Aloha!!

Let me start off by saying that I apologize for how long it has taken me to write a blog....our internet here is very inconsistent and sometimes even nonexistant so I apologize for the wait. But I have indeed arrived very Safe and sound :) The flight over was suprisingly pleasent. I was overwhelmed by how smoothly the transfer went and how great everything went. I had a really nice seat partner who ended up sleeping the whole time as well as getting most of the window to look out of while we were in the air. I entertained myself with scrabble and writing blogs that I somehow can not get to copy and paste to my blog page do to copywriting issues....:/ After I landed I was warmly welcomed by some of the YWAM staff and also met some really cool people who were on my bus with me :) I am so relieved to find that everyone is so welcoming and friendly. The campus is beautiful and conventiently located about 5 min from dowtown Kona. For some reason I thought that our campus was going to be farther away from everything but it is so beautiful and close to some local shops and beaches. The first day I arrived I spent most of the day registering and getting settled in my room. I have 5 lovely roomates: Hannah from Arizona, Danella from New Zealand, Andrea from Napa Valley, Betty from South Korea. They are all so sweet and none of them snore!!! although one does sleepwalk so that should create some fun times in the future :)

After I got to know my roomates better I started to branch out a little bit and get to know some more awesome people on campus....I already feel so at home here and it has only been a few days!

On Friday it was our orientation day which meant sitting most of the day and getting familiar with the people on our DTS :) The real treat of the day was the Hawaiian ceremony that took place later that night. We met in the Plaza of Nations(see pic above) and were formally welcomed onto the island by the local Hawaiians. Then we were asked to take out shoes off and walk bafefoot from the Plaza of nations to the Ohana court (see pic above) Then waiting for us in the Ohana Court was a group of Hula dancers who were doing traditional dances to authentic live Hawaiian music :) It was so awesome to see the Hawaiian cupture and get properly introduced to them and their land. I felt very welcomed and loved :)

Saturday was orientations day for our DTS. It began at nine in the morning and ended at 5 in the evening...lets just say I was not prepared to have it take that long, but that does not mean it wasnt awesome! They started out by intoroduding the staff and some of the things addressed in our hand book then they told us that we would be getting up and sharing a little about outr faith and why we were called to the Prefroming Arts focus DTS. They then gave us all a a fresh Lei and prayed over everysingle one of us! I was such an awesome experience to feel all the hands of your fellow friends and feel the Holy Spirit move through out their prayers.

My dorm room :)