January 29 2009
Here a just a few quotes that I wrote down that I have been learning. "Blessed are the flexible for they will not break"
God is not working for us, we are asked to do God's work.
And my favorite one, "There is nothing of value without cost!" We have just finshed our 3rd day of classes and though it is a lot like Bible School, I am learning bits and pieces that are new! Mostly words and phrases in spanish!! Haha! But so far it is going well, I am having a few doubts in my being here, not in Nicaragua.....I LOVE it here but just being in the YWAM. I am wondering if this was where I was supposed to be or if I was supposed to be in a different area or something else in Nicaragua. Maybe I just need to give myself a little more time. It is so neat to be here, I feel like it is a cross between Bible school and camp!! So far I have not had any HUGE issues with anything so I am hoping that it stays that way!! That is all for now but I am very thankful for all your prayers and feel free to email me if you get a chance!! alana.benson@gmail.com

January 21
Well here I am! I am doing well and loving it here. Though am starting to doubt myself being here and classes have not even started yet. I think I am just a little anxious to get going. I had such an amazing time with my friend and now to come to something totally different is a little scary =) But I am sure I will live. It is good to know that I do have a couple of friends that are close too!

I have met a few of the people here for the DTS. One from Honduras-she knows no english a girl from Tennesee and one from Quebec. There is also a young couple from Texas and a couple with a little girl from Peru. We are expecting 6 more people. 4 girls and 2 boys all from here in Nicaragua. I think it is a good mix of people!! Another friend of mine is letting me use her computer till I can get internet on mine, so I will be able to write a lot more often then what I thought I would be able to. I am needing to sing off for now, all the fun and excitement starts tonight at our orientation, I will let you all know how that goes.!!

January 18 2009

Well a nice warm hello from the southern hemisphere!! It is wonderfully warm and I have been wearing shorts/capris for the last 2 and a half days, and went to a beach yesterday all day!! Okay I will stop bragging now =) But I truley LOVE it and my heart is soo full right now that I do not even feel like I am away from home. I feel like I have come back home. My only frustration is that I can not communicate as well as I would like to and the little spanish that I know I am afraid to use!! Probably not for long though. My friend Scarlett has been taking me so many places and I went to church with her this morning, even though I knew NOTHING the pastor was saying!! It was neat to be there! It was also one of the projects, so got to see a ton of kids as well!! All is well with me so far and willwrite again when I get a chance! Love you and talk to you soon!!

 JANUARY 15

So I am on my way down tomorrow morning to Nicaragua! I have said my good byes to my friends and family in Sherwood Park and will say good bye to my friend here in Hamilton that I am staying with tomorrow as well. I really just do not have much feeling of anything right now, not really excited anymore yet, I am going to be glad to be out of this cold and I will be really happy to spend some time with my friend Scarlett that lives in Nicaragua. She is going to be taking me to a wedding on saturday! That should be interesting! I will have to write about it when I can! It seems like it has taken sooo long to get to this point and now that it is here I am not sure what to do with it. I went for lunch with some friends on wednesday and then for a little tour of the Compassion building in London, Ont. and I am not even kidding when I say I think that it was the best day that I have EVER had in my entire life up to this point! I just LOVE them all out there so much and that I got to talk to a few of them about their experiences with YWAM! Though at one point I had almost wanted to book a flight back to Alberta, but I know that I won't. I sure had a good time with them and will miss them A LOT!! Well it is late now and I have to be up early so I will have to sign off for now and I am not to sure when I will get back to this but will update when I can, so keep checking back! Talk to you all soon, from nice sunny and hot nicaragua!! =)