Being Taught

Hey there again friends!!! This is something I wrote last week up on the mountain and I want to share it with you. The first part is a prayer.. and the second is a journal entry. Love yall so much.

“Groups have come and gone- and yet all the more Father, I realize how we belong to you. I realize how small these things I count so needed to me.. really are in this life. 

I truly realize that You and You alone are what I NEED. 

..I must daily strive to do away with complaints, selfish desires that stray me from Your cross, jealous thoughts, and grumpy actions that are evident of me wanting things my own way.

“May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing to you, O Lord- my Rock and redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

These thoughts and realizations that are running through my head, I know that I have come across before.. and will again in the future. Father, keep reminding me until I am home with you. I am weak and You are strong, so Father lead me in your strength. You are my Joy.”

Right now, sitting up on the mountain, I am being surrounded by about 20+ mosquitoes, BUT I have repellent on.. so they are not daring to bite me.

..This reminds me of life in a way. I know that sin is lurking all around me and Satan is waiting for a chance to bite. BUT the Lord is my repellent- and I am completely safe with Him, even if I am sitting right in the midst of evil. How neat is that?!

This morning we got up at about 2 AM.. only to depart 45 minutes later from our base camp on Grizz for a sunrise peak. (This was after our scrumptious breakfast of mountain spice oatmeal.. which I so deliciously mixed with hot chocolate of course.. yum yum!)

We had quite the hike up that mountain.. but our amazing campers summited Grizzly (elevation 13,281ft) at approx 6:28.

Our fellow campers were on the two mountains to the right of us (Silver and Anne). 

There was a point on our way up that we could see the headlamps of the group on Silver. Our kids were so excited about that, I feel like it gave them a huge burst of energy. It was awesome :)

About 45 minutes after we summited, the group on Silver also reached the top and we could see them from our peak on Grizz! Praise the Lord for these beautiful campers and mountains. 

Oh and did I mention it is the 4th of July?! Red, white and blue flags were waving all around :) (AND happy 25th anniversary Mom and Dad!!!!!!)

We got back to base camp around 10:20am.. where we then had an early lunch of hummus and carrots, and napped. zzz :)

It is now a little after 4, and some people are just waking up. This area around me is indescribably beautiful. Most of the snow is now melted (however there is just enough to do dishes with!) We have had back massages and many laughs, and hopefully tonight will be a starry campfire night!

Tomorrow morning we will pack up and the campers will orienteer our way home..it should be an adventure.. :)

We have the sweat lodge, hot tub, and showers awaiting our arrival!

The Lord has been the Great Teacher for me this past month in so many ways. One of the neatest things is to be on the ropes course with the campers. My favorite spot is the cross nest on the teams course. This is because the campers arrive in pairs of two, just after completing the toughest part of the the course up in the trees and they are about to embark on the last step.. the zip line!

There is such a variety of emotions that are seen in each of the campers at this point.. many brave.. and many fearful. Many encouragers.. and many who need encouragement... but they all complete it together!

As I have the opportunity to facilitate them up on the zip, I get to see and talk with them at a point that not many people see.  I am blessed to be able to be a safe ground for them at this point, and talk them through it if need be.. or stand as a verbal punching bag and let them take out there nervousness and frustrations on me as they might be scared to death. But most do start to breathe more easily with encouraging words. 

One reason this is so neat to me.. is that Christ has used it in my life to show me what He is for me! 

He is the safe-ground and stronghold for me at all times, not only when I am at point of freaking out and extreme nervousness.. but all times! I love this. I can’t get over it.

I am currently learning so much about faith and just giving all my trust over to the Lords will.. with the best of my ability. I am not going to lie, it is stinking tough at times to just let go of control and let God’s peace consume who I am... but when I do it.. the feeling of deep joy and comfort is so invigorating. God is so good.

These verses have spoken alot to me personally this week:

Romans 4:16-21

“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Verse 21 says... “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” He trusted and saw God working with Him in his life.. this showed Abe the truth. Wow! For me, this restores inspiration in my life.. God will do as He has promised. He is in control. When I let go of myself... I am completely persuaded.. because I know and feel the Lord moving. I needed this reminder this week. When I looks at Abe’s faith... and the huge move that the Lord made in His life.. I am moved in amazement to restoration of faith in my own life.  

Love you!

Hey Everyone..

Here are a few pictures of some things that have gone on here... long post coming in the next week or so? Love yall.

(A group on the team wall)

(Travis, Jim and I in an Aspen groove on our day off.. quite an adventure)

(Travis on top of the world.. on the way to summit Mt. Crested Butte)

(The top!!! Elevation 12, 162)

(The top again!)

(Just hanging out in some snow..)

(We saw the sunset from the middle of the mountain, it was beautiful!!!)

(The first of two porcupines we saw.. Jim chased it down so we could get a picture!)

(About half of the staff.. we went square dancing one friday night in Tincup! So fun!)

Week 2: Complete!

So hey I love you...

Our first week here was full of challenge course certification! Woot! We went from around 8 in the morning till around 8 or 9 in the evening. Crazy busy but sooo good. I definitely learned a ton just in that week... From low ropes to rappelling to so much more.. I have learned how to:

1..Confidently holds kids lives in my hands on the ropes course.. (!!! The Lord is so good to provide amazing leaders to awaken this confidence in my life)

2..Live life and learn here at camp with these BEAUTIFULLY SPIRITED people. Every single one of them is a blessing.

3..tie bow-line on a bight, double fig 8 follow through, and butterfly knot :)

The ABCD’s of spotting, oh yeah (Attitude, Body Language, Communication, Decision making!) ;)

4..belay, (Geneva Clardy be proud), zipline, flying squirrel, and all that high ropes stuff! 

5. How to rescue someone in the middle of a high ropes course! 

6..and Oh man and soooo much more, I will hopefully cover most of it at some point during this blog!

Challenge course cert was challenging but we all passed! :) Smiles! The test day included a six page test, the tying of knots, and tests out on the course.

Last Monday started our staff training and we finished up yesterday.. It has been quite exciting to say the least :) 

Have you ever gone from the low 30's to 150 degrees in a 24 hour period? Well, come to Adventures Experiences and you can experience it with us! On day three of our training we went on a backpacking trip on Silver, a mountain a little over 13000 ft. We ended up hiking through snow at our thighs for about 5 hours! (This is the 30 degree part) My little Texas self wasn’t quite expectant of this adventure. I didn’t have gators and my boots shoes proved to be lacking in their boot ability and I was basically walking in a pool of ice water. But it wasn’t to bad! I bought some better boots today on our day off.

The 150 degree part happened the night that we returned to base camp from our backpack. We ventured into the sweat lodge, equipped with two full water bottles each! And we sweated. It was great. ;) But seriously, it was like 150 degrees, I did feel like I was going to die there for a second. But again, the Lord kept me here on earth!

During training week we have also been rock climbing and did a small adventure race (I can now orienteer through the forest!) and have just been living life here together at camp. Each morning we have met around the fire and then split up for solo devotion time with our Father. As a group, this has been so good for us. To start the day with the Lord is just so comforting. Especially when you can look out at His detailed creation! (Psalm 19!!)

Also as a group, the 14 of us (staff) have come up with a contract displaying our personal strengths given to us from the Lord that we bring to the team, our goals and be-attitudes that we strive after, and our signatures to seal it off! 

For us, staff training was a small example of what camp will be for each of the groups that come in. It was neat to live it as a camper because I got to experience the feelings and emotions that each camper could have. 

We debrief the day each evening around a fire. I love this part! The fire really helps us just relax and bond and talk as a group. The Lord is teaching us new things with these adventures. 

For me, He is reawakening my heart to fully just place my dependence in His hands and His hands alone. Only then can I truly experience this life the way He designed me to. 

Oh oh oh anddd, I have learned to to be a great human dishwasher for many people! Soooo exciting!

Today was our second day off of these two weeks, and we did laundry and went to this really neat church called Bethany Baptist. And wow, our God sure spoke through the pastor this morning. It was awesome. I wish I had time to tell about it allll!

Tomorrow our FIRST campers arrive! They will be here for three days and next week gets pretty crazy with three groups at once! Cannot wait!

Praying for you out there and I truly appreciate any prayers you may have lifted up for us. 

LOVE,

k

Romans 12:4-8

"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."