2008 so far....

Hey friends!

Sunny greetings from South Australia! It's been

quite warm here these last weeks, which has been nice because we've had time off for the Holidays so we've spent plenty of time at the beach and playing volleyball outside. The majority of the people who live here have gone home for Christmas and so it's been pretty empty!

Other than Celebrating Christmas and New Years in true Brazilian fashion with lots of food, we've been getting back into normal life here. Our main focus right now is preparing for the DTS that will start in March, but I've also been helping some friends out with little things. For the last couple weeks we've been meeting to pray for the coming DTS, for more students, provision for their visas etc. We accepted two Australian students last week and now have about 10 students and are praying for more. On monday, we will start a 2 week course that will make us certified to lead small groups and assess the students, so tha

t will keep us quite busy!

Besides things around the base, I've been looking into other places I can get involved around the city of Adelaide. I'd love to take some dance classes to keep my skills up, and am hoping to perhaps find a group home of some sort to visit and we've been talking about making that an opportunity for the DTS students, too. A few of us have also gone to a church in the area a couple times that we really like. There are only about 100 people there on sundays, but they are super friendly and seem to have a great youth and young adult program. I do enjoy the smaller, homey atmosphere after growing up in such a big church. I will hopefully get more involved with that church. They also have a dance studio running out of it, and I've talked to the girl who runs it about getting involved. We will see how that goes, as my schedule will be crazy come March. It's an exciting opportunity, though!

A few prayer requests:

- A couple other girls and I are looking into the possibility of buying a car for more flexibility with transportation. We don't know if we'll have the finances to be able to do so, and so need wisdom and provision in that area

- Continued unity in our DTS leadership team and the entire base.

- That the right opportunities to become involved in the outside community, and wisdom so that I don't over-commit myself (not that I have the tendency to do that or anything.....)

Blessings to all of you! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and were able to enjoy your families.

Caitlin