Adventures at Makapala

Hey!

It will be a while longer until we have Internet at our new base. It was ordered a month ago but is still on the way from Florida (a satellite dish). The base is nice. It’s in the middle of nowhere but very peaceful and beautiful. Being surrounded by trees reminds me of home.

I share a room with 18 other girls. It’s not bad though because most of the younger girls are in the other room. Somehow I ended up with mostly the 20 – 25 year olds. So it is usually quieter then the other room.

Right now we are in Kona for the Gathering that takes place every Thursday with all the other DTS’. We also get our mail and have a Wal Mart stop. Good times!

The building we are staying in was built in 1840. There is no glass in the one wall, just screens. There are huge spiders up in the roof but I haven’t seen any come down yet. The showers were just installed (there was no stalls before), so they are nice. The beds are comfy and I got the bottom bunk so I hung photos above me. I’m having a great time and learning a ton. We do an hour of intercession three days a week. I absolutely love it. It’s so cool to get a verse and have someone else in your group be like “look I just wrote that down!”

I’ve been very healthy so far. My allergies are better then they are in Canada. Today the lady who was cooking lunch made me a special lunch with chicken instead of pasta. I bought some soymilk yesterday and I’m able to keep it in a fridge near the kitchen. So I had Rice Crispies for breakfast today. They were yummy.

This week we are learning about “The Character and Nature of God.” It’s heavy stuff, but they explain everything with Bible verses and strongly encourage you to study it for yourself.

I would say the main ways I’ve grown so far is a deeper desire to read and study the Bible. The words really come alive. Also, I’ve learned a lot and grown in confidence about hearing God’s voice.

I’ve been sleeping really well because I’m such a heavy sleeper. I’m tired but we have almost every afternoon off.

God really blessed me in my work duty that I was assigned. One of the staff shared last week in their testimony about some medical problems and how they struggle with having energy sometimes. Afterward I had gone to talk to her and told her how I related. It turned out that she is the one in charge of assigning work duties and because she knew of my situation she assigned me to the speaker hospitality team (which over 40 people applied for and there were only two positions). So my responsibilities are making sure the speaker has water, decorating the table at the front of the lecture hall, making the speaker breakfast in the morning, making thank-you cards and welcome cards, and a few other things. I’m really enjoying it!

There is a couple here that just lost their 18-year-old son in January. Their son had wanted to do a DTS and so now they are completing their sons dream. They are Christians as well and they are a really inspiriting with their faith in their time of pain. They are extremely open about talking about it and super, super nice people. The lady takes care of everyone and loves to chat.

I think my favorite times are the intercession times. Its so exciting to hear God speaking about what we are to pray about and spend time listening. My friend Sara (I’ll put up a picture soon) leads the intercession times. She is on staff but we just clicked and we’re buddies now. She’s a super sweetheart.

I’m going to buy some plastic bins at Wal Mart to organize my stuff.

I miss you all but I love it here!

Hopefully we’ll have Internet at the base soon and I’ll be able to write you all back.