Long Time Gone, pt. 1

Anyone who knows me knows I am not the biggest fan of country. So it's kind of funny that as I typed the title of today's blog that the Dixie Chicks' voices started twirling through my head. That's what you get when the only country you listen to as a child consists of Shania Twain and those crazy Chicks. But I digress. 

I got home from my three week whirlwind adventures two afternoons ago. Oh sweet rest. To recap, I was in Colorado at Frontier Ranch for one week, Pine Cove for ropes training (trailblazing) the next, and this past week, all camp orientation at Pine Cove. I must say, it is good to be home. I am thankful I am working second half so that I have time to regroup, reenergize, and prepare myself mentally for the six weeks I will be spending with middle schoolers. 

A few highlights:

I loved just being in the mountains. It does something to my soul. As the saying goes: "The mountains are calling, and I must go". This trip furthered my desire (and every other college kid in the US) to live in Colorado for an extended period of time. 

This group of goobers are both Wyldlife teams for the Brazos Valley: SFA and Jane Long. We were blessed to get to work side by side for the week with Nasty Nav moving boulders and clearing out brush. This pretty much meant we would lift rocks, move them, rake underneath where the rocks were, and move the rocks back. And let me tell you, these were not just pebbles, my friends. These were boulders. It might seem like a menial task, but we are called to be good stewards of the land the Lord has provided us with in order to provide a distraction-free zone for the campers. We want these kids to experience Jesus like never before! Many friendships were forged and even more were deepened. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to go on the trip and spend time with these guys! Welcome to Young Life, y'all!

 The highlight of the trip was hiking up to a mountain that had crosses scattered across the summit. The hike was steep but the views were incredible. I cannot even explain to you how beautiful this was. We decided to hike it at dusk on our last day which turned out to be the perfect lighting. The beauty of the cross, no doubt. I am thinking I might get this picture printed and hung in my room.

 Here's the view from a different angle. This is my friend on my team Jennifer. We were the only girls in our group to hike up, but we got to scramble along with some of my best guy friends (we missed you, Haydo!) and be goofy on top of the mountains. Such a sweet friendship!

Young Life camps are incredible in every sense of the word. The most wonderful part about camp is how every inch of camp is covered in prayer. Even cooler is the thought that every inch of that camp has been used to transform a kid into Christ's love. We can only pray that God's work would continue for many more years on that property. He is doing some mighty, mighty things!

So that was week one. Tune in tomorrow (or soon thereafter) to hear about my time at Pine Cove!