MTC – Our First Few Days

All of our earthly possessions arrived Thursday night via our friends the Millers and Cizdziels, for which we were utterly thankful! We were excited to know that our use of camping sporks was almost over. It was great to see familiar faces again and enjoy catching up. We explored the campus and met new people. They have a beautiful property here, and I feel like I’m on vacation, even though the work/class load will be full very soon

And this is an awesome swing for big people!

And this is the spider web I mentioned last time, except this is right after Jason and Ben launched Payton across the net. I have a great video, but we’re limited on internet access, so it’ll have to wait.

They also have rope swings across the creek…

And a great assortment of wildlife…

We love our little apartment! I think it’s 435 sq ft, but I could be mistaken.  It finally felt like a home as of Sunday afternoon. I even christened the kitchen by doing 8 things at once (Payton said it was exaggeration to say that I did 100 things, even though that’s what I felt like I did in such a small space.) I’m so glad not to have to move for at least 9 months! Here are some pictures (main room/kitchen, side room…and I didn’t bother with the bedroom since it’s just a square space with a dresser and bed in it):

We had a great kickoff with all of the students as we all heard from some missionaries who had served with the Yanomamo group for many years. Our fires for unreached people groups were lit once again, hopefully setting us off to a good start this semester. The class schedule here is much different than any other place I’ve been as our classes change from day to day with different modules coming up and other times we have a class for a month at a time. They steer clear of busy work and desire growth and change at the worldview level! Although his is one of the hardest things to evaluate as teachers looking into our lives, it’s an amazing concept. The training is targeted toward true growth, which is so refreshing. You can tell that countless hours have been put into this program to make it one of the best in the world. No, not everything is perfect, but we are thrilled to be a part of this part of the training here.

Beyond classes, Payton and I both have Work Detail. I will be working in the front desk and finance offices and Payton will be working on the grounds crew, specifically moving furniture. Both of us start today. We’ll be working 7.5 hours a week to help keep the campus functioning and to keep costs down. Even now, I can hear the hum of lawn mowers as students attack the vegetation around campus.

We haven’t finished with orientation yet, so we don’t have all of the details in place yet, but it’s all coming together. Pray for us as we get into the swing of things. This type of program is the kind where you get out of it what you put in, so pray that we are diligent to engage with the material, staff, and students.