Friday we had a big breakfast at Evangel, but usually we will be eating breakfast at our houses. Food is like a really big deal here!!! It’s good but bad at the same time. I heard the base director, Michael Berg, kind of takes pride in having good food here, and that not all bases get it this good. But it seems like we eat every couple of hours!!! Craziness!! We had orientation all day Friday which was kind of boring and a lot of the info had been in the info packet that I got after I was accepted.
For groceries here at our house, we have a shopping run once a week where we get a gift card to a store called Publix (kinda like Dillons, if you know what that is) and one of us has to shop for breakfast, weekend meals and Wednesday dinners at home. I was assigned to do the shopping this week. My roommates are kind of health nuts, so it will be interesting for sure! Lindsey was raised Vegetarian, but now eats chicken and turkey bc she needed more iron, Jackie is allergic to gluten and Alicia has been having some stomach problems and is planning to stop eating gluten as well. For anyone that doesn’t know me well… I like food!!!! =] My mom is an amazing cook and I’m used to her kind of hearty cooking!!! I will surely miss it!! That was kind of long, but I think everyone was satisfied with what I got mostly.
We had our first (and hopefully only) Dorm Meeting Friday evening. Aleese just went over house rules with us and where and what we have to clean and stuff. Curfew was covered which is 10 pm Sun-Thurs and 12am Fri-Sat. Also we do not have tvs in the dorms. Grace and Eric have one in their room, but we are not allowed to use it unless specifically invited to watch a movie or something. We are not allowed to gather around a laptop and all watch a movie together either. If I want to watch a movie, I can in my room with headphones. I am really going through some So You Think You Can Dance and The Office withdrawals =[
Alicia, Jackie and I went to bed pretty early last night, but Lindsey went and hung out with some other girls. I was just really wiped out!!! All this adjusting and transitioning is exhausting!!! It’s been kind of interesting. Since I left my house in Wichita I was nauseous until I woke up this morning (Saturday). I also felt like I was on the verge of tears most of the time and I have cried several times since I’ve been here. But I am feeling a lot better now. That doesn’t mean I miss people any less though!! I’m just excited to see what God is going to do in me!!
Today we had some more orientation; we had to do a little skit, which I actually didn’t get nervous to do. That is very unusual for me bc I hate getting up in front of people and I’m not usually the skit kind of girl!! After lunch, we went to hand out flyers for a BBQ, hangout and live music activity at a church called New Beginnings where a YWAM staff guy is also youth pastor. I walked around with a guy named Caleb who is from Towanda, KS. That was kind of cool to get to know him better since we’re from kind of the same area. We actually have a mutual friend too!! Tonight was our first “Fun Night” at which we watched Hook. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that one, so it was kinda funny!
Well I feel like this is too long, but I do have more to say. But I guess I’ll save it for later!
Monday, September 28, 2009
9-24-09
Well, here I am!!! In Florida!!! I got into Orlando around 2 pm yesterday, I was met at the airport by Lisi & Aleese (YWAM staff and Aleese lives in my house). I was dropped off at my house and was the first one and the only one there for the rest of the afternoon. I got unpacked and settled in, then was picked up for dinner. Eric & Grace Hill are my house parents, Aleese is our dorm supervisor I think and then there is Lindsey, Alicia (pronounced Aleesia), Jackie, and me in our room. They are all really nice! It’s kind of small for 4 people, but it will be ok. I get 3 drawers, a 4th of the closet and half of the space under our bunk bed. We had a cookout at K2 (the second of two houses on a street that starts with a K, and where the pool is) so I met a lot of people last night.
Today we got to sleep in because we didn’t have anything ‘til lunch at 12:30, so we just hung out all morning and got to know each other better. There are a lot of names to remember!!! There are two different DTS’s going on right now (Classic and Compassion), so there are about 43 students and a bunch of staff. After lunch today we had registration, and then just some hang out get to know people time. We’ll have supper and then a welcome night. Friday & Saturday will be all orientation, then church on Sunday. The housing is kind of interesting. I live in a cul-de-sac on Jon-Jon St. YWAM owns 6 houses on this street where staff and students live, so we go by house number on this street. So I live in Jon-Jon 3016. There are more houses in another neighborhood and classes and meals are at Evangel Assembly of God Church.
I think it might take a few days to adjust, but God is good and He has me here for a reason!!
Please continue to pray for me while I’m here that I would be open to what God has for me and that I’ll adjust quickly and that my back/neck would feel better.
Love you and God Bless!!!
Today we got to sleep in because we didn’t have anything ‘til lunch at 12:30, so we just hung out all morning and got to know each other better. There are a lot of names to remember!!! There are two different DTS’s going on right now (Classic and Compassion), so there are about 43 students and a bunch of staff. After lunch today we had registration, and then just some hang out get to know people time. We’ll have supper and then a welcome night. Friday & Saturday will be all orientation, then church on Sunday. The housing is kind of interesting. I live in a cul-de-sac on Jon-Jon St. YWAM owns 6 houses on this street where staff and students live, so we go by house number on this street. So I live in Jon-Jon 3016. There are more houses in another neighborhood and classes and meals are at Evangel Assembly of God Church.
I think it might take a few days to adjust, but God is good and He has me here for a reason!!
Please continue to pray for me while I’m here that I would be open to what God has for me and that I’ll adjust quickly and that my back/neck would feel better.
Love you and God Bless!!!
back to the past...
ok, this post is from July 29th, but I will post a couple more recent ones.
In Christ alone, I place my trust, and find my glory in the power of the Cross. In every victory let it be said of me, my source of strength, my source of hope is Christ alone.
The last few months have been a bit of a struggle for me. After going to Haiti in January, I have felt my love & passion for the lost grow in leaps and bounds!! I have felt a pull towards being a missionary since I went to Haiti in 2008. So after I got back from this year’s trip, I decided I was going to do something about preparing myself. I talked to Jan Thompson who lives in Gonaives, Haiti with her three children. They went to a DTS in Wisconsin. She suggested that I look into it and if I did I should go to the one in Wisconsin, Tyler, TX or Orlando, FL.
I looked into a couple of different things; probably not as many as I maybe should have though. I found a couple of other programs that sound really cool and life-changing as well after I decided to do the Discipleship Training School (DTS) through Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Orlando, FL this fall. It’s a 5 month program from September 24 – March 12. I get a Christmas break from December 18-31. Then I will be going on a 2 month outreach overseas to India, Dominican Republic, or somewhere equally as amazing, I’m sure!! I really hope we go to INDIA!!!! After I found out that’s where the outreach might be, a lot of India themed things came up in my life. Like watching Slum Dog Millionaire (love it!!!), reading Amy Carmichael’s biography, reading Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan, a couple other things happened but I can’t remember them right now. I’ll look on FB and find out what they were. After finding out at Easter that Chris & Christin are having a baby in November, I kind of had some doubts about the DTS. It’s the first nephew (just found that out a couple of weeks ago. Adam Lucas is his name) and it’s going to be SUPER hard to be gone for all of the getting ready for that. Sometimes it’s hard just being 2 hours away in Topeka!! I can’t imagine what it will be like being about 22 hrs away in Orlando!!! I won’t be able to be here for the birth, but I’ll get to see him at Christmas.
I was feeling pretty confident and peaceful about my decision to go to Florida. My parents went to Colorado for their anniversary. While there, they visited Aunt Kathy. They went to her church called Church For All Nations. They had a presentation about an internship they have there called Discover Internship. It’s a 10 month program with a 2 week missions trip to Guatemala. I was definitely more excited about India or Dominican Republic than Guatemala. Mom told me a little bit about it. Kathy told me a little about it. My mom wanted me to check it out when we talked on Thursday the 23rd. So we went to the World Cup and I looked online and liked what I saw so I requested more information. Literally like 2 minutes after I requested more info about it, Stephanie called me. She talked to me for about 15 minutes, she told me a ton of information, which I couldn’t remember a lot of, but I remember liking what I heard. I really wanted to know more about it, so Stephanie said she’d send me a dvd about it. I was really hoping to get it before going to Holton on Saturday for the weekend. It didn’t come before we left. I was stressing about it kind of a lot. They both sound like amazing opportunities!!!! There are different things about each of them that I really like. If I went to Discover, I’d be able to live with Kathy rent free, I’d be able to have a job, I’d be able to come home when Adam is born and for Christmas, costs $4,000; the DTS costs somewhere around $6,000. I’ve REALLY been stressing out about it. I’ve prayed about it a lot. I get really excited whenever I talk about either of them I’d tell someone about one and get really excited about it, then I’d talk about the other one and get all excited about that one!
I was talking to Nikki and some other people yesterday. I think that with the DTS I’d be more isolated and be forced to rely on God more for everything I need. Nikki was saying that I could make myself more isolated by deciding not to use my phone or the internet or whatever, but I know myself and I know I wouldn’t keep that self-imposed isolation. There are some really cool things about Discover, but I don’t have my paper with me at the moment. All this to say, Florida, here I come!!!!!!!!!!!
In Christ alone, I place my trust, and find my glory in the power of the Cross. In every victory let it be said of me, my source of strength, my source of hope is Christ alone.
The last few months have been a bit of a struggle for me. After going to Haiti in January, I have felt my love & passion for the lost grow in leaps and bounds!! I have felt a pull towards being a missionary since I went to Haiti in 2008. So after I got back from this year’s trip, I decided I was going to do something about preparing myself. I talked to Jan Thompson who lives in Gonaives, Haiti with her three children. They went to a DTS in Wisconsin. She suggested that I look into it and if I did I should go to the one in Wisconsin, Tyler, TX or Orlando, FL.
I looked into a couple of different things; probably not as many as I maybe should have though. I found a couple of other programs that sound really cool and life-changing as well after I decided to do the Discipleship Training School (DTS) through Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Orlando, FL this fall. It’s a 5 month program from September 24 – March 12. I get a Christmas break from December 18-31. Then I will be going on a 2 month outreach overseas to India, Dominican Republic, or somewhere equally as amazing, I’m sure!! I really hope we go to INDIA!!!! After I found out that’s where the outreach might be, a lot of India themed things came up in my life. Like watching Slum Dog Millionaire (love it!!!), reading Amy Carmichael’s biography, reading Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan, a couple other things happened but I can’t remember them right now. I’ll look on FB and find out what they were. After finding out at Easter that Chris & Christin are having a baby in November, I kind of had some doubts about the DTS. It’s the first nephew (just found that out a couple of weeks ago. Adam Lucas is his name) and it’s going to be SUPER hard to be gone for all of the getting ready for that. Sometimes it’s hard just being 2 hours away in Topeka!! I can’t imagine what it will be like being about 22 hrs away in Orlando!!! I won’t be able to be here for the birth, but I’ll get to see him at Christmas.
I was feeling pretty confident and peaceful about my decision to go to Florida. My parents went to Colorado for their anniversary. While there, they visited Aunt Kathy. They went to her church called Church For All Nations. They had a presentation about an internship they have there called Discover Internship. It’s a 10 month program with a 2 week missions trip to Guatemala. I was definitely more excited about India or Dominican Republic than Guatemala. Mom told me a little bit about it. Kathy told me a little about it. My mom wanted me to check it out when we talked on Thursday the 23rd. So we went to the World Cup and I looked online and liked what I saw so I requested more information. Literally like 2 minutes after I requested more info about it, Stephanie called me. She talked to me for about 15 minutes, she told me a ton of information, which I couldn’t remember a lot of, but I remember liking what I heard. I really wanted to know more about it, so Stephanie said she’d send me a dvd about it. I was really hoping to get it before going to Holton on Saturday for the weekend. It didn’t come before we left. I was stressing about it kind of a lot. They both sound like amazing opportunities!!!! There are different things about each of them that I really like. If I went to Discover, I’d be able to live with Kathy rent free, I’d be able to have a job, I’d be able to come home when Adam is born and for Christmas, costs $4,000; the DTS costs somewhere around $6,000. I’ve REALLY been stressing out about it. I’ve prayed about it a lot. I get really excited whenever I talk about either of them I’d tell someone about one and get really excited about it, then I’d talk about the other one and get all excited about that one!
I was talking to Nikki and some other people yesterday. I think that with the DTS I’d be more isolated and be forced to rely on God more for everything I need. Nikki was saying that I could make myself more isolated by deciding not to use my phone or the internet or whatever, but I know myself and I know I wouldn’t keep that self-imposed isolation. There are some really cool things about Discover, but I don’t have my paper with me at the moment. All this to say, Florida, here I come!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Going so soon?
Oh my goodness my time here is going fast!!! I have so much I need to get done... packing for instance... and it seems like so little time to do it in. My parents are coming to get me in 5 days... 5 days... How do I sum up a year of living with some of my best friends? I have definitely grown closer to them and to the Lord in this last year. Not to say that it was always easy, but then life being easy is never guaranteed. Right when you think you've got it all figured out according to your plan, God comes in with His Plan and it's way better than yours. I will be leaving Kansas and everything I've ever known in 12 days. I'm excited for what the next few months hold for me!!! Barbara, one of the staff in Orlando, called me yesterday to see how things are going. She asked me about how I'm doing with the transition. It's hard to explain what it's like to feel opposite emotions so strongly at the same time. I feel really excited and ready to go, but at the same time I feel like I need a little more time with the ones I love here. I realize it's only 5 months and I'll be back for Christmas, but it's just a big transition. I will be missing the birth of my nephew, Adam Lucas, which makes me really sad. I will miss the Haiti Lifeline Reunion and fundraiser, possibly the adopted kids finally getting to come to their families. I will miss out on fun things that my room mates and family do while I'm gone. But, Adam will be here when I get back, there will be another reunion, the adopted kids will be here and there will be other fun things I do with people I love when I get back. I won't miss my brother's wedding that's in April either.
For next 5 months, I will learn and grow and experience things that will be unforgettable, and I'm sure, at times unbelievable. I'm sure I will struggle, be broken, let go of baggage that I know I've been holding onto. I want to touch people's lives, show them the Savior that no one should live without. I'll build lasting relationships with my teammates. I will have to trust God probably more than I've ever had to before, letting go of control of things and what I think is best for my life so that God can show me His best for my life... and I can't wait!!!!!!!!
For next 5 months, I will learn and grow and experience things that will be unforgettable, and I'm sure, at times unbelievable. I'm sure I will struggle, be broken, let go of baggage that I know I've been holding onto. I want to touch people's lives, show them the Savior that no one should live without. I'll build lasting relationships with my teammates. I will have to trust God probably more than I've ever had to before, letting go of control of things and what I think is best for my life so that God can show me His best for my life... and I can't wait!!!!!!!!
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