There are 4 couples, 5 single women (including me), and 2 single men. Most are from the US, but we have one woman from Canada and one from Switzerland. Another one of the women was originally from the Philippines, but is now living in the US. Now let's see if I can remember everyone's name, age range and location!! Haha...ok, here goes.
Well, there is ME...My name is Dayna and I'm 36 years old. I am from Northern California, but most recently spent 6 months in Mexico. I am here with my 11 year old daughter, Sierra. Doing pretty well so far, don't you think??
In my house are the four single women - Tracey from Canada, Doris from Switezerland, Mirriam from Los Angeles and Angela from Sacramento. There is also a couple from Michigan, George and Elaine.
The two single guys live by themselves on the other side of the crick - they get to take the long hike in and out of camp. They are Marcus from Texas and Aaron from Hawaii.
We have two couples who are staying in their motorhomes and they are Bob and Mila from New York, and Paul and Susan from Idaho.
The other family (besides me and Si) also have a house by themselves a few doors down from the community house (called Cooper House) - they are Dale and Kim. They will be moving to Panama after Crossroads, so are in the process of selling off their stuff, including their home. They have the other 2 kids in the group.
The property is beautiful - it's about 10 miles outside of Chico and feels pretty remote. There are several buildings on the property - the main building is the hotel which was built back in the 1920's. It is brick and very stately. There is a mammoth fireplace and couches all over the lobby, so it is a main hangout (and where I happen to be right now, as a matter of fact - right in front of the fire!). Our classes are in this building. There is also "The Lodge" which is where the younger DTS students are housed...they have air hockey and pool tables and whatnot, so it is also a hangout. Then there is Cooper House, where a lot of us Crossroaders are. It's a really pretty old house and there are lots of games and couches and a big fireplace and a kitchen and big table and it's all set up, so it is a hangout for us people in Crossroads.Then there is Ebenezer Hall, which is where we meet for worship on Monday mornings and Tuesday nights, and for intercessory prayer on Friday mornings. It is down the hill....86 stairs!! It is right next to the ICS, which is the International Christian School, where Si goes to school. The pool, tennis courts and basketball courts are also down by there. All of this is on the western side of the creek, along with several houses where staff live and also some cabins for visitors. On the other side of the bridge are more houses for staff and a baseball field.
There are also lots of trails and places to hikd and explore, which we hope to get a chance to do this weekend. I'm hoping to get out my GPS machine I bought and try some geocaching!!! Maybe we'll even hide something!
This weekend we are getting the whole group together and we are going to go see the movie "End of the Spear" about Jim Elliot and the missionaries who were killed in South America...I'm really excited to see it as I had met Steve Saint (the son of one of the missionaries) at the Spirit West Coast concert a few years back.
The household seems to be doing really well together and not having any problems with the whole "communal" living situation. All of the kids have taken to hanging out there, which is fun and infuses the house with lots of energy and life...and NOISE! Haha. I'm always concerned about Sierra bothering other people and being too loud, but they seem to really enjoy her for the most part. I really am impressed and just love how much YWAM as an organization realizes the importance of children and their place as missionaries right alongside us and that is great and really sits well with my own heart.
I am finding that I am really infused with a lot of excitement and just want to have so many people come up here and experience the whole thing...to really get infused with God's love and to know his heart intimately...it's really cool.
Okay, well, there's some nuts n' bolts for y'all! Tonight Sierra is having her friend Jenna spend the night, so she had to go to each person and ask their permission and they are all okay with it. She is really rising to the occasion and seems to like the community thing. One funny story....on Tuesday night when we went to the worship meeting, they were talking about how worship takes on many "looks" and to do whatever you felt led to do, whether that was dancing, singing, being still, raising your hands, waving a flag or whatever. The kids were in the back with those dancing flags and having a grand old time waving them and running around. At some point they began to play tag and were generally getting a bit out of hand and one of the staff members went to talk to them and tell them to quiet down a bit. Afterward I was talking to Sierra and asked her what happened...she and her friend Jenna said that all they were doing was WORSHIPPING, because after all, they had said anything you did was okay!! Haha...it was pretty funny. I guess that qualifies as "be careful what you say", huh?
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