Where to Begin???

The gang's (almost) all here.

"Do you see a big guy with a big beard?" Steve said over the phone.

"Nope. Which way are you?" I replied. I was standing at the San Francisco International Airport, Terminal 2, door 9, where I'd been directed to go by Steve, one of the base directors. I'd flown into Terminal 1, and it'd taken me 20 minutes to get to what I thought was the correct spot

"Never mind, that's not you then." He replied. "Wait a minute. Which level are you on?"

"There more than one level?" I replied.

"Look up."

"Okay." I looked up. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky.

It's like that a lot. 

"Do you see blue or grey?" Steve asked. I didn't respond right away, so he must have thought me a simpleton, and asked me more directly, "Can you see the sky?"

"Yes, I can. I'm outside door 9 like you said."

"Oh, you're on the upper level. I'll circle around and be right there!"

This whole event seemed to foreshadow my whole experience thus far. Everything is overwhelmingly big and overwhelmingly beautiful and overwhelmingly complex. As I start writing this I am procrastinating from doing my journal homework, which is one of the least complicated things about this whole experience.

My first evening was very chill. We played some icebreaker games and had a welcome dinner where the whole staff came and ate with us. There's way more people than I'd originally thought. There's 4 or 5 different ministries here, and each one had half a dozen people or more on staff, plus 11 DTS students, myself included. There's a lady from Zimbabwe, a guy and a girl from Germany, an old British couple (the old man's name is TREVOR, how British is that!?!?!?), and at least 15 more people on the base at any given time.

Plus Dietrich Boenhopper, our school "mascot". 

And then there's my class. My two roommates, Ben and Ken, are VERY different. Ben is a 20 year old Indian born Australian political science major, and Ken is a 62 year old former drug addict/gang-banger/father of two/grandfather of 4 who's life has been turned around for Christ. Both are awesome in their own ways.

Then there's a husband and wife of 8 years from Pennsylvania, who both took a year off to learn more about Christ as a couple. There's a girl from Columbia who just flew in on Wednesday night, and there's a few other girls from around the US. 

Already in one week we've done so much as a group. We've...
- Done a prayer walk around the Tenderloin (known by local San Franciscans as "The Homeless District")
- Taken a tour of Chinatown
- Served hot chocolate and handed out scarves the homeless with a group of high school students

- Went up on top of 1 of the 2 seven story Macy's and took pictures

- Learned about worship, intercessory prayer, and managing our time for more peace of mind

- Gone to different churches (I went to a Chinese Presbyterian church in Chinatown)

- Gone to the Golden Gate bridge
- Gotten our own work duties (Ben and I are in charge of trash).
- Handed out fruit, veggies, and chicken to hundreds of elderly people in one day
- Been given a book called "Free" that we'll  be going over once a week with the whole base
- Served a pancake breakfast for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- So on and so forth

After church on Sunday, the congregation insisted on taking us out to a traditional Chinese restaurant, where we were served jellyfish...

...among other things. So much food. 

Pancake breakfast for MLK Day. We had a fuse blow, so we ran out of coffee for almost 20 minutes, but other than that it ran really smoothly. 

Play cards in the park, or take care of baby? Why not both? 

Yes, I know my 'stache is crooked, and yes, I know Ben is creepy.
He's from Australia. There's something just not quite right about those folks...

 Jason displays impressive color/light bending abilities.

He's spotted me!

Ben, reaching for more lettuce. I eventually had to get inside this giant box because neither of us could reach over the side to get any more out. Sadly, I have no picture of that. 

We have different speakers come in each week to talk about different subjects. The first week was all about worship, this second week is about the character and nature of God, and each week there is one singular subject that we get excessive, in-depth teaching on. It's really fantastic.

Starting this week, we'll have inner city ministry opportunities. I find out at dinner tonight (Tuesday) what mine will be. I've prayed for one called North Beach Connect, where we go to the North Beach neighborhood (connected to Little Italy, lots off retired folks) and meet with old people in coffee shops and play games and talk with them. Many people move there from all around the country when they retire, and leave friends and family behind. We provide for them a chance to develop meaningful friendships.

There's also a children's ministry that goes along with North Beach Connect. A local church has an after school program that we'll be able to help with. I don't know what that will be like, but I do know I'm good with kids.

So, it's about time to be done. I'll hopefully have more time this week to work on my next post. I'll try to keep you all up to date with what's going on here, but in the meantime, please be praying for me. One thing I've learned already while here is to pray specifically. Don't just pray that I'll have enough money, but pray specifically that I'll get at least 1000 more dollars, which is the minimum a plane ticket to Rome might be when they book it through a travel agent.

God's blessings,
Chris