spending a weekend with fabulous young adults in the Church of the Brethren at Camp Swatara, learning and talking of 'one another,' singing beautiful traditional hymns as one body, getting in an awesome game of Ultimate
flying to Kansas City, Kansas to spend a week mentoring and learning from the amazing senior high youth of the Western Plains District at Camp Mount Hermon, watching the youth interact with community members at a soup kitchen for a random act of kindness, staying up all night talking over a flaming camp fire and not thinking anything about it
traveling to Harrisonburg, Virginia by train (one of my favorite ways to travel) to join 700 junior high youth and their advisors for a weekend of worship, fellowship, and fun, getting to visit some good friends in Bridgewater for an evening of good food and laughs, being bombarded by some of youth from workcamps last summer,sharing with youth about what Brethren Volunteer Service has in store for them when they are older, remembering the oh so famous hand hug
working countless hours with Beth to create a totally awesome tree for Annual Conference out of recycled cardboard and tin cans focusing on being environmentally friendly and reusing the things that we have available rather than getting more than we need, making my first trek to the west coast, having the opportunity to take a group of youth to a beach in San Diego, California for a day of learning and experiencing what Brethren Volunteer Service is all about and then treating them to ice cream afterwards, lounging by the pool at the resort we stayed at, eating fabulous raspberry sorbet
going on a road trip with Beth and Momma Merrill and Rachel from San Diego to Fremont and being amazed at how large California is and how diverse the terrain is, meandering around the great city of San Fransisco by myself and then again with my good Matthias, going around to some of the different nature parks in Fremont and hiking straight up them, watching fireworks on the 4th of July after taking our volunteers out for some fantastic Thai cuisine
flying into Eugene, Oregon not sure of how I would get from the airport to the Greyhound Bus Station downtown, sort of hitch hiking a ride from the gentleman who sat beside me on the plane (nice guy by the name of Bob), sitting beside a young man, named Jason, who was on leave from the army and on his way home while on the Greyhound, spending a week at Camp Myrtlewood and helping to prepare and eat wonderful home cooked food, having the opportunity to talk with John and Margaret for hours about life and our place in the world, taking hikes with Marley, the awesome Boxer pup, and running with him through the forest, watching the sun set over the Pacific, taking the time for a spontaneous camping trip in the Oregon wilderness with Niko and Tyler and sleep out under the open sky (despite the rain that chased us back in our car at 2 in the morning), realizing that I need wilderness in my life, oh and a dog (or two)
meandering around Portland and falling in love with the city even though I was there for a short time, taking public transportation everywhere, thinking about the possibility of moving to Portland and taking a class or two at a university there, walking through Powell's Bookstore and feeling as though I was in heaven, meeting my first pirate who happened to be completely decked out in pirate attire with a Scottish accent (no joke), talking with Pastor Kirby about the beauty that surrounds us in nature that God has blessed us with so abundantly, attending the Peace Church of the Brethren for Sunday morning services before flying home to Chicago
returning to Elgin for three very busy days, spending an afternoon at Camp Emmaus with a bunch of fabulous senior high youth, giving a presentation on BVS and almost choking myself on the dust in the lodge, eating mountain pies made with biscuit dough = GREAT idea, seeing all my frisbee friends and getting to play Ultimate
orientation for BVS found me in Harrisonburg, Virginia for a week, climbed some mountains in West Virginia and went swimming at Blue Hole on Route 33 West, spent an afternoon at Our Community Place, created a labyrinth that represented my life journey, met 15 totally awesome volunteers and wished them luck during their time of service
leading two week long service oriented camps, one in Keyser, West Virginia and the other in North Fort Myers, Florida, was able to spend those two weeks with some awesome youth and being extremely blessed by each of them, getting my hands dirty and the great sense of satisfaction that comes along with that feeling
attending the wedding of two friends from my time at Bridgewater College and wishing them well as they begin their lives together, eating super yummy crepes and chatting with a good friend, driving through the night to join my family at Smith Mountain Lake for a short holiday, talking for hours with Allison while floating in the wonderful waters of the lake, playing card games with grandma and winning, enjoying a time of no stress before the storms come again
driving my car from Bridgewater to Elgin in one day and enjoying the solitude and freedom that comes from having the windows down and the music up, seeing the smiling faces of my long lost housemates as I return home again
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