See You In August, Colorado!

Good Afternoon, family and friends! I'm reporting to you live from the cozy SIP coffeebar in northeastern Minneapolis! Kerrie & I made it safe and sound to Minnesota--although I'd definitely be lying to you if I said it was an uneventful road trip. For those of you who did not see my frantic texts, snapchats, and facebook updates, we were caught in a tornado and severe thunderstorm!

Long story short, we were driving along the endless fields of Nebraska, eying the strange looking clouds and dark, gloomy weather for about half an hour--specifically questioning one cloud that seemed to be forming the shape of a cyclone from a far off distance. That's when both of our phones start vibrating and loudly buzzing, alerting us that we are in the middle of a tornado watch. Kerrie and I--two east coast girls, who never experienced a tornado before--were obviously very afraid; we screamed for a solid 15 seconds and may or may not have soiled our pants... I digress; we continued to drive away from it, but it took us awhile. We were happy when we started to enter a sunnier, cloudless area of Eastern Nebraska, but soon after we encountered this aggressive thunderstorm--lightning was everywhere, rain was pounding the car, and even though we had the windshield wipers on the highest speed possible, we still could barely see. Cars were pulling over, but we decided we could make it through (Kerrie is a great driver--especially considering she's from Jersey...). With all this being said, it is a blessing we made it to Iowa! As my fellows at Group would say, it was a God Sighting.

We spent that night at the lovely EconoLodge Hotel in Walnut, Iowa. It was so much nicer than the Super8 we stayed at for a couple nights last week in CO! However, the BudgetHost Hotel we are residing at now for a few nights this week in Fridley, MN isn't quite as nice. It's right alongside Highway 65, and there seems to be an ant invasion in our room. At least we have our own beds, though!

Anyway, we enjoyed staying in Littleton last week helping our friends set up their camp at Columbine Hills Church. We moved them into their office, went on several Walmart runs, and began assisting them in planning out details of their camp (who sleeps where, how to organize all of the food in the kitchen, printing countless documents, etc.). We also had time to begin getting ready for our own camp in Minneapolis--which was very nice! I'm super lucky to have a partner who is just as organized and on top of things (if not more) than I am--this is an uncommon gift for me, my friends.

We stayed in most nights last week and hung out together, but one evening we went to Columbine High School. The Memorial was quite beautiful and touching, and we were all very glad we decided to go, despite it having us shed a tear or two.

Well, time to start visiting the sites we will be partnering with this summer in Minneapolis! Hope you all are doing well! :)

Travels Around Colorado

Well, I officially survived training & earned my red staff shirts--I am a "Red Shirt!" Here is a picture of me totally killing it, with my famous red pants:

So, Kerrie and I spent Sunday & Monday nights at a Super8 motel in Longmont, CO. It wasn't exactly the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, but I slept like a rock and really that's all that matters. Friends from the Denver and Loveland crews joined us, and we had a lot of fun together! We went on a beautiful hike in the Rocky Mountains; I felt like I was on top of the world! It's amazing to think that God created it all--my pictures don't do His work justice.  

Tuesday we helped our Denver friends move into their church for the summer down in Littleton, CO. We are going to be with Michelle and Michaela until Sunday; they are such wonderful women! The pastor of this church in Columbine Hills generously invited the four of us to spend these nights at his home since the church is busy with Vacation Bible School. He has a wife, 5 kids, and a dog; naturally, I feel like I'm staying with the Camdens from 7th Heaven! It's a full house, y'all!

It's so nice being here helping the Denver crew out, and I can't speak for Kerrie, but I'm super pumped for us to hit the road on Sunday for Minnesota! We already have our hotels booked in Omaha suburbs and Minnesota! In the meantime though, I'm going to enjoy every second I have left in Colorado. In our remaining free time we are hoping to visit the Columbine High School and Memorial, downtown Denver, and the outlets before we depart!

Until next time, my friends! Thank you again for your continued thoughts & prayers!  

Training in a Nutshell

I've been in Colorado for about 2 weeks now training for this summer! The first week we were at the YMCA of the Rockies up in Estes Park, CO. We had many all-staff training sessions here where we learned the basics and big picture, & we also had a lot of get-to-know you activities (like speed meeting). I lived in a room with my prayer partner Kaitlyn, who is also a project leader for Week of Hope, and two other girls who are on the workcamp staff. I'll never forget that time we were all in a training session when we looked out the window and saw 3 elk walking on the grass: 

This week we were at a middle school in Loveland, CO, which was not quite as nice as the YMCA resort in the mountains, but I was having too much fun that it was not really a bother. Sessions started to get more specific and I had many meetings just with project leaders, or with Week of Hope all together. I rarely ever saw my workcamp friends during the day, besides meals and worship. By now I have mastered the art of assigning work crews, running Media Shout on the computer when Kerrie leads the programs, & appreciating coffee more than ever before. It's been an extremely productive week.   

I can't believe that tomorrow morning we are all leaving Loveland, CO and going in all different directions to our various destinations across the USA. Unlike many other crews, Kerrie and I are staying in the Denver area to help that crew set up their site. We will be departing for Minneapolis a week from now! I'm hoping to go on a couple hiking trips and explore Denver in the meantime! We get to stay in a hotel (at Group's expense) these next few nights with the Denver and Loveland crews, and I'm super excited to sleep in an actual bed (and possibly taking a dip or two in its pool and hot tub). As you can see I'm pretty comfy on my air mattress, but nothing is quite like a full sized bed:

Good night family and friends! Thank you for all of your support--it really means a lot!

Howdy friends! Greetings from Colorado! I've been in this beautiful state for about a week and a half now, and finally decided to create a blog to document my adventures working with Group Mission Trips this summer! 

So, to start from the beginning, I flew into Denver bright and early on Memorial Day. There I met up with the rest of my coworkers! We spent the entire day chilling at the DIA, getting to know one another and having lots of fun. Mid-afternoon, after everyone had arrived, we boarded the bus and headed north to the Rocky Mountains. I think the entire airport was thankful we finally departed; we were taking up a lot of room and making quite a scene.

Our first week of training was spent high up in the mountains at the YMCA of the Rockies! It was unlike any YMCA I've ever been to before--that's for sure--because it was basically a resort. I'm definitely missing it now--it was so pretty up there! This was the view from the bedroom I shared for the week with three of my coworkers:

That week began with us finding out what city we were being assigned to for the summer, as well as who our co-partner is! I was so thrilled when I was told that Kerrie was my partner because we had spent hours at the airport together (suffering through our headaches) the day before! She is from New Jersey and is Italian; I think we are a perfect match! Here is a photo of us after the worship service we attended in Fort Collins on Sunday morning: 

In a week, the two of us will be saying "see ya in August, Colorado" and driving northeast to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we will be for the rest of the summer! I am super excited to be visiting this state for the first time. I can't wait to go to St. Paul, Uptown, and of course the Mall of America on our weekends off! More importantly though, I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity of working with youth groups this summer on their mission trips. I know God has big plans ahead for these kids and their leaders! 

Well, time for bed! Stay tuned to hear more about training & the organizations we will be serving with in Minneapolis! :)