And so it begins! (My late post)

Hey Everyone!

For those of you who are not aware, I am currently in Georgia participating in a discipleship training school through YWAM (Youth With A Mission).  The program is six months long and includes a three month lecture period, where we stay on base here at YWAM Atlanta (which, funny enough, is actually located in Loganville, GA about an hour to the east of the city) and take classes to deepen our relationship with the Lord and our understanding of him, as well as learn some basic principles of evangelism.  After a short break for Christmas, we leave for the next portion of our school, outreach.  Our outreach location has yet to be determined, but our leaders and staff have all been praying very hard about where God will be able to use us the most.  But in all likelihood, we will probably end up either somewhere in South America or Asia.  :) I am so excited for what God has planned over the next 6 months, and I know I am going to learn and grow a lot! I'll give you all the update on how the first week has gone, since I know you all have missed hearing my long rambling stories! ;)

I left on Saturday from Portland at roughly 10 am, and let me just start off by saying planes are an awesome invention.  There is something distinctly thrilling about a huge metal contraption hurling itself down a runway at 500mph in an attempt to gain lift off.  Oh wait, actually, I think I might just puke.  Its a love-hate relationship really.  I love looking out the window and seeing everything from way up high (those of you who know me well know that climbing a tree is my normal avenue, but flying works too!)  However, take offs and turbulence freak me out.  My head knows that there is no way we are going to fall out of the sky, however; that does not stop the stomach clenching, heart racing, "Oh Lord, Im gonna lose those peanuts I just ate" feelings that always seems to accompany turbulence or take offs.  And do not even get me started on landings. Those are thrilling. I mean apart from that moment right before you touch down, when you're convinced the landing gear isn't going to come out and your plane is just going to belly slide down the runway? Or when you touch down and the breaks suddenly don't seem to work? Anyone? No, Just me? Cool. Okay. Well in short, I have a serious love-hate relationship with flying.  I promise I was going somewhere with this though, just stay with me.

Upon arriving at the airport, I promptly hopped on the "Plane Train" to get to baggage claim. For those of you who have never been, the ATL is huge. Gigantic actually.  Walking to baggage claim sounds a lot easier than it actually is. It came highly recommended to me to take the train. The train comes about every 40 seconds, and is roughly a 10 minute ride to baggage claim.  If you are going to take the train, (and I recommend that you do, did I mention how huge that airport is?) I highly suggest listening to the robotic voice when she tells you to grab hold because the train is leaving.  It moves a little faster than a MAX Train, and falling on one's face in a train full of people is embarrassing. You're just gonna have to trust me on this one.

After retrieving my luggage, I met up with DTS Staff; Mickayla, Alyssa, and James.  I got the full welcome wagon because I arrived a day earlier than everyone else.  They took my luggage and walked me to their car, informing me that we had a mini road trip ahead of us to get to the base (because YWAM Atlanta is in Loganville, remember?)  The rest of the day was pretty quiet.  I arrived on base at roughly 6:30pm local time and after taking a tour, I spent the evening unpacking and getting settled in my new room.

Sunday, I went to church and waited patiently as the other students arrived over the course of the day.  By the time the welcome reception rolled around at 7pm I had met both my roommates, Paige and Rachael, and we had all hit it off well.  The reception was short and sweet and involved all of us introducing ourselves.  Paige is 19 and is from Thermopiles, Wyoming.  She loves horses, has a goat farm with 120 goats and is obsessed with zebra print.  She's also my special food buddy, since she's got a mild peanut allergy. :P Rachael is from Monroe, Georgia and is...oh how do I explain Rachael? She's got a really big, loud personality.  We're getting along swimmingly. She's actually really fantastic. :) Angela lives in the room next door, she is 23 and is from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  She gets grumpy if I tease her and say she's from Wisconsin though.  I cant tell the difference between the accents, but apparently it exists! Erin is Angela's roommate and is from Greenville, South Carolina.  She was homeschooled her whole life, but is a real doll.  All of the girls are really awesome, and I have had a really awesome time getting to know all of them. Our only guy student is 18 and from Maryland.  His name is Alex and he has a real passion for ministry in the realm of the arts.  DTS staff include our fearless leader Tae Oh Kim (pronounced tEHoh), Alyssa (20 and from New York, but not NYC), Mickayla (19 from Federal Way, WA), and James (24 and from somewhere in Texas).

I cant believe how long ago all of this seems, really. I feel like Ive known these people for weeks as opposed to just a few days.  Monday and Tuesday involved a lot of orientations and getting settled.  We compared accents, and spent a lot of quality bonding time both as a large group, and as roommates. Today, Wednesday, we were assigned our work duties and had our first real class on intercessory prayer.  It was really cool! I am not sure how much I can communicate to you how excited I am to be here at DTS, and all of the amazing things that God has already done since we've arrived.  This is truly going to be a year of adventure for me.


On another note, I sent out support letters before I left, but I am still trying to raise support to be able to go on outreach in December.  If you did not receive a letter and would like to support me either financially or prayerfully, you can let me know and I will send one out to you!  To those of you who have already commited to supporting me in either of these aveneus, I cannot thank you enough.  Your prayers ARE IMPORTANT! I so appreciate each and every one of you!!

Much Love,
Ali

In the air!

I really don't like flying...

Landed! Safely arrived at ATL. 

My beautiful house!