new home.

all moved into my new home in helena, arkansas. through some awesome networking i was able to find an actual house to live in over the next two years. the house is amazing and the rent is very very reasonable (less than the rent i paid for my small little aparment in auburn.) it will be myself and three other first year tfa guys. the house is already furnished and just overall amazing. its much nicer than anything i was expecting. over the past couple of days i have been getting acquainted with the town and doing as much moving in as i can. so far i love it here. the tfa support network is truly amazing and the second year corps members in helena have been overwhelmingly helpful. so far i've gotten a bed, end table, and computer desk for a total of $35. haha. i bought the computer desk and end table at a thrift store type place but had no way of getting it to my house. to help me out, the owner of the store decided to give me the keys to his truck and let me drive it over. ahh, how i love small towns.

i went and talked to the head football coach one of my first days being here and he said that he would be glad for me to help out so yesterday was my first official day of football practice. it was fantastic. our team made it to the state finals last year, only to loose to a team that they had already beaten earlier in the season. we open our season on the road against said team and i already have a deep dislike for them and i'm ready to beat them. the guy we are renting from is out of town and our "contact person" for the house just so happened to be a local preacher at a church that i was already thinking about checking out. so yesterday i went up to the church and talked to him for an hour or two. i have a feeling i will be needing much prayer over the next couple of years so i think that was a pretty good contact to make.

so to sum up, its been fantastic so far. i already feel like a member of this community in only two and half days.
our team is currently at a 7-on-7 football camp at the university of arkansas. yesterday i went up to the school to wish them luck before they left for camp. hearing three or four of them say "see you next week coach" was a particularly wonderful feeling. i can already see that the small, rewarding occurances such as that will help me make it through the next year. i've heard lots and lots of stories from second years about how difficult this job will be, and after only five weeks of institute i already can forsee much hardship coming my way. but, as i said, the small victories can and will push me through. hope everyone is doing well. update me on your lives. peace.