Racine, Wisconsin (pt 1)

Okay so it's been a few days since I have written but that's thanks to sketchy internet service. But anyways can we just talk about how great God is and how blessed I am to have this job. Yesterday was registration in Illinois at the camp that we helped set up at, and it was just an awesome day. I mean I got to hang out with kids all day just being goofy and making people laugh and feel welcome. I cannot wait until Sunday when my first camp kicks off. The more I think about this job, the more I just fall in love with it, and the God for whom I have it. This is such a great opportunity for kids to encounter the love of Christ, and for me to even play a part in that is one of the biggest blessings of my life. Another thing that is amazing is the relationships with my crew and other staff that I am creating, and I can only pray that God uses them for the good and to His glory. I am hoping that I am able to help my crew grow closer to Him, and I am also hoping that they will challenge me to grow closer as well. But major downside of this job: goodbyes. It is filled with them everywhere I turn, and I knew that that would be the case, but it doesn't change how much it sucks. We finally left the crew that we helped set up and it was a ton tougher than I thought it was going to be, even saying goodbye to the campers that I had met that day sucked. But moving on to happier things, we are in Racine, Wisconsin which is where our first camp is taking place!!!! Set up starts Wednesday and kids arrive Sunday, and I could not be more excited! As far as my walk is going right now it's good, but obviously it could be better. I'm reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan (or at least attempting too I'm only on like chapter 2) but it's good so far. And our crew devos are going well, almost done with James and no matter how times I go through that book, God finds a way to slap me in the face with conviction and encouragement in a new way every time, and I thank Him that he does. If you haven't guessed from previous entries my goal for this summer is to refocus on Him, and as far as that is going, I think I'm getting there. It's tough, but I can see myself moving in the right direction at least. I pray that through crew devos and my own devos God continues to reveal to me areas where I need to refocus back to Him, and so far so good. But once again I've probably written too much, but oh well. I'm going to sleep, meeting the Charlie our cosponsor tomorrow, should be a great day. Peace Out.

Mt. Pulaski, Illinois

Ok so we are in Illinois now helping another crew help set up for their camp, and so far so good. Today we actually helped prepare a site for camp week, and by prepare I mean we helped drywall two different rooms. One of these rooms was a little girl's named Olivia, which had no insulation so she would use space heaters in order to stay warm. She is really cute and it was awesome just to get to spend time with her and the other kids (singing Beiber, Cyrus, and Swift, while playing some hopscotch). God is so great, he continues to show me how rewarding serving him is, even when I get nothing out of it, physically or emotionally, he fills my cup spiritually. Just seeing the joy on the girls' faces earlier today, and the atmosphere of being with others who are serving is just incredibly encouraging. Another thing is that I am excited about how God is going to work in my crew, I pray that he opens our hearts to be more willing to listen to what he has to say to us. I'm more excited and prayerful about what is going to happen in the lives of my crewmates more than I am about mine. God is definitely going to do some amazing things this summer. Crew devo's were James 4:1-12, talking about how we should be humble, not be part of this world, and not to judge. All things that I need to work on. We also talked about not losing that spiritual "high" and that is one thing that I do not want to do. Which is why I continue to make sure my focus is God at all times. But I think that's all for now. I'm making like a narcoleptic and zzzzzz....

St. Louis (pt.2)

Ok so 2nd night night in St. Louis, and overall it was a good day I guess. Went to the top of the arch willy wonka style, and then went to the zoo, which was free and it was awesome, I love animals. Then went to the pool and chilled with everybody one last time. That brings me next to point of why today was not such a great day and that is that I will never be with this group of friends again at the same time, I miss them all already. We all part ways tomorrow and it is very sad. Also on a sad note my papa had a rough day which means it was rough on me. God has been working so much in life, and today he taught me some more patience, I got upset for random, small things that shouldn't matter. I pray that God continues to teach me patience cause I will definitely need it. Crew devos tonight James 3:13-18 very very good. Well I'm tired and get to sleep in tomorrow which I am now going to take advantage of so peace out.

St. Louis (quick training thoughts)

Ok, so right now I'm in St. Louis where I'll be for tonight and tomorrow, then I'm on to Mt. Palaski (sp?), Illinois to help set up a camp there, then I'm off to Racine, Wisconsin where my first camp will be! I'm so anxious it's not even funny! But here's the real thing I wanted to talk about, which was my experiences and lessons learned from training...
First of can we just talk about how awesome the mountains were (of course we can cause it's my blog). but with that said the mountains in Colorado are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and make me stand in even bigger awe of the Almighty God. I think I truly did see where Heaven meets Earth, and I think I got a small taste of what that feels like (check out pictures on facebook).
Second, lessons learned.. a) god is bigger than i could ever imagine b) we all have struggles but we should still be willing to serve c) we (as in the body of christ) are separated by many things, but are joined to together by his love and by a common will to serve him. d) life-long friends can be made at anytime. e) this summer is going to be tough in many aspects but God is going to be there to help me through it. f) probably the most important, there is no greater joy in serving the God of this universe and the people he loves so much
Third, friends that i have made... these people are amazing, and for many of them i could not see myself without them.. I am so blessed to have meet a group of people so open and so willing to serve the maker of the universe like i do. God is continuing to teach me things through them, and i pray that he never stops. I learned a lot through these people that i might not have otherwise. One of those things is that conversations until 4:30 in the morning are usually much more with it than people think, and that also goes for conversations until 2:30 or 3:30 as well.
Fourth, missing people.. I miss all of my family and friends so much, there are many problems that are going on in their lives that i wish i could help with more than just talking on the phone or text, and for that I am sorry. I wish I could be there with you guys, or that you could be here with me experiencing all of this. Just know that I love all of you and that God is there to support you even when I cannot.
Fifth and final, I ask that God keeps me focused this summer, because I am someone who loses that focus verily easily and I can see it happening a little already. So i need constant encouragement to stay focused on the one thing that really matters which is God and God alone. So with that said I am going to go to sleep so I can get up and go see a friend of mine maybe for the last time this summer :(. Goodnight.

Summer Staff Training

So I know no one reads this but if anybody does here's a new one...

I am now in Colorado, in the beautiful mountains, for summer staff (group workcamps) training. I'm already in love with this place even though I'm only going to be here for two weeks. The people here are amazing, and my crew is awesome. I am the program manager meaning i have to do the sound and media for the programs on the trips. It's already proven to be more stressful than I thought but the training only proves to be more and more encouraging. I'm really enjoying meeting everybody here, and learning their story, everybody is different, unique, and awesome in their own way. I'm excited to see what the rest of these two weeks and the summer has in store for me. I'm so eager to serve God and others in new ways and wholeheartedly, I just have to keep my focus on the most important thing ever, God the Almighty.

God=Awesome, Incredible, Encouraging, Loving, Indescribable!!

Camp=Amazingness-yep I made that word up and don't care. But for real YOKE camp was awesome, God is awesome, the kids there were awesome, and all of the YOKE Folk are awesome. God continues to completely leave me speechless. Everyday I realize how much I need Him, and how much He loves to be needed by me! I'm still working on giving up complete control to Him, and this weekend only helped. I honestly think that I got just as much out of this weekend as they did. But I am still glad and thankful that He gives me the opportunity to witness to them. I can only pray that I have an influence on them that shows the love of Christ. Oh yea and I lost my voice, but it's all good. This week is going to be a good one, I think, it's funny when you start looking at things (or at least trying to) through Christ's point of view, you find yourself looking on the brighter sides of things too. I get to go home this week too, which will be good to see everyone. But I'm going to bed right now, I have a CLEP test at like 12ish or 1, but I just wanted to say how awesome, incredible, inspiring, encouraging, loving, and all around indescribable the God that I love and worship is! Goodnight.

Irony

Things are so ironic sometimes aren't they? And I believe that God uses irony to get our attention sometimes. For instance, I find it very ironic that for the past couple weeks I have been wanting to get things in line, like my priorities and stuff (i.e. my time, my money, my point of view on things). And in the past two weeks on numerous different occasions, in different classes and chapel, I have heard people talk about the importance of these things. Ironic right? I don't know maybe it's not really irony and it's just God pointing me in the right direction, with a friendly reminder. I don't know.

But on another note things are looking up still, this week has been good overall, I'm still working on some things, but I think I'm making progress. This whole putting God first thing really does work, who would of thought? I am almost ahead on my homework for once, I finished a huge project tonight, and I'm glad it's over with. It just sucks to think about the future ones that are coming up though. It's a never ending circle, but that's college, oh well. Oh, I have YOKE camp this weekend, I'm pretty excited for that. YOKE is a volunteer organization that I work with that is an outreach to junior high kids, it's a blast for sure.

Not to be a debbie downer or anything but I was thinking about my Papa today. I miss him. He lives in Kansas, and has Alzheimer's. He is still in the early stages, and it's more just dementia right now but I just wish I could see him right now. I love him so much, and him and I were like best friends when I lived in Kansas, we were so close. I miss that.

Sorry, didn't mean to get all sad but just like everything else I say on here, it's just stuff I need to vent. But I won't leave without trying to bring the mood back up a little. Registration for next semester are tomorrow, it's nuts to think that I'm almost half way done with my first year in college! Time is something that moves at the speed of light. I get to go home in like 9 days, that's cool stuff. I get to see my family and some other people that I miss. I'm actually am really excited to see them all. But I'm going to sleep now, cause I'm gonna wake up early (aka 5:40) so that I can actually get the classes I want, like piano (that's right I'm taking piano and I'm gonna be awesome at it, so ladies prepare your hearts to be melted, just kidding I probably won't be very good at it but it's something I've always wanted to do.) But anyways goodnight.