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