Six Weeks In

I've failed at keeping everyone updated on the things going on all summer long. The amount of things that have happened really exceed words, but I feel like pictures will do some justice to it.

My awesome staff team week 2 at Willow Creek Dam

The girls keep me going

Staff friendship bracelets for the win!

Yes, we go fanny packs. And we rock them. Respect the pack

The Rules of Life:

1. Never turn down a free donut

2. If you can't decide between two donuts, get both.

3. Never waste any part of a donut

Rule of Thumb: The raised glazed is a timeless classic

Some of my most favorite people all in the same picture and place.

My baby brother came to visit! A whole week with this kid is exactly what I needed.

Bestest friend. Yep.

Went to my first powwow. Coolest thing I have ever seen. I highly recommend it to everyone

Some of the best kids of the summer

My favorite girls of the summer.  They are so full of joy, happiness, and laughter, and it was such a blessing to have met them and built some awesome relationships with them. I can't wait to see how God keeps us all together as time goes on. 

Get a whole day off, Zach and I go on a 6 mile hike. Best decision we've made all summer

Spent a week in Lame Deer, Montana on the Norther Cheyenne Reservation. Beautiful sunsets, super cute kids and new best friends.

It's seriously hard to believe that in less than a month I will be home again, and that my summer adventure that I had waited so long to happen will be over. I have so many memories, and I know that the next 3 weeks will bring so many more. I praise God for this experience, the people I've met and touched, placing me in my second home of Lodge Grass once again, and I pray that I will get to do this again next summer. 

Week One.

Talk about a great first week. After a week in Denver for training and then a week locked in our housing site preparing for our groups to come, you could say that we were ready. But I don't think we were ready for such awesome groups. We had 11 staff members, and two groups making up 39 participants. So basically a 3 to 1 ratio. The bigger group, The Baptist Church, was from Kansas, and we were not ready for such a great group with awesome loving youth and adult leaders who were so supportive and encouraging. 

Our second group was from South Dakota, Faith Baptist. They were much smaller, but so mature and were the sweetest kids. 

We were worried about it being our first week that a lot of things may go wrong, but we managed to keep our composure and handled everything like pros. We had one day of rain, the day we were supposed to go to Willow Creek Dam, but YouthWorks Olympics worked our perfectly. 

Making connections and relationships with the different church groups is such a blessing and the fact that we can connect with them on such a higher level is so awesome. I can't wait to stay in touch with all the kids. Making relationships with the community kids and becoming so much fun as well. They are starting to remember us, remember our names and want to hangout with us when they can. Relationships are one of the most important things, and it's such a blessing to build those. A little girl named Aimee has stolen my heart, and I can't wait to spend the whole entire summer with her. 

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to really know the participants and hop from each ministry site throughout the week and see them working within the community. This last week, it was so cool so see how much the different groups grew as individuals, as site groups and as church groups. I could see how God was working in each of them, and how he was using them in the community. I cannot wait to see how this first week compares to our last week. 

I am so incredibly thankful for my team. We click so well, and have already become like a little family. It makes me sad that in just a few shorts months I won't be waking up next to Ella and Valerie and I won't get to hangout with Zach and TJ on a daily basis. 

(Ellie, Zach, Valerie, Ella, TJ)

Your continued prayers are much appreciated as we start our second week and get our new groups this afternoon. God is so good and is working in this community; my heart is so full from all of our experiences so far. 

Willow Creek Dam

Little Bighorn Battlefield 

Culture night with Wales

Service.

Well. I've made a new blog.
This one is going to be a bit different though....

Over the years, I've come to realize that I have quite the passion of serving others, and being able to show them God's love through service. If I could spend all my time doing this, I would in a heart beat. Four mission trips to Lodge Grass, Montana with the youth group, and a mission trip to Guatemala last spring break, I just can't seem to get enough of serving others and showing them God's love.
With that said, I am excited to say that this summer I am going on an adventure; an adventure that I've wanted to go on since the summer of my freshman year of high school. As of a few weeks ago, I achieved and have been given the opportunity to work at my dream job, a missions organization called YouthWorks!. Basically, YouthWorks!' core purpose is to provide life-changing, Christ-centered mission trips to high school students on rural, urban and reservations sites all across the country. Out of over 2000+ applicants, only 300 some get hired, and I just happen to be one of those. The position I have been given is as Program Coordinator, which means that every night at "Club", I give a small take based on the theme that has been picked for the summer and the individual theme that is picked for each night. I also got hired as a guitar player, and my fingers are about ready to fall off from all the practicing I've been doing.

While debating on making this blog, I wanted some way for my family and friends to be able to keep up with me this summer (since texting all the time isn't really an option)  and with all the excited work that will be done, and this just seemed like the best way. As of right now, I don't know where I'll be headed for the summer, which means I don't know if there will be internet or not. I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep this updated after I leave at the end of May, by adding fun pictures of all that we are doing and whatnot (and  of course doing it so my mom knows that I'm not dead). But until I'm  there, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Hopefully within the next few months (probably by the end of April, beginning of May), I will know where I am being sent for training and then where I will be stationed for the summer.

I am so absolutely excited for this summer to start and I feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to come up in my life and I thank God for it all. I am continually praying for the community that I will be placed in, the three other YouthWorks! staff that I will be working with, and for all of the groups that will be joining us each week.