Hey everyone! If you didn’t know, I have been in Georgia for a little over 2 weeks now! There has been a lot of processing in these past couple weeks with the adjustment and a lot of growth. Starting now, I am going to try to stick to a weekly blog while I am here in Georgia. In this first blog I am mostly going to give a run down of what our day to day looks like. There is so much I could get into about faith and God’s beautiful power and the work He is doing, but I know you all want to know what it looks like from a day view, so I am writing this first.

I also have some very exciting news! In October, we will be road tripping to Louisiana to serve for a week! I am so excited for this opportunity and God has blessed us with this time to minister to those outside of our campus! I'll have more on that later, but here is my daily schedule. 

6:30 - Wake up

I have been trying to wake up by no later than 6:30. I have been sleeping in my tent, but I have also been sleeping in friend’s hammocks because I realized how wonderful they can be. It is getting cooler at night though and the tent is now becoming the better option. When I wake up, I quietly sneak through the campsite and find a quiet place to sit with the word. I read through, scripture, journal, or sit in God’s presence or in the presence of others. This is a way for me to start my day off right and give myself time to get in the right mindset. 

8:00 - Breakfast

At 8 o’clock we have breakfast in the pavilion. This is a large slab with an overhang. Meals have been such a blessing. The cooks do a great job and the meals are great. It has been an adjustment from how much I usually eat at home, but God has been so good in helping me surrender things such as this. 

9:00 - Devotion

After we have breakfast, we have devotion time for an hour. This is led in different ways each day. Some examples are large scripture reading, Psalm rewrites, deep dives with our squad and another squad, and other forms of connecting to God’s word and His presence. During this time, I have found peace in walking through the woods of the campus while talking to God out loud. Something I am glad I realized I needed.

10:00 - Lesson or Worship

At 10:00 we go inside to a room upstairs. This is where we have a lesson from very wise teachers and it has been such a blessing to be able to hear all their knowledge. Some days we just have a lesson during this time, but other days we also have worship. Worship has been so powerful here; a way of worship I didn’t even know I needed. One of the first nights, when we barely knew each other, everyone was loudly rejoicing in wonderful harmony. It was really moving. We have a lot of musical talent on our squad and I am so grateful for them all.

12:30 - Lunch

1:30 - Rotations / Free time

After lunch, we have rotations. The rotations are squad time, exercise, cleaning, laundry, and showers. We have got into the routine of these rotations now and we exercise twice a week, clean twice a week, laundry once a week, and shower almost every day now. Yesterday, I got the privilege to lead a workout with part of the squad. Everyone had a great attitude through it all and it was lots of fun. I have been spending a lot of time with the community here. Having a great community here has been such a blessing that I have never had, but it has also been important for me to tune down my excitement at times when God wants me to be with Him instead. I am reminded that I need to pour in before I can pour out. 

5:30 - Dinner

6:30 - Team time

This is a scheduled time where we get to come together with our team at the end of the day and go through different things. My teammates have became strong brothers in Christ and God is working through them in great ways. Once team time is over we have the rest of the night to chill out. Free time consists of card games, spikeball, and conversations.

10:00 - Bedtime

By 10:00 it is supposed to be quiet hours and that is usually around when I go to bed. 

Showers- Showers for the first two weeks were with a cold bucket in these little huts. Despite what you may think, I enjoyed this time for a couple reasons. One, because the heat made it feel nice to use cold water. Two, the top of the walls are cut out and all us guys get to have bonding time and sing to Justin Bieber and all that good stuff.

Bathrooms- Our bathrooms are porta potties. We have assigned potties in different places on the campus and I have gotten used to this reality. I am thankful to have them.

Laundry - We hand wash laundry in buckets once a week. I have done it once so far, and even though it is a lot more work, it has built character and has brought about good lessons. However, I definitely have been rewearing clothes more to have less to clean on those days. Smell is something our squad gets through together. 

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. I love you all, and I am excited to continue blogging and bringing to light all the work God is doing in this world. I hope to be able to storytell in a way that glorifies God and helps me fall more into a role of a vessel for His love. Thank you all again and I miss you all back home!