Winter Meltdown weekend #1!

Winter Meltdown weekend number 1 has come and gone. Wow, What a weekend! When we got back from the CCCA conference we hit the ground running. Final practices, sound checks, run through and room checks took up most of the last few minutes before the youth groups arrived. Once they did the weekend blurred into one big, well oiled machine. Everyone pitched in and things ran fairly smoothly. Kids really seemed to respond to the worship, dramas, presentations and the messages. That was very affirming! Even the activities seemed to run smoothly. The weekend flew by and before we had time to slow down and catch a breath it was over. I personally can't remember the last time I was that exhausted. But with the exhaustion comes a sort of satisfaction. This weekend was very rewarding in many ways. To see all your hard work come together with other people's hard work and pay off is a great feeling. There is no doubt in my mind that God was in what we were doing at the Ranch this weekend. Because there is no way things would have come together that well in that short amount of time if He wasn't. We still have some things to work on, little changes to be made to help the weekends to come run a little more efficiently. But over all I would say it was a great weekend, (any weekend when God's work is done and people are touched is a great weekend!) and we are looking forward to next weekend when we can do it all again!

CCCA Conference

On Tuesday the interns (minus Ryan because he is on a mission trip to Ethiopia with his church) and Matt went to Tuscarora Inn in PA for the CCCA Mid-Atlantic Sectional Conference. On the way up in the van we took turns playing a favorite song by taking turns plugging our ipods into the speakers. That made for a very diverse van ride! The next few days were filled with sessions lead by Gordan MacDonald, workshops lead by peers and experts in the campground ministry, fellowship around tables of good food, bonding on the volleyball court, practicing Winter Meltdown skits in our spare time and soaking up as much information as our brains could possibly hold. We made new friends, gained new perspectives, tried new things and grew in new ways. On Wednesday Zig came up and Matt went home. (they tag teamed the conference so that they could each have time to work on Winter Meltdown stuff) When Thursday came it was bitter-sweet saying good-bye to the people we had connected with over the past few days! But it was good to be headed back to the ranch! We are all ready to be in Winter Meltdown gear! On the way home we had great conversations with Zig! We also had a flat tire, that was an adventure that caused some laughs, but we made it back safe and sound!

People that touched our hearts:

• Joe; He shared a meal with LaDessa and then came to watch us practice our skits. He was a funny older guy who made us giggle. He was so moved by Beth's performance of a poem that he opened up and shared with us about his past and the struggles that he has overcome! What an amazing story! Joe became a special friend for the rest of the week! We inspired each other!

• Theresa; What an amazing woman of God! She has such a passion for youth and such an open and giving spirit! We couldn't get enough of her. I personally think I could sit and talk with her for days on end and still feel like she had more to offer me.

• Erin and Theresa V.; People in the same generation as us! What fun girls! What an inspiration to see people our age being used by God in camp leadership positions!

• Mr. Francis; Now there is a man who knows what it is all about! Serving the Lord!
  

Things that made us laugh:

• The Game show.... you had to be there, but trust me, it was hilarious! (we all got up on stage and played... even Zig!)
• The little peddle bikes.
• The speakers. (camp people have great senses of humor!)
• Uff' da! (it means " Awe Nuts" in Norwegian, and the Inn has a Norwegian background, so we picked up the phrase and then naturally we all bought T-shirts!)
• And much, much more......
  

Gloomy Sunday

Maybe it is because of the rain, or because I feel like I have been working like crazy and have only now gotten a chance to sit down and slow down, but I am feeling sort of gloomy tonight. There is a lot of thinking and praying that I need to catch up on. But for some reason tonight I would rather pretend that those things don't exist. Which doesn't help, and has been done too often in the past. Maybe that is why I feel gloomy. (viscous cycle) Anyway, I thought I would share the train wreck that is my thought process for your entertainment and hopefully for my benefit.

I have been watching a lot of chick-flicks lately. (just finished one) Mostly because it gets dark so early and it is too cold to be out so we stay in and watch movies. Which is fine... But chick-flicks put me in a weird mood. I don't know what it is...they either annoy me because they are so cheesy or they depress me because my life is so...less than romantically inclined. That is why I would much rather watch something blow up. How can anyone be depressed after watching something blow up?! Maybe I just need to take a break on the movies... I think they are effecting my brain! I am starting to see nonexistent budding romances between the people around me...

That reminds me....we got our parts for the Winter Meltdown skit. I play Bill's girlfriend and am supposed to seductively distract him from Jesus on the cross. I don't know how that happened. "Let's cast the home schooled Mennonite in the part of the skank." There is nothing in me that even remotely hints at the possibility of being anything close to resembling seductive! gulp.....I still don't know how that one is going to work out. Bill said we would work on it... still not sure how that is going to work out either. Can you say awkward? Haha Ohhh well!

I didn't mean for that to sound like I am complaining. I am just trying to find the humor it the situation. Because it is funny in a pathetic sort of way. (I don't know if you understand just how bad I am at it...)

I am trying not to complain about things. I really don't have anything to complain about. I have a great life and amazing opportunities. But I sometimes catch myself being ungrateful. I am trying to take Paul's advice and rejoices in the Lord. I am trying to be content, to keep my heart and mind on Him and things that are pleasing to Him. I can already see that it is starting to take hold in my life. It is a moment by moment struggle sometimes. But I am slowly finding it. I have started to make an effort to celebrate the small victories! That is it's own little accomplishment in and of it's self! haha

It is hard to be content, especially when I am so anxious about the future. I need to be making decisions about what position I will have this summer and what happens after the summer. The end of the internship is starting to creep up on me. I am scared that one day I will turn around and it will be here. That thought makes me very sad and very nervous. I don't want it to come. Maybe because I love it here and I love what I am doing and I love that I am learning and growing so much, or maybe because I don't know what I am going to do after this and I dread having to figure that out, or maybe because I am scared that I will spend another year looking for my next move. I don't want to leave RVR and I can't figure out if that is me being selfish in not wanting to leave what is safe and start over again at another camp or if it is God telling me that He wants me here. I know in my heart that God has everything under control and that His plans for me are better than I could even dream of and that as long as I am in His will I will be happy and fulfilled, but my head has a hard time understanding that. Or maybe it is the other way around, my head knows that but my heart has a hard time believing it. I don't know....

sigh....I just feel so wide open right now and that is a new and rather unpleasant feeling for me. Maybe that is why I am so gloomy tonight....

Well, getting it all out there was helpful. At least now I have more specific things to pray about....

Boba tea, Skis and Sushi....

The ranch had their counselor reunion over New Years and part of the reunion was going to Baltimore Harbor via Metro to ring in the New Year! It was awesome! The best fireworks I have seen! I love those people and I am so glad I got to celebrate with them! While we were there Taco found a place that sells boba tea! It is a drink that he had in Taiwan, and we tried it! It was pretty good, there were tapioca pearls in the bottom and so you drink it with really big straws. The slimy pearls shoot up the straw and into your mouth. It is really weird and funny at the same time.

On Monday it was Taco's 21st birthday and so we all went skiing! Well, we went skiing and it was his birthday but he likes to ski so it is all good! Anyway, Taco was a very patient teacher and I was soon up on the skis and doing pretty good! I didn't fall off the ski lift!!!!!!! and I didn't wipe out too bad! He did have to help me up a few times! haha I loved it! I went fast (because i couldn't stop) and i went backwards ( because i turned too sharp) and i did some flips (because i wiped out!!!!!) It was awesome! Some of Beth's friends came with us and one of them got hurt fairly early on in the day. She couldn't ski anymore and since we all came together they gave us vouchers to come back and finish our passes! I can't wait to go back!!!!!!

Tonight was Merson Madness! We go over to the Merson's house for dinner and games the first Thursday of every month! We made sushi! It was fun and yummmy!

Other things that have happened:

• our pipes froze! they are better now!
• we went to sandy cove with beth to meet some of her friends.... and the boy!
• i went to the zigenfuse house for dinner again! love them!!!!!
• the intern girls sang "girls just wana have fun" at the rvr coffee house
• we had a girls night in at the ranch girl's house! girl talk, chick flick and pedicures!!!!!