and that he has put such strong believers in my life to guide me through. If you read this and you want to share your thoughts with me, send me an email at roselinehan@umail.ucsb.edu. And have a blessed and enlightened day! :)

Pictures from my fun weekend

Leigh Anne, I am posting the last of the pics from this weekend on here because my email is so moody and keeps canceling the uploads. Enjoy!

My Last Weeks of School & Studies

A little photo montage of Rose's
last few weeks of school and
special study projects...

Yeah....I wrote a LOT of really long papers
while I was here...and in Spanish too. Craaazy.

The coolest school in the whole world

My mentor for my special study project with the Gastronomy class. This is Paola and she was my first friend at the school. She is also the school nurse and a completely amazing person. When I said goodbye to her, she put her hand on my heart and said that I have a good heart and would be blessed in my life for being such a caring person. What a lovely lady....

This is Mariela who teaches English and
speaks it like perfectly! We're gonna

hang out when I get back to Santiago
in December after my big trip!

Tomas who was one of the patients in
my study for Medical Anthropology

with his psychologist Patty
who I interviewed for the final paper

Me with Tomas and his mother
Paulina who works at the school

My goodness....that investigation was a lot of
work but it was also SUCH an opportunity. Wow.

Me and the occupational therapist Erick
who I worked with for the investigation
for the past 3 months!

Maria Jose, the other patient in the
study who was Blanca Nieves
at her Halloween party :)

One of my absolute proudest moments during my time in Chile...This is me with my teacher Michelle Sadler who taught me about a branch of Anthropology that I knew nothing about before: Medical Anthropology. As you can see, this was before I gave my 20 minute presentation about my investigation with the two kids at the school. It was all in Spanish. I am very proud of myself. Bring on the next challenges, Life. I am SO ready after all I have done in these 5 months.

Michelle is 2 months pregnant! We were all so happy for her when she told us the news. I love this picture because she said she was going to hold her guatita and I said: oh ok I'll hold mine too. My Chilean guatita. haha Guata means stomach...guaton is pot-belly...guatita is a little something extra. Not gonna lie...knowledge is not the only thing I have gained while I've been in Chile. haha Come back to me Santa Barbara!!

After my successful presentation...another moment of victory that I had to capture. Little by little, I am closing all of my chapters in Santiago...getting everything done. Now I only have one more test for my bioarcheology class and then I am finally free. I LOVE victories...especially after how hard I have pushed myself during my time here. Rock star material. hehe

SUCH a feeling of relief! After this, I took my favorite walk to the bus from the school. Every time I have made that walk, I have always felt so accomplished... whether it was just for attending a class with all Chilean students and remaining poised through it all OR turning in my 15 page bioarchaeology research paper OR doing a 20 minute presentation in front of my classmates. I will feel this same feeling tomorrow when I make the walk for the last time.

Wish me luck. I am going to go study. With hard work comes great rewards. I have to remember that. Lord give me strength. I love you guys so much!!! See you December 28th!

This made me smile...

Thanks for the entertaining email, Dad :) Proof that all Linehan's--and not just me--are goofballs:

Howdy Young Lady,

Fun Day in Dog City.

"Hot Dog's" were not on the picnic menu.

No "Collar'a outbreaks" observed.

Ma and "Paw" had a great day.

Mom and Dad

i have chilean friends....and gringo friends too!

So I am trying to finish up my work and when I finish these essays, I realize that I need someone to look over them because there are bound to be mistakes. I didn't have anyone look over the 15 page bioarch one but I ended up getting a B+ so that was lucky. For my medical anthropology paper of 15 pages, my friend Cris who is a Chilean from Starbucks told me that he would help me read it. I went over to his apartment yesterday and he read through it with me and he was so nice! He told me he was totally hooked into the story and couldn't wait to finish it! He even told his friends that night all about my two case studies and the interesting program at the school where I did the research. Then I remembered that Meg's chilean roommate Sandra had totally saved me by helping me listen to the audiotracks from the interviews I had done with the mothers of the patients and the psychologist because it was so hard to decipher what they were saying. She sat with me for like 2 hours helping me with that. And then my friend Pablo just called and asked what I was up to and if he could come by and visit me and Megan. Oh AND I am writing my paper for my investigation with the Gastronomy class at Puente Alto and I emailed Mariela who is the English teacher at the school and a dear friend. I asked if she wouldn't mind reading through the paper and she just emailed back and said it would be no problem! Plus I'm just happy because last night while I was at Chris' house I got a call from Anna who wanted to have a movie night and Gary who wanted to hang out! I just feel loved amidst all of this school stuff that I still have lingering over me. And as I lie here on my best friends bed in her comfy apartment and think about how Gary, Meg, Sandra, and I enjoyed a lovely breakfast this morning all together, I am filled with peace.

A Salute To Our Armed Forces

This is a forwarded email that I received from my best friend Meg for Veteran's Day:

The following is a lesson that should be taught in all schools including, or maybe even especially, in our colleges. In September, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher did something not to be forgotten. On this first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor; she removed all the desks from her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. "Ms Cothren, where are our desks?' She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk."

They asked, "Was it our grades?"

"No", she said.

"Was it our behavior?'

'No, it's not even your behavior,' she told them.

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her classroom.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, "Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you."

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven (27) War Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into the classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall... By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned..

Martha said, "You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it."

An Unforgettable Couple Days

I definitely won't miss this sight.

I had the craziest/most challenging/most memorable day of my life yesterday. I woke up at 7 am and started studying again for my bioarchaeology final certamen. I studied all the way up until the class at 2:30 but decided to get there early to talk to the TAs about my finger. I fell when I was running and my pinky might have a hair-line fracture because it is super swollen up. I ask them if I could please use my computer for the test and they said yes which was a miracle. I then proceeded to take a two hour test where I wrote 4 computer pages on the importance of the analysis of metabolic diseases, indicators of stress in bones, indicators of diets in ancient populations, etc. The second part was when everyone got their own box with a skeleton inside and had to make an analysis of it in terms of those themes listed. When I think about that test and tell people about it, neither I nor them can believe it. I find myself asking myself more and more as its about to be over: Rosey, what were you thinking girl? haha I mean, I am making it through and my grade is sufficient but really?! A bioarchaeology class with LAB while you are in Chile and the entire class is in Spanish and all the 15 other kids have then the bioarchaeology class for the first semester so are all up in the know-all while Rose is the extranjera. haha This has been a ridiculously crazy experience.

After the test, I gave Addy the present I got her and the 2 page letter I wrote her--thanking her for being my lab partner throughout the course and especially for being my friend. Then me, Addy, Sonia, Pachi, and Rocio all hung out and talked about California, grades, and life, but the whole time I was so happy inside because the people in this class have finally accepted me. It sounds weird but at the beginning, only Addy talked to me. Everyone else didn't say a word to me. So now to have people come up to me before class and greet me...or to give me articles they printed out for me that they thought would help me in my trabajo final...well, it makes me feel like I have really beat-and-won in a situation that was easily the CRAZIEST of my entire life. After talking with the girls, Addy and I walked through campus talking and there was a moment that I will always remember. We passed by a group of Chileans sitting in a circle on the grass...probably like 10...and 3 of them knew Addy so they waved at her and she greeted them and for a minute they looked at me like the extrajera. Then they realized that I was with Addy and they greeted me with an HOLA too...but it was much more than the hola that struck me. It was this sense I felt that because of Addy's kindness, I finally felt like I belonged.

Our lovely Thanksgiving feast!

Mi hermano, mi hermana y yo

Then mama Maggie got home and decided to
revolutionize self-timer picture taking...

The whole family at the dinner table

Even Chiquita decided to grace us
with her presence. Yes, this is little
inappropriate for the dinner table,
but Chiquita never seems to mind.
Oh that cat!

I got home and Jeremy, Hannah, and I whipped up a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Well, I'm not gonna lie, they did the cooking and I brought the wine. haha But when Maggie got home we had everything set up and got to have a nice family dinner. Of course, it was the best of both worlds because I had gotten to Skype with the whole family before I had dinner with my family in Chile. After dinner, we all fell into the appropriate after-thanksgiving-dinner coma and I didn't wake up until 10 am the next day! I woke up thinking that not matter what happens with this bioarchaeology class...I did it. I took that test that I was so scared about. I wrote the 15 page paper (and found out that I think I got a B on it!!! yay!) and took all the in-class tests and wrote informes and even spoke outloud a number of times about the evidence of trauma (for example) in the skeleton. I've done it all, and I've done it with flying colors considering I am a extranjera. After this experience, I can say that I have always been a humble person but in terms of my accomplishments in this class, I will always consider myself a bad-ass. And don't be surprised if I toot my horn from time to time when you see me in January...but I now know that there's not many people who would have made it through this course. And I am crazy for doing it but it has given me the sweetest satisfaction imaginable.

OK back to 10 am, I went for a run and got ready for Meg to come over. She rang the bell right on time and we spent the day working and planning out Buenos Aires and especially Patagonia! I can't believe we are leaving a week! And more importantly, I can 't believe that I am going to be doing tests and my presentations right up until that point. This trip is the hardest thing I have ever had to earn! lol but we all know that my work these past 5 months have earned me this trip! I'm sooooo excited!! :) At 3 pm we had a nice family lunch that didn't differ much from the rest considering everything about the world was still "rico" according to my Chilean mama and well...I guess you just had to be there. Then I worked a little more on my med. anth. essay and sang Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood and at 6 pm Hannah, Jeremy, and I left for Bella Vista for our final dinner together. Hannah leaves tomorrow for Vina del Mar for two weeks and I will be gone on my trip when she gets back. But we sure did have a great time and we enjoyed happy hour at a cute restaurant with seats out on the patio and drank our mojitos or pineapple daquaris or what-have-you as we talked about awesome topics and then switched over to Spanish from time to time. I love my siblings and I am gonna miss them a ton!

Did someone say Daquari?

La despedida de Hannah

I made some friends. That happens when they
find out a gringa can speak Spanish. hehe

Rose & Hannah: Ooooh Jeremy got a call.
Let's tease him & put bunny ears on him. hehe
We're goofy but we love it.

I will say this about my discovery process...Chile has made me a lot more capable to say what I want to say without thinking that I am talking too much. I have sooo much that I want to say and I am getting better at formulating it and expressing it to people and I like that. Also, it has made me even more of an observer I must say. I told them last night: wow maybe I should be an author. lol I just can't stop absorbing situatoins and people and life...hope its all for a reason because my brain is exhausted haha. OK well for now I must work on my essay because my friend Chris is going to correct it with me tonight. Oh one more thing, yesterday in Bella Vista I ran into my friend Carissa from church on the street and then made friends with the waiters and both restaurants we went to and then on the way back to the house ran into my friend Fred from the mini-mart and it was hilarious because Hannah and Jeremy were like: "Geez Rose do you know everyone in Santiago?! You are so popular." haha Chao for now. Love, Rosey

Santiago in Summer. Love the burgundy theme

of this picture. Our power color, right mama??