Wellspring is gone!

It's been a long, hard week.  Here are some of the (positive) highlights:

 

- Hanging out with Jack Sparrow:  After months of anticipation, I finally got to experience the culmination of the Pirates of the Carribean triology on Saturday night (before a camper could ruin the end for me).

 

- Projectile elk:  Around midnight on Saturday night (after Pirates), a group of us decided to drive to Roswell (where we could spend the night at a Lone Tree staff member's house and go to church in the morning).  But God had other plans, and when we were only a few miles out of camp, an elk jumped into the windshield of Rachel's KIA Rio.  Everyone was fine, the elk went MIA, and Rachel's KIA is getting a new windshield.  (And we went to Roswell in the morning.)

 

- Ninja waitress:  One of the guys from Wellspring's band told me I was the best waitress in the world (after I'd been serving him meals all week).  Then he told me I was like a ninja waitress.  (After watching lots of Ninja Warrior in Albuquerque, I was flattered.)

 

 

Next week: we run our program.  (In other words, we work for 108 hours straight, in a rotating ensemble of costumes.)

 

Some prayer requests:

- Energy for the staff:  It's going to be a long week.  Pray that we have stamina and enthusiasm and focus.

- Staff health:  Some got strep throat, one has pnemonia, and one or two (including myself) may or may not have a sinus infection.  Pray that we stay safe and that no one else gets sick or injured (and that God would heal everyone who has).  This goes for overall community health, too.  Pray that we can encourage and support each other and that our staff can work as a unified team.

- Camper attitudes:  Pray that the campers get excited about our program and are open to hearing the serious parts.  Pray that both the campers and their leaders would respect our staff and our facilities.

 

That's all I've got for this week.  Internet access is difficult to come by, but I'm hoping to post another update next weekend.  Now, off to Walmart.  And I need a cup of coffee.   :O)

RYLA week at Lone Tree.

It's Saturday, and the RYLA kids are gone.  Here are some of the highlights from this week:

 

- Eating four ears of roasted corn at Sunday's Open House.  (Preston wins.  He had five.)  Then, eating corn again for dinner on Monday night, then watching Mexico Missions get corn on Wednesday.

 

- Watching as about a third of our staff fell victim to strep throat (and hearing about their shots).

 

- Belaying Hadley, a two-hundred and some pound RYLA boy, on the outdoor wall, him falling about four times only three feet from the ground, and me flying into the air.  (It's okay - I was anchored.)

 

- Watching Austin, the self-proclaimed nerd of Hadley's group, make it to the top of the outdoor wall in the final minutes of that activity's hour (after none of the other people in his group could do it).

 

 

All in all, it was an exhausting week.  Here are some prayer requests:

- Group unity and a sense of community among everyone.  That we can work together as a unified body.

- Focus, that we could pay attention to the things that matter.

- Health (physical, mental, and emotional).  That no one else gets strep throat or pnemonia or bronchitis or anything else that might be going around.  Also, that no one gets mauled by a mountain lion.

- Energy and stamina for the rest of the summer, that we can actually do our jobs.

- For the campers, that they would be open to hearing the Jesus-parts of camp and willing to open up to the staff.

 

This week: a church group (I forget their name).  Maybe another post next week, pending on internet availability.  :O)

Staff orientation is over.

So we all survived the first week at Lone Tree Ranch.  Here are some of the highlights:

 

- Learning to tie a figure eight knot (and belay people without dropping them to their death), make guacamole from scratch, and operate the mechanical bull.

 

- Waking up at 5 AM yesterday to go on a two-mile hike with the Lone Tree staff, up a nearby mountain.  (Steve said we'd be walking just down the road and across a meadow, but apparently "a meadow" is a dry riverbed with a steep incline, loose rocks, and prickly grass stuff that likes to poke through the gaps of Chaco sandals.)

 

- Cleaning out the Longbranch cabin, which involved a colony of daddy longlegs, one dead mouse, and a minor flood.

 

 

This week at Lone Tree: an Open House for the Capitan community tomorrow afternoon, followed by a week of RYLA (the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards group from western Texas).

 

Prayer requests:

- That the staff could have unity and endurance (and that we could build each other up and encourage each other).

- That everyone at Lone Tree would be safe and have a great time.

- That our Open House would attract people from the community and draw more campers for next summer. 

- That the RYLA kids would be open to hearing the "God part" of camp, and that they wouldn't leave unchanged.

 

Thanks so much.  Stay tuned for more next week!  :O)