Continued....

Sunday May 20th. 180 students arrived. So neat, mostly because it was a full session!  That seldom happens for the first session . The two weeks flew by and it went well. That seems solo long ago, it is hard to remember all that happened. 

Fast forward two weeks. June 3rd . Another full session . Again great session. I still miss my small group girls. 

Jump forward again  . June 17,2012   The start of what we all thought was another normal full session. A great fun student body. Lots of energy but attentive , well behaved group.  Wonderful first week , many good speakers. Normal daily life for staff. Until Saturday .      .      .    .      .  . . . ........... 1:00 pm. We saw smoke coming from the mountain top a ways away. 2:30 pm. We see billows of more smoke. Go to sports time and park cookout. 6:30 return from park . 8:00 Staff meeting about smoke/fire. 9:00 Serious staff meeting about potential evacuation plan. During the course of the meeting we got the call that we were no longer in danger so we could either quite the meeting or proceed and talk it all out anyways. We did the later. (good idea always.) little did we know.......

Midnight. Myself and other staff are outside watching the smokiness and fireishness . (it was on the other side of the mtn so it was hard to see) . Suddenly the wind is in our face, 5 min later we see billowing flames coming over the mountain towards us! Sudden decision to go to bed.

1:09 am Sunday, June 10th . The  evacuation call came. Chaos? Nope. Literally cool, calm ,collected leaders guided us , and in turn we the staff guided the students safely to the buses.

Within forty-five min we had every student , every staff, every faculty member , guests and all. 300 young people onto the buses with their overnight bag . Amazing. 

Even more amazing, was the fact that Mountain Springs church welcomed us at 3AM with open arms....and sleeping bags......and pillows....and 50 air mattresses ...and water... And smiles! Crazy. We ended up staying there for an entire week. Mind blown. Who knew that the body of Christ still exists in that loving of a way . Wow. God is amazing. Life is crazy. 

Alive and well

Whoops, I have a blog. Thanks to my coworker for reminding me.
I am still in CO and loving it! I want to tell you all about my summer so I will just do many post in a row.

May- headed out on the 13 hr trip to Manitou Springs. Myself , 6 other girls and 3 guys opened the hotel after it had been closed for the entire winter.  We painted over 30 rooms, took apart , moved, then reassembled 60 bunk beds, ripped up carpet after carpet, and just scrubbed and cleaned until this place shinned. Hard . Rewarding. Work.
Next up staff training! When 35 more staffers arrived ! Wahoo!  It felt like the best family reunion ever. So many good friends , so much joy.
Staff training was incredible. Dr Jeff Meyers and Mr. Stonestreet did the majority of it. We had lessons on being good mentors to the students and a session on the vision of Summit. Wow. I wanted to listen all day for a week. It was that good. Hearing about their personal passion to see lives changed for Christ and me being part of that was amazing. Realizing how much influence we have . For good or for bad. The getting the understanding behind it all and being able to put it to good use....just three days later when the students would arrive.Next post....

I am back!

Wow! My life is super busy! We have a whole boatload of new staff......and they are great! I am privileged to work with lots of them in the kitchen. We had a fantastic staff training week and now we all working together with 189 students this session! 

As the kitchen supervisor I have a lot more responsibility and work .Thankfully it has been going great. No burn dinner or issues with the food. Just compliments from everyone about their food! 

We now have AC in the classroom. So when it is literally 95 degrees in the kitchen we can take our break in AC. 

I saw my first wild bears !!! Right outside my window was a bear with her 2 cubs. 

Tonight is the Manference and Feminar. The men downstairs and the girls in the dinning room. You can pray for the girls to be open and honest especially in the small groups afterwards. I have some really hurting girls this session.

Off to the kitchen- Love you all! 

WhAt a WelcOme?

Today was the arrival of 180 students once again! THis time though,they have had quite the welcome. We staff have the stomach flu! Talk about disaster. ITs a wreck. We have the paranoid, the optimistic, and then the psychos  who are convinced puking is in their near future.  e.g......"i feel sick ....um blahhhhhh ."
HELP! I am all over the board. 1.Disinfect EVERY possible thing. 2 . I am taking charcoal ,therefore i will make it through this! 3. I want to just throw up and get it over with.
Then there is my personal horribleness.......as soon as we are all almost over it, the first 2 people will them start it all over again. We don't talk about that possibility. We just try to talk about anything but sick.....and then some one walks into the room and you immediately ask if they are feeling  sick even in the slightest.
But hey on the bright side, of all times to be sick, how grand to be sick and have a whole party of sickoes?It could be called the puking party. Can you tell I am super tired? I am going to go to bed now.
If you think of it please , please pray for a fellow staff member who is in need of a lot of prayer concerning issues with the family at home. Thank you all!

Summit Pictures!!!

 Garden of the gods.......beautiful rock formations.

 My first "Incline" hike ever!!!!  My hiking buddies.....Jake and Michaela

 Photo shoot!

 roomies

  Staff friend

 Doc Noble.

 Staff choir

session 1 volleyball winners!!

 My small group

This student and I were told we looked like sisters!

                                These 3 staffers did  a singing ballot for the staff auction .

        I love Kara!

 Small group girl!

 on the way up Pikes Peak

 4 hours later... ....6 1/2 miles.........At the top of Pikes Peak!!!!! Elevation 14,110.  

                                          SUCCESS !!!
 

 I made it!

Guess What?

Hello blogger friends! I am sorry for not posting in a while.
Everything is going very well. Group 2 is gone and group 3 arrived on Sunday. We had a very quiet group the first few days. They have now opened up a lot and are quite attentive.
I am loving my small group girls!  Four 16 year olds with lots of questions and ideas. They are so excited to be here, they are doing great and participating in everything!
I am still in the kitchen .......where I will stay until September!!! I am so excited- the camp director came to me last week and asked if I would consider staying on and being the afternoon kitchen supervisor! After a lot of praying and thinking, I told them I would. I will still come home for 4 days in July and then fly back out. FYI I was seriously considering doing a program called AXiS that would have kept me here until the end of November. But I am going to wait and maybe do that next year. I really enjoy the work and atmosphere . The staff community continues to be my family here. I love seeing the change in the students and then the purpose they see in their lives. Well it is back to the kitchen for me!

Pray

Last night was one of our small group nights. Another girl and I are in charge of 5 girls,  we meet as a group 5-7 times and then 1 on 1 with each of them as much as possible. Last night was testimony/sharing night. The girls laid it all out. Everything they had hidden away and never told anyone about, came out last night. So I ask that you would pray, pray, pray. These girls are searching for answers and looking for help right now. It is really amazing to see how much God is working here, but at the same time is it so devastating to realize what they have gone through. So please just be in prayer for the girls as well as Pat ( girls director), Suzanne (my team member) and me as we will be meeting with them. Thank you so much- we NEED your prayers!