West to East

Since our last post, we've packed up our teeny weeny lives into ONE car, driven north to Bonanza, Oregon, gone campin' with the Ekstrom family, washed 4 loads of smokey clothes, RE-packed that ONE car, and then driven ALLLL the way across America to Richmond, Virginia!

It was a very interesting drive... no air-conditioning, through the desert of upper Nevada and Utah... with a very hot and cranky passenger (me... when the temp rises to 90 and you've been in a car for 7 hours with barely any sleep, you'd be cranky too!). Our first stop was in northern Colorado... and driving into it we followed the highways from Salt Lake City, Nevada to Wyoming... and lets just say that surfboards on the top of a car isn't the norm in Wyoming. We received MANY stares. Anyways, one of our dear friends and fellow staff member is from Fort Collins, Colorado, so we stayed at her parents house the first night of the trip. We were able to have dinner with another friend, Mariel, while we were there, before leaving late the next evening to get a head start on the 2nd leg of the trip. The rest of the way, through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois (we got to see one of my childhood homes there), and then into Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and finally Virginia, took us about 3 more days (we didn't do it straight, there were 2 stops along the way, we're not superhuman). Upon arriving at the YWAM base in Richmond, we were two very pooped Ekstroms!

They are extremely hospitable here, I like to attribute it to the Southern Charm ;), and they have given us a great room to stay in while we are here. Its much larger than our bedroom in California, and they've even furnished it, AND DECORATED it for us! How kind! Guess it is to make up for the fact that we get to live above the boys dorm! Ha!

We have been adjusting to their base, and getting to know the staff here. Although we miss our YWAM family back in California (and the beach too), we are so busy preparing for the DTS to begin that the days are flying by.

You can pray for us this week... we have about one whole month worth of work to accomplish by the next weekend... the school starts on the 21st!!! So pray that we can get as much done and that God will take care of the rest!

We'll keep you posted!

Kirsten (and Brandon)