Leisure Ministries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Well, where to begin...

Ok, I guess I'll just start on Monday. The way down to camp is sooooo long because it's so exciting to know you're about to go spend a week at one of the best places on earth- Aldersgate Camp!!!
So I got there, super super excited, and I found out I was in a cabin w/ my cousin Chelsey, my friends Mash, Sarah, Lindsay, and my two new friends now: Brittany and "Kri". Oh, and my amazing counselor Cara. So of course I was already so pumped for the week. Then when we got to choose our majors (there are four amazing ones, btw- Adventure Learning, Outdoor Adventure, Drama, and Production), Chelsey and I decided to do Outdoor Adventure! (something I didn't think I'd do, or at least this yr!) But oh my goodness, it was like the most incredbile major I've done! I loved it! The people in my major were Chelsey and me, obviously (lol), Savannah, Anna, Josie, Zane, Brent, William, Alex, and Luke. And, of course, our fearless leaders Matthew (the same counselor of the guys cabin in my small group at Sr High Camp) and Sarah Noble. They were amazing. My whole group was amazing, and we became very close friends.

So every morning we started out w/ morning platform, then had breakfast, then the rest of the morning was our major time. So on Monday afternoon, we made compasses out of a bowl of water, a sponge, a needle, and a magnet. Tuesday our major group was gone all day because we were at Red River Gorge rock-climbing and canoeing, and it was soooo much fun. It was like one of my favorite days of the week. And that was actually the first time I'd ever rock-climbed, and I loved it! It really was challenging, but it was so extrememly fun. So was canoeing. Anna and I shared a canoe, and it was so great and peaceful on the little lake. There was like no one else there. We jumped off a huge rock into the lake (fun but scary- I screamed as I jumped! =]) and one of the coolest things about it was that we had Bible Study in the middle of the lake that day. We just all canoed to the middle, and the lesson that day "happened" to be about Jesus walking on the water. It was way too cool. Then on our way back to shore (we were dried off now, of course), Brent and Zane just felt the need to tip our canoe, so sure enough, over the side we went into the water. But it was ok. Actually it was really fun. =]

For Wednesday's major time, we learned how to build fires, then our group of ten was broken up into two groups and we had a contest about who could build a fire and burn through the twine (tied between two trees) first. All we had was a box of cheap matches, and anything else we could get to burn. Our team won, but only because the other team gave us matches when we ran out. It was a fun morning.
This was us after our fires were burning, and we were having our daily Bible Study.


Thursday morning during major time we went to Windy Cave. It was sooo incredible. The hike up part of the mountain was really hard, but the cave was so worth it. Once we got inside the cave, we had to get down on our stomachs and wiggle through a hole/tunnel sloping downward. It was actually really cool. Then once everybody got into the lower part of the cave, we had to climb up ropes and then go through another larger tunnel above us into a room called the "Cathedral Room" or something like that because it had like 60 foot ceilings. It was really awesome.

The people in the pic on the right are Brent, Luke, Alex, Anna, me, and Chelsey.

So below are pictures of us after we all got out of the cave. In the pic on the left, my major friends were (in the back) William, Luke, Brent, (then in the middle) Savnnah, Chelsey, me, Zane, Alex, (and in the front) Anna, Josie, and our leader Sarah. Matthew Tolliver was taking the pic, so he's in the next one. Ok, and I don't know if you can see it or not, but if you look really closely in the middle of the first pic, between Chelsey and me, there's a little rubber duck w/ a Hawaiian shirt on, and his name is Zerxceys and he was our mascot.

Friday morning we went to the backpacking area at Aldersgate and made shelters that we would sleep in that night. We had to make a three-sided shelter, and all we had was three tarps (one large and two small ones), twine, and duct tape. I have to admit, the girls were pretty awesome at creating our shelter. The guys did great too, it just took them a while to get started cause they argued for a while. lol. But it was ok. It ended up being wonderful. But since we girls got finished a little early, we went and gathered pretty leaves and picked flowers, and put a little "garden" outside the back of our shelter. It was so cute and fun. (I still think the guys were jealous of our shelter and garden.) :)
This is us after we finished making our shelters.

So after major time in the morning, we had lunch (and we actually only ate two lunches at the lodge because Tuesday we had our sack lunches of peanut butter and jelly when we went rock climbing, and Thursday we had turkey sandwiches at the cave because we wouldn't have made it back in time for lunch at the lodge), then quiet time. We would choose minors at lunch, then have them after quiet time.

Outdoor Adventure didn't have a minor on Tuesday because we were gone all day, but on Wednesday I did high ropes (and did all the elements, which was really cool), Thursday we had girl/guy time in the chapel (which is a nice, relaxing time where all the girls and counselors just rest in the air-conditioned chapel and talk and share stories and have a fun time. It was really great.), and Friday I did a games minor, where we learned how to play/teach games to a group of people. That was fun too.

So after minors we had swim time, which was always a lot of fun except that I only swam on Friday. But it was still nice to just go hang out at the pool, and talk to friends and stuff. But I did put my feet in each time, and the water felt really good. So everyday that Chelsey and I would do this, our friends would beg us to get in, but it just takes so long to change into/out of swim suits, and we were always tired from our morning "adventures", so we'd just sit there and put our feet in. So finally they convinced us on Thursday that we had to get in on Friday since it was our last day to swim. So, we got in, but it was kinda cool that day cause it had rained earlier, so we were very cold, and then after we were only in there for like 20 mins. it started to pour the rain. So much for swimming that day. lol :)

After swim time we had free time where we just hung out in the field in front of the lodge, and just talked, or played frisbee or basketball or football or four-square, or pretty much anything you wanted. That was always a good part of the day. And then directly after that we would go up to the lodge and eat. Yum yum!

Community Life was always after dinner, and it was always fun. Monday evening, they brought us inflatables (yes, us 10th- college freshmen) and we raced down the inflatable slide and jumped in the bouncehouse. It was great. And I don't know if you can tell, but in the pic on top, I'm going down the slide. hehe! =]

Tuesday we played one huge game of capture the flag. Wednesday we played a game where we were broken up into 4 teams, each w/ a different colored flag in our back pockets, and we had to get the "gold" from everyone else's area/ zone thing w/out getting our tag snatched away, or we'd have to go to jail. I don't remember what it was called. Thursday we had folk dancing which is always so much fun! And Friday we had the talent show. It was great (everything but our own act!) But we seriously didn't know we had to do anything, so Outdoor Adventure made something up spur- of- the- moment. I still don't know if I regret it or not. Haha, just kidding, although it was pretty pitiful.

Always after community life, we'd go get ready for campfire, then go have snack time w/ everybody, then go straight to campfire. The cool thing about LM campfires is that you never know exactly where they're gonna be, cause they're not always in the campfire ring. But they are always super incredible with absolutely amazing worship. Monday night we had campfire out in the horse field, and there was a humongus bonfire (I mean, seriously, they were burning logs instead of sticks). Tuesday night it was by the creek, and that day was about getting out of the boat to follow Jesus, so near the end of campfire, Derek Robinette (our absolutely wonderful dean) said they would play a song, and when we felt led, we could take off our shoes and go wade in the creek. So we did. It was cold, but it was amaing. Awesome actually. Wednesday night campfire was at the campfire ring. Thursday it was behind the chapel, but we took the long- way to get there-- like a mini hike. That day was about Jesus' last day before He died, and we watched a clip from the Passion and had a really powerful service. Friday night we carried and followed the "body of Jesus" (someone was actually lying stretched out on boards w/ a sheet over them- it was really cool) around to different points of the field, then went and finished our campfire at the large pavilion, and had Communion and everything.

See, a really sweet thing about LM is that there's always a drama major, so all through the week there are great skits and dramas. And LM is like on a four year rotation kind of thing- the Beginning, the Prophets, the Life of Jesus, and Revelation. This year was the Life of Jesus, and all week it was like we were His disciples. So the drama major would always do scenes from Jesus' life, and it was kind of like His last week. On Thursday "Jesus" was taken by the Roman soldiers, and Friday He was beaten and nailed to a cross. And a really amazing thing about this was that it hadn't rained all week, but on Friday, the day Jesus was to die, it rained. We were woken up that morning to shouts of "Crucify Him", and after lunch, right before quiet time, they did. They "crucified" Him. (her, actually) And it rained. It was pouring the rain. So for quiet time, instead of spreading out like we usually did, we all gathered around the cross. And we prayed, and we contemplated, and we realized our Jesus really went through all this for us. It was amazing.

After campfire on Friday night, instead of sleeping in our cabins like we usually did, our Outdoor Advenure major got our sleeping bags and went to the backpacking area where we had put up our shelters. We built a fire and made s'mores, and it was really fun. Then we slept. It even rained on Friday night, but our shelters must've worked, because not one of us were wet!

Well, our amazing production major always makes us a cool DVD of our awesome week to give to us on Saturday. There are over 1,000 pictures on it, and a lot of little videos they took all week. But they also make a great highlight video for the end of the week, and I was gonna upload it on here because it was super cool, and it really helps show what a fantastic week we had and experienced, but unfortunately I couldn't get it to upload :( But if I figure it out, I'll definitely put it on here! =]

So the whole week was absolutely incredible, and God did some really awesome things. Leisure Ministries is an AMAZING camp w/ an AMAZING team working to make it go well, and an AMAZING God Who ultimately orchestrated it all. I love Him so much for that- and for everything He taught me that week. It was so wonderful. I loved it. My week was awesome, my major was awesome, my friends are awesome, and my God is INCREDIBLE! What an absolutely splendid week!!! :)