Mike Kestler

Last year, Dr. John Goetsch realized that hardly any college students, even if they’ve grown up in church, have ever gone through a personal discipleship course. Usually the only people that get personal attention like that are the ones who’ve really messed up and “need” the extra help, but discipleship is something that every Christian needs. So, he offered a discipleship program to anyone who wanted to come… at 11:00 PM and something like 5:00 AM! He was expecting only a few people to show up, but over 400 students came.

This semester, those students who completed te course, which he called Flight School, have been paired up with freshmen and will be taking us personally through the course. The upperclassmen are called the Eagles, and those of us taking the course are the Eaglets… it’s actually kind of enjoyable . My Eagle is in my dorm and I got to meet him last week when he gave me the material; the course is pretty simple, but it’s just encouraging, helpful stuff, andI’m looking forward to spending time studying the Bible with someone else.

One more great thing about West Coast!

After being in Phoenix getting ready for a week. I was anxious to just get here and get started at school. The drive over was pleasant, and I even got to do some of the driving in the Silver Bullet (my car) sometimes even overtaking the Black Stallion (my family’s car) to the detriment of all on the freeway. We drove through hundreds of miles of Arizona and California desert, but things went well and we made it to Edwards Air Force Base where we had made arrangements to stay. There is a fire burning in this area right now, so ash was falling when we got here and the sky was darkened with what looked like ominous storm clouds, but were really massive clouds of smoke.

On Sunday the 30th, mom and I got to be in our first service together at Lancaster Baptist Church as Pastor Chappell began a new Sunday morning series on the end times. I had been to a few services here last year, but this was the first time that mom had been in a megachurch for a regular service, and of course it was very impressive. It was so nice to see my good friends Anthony, Allison and Aaron again, and to finally meet Lance, Zach, Robert, Ryan and Eden in person! When you make friendships with people over the internet, you sometimes wonder if they are just as odd in person as they seem to be on Facebook, and let me tell you they ar- well, I’d better not say! If you read this guys, I’m just kidding, it’s so great to know you, and thanks for being so friendly.

After the Sunday evening service, all of the freshmen and their families were invited to Pastor Chappell’s house for some food and just to get to meet him. I’m sorry that I don’t have any pictures, but there were a couple hundred people there at least, and somehow we all got fed and found a place to sit for a little while. I was surprised that we were invited over so quickly, but it seems to be very normal given the attitude of openness and caring displayed by Pastor Chappell and really the entire team here.

After we left the Chappell’s, we went back to the campus to look at a couple of buildings, including my new dorm. I live in Heritage I, which is one of the two newest dorms, just opened this semester. From what I hear, the rooms here are the largest on campus (the fact that we’re not girls requiring U-Haul trailers to transport our belongings helps to make it nice and spacious as well.) That night I got to meet one of my room mates and secire the bottom bunk which I so desperately desired. It was also great to have some fun with old friends that night.

Monday Morning, Opening Day

It wasn’t really necessary for me to rise from my slumber at 5:30 AM on Monday, 7 or so would have done just fine, but between the nervousness and excitement, I couldn’t really help it. We finally made it out the door at Edwards by 9:30, enough time to make it down to Lancaster to start registration. Registration stated at 10 AM, and contrary to what people had told me, there wasn’t actually a huge line right then (the long lines started on Tuesday.) I got a nice surprise right away when former missionary Mike McCombie walked up to me and said hello. The church that I grew up in supported the McCombies for many years, and now they live out here which is such a blessing! The first step in the registration process is getting your packet of forms and your student handbook, which I picked up right before mom and the family had to leave. If you’re wondering, there weren’t any tears then, just a few goodbyes, but I’m sure it’s going to be hard on mom very soon, so if you know her, please pray for her.

I spent Monday getting my things semi-organized (read: out of the suitcases), spending some time with my friends and filling out forms. Dr. R.B. Ouellette came that evening to preach for a couple days, so of course his message in the eving was a powerful way to end the first day.

If there is anything that you would like to know about the college, just let me know and I’ll be happy to write about it. I’m finishing this on Wednesday afternoon, so I’m obviously falling behind on writing, but as soon as things smooth out into a routine I’ll get on a writing schedule.