Fun Day :)

Today we woke up rather early for church. We had to put all the Sunday School classrooms back in order which was rather difficult. We just had pictures to look at and we had to use those to put the class exactly as it was before we came. We had to put all of our stuff in storage closets which was quite interesting. Then breakfast. We went to church at nine thirty and after that took staff pictures. We had lunch then a bit of free time in which I took a glorious nap!! A quick scavenger hunt in which my team came in next to last place :( Another resting time and then we went roller skating for a couple of hours. Shelby showed up which was exciting!! She met her lovely staff and everything was great. Pizza for dinner. To wrapped up the night with a camp meeting for about an hour and now Syd and I have gotten away for a bit to get on the computer. I'm skyping with Jamey so that is a bit exciting :) It is the first time I have "seen" him since I left. Well everything is going well. Not much going on today here Sorry!! Tomorrow may be a bit busier! Love you all! 

Oh So BUSY

Today has by far been the busiest of days for us. We had breakfast at 7:30 this morning and by eight thirty we were headed out on the town. We were all split into four groups and rotated to different stations learning about worksites and such. We did have one fun station which is when we went out on the Lake Lanier and swam and cruised around on a boat. That was my groups first stop of the morning then it was to the next station which was a station in a hispanic trailer park that TEAMeffort had done some work in before. They were explaining to us things like how to build a deck or wheelchair ramp. They would show us one then explain the different aspects. Next was lunchtime back at the church. We then had a scavenger hunt at Lowe's which taught us about all the tools we would need and where to find them so our trips to Lowe's could be as easy as possible. (although I don't think my group will do too much construction, most every other camp will so it was needed and I learned SO much) While I was in Lowe's someone did not return a cart to the proper place but it found a place all on its on. Guess where! Well is you guessed into the side of my car you would be quite right. I escaped with a large scratch. To soften the blow though TEAMeffort had bought us all ice cream at Chick-fil-a so it wasn't so bad since I got to drown my sorrows in ice cream. Then off to a house of a sweet older man by the name of Rufus. He was the cutest! We did some work around his house so that we might be able to learn to use different tools and such. Finally back to the church for dinner and more camp meetings. PS I was cast as a main character in one skit in which I will pretend to be very self-centered (although I might not be pretending...) and be very tired from working all day and I want God to bring a glass of water to me from across the room. While I am crying out to God to bring me the glass of water (okay and by crying out I mean laying face down on the floor screaming) my friend comes in and tells me not to be selfish and to use the hands and feet God gave me to get my glass of water. Well after one more try to get God to just bring the water to me I give in and thank God for my blessing :) I get really nervous but I've done it a couple of times so I think I will be okay! Okay so now I am writing my blog outside of a cute little coffee shop in downtown Gainseville! Soon back to the church for bed!!  Love you all!! Please continue to keep me in your prayers!

Friday Friday

Today was a meeting meeting day! We had breakfast then off to meetings with our camp team! We went over skits and such then each one of our staff members had to go to meeting about different aspects of the camp we would be taking care of. THEN WE TIE-DYED!! It was so exciting haha (PS my t-shirt turned out really really great) Then lunch then more group meetings. My camp had dinner duty so we had to set up everything for our dinner, but as soon as we were finished my team headed out to pick up our director from the airport! It was so exciting because we had never met. SO we drove to Atlanta and tried to go to Moe's for dinner. This of course we a failure we drove through really sketchy parts of town then finally got to some better areas of Atlanta but then couldn't find the Moe's so we went to Taco Bell instead. Of course thought while sitting in the Taco Bell drive through (because we rode around so long we ran out of time to actually go inside to eat..) we saw the Moe's....This was very sad but nothing could break our spirits because we were so EXCITED to meet Stacy for the first time. We couldn't really figure out the Atlanta airport or where to park so we just parked at the first place we could and got out to meet her at baggage claim. After all was squared away we headed back to Gainseville to the church. Then after hanging out with everyone. (until 2 am might I add) sleep was in order! Although not regretting one minute of no sleep because we sat around playing guitar and singing worship songs to God! It  was so great to be surrounded by my brothers and sisters of Christ and lifting up praise to Jesus! I really am having such a fantastic time!!! I do miss you all though and love you all so much!!

I'll Post Pictures later...

Sorry I got these both up in one day. We just snuck away so we could have internet because we don't have internet at the church we are staying at. I will write the rest of my blogs and post them when I get to my next site!!

5:30 is so very early!!! (Thur. May 28

Yes that is the time I woke up this morning to get a shower! I took a shower and headed straight back to bed but unfortunately couldn’t get back to sleep so I finally pulled myself out of bed about 6:45 and got ready for breakfast at 7:15. Okay so I will take this time to now say that we have the best food! Everything is homemade It is so awesome! I hear the camp is not like this but right now I’m enjoying it! We have devotion during breakfast and a member of the church we are staying at gave it. It was great. He told some stories of trips he has been on with youth groups traveling to TeamEffort camps. It was very uplifting and made me very excited to start seeing the youth groups at the camps. Next came first aid training from 8-12. It started off pretty boring but just as we began talking about what to do if someone was unconscious one of my fellow staffers passed and starting convulsing. He was sitting across the aisle from Sydney and me and when his head hit the floor it hit right where Syd’s feet were. Pretty scary for us…. Turns out everything was okay and the nurses teaching us first aid took care of him J Then some more tedious learning and then we broke into smaller groups to practice some of the things we learned. I can now bandage people’s bleeding wounds, splint broken limbs with newspapers and ace bandages, drag an unresponsive person from an area of danger to an area of safety, do CPR on children and adults and do the Heimlich maneuver!  I even got my very own first aid kit with my name on it! (PS we got some other really cool stuff the first day like t-shirt and water bottles and such) The first aid training was followed by lunch and my turn to pray in the chapel. Side note here: One really awesome thing we do here at staff training is pray all day! The theme for Teameffort is “Pray as you go”, so every year they have a prayer vigil set up and you sign up for 30-minute prayer slots. We go into this really beautiful prayer chapel and we have stations set up with things to pray about such as staffers, campers, and other things. It really is an awesome experience. It maybe my favorite so far…. Then we had to split into groups to make a rules video to play for our campers explaining the rules of the camp. You are supposed to do it with your individual staff group, but since we only have three staffers we joined with another group. We filmed all afternoon and I think our video is going to be really cute. It is like a Family Feud game show type thing with commercial breaks. A little free time then another camp meeting. We were put with the camp that we will be helping out with the first week of camp, so we could get to know them a little. Dinner then group meeting. Our group meeting was about the first day of worship that we will be conducting in a couple of weeks. We will be giving the talks, but Teameffort staff outlines them so it is sort of like this is what you can talk about and add in your own things. Okay that is confusing but I hope you understand! It was a great worship experience and I only hope that our staff can bring the kind of worship we had tonight to our youth groups! Now we are in free time and I will shortly go to bed. I’m emotionally and physically drained. I’m not sure if this is a sign as to how the rest of the trip will go or not, but I think it might be. I’m trying to decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing…

Today was quite a long day….. (Wed. May 27)

This is the start of my oh so adventurous summer! It was a bittersweet start to say the least. I’m so bad at goodbyes and it is always so hard for me to tell everyone goodbye for such a long time. But it also meant the start of such an amazing experience! As I climbed into my car to begin the 6-hour drive my head was swimming with nervousness, excitement and sadness. I said a quick prayer for travels and calmness and began the trek! With Sydney in my rearview (in tears J ) we headed to Birmingham to meet our friend Judith who would also be following us to staff training. She was running a bit late so we shopped around a bit and got lunch then met up with her and we were off. We traveled for a few hours and hit Atlanta traffic and well….let’s just say that was the most traffic I’ve driven through and it has made me slightly a bit nervous about DC, but after many prayers and getting separated then back together we got on Interstate 85 headed towards Gainesville. We made it to First United Methodist Gainesville (which is super big and super nice!) We were all very nervous but we got squared away with nametags and such and just hung out and met some other staffers. We then started our meeting for the night and got to hear all about the camp directors and other staffers, which made me very excited to start the summer!!! Then it was off to shower and do whatever was needed to get ready for bed. We are staying in Sunday school rooms and there are about 15 girls in my room. We have 4 showers between 115 people but amazingly it has all worked out very well. I don’t think there has ever been a time so far that anyone has had to wait on a shower. Must be God J That was the first day of my ever wonderful experience!!

So all this waiting....

And finally I know!!! I'm going to spend my summer between New York City and Washington DC. I'm so excited! When I applied I asked to be in an urban area and I told my mom that I really wanted to go to DC. My mom was not too thrilled about my wish, but I don't think she actually thought I would ever be assigned there. They informed us that we would know by today where we were assigned, and all morning I was going crazy. I kept looking at my phone hoping I would get the call. My mom was trying to keep me busy with all these tasks for my sister's graduation party, but it wasn't keeping my mind off of the call very well. About 2:00 my phone started ringing I looked down and was so excited I knew it was the call!!! Michelle (permanent staffer) was on the other end and proceeded to make small talk and such. My heart was racing. I had been so nervous, but in that moment I wasn't sure if I wanted to know anymore, but she told me anyway and I just started smiling and then my mom knew. She sort of freaked a little, but I'm pretty sure she is happy too. Just worried like most moms I guess :) Anyway I then knew and all the waiting and nervousness was over and I was ecstatic!! I don't know why God put it in my heart, but as I was filling out my application to work and checking out the places I could go it just stuck with me that I wanted to be in DC. So that is where I'm going and I just can't wait to see what God has planned for me there! I hope you all keep me in your prayers! It will be a big change for this small town girl! I wouldn't want it any other way though! God has brought me through so much and I know He has a great plan for me still! I love you all and will keep you all updated on the things to come!!

The Summer hasn't started but.....

Hey Everyone! I decided the best way to keep everyone informed about my amazing summer would be to create a blog. My summer hasn't started yet, and honestly I'm creating this blog right now to procrastinate studying for finals, but soon I will be in my car (packed full I'm sure) and headed to my mysterious location. I am not sure exactly how much time I will have this summer, but I will try to update as much as possible! Please keep me in your prayers this summer! I am so excited for what God has in store! Okay I'll probably update and let everyone know where I will be located this summer as soon as I find out. I leave May 27 and will return August 5! I love you all!!