so which is better

i have been living in Ballarat for almost 3 years now
i moved here to study at the University of Ballarat in feburaury 2002
after completing my VCE (highschool)
my first year in Ballarat was a good one for me
new friends, new place, new church
i lived on residence at the uni
in a 10 room unit with Ten people
and next door our sister unit the same
i spent alot of time with these 20 or so people
often even more people due to the surrounding units and community life
the nearest person i knew who was a Christian
a girl who lived a few minutes walk up the hill
i think this was for me a great experience of
living in the world and not of it
i had a really great year that year
and the weekly trek to "the bachpad"
each weekend helped me to not be too influenced
into ways in which God would not have for me to go
see the thing is i have thought about this alot
i had alot of joy that year
so much so that
one of the guys who used to come visit Tom a guy i lived with i lived with
nicknamed me smiley :)
but see i think alot of the joy i had came from knowing that
God was with me and i had alot of people there to influence for him
after a month of me going "God why on earth did i have to live here with all these people"
(see i hadn't had such close friends who don't know God for a few years)
he said "you are here for them they are your mission field"
i didn't winge to God about being there anymore after that
now it was hard and there were times of stumbling and falling over a bit
but i stayed the course and kept on going
and i did have good success
one of the people i lived with even asked me to pray for them
so which is better
to live with people who don't know God
or people who do know God
neither
just to be in constant contact and relationship with those who don't know him
i will blog about the next years almost opposite experience next time