Our first Winter Meltdown

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.......
  

Contemplation in the midst of Snow

We woke up today to find a light snow fall had covered the ranch in a seamless white blanket. We all made the familiar morning walk to the classroom where we would be to begin the day. As I walked along I watched as the sunlight rose over the trees and reflected off the snow and through the newly formed icicles on the buildings of the ranch. It made me think about all that we've done here at the ranch and how far we've come in our journey. Going back to the very beginning of the internship I'm reminded of when Matt took us to a spring right outside his house to being our day. Throughout the rest of the day, we hiked some trails at Pretty Boy Reservoir. Once we arrived at the Dam we stopped to talk and have a small devotion there. He told us that the spring that was by his house eventually created the river that flowed into this reservoir. It was an analogy for the internship where we were much like the spring when we first got here, full of potential, but still not ready to be the driving force of a ministry. As I pondered this and took some pictures for the internship I thought about how we've been through 5 months of the internship and there is a definitive change in the interns. We have become much more confident in our abilities and are taking ownership in the programs here at the ranch. We have become much like the creek that runs through the ranch. Continuing on towards our destination with focus, determination and a purpose; not yet a river, but beginning to pick up speed with the knowledge that we are well on our way to a whole new stage of life.