Home is Where the Heart Is

Oct. 5

7am

Perth, Australia

Home is a funny concept.

 We spend so much time trying to create this place called, "home", trying to find it, or save it, or to keep it together. However, I've come to the conclusion that home is not a place. That cheesy line we know is so true, "home is where the heart is."

36 hours of constant travel and you'd think a person would be wiped and cranky!  (Haha.. well maybe that is the truth, but I'm am just blind to it.) Last night I was tired, but everything already has been quite beautiful. After going through my last (painstakingly long..) line up and customs and security and the Perth airport, I was greeted by two of my school leaders. We hopped into their old bus and headed to the YWAM base, about 20 minutes away. It was so great to finally start putting faces to names. After getting to my apartment I was finally able to unload, shower, and put on clothing that didn't smell like airplane. (P.s… a shower, even a cold one, after a 36 hour travel experience, is a glorious thing.)

A girl from Germany noticed the obvious look of jet lag on my face and offered me an energy drink. We started talking and realized we had both just arrived that day, and weren't quite sure what to expect from this YWAM adventure. Afterwards we all gathered at the school cafeteria to eat supper together with everyone at the school and get to know one another. (It was strange to just join in and eat with everyone, instead of being the cook behind the scenes. That will take some getting used to.)

After supper I met up with some of the other girls from my program at their house, just to say hello and put more faces to names. Instead of dorm rooms, YWAM rents houses near by the base for the students to live in. There is a girl's house and a guy's house for my DTS, but I am in an "overflow" house, which is actually closer to the base. I'm thankful that I get to stay in the house that I am in because it is a mixture of other students from different programs, and some of the staff. That way I will have the chance to get to know other people at the school as well, and not always be with the select few from my program. And I think I will also be able to be a bit more independent as well. 

I fell asleep last night soon after 8pm, Aussie time. Then this morning I woke up to warm drizzling rain outside - quiet - and a finally rested sleep. (Praise the Lord for everyone else being asleep! It was really refreshing to have that alone time.) I decided to get ready and went for a walk around the neighbourhood around the base. It was so nice to just be outside, and to simply just, well, "be". 

I'm so thankful for this beautiful place, these people, and this opportunity to reflect and grow in new ways. "God, may you bless this crazy adventure, and the other people crazy enough to be here!" I'm thankful for the home feeling I have already, and am thankful for the many homes I have encountered in life. 

To my family and my B.C. homebodies: I miss you, and I love you, and I am thinking of you. 

Peace be with you, 

Melody Kostamo, 

Perth, Australia