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!

175 lives being changed.starting now.

Hip hip hooray! Today was the arrival day of 171 students. 4 of them came yesterday.
It was very exciting , every time the van arrived from the airport there were 14 staffers screaming and yelling "welcome to Summit" ".CRAZINESS. But the students loved it!
This session I am co-leading with a really nice staffer named Suzanne. Together we are leading 5 girls ages 20 & 21. Awkward for me. I don't think I am going to tell them how old I am.
Today was my first real day in the kitchen as staff. I am so grateful to be in a position I am so comfortable with. So needless to say it went perfectly. I am going to keep this short and sweet so I can get up early  and go to the grocery store to get ingredients to make the guys cookies! Then they will do favors for me and be  extra helpful. Real gentlemen .
I have been thinking and praying for you all back home! I hope the flooding isn't severe!
Love you all!! ALOT!!

Two Weeks Are Gone!

It is hard to believe that 2 weeks are already over with.
Tonight was graduation night. That was really fun but sad. I have met 160 students, most of whom I will never see again. Right now I am in the middle of a privileged "Night Watch" . Here at Summit they actually have employed staff who are "The Night Watch". They do hourly patrols inside and out of the campus, watching for students, hippies and animals (bears, raccoons, and lately skunks).  Nine other students and I are the privileged ones to stay up until 3 am with them. Right now we are eating yummy food and they are watching a movie (I am not in a movie mode!). I have yet to see if I will stay awake until 3, because I start working at 8 am !! I will be making good use of coffee :)
Right before our grad ceremony , we got to go downtown and do a professional  photo shoot..........what a blast!!
I will post pics as soon as I get them. It was so much fun, starting with a cosmetologist doing my makeup , another one doing my hair and them the great photographer!
The best part of my was that I once again became Staff. Hooray!!  I am beyond excited- but also unsure.
Even among  Christian staff there are issues. Like staff becoming way to interested in 16 yr old students? Doesn't go over well ! Disagreements between staff and speakers- not fun, but still its a part of life. I'm pretty sure I will either go home way smarter or brain less. On a great note there are lots of children here. There are at least 14 under the age of 5. I have enjoyed them alot. I honesty can't think of anything else to say. So good-morning!

I am still alive!

Life is super busy and chaotic ! I am 100% ready to be a staffer . My brain has been going crazy- 4 abortion sessions and last night the slid show about the horrible tragedies in Africa. Google "Blood diamonds" and you will see a small reality of a life in Africa for a child. I am pretty sure I will never want a diamond. ever.  

There are so many things I should be writing on here......but I don't have the time or energy! 

Adding to the fact that I am already sleep deprived.....last night we had a "Staff Auction" . Which is when all the staff  volunteer their special services  for the students to bid on , to raise money for Africa. Super neat project. Some of the services are:   Movie Minutes ( a professional 4 min movie of you), Pillow Talk ( You get to be lulled to sleep by Eric's fabulous voice reading you bedtime stories) , Room check Relaxer ( You get passed over room check and get a Starbuck's instead) , Man Panel ( girls get to ask any questions to a panel of 5 staff guys anything you want)  Woman panel ( guys get to ask a panel of girl staff any questions you want), Photo shoot ( taken downtown with professional photographer, makeup artist and poser)  Kitchen Treats ( fresh smoothies and scones ).Then there is Night Watch(who actually sleep during the day and patrol Summit from 10 pm-7am)......which means you get to stay up as long as you want with the night watch,watching out for Hippies,bears and coons, eating awesome food and watching movies! There were a number of other things that got auctioned off as well. 

My group won the Night Watch All-nighter and  my other group won the photo shoot! So, seriously we get a private photo shoot downtown with 1.Prof photographer 2. Make up artist, and 3. A fashion/movie poser on Friday and them I get to stay up all night!! 

Moral of the story, we raised $3,382 for Sudan!! So over the summer thousands of $$$$$ are raised. At on of the last sessions they raised over $4,000 .   

Now for today. I have passed everything I needed to, to be an excellence student!! I'm so happy about that. As far as the sessions I take notes but don't absorb anything into my brain right now. I can only handle so much, plus I will have the opportunity  to hear every session again later. 

We had an awesome afternoon/evening at the park! I was thrilled to get out and move!!!!!It was a beautiful day with lots of volleyball.

People back at home- I hope you and  all of your homes  survive the flood. If they don't I strongly advise you move here to Colorado. Summit have a vision of expanding to reach more lives.......come and join us! Warning- I am getting addicted to this place!  But.... I think about you and REALLY miss my family <3 molly!

Summer is here!

How do I know summer is here? I have a sunburn!!! Had a super fun afternoon playing volleyball for 5 hours in the hot sun. But it was SO nice to be hot instead of cold!!!
Tomorrow if I am motivated you will get a long detailed post , because I have almost all day free! I know this is super short but we have one more 2 hr class starting in 4 min. Thanks for reading!

Go read your Bible!!

I haven't  said a lot about the actual session yet so here is some of it!

Yesterdays am topic. 12 Reasons to read the Bible.

1. It is part of world literature.

2. It has had a great influence on our nation.

3. It is the mark of a civilized man.

4.It is the mark of an educated man.

5. It is the mark of a moral man.

6. It is the mark of a free man.

7. it is the mark of a spiritual man.

8. It is not unscientific. 

9. It is not unhistorical

10. It is not unphilosophical

11. it is God's owners manual.

12. Everybody has a Bible. ( Christians have thee Bible, humanists have Humanist Manifesto, etc..)

Do you guys have ANY idea how many founders of great things in our nation were founded by christians? I"m gonna guess you have NO idea.  

Tomorrow I will educate you on our founding fathers. 

After my brain winds down from the Bible exam test, and the movie Agenda.It is a MUST watch for any christian in America. 

Sleep time!!!

So Many Adventures!

First of all... every single one of your children need to attend Summit. It will have them equipped for life. They will not only know what is true, why it is true, how to understand it completely,but how to defend it for life!
Yesterday on one of our class outings to the park and Garden of the gods(beautiful rock formations) we had a hike. Up the huge hill. Cuz, our big yellow school bus stalled. We had started to roll down the hill. (and all the girls screamed) . We definitely get our exercise here!
Today is the Bible exam. Pray that I pass!!
For those of you who know Alex and Courtney Harris.....my small group leader is Alex's sister in law!!

Postmodernism

Yesterday was looooong. We had 6 sessions mostly about postmodernism and why we are here at The Summit learning about world views.
If I never make it back to ND you can be guaranteed  that I will be here. (1.Beacuse I love it or 2.Because I got kidnapped or drugged or worse) Thats kind of a joke -but not really. Here is a quote from the president of Summit.
 "We have gone through all these world views and beliefs ; Wicca, Secular humanism, Dualism,Buddhism, Shintoism,Nietzsche, relativism, etc... and you may now go down three blocks and meet all of these plus the hippies and crack shacks."
It's really hard for me to think of what to tell you all....so if there's something you want to know, ask!!

Today's the first day in short sleeves!!! My lotion didn't freeze last night- gotta love CO.

Quiet before the storm

HORRAY!! For the first time since arrival I have 1 whole hour to myself!
Due to the fact that I have never attended Summit before, I am going to be a student for 2 week starting today , then staff for 6 weeks. So, after today I am not sure how it will work out to blog. I will try to keep you all up to date.
A few things I have learned here.
1. It is AMAZING how God takes 40 people from all walks of life and throws us together .  It is so neat to be around young,solid,fun,christians 24/7.
2. Manitou Springs is beautiful.
3. And very dangerous. Girls DO NOT leave campus alone. Ever.
4. Back home people walk dogs, here they walk dogs and lamas.
5.I will most likely see my first bear here. Like 2 feet away. They like the garbage dump right outside the door.
6. I have 1-2 roomies for the whole summer. I love that, as opposed to 5!.
7. I am so cold . Right now it is 97% humidity and it feels like 26. Nights are freezing!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Thats a super small part of my life here. For those who are praying for me (which is huge!) please pray for  warm weather, and that I keep my focus on Christ, there are lots of distractions . - More another time!

I'm Here!!!

Hello to all my friends and family!!!
After my first plane rides, I arrived to a snowing/pouring raining Denver. A short delay and I went on to CO Springs. I have since met 40 new awesome friends........ I am already dreading leaving :(.
 (Michelle I'm sure your reading this ....and to calm your fears we are NOT allowed to "Start any new guy/girl relationship while at Summit. That may only happen after you are done being staff."
I laughed. Four of our directors,who now have families here, met their spouse at Summit.
We staff have spent the last 4 days getting to be really good friends before the first 156 students arrive tomorrow. I could post about Summit for hours but I am on breakfast duty early a.m.  . If you want to keep in contact with me, do it on here or by texting. I will most likely not respond right away but I will as soon as  I have time!! Alone time here is rare and precious!  Thanks for reading -   good night!