Ok, so let's be honest right off the bat. I've been slacking on this whole update thing. My only excuse is that I've got more things to do than time here...I started an update halfway through the first week, got busy and got off track before I even started! Ever since, when I sit down to compose something to share with you all, I try to go back to that first week and catch up, and I get overwhelmed...God has just done WAY too much in the 2+ weeks I've been here to catch up on in one sitting! So here's my proposal: if you will forgive me I will do my best to do better from here on out and not fall into any more communicational black holes. Ok? Are we still friends? Good stuff.
This has been 'Midnight (ok, mid-evening) Confessions of a Communicationally Challenged DTS Student' we now continue with your regularly scheduled but as yet postponed update.
Greetings from Richmond! It’s day 3 of my DTS experience, and already I am blown away by all that God is doing. I showed up on Sunday afternoon after a week of frantic packing and organizing and growing, well…dread, of once again, after a 6 year hiatus, stepping back into the ‘new kid’ role I’ve hated since my military childhood. (Disclaimer: I did NOT hate my childhood! I was blessed to experience many different cultures and places and lifestyles because of my military upbringing, and my parents did a great job of keeping our lives as ‘normal’ and pleasant as possible.) I was blessed to hear from several of my friends on the road, who, like Jonathan did for David, helped me to find my strength in God—they encouraged me to trust Him and keep my focus on Him (since my purpose here is not to win the approval of my classmates, but to prepare to serve Him). When I pulled up to the Inn (the name of the girls’ residence house on the YWAM VA base-picture, left) I was still nervous in spite of the encouragement. God graciously stepped in at this point and after asking one of the international students where I should go (it turns out he’s from Brazil (his native language is Portuguese) and is here to learn English…you can imagine how helpful he was, even though he was trying admirably), I took a deep breath and asked the next person I saw. The girl I asked not only spoke English and was a member of my school (there are 3 currently in session), but she was one of my roommates (admittedly not hard when you sleep 8 girls to a room, but more on that in a minute :)) and, as she was just saying goodbye to her family who had just dropped her off, as much in need of a friend as I was. She showed me around the base, helped me find my bed and then registration.
So, about my bed…as I mentioned, I have 7 roommates (God doesn’t do anything halfway—I, who was nervous about meeting people, had 7 new friends within minutes of arriving on base!). I have a top bunk (thanks mostly to my height and the fact that I was the last to arrive :)). My 'downstairs neighbor' as she calls herself, is Min Jung (the picture, top left shows she and three of the other girls-from left, Min Jung, Nina, Macy and Hee Jin) who is from South Korea and is here to learn English at the English Language and Culture School. Ours is the only set of bunk beds in the room that does not have a ladder, so I've had a fun time getting in and out of bed every day. One night, I climbed into bed after lights out (at that point, I was using a seemingly logical climbing route up the end of the bed where there are decorative slats that approximate a ladder...can you guess what's coming? I didn't!). I got to the top of the aforementioned climb and was stepping over the railing to get into my bed when all of a sudden, my right foot was 3/4 of the way down to Min Jung's bunk...the problem was, my left foot was still on top of my mattress! One of the slats holding up my mattress had shifted when I made my bed earlier in the day, and the unsupported mattress was unable to bear the weight of my, um, presence alone. So much for sneaking quietly to bed and not disturbing my roommates! We all had a good laugh, I had some unique bruises, and I changed my method of ascent the next night. Fun times--and what I get, I guess, for being blessed with the bottom bunk my entire college career.
Our bedroom is on the top floor of the Inn, which is the girls’ residence and also the guest housing and dining facility on the YWAM VA base. The Inn is a beautiful and cozy old house on a fairly large lot at the end of Waverly Avenue in the Fulton Hill neighborhood of Richmond. It’s an urban neighborhood, and though we’ve been told not to go walking alone at night, the residents seem friendly and the houses well-kept, though not by any means upper or even middle class. The lot also contains the other buildings that make up the YWAM base—the boys’ house, the studio (a big open room where one of the other schools has classes and we will have debrief every week and the occasional movie night with the ELC classes), the Holly house (which houses some of the staff and has several guest rooms for when people visit campus), a storage building and our soon-to-be opened ropes course.
Well, now it's week 3 instead of day 3, and I've pretty much (knock on wood) mastered the whole top-bunk thing. I've heard my first gunshots (everyone kept talking about how they were keeping them up at night...I guess I've just been way too tired to notice! The ones I heard happened during one of our evening classes, though, and though I've been known to doze, I do stay mostly alert), been on a prayer walk of our neighborhood (it really is beautiful, and the residents, for the most part, are friendly), discovered (ok, was taken to by a classmate, but it was as exciting as a discovery for me) a nearby park where I can escape the bustle of campus and read or pray or just listen, found Walmart & Target (and, of course, STARBUCKS!), attended a Messianic Synagogue, and, I believe, found the church I will worship at while I'm here. I'm learning a lot, experiencing a lot, growing a lot, worshipping (and helping to lead worship for my team), praying and generally loving my time here.
Please keep me and my teammates in prayer. Discipleship Training School, as I've been told several times since arriving here, is our time with God, or rather, His time to work in us and prepare us for what He has for us to do. He is working, and while it's all exciting, a lot of it is challenging, and some is painful. Please pray that God's purposes will be accomplished, that He will give us what we need to get all we can from this time (energy, focus, courage, and funding-4 of my teammates have not yet paid their school fees, and all of us are trusting God for our outreach funds). Thanks for reading, I am thankful for you!
This has been 'Midnight (ok, mid-evening) Confessions of a Communicationally Challenged DTS Student' we now continue with your regularly scheduled but as yet postponed update.
Greetings from Richmond! It’s day 3 of my DTS experience, and already I am blown away by all that God is doing. I showed up on Sunday afternoon after a week of frantic packing and organizing and growing, well…dread, of once again, after a 6 year hiatus, stepping back into the ‘new kid’ role I’ve hated since my military childhood. (Disclaimer: I did NOT hate my childhood! I was blessed to experience many different cultures and places and lifestyles because of my military upbringing, and my parents did a great job of keeping our lives as ‘normal’ and pleasant as possible.) I was blessed to hear from several of my friends on the road, who, like Jonathan did for David, helped me to find my strength in God—they encouraged me to trust Him and keep my focus on Him (since my purpose here is not to win the approval of my classmates, but to prepare to serve Him). When I pulled up to the Inn (the name of the girls’ residence house on the YWAM VA base-picture, left) I was still nervous in spite of the encouragement. God graciously stepped in at this point and after asking one of the international students where I should go (it turns out he’s from Brazil (his native language is Portuguese) and is here to learn English…you can imagine how helpful he was, even though he was trying admirably), I took a deep breath and asked the next person I saw. The girl I asked not only spoke English and was a member of my school (there are 3 currently in session), but she was one of my roommates (admittedly not hard when you sleep 8 girls to a room, but more on that in a minute :)) and, as she was just saying goodbye to her family who had just dropped her off, as much in need of a friend as I was. She showed me around the base, helped me find my bed and then registration.
So, about my bed…as I mentioned, I have 7 roommates (God doesn’t do anything halfway—I, who was nervous about meeting people, had 7 new friends within minutes of arriving on base!). I have a top bunk (thanks mostly to my height and the fact that I was the last to arrive :)). My 'downstairs neighbor' as she calls herself, is Min Jung (the picture, top left shows she and three of the other girls-from left, Min Jung, Nina, Macy and Hee Jin) who is from South Korea and is here to learn English at the English Language and Culture School. Ours is the only set of bunk beds in the room that does not have a ladder, so I've had a fun time getting in and out of bed every day. One night, I climbed into bed after lights out (at that point, I was using a seemingly logical climbing route up the end of the bed where there are decorative slats that approximate a ladder...can you guess what's coming? I didn't!). I got to the top of the aforementioned climb and was stepping over the railing to get into my bed when all of a sudden, my right foot was 3/4 of the way down to Min Jung's bunk...the problem was, my left foot was still on top of my mattress! One of the slats holding up my mattress had shifted when I made my bed earlier in the day, and the unsupported mattress was unable to bear the weight of my, um, presence alone. So much for sneaking quietly to bed and not disturbing my roommates! We all had a good laugh, I had some unique bruises, and I changed my method of ascent the next night. Fun times--and what I get, I guess, for being blessed with the bottom bunk my entire college career.
Our bedroom is on the top floor of the Inn, which is the girls’ residence and also the guest housing and dining facility on the YWAM VA base. The Inn is a beautiful and cozy old house on a fairly large lot at the end of Waverly Avenue in the Fulton Hill neighborhood of Richmond. It’s an urban neighborhood, and though we’ve been told not to go walking alone at night, the residents seem friendly and the houses well-kept, though not by any means upper or even middle class. The lot also contains the other buildings that make up the YWAM base—the boys’ house, the studio (a big open room where one of the other schools has classes and we will have debrief every week and the occasional movie night with the ELC classes), the Holly house (which houses some of the staff and has several guest rooms for when people visit campus), a storage building and our soon-to-be opened ropes course.
Well, now it's week 3 instead of day 3, and I've pretty much (knock on wood) mastered the whole top-bunk thing. I've heard my first gunshots (everyone kept talking about how they were keeping them up at night...I guess I've just been way too tired to notice! The ones I heard happened during one of our evening classes, though, and though I've been known to doze, I do stay mostly alert), been on a prayer walk of our neighborhood (it really is beautiful, and the residents, for the most part, are friendly), discovered (ok, was taken to by a classmate, but it was as exciting as a discovery for me) a nearby park where I can escape the bustle of campus and read or pray or just listen, found Walmart & Target (and, of course, STARBUCKS!), attended a Messianic Synagogue, and, I believe, found the church I will worship at while I'm here. I'm learning a lot, experiencing a lot, growing a lot, worshipping (and helping to lead worship for my team), praying and generally loving my time here.
Please keep me and my teammates in prayer. Discipleship Training School, as I've been told several times since arriving here, is our time with God, or rather, His time to work in us and prepare us for what He has for us to do. He is working, and while it's all exciting, a lot of it is challenging, and some is painful. Please pray that God's purposes will be accomplished, that He will give us what we need to get all we can from this time (energy, focus, courage, and funding-4 of my teammates have not yet paid their school fees, and all of us are trusting God for our outreach funds). Thanks for reading, I am thankful for you!
