Two down!

Well. I can now say we are done with two weeks of camp. By now we're definitely into the swing of things. I'm so thankful I have a partner like Kaitlyn, I don't know how I got so lucky two years in a row! I'm loving on my partner, this location, and (almost) everything about camp life. You know I can always use more sleep... :) 

This past week was great. The only issues we had were logistical things that together Kaitlyn and I were able to solve (really it was all Kaitlyn though). We were blessed with 5 awesome youth groups this week who were positive and flexible all week. I'm going to miss them a lot. 

After these first two weeks I'm pretty surprised at how I'm feeling. The challenges this summer are not as obvious as past summer and I don't know if its because I'm less stubborn than I was last year or God is challenging me to see things in a different way. I have realized that my role is way more supportive of Kaitlyn than I was of Caitlyn last year. She needs a lot more support not because she is less competent but because the logistics of Week of Hope San Diego are way more involved than the Indy camp and most of that I don't know how to do. I think this is going to require me to be more on top of my game so that I can be available for Kaitlyn. 

This week my dad was our volunteer (HTM) as well as two other girls so we were over staffed. It was honestly great to have 3 HTMs because everything got done without a lot of stress and we all worked together quite well. I loved having my dad here because now he knows exactly what I do in the summers and he can see why I love it so much. Even though we didn't get a whole lot of time together we still got to escape to Starbucks for a few minutes and handle a few issues together. I'm so thankful for the man I'm lucky to call my dad. Even though I know it was hard for him to step back and let me be the leader I'm so glad he got to work with me this week. And it also helped that all the kids and adults loved him :)

I can't wait to see what God has in store for the rest of the summer but I'm trusting he has some valuable lessons for us along the way!

It's been a while

Since I haven't blogged for a while I figured it was time to catch everyone up. 

So we made it to San Diego... Yay! Not like there was ever any doubt. I realize that a lot of things have happened since I last updates but we've been busy to say the least. 

Leaving Colorado was quite hard. And it seems impossible that that was only two weeks ago but it was. Saying goodbye to the rest of the summer staffers was not something I wanted to do but I was so ready to get our California adventure started. It's a good thing we'll see most of our friends at the end of the summer :) Travel week went smoothly, very few glitches during our road trip and so much beauty. Sometimes we just wanted to stop and gawk at all the different things we were going through: mountains, deserts, hills, rivers, forest, cliffs, the colors of Colorado, the reds of Utah, it was some pretty awesome stuff. Getting to San Diego though was the highlight. It was like home and we had just gotten there! 

The welcome we received from our local coordinator and our facility host was fabulous. I knew instantly we were going to have a lot of support from them with any trip ups we might encounter this summer. I could rave on and on about our lodging host AND site leader Susie, but I won't. Basically she spoils us like a grandma would: cookies, brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, yes please! Set up flew by and sooner than we knew it camp was starting!

We were caught a little off guard on Sunday but this week went by with way more free time than I expected. Kaitlyn and I did a great job at getting all we needed to done before lights out so we too got 6-7 hours of sleep a night! It was fabulously unexpected. We were blessed with an adult leader who stepped up and took control of the kitchen for us which took a lot off our shoulders. Greg was absolutely our God sighting this week. We only had 30 campers so we had a nice easy start into the summer, great adults, great campers, the only thing that could've been better would have been a worship team but you win some, you lose some. 

This weekend my dad came into town and we went kayaking by the shores of La Jolla. It was fabulous. Beautiful day, great people, and the ocean was fabulous. It was nice to finally do something just because we wanted to and we were in San Diego. Kaitlyn even got seasick and threw up 5 times... No big deal ;)

My dad is in town to be one of our hospitality team members this week. I'm stoked he's here. Now he gets to fully understand what it is I do in the summer and why I love it so much. I think it was a good break for him too, he's just not getting as much sleep as he thought he would!

I think that's all I have time for at the moment but I promise I'll post again soon. These beginning weeks have been a bit crazy for us but we're getting there. Until next time!

Don't Blink...

And all of a sudden it's Saturday. Whoa. It seems like yesterday the trainers were all gathering to prepare for the incoming summer staff and now we're almost ready to send them into the real world. I'm (unsurprisingly) sentimental about this! I've grown pretty close with this wonderful group of Program Leaders and it feels strange to me that just tomorrow we'll be starting our cross country adventures to our locations. We're all gonna be separated! But I realized last night when I was passing out everyone's hard earned red shirts, they're ready. These Program Leaders have worked their butts off memorizing, practicing, learning, asking endless questions, and now they get to fly on their own. I'm excited to hear all the stories of their greatness and how the Lord used them to influence the thousands of campers they have this summer. Hard to let them go, but I can't wait to see what they do!

As for me, it hasn't quite hit me yet that I'm going to San Diego. Yes, I'm obviously really excited about it, but I still have this strange mentality that I know what I'm doing. (And now that I've said that God's surely going to show me that I do not.) I don't think I'll fully grasp what I'm doing this summer until I get to our church. This is a new summer with new groups, new youth, new program, new everything, and God is going to challenge me in different ways. I just pray I can rely fully on him for all I need this summer.

On another note, this is my address this summer:
Week of Hope San Diego
Elisabeth Heinen
8111 Orange Ave.
La Mesa, Ca 91942

There is a Starbucks across the street... wink wink nudge nudge ;)