Waco, Texas

Not yet twenty-four hours in Waco and I've already done more social things than I did in Tulsa for a whole year.

I arrived Waco around 3:30PM and finished unpacking my car by 5PM. My apartment is 540 square feet...I didn't know exactly what that meant but after opening my front door, it became quickly aparent...it means small apartment. At first, I was really shocked but after a while, I realized that as one person, that is all the space I need.

It has been interesting so far...right outside my bedroom window facing the street is a hotel...my other window facing the site next to my apartment complex is a fire training station...in other words, rookie firefighters being trained...have I mentioned that I like firefighters? I am looking forward to sitting by my window and watching them do their thing...maybe even get shirtless?

Down the hallway from my apartment, downstairs, is the laundry room, mailboxes and the pool. I've decided to take up early morning swimming.

After I finished unpacking, I packed an overnight bag and headed to the Hoover library to meet with Kevin. I followed him to his place to drop off my stuff...and since I had only had teriyaki jerky and water for food all day, we went to Cheddar's for dinner, which is where I met his parents. His parents, Paula and Tracey, were already there having dinner, so we joined him. It was good food...I got the Dijon Chicken with Mushrooms.

Afterwards, we headed to the McLennan Community College for a free concert. They have this beautiful outside atrium, with the Brazos River running behind it. We got to listen to "After Midnight" (rock-n-roll) and "The Morticians" (oldies) for about four hours. Kevin and I shared a Dr. Pepper snow cone...it was fun.

This morning, Kevin and I headed to the Human Resources. I took my Customer Service and Typing tests (scored an 86% on the first one and a 65wpm on the second one) and now all I have to do is wait. My problem is that I don't like the idea of waiting a whole week before I find out if anyone of them is interested in hiring me. I am really hankering for the Customer Service Rep with the Police Support Services, so please keep that in your prayers. Also, I got a copy of my dispatcher application to head to the Police Department for further extensive application and testing but for some reason, just thinking about working there gave me this sick feeling. So I decided to not do the dispatcher job. Hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt.

We then drove to St. Mark Lutheran Church, Kevin's home church, and I got to meet Pastor Price and Pastor Garcia. I am hoping to get involved but since Hispanic Ministry is the only working ministry St. Mark has, it looks like that may be where I need to be. Get the experience...perhaps discover that I do have a passion for something that people keep pigeon-holeing me into.

I am hoping to help with VBS, even if it's just doing crafts with the kids. I'll meet the VBS coordinator on Sunday. This should be an interesting experience, doing church ministry in a volunteer basis after a year of working professional ministry. Also, I found out that there's a group of guitarist that play for the Spanish service...I think I may get involved in that, learn to play a whole different style of guitar...that should be fun to do.

Kevin treated me to lunch at Chic-fill-a and then drove me around, showing me where things are. So I now know that if I want to find anything, I just go down Valley Mills Drive...kind of like 71st Street in Tulsa, except it is not as far from where I live. I got an application for Hobby Lobby, which is around the corner from where Kevin works. Keep that in your prayers too.

The Hoover Library has free Wi-Fi so I am more than likely going to be spending a good amount of time here whenever I am not at work. Well, that is what's happened since arriving Waco. As you can see, I have been busy and not yet here for more than a day. I will keep you updated about my escapades...which I plan to have plenty of to make up for the lack thereof in the past year.