Everyone keeps asking me to post photos, but I can't bring myself to post photos until we have furniture. "Just show us the outside then!" everyone says. But seriously, I can't show you the outside without backing it up with photos of the inside or else you'd think we live in the g-h-e-t-t-o. Houses here are just like that- terribly ugly but somehow charming as the flaking stucco and 1970s RV-esque design are overpowered by palm trees and blue skies.
We've been making friends thanks to a great church we found (Kaleo Church) and my one friend Allison from UGA who has been phenomenal about helping me network. We've hung out with David's buddies a lot, but we're impatiently waiting on some friends like we have back home (don't think we'll ever find friends like that!!) But I am going to a Bible study with some Navy wives to do some more friend shopping tonight, so wish me luck...
So now what you really want to hear about: David's training. He's in his second week of Indoc (basically the intro class), and he's starting to get to the good stuff. Last week he had a mile swim in the bay (in wetsuits since it's so cold!), an intro to the obstacle course (where he passed all obstacles- only half the guys can say that!), and a five mile beach run in boots and camis (where the instructors made them get in the water mid-run just to make it even more miserable... imagine running in wet boots!) They also had their first experience with "surf torture"- laying in the breaks of the cold ocean with arms linked to the other men, waves crashing in your face. This week he has more swims and beach runs, and they will be introduced to the infamous surf passage, which involves taking small inflatable boats into the ocean to work on teamwork. Rumor is that BUD/S (the reeeal training) starts in two weeks. Guys are already dropping daily, and a handful of David's friends have been "rolled" (pushed back to another class) as they wait to have eye surgery.
Here's our cool story for the week: We woke up last Sunday a little discouraged and overwhelmed. We prayed for God to keep giving us signs that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and that we're not doing it for any wrong reasons. Later that morning, we met a guy who just made it to the SEAL teams- an officer with a personality a lot like David's, who was really open to talking about his experience. After a good conversation, we went to take my friend Allison to a house down the road, but remembered that our backseat was full of suitcases... so I drove Allison home while David waited in the parking lot. The same SEAL he had just spoken to walked up to him and said, "I feel like I need to tell you something else..." (At this point, David was thinking it'd be some lame Navy rule like: "Don't tell anyone we talked"...) Instead, he said, "I have a lot of respect for anyone who joins in a time of war. And I need to tell you that the SEALs need good men." So we took that to be our sign that we at least need to keep moving forward, confident that God has a bigger purpose in what in the world we're doing out here...
So we ask that you pray for a few things for us: good friends, safety as David trains, and continued reassurance that we're in the right place.
And then we also ask that you book some plane tickets and come stay with us (Air Tran is running some great specials right now!!) :) I just spent days painting the guest room for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment