California...

UPDATED LATER THAT DAY: 5.8 Earthquake today....wasn't too bad here but in some places it was pretty crazy....oh California

So....we, the orange team, have officially done at least one camp in every time zone in the US (besides Alaska and Hawaii).

We got here, Riverside, on Saturday and then went out to eat that night. It was really nice for all of us to spread out and eat where we wanted to (I ate with some of my team at California Pizza Kitchen). It was also nice to just wander around for a bit. I got to wander around Borders for a bit....it was amazing how many people from my team wound up in the history and religion sections. :-) The next day was our load in day. Typically, we load in at 1pm but, as it was Sunday and a church was meeting in the gym which was going to be our worship center we were not able to being load in until 9:30pm that night. So, that day we got to experience "real life" outside of the camp bubble! I ate my first In-and-Out burger and then headed to the mall and Target! (Found a really cute dress at Gap for really cheap for those of you that care :-) ) We then headed back and took naps (on command from our leadership because we were going to be up most of the night). Needless to say, the majority of my team was up until around 3:30am loading in.

Camp this week is a lot smaller than we are used to but it is going to be nice to be able to know Youth Pastor's and camper's names.

Well, I have more to tell but things are going to be slow in the office this week so I will save those stories for a later time.

Grace and peace!

The Promised Land?!?

Two camps in Durango, Colorado really skew your view of "good weather." Doing camp literally on top of a mountain is quite lovely. Doing camp in Shawnee, Oklahoma is....like doing any other camp, really hot. We got here on saturday, loaded in on sunday and started camp on monday.

A few things....

First of all, a funny (well, not so funny to me) story for all of your delight. On saturday, my team went out to eat Mexican food for supper. While there, I, of course, spilt my drink. Right after that, I felt something on my head....it turned out to be a large sombrero. At first I though "what is going on?!?! do they do something really cruel and mean to people who spill their drinks?!?) and then, I saw that a group of people were standing behind me. This guy asked my name and then how old I was turning. I wouldn't answer him so someone else did. They then proceeded to start singing happy birthday to me.  All I could do was repeatedly mouth to my team that I would kill them all. I, of course, turned as red as the salsa. Then the next day, at Chili's for lunch, I see all of the waiter's walking out and I was like "no way!" not again but...oh yes...they come over and sing happy birthday to me again. THEN! Yesterday! on Reg day (my stressful crazy day) while we are in line for supper they all start singing it again! and everyone in line joins in! The only problem is....MY BIRTHDAY IS IN NOVEMBER! So, I have come up with something.....they can sing happy birthday all that they want to but....they must start to give me presents! (Though, that does scare me just a bit :-)

So, we are now doing camp in Oklahoma. It is hot. My camp director, Graham, went to school at the campus we are on (Oklahoma Baptist University) and kept referring to it as "the promised land." Though we like where we are staying and the fact that there are comfy couches and a TV in our office, it is def. not the promised land.

Off I go.....grace and peace!

Welcome to Fort Lewis

9 states in 2 days
25 hours of traveling
2 dramamine

what does this add up to?

DURANGO, COLORADO!

So we finished up two camps at Lee University, celebrated the 4th of July, didn't sleep much, ate yucky food, loaded out and drove for two days. We spent the night at Fort Smith, Arkansas and then got up and drove some more. We got to Fort Lewis College around 11:30pm mountain time and started grabbing our blankets because....it was kinda chilly! That's right...after week after week of humidity, we are now going to do 2 camps on the top of a mountain. While waiting for our keys last night a bunch of us curled up in our blankets and lied down on the parking lot and looked at all the stars (thought of you mom....knew you would be proud). It was crazy how many we could see.

The dorms we are staying in don't have a/c which I have heard can be a bit of a drag during the day but that means at night we sleep with our windows open. I woke up this morning feeling like I was camping except my bed was comfortable and I didn't have any bug bites...it was glorious!

Well, I'm now off to straighten my hair (which will actually stay straight here!) and then off to eat lunch and begin load in.

Grace and peace!