week two

Week two was cool because Russ came to volunteer in the big CO! It was sooo cool having him here! He was a huge help with the kids. It is definitely something God has gifted him in. He just has a way with people and connecting and building a relationship with them. He was also a humongous help with a group of guys from Minnesota who thought they were God's gift to the earth. He reminded them why they were on the trip and how their attitudes should be and didn't kill them. God definitely stretched him in patience and love.
Week two brought in 80 campers, so a bit of a change from week one. These kids were from Minnesota and California. The kids were really cool and Russ really made a great friend in Raymond, one of the kids from California. We had an awesome new project with Mile High Ministries for this week. We worked with two of their partner organizations, Joshua's Station and Isachaar's Community. Isachaar's Community is a program that takes young adults with leadership abilities and builds into those abilities, training them in how to use them and grow them. The purpose of the program is to get these young adults to establish a life outside of the projects and get a secure job in a position using their leadership skills. So we were able to clean their facility, fix it up and the campers even got a tour around Denver to learn about the community they were serving. The other branch is Joshua's Station. This is an old motel that has been renovated to make small apartments. These apartments house homeless families, they are given the place to live, food to eat, chapel services to attend and they only have to pay $25 a month. They help set up savings for them and help them to secure stable jobs. It is basically a way to help them start fresh. The back wall surrounding the building is covered in art graffiti which looks awesome. Each apartment is painted and furnished for the family moving in. When the family is ready to move out, they are allowed to take the belongings with them into their new home. So our volunteers help to restore the rooms for the next family by cleaning up and painting.
Week two was definitely a spiritually and emotionally discouraging week. I was glad to have Russ there as a support to talk to and confide in. We got to go to Boulder the weekend he was there and we also got to go to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes. this was cool because when we made it to the top, we climbed over the wall and hiked down the mountain, chasing these mountain chipmunks. When we got to a larger rock, russ saw a larger animal farther down and got pretty close to it! It turned out to be a marmot and we got pictures but i think the best part was russ getting ready to come back up the mountain and telling me to let him know if the thing was chasing him. i told him it was and he sprinted up the mountain...which at 12,000ft is bound to take your breath away. We were out of breath walking briskly. It was awesome having him here encouraging me and serving along side me, we had a great time visiting all of the sites and making everyone do boy band poses for their pictures.

week one

So camp has been extremely busy! (if you couldn't tell by "week one" being posted during week five.) Week one was AWESOME! We only had 37 campers and so I was able to really connect with them. For the most part everything ran smoothly, project sites really pulled through for us and program went well..technology (and God) were on our side. Wednesday night is a very serious program night and I think it really hit the youth. They also made some really great connections at their sites. At one in particular, the crew really extended themselves. They were at the Habitat Outlet Store in Denver. this outlet store houses everything you could possibly buy for a home. All of the profits go directly to Habitat for Humanity. (To give you a picture of the impact they make, they brought in over 1.3 million dollars for Habitat in the Greater Denver Area last year.) Since the store gives all of its profit to Habitat for Humanity, they can not afford to pay a large staff. Therefore, they rely heavily on volunteers. Our volunteers did an awesome job of not only serving the facility, but the other volunteers as well. Everyday they were there, they invited a new friend to join them in their devotions. Alot of these were men that were doing community service hours after they had spent time in jail. They had come out of hard times and were welcomed in by high schoolers. They really opened up and God really seemed to be moving.

Wednesday night's service was a great time for me. Alot of the kids had filed out for youth group devotions after program, we had left the lights low and the music playing and I just sat in my chair soaking in what God had done that week. But then God moved me further. That was not enough. Too comfortable and safe. I stood and raised my arms up to the ceiling, singing along with the praise music, truly worshipping Him. This probably sounds silly and still safe, especially to regular church goers reading this who see this every sunday. But this was a stretch for me. I don't do the arm raising thing. But i let myself be vulnerable and I felt the Holy Spirit moving in the room. And I prayed that He would shine His light out of the room and out of the school and that Denver would completely know that He is God and that He is in Denver. That they could hear the music and the words singing of His love. I was really touched by one song that had lyrics speaking of his love being enough. how I could think there was not enough for me? I heard God speak and say that he is all mine. It brought me to tears. He is all mine. There is enough love to be all mine to everyone. Enough to be all mine to everyone in Denver. The song "In this City" came into my head and I stretched my arms wide and turned my face to the sky crying out the chorus, "greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city" and i continued to repeat it and repeat it and i really felt like God was ready to move through the city and that the community surrounding our school was ready to see God.
I still miss the kids from week one, they were awesome and served hard and really had hearts for God.
Definitely experienced what they meant in training by leaders being more trouble than the kids. We had an incident where I was walking towards our camp office and one of the students said"they're having a private meeting in the office without you". So i turned the corner and my office door was cracked but the lights were still off. So I opened the door and found most of the adult leaders standning in the dark whispering and one was on the company lap top. So i flicked the lights on and asked what was going on. Some were extremely embarrassed and began mumbling excuses for breaking into the office, ran out and left. Others tried to play it off. So I got the great chance to have a meeting where I reprimanded my elders...o joy! What a weird feeling to sit 40 and 50 year olds down and tell them why it is not ok to break into the office and use things that aren't theirs without asking, especially when it has been pre established that it is against the rules to use our lap top or be in the room when we are not.
I also got to have another chat with a leader to try to explain that the adults need to set the example for the kids and not be another kid.
Not all youth leaders know how to be Tom Kay. I may have to start a conference on how to lead a youth group trip well and use Tom as the prototype.

week one got me pumped and i was really sad to see the kids go, but thankfully still keep in touch with them..o the wonders of facebook!
after thought...
o and a youth leader also decided to show our kids how to rock climb the side of the building...i'll admit it looked fun, but it would not look so fun with 37 kids doing it falling and cracking their skulls!

In this city

Today was another long, but fulfilling work day.  Leigh and I traveled twice to Loveland and back to Denver throughout today to get the materials needed to set up camp.  We walked through our facility (Denver Lutheran High School) with the Assistant Principal to figure out what parts of the school to use for the appropriate aspects of our program.  I cut out of the walk through early to meet with Alice Goble, my contact at the two locations of the Habitat Outlet Store.  They have appliances and basically anything needed to fill a house donated to them and they organize it in their warehouse.  All of the money used to buy anything in the warehouse goes directly to Habitat for Humanity.  These two outlet stores are responsible for providing the greater Denver area with over 1.3 million dollars.  Alice was delightful, she was more than happy to have use there and truly understands the impact of her job and of our ministry in helping her.  I am exciting to continue building rapport with her and a solid relationship.  I am so privileged in that my job is to visit the sites daily and so while I can build great relationships with the campers by standing side by side with them while they serve, I also get to build long standing relationships with the owners of the facilities.

Tomorrow I get to visit two more sites and organize our lodging facility.  Everything was moved in for the most part and so it will be time to start making it into a camp atmosphere.   I really feel God stirring in my heart to get ready to make an impact.  He is carving a path ahead of me to connect with people and make room in their hearts for Him.  I know it's not even just for their benefit of a relationship with Him, but it's also for me to take my faith to a new level in living out what I believe.  

At training, during one of the morning devos, I was sitting on the floor and staring out at the window.  We were in a gym and so the window had horizontal bars creeping halfway up.  I stared at the rays that passed through onto the floor and saw the floor with patches of light and shadows.  Then I looked higher and followed the light coming in through the open part of the window without bars and how the light easily filled the floor and expanded out across it.  This window was me.  This window was me this summer.  God was telling me that this job will make me want to put up bars.  I will be tired, stressed and frustrated.  I will want to be angry and want to be selfish, but it is not the time for that.  I can not let Satan put a wedge into my summer.  I can not allow for bars to build up in me.  This is not a summer for shadows to be cast upon Denver.  This summer is for me to be open about God and to be open about who I am in God and for his light to shine openly and freely so that it can not be contained or downcast.   As these thoughts were flooding my brain and I was speaking with God to let me rely on him and live in love and compassion, he put a song in my head that I could not stop singing.

Lord let your light, light of your face shine on us

That we may be saved

That we may have life

To find our way in the darkest night

Let your light shine on us

Lord let your grace, grace from your hand, fall on us

That we may be saved

That we may have life

To find our way in the darkest night

Let your light shine on us

Lord let your love, love with no end, come over us

That we may be saved

That we may have life

To find our way in the darkest night

Let your light shine on us

All throughout yesterday and today, while meeting with these different leaders and facilities and seeing where an impact could be made, whether it be a direct impact of working with children in the projects, or the elderly in a home, or indirectly in packaging food or cleaning a warehouse, I was praying that God continue to move my heart to work for Him and His Kingdom and that he could not be denied by this community.  He placed a song on my heart this one is by Chris Tomlin.

You're the God of this City 
You're the King of these people 
You're the Lord of this nation 
You are 

You're the Light in this darkness 
You're the Hope to the hopeless 
You're the Peace to the restless 
You are 

For greater things have yet to come 
And greater things are still to be done in this City 
Greater thing have yet to come 
And greater things are still to be done in this City 

For greater things have yet to come 

There is no one like our God 
There is no one like our God 
And greater things are still to be done in this City 
Greater things have yet to come 
And greater things are still to be done here

God is anxious and jealous for these hearts here and what an honor to be a part to soften them and focus them towards him.  I really feel this summer is a part of my preparation for lifelong ministry.

...then the master must take him before the judges.  He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl.  Then he will be his servant for life.   

Exodus 21:6

On a side note...this just popped into my mind... I do not find it coincidental, rather all of God's workings, that all of the partner organizations I am working with this summer are led by WOMEN!!  How encouraging is that?  I can be built up and learn from strong women working hard and also share my life with them.  I think it's great.  Not only a summer full of God's working, but daily fellowship and interaction with women in leadership. Praise God!

Great Day. God is always moving

Today was a work day for me.  I had appointments with three of partner organizations.  The ones I met with today were Food Share America, Sun Valley Youth Center and Church of the Rockies.  Food Share America is a great organization that provides groceries at half the price for families and people that can not otherwise afford food.  My main contact there, Rosalie, is a beautiful woman who showed me around the warehouse which contains large walk in freezers and stacks upon stacks of food.  Basically what my kids will be doing there is cleaning the warehouse, packing the boxes for the families and handing them out.  Food Share America strives to provide quality and affordable food across different states as well as build relationships within the communities.  Along the wall are paint marks of the hands that have come to volunteer.  I can't wait to see the hand prints of my campers on the wall and be reminded throughout the summer of the impact they are helping to make.

My second stop was at Crossroads Church of the Rockies, this is a church about two minutes from Denver Lutheran High School (the lodging facility of my camp).  There we will be helping prepare and serve lunch that is given to about 50 youth everyday.  My campers will also be helping run their VBS.

Not too far from the church is another one of our locations, in fact it is just down the block.  Sun Valley Youth Center is a nonprofit organization that is a program for children.  This project excites me the most so far because I believe it is in the most need.  The program is in our community of Sun Valley, right outside Denver.  It is unfortunately a very poor area and is home to the projects.  Almost all of the homes, except for eleven of them are owned by the government, which has led to a disrespect for the community property and and increase of the typical stereotypes of the projects.  The woman that runs the program is the only paid staff member and relies heavily on volunteers in making the program run.   I met with her the longest today and most of the "business talk" was over within 20 minutes, the rest of the hour and a half I spent talking to her about the area and her program.  She has a great vision for the children there.  She wants them to have the same experiences she did as a kid and focuses heavily on getting them to travel outside of Sun Valley.  She arranges numerous trips to museums, parks and other cities throughout Colorado on top of getting other organizations to come and include the children in their missions.  She has a wonderful heart for sharing the gospel in all that they do.  Although she seems a little hard at first, it is the type of reputation she needs to put up in that area, but she quickly softened and we laughed through much of our conversation.  I saw her interacting with some parents of the children and nothing but compassion shone through.  This woman truly cares for them beyond her job and beyond the lives of the children and into the family as a unit.  Please keep her in prayer, I do not know how she does what she does.  She mentioned that she can never completely count on a paycheck and her "vacation" as she called it, is labor day.  She is a hardworking woman with a huge heart and I am very excited to help be a part of connecting Jesus to the community of Sun Valley.

Another great step today was that for lunch, I decided that it to eat at the most "local looking" restaurant closest to our school.  My partner and I both had our red shirts on and I thought it would be smart to start making ourselves known and reach out to the community as soon as possible.  The community of Sun Valley is mostly hispanic and so the streets are lined with mexican restaurants.  We pulled into one on the corner of the street our school is on called Tacos y Salsa.  It looked a little run down, and it was, but the food was amazing.  We spoke with the woman behind the counter and laughed about how we most likely will be coming back everyday.  In talking to her a couple, Alex and Connie were eating at the table behind us and helped us order (everything was in spanish) and we got talking to them and told them why we were there.  They were so excited to hear that a christian non prof was working in the community.  It was a great feeling to be welcomed so warmly there and to take a little step to reach out.  I am antsy to continue eating there...not only because the food was completely ethnic and delicious (and really cheap too!) but because I believe it is a great building block to future connections and relationships that God is preparing for me to build.  This was not even my first full day in Sun Valley and already I have a small connection.  God is great and never stops working a plan.  

Stop! Denver Time

Second week of training was pretty intense.  I learned all of the specific details to the ins and outs of each day of my job.  I am also CPR and first aid certified, tech savvy, trained in meal preparation for large groups and accounting, learned about servant leadership, conflict management, finding partner organizations, understanding denominational differences, how to deal with serious issues, just to name a few.   I definitely feel prepared but not ready (as they keep telling us we will feel).  We know how each day should run, but there is no way we can be ready for how each day will run.  Project organizations can fall through, youth groups can show up with half or double the amount of campers they said they would, adults can give us trouble, someone could get sick, who knows! (so far the unknown is exciting...stress may be to come). 

The last day at Estes was sad.  Saying goodbye to friends from training was hard.  We all grew close after spending practically 24 hours a day for two weeks together.  Luckily we can all meet up for a final week in Loveland for exit interviews before we head home for the summer.  So as of last night, I am in DENVER!!  I LOVE it here, the city has a very relaxed vibe.  It's clean and feels safe and has a lot to offer.  I have only had a chance to explore a little so far today.  16th street mall is a mile long strip with everything from food, to shops and no cars passing through. (this was ok i got bored and it felt touristy after a while). BUT then i found Lamier Square on 15th which is really cool.  It has food and boutiques, but none are chain stores and so it feels like SOHO in NYC.  I passed a large park on the way and talked to a waiter about other places to go, it sounds like I have plenty more sections to visit.  

My camp starts this coming Sunday and I cannot wait to get started.  I really do not know what to expect until week one is over.  So this week, I have some free time to explore the city, but majority of my time will be spent getting in touch and meeting my contacts at my Partner organizations to prepare them for our campers as well as set up our camp.

Denver and Colorado as  whole has been great so far.  Although I must say that summer weather has not quite yet set in.   June 2nd brought snow and yesterday we had a torrential downpour and a tornado, followed by hail so much so that we had to pull off the road... it looked like it was the middle of winter!  All to say the experience so far has been great and I can not wait for the adventure God has planned for me and for the campers and the city of Denver!

Day off!

So today was our day off from training and it was a blast!  Some new friends and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park and it was one of the coolest sights I have ever seen.  The mountains are indescribable.  We drove to the top (12,000 ft.) and the weather changed several times throughout the entire trip.  There was sun, rain and even a small snowstorm.  It was cool to change climate and scenery every five minutes.  At the top there were snow caps and back down to the bottom there were beautiful streams and grassy fields full of elk.  (which i luckily got rather close to...and more luckily didn't get charged at!)

After that we made our way back to Estes Park grabbing dinner. I had an elk burger hahaha it was so good!  I then met up with some other friends and we saw the movie UP (i recommend it. it's funny.)  It was a nice break from the 12 hour days of training.  Tomorrow is church with everyone and then a picnic by the big lake in Loveland followed by some homework, but everything is going so great, I am so excited and thankful for God leading me into this opportunity.

It's Just the Beginning...

The first week of training is over.  It has been quite the experience!  The days have been so long and alot of information is being thrown at me, so it is a mixture of feeling overwhelmed but completely excited for what is in store!  I was right in saying (before I left) that I was clueless to just how much this job entails, but I know it will prepare and equip me for bigger things ahead.

For the news that many have been waiting for... I will be in Denver this summer!  I am extremely excited, not only because I am in love with Colorado already, but because I hear it is a great city with alot to do.  I know God is preparing the way for me and my partner Leigh to work with the community and our campers.  Our service will be a lasting presence beyond our time this summer and my heart is preparing to go beyond what I feel called to do and stretch my abilities for God's work.

It has been incredible training in Estes Park, CO.  The mountains are breathtaking and waking up to them every morning is like being surrounded in God's splendor.  They are so much bigger than me!  I realize how silly that may sound, but the grandeur of them is breathtaking, mindblowing and leaves me in awe.  The YMCA that I am training in is surrounded by mountains on every side and these aren't Connecticut mountains, these are like Mount Everest type of mountains.  Some are snow capped and others are lined top to bottom in pine trees, others are rock and others have houses sprinkled up their sides.  In different parts of the day (because the weather changes about every half hour here) different parts of the mountains can be seen.  It keeps reminding me of God's power.  We always say "God can move mountains" and I always picture what I think is a mountain when truly it is more like a hill.  But these mountains...they are so grand.  God can move them.  He can make them tremble.  I can't wrap my mind around it.

But it is a good thought to keep when praying for the hearts of our campers and the city of Denver.  God can move the Rocky Mountains.  He can move the hearts of people.  He can crack the hard hearted, sweep up the broken, make the proud and stubborn tremble.

The weeks ahead seem like they will be presenting very long days with little sleep.  The job will be needing quick decisions, creative ideas, long hours, love and patience.  I am confident that God has me here and that I can do it.  I also know that beyond "the job" of making camp actually happen is the job of growing his kingdom.  Our theme for camp is Reveal and I know that revelations will be released upon me, my partner, campers, and the community this summer.  

On a less serious note.... there are elk all over the place!  They are incredible to see and they roam the YMCA grounds freely!  But they are everywhere! It's very cool.  The other staffers are awesome too.  Spending as much time together as we do, we are all very close already and we still have another week together!

I don't have very much free time at all, but I figured the occasional post on will be able to update all of you on what's happening in the beautiful state of Colorado!