First Day at Work

Wow. So, all the cool stuff that happened today actually begins before getting to work. I had a decent night's sleep, haven't done that in a while so that was very helpful. Made it to lunch and randomly sat with a couple older ladies, very sweet- I seem to enjoy hanging out with the older employees, they're awesome and not as weird as the younger ones. Anyway, I'll eventually get back to one of them, her name is Kathy. They shared some stories and I had to get movin to get ready for work. When I got to work, I clocked in, but had nowhere to go from there. I had a general idea where I was working but no clue who to report to, or what I was supposed to be doing. I ended up in a back office deep in the kitchen, and there was Kathy. She does database work and hops between buildings and just happened to be in the Old Faithful Lodge today. She wandered with me for a bit trying to find someone to dump me off on and finally settled with having me wait in the office. We got to talking a bit more and she asked how I ended up working in Yellowstone. (This has been my greatest chance to let people know I'm a Christian, I love that question!) When she found out that I was a Christian she shook my hand and said she was glad to meet "another one". She told me how hard it has been for some people here as Christians, in particular another guy she knows of who she wants to put in contact with our ACMNP group for support. She reminded me that this place is fairly full of darkness and that I'll have my share of rough times, and that our ACMNP group needs to be faithful in supporting each other. She also told me that she would definitely be praying for us. She reminded me that this is a mission field as much as any place overseas and that its not always going to be easy. As discouraging as that should have been, I wasn't discouraged in the least. Knowing that I have Kathy praying and supporting me, even that she is just there to talk with once in a while, was incredibly encouraging. I was also reminded of part of a Bible verse I memorized a few months ago. Looking back now I realized God put that on my heart for this very reason. The verse stood out to me when I read it and for some reason I wanted to memorize it. The end of Isaiah 7:9- "if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."
A couple minutes later, the lead manager, Frank, steps in (who Kathy described as an "impatient" man, very true, he seems to run a short temper and you can't really tell if he's joking or not-definitely best to just take him seriously) and he's a little put off that I hadn't been working for the past 10 minutes. I had met Frank the day before as well and kinda knew that I shouldn't be getting on his bad side. In addition, it was the lunchtime rush so he was a bit more impatient than usual I think. As he shows me to the dishwashing area he starts talking to me about moving up to a cook sometime soon, I didn't have to ask. Later on in the night he stops by again and tells me that I'll most likely be moved up in the next week or so since he had a couple open spaces. Very exciting! Especially since I didn't really ask for a different job. Thank you God!
Finally, things went really well at work. I definitely like the people that I'm working with, they're all very helpful. A couple notables, Rainy a girl from Thailand, I enjoyed talking with her, she's pretty awesome. Ye, a girl from China, trained me in for cleaning the larger pots and whatnot. John, totally reminds me of the Russian guy from Ironman2, they could be twins... anyway, I guess he was the supervisor, he showed me around a bit and showed me where to put things away etc.
So yeah, God's really been helping me to be more outgoing and open for conversations. Be praying that He would continue to bless those friendships and that I'll continue to stand strong as a Christian and that I can live as an example of Christ.