First English DTS update :)

Dear friends, family members and random visitors,

as you most of you already  know I am probably the worst blogger ever. But still I cannot believe that I haven’t written any English post from my DTS yet! Shame on me!! I don’t know if I can atone for more than 3 weeks of negligence in one evening, but let me try:

So how does my YWAM life look like?

As I arrived one week later I had a privilege to live in a staff house for the first week because there was no space for me in the girl’s house. Well, in that week I was able to become friends with our two eldest students, lovely Priscille and gracious Karen, who might be of the same ages as my grandmothers, but they are courageous, caring and fun. What a blessing for my life! Right next to the staff house, there is a big Church where our lectures take place. Fellowship of believers opened their hearts for us generously. Whenever I meet some of the Church members, they are smiling and friendly.

After a week I moved to the girl’s house, because thanks to the invention of bunk beds, there is more space now. Well, I still sleep on a couch in the living room, but I am learning to be thankful for it. The noise level is much higher than I am able to cope with, so my head complains a lot, but I love all of my schoolmates dearly! And this is probably the only think that keeps me sane, because sharing one bathroom with 30 girls I don’t like would be a terrifying experience J Nevertheless I still consider it a miracle that we haven’t had any bigger conflict about shower times. Yes, schedule helps a lot! Every girl has 10 minutes of shower time a day and it is our most valuable possession. As I came last, my precious 10 minutes are at 10.50, so I am often tired.

In the morning after breakfast we go to the Church. It is a 45 minute walk, but luckily last Saturday God gave me a great gift – beautiful light blue bike, which makes my life  much easier. Then from 8.30 we have worship, lectures – each week a new amazing speaker arrives, bible reading – we cover one book every week and then several students present on it, core groups – small groups where we can openly discuss what we are dealing with, our feelings, thoughts and questions and then we can pray for it together, work duties or art tracks- I am lucky enough to be part of the fine art track, which is awesome! At 11 am we have coffee break which usually saves me from falling asleep and at 1 pm we eat lunch together – getting used to Mexican cuisine… Sometimes we have program later on, but often we have evenings free.

We have some basic rules here – we are not allowed to drink any alcohol, if there are smokers, they have to quit before outreach, we are not supposed to start a relationship or behave in a way that people could think we are starting a relationship (so we shouldn’t be alone in a room with a guy with doors closed J quite easy one), We have to be home before 11 and we should not walk alone or in pairs after dark. Then there are rules of living in a community – try to be as tidy as possible, not leaving things in public spaces, wash our own dishes…

Florida is great. I love its beaches, its palm trees, moss hanging from every tree, lizards, friendly people, giant cars, huge stores, its flatness and the sun, even though I have to hide from it. I like the winter weather, which is pretty much what the most beautiful summer time looks like to me. I enjoy the company of these crazy artists I am surrounded by and Yes, I miss my family and friends a lot, but getting e-mails and messages makes it a lot easier. This week I even got a postcard!

I am still freaking out sometimes about not having enough money, but when I see how God keeps blessing me, I trust him, which is a new feeling for me. And yes, he provides – I received almost 500 Dollars from a Pilsen Friend so now almost all of my lecture phase is covered. How amazing is that!

I have so much more to write about the teaching, about the cool outreach we did in the streets, about how God is changing my heart, about great friends, about Frisbee Fridays, about the cat that we got together with the house (yay) about art projects we work on, about speakers that share their passions with us… but today I am just too sleepy to do all that.

Love you all

Bára