Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Reporting to you live from Eagle Rock!

So in case you haven't heard I made it safe and sound. The flight went perfectly fine, well after I had to say bye to my parents that is :(. So far we've been doing a lot of group activities just to get to know everyone a little better. This week is whats called bonding week so theres going to be plenty of opportunities to get to know all these people here. Today we had went over all the guidelines then in the evening we went up to the leader, Mark's, house. He has a beautiful log cabin about a 10 minute walk from where we are staying. So that was fun we just hung out and talked. Also today i got to play some basketball with well pretty much all guys haha. It was a blast. I think i held my own among some of the over 6 foot guys. But it was pretty challenging to play in this altitude. I lose my breath just coming up the stairs. Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day. We are heading out to Estes state park, its about an hour away i think. We are going to do some hiking then worship up top the mountain. Then after that we get to go see some elk! Can't wait for that.

The transition from here to home has been pretty easy so far, which is surprising but i have no doubt that its due to all the prayers from you at home, so thanks for that :) The people here are just amazing. My roommates are awesome. Theres 4 other girls in my room with me and so far we are getting along just fine. I think these next few months are going to be pretty spectacular and i'm excited to get to know all the people in my class better.

Well thats it for now. I uploaded a few pics i took already, no worries there are more to come. THANKS again for all the prayers cuz i'm pretty sure thats what has been getting me through these first few days. I will write again soon telling you all of my mountain adventures :) so long for now

Sunday, September 26, 2010

colorado or bust

Well. Its my last night at home for a while. I can't believe how fast it came. All day today i kept thinking, hm wonder what i'll be doing tomorrow this time? still a bit of a weird thought to think that the next few months I'm going to be in a completely different world that is Colorado.

So my goodbyes really went over pretty well. They weren't as hard as i thought it would be. I feel like I have 3 families sometimes: my real family, my family cupboard family, and my church family. Yeah i feel loved a lot :) I'm not too sure what I'd do without each family to be honest. I have had such great support from my parents and brother through it all. They are amazing people and they are the ones i'm going to miss the most. The family cupboard family is just amazing too. I always know I can swing by the restaurant and be greeted with a smile and a genuine how's it going. The people I've worked with these last few years have definitely impacted my life and well the customers... I can do without most of them, the grumpy ones anyway :). Then my church family. I have recently been attending Zion church of millersville and well frankly i have know idea what i would do without them. I know they are going to support me through these next few months and it's truly an amazing feeling. I'm going to miss it like crazy but yet I wouldn't have it any other way.

So I thought that i'd explain a bit my title of my blog. It was brought up today in sunday school and mark had some pretty insight on it. Well i discovered the phrase while reading the shack last year or so and it has stuck with me ever since then. For me it has always made things simple. When i find myself striving and trying so hard to keep God happy as well as those around me happy (an impossible task mind you), I just remember that you know what, i can do nothing to gain any brownie points for God. It all comes down to accepting the love that is freely given. Through this mentality it leads to a natural outflowing of love. Its so easy to get caught up in the busy flow of life and let some of the simpler messages of the Bible go unheard. Life gets complicated and messy when we lose sight of what truly matters in this earthly life and that is belonging to the Savior. Sometimes it feels like the world is caught up with finding the perfect formula or perfect words to say in order to make things right with God, but in reality it just comes down to letting God meet you where you are at. Haha i guess that explanation got a bit lengthy o well

I guess my last few words to you all as i write this from home would be a great big thank you. If your reading this its probably because you have in some way poured time and love into my life so i thank you for it. I also want to say thanks for all the prayers this week and in the week to come. Its gunna be a hard but terribly exciting week for me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
Well thats all for now. exactly 12 hours till i'll be taking off just fyi :)