Landed!

Well I am here! In the frozen South! Well ok, it's not quite frozen but a quite a bit colder than the 90 degree days I left in Minnesota.

My flights over were not bad. Actually all of them had some little supernatural bonus. The first flight from Minneapolis to LA I was slotted to sit in the dreaded middle seat. (This was not something I was looking forward to knowing I was going from saying goodbye to Jenny downstairs to getting squished between two other travelers during the last night hours on my body clock) well the third person in the row didn't show up so I got my favorite aisle seat. While this was lovely, we ended up not being able to leave Minneapolis until twenty minutes after we were supposed to because of weather, added with time wasted taxing in LA, I was still sitting on my first plane almost 40 minutes after they started boarding my long haul flight! I was praying while sitting on the plane that I would somehow make the flight which was set to take off in 20 minutes. Thankfully the gates were right next to each so I ran from one door to the next and got on my flight to Australia. I was in the middle of a 3, 3, 3 set up. I was in the aisle of that middle 3 column, well this flight the person in the middle of that 3 section didn't show. So the hilarious Australian girl on the other side of me decided we'd take that middle seat in shifts and spread out to sleep. She ended up being a super sweet seat mate. She even made sure the flight attendants left me food when I slept through dinner! When I finally landed in Australia I had to check in with Air New Zealand for my international transfer ticket. When I got to the line (6 am ish) the man at the counter asked me what kind of ticket I wanted. I said I didn't know, just a normal ticket? He said he'd give me a "works deluxe" ticket. I didn't know what that meant until I got on the plane 2 hours later. He's gotten me an aisle seat, with an upgraded entertainment system, meals and drinks! He'd gotten my name on some list and they treated me like royalty! Every time some silly little bonus like that happened I just smiled knowing my Heavenly Daddy was just showing me how much he loves to love me. I totally appreciated it! (And all of you who were praying for safe and peaceful flights!)

I met my school leader, Loren at the airport along with another base staff. We went down to Christchurch to see the damage from the 2011 earthquakes. WOAH! I was not prepared for what I saw. I guess just because American media didn't really focus so much on it after the initial sort of panic. Whole portions of the city are leveled. Our old stomping grounds are in ruin. One of the areas that I spent a lot of time in when I came as a student was Manchester St where we worked with a prostitution ministry. This was one of the hardest hit areas in all of Christchurch. In a really odd way I wonder if in some ways it was not an answer to our prayers to crumble the strong holds of evil on that street. Not that we would ever pray for destruction like I saw but I know God works through all things...

We got back to the base and I got to see the new building which was only in the praying and dreaming stages when I was here as a student. It's awesome. A place where our whole school will be able to eat together and learn together on our own property. And I also got to see where I'm staying, in my own room! And while this is not that abnormal in life at home if you know YWAM you know this is rare. Rare and I am super thankful for it! Haha, supernaturally? I'm totally spoiled!

My first days here have been great. (COLD!) but great. God has filled me with peace and calm about being here. I was so worried and panicked at home about leaving and what was coming and not knowing. While I still don't know a ton of details or some of the ins and outs of whats going to happen in the next many months I am filled with peace that I know can only come from God. I have prayed and have been joined with so many others just praying that this would be a time of peace for me and God has and is answering those prayers. I am incredibly blessed by that.

I will update financially in a few days after I've met with our financial guy. But for now I wanted to let you all know I'm here, I'm blessed, I'm safe and sound and content in the place God has me right now. Please continue to pray and keep us covered in prayer for the staff, students and this entire school and base. Monday we're going to start staff training where we will get to start planning and dreaming for this school. I'm excited and ready. Let's do this!