Welcome to the IOC

I have been at the IOC for a little over a week now. You may be wondering what the IOC is and where I am having classes every day. I am devoted this blog to you curious ones :)



The IOC (International Operation Center) is in East Texas on 400 acres of land. The property has many buildings but consists of mainly farm land. In fact, while on a tour of the property, we were assigned to herd in some cattle. It was quite fun, as long as you watched where you were stepping. 

Our group herding cattle (photo compliments of my roomy Jen!)

Welcome to the Family Dorms! The lower level is the housing for all Gateway participants. Behind our dorm is the International Lounge, this is where are classes are held every day. The upper levels are staffing offices.

I am welcomed with a sign and a personal verse. I have 3 roommates and we are all from the US.

Here is our little kitchen in the dorm. We have breakfast in our dorm room and other meals are provided at the Oasis (another building).

The lounge in our dorm is quite comfortable and has a Michigan style fireplace. I don't think we will be needing to use it since the weather is in the 90's (F).

Our lounge. This is where we all gather after a long day of class and sit on our computers or watch movies together.

Yes, Texas has trees! If you can't tell, it is very dry from the drought.

Welcome to the International Lounge. This is where class is held during the week.

Flags from many nations hang above us during class. I now belong to an international environment with at least 40 different nations represented.

As one of our activities this week, we had to describe the worlds view of God. We were given posters to illustrate this. As you can see above, this is the loving Father perception.

Santa Claus was my groups topic. It's amazing how the characteristics of Santa Claus really can corralate with our thoughts of God.

My favorite poster! A lot of people think God is like a Dictator. As you can see from the illustration, God is saying "Obey me or DIE!" as lightning and fireballs are falling from the sky. Yes, people see God is a dictator.

With this exercise, we had to write all of the feelings we've had toward God on sticky notes and place them on this scale. One side is positive and the other is negative. What are some of the feelings you've had toward God?

After sitting in class for 8 hours a day, we are all feeling a little bit sore. Here we have a group message during one of our breaks.