1st video blog!!!

This time I updated my blog with a video!!! here it is!

Is there a God? How do you know?

Everyone has asked this question at least once in life. A good friend of mine asked it on Facebook yesterday.  I'm just going to give my opinion and tell my personal experience.


Firstly, are we talking about a God or about the Christian God? Let's take a quick view of the main streams of beliefs:

• Hindus acknowledge multitudes of gods and goddesses.
• Buddhists say there is no deity.
• New Age followers believe they are God.
• Muslims believe in a powerful but unknowable God.
• Christians believe in a God who is loving and approachable.

What makes the Christian God different? Buddha existed, Muhammed existed and Jesus existed but he was the only one who raised from the dead and claimed to be God. Many religions focus on a person's spiritual efforts. With Jesus Christ it's a two-way interaction between you and God. The Christian God is the only one who urges you to have a relationship with him. Many world religions place an individual on their own, striving for spiritual perfection. Buddha, for example, never claimed sinlessness. Muhammad also admitted that he was in need of forgiveness.

Secondly, many of us want strong, even overwhelming reasons to believe in God but God has given us the freedom to believe in him or not. What God wants is for us to know him as our Father, Friend, Comforter, Counselor, Lord - willingly, not under compulsion.

He has given us more than ample reason to believe in him. But he doesn't force us to know him. Even as Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one opens the door, I will come into him" (Revelation 3:20). He enters our lives at our permission. And if we sincerely want to find out if he's there and what he is like, he will allow us to find him and know him.

So, that's it we have to believe by faith, very easy to say right? It's by faith because faith means receiving something, not doing something or even being something. To say, therefore, that our faith saves us means that we do not save ourselves even in slightest measure, but that God saves us. We are all the same for God. There are no better/worse Christians... all you have to do is believe. Isn't that the fairest way?

Even though it's by faith and it's our choice, as I said before, there is a lot of proof of the existence of God. Here are some:

Reasons for the existence of God:

• The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today
• The universe had a start - what caused it?
• The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it? The greatest scientists have been struck by how strange this is. There is no logical necessity for a universe that obeys rules, let alone one that abides by the rules of mathematics. This astonishment springs from the recognition that the universe doesn't have to behave this way. It is easy to imagine a universe in which conditions change unpredictably from instant to instant, or even a universe in which things pop in and out of existence.

You probably don't understand everything now, well it's normal, I didn't understand it either a year ago. The answer is in the Bible: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate" (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Now, if you're not tired and want to keep reading I'm going to tell you my story.

I was raised in a Christian family, went to church every Sunday, heard the Gospel again and again... but I never really understood it or payed attention to it. It was just another thing that my parents told me that it was good for me and I didn't want to do. I wanted to go with my friends or sleep more on a Sunday morning. I'm so thankful that they always gave me a lot of freedom regarding religion. I'm sure that if when I became an adult I would have said that I was an atheist they would have been sad but would have accepted it.

Recently, we haven't gone much to church maybe it has to do with my lack of interest on the subject plus our lives got more and more complicated and it has been difficult to find time for it. Thanks to the people I have around me (old friends from church or new friends like P & L - you know who you are hehe) I started to look at religion in a different way. Maybe I was biased by the way that religion is seen in Spain (almost no one goes to church and if you do you're considered a 'weirdo') and afraid of what people might think. These people taught me that you can believe and be a religious person but not necessarily a pious person (I don't know in English but in Spanish pious has negative connotations). I started to show interest in it, I started to listen to Christian Music (I love Chris Tomlin lol),then I listened to sermons... etc. To sum up, I was approaching God. He did it in a way that I almost didn't realize but he was knocking on my door. Now I'm not afraid of saying that I pray everyday, that I feel so good when I listen to Christian music everyday and I want to learn more and more each day from the Bible. It's been a personal experience. That's why I can't give you proof but He changed me. Although I still have doubts and haven't decided yet to get baptised but my strongest desire is that someday I will be certain of my salvation.

Please! Today more than ever ---> COMMENT!!

First Anniversary

LISTEN WHILE YOU READ!!

  

It's been a year that I started in this new world of Skype, blogs, exchanging languages.... etc. so I thought that I could tell you a story....

Once upon a time there was a girl who loved English, she did not know where that interest in the language came from but she dreamed of being able to talk in English fluently and who knows?? Having contact with native speakers.

Not only was she interested in the language, but also in the culture of the English-speaking countries, she liked the music above all and she learnt a lot from it.

A year ago in a very hot day she was a bit bored at home. Suddenly she had a great idea "There must be some place to practice English on the internet with natives... to exchange languages" she thought. In less than a minute she found a couple of websites that seemed good but she found out that she had to download a new program, it was called Skype so she downloaded it, at first sight it seemed like the MSN Messenger.... what was the point of downloading a new program that was "the same" as another one she already had? "Maybe they use it more in other countries" she thought. The idea of talking to people from all around the world was very attractive to her but after a couple of days she felt a bit discourage, no one answered her so she kept on searching for new websites...

Two weeks later something happened! She had a contact on Skype and a contact on MSN (you know who you are), it was unbelievable! She was able to speak by voice on Skype with a native for one hour and she spoke every night with the person on MSN. It seemed that it was going to be an exciting summer... a few days ago she thought that it was going to be a boring summer because she had no job, nothing to study and not so many friends, she had been a bit down since some months ago and she went from never coming online, to coming online every single day because she had a new motivation, something that she liked, an incentive...

The months passed, she spoke everyday with new people and she started to have very good friends on the internet, it may sound a bit exaggerated but her life changed.

A year later, her dream came true! She feels so lucky because she has found such great people to talk to, to share things, thoughts and feelings. It doesn't matter that she only knows them on the internet and not in person, she is certain that she knows some of these people better that many people in "real life" and these people know her very well too. In other words, she has new FRIENDS and she hopes to have them for many years... no... even better... forever.

THE END

I hope you liked the story and oh! By the way... the girl in the story was me!

If you are reading this is because you are part of the story so... let's go for another year of fun!

P.S.: Please correct my writing and my pronunciation!

Announcement

Yes, 2 posts in a row... now I'm here to make an announcement. My friend David Mansaray has a wonderful blog so I encourage you to read it. He is also co-hosting a very interesting podcast called "The Polyglot Proyect" it's great for those who are learning English, linguists or language lovers.

Be sure to check his blog to listen to the following podcasts but here you have the link to listen to the episode #0 and the transcript for those who aren't natives and need some help with the listening hehe

Hope you enjoy it!!!

Now if you want to read my other new post about my Proficiency exam... scroll down please ;-)

My writings for the Proficiency

Hello bloggers!! Yes, I'm still alive.... I've been pretty busy with exams at University and at the School of Languages (German). Today I had a mock-exam for the "Certificate of Proficiency in English". The exam is 5 hours long (with 2 breaks of 15 min each) it consists in a Reading Comprenhesion, 2 Writings, Use of English (a kind of grammar and vocabulary exercises), listening and speaking test. It's the highest level you can achieve according to The Common European Framework of Reference (C2) so, let's say it's a bit difficult haha.


I thought I could write on here my two writings in order to get some feedback soon heehe and also because it's a long time since I don't write to you!!!


1.- An international company wants to build high-rise holiday apartments very close to your small town. You recently attended a public meeting at which the company asked local people to put their views in writing. You decided to write a letter to the company director, responding to the opinions below (I dont have them hehe) which were raised at the meeting and expressing your own views.


The possible building of high-rise holiday apartments is a matter of considerable public debate and concern in our town nowadays.


It can't be denied that it will affect the daily life and lifestyle of the town, that's why some inhabitants may see it as a way of threatening the town's identity.


A lot of toursits will come here to make use of our services and that will trigger some changes such as new restaurants, new companies and new facilities. It's also argued that the town could be overcrowded if too many tourists come here.


On the other hand, I completely support the idea for a number of reasons: Firstly,  we live in a society with a lot of unemployment and as I mentioned before, this will create more jobs, so we should see it as an asset. Secondly, as a result, it will bring more money to the town improving our economy. Thirdly, there will be more services and facilities for its inhabitants such as public transport. Last but not least, people will have more opportunities to meet other people from other countries, they will become more open-minded and they will have the opportunity to learn other languages and know other cultures which, as we all know, is vital to live in the globalised world we live in.


Taking all these points into account, there are lots of advantages for the town and people. If you need further opinion and help I will be pleased to give it to you.


2.- An international magazine with a series of articles entitled "You're on your own" had invited readers to write an article about how they would feel if they had to spend a week on their own on a small island without any modern facilities. You decide to write an article describing how well you think you would survive and saying that you might learn from the experience.


Our lifestyle is characterized by a huge dependance on electronic devices. We all have been asked at least once the question: "What three things would you take with you in a desert island? The three things that a person could have mentioned 30 years ago are very different from those a person of this age, like me, would answer.


From my point of view, the most difficult part for me would be to manage without any modern facilities. I don't know if I would be able to build a house on my own, search for food, hunt animals or even make a fire which at first sight can seem simple but it's not. A point that I would like to highlight is that although we live in a society that cares about connecting people in different ways and we spent most of our leisure time in social networks, I have the feeling that we are becoming more and more individualists and more people feel completely lonely nowadays. As a result, I would be afraid of being alone with nobody to communicate with.


In my opinion, I might learn many things from the experience. I would have much more time to think, something that we are not used to do in our hectic daily life. I would give much more value to simple things that I use on a daily basis and I'm probably not aware of how useful they are. I would miss all the important people for me.


In conclusion, I think it would be a good experience for me and for eveybody in order to change our minds in some things and become better people.


I want your feedback and thanks for reading me!!!!

New year, new life

In Spanish we have a saying which is: "New year, new life" and I like that feeling of starting things over forgetting about the bad things and keeping the good ones.

These holidays have been so good for me, I could forget about studying and teaching and I only had to worry about having fun. Once again I had that Christmas feeling that surround us every year which I love, because I wonder if there is people that is loosing the ability of feeling something special in Christmas and I think that is sad....

I could buy all the presents in advance which is strange taking into account that I always buy them on January 4th (the day before the 3 wise men in Spain). But I did it because this year was going to be special, even more special than the rest of the years because my family from the USA was coming for New Year's eve!! I hadn't seen them in 10 years so imagine... I almost never have the opportunity to hang out with them so I was so excited about it, we went to visit a lot of beautiful cities that are near Madrid like Segovia, Toledo, Chinchón and of course Madrid! which it is even more beautiful at Christmas!! I had so much fun with them and even when it was 10 years since the last time I saw them it was like I've been with them all these years hehe. I'm used to live only with my parents so my house is normally very quiet and in silence but that week with my aunt, my uncle and my cousins it seemed to me that the house was very crowded and there was always someone to talk to... and you know that I dont like to talk... (sarcasm hehe) so when they went I felt sad and I miss them, my house is quiet again... haha

Soooo the new year came and I didnt even notice!!! So I didnt have time to think about my goals for the new year!! Honestly, I dont like setting new goals just because it's the 1st of January because we normally forget about them around the 10th of January hehe. But a few days later, I was speaking with my friend, she was a bit down because she has a lot of complexes (right spelling?) and I get angry when people have complexes, I mean, I know that everybody has some but I get angry when that affect your dailylife and you don't want to go out because you don't like your nose... so I had I kind of deep conversation with her and I told her that, as you all know, I'm in a wheelchair. I don't have a complex because of it, I have a normal life but do you know why? because I'm the first one who forgets about it and I see myself as NORMAL and what happens when you forget about your complexes?? that people forget about them too. I've been told so many times that after 5 minutes talking with me people forget about it and I dont know if it's my personality or the way that my parents brought me up or both but I'm so happy with myself and the way I am.

So, in that moment I set my motto for 2011 --> Keep being myself and forget about what others may think because people think of you what do you want them to think about you. What do you think about it??

COMMENT!!

Long time no see!!

Hello people! I haven't had so much time to write on here lately and I didn't know what to write about! But today I just forced myself to write something  and I've decided to write about my city! Madrid! It's impossible to write everything about Madrid in just one post so maybe I make a couple of posts about this beautiful city hehe.

Madrid as you all know is the capital of Spain and it has 3.3 million population approximately. I would like to start with my favourite part of the city: Madrid of the Habsburgs which is a name used for the old centre of Madrid built during the reign of the Habsburg Dynasty.

This is the "Plaza Mayor" (Main Square) where in Christmas is full of shops and you can buy a lot of Christmas' things

  

Now we're going to Puerta del Sol, it is the very centre of the city and here on New Year's Eve, the bell that it is right above the clock gives 12 chimes before 12 o'clock and with each chime we eat 12 grapes...It is believed that if you don't eat the 12 grapes you will have bad luck thee whole year so be sure to prepare for eating 12 grapes in 12 seconds if you spend New Year's Eve in Spain!

I would like to show you my favourite street of the city... Gran Vía. In the mid 19th century, Madrid's urban planners decided that a new thoroughfare had to be created, connecting the Calle de Alcalá with the Plaza de España. It is called "The Spanish Broadway" you can find lots of theatres with musicals and lots of shops (my favourite part hehe). There are also many restaurants with tables on the street so you can enjoy a spanish meal in one of the most important streets of the city.

I think it's time to have a rest and breathe some fresh air, so we might go to "Parque del Retiro" the biggest park in the city. It actually was the old backyard of the Royal Palace which is now a museum and the current royal palace is in another place.. The thing is that in this park you can find a lake where you can hire a boat, a palace made of glass, little cafes to have a drink....

The Lake

The Palace made of Glass

To finish our day in Madrid. I will take you to see the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen. We're going to an Egyptian Temple and see all the city from the top of it. As a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the temples of Abu Simbel, the Egyptian state donated the temple of Debod to Spain in 1968.

I hope you like my post! There are many more things to see in Madrid. I will post them in the following entries!

XOXO