7/12/2010

6/12/2010

Today was our first day of classes and I honestly didn’t think I would be so inspired on only the first day. I think everyone in that room shed some tears. There are so many misconceptions you pick up from society about who God is and when you truly learn about His character you begin to wonder about the people who have told you those lies. I have only been a “Christian” since Easter 2009 so this is all still new to me. Actually I don’t like to classify myself as a Christian because it’s just another label and labels don’t do anything but lock people in a box (x350 Thanks JYA!). I believe in God, I believe I was uniquely designed to be here for a purpose and my goal is to ask Him what that purpose is and fulfill it. I would like to do what Gandhi said, “be the change you wish to see in the world”. I have been living a hedonistic lifestyle that has taken me absolutely nowhere but lost, broken, and alone even though there were people all around me. I don’t want anyone else to suffer the way I did so if I could help just ONE person get out of their pit then all the difficult times here will be worth it, every tear cried, every person missed, every bug bite I get will all be worth it. The most amazing part is we do so much reconstruction inside our self while we help others at the same time. “Do first, then teach” is what they tell us.

I will give you a summary each week over the weekend so I can sum it all up instead of leaving you with a suspense story every few days! Today (Monday) we learned what our schedule is going to be who our one-on-one staff is going to be and what are work duties are.

Here is a brief overview

6:30am breakfast (optional-we have a small public kitchen so we can buy food/drinks for an alternative to the meal being served or so we can wake up later)

7-8am meditation

9-12:30 classes

2-4:00 differs; outreach prep, class, free time, local outreach, small group (to express what is stirring inside of us and receiving feedback from others).

4-6:00 work duties but since I have dinner clean-up I get free time except on Tuesdays I have one-on-one time with a staff to discuss anything going on that I need/want/would like to talk about

6 dinner

7:00 usually free time

Weekends differ a little bit in mealtime and activities- we can plan outings like going to the beach or jungle or whatever we think of.

OH by the way internet gets turned off at 11pm on weekends and 10pm on weekdays so that means 10pm and 9pm for you California timers! So I wont be able to talk at peak time for people my age haha.

I MISS YOU ALL and I will update in a few days and let you know how it’s going around here.

P.S. I’m writing this on Microsoft Word right now because the store where you buy an Internet card on campus is not open right now due to the construction going on. If there is any confusion on the way I’m referring do dates that is most likely why.

LOVE ALL

Nina