So this week so far has been my favorite. I looooved St. Louis! What a neat city and what a neat church! We started the week by going to a Lutheran service which reminded me a lot of the church I grew up going to, although they did say the Apostle’s Creed slightly different than I was used to… This church was so welcoming, they actually had us come to the front and answer questions about SLC in the middle of service! Afterthe service, they had us stand in a receiving line and we shook everyones hand! So cool!

We ended up staying with the church coordinator as one of our host families and she lived at Concordia Seminary because her husband taught there. They had these really pretty old school houses from the 1920s or so and they had the HUGEST doors I’ve ever seen! I actually had major problems getting in and out of the doors too for whatever reason. I’m used to the cheapy apartment doors, but these were for real, solid oak, you’d have to use a battering ram to break in. They were for sure something out of a C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien novel.

One of the nights we were in St. Louis, we went downtown to Union Station which was an old school train station that was basically turned into a shopping complex. It was very pretty inside. We didn’t shop in there much but did see just about the most entertaining fudge show at The Fudgery that I have ever seen. They harmonized with each other and everything! Amazing! After Union Station we walked down to a well known pizza place called Imo’s Pizza. I ordered a Canadian Bacon medium pizza and ate The. Whole. Thing. Speaking of eating, we had ice cream at last count I think 5 times last week. Not just ice cream though, ice cream and custard. For some reason, St. Louis is gaga over custard. One day we even had ice cream in the afternoon and custard at night.

One of my favorite ice cream memories was Kurt, my Area Director coming in with four, count em, four half gallons of ice cream, all based off of flavors he knew we liked, and he had gotten me a Glamour magazine as well. My jaw dropped because this months was quite a flashy cover and I was surprised he’d picked it up and knew what it was lol. SCORE! It was really hard for m to leave my leftover ice cream behind, but I drew the line at bringin it in the car and eating as much of what was left as I could before it melted. Mianly because we did that with leftover pizza lol.


My most/least favorite memory besides eating ice cream too much was visiting the St. Louis Arch. It was so beautiful and simple, I loved it. I could have taken so many neat pictures from so many neat angles, all day long and not gotten tired of it. One thing I did fail to realize however was just how teeny, weeeny, tiny, the inside of that thing would be. I do have diagnosed mild claustrophobia (I say its mild because part of one of my skits is to curl up inside of a trashcan with the lid on and make a lot of noise and that doesn’t bother me), but boy being in a small space with a lot of people, and not a clear exit? That freaks me out. If you’ve never been in it, you go up in these tiny, tiny little pods that fit five people but really should fit only three and you go up in this Willy Wonka type pipe thingie that got suuuuuuper close to the wall at times. You then disembark at the top where they try and fit 500 people in a space that comfortably fits 5. You do get to see pretty sweet views though. My favorite was looking down and seeing my Area Director, Kurt run across the lawn, throw himself to the ground and make grass angels. I videoed him and it was HILARIOUS! Needless to say, I was doing everything short of kissing the ground when we came out of there.


Another super fun activity we got to do in St. Louis was the freeee zoo. In fact, St. Louis has a ton of free things, like a free Science, History and Art museum. The zoo was huge and amazing! They charge for shows which is probably where they make up a lot of their money, but they had a ton of animals. It kind of reminded me of Animal Kingdom, but not as jazzy. Their penguin exhibit was so open you could literally lean down and touch one of the penguins if you had a mind to. My fravorite, fravorite part of the zoo by far was the Insectarium. I spent so much time in there, it was fascinating! I looked at everything! My team was hardcore making fun of me for it, but I didn’t care although I did feel bad that I stayed in there so long that Maggie missed seeing the elephants, but I didn’t do it on purpose, I just lost track of time lol. I went into the butterfly aviary and laughed so hard at this group of African American ladies with their babies who were literally running, screaming and shreiking from these butterflies. One lady used her baby to shield herself from this HUGE blue and black one that was about the size of my head, it was sooo funny I almost peed myself.

We met two different groups of super cool guys on our way up to St. Louis. The first group was two black guys painting the outside of the Fazolis and their names were Larry and Ray. I had had a very discouraging week the week before and was talking to Larry about camp and what we did week to week and out of nowhere Larry starts saying how what we are doing is amazing and how he wanted to encourage us to keep doing it, even though it may be hard and even though we may want to quit because what we are doing is good and the Lord will reward us. He couldn’t have known except for God laying it on his heart, that I needed to hear his exact words of encouragement and it helped a lot knowing that God had heard my prayers and was sending me encouragement through a random angel painting the side of a Fazolis.

The second group of guys we met was Bryan and Josh. They were trying to get to California because they knew people out there who could help them. I was so humbled by these two because they asked if we could give them a ride to which I replied that I couldn’t but could I get them anything inside? Bryan got up and I told him he could get anything he wanted/needed in the store. He came back with a bottle of water. I asked if he wanted to get his friend anything and he meekly replied that one bottle was enough and he would share with his friend. I all about choked. Here I have all my meals and anything I need paid for this summer and I’m coming in all big and bad thinking I’m gonna help this guy and that he’s gonna buy up the place because I’m being so generous and he comes back with water – to share. I changed my tactic and decided to get them meals at the Hardees that was connected to the gas station. I figured I could at least make sure they were eating an actual meal and were full for a little while. He obliged and we were able to get something into their bellies. I talked to him for a little and the guys on my team were able to talk to Josh some outside. I wish I was able to spend more time with him and know him better. The one thing he said that stuck out to me was he wanted to get rich and make money so he could help other people as a way to say thanks to people like me who helped him. And all I did was treat him like the child of God I saw before me and bought him a meal from Hardees and yet to this man, for an hour or so at least, I was a hero.

I was really sad to leave this little church. Our volunteer coaches were so fun and I loved being around them. I especially appreciated the older ones because all of my grandparents have passed away long ago and it was nice to have some again, even if it was only for a week. My little girls (I had a ton of 5 and 6 year olds) loved cheer and I had a blast teaching them new cheers because they picked them up so quickly and all 5 ballet positions. Seeing them do ballet fposition number 5 was priceless I tell you and many of them were really good at it!


I will leave you with a funny story from my Lincoln week which I forgot to put into my blog for that week. So we do a segment with the kids where we dig deep and talk about Jesus dying on the cross and God's grace for our sins. When we finished, the camp coordinator was supposed to come up and give a talk to the kids and basically lay out the plan of salvation for them. Adam and I looked up after our spiel and see the camp coordinator run out of the room. Adam looks at me like “what do we do!” and all I could think of was we need to sing a song! So I start singing “I love you Lord and I lift my voice…” thinking that someone on my team is going to back me up, because I’m singing into a microphone…by myself. And those who know me know the only time I do that is during Karaoke nights and generally I bring a friend with me annnd I have background music and words on the screen lol. Needless to say I flew solo on that one and as I kept singing I definitely had to will myself not to pass out at the fact that I was singing in front of 80 campers and about 20 volunteer coaches. I didn’t win any Grammys for sure, but I did finish the song just in time for the Camp Coordinator to come back. Lol If only it had been videoed, my face was priceless!

Hug someone you love this week and get on the phone, facebook or text or email and tell someone how much they mean to you, it can make your day and their day so much richer!
That’s the true joie de vivre!

In Him and with much love,

Shannon

Slim shady.....

So this week has been so busy, that it is taking me forever to find time to update, but that’s a good thing. :D So we pulled into Lincoln, Nebraska. The three girls, Jacquie, myself and Maggie, were housed in one place with a couple from our church and the boys were housed at the Pastor’s house. Both couples were very nice. Our couple was a little awkward as they weren’t used to having “kids” in the house and they generally went to be by 9:00 to 9:30 and were up by about 6:00. Kris (the wife) said to us many a day, “You girls sure do keep weird hours.” Bless her heart; we had night camps all week so usually we had to be out pretty late.

Both couples had 2 dogs. All four dogs were sooo precious! The couple we stayed with, Kris and Darwin had two Schnauzers called Zephyr and K-9 who were their “children”. Pastor Tim and his wife Karen had two dogs, Lola (who was soooooo cute) and a little poodle something mix and Obadiah who looked like a Collie mix and was so loyal. It was funny because Lola was their 28 year old son’s dog by marriage and you could tell he was still getting used to her lol.

We didn’t do too much site seeing in Lincoln, NE. They had a really neat looking capital building which supposedly looked awesome inside too. They had a neat train downtown and a little park that went with it. They also had a historic square called Haymarket Square which kind of reminded me of Market Square in Knoxville and the Old City. We went to a neat Licorice Shop that had licorice form all over the world and I found these special rose mints from France that I had gotten in Epcot I think as a kid and loved them so much that I saved the tin because it smells like roses. I m pretty sure I still have that tin somewhere too lol. It was heaven to eat them again some 15-17 years later. I felt like that happy little girl again. I remember how much I loved sucking them down to their anise seed center. We also ate at the neatest Paneresque restaurant called The Bread and Cup. Its slogan was something about “simple food” and it was and I loved it. The food was wonderful and fresh and unique. I had a blue cheese and fresh bread and salami plate and loved and ate almost every bit of it.

Speaking of eating, I have never eaten so much in my life and so much of great food. This week alone, I’ve had custard twice and ice cream twice and its only Wednesday lol. The Pastor and his wife cooked for us twice and both times I think I had seconds, which I never do. Friday we hung out at a pretty, local lake and I got to catch up with people on the phone and then we went to a fun little shop called Rocket Fizz which had about a bajillion different soda flavors, candy types and tin signs.

As far as camp went, it was another awesome week. We had twentyish adult and youth volunteers and again, they had such great hearts for the kids. They were up for anything and we did our first Wacky Water World side show experience with them (which is as wet as it sounds) and they all took one for the team and got drenched! We were expecting around 60 kids and ended up with 80 which was soo many, but so amazing! My girls got to perform a sweet little dance for their parents and I was very proud of them, I felt like they did so well.

I got an email this week confirming my worst nightmare, that yes, indeed, as I had feared, that I had left my teddy bear (yes teddy bear) at Kris and Darwin’s house. Imagine how douchy I felt when I told the Camp Coordinator that yes, in fact, the teddy bear was mine. My excuse was and is that it was a graduation bear from UCF and is black and gold and has my graduation year on it and I brought it to remind me of home. I ended up sleeping with it the last night I was there and left it. Lol FAIL! Poor bear. He should now be on route to my PO Box is Knoxville. I was too worried for him to be shipped to an address somewhere around here this summer and risk him being lost lol.

So that’s about it for Lincoln. It was a pretty chill week. This week has been amazing and I am so excited about updating you about it next week. I think so far on this trip I’ve learned a couple things about myself or more else, confirmed a few things about myself, one being that I continue to suck as letting people serve me/be hospitable to me. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I’m so bad at letting other people take care of me and feed me, etc. I don’t know why, I guess I was just brought up to take care of myself then lived by myself for so long that I’m just used to providing for myself. Needless to say it’s been a humbling experience and I’m working on this silly character “flaw”. The second thing is how much I’ve really enjoyed (and needed) to keep up with my friends. I kind of figured that Id talk to everyone maybe once this summer, come back with cool stories, and catch up with people where I left off. (Not so little grasshopper). I’ve actually really wanted to call people and keep up with them and let them keep up with me. I’ve leaned on my friends this summer more than I thought I would and some of them didn’t even know it. Just hearing a familiar voice and knowing I was being thought of, needed, missed or someone was just bored and wanted to talk sometimes was very heartwarming. Sometimes when you miss home, all you need is someone who you know knows you and loves you for who you are (friends and family) to speak to you on the other line and it feels like a little bit of home. I know it sounds mushy and weird, but if you’ve ever been away in weird places every week with people you didn’t know super well and you’d never been gone for more than 2 weeks, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

No funny spider stories from Lincoln. We did leave Slim out in the rain for two days which was a huge fail, but he made it cuz he’s a hearty little fellow. (and by we I pretty much mean I, but nobody bothered to rescue him).
Two words I’ve caught and am saying all the friggin time now is “fail” and “legit”.
Lol man o man.

Keep seeking the Lord, for he is the key to joie de vivre!

In Him,

Shannon

I could actually live here...

These were my thoughts the longer I stayed in Overland Park, Kansas, right smack on the edge of Kansas City. We pulled into Overland Park early evening 2 Saturdays ago. It was a nice drive, especially because I didnt have to drive the whole way annnnd I got to take a nap! I cannot tell you the last time I took a nap in the car. (While someone else was driving). That night we ate at Panera Bread with our fearless leader Kurt and our utility coach, the equally fearless Jacquie (fearless because she's had to live with us for the past two weeks! lol)

Our lodgings were wonderful. Our Camp Coordinator, Laura, said she wanted us to feel like we were in a hotel, so she had set up two rooms for us with beds and chairs and cute little side tables with snack baskets. The church was on beautiful grounds as well. Ive posted pictures of their gardens on my FaceBook page. I thought I would hate staying in a church, but it was actually quite enjoyable because we didnt have to worry about entertaining people or following a specific home's rules, we just came and went as we pleased and we even had a huge screen and couches in the youthroom where we were able to watch movies (and watch we did). I semi-watched 'Invictus' late one night, then 'When In Rome' the next day. 'Invictus' to me is worth a re-watch when Im not so tired (I feel asleep literally during the last 5 minutes of the movie and missed the ending). When in Rome was cute, but I don't think I'll ever feel the need to re-watch the parts I only half paid attention to. It did make me want to plan a trip to Rome though.

We had about 54 kids at our first week of camp and about 20 volunteer coaches. I loved this church - Christ Church Anglican- they had great energy and wonderful hearts for the Lord and for the kids. They jumped in from the first meeting and gave their all during silly dances, skits, main events and huddle time (where they interact with a small group of kids). My staff did great as well, especially for our first week. We had a couple kinks we had to work out and our emcee, Adam, was sick pretty much the whole week which made his voice go super low then higher, then even lower, which was pretty hilarious, but overall I would say our first week was a blessed success.

We did so well with loading and unloading that we only had to practice it about twice then Kurt allowed us to leave our stuff set up for the rest of camp. woot. We are doing a pretty good job staying healthy - I buy a lot of fruits/veggies at the store which most everyone is willing to eat. Although, Im not gonna lie, I feel like I have eaten more this summer than I have ever eaten in my life I think the last time I ate this much was when I was running track Freshman year of high school. One thing we love is cake. We had two birthday cakes last week and both were mint chocolate. One was for our Camp Coordinator Laura, and one was for one of our teamsters, Josh. We decided that someone should have a "birthday" every week so we have a reason for cake!

We got to eat at two pretty neat restaurants while in Kansas City. The first was Oklahoma Joes BBQ set in a Shamrock Gas Station. That place was packed out! So packed, I went back in to turn in my silverware (which was real) and got all claustrophobic and panicky because there were so many people blocking any way of getting out - bleh. I had the Smokey Joe sandwich which was recommended to us by the business men behind us in line. It was a blend of pork and beef and an amazing sauce. The fries were plentiful and to die for and now that I think of it, probably still sitting somewhere in the back of the Pilot, because I dont recall anyone bringing them in and eating them lol. Gross.

The second place we ate at was a Mongolian BBQ joint for Josh's birthday. It was expensive but pretty much you ate til you burst. I ate so much it was hard for me to breath. I think my stomach distended into my diaphragm or plural cavity lol. Gross again. Pretty much you take a bowl and fill it with pasta and then meat choices then veggie choices then sauce and spice choices. They cook it on this circular looking drum with drumstick like tongs. They then serve it at the table with different types of rice as well as tortillas. They also have a soup and salad bar. I managed a bowl of buttery clam chowder and two platefuls (well one and a half) of the good stuff before I thought I would have to be rolled out.

We also got the opportunity to visit the Tomahawk Ridge Aquatic Center where they had high dives and a couple of toboggan slides. I went down each slide one time and then laid out and sunned and read the rest of the time as the water was a mite cold for my taste.

The weather in Kansas made me extremely homesick for Florida. Heavy thunderstorms rolled in every afternoon and left about as quickly as they came and the weather was generally very hot and humid, also like Florida.

We did have two small "hiccups" on our trip, the fist being our car battery dying. No big deal though, our fearless leader jumped it with his car (Sweet Passion Mobile) and Wal Mart hooked us up with a battery. The second "hiccup" happened to the churches basement. It basically flooded from water pouring in from an unsealed window. I will post videos of this as it is hard to describe, but it very much reminded me of the story about the Little Dutch boy and the dam burst.

I have several favorite memories from last week. Probably my most favorite memory was the impromptu water fight (s) that happened in the church's kitchen. It started because we had extra water in our coolers and one of the sinks had a really long nozzle hose thingie that shot quite far. Needless to say, by the end of round two (yes we came back for more) myself, Josh, Kurt and Maggie were soaked and I went through two outfits. The funniest part was when we went to exit the kitchen, Jacquie had literally pulled up a chair to the doorway and was sitting there watching us like you would watch a movie. Im surprised she didnt have popcorn in her hand lol and she managed to stay dry.

My second favorite memory earned Kurt the title "King of Africa". Unbeknownst to myself, Kurt is a spider whisperer. I had an ugly brown spider crawling around in my clothes the night before we left. Uusally, this is not a biggy and I'll just catch the spider in a cup and let it go, but all bets are off when it is crawling around in my clothes. I called Kurt on the phone and told him I needed him to come get a spider to which he gallantly replied "I'll be right there". I appreciated him not laughing at me while he was on the phone lol. He comes in and I expect him to kill the spider or catch and release it in something, but what does the King of Africa do? (Kurt grew up in Africa until he was 10 so that must be where he learned his spider whispering skills) he lets the spider crawl on his hand and up his arm and is as gentle as can be with it all the while I am squealing and screaming bloody murder and doing the spider dance because I cant believe he's letting it crawl all over him and he simply and quietly (after he pretends he let it go in my hair) brings it outside. King.Of.Africa.

I will make a small admission that we visited a Barnes and Noble and I bought 4 books. My family will laugh at this because they know books are my drug of choice. Im like a crack addict in a bookstore. All the books were under 6 dollars though so at least I know how to get a bargain. I enjoyed a rapturous 30 minutes outside B&N by a fountain reading my newfound treasures.

This week we are in Lincoln, Nebraska. Please pray that our time here is a blessing to those we serve and that we will leave here changed.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Remember to live each day to the fullest for that is the joie de vivre!

In Him,

Shannon

Bruises, Food, Learning and Laughter

The first question that comes to my mind as I process the craziness that has been the past week and few days is, "Why haven't I dont this sooner?!". I absolutely loooove what I am doing....Yes, its stressful, yes, sleep is at a premium, yes, I have more bruises on my head (ran into a doorframe last night), shins, kness, than a pack of boyscouts, but it's alll worth it to me.

So, you might ask, why the heck haven't we heard from you? At least I know that's what my mom called and asked (on my voicemail I might add.) The answer is because I'm training how to love Jesus. Well, sort of anyways. ..

I pulled into a hotel late Saturday night which was the best idea Ive ever had. It was a cheap price for a nice room. Refreshed, I headed to RAMP which is what our training is called, and chilled around until the evening started. Little did I know that was one of my last chill times lol.

In a nutshell, a very, very, large nutshell, RAMP was an INTENSE learning experience. Most days my alarm went off at 630 and breakfast started around 715. I was in training or meeting most night until around 1100 (Central time). So pretty much when my day was done I couldn't make any phone calls to all of my east coast loves because they were snuggled up in bed, so generally I got on my phone, computer, prepared for the next day or hung out with the late nighters until I felt like I was ready to crash. Most days I wanted to go to bed right away, but I was always way over stimulated to hit the sheets after our meeting. Most of the time it was hilarious to look around the room at the other teams and watch people (myself definitely included) fight to stay awake during long talks or videos.

Most of RAMP was us (5 teams of 4 people each plus 2 area director, plus 2 utility staff, plus 2 trainers) getting to act like campers while learning all of the programming for the 5 camp days. Let me tel you - I have never moved so much in my life, not even in P.E. class. There was so much up-ing and down-ing that by the end all of us 20 somethings had bruises all over our kegs and were moving at a much slower pace than the beginning of the week.
I absolutely fell in love with all of the SLC staff. By name (so you can pray for them by name) they are Team 1 : Area Director Anna Utility Coach:Ethan Camp Director Klamesha Coaches Jamie, Ben and Peter Team 2: Camp Director Lance Coaches: Megan, Lindsey and Dan Team 3: Camp Director Kortney Coaches: Jessica, Chris and Chris Team 4: Area Director: Kurt Utility Coach Jacquie Camp Director:Me Coaches: Maggie, Josh and Adam Team 5:Camp Director:Michael Coaches Dan, Brogan and Rachel and the two that help run everything, Ben and Erin

Like I said, I absolutely fell in love with all of these people. Some, like the Camp Director and my team, I had either talked to on the phone, seen in person, or friended on Facebook. The others, well, it was love at first sight lol. We bruised together, crawled on the floor together, laughed sooo much and sooooo hard, worshiped together, ate together and learned how to back up a trailer (scary) together. But, what I remember most, is the laughter. I cannot remember when I have felt such joy and laughed so much - it must have been years and it felt so good and I remember why I am a believer and why it's so important to seek out other believers to share in that joy.

We had a foot washing/prayer ceremony the last night which was awesome. The main directors washed the area directors feet, who washed the camp directors feet, and we got to wash our teams feet. Very humbling and moving experience to be intimate like that as Jesus was with his disciples.

If you have not already seen the crazy pictures on my Facebook, they are under the Summer 2010 album. It is impossible to put all of these experiences day to day in words, but I think the pictures help. Please be in prayer for all of the teams as we spread the excitement of loving Jesus to kids and communities all over the U.S. and thank you for taking the time to share in this walk with us. Missing you and loving Jesus more everyday....

In Him,
Shannon

My new little "family"

So I met my teammates for this summer today. Well, I met them on the phone anyway and I must say I am already in love with them. God has done such an amazing job putting our little "family" of four together. One of my teammates mentioned that he must have "lucked out" by getting on the team he did. I told him he didn't really; YouthWorks does a great job interviewing us, gathering personality information and praying over team choices. I believe each team was God-ordained from the start, and I am very excited about mine.

My team is made up of two guys, Adam and Josh and another girl, Maggie. They are all three still in college and all three seem so excited about this summer as I am. All of our prayer requests consist of getting ready for the summer: preparing our hearts, minds and bodies to go on a journey this summer, a journey for which I am convinced that we will not return the same. I already feel I am going to learn so so much from these three people God is bringing into my life.

I felt like all three of my teammates have really unique personalities that will be brought to Team #4. I already love their spirits and willingness to serve and so far they all seem to "get" my sense of humor and "me" ness.

Please, please be in prayer for us BY NAME in the few weeks leading up to June 5/6. I am soooo jealous for your prayers in my life and am so thankful for them. My three "mates" are flying and I will be driving so travel mercies for all would be appreciated. I was told by two people today that this trip was going to "stretch" me today. I have no doubt that God was speaking through those people to me telling me to get ready to be rock and rolled. I pray that I will be and am excited about it.

I'm not gonna lie, the closer I get to June 5th, the more tears show up on a regular basis. Tears of joy, sadness, anxiousness, appreciatevness, stress, love. It depends on what kind of day I'm having basically. lol.

All in all, Slim the Snail and I are ready to do this summer of service. Now my greatest concern other than saying goodbyes is trying to pack - AAAAAACCCKKKKK!

Much love to you all and remember, even through the tears and fears, to embrace and remember the source of our joie de vivre. Just look to the skies and you'll know whom I talk of. ;)

In Him,

Shannon

So we can only wear khakis to church this summer. Trying to not look like I'm going to private school, I picked up these hot little numbers Friday from a cute consignment type shop since I don't think khaki skirts are sold anywhere anymore. Trust me folks, they look way cuter on and I figured hey, I can get the long one for when I don't feel like shaving my legs and the knee length one for when I want to add a little spice! - whoop!

Meet Slim! The newest mascot for my summer-o-fun for the ten weeks I will be traversing across the contiguous United States. His full name is Slim the Sports Life Camp Snail. I told my family I bought a snail and my favorite comment was from my Dad, when he said, "Now make sure you give him plenty of water and make sure that he gets air." I looked at him and laughed and explained that Slim was a giant resin snail, lol not a real one. Needless to say, Slim will be well taken care of and you all will be seeing plenty of fun photo ops with him. This photo was taken in Chattanooga, Slim's birthplace, at Point Park - a civil war historic site

Got my binder mailed back to me so Im glad to be reading through it and continuing to prep for the summer! 27 days!!!!

Focus on the Joie de vivre!

In Him,

Shannon

Training Weekend

(The church we stayed in "Elim" and a skyline of Minneapolis)

So for the first time ever, I flew to the very blustery, very chilly for May, city of Minneapolis, MN. Minus the fact that my alarm went off at 2:45 am (aaack!) I felt like God's hand was on my trip the whole time. Bless the Delta airport workers, as soon as I checked in, they informed me that instead of having to hop on three different flights, I could pay $50 more and fly a direct flight into MN that left only an hour after my first flight was supposed to take off and would get me to MN almost 3 hours earlier than my original flight. I jumped at the chance, especially since the straight through flight was cheaper so I only had to pay around $35 dollars instead of the $50 to switch. We had to bring sleeping things so I was NOT thrilled at having to pay $23 both ways to check my baggage which was basically 2 sets of clothes and a big ole sleeping bag.

The trip wasn't without its hitches however; I happened to forget a towel..ultimate fail! And since I wasn't super good friends with any of my bunkmates, I was hesitant to ask if I could borrow theirs (pretty please). So I sucked it up and dried off with about a forests worth of paper towels to which when I announced this as I was getting dressed a girl hollered out, "you're hardcore!" These Mid-Westerners I tell you, if using your brain to figure out an alternative to drip drying is hardcore, we are all in trouble lol.

On the same topic of Midwesterners...I may be doing a little blaspheming here and I mean no disrespect, but the Mid-Western accent (to me) is comparable to someone scraping their fingernails down a chalkboard - no lie. I wanted to pull my ears off rather than be subjected to what is the extreme opposite to the southern accents I am used to hearing. Mid-Westerners do something to their O's which is akin to swallowing them, remembering you have to pronounce them, and then spitting them back up in a hurry. And don't EVER ask a Mid-Westerner to pronounce their A's correctly, they strangle their A's! Bag is pronounced bag with a long a instead of a short, same with bagel... ad naseum.

As for the training, it was exhausting. We crammed about 5 days of stuff into 2.5 days and that wasn't even a third of it - no kidding - We still have another week of training to do once I reach Minneapolis again for the summer. Needless to say I have bunches of binder reading to do between now and then except I left my binder in the church lol. And they made comments about how organized I was with my note taking and highlighting and underlining - ha! Perhaps it was the sleep-deficit due to my air mattress deflating halfway through the night and never fully reviving or how I was up for 21 hours straight that first day or how I had to use my I-POD for white noise to cover the strangling snores of the poor woman who came on the trip wth a massive cold. All in all, I was glad to be home, and was EXCITED to go back to work! Ha, you know the weekend is rough when that happens.

I am however unendingly excited about what God is doing for this summer. I already love my Area Director, Kurt; he was a perfect fit for my personality. And the other Camp Director who shares Kurt with me, is Mike, who is a non-stop barrel of stories and silliness.

Please be in prayer for me for several things - for my team who I have not met, that we may gel and carry out good things for God this summer. For my Area Director Kurt, that he may lead and I may listen. For the churches and kids and host families we will interact with all summer that we may be reciprocal blessings to each other and for me as I am already very anxious about leaving my family and friends and life as I know it and stepping into very unfamiliar territory. May God lead and I always be willing to follow for that is the true joi de vivre.

In Him,

Shannon