Hi from YWAM!

The general stuff. I have two roommates, Victoria from Minnesota (with a terrific Minnesotan accent to go along!) and a Korean girl named Hee Won. We are living in the guest houses on campus, which means really nice rooms. I thought I'd be living in a barracks style situation but this is more like a college dorm. It's great! Classes started yesterday, but mostly we've been doing general orientation stuff.

The people. There are 18 students in my DTS and most them are younger than me.... Actually, come to think of it, they are all younger than me. It's a little weird. At first I wasn't sure exactly how I fit in to this tapestry of people. I have way more overseas experience/life experience and a clear goal of why I'm here. I, more than they, perhaps, felt like I was old, and I'm not saying that in a bad way. I just felt more weathered, more bare and beaten than they. But that, I've come to understand, is the beautiful thing about being in a group of people. Everyone brings something special and unique. We can minister to each other no matter what our ages.

The bummer. It's raining all the time. Half the campus is flooded and a tree crashed down across the road last night. I swear it's rainier here than in Portland (but probably not). In this camp style life, I'm outside a whole lot more than I used to be. I'm working grounds as my "acts of service" and have gotten ever so wet and dirty. I wish the rain would go away.

The coolest thing ever. I didn't know this, but yesterday, when I went to pay for "the lecture phase" (the first three months that I'll spend in Salem), the base leader told me that two or three people had separately called the base wanting to pay for my entire tuition. Can you believe that!! We're talking $6,000! And this happened after I had already received the entire amount from an anonymous donor. !!!!! I was speechless. God must have really, really, super duper wanted me to come here. He took no chances. That's nice of God and I'm glad that he wanted me to know about it. Thanks God!