3, 2, 1, Blast Off!

Goodness, it has been a long time since I got on to blog. Life has been generally crazy and wonderful as I ended my time at FaHoLo Camp, spent a week with my family, and got back to JBU for New Student Orientation and my sophomore year. Here's a whirlwind tour of the last few weeks. I hope to get back to some of my thoughtful writing soon, so stay tuned!

These wonderful folks are the FaHoLo camp staff. We had a great time working together this summer. The people in the white shirts are most of the lifeguards, and the rest of us did just about everything but lifeguarding.

 

You may have heard already, but I had to call 9-1-1 my last night of work because an older lady fell on the pool deck and got a 2 in. cut in the back of her head. (It bled a lot!) It was a crazy night and I am glad I had the training to do what I needed to do. It was scary, but the adrenaline rush was kind of awesome. I hope I never have to do that again, though.

This is Sarah (my bicycle adventure buddy), who goes to Evangel. We really hit it off and enjoyed each other's company the last few weeks of camp. She ran the high ropes course most days, and I even got to work up there once!

One evening, Sarah and I went to her house to make muffins, get her movies, and hang out with her family. They made me take guppies home with me, so I now have six guppies that I left at home with Rachel. We decided to name them Susan, Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Jill and Eustace, like the Narnia characters. (No, we cannot tell  them apart...)

I was home for only a week after camp and before school. It was crazy trying to get everything done and spend some quality time with my family. One day, I went to Pat Catan's (a craft store) to get some scrapbook supplies, and they had bubble tubes for 97 cents or so. I bought one and then Rachel and I went out and blew bubbles in the back yard. It was hilarious watching 13- and 18-year-old sisters frolic around and try to pop bubbles with our noses and catch more than the other person. I also had fun taking pictures (this was my favorite one).

We went to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Gardens in Columbus one day as a family. The butterfly room was my favorite because both Rachel and I were able to coax butterflies onto our fingers and show them off to other people. The wonder displayed in the other children's eyes was delightful. We also got to watch glass blowing, which I had never seen before. It was a fun adventure with the whole family, and was especially precious because of the short time I was there. We went to see the movie Brave that night, too.

 

 

Dad and I drove my car down to Kansas City last Saturday. (I get to have a car at school this year!!!!!)  Since Ryan and I hadn't seen each other since the end of school in May, we spent a few days with the Rosner and Miller families, so I could see Ryan again before school started. We had a great time together.

 

Ryan took me to one of his favorite stores, James Country Mercantile. They sell period accessories for Civil War reenactors. My favorite part was finding this cape and dress to try on. I would love to go with him to a reenactment sometime, and maybe even dress up as one of the period ladies for a day. We'll see :)

 

On Sunday night, Ryan told me he had a surprise for me. I knew he had something up his sleeve, because he had been telling me for months he was "working on a secret," but he wouldn't tell me any more than that. I was completely blown away when he pulled out this ring.

 

 

 It is a promise ring, and he looked all around Kansas City and the world wide web for the perfect one. I think he did a wonderful job picking it out! It means to me that we both treasure our relationship as it is now and would like to see it grow and develop in the years to come. He wanted me to know that he planned on being a significant part of my life for the long haul. It is a symbol of our commitment to one another and to God, to wait until the right time, and to enjoy the journey He has prepared for us.

 

After a wonderful weekend in Kansas City, we made our way to Siloam Springs so I could begin my training as an Orientation group leader. My O. partner, Ryan DaCosta, and I were assigned to nine new students and did everything with them throughout JBU Orientation 2012. We had a blast and had a great group of new freshmen.  

 

This picture is our group at our Serve Siloam project site, The Manna Center. We worked to sort bulk foods (flour, M&M's, tea bags, chicken fingers, etc) down into smaller packages and to organize the clothes in their thrift store. I got flour all over me!

 

Today is the first day of classes, and I am hoping and praying for a wonderful year! I am taking Microeconomics, Spanish Literature, Financial Math, Consumer Behavior, and Public Relations Writing. I am the Copy Editor for the Threefold Advocate student newspaper and will be writing some for them as well. I am also continuing in my role as SIFE project leader for Project HOPE. It's going to be a crazy busy year, but also a wonderful one. I love my dorm room and my roommate, Ashley Grant. We're planning on having lots of fun when we're too tired to do school anymore. I love having a car on campus, and have already given a few freshmen rides to Wal-Mart and church. I am so thankful for all my friends, and there have been lots happy, squealing reunions since I returned to campus last Wednesday. I hope you are having a wonderful end of summer and beginning of the school year. God bless you! I'd love to hear how your summer went, so please leave me comments or send me emails or snail-mails.

 

My JBU Address is:

 JBU Box 2957

2000 W. University St.

Siloam Springs, AR 72761

The Bicycle Adventure and Other Stories

Did you know? Nearly every major injury I have sustained was caused by riding a bike.

The other day, I went on an adventure with my new friend, Sarah, at FaHoLo. It involved bicycles, and I will tell you about our adventure in a minute. First, I have to give you a brief tour of the Laura + bike=disaster timeline.

Let’s see. Once, I was riding a wheeled toy in our garage. I would have to ask my mom exactly how old I was, but that’s not important. Suffice it to say, I flipped the tricycle thing over onto the concrete floor and got a gigantic bruise on my forehead. I think it was right before some dance recital, photography session, or other moment at which it would be nice to appear photogenic, and mom spent a quite a while putting foundation on my bump to somewhat cover it up. Oops!

When I was about 8 years old—my adult front teeth were newly grown in—I attempted to ride my neighbor’s full-sized bike. I did fine for a while, until I tried to turn into my driveway. I swerved, and the next thing I knew I took a bite of concrete, scraped my nose and chin and chipped off at least a third of my right front tooth. I got a cap on that tooth and you can still see the faint line that delineates the real tooth from the cap. You’d think I would have learned my lesson about bikes. Or not.

When I was 10, dad left for his first international trip—a business trip to the island of Cyprus. When he called home to tell us he arrived safely, mom got to tell him I had wrecked my bike and broken my right arm. What happened was this: I was trying to ride one-handed down the hill in our neighborhood. I had seen many of my friends doing it well and thought I would give it a try. I veered out of control and to correct the problem I grabbed the left-hand handle brake (which makes sense, given that I am left-handed!). Unfortunately, the left brake stops the front wheel! This presumably caused me to flip the bike and fracture my arm. Now, that was in the days before every pre-teen had a cell phone, so I had to wait on the curb in pain for someone to drive by before I could get help. I wore a cast for six weeks and was as good as new. (Taking piano lessons for six weeks with a cast made my piano teacher’s life difficult, but I got a lot better at playing chords with my left hand during that time!)

That is most of the harm I caused. Since those adventurous days of childhood bike injury, I have managed to stay in mostly one piece while navigating the roads on my beloved bicycle.

That brings me to the other day’s bike adventure. I got a text from Sarah, which simply read, “Come to the new maintenance building. It will be fun!” I figured she was right, and so I wandered off to join her. She led me into the dark, dusty building and over to the corner where, to my surprise, lay a bunch of old bikes. It looked as though the bike section of Wal-Mart had crawled there to die. Flat tires, broken brakes, and loose chains dominated the scene, but with a little bit of searching we each found a bike that probably wouldn’t kill us to ride. With our new-found modes of transportation, we cycled off into the sunset.

The bike I found is a character. It is a red boy’s Huffy, and when I first found it, its chain was off the gears, its front brake was busted, and the seat needed tightened so it wobbled forward and backward while I tried to ride. I put the chain back on, figured the front brake was what caused my 10-year-old arm fracture so I was just fine without it, and decided it would be fun to try to ride with a loose seat. That dusky ride was one of the most delightful things I have done in a long time! I had a blast riding with Sarah. (And I didn’t fall or anything!)

The next day, I asked the mechanic, Kyle, to tighten up my seat. That helped make it a lot easier to ride and I have been riding it around camp a lot more since then. That night, Sarah and I rode down the entrance road and past the go-cart track to the field with hay bales in it. We hopped back and forth across the rows of hay bales and then sat and talked until it got dark.

So, while most of my major injuries have come from riding bicycles, some of the most delightfully fun times in my life have come from those rides as well.

Faith, Hope, Love and Summer--Update #3

Hey there! This will be a short post because I have to run to the dining hall for a quick lunch and then to the boat dock to lifeguard for three hours this afternoon. Just wanted to give you a quick update on life here at camp, though.

Things are crazy, as usual. Lifeguarding was the hardest this week that it has ever been, because this week was Kids Camp! That means that a boatload of 2nd-6th graders invaded FaHoLo for the week. I decided this week that little girls listen and behave much, much better than little boys in general. That does not mean that girls are better than boys or any such thing. But as far as lifeguarding goes, sessions with more girls go smoothly, while boys are harder to deal with. You see, girls are content to play happily in the pool and follow the rules. They play Marco Polo, the dunking-each-other-until-you-guess-the-color game, and swim around looking at the bottom of the pool with their goggles (which break all the time!). Little boys--and many of their teenaged group leaders--are not content following the rules. They would rather run, hang on the volleyball net, throw each other, wrestle each other, run and jump in, dive, splash each other, splash me, not hold still quietly during buddy check, and so on. They like to push limits on the rules and therefore push my buttons. That's frustrating to me, but I'm learning to deal with it. It is helpful that when we lifeguard we always have at least two people on duty. Usually I am partnered with a guy such as Kyle, Casey or Graham, and they can handle the little boys better than I can. Thus, we work well as a team.

I also had my first saves this last week. I was one of the guards in the water during swim tests, and so I pulled the kids to safety who couldn't make it all the way across the pool. I was surprised a few times, both by the kids that could and could not make it. There were some little 7- or 8-year-olds, that I was sure I would have to save, who made it across no problem. Some others were older and looked like they were doing fine until all the sudden they freaked out or got tired and started to panic and  bob up and down until I could get to them. I learned from that to never judge only by appearances, people will always surprise you.

Housekeeping is going well. We are working well as a team and getting the rooms turned around quickly and accurately. I still get grossed out sometimes, but most of the time I just suck it up and deal with whatever nastiness we find. I still like it when people leave soda, loose change, or unopened Oreos in their rooms...It makes the summer staff happy!

I began working in Laundry last week when one of the other summer staff couldn't work there anymore. I am getting to be a professional folder and sorter of sheets, towels, bath mats, and cleaning rags. Sam and I work together folding the flat sheets. It's a lot of fun, actually. I work in there on Tuesdays and Thursdays after my pool chores.

We found 4 frogs in the pool yesterday afternoon. I like catching frogs, but I will only do it with my net. I squeal pretty much every time I find one in the skimmer still. They camoflague very well in thee leaves and bugs and so I am usually very surprised.

I still love devotion time and staff meeting here. I hope that in the future I can work in another place that is as spiritually and relationally uplifting as this place is. I love the people here! I got to share one of my devotions with the summer staff this week. I spoke about freedom. There are many things that drag us down, but Christ has promised to set us free from the yoke of slavery and to help us cast of the sin that so easily entangles so we can run the race marked out for us. I still come back to "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." (Galatians 5:1) I am learning to not be bound by what other people think, by fear, or by my circumstances. Christ helps me not be dragged down by that anymore, because He made me to be free. That is why He died on the cross, so what am I doing living in bondage if freedom is right there for me? I also have to extend freedom to others to live as God created them. Sometimes people drive me crazy. But I have to look at the bigger picture--that they are redeemed sinners seeking freedom, just like me--and extend freedom and grace to the people around me.

God is so amazing to continue speaking His Words to me, even when I am staring at my journal at 11:00 p.m. after a long day's work and just trying not to fall asleep before I finish my thoughts and prayers. He still speaks even when I am weak and tired. I just have to open the door of my heart and invite Him in to speak!

Wow...I wrote for longer than I thought already (and thus do not have much time to proofread!). I'm off to work again.

*sings* Hi-ho-hi-ho it's off to work I go!

Faith, Hope, Love and Summer--Update #2

It is hard for me to believe that it’s already been about a month that I have been here at FaHoLo camp. I have so many stories and adventures that there is no way that I will ever be able to share them all here. What I can do is give you a little idea what I have been up to, and if we run into each other sometime, I would be happy to share some more stories or elaborate on what I have written here.

First, some definitions:

FaHoLo: n. an abbreviation for Faith, Hope and Love. Also, the name of my camp, which is an Assemblies of God camp and conference center in Grass Lake, MI

Turnover: n. the process of getting all buildings and grounds of the camp cleaned up from one group and ready for another. Usually this happens on the weekends—sometimes both Friday and Sunday if we have groups here for both the week and weekend.



The Blob

The Blob: n. a large rectangle made out of the same material as bounce houses usually are. It sits at the bottom of a tall tower out in the middle of the lake. One person sits on the end of the blob, another person jumps from the tower to the middle of the blob, and the first person goes flying. The second person crawls to the end and gets situated, and the next person jumps.  “Blobbing” is the act of using the blob.

So far the summer staff schedule at FaHoLo included training week, one week where we had several medium-sized groups using the facilities, Jr. High camp week (about 375 kids plus leaders), and Family camp week (probably 300-400 people), in addition to some church groups on the weekends.

We start every day with a short staff meeting to assign jobs and make sure we’re all on the same page. My favorite part about staff meeting is that we have a short devotion and a time of prayer before we start the day—as a team! This creates a very uplifting work environment. I mean, the team is about 20 to 25 young adults, most of whom live on camp. We pray, eat, work, clean, play around, watch movies, make mischief, talk, and live with each other. Every day. Sometimes we want to strangle each other or just go in a corner and hide for a little while, but for the most part we have become a very strong and fairly tight-knit little gang. It’s an incredibly different work environment than something like a retail establishment, but I like the differences for the most part.

My main job here at FaHoLo is being a lifeguard. (Yes, I’m getting really tan. Any other questions?) As a lifeguard, in the mornings my group is responsible for cleaning the outdoor pool and its bathrooms. In the afternoons we lifeguard for the groups swimming, and sometimes there are late night swim activities that we work as well.

Cleaning the pool is always a little adventuresome. One day we found 4 frogs in the pool on the same day! That’s a record for me, but we usually find at least a few a week. They get in and they can swim but the walls are too high for them to get out so they get into the skimmer baskets on the sides and chill there until somebody opens up the lid, screams (usually), and then tosses them over the fence. I just cringe when I open those baskets now, expecting a frog to jump out at any moment. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not exactly afraid of frogs, I just am often startled by them!  We also found two dead chipmunks in the pool so far this season….guess we don’t make lifejackets small enough for Alvin and his chipmunk friends? The critters need to learn to only swim when a lifeguard is on duty!

Watching people in the pool can be pretty entertaining.  It is difficult to keep little kids from running around the pool deck all the time. I swear my most repeated word this summer is “WALK!” The little ones are so darling, so I try to help them understand without scaring them. Usually I end up enlisting the parents’ help. I think one of the hardest times to keep the little kids safe was yesterday. We had a Korean church group come swim, and it was mostly families with small children. I kept trying to get these three little boys to walk, but I am not even quite sure they understood the English words I was using. I didn’t just keep blowing my whistle every time they did it, but I did ask their adults to help the kids to understand they needed to walk in the pool area. The parents would stoop down and instruct the kiddos in rapid-fire Korean with some good finger-wagging thrown in. The kids would nod their heads and then run again not even 30 seconds later. Oh well. I tried?

Then there is the blob (see definitions) where I get to work out on the lakefront sometimes. Cody works it more though, because he loves to do it—he was the kid in high school who always got asked to blob other people because he could make them fly really far. He also is really good at putting the kids at ease on the top of the tower before the jump. He also can tell when they’re fibbing about their weight (there can only be a 50 lb. difference between the two people on the blob for safety reasons). I got to work it a few times though. Kids love it and it is one of the only jobs where you have constant interaction with the campers instead of just observing silently from afar unless something dangerous happens. I like talking and interacting, so that makes it a fun job.

Junior High kids are just kind of crazy, but they listen pretty well if I tell them to do/not to do something. I am kind of terrified of next week, which is Senior High camp. I fear I won’t get any respect from the teens and that all they’ll want to do is flips off the edge of the pool, run, wrestle, and dive in (all things I have to yell at kids about). It’ll be ok, I hope. It could be an exhausting week of frustrating teens though. We’ll see.

I usually don’t like it when there are storms, and we have had a couple. We can’t do any of the activities as long as there are thunder, lightning, or high winds, so a run-of-the-mill storm can shut us down at the pool pretty quickly. If it is really bad, we all have to go to the Clay Activities building, which is a 50-year-old gymnasium with no air conditioning, to wait out the storm. I am thankful we’ve only had to do that once and it was for about 15 minutes. The clouds were boiling and the rain was pelting down as the wind whistled by—I was happy to be in a safe place at that point!

At least one point during the week we usually have a “turnover” day (see the definitions). It’s an all hands on deck and work until you’re done kind of day. Today was one of those days. We started at 1 p.m. and ended about 5:30 p.m. this afternoon. I am a pro at cleaning bathrooms, mopping and vacuuming, making beds, making mirrors sparkle and shine, cleaning windows, folding towels and blankets, replacing toilet paper or soap in the dispensers, etc. There is always something to do on those days.

In the evenings when groups are here there are usually services. They are one of my favorite parts of this job, probably because the services were one of my favorite parts of camp as a kid.  As a staff member, I’m supposed to stay in the back and not actually interact with the kids during the service (something about some groups being uncomfortable about people other than their counselors working with the kids, which I understand, even if we have all been background checked and are pretty good young adults here on staff) but even from there I can pray over the kids, worship with them, and benefit from the messages myself. One of the main themes I have been hearing over and over is that of freedom. Each camp has talked about the burdens that we carry, the life we are called to, the things that hold us back, the fear that ensnares us, and sin that binds us. God doesn’t call us to be in bondage, but to be free and effective children of God. There is this song by Jesus Culture that the band at Jr. High sang a few times:

There is power in the name of Jesus

to break every chain

to break every chain.

It was amazing to see my sister and her peers going up to the altar and calling on God to break their chains and give them freedom. So many lives were changed that night, and so the Break Every Chain song has stuck with me as an anthem of God’s power. Hebrews 12 talks about throwing off that which entangles us and running the race God has marked out for us. Each time the theme came up it made me think. Then, during the month of July, my devotional book is following the theme of freedom. I began asking myself, if God calls me to live a life free in Him, am I living a life like that? If not, what’s holding me back and how can I remedy that with God’s help?  I certainly haven’t found all the answers to those questions yet, but God and I have been talking about it a lot during devotions lately. I’d like to turn that question on you—are you living free in Christ? If not, what’s holding you back?

I was really excited that Rachel got to come and experience Jr. High camp at FaHoLo while I was on staff. She and I did get to see each other briefly several times a day, but for the most part our activities and responsibilities were much different. I would see her at the end of service and we would go to snack shop and grab something to munch on as we sat under the big tent to talk about her day. I was a pretty proud big sister; I was always saying, “Look! That’s my little sister” or “My little sister, Rachel, is a camper this week.” I was so excited to have her here! Camp was a stretching experience for her, but in the end she had a blast. I saw her frequently with either a big smile or a huge yawn spreading across her face, which to me was a really good sign. It was a fun week.

I do get tired and stressed out sometimes, and when that happens, my peaceful spot is the lake. I go there to talk on the phone, watch the sunset, let the fish nibble on my toes, lay in the sun, watch the pontoon boats go by, observe the robins taking a bath at the water’s edge, or just sit and do absolutely nothing. It is so beautiful and relaxing, so I usually come back refreshed and ready to face the problems of the day.

God has really been taking care of the camp and making things work out one step at the time. The biggest story of God’s provision happened on the 4^th of July. We were going to have a family fun day at family camp to celebrate the 4^th. One of the biggest activities was having a bounce house and a dunk tank for the kids to enjoy. It was going to be expensive for the camp to rent, but you can’t have family fun day without them, so we were going to go ahead, bite the bullet, and pay the money. Frances, the camp director, made arrangements with the rental company to do so. Meanwhile, her husband, Pastor Otis, fell and broke his foot a few weeks ago and has needed surgery and constant attention since then. Needless to say, picking up the rented fun equipment basically fell off the radar, and we didn’t pick it up on the 3^rd. Frances was sitting in her truck in the parking lot at 8 a.m. on the 4^th, waiting for the rental place to open, when she found out they were closed on the 4^th and we couldn’t have the equipment at all. She was crushed! She came back to camp and told some people, who talked to their friends at camp about it. Pretty soon these people were calling churches and old friends who had bounce houses or dunk tanks and making arrangements to borrow them. In the end, by 10 a.m. FaHoLo was sending several people to pick them up. Other than the gas money to pick up and return, the camp got two bounce houses and a dunk tank to use for the family fun day—completely free of charge. God provided and people began to say that this was probably the best family fun day they had ever had. What could have been a disaster turned out to be a great event!

Oh boy. I have so many stories I could tell. I hope these tidbits gave you a bit of a picture into how my summer has been so far. I guess I will have to come back next time and tell you some more, but until then I hope you’re having a great summer and I look forward to catching up soon.

Hey there, God

Hey there, God,

This is the beginning of a long-overdue experiment. I have never been very good at doing this, you know, devotions. I used to do a better job at home with my family and through Bible Quiz at keeping in Your Word. But, since going to college, I have not habitually been good at daily spending concentrated time with You. Oh, I have gone to chapel, attended church, prayed and listened to good music. But that’s like reading about You, hearing about You, and talking about You without actually spending time with You. What a dumb idea! This needs to change….I’m going to need Your help more than anything on this. Help me please? I need the desire and ability for consistency. Show yourself to me; today and each day. May my spiritual life and everyday life be unified in You.

Love,

Laura

I wrote this on May 7, 2012 on the flight home from my first year in college. It is the first entry in my prayer journal, which since then I have been striving to make a habit in my life.

I’m not one of those people who insist you have to do devotions at a certain time of day or night. What’s important to me is that I get them done. Lately, I have been doing them by flashlight in my bunk before I go to sleep each night at FaHoLo!

 In addition to my prayer journal (which was a gift from my roomie, Ashley), I have a ladies’ devotional book that has a scripture and a little reflection for each day following a monthly theme such as joy, grace, humor or peace. This book was a gift from Ryan. His encouragement to keep up with daily devotions is so valuable. Right now I read that and then journal about what I read, my joys and concerns of the day, my musings, and any interceding for friends and family.

I am not kidding when I said that I am not usually good at this kind of thing. I am not! I am that kid that mom had ask me every night if my teeth were clean just to make sure. She still has to bug me to put my shoes in the right place, or to take my vitamins, or to make my bed or…..get the idea? Innate consistency is just not something I excel at.

 Yet, God has been answering my prayer to give me “the desire and ability for consistency.” He really has rewarded me each and every time I open up His Word and meditate on it. Sometimes it’s the theme of the month that I really need to focus on, or a sentence or phrase that stands out, or an idea approached in a brand new way.

For example, May 12^th I wrote: “Dear God, You are hilariously amazing! Each day this week you have rewarded me for my efforts to read and ponder Your Word and to spend time with You.” That was the day I was at Teen Bible Quiz regionals with my family. The passage I read that day talked about the power of God’s Word. The little story in my devotional book was about this lady’s mother, who memorized Scripture and shared it with her children. One day, this mother asked her daughter if she wanted to listen to what she had been memorizing. The daughter agreed and asked what she would be reciting. The mother answered, “First Peter.” Yes, all of it! What is amazing is that the material that TBQ is covering this year is Hebrews, First Peter and Second Peter. Rachel has all of them memorized and was quizzing on this material that day. It was just so fitting that I read that story that day. I was reminded of the gift of quizzing and the power of God’s Word. It was beyond coincidence. It was God.

That’s not the only time the “coincidence” has happened either. God spoke about moving powerfully even in cramped quarters while I was on an airplane in quarters that were definitely cramped. He has spoken about not comparing myself and my spiritual health to others or about rejoicing always when I could have easily been a complaining mess….I could go on and on!

So, even though I have only been at this for about a month and a half, I have met with God nearly every day since the day I began. Doing this has strengthened me and given me the spiritual energy that I have needed so desperately each day. Now I wonder why I waited so long. What was I scared of? How did I convince myself that I couldn’t do devotions like other people could? I think now about what I missed out on all those days I tried to do life on my own strength. What opportunities did I miss? How much energy did I waste being stubborn? What else will God show me now that I am intentionally being faithful in seeking Him?

I think the best part about this process is that I really can talk to God about anything. I know it is obvious, but you don’t quite understand how important that is to me. I am a verbal processor! Anyone who knows me can see why taking time to talk to God can be an incredibly safe and healing thing. God is big enough to handle my concern, frustration, anxiety, fear, and anger, as well as the perfect person to rejoice with and give praise to. This also protects those around me from having to listen to absolutely everything I ever think or need to process. It’s a win-win situation.

Scripture says that if we seek Him we will find Him if we seek with all our hearts. Matthew says to “ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” I encourage you that if you’re not actively seeking God daily through prayer and His Word, you’re missing out. Take it from someone who knows (now). You don’t have to try to do it the way that everyone else does it. If you don’t like to journal, don’t! Draw pictures, make music, dance, or sit quietly and meditate. I don’t really care how you meet with God, but I do care that you try. If you don’t, you are missing out on the presence and gifts of God in your life. Nothing is more important than Him--after all, he created everything else!

Faith, Hope, Love and Summer!

So I promised to tell you all what I’m up to here at Faholo Camp. Here is the promised update!

For those of you who don’t know, this summer I’m working at a camp called Faholo (which is the first two letters of Faith, Hope, and Love) in Grass Lake, MI. It is the camp that the Assembly of God kids in Michigan come to every summer for kids’ camp, Junior High camp and Senior High camp. We also have a ton of independent groups come out, rent out the buildings and participate in activities. The place is always moving and changing.

I found out about working here through my former youth pastor, Jason Buchan. Jason worked at Evangel Temple (now Evangel Church) in Kansas City, MO. I was in his youth group for a year before I moved to Ohio. This spring, I applied to work at Faholo because Jason is the staff director here this summer. After considering it and applying for a bunch of other jobs, I felt like this was the job I was supposed to work. I’m here for 8 weeks working on camp staff.

I arrived here early last Saturday evening. I moved into one of the staff cabins (I since switched cabins, but that’s a different story), and mom stayed the night on my couch before heading back to Mt. Vernon the next day. I am so pumped because I have my car here! I feel pretty independent :)

Every day since the first week, the team has gotten up and gone to breakfast in the Dining Hall before 8 a.m. It was training week, so we got dumped into all the processes of the camp. I am now more or less officially trained to:

·         Help with housekeeping for the hotel-like rooms in the lodge,

·         Tie knots, belay, and guide guests through the ropes course and climbing wall,

·         Be a lifeguard at the waterfront, indoor pool or outdoor pool,

·         Clean all the pools,

·         Do CPR, First Aid, and use an AED,

·         And do whatever needs to be done!

I have a roommate named Shana and I live in a cabin called “Log A”. It is….well, unique. It has lots of little quirks. For instance, you have to grab on to the light bulb with a cloth to twist it on and off in the bathroom because there is no light switch. I have a sheet tacked up over the window for privacy. (I guess the blinds on that window are no more? The other window has them still...) We have a refrigerator…. Actually it is two mini refrigerators stacked up on top of each other. I have to wiggle the house key approximately three hard shakes to get my front door open. I killed 4 spiders the first night. You get the idea. It is nice to have my own place though, and it’s worked just fine for me so far.

We have an interesting gang up here on camp staff. The first day of training, we played the name game, where you have to say your name, something you like, and something you dislike. Then you have to remember all the people before you. “Hi, my name is Laura. I like making connections with people and I dislike long, dark hallways. That’s Shealee; she likes gummy bears and dislikes conflict. She’s Megan, she likes singing and hates spiders…..etc.” It’s hard! But it really helped me learn the names of my whole gang pretty quickly. I ran into a girl up here who was at a scholarship competition with me last year. It took us a while to figure out how we knew each other, but once we did it was really cool that we made that connection. I am also learning the game euchre, which is a card game that apparently everyone in Michigan knows. It is a fun game and I am getting the hang of it, but I am sorely outnumbered by tricky experts.

Since I received my lifeguard training and certification, I have worked pretty much every day at the waterfront or the pool. I like working as a lifeguard and I have learned a lot so far. Do you have any idea how much fun it is to watch people? Junior high-ers are the funniest :) Oh, and I like working the blob. Lifeguarding is also more fun when people actually show up to swim or do their activity, but oh well.

The scenery out here is so beautiful! The sunsets over the lake are some of my favorites. The other day I just enjoyed staring out at the lake (mostly because pretty much no one showed up for waterfront while I was lifeguarding that day). As I looked, there were little bluegills, minnows, and other fish darting through the water. Water lilies floated among the lily pads off to my left. Some large white birds—presumably swans—glided off in the distance as the sun glinted off the water.

Here at camp, bedtime is earlier than I’ve had it for a long time. We have to be in our cabins by 10:30 p.m. with the lights out by 11 p.m. It’s a good thing, too, because we get up pretty early (beginning today breakfast is served at 7:30, be there or be square). It has taken some getting used to, but I have adjusted to this revised schedule pretty quickly. With all the activity during the day, trust me—I have no problem sleeping at night!

When a group leaves, we have to get their areas ready for our next guests. This is affectionately referred to as “turnover” and takes all our energy as a combined team to pull it off. The other day, during our first turnover, I cleaned enough bathrooms to last my house a few weeks!

I don’t know why all God brought me here for the summer. However, I do feel like it is the right place for me and the experience and training I have received and will receive is so incredibly valuable. My confidence in myself, others, and God is increasing and I am growing in my independence as a young adult and my dependence on God. I am pumped for the services during children’s’ and teen’s camps. Such powerful moving of the Spirit and amazing changes in peoples’ lives happen during camp. You know, this summer marks two years since I was at camp and God filled me with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I am open to what God has for me this year. I am seeking his presence and his guidance in my life. And I am having fun! What more could a girl ask from a summer job?!

God is good. I fail, mess up, do stupid things, and make mistakes. But for these 8 weeks He has brought me to this place of “Faith, Hope and Love” and, even through my failings, I am serving and learning here in a way that is bigger than myself. Stay tuned for more adventures…they’re coming, I can guarantee it!

If you want to send me mail while I am at camp, here is my address:

Faholo Camp and Conference Center

Attn: Laura Roller

3000 Mt. Hope Road

Grass Lake, MI

What are you doing this summer? I want to hear about it! Comment on my blog, Facebook me, send me a letter, shoot me a text….let me know what you’re up to and what God is doing in your life. My prayer is that He blesses you and when we meet again we will both be stronger and more joyful people because of Him. Blessings friends! Enjoy your summer :)

Summer Adventures

In case you're just catching up with me for the summer, I'll try to get you up to date. It'll be a bit of a whirlwind tour, but here you go!

I got home in early May and went to Teen Bible Quiz Regional competition with my sister's team that weekend. It was my first time officiating at that level of competition (I was a judge) and I got to see my lil' sister come in 4th individually in the Great Lakes region. Her team did great, too--they even had a teeny shot at making it to nationals!


I loved spending time with my family for a few weeks this summer. Especially my sister and I really were excited to see each other after I had been gone so long. One night, as the sun was setting, I grabbed my camera and shot some pictures out in the yard. The irises were gorgeous, the sunset was amazing, and my sister obliged me by letting me shoot some of her, too. She was my favorite subject that night!

I spent several weeks at home, just hanging out. It was glorious just to sleep in some days, run errands with my mom and sister, and have stories with dad every night again. I also started working on my swimming, because I knew that later in the summer I would start lifeguard training. I hadn’t really been in the pool for a long time, so I needed to build up endurance and strength again. The YMCA and I were buddies for several weeks. I also started a summer reading list, which so far has included:

1.      Dragons of the Watch by Donita K. Paul

2.      Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

3.      Of Men and of Angels by Brock and Bodie Thoene

4.      Epic by John Eldredge

I am now in the middle of The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, which is a business novel that teaches the concept of the law of constraints. It is an interesting book and I have learned a lot so far. (It would probably be rated PG or PG-13 if it were movie rated. There are some instances of language and other inappropriate behaviour. Just a heads up if you decided to read it.)

After dad finished most of his semester responsibilities, we took off on a camping trip as a family. I’ll highlight several places we went. (But I took like 700 pictures on the trip, so there will be so, so much I just skim over. It was a great experience!!)

First we went to Valley Forge National Historic Site. It was really interesting to see where the troops would have wintered over that fabled winter during the Revolutionary War. Between this stop and our adventures in D.C., I came to respect George Washington as a man and a leader more than I ever had before. He went from the man whose likeness is on every quarter and dollar bill I have ever touched to being someone I had explored the home of and come to know in a personal sort of way. It was a great experience!

Near Lancaster, PA there is a magical place called Sight and Sound Theater. I can't tell you too much about it, because what I really want to tell you is to go see a show there! Our family went and saw the production of Jonah, and it was incredible. It struck emotionally close to home with the dramatic retelling, and everything from the set to the costumes, the music to the dancing, and the message to the delivery was stunning and excellently done.  Seriously, if you or your friends live near either their Lancaster location or their new theater in Branson, MO, just go! It's not cheap by any means, but you will get your money's worth and enjoy it tremendously. I sure did.

Rachel and I outside of Sight and Sound

We went from PA down to the Washington D.C. area. We rode the metro all around and had a ton of fun exploring. I don't know (and don't really want to know) how far we walked.

The Smithsonian Museums are amazing places. We went to the Air and Space museum, the American History museum and the Natural History museum.

The Air and Space with the family

At the Air and Space museum, I saw so many neat artifacts from history. Usually, when you read history books or go to museums, the captions on things say: on display in the Smithsonian. There I got to see the real items. My favorites included seeing Amelia Earhart's plane, the original Wright Flyer, Apollo 11, and a real lunar landing module. So cool!

The museum of American History was really neat--we got to see the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner and several Stradivari violins. So many other amazing relics of our past were amazing to see; one of my favorites was the exhibit of the First Ladies' dresses.

I could write for hours about the Natural History museum. It was alternatingly delightful and frustrating. I enjoyed the exhibits with the dinosaur skeletons and the gems. I was frustrated by the deep seated belief in all things about evolution. I guess that most of my life I have understood that people believe in evolution as opposed to creation, but I didn't really understand exactly how pervasive that belief was in some places. I had studied evolution versus creation in school, but seeing it so stubbornly presented in a MUSEUM of all things was disturbing. I listened to a mom telling her probably 9-year-old girl, "See? Here's an ape's skeleton. This looks a lot like your earliest ancestors, because we evolved from animals like these." Suddenly, it wasn't just some stuffy science book going on and on about evolution, which I can easily laugh in the face. It was mothers telling their children they come from apes, which breaks my heart. I haven't finished processing this trip totally, but it sort of rocked my world. Oh, and we saw the Hope Diamond! Isn't it marvelous?

The Hope Diamond

(I just love the little kid's eyes behind it, which was a complete accident!)

Here's the family at Mount Vernon, which is George Washington's home. As my mom would say, "It's almost as beautiful as our Mount Vernon (OH)!"

We decided to try and get inside the Capitol building, even though we made no advance reservations or tour plans. God took care of us, and less than 5 minutes after we walked in we were on a tour. It was really neat, too.

We walked around and saw the Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and World War II monuments. My favorite part was all the amazing quotes, speeches, and verses inscribed on the monuments of our Nation. If you're wondering whether this nation was built on a foundation of Biblical values and where we stand in respect to that today, go and read the marble and granite in D.C. You'll be reminded of this country's roots. One Nation, Under God. It still is!

The Washington monument

Finally, we went to the Hocking Hills of Ohio. I had so much fun hiking and exploring! The lack of flush toilets and cell phone signal was a bit frustrating (to say the least!), but it was special time with my family in a beautiful location.

I climbed down these!!

After we left the Hocking Hills, I was home for about 48 hours before I headed to work at FaHoLo Camp for 8 weeks. I'm out of time to write today, but I will have to give ya'll an update on what I'm up to this summer at FaHoLo. It's crazy, but I'm loving it!

Homeward Bound

I’d like to follow up on my thoughts about contentment, which I originally wrote about on the flight home for the summer. Since getting home, Mom and I have talked about it more, and I have had some more time to think and ponder.

The last couple days, this theme has been popping up. It showed up again tonight in family devotions as we read from 2^nd Corinthians 5. This passage explains how our bodies are earthly dwellings, which pale in comparison to our future heavenly bodies. Here, you can read it for yourself:

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ We live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

As I discussed in my first post, I am torn between being at home and being at college. I long for one when I am at the other, because I love both so much. Ultimately, through our discussions and crazy little moments God provided recently, I realized that no matter where I am here on earth (JBU, home, or Outer Mongolia) there is a part of me that longs for heaven. These verses that we read tonight help me understand that. Did you catch it? It’s right there in verse 8: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

All Christians are truly dual citizens. It’s not just between college and home, or one earthly country to another. We are residing for a little time here on earth, but as James says we are like a mist; we are here today and gone tomorrow. Hebrews describes us as “strangers and aliens.” We’re just passing through. Our true home is in heaven.

That means that the part of me that longs to be omnipresent so I could see Ryan and go to my sister’s orchestra concert knows that God can actually do that. The part of me that wants to talk with each person I meet until time runs out and then start all over again understands that in heaven we will have eternity to do just that.

I can’t wait to meet the Apostle Paul and hear his thoughts and adventures. I will finally find out who wrote Hebrews. Scripture says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, pondered all those things in her heart. I want to know all about her story.  I would love to sit at Moses’ feet and hear him tell the story of seeing God on the mountaintop. Peter and I could talk for hours about what it is like to be the most exuberant member of the group. None of this would ever get old. My spirit secretly yearns for these experiences.

Plus, I believe that in heaven food won’t have calories and that we will eat because we want to, not because we need it to stay alive. Food could actually be pure pleasure, without any guilt or “once over the lips, forever on the hips” challenges. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Earth is just a glimpse of heavenly beauty.

This earth is a flawed preview of what heaven is going to be like. And it’s won’t be like those crummy previews at the movies—the ones where you know you’ve just seen all the best parts of the movie and there’s no reason you should pay good money to see any more of it. No sir! The best is yet to come. If you think earth is beautiful, how much more will heaven knock our socks off? (Wait, will we even have songs in heaven? Only God knows!) If you think love is powerful and wonderful here, wait until we experience the full and unbounded depths of God’s love. No longer will we be burdened by the weight of the world. We will be truly free. We won’t get tired or weary. There will be no more tears, death, sorrow, sin, fear or pain. Everything will be perfect, as God himself is perfect.

Interestingly enough, as I was writing this, Pandora began playing “Heaven is Here” by Jesus Culture on my worship music station. How fitting for my thoughts of this evening! God is amazing, down to the songs that play on my internet radio. I love Him! Anyway, these lyrics especially struck me.

‘Cause heaven is here now
He's all around us
Heaven is Jesus
It's the moment we meet

Wake up, the normal life
You can do whatever You want to
Shake up eternal signs
Because we want You.

We will never be perfectly content and our spirits will never be truly satisfied until we receive our heavenly bodies, until we experience all heaven’s joys and wonders.

This truth adds to the tension I feel when I’m at home. However, it also gives me something to look forward to. In many ways, it doesn’t matter whether I am in Ohio, Arkansas, Kansas, or on the other side of the planet. It matters that someday I’m headed to spend eternity with my Savior.

While this adds tension, it also brings clarity. I ask myself sometimes about what is truly important. The answer is that earthy possessions mean nothing. You can’t take treasures with you to heaven, but you can take people.

No matter what stage we are in life, today you and I can begin our heavenly treasure hunts. Look for the people you want to take with you to heaven. Make sure they’re coming with you. And while you’re here, begin pouring yourself and Christ’s love into their lives. Give them a taste of what heaven is like. Focus your energy on what really matters. How is your relationship with God? Do you trust him with everything? Does your love for Him spill over and affect others?

Check your heart and run to Him. Live in the light of eternity. Live by faith, not by sight. Be content where you are. Anticipate your heavenly home. Make your earthly body a worthwhile investment.