First Week

Its been 2 days of work, 2 days of talks, and a lifestyle more scheduled than I have ever been a part of! The thing about living amongst 21 other young men is that real friendships are more freely developed. One reason is that we all wear white and gray T's, almost always khaki shorts, and 3 quarters of us have hair less than a half inch. Outter appearances simply are not a factor. We are then more able to differentiate between people more through how they act and what they are like rather than how they look and what they wear. This is an ideal throughout many groups of people I have been involved in, but only here have I fully basked in its glory.

Chris setting the very large table.

Another part I have loved is the work we do. They way we work together is of utmost humility, and the proper understandings of authority and servitude. Our leaders lead mercifully, and we all serve happily. I have spent 12 hours so far "slagging" a fence. Slagging is the process of standing at the end of a hose with a trigger and blasting an iron fence with water with tiny bits of metal and glass mixed in in order to take off the paint and rust. Those bits of glass bounce of the fence straight at your mask and arms. David asked me to do this, so I did, and Zach and I have had a great time doing it, though I must say my favorite parts were the times when the machine broke. We have spent almost as much time fixing the machine as slagging, but it's been a great time figuring out the machinery every time.

The talks given are incredible. They have so much practical knowledge on how to live life. Its like a humane seminar about exactly what I've actually cared about in that class for the past 4 years. After each talk we also discuss it and ask questions, the incredible amount of wisdom given to us through them is awesome. We've learned about freindship, right speach, being a servant, authority and obedience, how to correct someone, and having good conversation. And its only been 4 days! I took great notes (of course), and doodled meanwhile.

The most interesting part of my week, though, or at least the most fun to tell happened today. I made 28 loaves of bread! With 22 men to feed for a week, lots of bread is necessary. So for my Saturday "chore" I was assigned to bread making. It sure beats scrubbing the bathroom in 23 steps! Heres some pics:
The huge sector of kneaded bread rising. This was only a quarter of the bread we made today.

Some bread right before we put it in the oven.

Freshly baked bread, straight out of the oven. Yum!

I'm excited for all that the Lord will do this summer! I'll keep you posted. God bless!