Off to the lake.........finally

Going up to the lake- be back Monday.

Out in God's country

I just got back from my trip to New Mexico with my Dad and the Scout troop. Unfortunatly I missed Big Stuf to go to this, but it was something I had to do. It was my last scout trip, but i made the most of hanging with friends. Hopefully it wont be my last trip with my Dad because backpacking is one of the things we both enjoy togeather. It was one of the bast weeks of my life doing the thing I love- being outdoors and away from the noise and confusion of society. We backpacked through 50 miles of the most gorgeus land known to man. It was alot of work too- hiking through a 104 degree desert at 8,600 feet with a 40 pound pack is no easy chore- but it was one of the best weeks of my life.

Racine '06

Well its been a while since I last blogged so I got a lot to catch up on. First off is the Racine trip. This was, sadly, my last big youth group event. We had the opportunity to do a lot of great service work for the people of Racine and I witnessed God at work through the members of my crew and church. The down side was that the program at Racine was very foreign to us. Instead of the usual speaker format, the staff presented a more "sensual program" where the host incorporated the five senses in an interactive workshop environment. Like I said before we all felt out of place because some campers at Racine were real into it. Our crew had a difficult time connecting to because we were so used the usual speaker format, not to mention that we seem to be members of the 'frozen chosen' (presbyterians) and this "sensual education method" is way out there for us.
On the up side, I saw our high school group bond more, something I'd been praying for over the past couple of months since I taught in February. It was really cool to not only get to know the guys better, but the guys and girls were drawn closer together as a youth group simply because they shared a common experience as well as deep spiritual opinions on what they saw happening around them. I rejoice because I have never seen the guys and girls interact like that before in our youth group. We took the vans to Racine as the guys and girls, and (at least to me) came back as one youth group.

Here are some pictures- Cam is the man










My work crew (Margaret, ally, Jessica, and Leslie) and our resident Mary