Church?

Well my first full week of operating with this unit has gone past. They're a great unit. My roommate also got back from some classes he was taking elsewhere. It was kind of nice having the whole room to myself. But everyone gets a roommate. It's just part of the deal. And it's an improvement over sleeping in a bay with 60 t0 70 other guys (and girls like in Kuwait). I'll be getting some pictures developed and put here on my blog so you can have an idea of what things are like. Overall the army takes good care of us. At the same time that doesn't mitigate the danger that is present around us. With in the last hour two mortars struck the area. The plumes of black smoke streaming in the sky are still climbing skyward. Also a vehicle born explosive has just exploded at the gates within the last hour. I was watching CNN recently listening to the reporter describe some of the lasted attacks by the enemies of Iraqi progress and I was a little unsettled when I recognized the area he was broadcasting from. However, we don't live in constant fear of our lives it's a rather big base and if my luck with the lottery is any indication one of those mortars won't strike in my vicinity.

Today I got the opportunity for the first time to attend a Seventh-day Adventist worship service on the other side of the post. Since I arrived, a short time ago, I’ve been keeping my eyes open looking for any SDA worship postings on the various bulletin boards. I finally found a worship schedule posted in one of the restrooms. I had seen other ones around the post but this one included an SDA service at 11:30 Saturday morning. I let my unit’s leadership know that I had found one. They knew that I had been looking for such and opportunity. So my platoon Sgt. drove me over at about 11am. Good thing too because the chapel we has thought was the one we needed turned out to not be. So we had to drive around a bit. This was no Saturday morning driving joyride. These former palace roads are narrow. And there were a few times when a truck rounded the corner and we found ourselves dangling on a curb that lined the road. I thought for sure we’d get stuck. But those humvees are made for tough situation. I have many times commented to myself that these things are more machines than they are vehicle. Anyway we found the chapel by 11:45. The Sgt. dropped me off and said he’d be back in an hour. I walked up to the chapel and it didn’t seem to be occupied. The door was open, which was good since it was air conditioned inside. But it was empty. I walked through looking in various attached rooms but no one was home. I went out the back door and ran into a chaplain’s assistant. He said the schedule I had seen was an old one and he sent me into the office to talk to the NCO to answer any of my questions. I learned that there were no SDA chaplains and so they had discontinued the services. Well I had an hour on my hands so I went back into the chapel and lead out in my own service. Complete with song service and an inspirational thought. I went back to the NCO’s office and asked if it was ok if I kept coming. He said that would be fine. And then I asked if it was ok if I brought other SDA’s if I happened to come across them. He said that would be fine too. So I’ll have to see what I can do about rounding up some of my fellow SDAs cause I can’t be the only SDA in the city.