Well, as you probably already know, I made it to Switzerland. Woohoo! It is almost surreal to be here, after well over a year of preparation. This first week has been great and slightly overwhelming. My time here got off to a rather dramatic start when I landed in Geneva. The plan was to have someone meet me at the airport and then take the train to Lausanne. Apparently, my flight had come in way earlier than expected, thank you Swiss efficiency, and thus there was no one waiting for me at the airport. I paced around the arrival area for about 25 minutes but it was no use. I also had no way of messaging the base to see what was happening. I decided to walk towards the train station hoping to see a group of YWAMers and meet up with them. I made it to the platform with my 2 big rolling suitcases stuffed to the 50lb weight limit. I asked one of the attendants when the train to Lausanne was. He pointed to the train at the platform and said in a thick French accent “This one, it leaves in 2 minutes. Get on and I’ll come by to collect your fair.” So panicking ever so slightly, I hauled myself on to the train. The trip to Lausanne took about 40 minutes. I stood at the end of the car with my pile of luggage which was far too large for the overhead bins of the train. I began to worry about if I had made the right choice or not jumping on the train like that. I prayed for help, not even knowing exactly what to ask for. Something along the lines of “God help, I don’t know what to do.” At one of the stations, a stranger got on and joined me in the standing area which was rather unusual because he didn’t have any large items with him. I felt a bit of a twinge or maybe prodding. It took a bit for me to work up the nerve, but I asked if he had a hotspot I could borrow. Much to my surprise, he said yes. I remember feeling a wave of sweet relief as I connected and was able to contact the base and let them know where I was. They apologized and reassured me there would be someone to meet me at the station. I thanked the stranger for letting me use his hotspot and I got off at the Lausanne station. Once I arrived, I was met by Marcel, an old friend from when our family had been here previously. It was so wonderful to see a familiar face. From there we went straight to the base. I was so happy to arrive at last. Later on in reflection, I realized just how amazing it was that God sent me wi-fi on a train out of nowhere just when I needed it. It underscored to me just how much God really cares, even about the little things. What better way to highlight that at the beginning of this new season.
As this first week has gone by, I have gotten into the rhythm of how things run a bit around here. I am staying in a room on the 3rd floor of the main Chalet building with four roommates, from Brazil, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. I plan to make a video to show more of what things are like here soon. For the first 3 months of being here, I am working half time in the creative media department and the other half as a student. The base here really believes in investing in their staff people and out of that has a course called a Ministry Leadership Development School or MLD for short. It’s designed to help further develop staff people and help us be effective in various aspects of helping lead a ministry. After my MLD is over, I will be full time in the creative media department and I am so excited about it.
I really want to say thank you to everyone who has walked through this with me in prayer and support, I literally couldn’t have done it without you. It has been a long time to get to this point, but I am so excited to finally be on the ground and able to start doing what I have set out to. I am so looking forward to getting to show you some of the projects I get to work on, and the amazing impact they will have for the kingdom. Exciting things are ahead and we are just getting started!
Currently, things are going very well here, thank the Lord! I got my visa and as it turned out, I didn’t have to leave the EU to get it (like the normal process) either! So, not only did my visa come through but it did so in an even easier way than expected, praise the Lord! I want to thank everyone who prayed for this, it worked! My only real prayer request is that I would fully absorb what I am learning and grow as much as possible in the next couple of months. This personal development is not an easy undertaking, but I sense this is so important to get this right as I kick off this new chapter in my adventure with God.