wa month 1

"Don't be stupid..." Seth bluntly said on contract day. Simple. Easy to remember. After some rebellious analysis and a few demerits later, that phrase has been tested and proven to be true. When you throw eighteen passionate, diverse young adults together, it gets messy. Real quick. We are all imperfectly trying our best to navigate life and dig deep into this Jesus thing. But the best part is we are family through it all. Families are supposed to be messy sometimes. This family is no different. Its only the first month but I feel like I've known these people for a lifetime. I love all the moments that look like they belong in an old film camera. The loud, rambunctiousness of life at Mi Casa. Learning and growing and living. Late night study sessions, where whole jars of peanut butter disappear faster than lightning. Frisbee tournaments at Guad field and climbing till our arms fall off. This place is home. Every morning, we wake up to the hazy sunrise creeping its way over the hills down at Rivers Edge. There's nothing more peaceful. It's like God's reminder to us that he's got our backs. This day will be for him. We don't need to worry about the future too much. We just have to embrace these present moments and work hard. Because God is writing out the best stories here in our little corner of Rocksprings Texas. He's doing big things. And its so exciting to be part of. 

Sooo here's a few stories from the past month:

That one dish clean from hell: 
The "camp" food everyone either loves or gets sick of fast or both, doesn't happen magically. There's a team of people with big hearts that work for hours every day to make sure people are fed with the best the camp eagle kitchen can offer. But cooking the meal is just half the battle. Dish clean comes next. And a group of unlucky walkabouts experienced the unfortunate situation of broken water pipes and having to hand wash a sea of dirty dishes by hand. Positive spirits started to dwindle after two hours bent over scrubbing plate after plate. But then something fantastic happened. A group of interns heard about the horrific situation and came in ready to help out. Instead of spending their evening chillin, playing some frisbee after a long day, they decided to spend a few hours getting knee deep in crust-coated pots and pans alongside us. We sang and scrubbed and told stories and scrubbed and laughed a lot and scrubbed some more. It wasn't fun. Ashley Phillipp and I had sore lower backs for a few days from bending over the three-sink for so long. But it was a true testament to what this community is for. We have each other's backs. We are built on the idea that we work as a team and serve because that's what God calls us to do. Midnight dish cleans, waterfront guarding for eleven hours, ropes activity training in the rain, or even just smiling and asking a guest how their day is going. We are not here for the spotlight. We are here to make God shine brighter to eyes of everyone that comes down eight mile road. 

Trail Trip 1:

Crazy. We didn't even know each other for twenty four hours before packs were strapped on and we were headed for the hills. Long-story short, the best way to get to know people is to spend a week sleeping under the stars together after hiking all day and being deprived of showers, embracing all the smelliness. On the third night, mother nature decided to test us more than just a simple hike in the sun with forty-five pounds on our shoulders. At around midnight, a nasty thunderstorm suddenly hit. We all bomb-proofed (waterproofed) our packs and crammed into our tarp shelter. Thankfully guys and gals split that night. Nevertheless, we were piled in. No wiggle room. At all. Ashley Fry was squished in the corner, sitting in a puddle with one leg wedged into the roof to keep it from giving out and flooding our precious shelter. True MVP. The thunder pounded its ground-shaking rumbles from every direction. The rain soaked everything. Lightning stuck a tree limb that one of our hammocks had been hanging on just a few hours ago. When it finally stopped, we slowly crawled out to inspect the damage. Thankfully the fried tree limb and a few water-damaged books was the worst of it. We survived and now we have a cool story for future camp fire nights.

Walkabout is not adventurous fun 24/7. It’s hard. It stretches us past any limit we thought we had. Around camp, its known as the best nine months that you’ll never want to do again. We are here to serve and submit ourselves to becoming God’s masterpiece. Sometimes that means shoveling rocks for a few hours or taking a hike. We “embrace the suck”. We work together as a team and let God do the rest. Takin it day by day. Here’s to eightish more months of the craziest adventure yet…