Ping Pongorama

Hello my blog public,

I am done working for the day. Yeah! It is hot here and I have been moving stuff around most of the day. When students or staff leave the base to go on outreach or for good, they leave what we on base refer to as, "giveaways." This is basically a bunch of stuff they don't want anymore. After the remaining students and staff rifle through the piles, it is housing's responsibility to deal with it. Kristy, my boss, came up with the idea of having a garage sale with all the stuff from giveaways to raise money for the base. Today we put lots of stuff in storage to wait for the next garage sale.

I have been impressed how thrifty the base is with money. They keep a tight budget that allows for planned extras but not superfulous stuff. I am used to Young Life where we would go out and meet at a restaurant after club and Young Life would fit the bill. Here the housing department is given $.90 per person per week. The kitchen feeds everyone on a budget of $1.60 per day for three meals. It is crazy! It is good to know that they don't waste money. There is so much room for improvement in our delapidated housing but the budget is mainly spent on toilet paper and cleaning supplies.

So far I am not too into my job here but maybe it is supposed to teach me humility and patience. I don't really feel like I am using my gifts and strengths. I did volunteer to lead a church group. This means I am the staff liason at a local church and I take a group of students there. I was a bit hesitant to commit to a church I had never been to but it will be a really good chance to get to know the students that I take to church. I got to know the staff I went to church with during DTS pretty well.

I have noticed that I get the most lonely when it is night. I think a big part of that is because of the time change and the fact that I only have one friend I can call after 8pm here, Misti who lives in California. I know I am still adjusting and most of the time I am happy to be here. It is just sometimes that I feel sad.

Last night I had fun with Sherry and Jonathan. Sherry and I played an intense game of ping pong. Neither of us are very good but we kept making each other crack up laughing. I think it would be funny if I got really serious about ping pong and had my own special paddle in a fancy case. I could wear a sweat band when I play. It could be nice. I would probably have to become a better player but maybe the irony of me being terrible would be more amusing.

After some epic ping pong, we watched Elf. I forgot how funny that movie is. I just love Will Farrell. Tonight I am going to church at Hope Chapel and then I don't know what I will do. I am sure you guys will find out what I did one way or another.