And there it went.....what a special summer! :) Even though I am safely home now, I still need to give a recap of all that happened both at camp and as I came home.....but first, here are some pictures. :)

Laura and I before our last time to support our color teams on relay day :)

My team at the Pro Ultimate Frisbee game. The weird blue thing in the mild is the team mascot. :)

Amy, Jen, Me, Christine, and Johnathon at the gum wall in Seattle

All of the ladies.....

This summer I got to have the med kit in my room every week at camp and "play nurse". I had to say goodbye to it and that made it sad so I made a sad face ;). 

I got greeted a huge greeting from friends and family at the airport. My dad got these fun pictures of all of us. :)

God did great things once again at the Washington camp. It was not an easy week knowing that it was my final week of camp, but it was a rewarding week. :)

A Bible verse that really stuck out to me this week was from Psalm 34:8-10 "O taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing." As I put my mind and heart to wrapping up an awesome summer part of my hard really struggled with the idea of going home...but God used this section of scripture to show me that any good that happened this summer came from Him and that He would go home with me and continue to sustain me and blow my mind with his good gifts. I was reminded to be excited that life is full of various experiences in which I can view the goodness of my God play out in unique and special ways. :)

Bullet Points of Blessings:

• The gum wall in Seattle
• Smelling fresh flowers from a street vendor
• Watching my first pro ultimate frisbee game
• Team time of prayer
• Chick 'fil A lemonade
• Riding in the back of a stick shift car while riding up Seattle's huge hills
• Honey sticks
• The neat lecture hall at Northwest University in Kirkland, WA
• The great salad bar at the cafeteria
• Doodling to let my mind relax after a long day
• The lyrics to "My Lighthouse" that said, "You will lead us safe to shore" and realizing that my "shore" for the summer was in sight and that God would safely  and successfully guide my team to the finish line as we endeavored to finish our last camp with excellence
• Sending out a text of encouragement to my team
• Trip to Safeway for groceries with Amy
• Getting to "play nurse" for a student with a bad headache
• My camp director calling me "Rach"
• Being surprised when a Worldview student brought her pedal harp to camp. She asked me to sit with her and listen to a song and provide feedback and then had me play her as many songs as I wanted. When I touched the harp, I realized how much I love playing the instrument that I do. 2 months without playing my harp was hard for me, but the sweet thing was that the Lord knew this and surprised me with the opportunity to bless a student and be blessed in return by getting to play. After I got done playing with her, I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. :)
• Two of my students and I creating "banana salad" which was our version of dessert with bananas, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, and marshmallows all mixed together. My girls told me that it was healthy because, "chocolate comes from the cocoa bean which grows on a tree so thus it is a vegetable and vegetables are in salad, so you are really eating salad and not sugar."  ;P
• The wind
• Cracks in the cement
• The smell of lavender
• Color contrasts in nature
• Having a mini "spa night" with my small group
• Hearing the words, "I love you"
• Dark chocolate covered espresso beans that one of my students gave me
• Overcast skies
• Laughter that involves rolling on the floor
• The last night as a team where we got to go out to eat at a restaurant that was overlooking the water and then have a time of sharing about the summer complete with chocolate, a slideshow, and tears
• Strong hugs
• Saying "So long" as opposed to "good bye"
• My arrival home complete with an adorable sign and  friends and family greeting me
• 10 hours of sleep
• The gluten free cake that my mum made for me. :)

The Lord very tenderly walked with me this summer. It wasn't an easy summer but it was an adventure that was saturated with so much growth and joy that I can hardly begin to describe. Now that I am back home, I want to put into practice the words of my sister, "And now to the next season of life." My life here looks so different from camp, but I can certainly apply all of the lessons that I learned and practice living excellently no matter where God takes me.

All glory be to God, my King and Friend....

~Rachel

Psalm 66:5:"Come and see the works of God, who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men."

Sunset in Salem, Oregon

When Danielle arrived I ran to hug her faster than I ever have in my life and started to cry. ;) I love my sister!

Kendra was my awesome intern this past week. We had a blast. :)

Another week done and more memories made. :)

Here are my bullet points from the week:

• Danielle arriving
• Cookies and muffins from home delivered by Danielle :)
• Psalm 73
• Talking with my sweet sister on a bridge on campus. Catching up with her was one of the best parts of my week
• God working out the food problems in the cafeteria
• Wild blackberries
• Being able to encourage my team with chocolate bars ;)
• The hill that I got to walk up and down every day 
• Tuesday night's sunset
• Moss covered rocks
• One on one times with different team members
• An americano with almond milk and caramel syrup
• Getting to ride a carousal with my female staff team 
• Walmart run with Amy and Danielle
• When my girls would initiate hugging me 
• The window seat in our dorm room
• Crunchy french fries
• Little and big opportunities to die to myself each day
• Soft t-shirts
• Free laundry 
• Little fountain on campus
• Speaking truth to myself
• God pursuing me
• Fresh North Western air
• The clock tower
• Quiet stillness
• Shower after 4 days of not having one 
• Strawberries and "happy almonds' mixed together ;)
• Powell's book store in Portland
• Getting to wander around Portland as a team
• Going to REI
• Getting to describe my team members as different flavors of pie to describe their personalities. 

In a week I will be flying home.....it has been such a sweet summer and I praise the Lord for all he has done in and through me. God is so good! He has walked with me when I desire to serve him and when I don't.....when I am excited and when I am weary....when I am complaining and when I am praising him.....He is my faithful God. His faithfulness has become all the more apparent this summer. :)

~Rachel

It is so crazy how fast these weeks are flying by here at Worldview...two more weeks to go and then I am home in Idaho! What a sweet summer it has been. :) Here is the recap of the Northern California camp. 

The adorable burger place we ate at as we were leaving California

The "Pengowl" that my student would draw for me...one for every lecture. She named it this because this was her adorable version of a cross between a penguin and and owl ;)

Katie Cook and I at Registration

Flash back to staff training..... I love my team so much!!! :)

A verse that stuck out to me this week was from Psalm 42:5, "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him. For the help of His presence." Many times this week I felt like a product of my emotions and I found myself disquieted in spirit. But when I read this verse, I was encouraged by the fact that no matter what my feelings told me, my hope comes from God period....end of story....not based on how I feel. I am so thankful that I serve a God who does not change. My emotions are fickle, but my God is steadfast. One of my all time favorite verses is from Malachi 3:6,which says "I the Lord do not change so that you oh Israel are not consumed." Praise the Lord for this fact. :)

Bullet points of blessings from the week :)

• FREEBIRDS BURRITOS. We need this restaurant in Idaho...just saying. 
• Watching fireworks as a team on the fourth of July
• The shine of metal on the sides of the buildings at William Jessup University
• The huge card I got int the mail from sweet people in my church. The card encouraged my heart so much!
• An amazing cafeteria
• Throwing a birthday party for two of my students complete with balloons, starburst jellybeans, and lots of laughter
• Neat industrial patterns displayed in the architecture on campus
• The wind every morning 
• Good long talks with team members when I needed to verbally process 
• The level of depth my girls plunged into this week
• Seeing Old Town Sacramento, CA
• The blessed feeling of getting to wear jeans
• The prayer chapel on campus
• Grading tests at 1 a.m. in the morning with Laura, Caleb, and Christine which was full of laughter, teasing, and consuming dark chocolate Hershey kisses ;)
• Having one of my students come to know the Lord this week at camp!!! :)
• Pengowl drawings from my student each day of the week. The drawings always made me smile so much when she would show me. I can't get enough of owls as it is, let alone drawings of penguins and owls together! ;)
• Strong hugs
• Honesty
• Personal wrestling internally with the Lord by my side helping me through
• The sweet gift my girls gave me at the end of the week of a journal, which they all wrote notes to me in, and a Starbucks gift card. I almost started crying when they gave it to me. Their kindness blew my mind. 
• Trying a chai tea latte with almond milk for the first time
• Tenderness 
• Having the Lord teach me more about compassion for my girls this past week.

I loved this past camp so much. I also am looking forward to this next week and experiencing all of the epic things that the Lord has already planned in advance to do. Onward to Oregon. :)

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean :)

View of the courtyard outside my dorm room 

Team go pro picture on the beach in San Diego :)

Lauren, Christine, and I at registration

After the San Diego camp finished, Jenny rejoined our team and gave me the biggest bear hug I have ever received in my life. ;) This girl is such a blessing!

This is my "I'm tired but so happy face" ;) My family sent a care package to me and it blessed my socks off :D

San Diego was such a week of growth for me in many ways. There was laughter and there were also a lot of tears. I was comforted and encouraged, challenged and surprised, loved and revived......

A passage that stood out to me at the end of the week was Jeremiah 17:5-8, "Thus says the Lord, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trusts is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream. And will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit." At San Diego, my strength ran out in a whole new way when I heard sobering and painful news from back home. I realized that no matter how much I fretted about it, I could not change the situation. God convicted me about how I was trusting in my own strength and not in his. I was like the bush in the desert described in Jeremiah 17....but God was calling me to be like the tree planted by the water. As I wrestled over the weekend, God's mercies became very evident to me in a new way. I love how closely God walks with me both when I am doing well and when I am struggling.

Here are my bullet points of blessing from the week. 

• Having my roommate Jenna surprise me by tickling me until I was giggling really hard ;)
• Palm trees
• The gorgeous ocean
• Trip the the grocery store as a team late at night
• Seeing "Inside Out" with my team 
• Finding shells on the beach with Lauren, one of the faculty kids, who is my buddy. :)
• Warm showers
• Finding a neat little notebook at a beach shop in San Diego to write more blessings in because I have almost completed my current blessings book
• Good long talk with Ashley
• Sunsets over the ocean
• Getting to play "nurse" for the various injuries on our team ;)
• The wisdom of our leadership team
• Having my heart break for one of my students....I realized that it is easy to become numb as the weeks go on, but I was encouraged again to let my heart be both excited for and broken for my girls each week
• The huge hill on campus that gave me a workout each day 
• Peppermint tea on an unsettled stomach one morning
• Ultimate frisbee game with just the staff when the students were in a lecture
• Having my female staff director, Amy, surprise us girls with a bible study time complete with fresh raspberries, strawberries, and 70% dark chocolate and studying the book of Philippians.
• God giving me fresh ideas for questions to ask my girls even when my mind was tired
• Peaches and pears in peanut butter
• Hearing one of my quieter girls pray for the group
• American Idol staff skit where we all got to act ridiculous and make the students laugh. ;)
• Getting my tears out and being comforted by Amy as I sobbed
• Talking to a dear friend on the phone twice

I can look back on this week and proclaim the truth of  Lamentations 3 when it says, "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease; for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness." In the midst of my exhaustion and weakness, God blessed me each day with new mercies and truly helped my heart to sing even when it was difficult. 

I am excited to continue to see what this next week holds and how the Lord will continue to mold and shape me into his image.

~Rachel

Laura, Christine, and I at opening day

Us girls on an adventure in CA where we found this epic van and took a picture in front of it. :)

Me and Christine with our happy hats. :)

Goodbye lovely Santa Clarita, CA. Thanks for the memories. :)

A verse that really stood out to me this week was from Luke 10:38-42, "Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations and she came up to Him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered and said to to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." This week I was convicted about how worried and bothered I was about little things that did not matter. This was tempting me to lose the joy of sitting at my Master's feet with excited expectation and peace....just waiting to see what he would do. Then as the week progressed, he continued to remind me to just sit in awe of his work and simply listen. I want to continue to grow to learn to sit as Mary did.

Blessing from the week:

• Heart to heart with my female staff director when I was struggling emotionally
• Getting to write notes of encouragement to my staff
• The dorms at Masters College
• Filling my heart with truth in the morning from the Bible
• Having a walk with the Lord and listening to praise music as I walked
• Having one of my fellow staff members tell me, "Rachel, the best thing that God made was you." :)
• My nine 15 year old girls at camp
• The kitchen staff at Masters making gluten free food for me
• The hills that gave me a workout leading up to the dorms
• Jelly beans
• Beats and lentiles
• Hugs
• The sound of flowing water from the fountain on campus
• A raccoon that visited our group twice at T-time. :)
• Having grapefruit (which I do not like) every morning for breakfast because my girls liked it. :)
• Being called "Rach"
• God's tenderness to me in the midst of body image struggles
• Soy milk in my coffee
• A peanut butter bowl of epicness with cranberries and jam mixed in. :) (That was my latest cafeteria creation)
• The lyrics to the song "Be Thou My Vision"
• Making my first diving catch for a point in Ultimate frisbee. It felt so cool. :)
• Having my students all go around in a circle and share what they appreciated about me. It melted my heart. :)
• My sunburned nose (I look like Rudolph  :P)
• Jeremiah 9:23-24
• Orchard flavored skittles
• Quick talk with my mum on the phone

God continues to blow my mind with his goodness and tenderness to me. I am not the same person that I was a month ago and that thrills me. :)

Praise the Lord for this opportunity. 

~Rachel

My sweet intern Karley from this past week.

At the Grand Canyon (What a cool moment. We ate dinner as a team while we watched the sun set over the Grand Canyon)

Jenna (one of my fellow staffers) and I

Arizona.....what a cool state with awesome people! :) This week was epic. I was so blessed to have ten 16 year old girls in my group. They were all incredible young women. I was also so encouraged because God gave me Karley as a co-leader of my group. She was so full of energy, new ideas, and love to pour out on our girls. I couldn't have successfully completed the week without her.

A verse that really blessed me this week when I was feeling a little weary was John 5:34, "Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me to accomplish His work." I needed to read that this week because I was trying to get my strength from so many different sources, just not from the Lord. The Holy Spirit reminded me what my purpose should be while being here. :)

Here are my bullet points from this week.

• A time of encouragement as a team on the van rides. We called it "Honey Roasting" each other where we went around the circle and shared what we appreciated about each other.
• Having Karley as my intern this week
• Learning that my girls from the Oklahoma camp  the week before nicknamed themselves "The Happy Hoopers" :D
• My Arizona girls meeting on "our bridge" on campus every night
• Hard sleep
• Not getting sick
• My mum sending me a epic package filled with fruit snacks and protein bars, and notes from my family!!
• Staff meeting each night when I get to seek advice from the leadership.
• Skipping down the hallway with Karley after making sure our girls were in bed.
• Playing volleyball with the students
• Crazy Flagstaff high altitude. It made me feel so out of shape. Even walking up stairs was tiring. :P
• Sweet texts of encouragement from my team members
• Running through the sprinklers with my girls after a long day of lectures
• Having a skunk come visit my girls and I during one of our small group times outside. Thankfully the skunk decided to not bless us with his smell. ;)
• Being convicted about living a life of conviction but not guilt
• When we got into the vans yesterday to start driving to California, Caleb said, "Yes! Rachel is in this van. Deep question time!" ;) All of us in that van had a really fun and deep conversation. :)
• Seeing the Grand Canyon and standing speechless in awe of God's creation.
• Beautiful Arizona stars at night
• Giggling and crying at the same time :)

God is so good. Life at camp and on the road has been exhilarating and exhausting, thrilling, and oh so rewarding. I am loving it!

~Rachel

Wow….and now the week is done! Goodbye Oklahoma and thanks for the memories…..

Jen and I before she left staff training...miss you sweet girl. 

Ashley, me, and Laura after ultimate frisbee staff vs. students game

Only some of the amazing goodies that the mom's bought for the staff (the bullet point later on explains more)

Blue Sky in Texas

My gluten free burger complete with Idaho fries all the way in the great state of Texas :D

This past week was my first week of camp with students. God blessed me with 15 fifteen year old ladies. We had times of laughter, tears, hugs, deep questions, eating sugar, volleyball, sweaty high fives after frisbee in the Oklahoma crazy humidity, sharing our hearts, inside jokes, and prayer. My sweet girls blessed me in so many ways that I can’t even describe. God was at work and refining me in both the blessings and challenges. My heart is very happy. If I had a “happiness meter” then it would be passed the highest level. J

One of my favorite parts of this week was seeing how God multiplied my strength when I was absolutely exhausted. After four nights of 5-6 hours of sleep, my energy was zapped, but whenever I remembered to pray for strength, God would grant it to me in abundance. One night when I was going to sleep, I realized that I was scared for the next day because I thought my energy would gone and I couldn’t serve my students. God convicted me and showed me how I lacked trust in his ability to sustain me in any circumstance. The Holy Spirit brought to mind the words of Psalm 3:5, “I lay down and slept. I awoke for the Lord sustains me.” God blew my mind with this truth the next day! 

Here are my bullet points of blessings from this past week:

·         Seeing my girls’ names for the first time the night before camp started and getting to pray for each of them.

·         Eating organic chocolate chews and talking with God

·         Rocking out on the van ride with my team

·         My squeaky bunk bed in my dorm room. My roommate and I nicknamed our beds “momma and papa mouse” because every time we moved in the middle of the night the bed would squeak loudly just like two mice talking to one another . ;)

·         My girls making connections about the truth they were learning in lectures each day

·         Orchard flavored skittles

·         Getting to be in charge of the medical kit for our team. *cough* I think nursing is the right career for me if something as simple as having the med kit makes me stoked. ;)

·         When my girls were willing to honestly share what was on their hearts with me.

·         Doing laundry

·         My dear student who brought a volleyball with her to camp. We played with it so much!

·         “Happy fruit snacks” that my mum sent me from home J

·         Helping to facilitate Mafia for the students. Nate (another staffer from my team) and I were the story tellers and we had these hilarious and terrible German accents to tell the story with. Our theme for the mafia round was “Veggie Tales characters in the grocery store”. We laughed a lot with the students to say the least. J

·         Showers to clean up after long and hot days

·         Frizzy hair and headbands to mask bad hair days

·         Oklahoma stars at night

·         Looking over a sea of 120+ faces in the lecture hall and being able to pick out the faces of each of my awesome fellow staff members among all of the students. My team has encouraged me, challenged me, and made me laugh really really hard.

·         Grading exams at 1:30 a.m. in the morning

·         Sweet notes from my girls as camp came to a close

·         After wrapping up camp, our team went into lobby of the dorm to eat some lunch. We were greeted by two tables spread with food. One table had everything from chocolate covered acia berries to packs of gum for us to take on our van ride to sprite (my favorite pop). Oh…and they also bought me gluten free brownies and made our team homemade cookies and brownies. J After 2 weeks of eating cafeteria food, this gesture truly blessed me. It turns out that some of the moms of the students from camp went out and bought our team all of this stuff to support us and thank us for taking care of their students at camp. I was so blessed that all I wanted to do was start crying.

·         Our team’s van ride to Arizona for our next camp

·         Talking with my family on the phone

·         Going to two new states (New Mexico and Arizona)

·         Southern rain storms

·         Reflecting on all the lessons that God taught me this week. J

It is crazy that I have only been gone for 2 weeks. It feels like I just left yesterday and also that I have been living with this team for years. Funny how that happens. I am just so thankful that I am truly loving this adventure and the opportunity that I have to love on students all over the U.S.

Onward to Arizona!

~Rachel

Week 1: (Staff Training)

Christine...me...Lauren

A beautiful fountain at Oklahoma Wesleyan University where we are having staff training.

Sunset on campus

I have been so blessed here this week! Each day, I am richly encouraged, challenged, and built up and I am not even one week into my adventure this summer. :) God has been taking care of me in such sweet ways. I realized this concept in a new way when God lead me to this verse in one of my first quiet times here in Oklahoma. Psalm 3:3-5 "But You, O Lord, are a shield about me. My glory and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice and He answered me from his holy mountain. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me."

Now, as promised, I wanted to share my bullet points of blessing about the week so far.

• The first night I got to campus for training and was surprised by my staff director with a gift. 
• The time with my roommates who will be some of my fellow staffers throughout the next 8 weeks
• Coffee with my "happy stevia" added in :)
• Eating pickled beets and loving them
• Catching the frisbee in ultimate frisbee, which meant a lot to me because I typically don't excel in that game. ;P 
• Hearing Mrs. Booth (one of the faculty wives) talk to us about what the condition of our hearts  should be as staff this summer. She said, "God's people are called to be tent dwellers, not comfortable. You do not deserve comfort. Instead of complaining about poor cafeteria food or a lumpy dorm mattress, look for how to make the situation an adventure." 
• The purposefulness behind every decision that Worldview Academy makes about  how to best run camp 
• Going witnessing in downtown Bartlesville, OK and sharing the gospel by using the starting question of "What happens when you die?"
• The tenderness of the Lord
• My leadership team and how they have come alongside us so wonderfully in this period of training. 
• Laughing so hard that I cried
• Last night having my female staff director, Amy, take all of us ladies outside and one by one wash our feet to demonstrate Christ like service as laid out in John 13.
• God taking care of me with the cafeteria food. I have been trying to take the advice of Mrs. Booth and make eating on college campuses an adventure. So I made up this "dessert" called "Cocoput" which has canned peaches, shredded coconut, and pecans in it. It makes my tummy happy and helps my mind to "feel" like I am having dessert without causing my stomach to hurt.. :)
• The unity of our team even after only 5 days.....I am super excited to get to travel with these people. They challenge me, make me laugh really hard, tease me about how I pronounce words and live Christ before me. 

I am thrilled that on Sunday afternoon, my first set of students will arrive. I can't wait to see their faces and get to know what is on their hearts. They are "God's kids" and I get to take care of them for a week and I can't wait!!! :)

Onward to the adventure.....

~Rachel

I will be in Oklahoma a week from today! :) My bag is packed and my heart is filled with 

excitement for the experience. Before I leave though, I wanted to take the time to share my 

verse for the summer. It is 1 Peter 4:11 which says, "Whoever speaks is to do so as one 

who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is 

serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be 

glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and 

ever. Amen." I love this verse because it is specific about service and 

speaking....both of which I will be doing this summer. My prayer is that God will be glorified 

and that I would grow to learn how to serve Him faithfully. 

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to take a little bit of time to share my heart in creating this blog. 

As most of you know, I am not a writer in any sense of the word. ;) However, 

I do love to record both big and little blessings that the Lord brings about in my 

life. So, through this blog, I hope to give you all a window into my summer as I 

serve as a staffer for Worldview Academy by writing down the blessings from each 

week of camp.  My goal is that this will remind me to continually have a spirit of thankfulness

and a desire to share what the Lord is doing in my life this summer.

Thank you for checking out my blog. Have a blessed day!

~Rachel