Death of a Boxcar

I am writing this post after my first few days of being a full blown teacher. I will write about that experience in a few days. I am still processing my thoughts about how it all went. For now, I feel great about the first week and know it went well. Starting Monday, we really dive into the curriculum. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

What I want to share is about the night I had two nights prior to school starting. Myself, along with a 26 year old dentist that is here until December took the senior high guys out camping for a night. It was a blast. We stayed at what is called "the hot springs". It takes about 45 minutes along the railroad tracks near RVA to hike out there. The title of this post comes from the sad fact that at the bottom of the ravine there was a boxcar that fell off a train a while back. When I was in high school it was fun to stand in the boxcar (which was on a slope) and then tilt the camera to give the illusion that we were standing and defying gravity. (This is hard to explain in writing and best to show a picture which I don't have). Anyways, I was horrified to find out that just recently, people have come to the boxcar and hacked it to pieces for scrap metal. This is all that is left: (picture upl0ader not working at the moment, I will post later...)

For all that remember and loved the boxcar, now is the time for a moment of silence.

As for the camping. It was incredible. The only things you have to worry about while camping out here are thugs (thieves) or baboons. Luckily we didn't have to deal with either. Matt (the dentist) and I had a wonderful time and opportunity to share with the guys what it meant to be a Christian leader at the school during their final year. It was a great discussion. We then opened it up to allow them to ask us any questions on their hearts. They asked about college life, how to stay strong in their faith and the inevitable, girls. I let Matt handle this category because I have very little experience in this department.

All in all, it was a great time and I am very thankful to the Lord for giving me this opportunity!

More to come about school...

Thanks again for all your prayers and eat a Chipolte burrito for me! :)

RYAN

Support update:
I feel like I should be transparent with you all about my money situations, since a lot of you are responsible for my being here in Kenya! I just got my monthly statement for the month of August and I was about $400 shy of my target. This is not horrible since the previous month I was about $400 over the target. But I would just encourage you all to keep praying for this situation that God would bring a few more faithful supporters to me. If you are interested in giving towards this ministry just shoot me an email at ryan.e.dahlman@gmail.com!