Welcome!

Hey Everyone!

God's such an awesome God (pretty simple sounding statement I guess, but so true!). I left for Australia at noon on July 4th and spent the next 32 hours en route to Australia, I arrived in Townsville at noon on July 6th.

I was one of the first two students from my class of 22 to arrive, for my Discipleship Training School (DTS) here at Reef to Outback (the Townsville YWAM base). I was able to spend some time with Krystal when she was available and hang out with her. I even got to help her move in because at the end of the week she moved from a YWAM house on base to house just across the street that she will be renting out with a few other girls. And they needed some strong men to move there furniture and stuff... so I helped those strong men. haha. Throughout the week the rest of the students from my class showed up as well and so I got to meet them and start to get to know them. Along with throughout the week getting to know all the other staff on base, ALL of which are very interesting and really nice! That has made my first week here very exciting and enjoyable.

Sunday, July 12th, is when my DTS actually started. Since then I have been able to get to know the other guys in my class better and my leaders. My class of 22 is made up of 8 guys and 14 girls... with young people ranging from someone who just turned 18 to a 24-year-old and we all have a different stories of how we got here. It is extraordinary to see all these people come from different walks of life... different countries (USA, Scotland, England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Fiji)... and at different levels in their faith with different gifts from God; it is extraordinary to have us all come together for the same reason of wanting to know God more!

The start of class meant a few different things. It means that I won't be relaxing all that often anymore, for one thing :) We have lectures in the morning starting at 8 and going until lunch at 12:30. Not to mention, everyday exercise which starts at 6:15 in the morning, before breakfast. At first I was not very keen on that idea...but I think God will really be able to use that time, and I will benefit greatly from waking up a bit earlier and starting my day off with some excercise. Along with the lecture, we have homework to do. On top of all that, we also have work duties.... each student has a work duty to help out around the base along, along with some personal benefits as we learn to live in this community and grow in our faith.

Well, that's a pretty rough description of what has been going on around here. I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my life here at YWAM, Reef to Outback. I would really love to get any questions you might have in an e-mail from you guys and explain further what's going on here and see how things are going back home. Thank you so much for all your support! In prayer, and finances! Without it, I wouldn't be able to be here! God is an awesome God. So, keep in touch, and take care :)

-Jacob Cochran

job.chran@gmail.com