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BSSM Update 1 - Journey + Wiskeytown

BSSM Journals

So if I’m honest, it’s a tad hard to write a blog post that contains one week in which you literally moved out of home, moved to the other side of the planet, moved in with three guys you’ve never really met before, started a new school, met some of the most amazing people and been pushed more than  you ever have. It’s a little tricky but i’ll give it a go.

The journey over here took best part of 30 hours door to door. It’s the longest i’ve ever traveled, and in all honesty, It wasn’t the best way to start the year. Nine hours from Gatwick to JFK, then a night on the floor at JFK. After what felt like forever in the most empty, strange airport terminal i’ve ever been in, we finally boarded the plane to Atlanta. At this point i’m so tired I literally fall asleep as soon as we take off. Of course only to be awoken by the flight attendant asking if I wanted a cookie, sure I thought, never going to say no to a cookie. So lesson one of America, Cookies are not Cookies. It’s a biscuit. The kind you get with your coffee at a Hospital.

We land in Atlanta and the spirits of Molly, Tim (My travelling people) and Myself are pretty low. As much as it’s only one journey left, it’s a solid 6 hours to Sacramento from here. So I sit down on the plane, and have the best view across America I could ever of imagined.

Anyway so fast forward 10 hours and we’re in San Francisco picking up some other BSSM students before heading to Redding. (Can you see how this was getting a little draining?) I’m honestly not sure how I didn’t explode and die at this point. All I want is to sleep. Maybe it was the amazing pulled pork sandwich we had, not just the sheer amount of Caffeine an American “Small” coke, but somehow I’m aware enough to see the Golden Gate bridge.  It’s nice, but the traffic in San Francisco keeps us for another hour. Our driver Nicole shares her amazing testimony and it rocks us completely, it’s like a foreshadowing of the year to come..

Finally we arrive in Redding. Enter sleep.

Two days past, and its the World Premiere of the New Holy Ghost documentary film, after the showing we made our way to Westside pizza. Where there a casaul Fire Tunnel (This is where people made a “Tunnel” and pray for you as you walk through”). It’s got kinda crazy, but God was there, so it’s all good.

So after a few days of orientating ourselves in Redding, it started to get hot. Now I get it, those of you in England at the moment are sat in your Jumpers and socks in September, wishing you’d got the fire fixed for this winter. This is not the case in Redding. So at the moment, 102 Degree Fahrenheit, that’s 39 to the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, we made our way down to Wiskeytown lake. This is the most surreal experience for anyone who lives in the UK. Straight up something out of coming of age American College film, we all bundle into two cars and drive convoy for 30 minutes through winding mountain roads with the radio blasting. There are some serious advantages to living in California afterall. I’ve adapted to the weather much faster than I expected, and much faster than those around me. 100 degree weather seems very normal.

Wiskeytown is beautiful. I'm so blessed to have a place like that so close to my house. School really kicks off next week, so I'll let you know how that goes after the first full week is over. For now, I've had two full days at BSSM, and it's rocked my world. I've got a ton of reading to do, and a load of reports to get done. This course is a lot more academic work then I expected, but its all amazing content, so no one really minds.

I’ll round this one off here to prevent a this becoming an essay, i’ll tell you about school in my next blog. For now, be praying for Finances for my friends, favour and jobs for people in the School, and that God would destroy expectations and replace him with what he wants to do.

Peace and Wildest Blessings.

Matt

Redding, CA from Matt Higham on Vimeo.