YES!!

Today I moved into my new home for the next 5 months! well, 3 months, until I go on outreach. It's a pretty tiny room for 4 people - about the size of my own room at home. There's 2 bunk beds, and the space inbetween the top and bottom bunk is seriously like 2 inches high. Then there's a closet, a tiny bathroom, a microwave, a fridge, and, thank heaven, AC! I got here this afternoon and unpacked. I have three sweet roommates...Ansley, Bekah and Victoria. I think we're gonna get along wonderfully. Just for the record, there's 18 students...10 guys and 8 girls. There's 4 girls to a room and the guys have two rooms with the middle wall smashed down so it's 10 guys in one big room. Let's see if I can remember all the names....me, Ansley, Bekah, Victoria, Morgan, Kristine, Cassy, Alexandria, Daniel, Jordan, Apps, John, Josh, Justin, Austin, Winston, Judah, and Aaron. Haha i may or may not have needed my roommates' help to remember all the names...and i have no idea how many staff there are, but they're all pretty cool so far. Anyways, we had supper at 5 in the classroom and then we had worship in the courtyard. It almost rained but barely didn't so that was awesome. We had a time of prayer where all the staff came around and prayed for us students, and then us students prayed for each other. That was awesome. After the worship ended I said goodbye to my family and us students decided to go hang out in the classroom. We went around the circle saying trivia facts, which was pretty boring until Daniel decided to share the fact that where he comes from (switzerland), they make the best chocolate, and then decided to give us all a bar:) Then we pulled a bunch of chairs out and put them in a circle and played "I have never" for awhile, which is a super fun game and a good way to get to know each other and tell alot of funny stories. After awhile we got bored of that too, and decided to instead go around the circle and share kinda like life stories, up until how we ended up at ywamjax. I had no idea that people were going to actually start being open and sharing their hearts on the very first night, but somehow that's what happened. It was so incredible to hear everyone's stories, so different but still with one common goal and somehow by God's hand had all ended up at ywamjax. When it came around to me, I just said "I have no story". Which wasn't true, but I had just met these people today. I don't trust people all that easily, and I sure wasn't going to be honest and basically turn myself inside out for these random people to see. The circle continued and someone sitting 2 seats over from me started talking, and basically had an identical story to mine except one thing. the next person that talked had been through that thing too. I was amazed by the love and support and emotion that just seemed to emanate from the entire group. Nobody was excluded, nobody said anything to condone or mock anything the person had been through. I thought, "Really? Why am I holding myself back from these people who i'm going to be spending the next 5 months with? They're here for the same reasons I am, I can trust them". Once we got around the whole circle, someone asked me if i wanted to talk. And I did. Something I've never done before with people who I barely know. I started crying probably in the second sentence and it took a bit. When i finished, I realized I wasn't the only person crying. And it wasn't just the girls who were crying either. Somebody said "Do y'all wanna pray?" and everyone in the room just got up and gathered around me. There was no awkwardness or weirdness, no sense of shame in the emotion even from the guys, absolutely nothing but together-ness and love. People held my hands, put their hands on me, and prayed for me and over me. It was absolutely incredible. My mind was seriously blown. I have never experienced that kind of love and absolute family-like sense with people I just met. Where nobody cared what anybody else thought of them because nobody was judging. I was so incredibly blessed tonight. People hugged me, prayed with me, held my hands, gave me words of encouragement, told me they were there for me. Afterwards we started moving around and doing the same for each other, praying where we were led over every student who had just shared their past, their brokenness, their hearts. What I found really amazing is that people actually openly shared with the entire group of students stuff that I would never tell anyone, except maybe one or two who i've known forever. I'm so so incredibly happy that each of us students ended up here to make an impact on each other's lives and also the lives of others. After we finished in the classroom it was dark, and we all went for a walk on the beach. Laughed, talked, shared more stories, climbed a lifeguard tower, took pictures, sang songs. I was talking to someone who told me that they thought everyone else in the DTS would be "good people". which was weird because I was worried about the same thing. That's definitely not the case. I'm so thankful for a group of people who mesh together this well and all have such a passionate heart for God! I can't wait toget to know each of them better and to grow together. i'm actually so so excited, which is something i haven't been for awhile. tonight i totally felt, finally, a sense of belonging. that this is where i'm supposed to be. I can't wait for class to start tomorrow!! I could not have picked a better group to spend half a year with. As someone said tonight, "we're leaving whatever was in our past and starting new". together. which really can be, a great place to be.

And, these are my new roommates:)