Letters from the TL: Orientation Week

Hello everyone! So far, orientation week has been a blast. It keeps you very busy, but it’s incredibly fun. Basically, orientation is dedicated to getting acquainted to the city, surroundings, schedule, and each other.

Our 16 students bonded instantly. We became a little family nearly the first day. What is very comforting about this place is that everyone is so real; I’ve never experienced the love and transparency that I see with my fellow DTS students and staff. There are no secrets and no lies.

During orientation week, we participate in “Student Intros”, more formally known as “testimonies” or “life-stories”. This is where each student takes a turn sharing where they have been and how they got to where they are today. We all express ourselves and retell our darkest moments, roughest times, deepest seeded sins and of course, the strength of Jesus and how He went about pulling us out of darkness.

A lot of us are still working on issues and that is a lot of the reason we came to DTS. For me, it’s a transition, and I am here so God can finish the work he began in me. So that he can mold me into the woman he wants me to become, and to spread the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ who saved me from who I was.

The point is, everyone here is open, honest and transparent. There are no “christian-y” walls put up. No fake smiles. No stories with gory details left out. Everyone comes here and says exactly who they are. We make ourselves open wounds to the people around us, and instead of being poked and prodded or talked about, we are loved, dressed and bandaged. I have never experienced a group of people so honest and transparent as my DTS students. No group so loving and accepting of who you are. No one has to be ashamed of what they have done, or are doing, or who they have been, or even who they are now.

I am in LOVE with my new family. We have an incredible bond that I wish more churches and people could experience. The love, the care, the transparency. And only after five days. No one talks about anyone. There is no such thing as gossip here. There is no such thing as cliques or social groups. We are one body and we love each other, and we love the lost, and we love our God.
Spiritual warfare is rampant here. There is a darkness that falls over this place like a cloud of smoke. We focus on prayer and meditating on scripture to keep ours spirits up and prepared for anything. Living in the homeless district is very wonderful but also very, very melancholy. Drug deals are made right outside of my window, along with fights. People snort, smoke and drink everywhere you look, women are abused, and everyone who cannot fit in the shelter sleep on the streets. It breaks my heart.

I have become friends with a few of my neighbors and they are very sweet people. They have all sort of become this protective family. They feel as if it is their job to protect us, since we are living in a very dangerous place. Men step in and break up fights so some of us girls can walk through safely, and one man, my friend Joe-Moe, stands on the edge of the street and stretches out his arms, saying, “Pretty feet, pretty feet! Stay away from the streets! Pretty feet pretty feet we don’t want you harmed!” as my friends and I walk by.

I am kept very busy here, especially since it is orientation. I apologize to anyone who I have not contacted personally. I don’t have a lot of time and it is very important that I do not get distracted from what I am doing or why I am here. I love you all very much and miss you terribly, but God is doing a lot here and He has placed me here for a reason and I need to focus on that and that alone.

I am doing well.

God bless and I love you all VERY much!

Hannah Elizabeth