Holy Moly

Well wow. July just flew by. I don't even know where to begin with what has been happening up here in Juneau. I'll recap July with a few pictures, I guess, and then write a little bit more.

One last Henry's toast before the staff leaves

Our first weekend on our own, we spent the night at the local Methodist Camp with an awesome woman-Lori Messinger. Her and her husband invited us over to jam salmonberries with them and it was so much fun.

We also made a spaghetti dinner for all the guys on project (26). It was so fun to be able to serve them, plus if you know me, you know I love preparing food for people.

We went out to a local Bible camp, Echo Ranch, with a group of local girls and spent the night making s'mores and sleeping in hammocks.

Hope's family came to visit and we got to spend the night in a cabin they rented. While there we all made burn bracelets, by burning a nylon rope together around our wrists. We actually bought enough that anyone on project or who hangs with us a lot has gotten one.

We have finally been getting nice weather!! Most of July it was in the 50s and rainy, but it's been at least partly sunny and in the 60s the past week or so. We got done working on the first nice day and me and Ashley went "swimming" in Auke Lake (jumped in and got out quickly before we got too cold, repeatedly).

Sam met a girl at the beginning of the summer who works for a local zipline tour company. She was such a sweetie and arranged for us to go on a free zip-line tour! Her name is Alex and she's actually from Olathe, KS and went to school in Arkansas, so we were both able to connect with her, and hopefully I'll get to hang with her sometime in October when she comes back to Olathe.

Last Friday we decided to try to climb Mt. McGinnis, the highest of the 5 Juneau mountains. We didn't make it all the way up, but after about 5 1/2 hours of hiking we found a beautiful lookout point and hung out for an hour. Me and a couple others took a nap, and others just chatted. We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day that was sunny and clear, but not too hot.

That night we went to a local Thai restaurant we've all been yearning for all summer: Chan's Thai Kitchen. While I love Zen Zero, it blew it out of the water. Chan's is an experience in itself: they are only open from 4-8 and there are no reservations. Additionally, food usually takes awhile to get out. That's how you know it's real.

With the end of the summer comes the end of working. Working at the Silverbow was seriously the greatest thing ever. I am so thankful that I got to work the job that I came up having my heart set on. The job itself was great, but the people we got to work with were amazing. It was so cool to watch them all open up, to form special ties and connections with each one, and it's fun to hang out with them. Ashley and I are actually going to hike with some of them today and then going to a fish fry at Earl's house. Earl looks like Santa Claus and has worked at the Bow for about 10 years. He loves shoo fly pie, and I think we've set up a deal where I will send him a pie every month and he'll send me Silverbow treats.

Draga, Erika, Ellen, Alex, Me, Kelly, Chad, Ashley, Earl, Mego, Joe, Robert

The gang at Hot Bite in June.

AND, with the last day of work comes a pie in the face. Silverbow tradition dictates that when you leave the Bow on good terms, you will be pied on your last day.

Since I was first off, I was first pied. But that also meant that I got to conspire to get others.

I'll actually have to write more later about what God has been doing because I'm going to breakfast. BUT, I know that I've had such a good time this summer and cannot wait to get home and share it. I don't know that I will miss the city of Juneau too much, but it's the people of Juneau that have really made this summer what it has been.

Whirlwind

A lot has happened since I last updated. We've definitely been keeping ourselves busy and it's often hard to find down time. I like pictures, so I'm going to use those to recap:

Last weekend (last one in June) was midsummer adventure weekend. Hard to believe that we're already halfway done with the summer. More, than actually. Our weekend was action packed. Friday night we hiked to the Mendenhall Glacier.

April, Stephanie, Kelly, Hope, Abbi, Emily

Jacquelyn, Samantha, Shelby, Ashley, Me by the glacier

me, holding glacial ice

Then the next day a local lady, Debbie Douglass, was kind enough to take us out kayaking. She is one of the most incredible women. She lives an adventure-packed life and gives all her glory to God. It's really incredible. We actually spent that night at her house and got to hear her testimony.

Mendenhall Glacier from the water

Then that night we all got fancied up and went out to a nice dinner.

Our apartment: d-6

Samantha, Ashley, Abbi, me

And to cap it off we ran a 5k at midnight called "Only Fools Run at Midnight." Most people dress ridiculously, so we did too. We also sang songs the whole way to keep our minds off the run and sometimes people joined in.

Kelly, Emily, Sam, Me, Ashley, Hope

Weekends always end with ultimate frisbee on Sunday, which is usually something I look forward to every week.

Women's development last week we focused on our theme for the week: giving up control.

Our verse: Matthew 6:33-34

But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We spent some time at this beautiful waterfall and threw rocks representing our sin into it. It's cool to see how nature reflects God and our relationship with Him: we give Him our sin and after a lot of struggle (the rapids) we come out smooth and calm. Often it takes awhile (I'm not sure I'll ever reach the smooth and calm stage), but it's still cool to see that there is a purpose and an end goal: His glory and closer relationship with Him.

action group at the waterfall:

Shelby, me, Hope

Then we gave up more control by jumping into the really cold Auke Lake. Many of us thought we were going to go cliff-jumping (we've heard most of the boys' action groups went already and thought it was finally our turn), so jumping in a cold lake was no big.

Kelly and Abbi

The rest of the week passed and we spent this past weekend volunteering and fellowshipping. Friday we painted a Head Start, and Saturday we laid tarp for a community garden.

James, Samantha, Jonathan, and Richard

Unfortunately, because of the rainy, overcast weather the fireworks on Saturday night were cancelled. Juneau usually does fireworks at midnight of the 3rd because it's too light during the day to appreciate. We planned on going downtown sharing and having a BBQ, but no fireworks=no people downtown. Luckily the church we'd volunteered with on Saturday was having service that night, as well as a get together/bonfire at what they call "Jesus Beach House" (their ministry house). It was a great opportunity to go to a more contemporary church-setting as well as to spend some very chill time getting to talk to some local Christians.

This week brings about lots of change. Staff leaves starting tomorrow, and all will be gone by Thursday. This mean that we are now running project. Every woman has been assigned a leadership role-I'm service leader. Not really sure what that looks like yet, but it should be great. Hard to believe the staff is already leaving AND we have just over four weeks left.

Know what else struck me yesterday as I was scooping cookie dough (one of the many prep tasks at the Silverbow): I'm in Juneau Alaska. You'd think I would've realized that, but I think the past couple weeks I've kind of been in a daze of exhaustion and just being busy all the time. Luckily God's used the past 24 hours-ish to kind of kick my butt into gear and help me realize that we only have a little bit of time left and there's still so much that needs to be done. I know at the rate I'm going I'll probably be upset when I leave, feeling like I didn't try my best to build relationships and pour into those around me; like I'm not as close to my fellow girls as I wish I was; like I didn't fall in love with or grow as close to God as much as I'd hoped.

But, last night in prayer team we talked about praying to God about the little stuff. Yes, it's important to pray big prayers and have faith that God will fulfill them, but it's also important to take note of all the little stuff He does for us every day: waking up, having a job, being in Alaska, having family and friends back home to miss, relationships, etc.

Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

--Acts 14:17

I've been doing the Our Daily Bread daily devotional, and it has been really amazing the Scripture that God's been revealing to me. That above passage is one example, and this morning also I got a reminder:

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Some things to pray for:

• that God would continue to give me faith and perseverance to seek Him.
• for our new student leaders and the direction of the rest of the project.
• that me and my co-workers would be representing Christ well to our co-workers and for opportunities and boldness to share
• I've been homesick, so comfort in that
• a sense of urgency among all of us on Project to impact people with the time we have left

Week 3 1/2

The start of this past week wasn't nearly as exciting as last week. I worked every day this week, which was fun! I'm almost past the training stage, and done wearing my silly "in-training" t-shirt. Also, once I'm done training I will get a part of the daily tip pool, which will be good pocket money.

Also, Monday at our weekly meeting we decided this week would be a good time to fast from something that was distracting us from God. Like many others, I gave up FaceBook, and I also decided to try and eat healthier and try to run once or twice a week. I love running because while I run I recite scripture to myself and pray. It's really a great time for me to spend enjoying God's creation and praising Him. I managed to get one run in this week, and worked on the memory verse for this week while doing it.

Tuesday we had a phenomenal women's time. We were dropped off along a trail with the other girl(s) in our action group and prayed together through James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Then we each set off down the trail alone, praying to God the whole way to reveal our sin to us. As it was revealed, we wrote it on our arms with a marker. Once we all made it to the lake, we split up into action groups and our leaders washed the sins off our arms and we all prayed for each other. It was pretty sweet, and I wish I had been more in the mindset to really get a lot out of it.

Group shot of women's development night

The rest of the week was pretty standard. Except for the gallon challenge after weekly meeting.

Ten of us were lucky enough to get the high-speed version of the gallon challenge. The idea is to drink, and hold down, a gallon of milk in one hour or less. We were given 20 minutes. And whole milk.

Sam and I before

Right at the start of the challenge.

One of the guys, the one directly to my right, managed to finish his gallon in seven minutes and hold it down for an impressive ten! After 20 minutes there were still four of us left, so they extended it ten more minutes, but we eventually all threw up. I managed to make it through about 2/3 of my gallon, which is pretty good since last time I did it (with 2%, and a full hour) I probably barely passed halfway. It was definitely an interesting experience.

Friday we were lucky enough to go fishing with a local guy, Shawn. He and some of the project guys took us out on boats and we all got to crab and halibut-fish. Our group had quite the fun time fishing! We got four rods down in Shawn's boat, and then the rod toward the front got a bite. We were using circular hooks, so there's no need to set the hook. The fish eats the bait and the hook works its way into the fish to catch it. Since Sam had caught the first fish, it was my turn to reel this one in. The way to reel in halibut is by pulling the tip of the rod slowly upward, and then reeling in real quick as you lower the tip. Since the rods were let out to the bottom of the lake (about 200 feet), it took quite awhile. After much struggling, we finally got the fish up. He had managed to get the bait off two other hooks on our boat, snagging those lines, and managed to get tangled in one of the lines from our other boat. So by the time he was finally at the top, four of us were fighting over the same fish! The fish, a huge one (to me, though not to halibut standards) at 60 or so pounds, ended up being shot twice to kill it so we could get it in the boat.

The fish in the boat

After getting all the lines untangled (or cut) we were able to get rods down for a little bit longer so April could catch one, which meant all of us in the boat had caught one (excepting Shawn, who fishes all the time).

As we were getting ready to leave, however, Shawn realized that the big fish, which had been hanging over the side with the other smaller fish, had somehow slipped off the rope. Super bummer!! Most of the men were upset that they didn't get to eat any of it, whereas I was bummed I never actually got a picture with the whopper I helped reel in.

Me with the other big fish-about 40 pounds

We finished the night by going back to campus where the guys taught a couple girls to fillet their fish and we boiled the crab that we'd caught. Then we sat around the stove eating freshly cooked crab with butter. Delish!!

Saturday we did a prayer hike up Mt. Roberts. Being part of the prayer team, I got to help organize it, and-belatedly-ran the first station. It was really neat though, because we got to hike among the beautiful mountain while praying, whether out loud or silent.

I'll admit, it was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be! But worth it because we had a worship service at the top. My group made it for the last song and a half, but it was still great. And we saw a para-sailer fly by.

Most of the girls around a cross about halfway up Mt. Roberts

Kelly, April, Emily, Hope, Stephanie, Sam, Me, April, Shelby

Re-Cap

Alright. Ten days later and I'm putting up another post. Whew, so much has happened.

Thursday, June 3 was my birthday! It was a great day. Almost everyone who works downtown came into the Silverbow and surprise serenaded me while I was working. The beginning of a fine day. Then, in the car on the way home I got a couple of gifts: a glazed donut from Breeze In (a place that's kind of like a QT, just without the gas and a lot more donuts and bagels); a mug from one of the girls because, go figure, I'd already broken the handle off my Alaskan mug (just re-glued it last night, though!); and an Alaskan wolf shirt. Simple things that brought me a lot of joy. Plus it was nice just to feel loved in such a new place surrounded by new people.

Thursday nights are action group nights, so we had our first action group! But before that all the girls sang to me and we ate a cake, as well as I got a super sweet card that all the girls signed. Then we all split off into our groups of three or four. Shelby (our group/project leader), Hope, and I walked to the waterfall next to the Mendenhall Glacier just to get out for awhile before doing our activity. We took the most awesome jump picture, and then spent some quality time really getting to know one another.

Me, Hope, Shelby

Friday we volunteered at a Native American festival in Juneau. Pretty much just ushering for the dancers and working retail, wherever we were needed. Friday night we went camping on a beach and had some really good times eating hot dogs and giant marshmallows. It was absolutely beautiful, just like everything else here.

cooking hot dogs around the fire

Saturday we volunteered some more and then we had an open mic night at Waffle Co., a local coffee shop/waffle shop that is owned by some local Christians. It was just a really fun night to see people's talents and get to know some more people.

Some of the boys playing and singing

Robert, Jesse, Brandon, Justin, David, Ian, Caleb

Sunday was back to Douglas Island Bible Church. I still love it there and we've been having lots of fun in sunday school: last week we decorated cakes to represent different days of creation, and this week we made up songs to Christian doctrines.

Monday I didn't work, and there are also a bunch of people who don't start work until tomorrow. So we took the day and climbed Mt. Juneau. It was incredibly challenging and took us around 5 hours roundtrip. The last hour or so of the climb was steep and even had some snow.

The whole gang at the trail head

me, Ben, Kelly, Sam, Austin, Ian, Will, James, Ben, Justin, Jeff, Jay, Caleb, and Andrew

Some of the steep climbing we did

climbing through snow right before the summit

the gang that summited:

Jay, James, Justin, Caleb, Austin, Ben, Will, Ian, Kelly, Jeff, Me, Sam

Tuesday we learned our new theme for the week, which is life-giving.

The verse to go along with it is Hebrews 10: 24-25 "Let us consider ways to stir up one another toward love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

We ran a mile, Indian style, where the last person has to sprint up to the front. But with a variation being that we passed a ball from one person to the next, and whoever was behind the person with the ball said "with you," which was encouraging and to help better bind us together. Then the last person would run up and the process started over again.

Honestly, I started out in a bad mood, but through the encouragement of the girls and who knows what else I was having a good time by the end of it. Once we got to the Shrine of St. Therese we stopped running, admired the scenery, and then spent time calling out greatness in each other. The idea of this was that we were giving each other life by telling them what we admired about them and how they encourage us. Like the running, I thought it was corny at first, but as we went on it was truly awesome. It was fun to hear what others admire about me, but more fun to be able to tell others what I love about them.

All the women at the shrine of St. Therese

Jacqueline, Abbi, Sam, Ashley, Steph, Me, April, Shelby, Hope, Emily, Kelly

flowers at the shrine of st. therese

Wednesday we had a sweet dance party, and Thursday was more action groups. Friday we volunteered at a rustic Methodist camp with an eccentric and fun woman named Lori. We drove around the camp on a lawn mower and put up the new camp signs while taking the old ones down.

Friday night was the annual lock in, and it was really great. We were in a local church, and we played games and had break out sessions for junior high, high school, and some college kids. We stayed awake all night, mainly because around 2 or 3 am we started learning two-step/swing dance flips and intense moves. It was really fun, and dancing makes it awesome to be the girl because you get flipped and just have to follow. So great. Then we wrapped it all up with 5:30 am worship. What a great night.

Slept all day and then had a dodgeball tournament last night. The weather was cold and rainy, so it wasn't ideal, but it was a really great event-many people had invited their co-workers and they showed up!

Some prayers:

• continued growth (and desire to grow)
• continued relational development
• opportunities and boldness to reach out to my co-workers (now that I'm getting more comfortable with my job and its duties, hopefully I can feel more comfortable having intentional conversations with the people I work with)
• energy and productive time management

Week 1

Alright.
So after meeting Jasmine we went on our first group hike. We hiked 3.5 miles to a beautiful cabin in the Tongass National Forest. At the top we made hobo meals (my first!) where you take an assortment of veggies-peppers, potatoes, carrots, onions-and hamburger and put it inside an aluminum foil pouch. Then you put the pouch in the fire, or on the grill above the fire, and soon you have a wonderful dinner. It was absolutely incredible.
After the dinner we got our first Henry's, which is a root beer that holds a special place in the hearts of project people. Not sure of the full story, but it was very delicious. It was like a cream soda root beer.

After dinner we spent time around the campfire talking about our lives and being real with one another. It was absolutely awesome. Then we spent the night in a sweet cabin and hiked back in the morning.

That afternoon when we got back I had a call back from Silverbow Inn & Bakery, which is where I've been wanting to work since I found out it existed. Check it out here. Two other girls did, also, so we had our first dilemma as only two of us can work there. After a couple of days the wonderful Sam decided to let me and Ashley be the ones to work there.

The weekend as a whole was pretty chill. We had lots of time to spend looking for jobs and just kind of settling in, and since my job situation was settled I spent some time just lazing around.

Sunday we divided and conquered some churches in Juneau. I'm going to Douglas Island Bible Chapel with another girl, Hope, and then about 7 project guys. I loved it. My friend's dad actually grew up in Juneau, and went to DIBC's partner church Auke Bay Bible Church. He got back in touch with his youth group leader from back when, and they currently go to DIBC, so I got to meet Stan and Dellene. They, along with the rest of the DIBC community were so sweet and welcoming. I'm so excited for the rest of the summer. Not only were the people wonderful, but the messages from both Sunday School and the service were absolutely wonderful. Plus, it's kind of old fashioned and we sing out of hymnals.

Also, after the service I met this wonderful woman named Leslie. She just moved to Juneau in January from Washington, where she has a 10 acre farm. On this farm she has her own garden, and a wonderful dog. While she was showing me pictures of her dog, almost every other picture was of some beautiful cake she'd made for a wedding or birthday party. Get this: she's the bakery manager for the local SafeWay. Not only that, but we talked about Mary Jane, a wonderfully savvy country girl who loves living organically and finding unique ways to do-it-herself. Basically Leslie is my new role model. I'm hoping to get to spend some time with her, as well as others within the DIBC community throughout the summer.

Monday we took some serious faith steps (for some, including me) and went downtown to instigate spiritual discussions and share our faith. I was in a group with Ashley and Emily. Downtown Juneau was practically deserted, as it was memorial day and still early enough (10ish) that the cruise ships and multitudes were not in yet. First we talked to a guy, Jeff, who was working down by the docks. We chatted with him while he was setting up the booth for his new business, a brokerage firm that sells whale tours and all sorts of other things. We were given a Quest survey, as well as these Knowing God Personally booklets (KGP's). The survey consisted of five questions:

1. Three words to describe your life right now.
2. What one thing would make your life better.
3. What do you think happens after you die?
4. In your opinion, who is Jesus Christ?
5. On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your desire to know God?

We went through these questions with him, and it was really interesting. We found out that Jeff was raised Catholic, but the more he learned, the less he believed. He trusted more in science, and found enjoying nature to be his way of worshipping, if there was a god.

His opinion was similar to that of Stevi, the woman we talked to after him. Stevi is from California and is back in Juneau for her second summer to do seasonal work on the docks selling tours. Her belief was one of moderation and balance. She explained that for every one of the deadly sins there was a spiritual goodnesss-patience, kindness, etc. So for anger there was kindness, for lust chastity, and so on. Our conversation with her got cut kind of short because she had to go to work.

Tuesday was my first day of work. There's a lot of information to take in, but I've absolutely been loving it. The Silverbow is basically my dream job-I'm working in a bakery that also sells coffee. I don't really do much baking (although today I prepped macaroons), but I do get to toast bagels. Plus learning how to make espresso and espresso drinks has just rocked my world. This job will definitely be challenging, though, because many of my coworkers just seem kind of sad, and I already feel like building relationships with them will be challenging. I've been trying to remind myself that

God gave us spirits not of fear, but of power and love and self control 2 Tim 1: 17

Last night we did women's development time, which was good but really hard for me. This week our theme is identity in Christ, and putting to death the lies we believe from the world.

Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col 3:2-3

We started off with a beautiful hike and then spent some time in a beautiful place thinking and praying about the lies we believe. We also burned lies in a fire later and just really lifted one another up. It was hard for me because I believe a lot of lies, and I think I just got so overwhelmed that I shut down. But all in all it was good.

Other highlights so far:

nightly tea time with my roommates and often all of us girls.

cookie dough and milk at midnight on my birthday.

good time reading 1 Samuel.

Jasmine

I decided that it might be kind of neat to share about some of the really cool and interesting people we meet in Juneau. First off so you can kind of get a feel for who's here, secondly so I won't forget, and thirdly so you can keep them in your prayers.

We were waiting for the bus yesterday when we started talking to two older women who had both just met, were in Juneau for the day from separate cruises, and were taking the cheap city tour by riding the city bus. Their names were Becky and Amy? I know Becky was for sure one. But I talked to Becky for awhile and found out that she supported some Crusaders and had become a Christian at 26. We didn't really get into how that happened, but she just seemed really awesome. I think she was from North Dakota. It's not even a day later and I'm already forgetting.

Anyway, then we start talking to this other girl, Jasmine. She was a little rough around the edges, but after talking with her for a little while I really liked her. She's probably around 25-30, moved to Juneau around 5 years ago from Florida, and she lives in a boat with her husband of four years. She came to Juneau because she, like most people, doesn't really like big cities and loves being able to escape in nature. The best way to describe her is for sure as a hippy, but she was so open and willing to talk. I was bummed when she got off our bus. Hopefully the Lord will bring us back together sometime over the summer and we can have a really great talk and hopefully God can do some great stuff.

It was just a really incredible glimpse into the kind of people you run into in Juneau, and I'm excited. Most people so far have been really friendly and so it's really easy to just talk to them about anything.

Alaska: Getting There

After one week of spending 10 or more hours in the car, we finally made it to Alaska. The drive was really fun, and also very beautiful. The route we took was from Nebraska north to Mt. Rushmore then we headed west. Chase had a friend in Wyoming who we stayed with-he runs a summer camp and Chase neglected to mention that two of the six in the group were girls. SO, we wound up dragging mattresses into the bathroom of the dorm housing because it was the warmest place. We slept fine, though. We hit up Yellowstone National Park before heading north to Canada. In Canada we spent our first night sleeping in the car and the second night in a Super 8 Motel because they were having the worst May snow in 20 years. Then we met up with another car at Lake Muncho in Canada. It was absolutely beautiful. We had to split up though, because they were catching the ferry in a different city than we were. That day we drove the rest of the way to Haines, AK, crossing the border back into America and perfecting the jump picture at the "Welcome to Alaska" sign. It was perfect. Then we camped that night in Haines, AK and found out the next day our ferry was delayed. We spent the day lazing around Haines, though. Us girls made bracelets, hammocked, and made dinner while the boys went off hiking. As much as I liked the guys, girl time was a relief. Then one more night of camping before getting up early to catch the ferry to Juneau. Now we're all getting settled into our apartments and tomorrow we start orientation!

Richard, Caleb, Chase, Me, Sam, and Brandon getting ready to depart

Me and Sam sleeping in the bathroom

Chase (up top), Richard, Brandon, Caleb, Sam, and Me

The perfect jump picture upon entering Alaska

Sam and I hammocking in Haines, AK

Everybody who drove on the ferry from Haines to Juneau.

PTL

I'm starting to get so antsy to go to Alaska that I can barely focus in classes. I actually started drawing flip books in my spirals the last couple days of classes to help myself focus and not jitter. Anyways. I leave for Alaska in 11 days! It cannot come soon enough.

The main reason I wrote this, though, is as a thanks to anybody who has given any kind of support. I have reached the project minimum of $2950, and am still trusting the Lord in a little more money to help pay for travel expenses. PTL!

why?

Hello!

This probably won't be updated again until sometime in May or June, when I'm actually in Alaska.

I've set up this blog so that everyone I know and love can know what I'm up to this summer while I'm spending my time in Alaska! I am blessed that I get to spend my upcoming summer in beautiful Juneau, Alaska working and ministering. We'll focus on building relationships in the community and at a local church throughout the summer so we can reach out to the rest of the city. I'm also excited about the fact that I get to spend my summer hanging out with seven other girls, growing closer to one another and, together, growing closer to God. I don't even know how to express how excited I am for that aspect.

So hold on to your horses, 'cause it's going to be a great summer!

Kels