Week 2

So, first week of regular scheduled DTS is up! Well, technically it was up on Friday, but since I was late about posting this, we'll pretend it's still Friday. Crazy yet awesome week. I'm definitely having an exciting time learning to get up before 7 am everyday. Not. I seem to be the last one in my room to sleep at night, so I've been a bit sleep deprived, but loads of caffeine has been helping keep me awake. Especially during our four hour lectures! The first lecture this week was amazing though. We learned all about the characteristics of God, which has really made me realize there is no possible way to fully lecture on all the characteristics of God. So it was more of an extremely mini series previewing a fraction of God's amazing character. Tonight I'll be doing a testimony on one of God's characteristics, and I chose creativity. But not just the creativity in nature, etc., but God's creativity in how He uses people that you wouldn't expect. I hope it goes well! It's so hard to condense everything I want to share into just seven minutes. The more I know about God the more I realize I really could go on forever singing His praise.

On Friday this week we did an outreach in Paisley called PIG, which stands for Paisley Is Great. Basically a lot of people hate Paisley, and most of those people live in Paisley. So Geoff, one of the staff on base, started an outreach intended to show people love and do something nice for the community in hope of fostering more love for the community. We're just trying to spread a little bit of happiness in this city. Several of us went into the town square and set up a table and grilled sausages and handed them out free (sausages here are the equivalent of hot dogs. And way better) and talked with people. I met a bunch of people who were really curious about why we were doing what we were doing, and why we would possibly want to do something nice for Paisley. It's hard to hear the bitterness and anger in people's hearts here, but at the same time I can sense that maybe there's some hope too. If you'd like, please take a moment out of your week to pray for Paisley and people's hearts in this city.

On a lighter note, I attended my first Ceilidh (Kay-lee) this weekend! Think Jane Austen dances with a Scottish twist. Absolutely fantastic. And exhilarating. It was for Geoff's 26th birthday, and our local cheeky Scottish friend Graeme led it at our house. Seriously, an amazing time. We also had a lovely Sushi buffet beforehand with around 15 types of sushi, all made by John, Ding, Tim, and Theo, who are apparently gourmet sushi chefs. After the ceilidh we had a lovely time learning to swing dance! Well, I learned to swing dance. Apparently I live in a house full of world class swing dancers as well. I swear, I'm gonna get a complex. Everyone in this house has all these amazing hidden talents. I'll have to fake one I think. But anyway I do now know the Charleston and several swing dance moves, including my favorite, the Gladiator! Exotic, I know.

This coming Friday we're leaving on a 62 mile trek called St. Cuthbert's Way which goes between Melrose and Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne is a tidal island, which means when the tide is out you can walk to it, but when the tide is in it becomes an island. The trek will take four days (no showers!!!) and we'll be camping outdoors and all the fun rugged things involved with that. I'm not the biggest hiker, so we'll have to see how I fare. I might go crazy from lack of cleanliness, but hopefully it'll be a very...learning experience. When we get to Lindisfarne we'll stay there for four days before we head home. Gonna be crazy and tiring, but I'm excited! Prayer please for my poor spoiled ways and my fear of not showering every day.

Because I'll be on the trek, I probably won't update until I get back, so it'll be around two weeks before I post again!