The end of the week

Woo Hoo! Are we having some fun now or whut?

We have successfully made it to the end of classes on our first week here at ILC. Almost within moments we were moved into our spacious little apartment in Quad 10 and had a reasonable semblance of a schedule established. We get up about 5:15 AM and go for a walk down to the front gate and back - a distance of 2.35 miles according to mapmywalk dot com. We have time for a shower and devotions before heading to breakfast.

Speaking of food - even though we could eat all that we want in the dining room, we have chosen to continue our eating habit of trying to eat less. Salads, however, are in the all one can eat category. Biscuits and gravy, mac and cheese and pizza are not! But then they weren't before we got here. We are also no longer eating supper at 9:30 - 10 o'clock at night as the dining room closes at 6 pm.

Our classes have been VERY, VERY good. The folks here who are preparing us for the field have not just read a lot about being missionaries. No way. They, themselves, have all been there and done that before coming the the ILC. From the director on down, there is a passion for missions that is not only evident, but contagious. Kim, you were right about Elbert!

Last night we had an ice cream social with our affinity group. A good time was had by all until Derrick passed out the assignments, all of which are due before we can go overseas.

When I graduated (retired) from the Army, I thought I was finished taking physical fitness tests. Apparently that is not the case. This evening, we will go and take part in a "fitness activity" along with several other missionary folks, most of whom are younger than we are. Then, before we leave the ILC, we'll have another "fitness activity" to see if we have improved our fitness. Can you believe it? They expect us to actually exercise here ;~{b) Gee, I wonder how one says, "couch potato," auf Deutsch?

When our son Dan was about 4 years old he had opportunity to have a bone scan done. The docs injected a low level radioactive dye and about an hour later with the aide of special x-ray machine were able to see all of the places in Dan where bone growth was taking place. All of this past week and for the next seven weeks, I have the distinct feeling that if there was such a machine to measure spiritual growth, many of us here would be knocking it off the charts. Wow! Bless-ed be the Name of the Lord! 'cause it ain't us man . . .


Tune in again next week for another installment as we prepare for life in the fast lane