…Or Rather, Arlington!
(… but I’m still gonna sometimes say I’m in Dallas, since Arlington is in the Dallas area. Therefore, “Hellooooo, Stonehenge!” … er, Dallas.)
On Wednesday night, the day before I left, my family, including cousins and significant others, had dinner together and helped me pack my car. They even laid hands on me and prayed for me to send me off with a blessing. My family is so wonderful.
Bright and early on Thursday morning, I drove off toward Texas. It was an eleven hour drive, and I didn’t want to actually take the time to stop for meals, so I munched on fruit and crackers (and maybe some chocolate) and arrived in El Paso around 8:30 pm. I spent the night with a friend named Lauren who was a leader in my One Thing Internship in 2012, and then a classmate and friend in IHOPU. She did her externship in Dallas last year, and in the next few weeks will be returning to join staff at The Prayer Room! It’s so much fun to get to still be with her after all this time. (And she’s a Whovian, so she’s gonna be my Doctor Who series 9 buddy when it premiers!)
I left El Paso early Friday morning and drove nine hours to Arlington, where I met the couple I’ll be living with: Andrew and Lauren, and their seven-month-old (as of today!) daughter Madilynn, who is the cutest baby one could ever dream of. I have a bedroom, bathroom, and even a fridge to myself, and the family is super sweet. Brad Stroup, the director of The Prayer Room, came over with his wife and two daughters, so I got to meet three adorable younglings in one day! Brad was crazy excited to see me (when is that man not crazy excited about something?) and the following Instagram picture ensued:
Brad also told me that the house I’m living in is the very one that they bought to first house The Prayer Room when they graduated from prayer meetings in Brad’s living room years ago. They’ve remodeled since then, but I am so honoured to be literally sleeping in the place that was once the house of prayer. I feel like that means Jesus’ eyes are on this building in a very special way. 😉 I think He’s definitely nostalgic about the building just like we as humans are, because I know He remembers those early days with great fondness.
I just ran around town and did some grocery and Target shopping, and tonight I’m having my first official externship thing in the form of a meeting with Lisa, my externship supervisor here on the base, and then I’m going to TPR’s Saturday night Encounter service!
I’m so excited I get to spend four months with these people serving in their prayer room and learning everything I can from them. This is a beautiful, beautiful community like a city set on a hill, and I am expecting God to do great things this semester. For more information, check out my The Prayer Room FAQ page.