The First Days

I made it! Many hours of finals and packing, two hours of sleep, one turbulence filled plane ride, a few good hours of people watching, several more hours hanging out in the airport, and six hours in a very full Yukon later I arrived at Camp Redcloud in Lake City, CO.

Denver was not exactly what I expected it to be. I was able to sit by a window on the plane and I was eagerly looking forward to seeing mountains aw we approached Denver. However, as we started to descend I thought the place looked more like Nebraska. To be quite honest, for awhile I thought I got on the wrong flight and didn’t realize it! The pilots (who by the way introduced themselves as John Locke and Jack Shepherd) reaffirmed me that I was indeed heading to Denver.

The rest of Denver was pretty uneventful. I eventually met up with some more people from Redcloud and we hung out and ate food. Packing up the GMC Yukon with five peoples stuff for three months in the mountains plus seven people plus some random groceries was very interesting, but we got it all in! We then drove for about six hours with a few breaks for stretching, ice cream, bathrooms, and a Wal-Mart before we finally arrived at Redcloud. When we got here it was dark, but we were fed an awesome meal, met the rest of our staff, were shown where we would be living/keeping our things for the summer, and then went to bed.

I am very glad I have a warm sleeping bag because we are sleeping in a glorified tent called the weather port. We do have mattresses but they are nothing special. The temperature gets below freezing at night but I love it! Waking up warm but having frost on my sleeping bag in the morning is great! I have a small closet, a few small shelves and a couple of hooks to store all of my things in.

Day 1: Snow, low ropes, and FREEDOM!

When I woke up that morning I stepped into about a half inch of snow. Surprising for May but I’ve been told there can be snow storms even in the middle of July so I’m starting to get used to that idea. However, you would not believe the view that I was greeted with! I will hopefully get a picture of that up soon. I then stumbled up to cabin 4 (the cabin that all of my stuff is in) somehow… all of the cabins look the same and I’m still not sure where I am half the time, and then went to breakfast.

We were on the low ropes course all day. We did some name games, trust walks, the Mohawk walk, and several others. The Mohawk walk was probably the most interesting. As a team we had to cross about 60 feet of a tight rope wire with only a few trees in between to stabilize ourselves. This one was pretty intense but we did end up all making it from one side to the other.

That night we were treated to a wonderful meal. One of my bosses, Mark, and his family prepared a four course meal for us. However, there was a twist. We had to pick what we wanted in each course but we didn’t actually know what we were picking; the foods all had nicknames. Long story short, one of my courses was salad, a spoon and a knife. Another was soup, tea and green beans. The kicker was that if you were served utensils with one course you couldn’t keep them for other courses. In other words we were all eating lasagna, soup, ice cream and other things with our fingers some of the time. It was a fun time though!

To end out the day we gathered for some much needed worship and discussed a covenant for the summer. We decided to name that covenant ‘Freedom’ because of some earlier event that had happened that day and we figured that through Christ we are free and are called to live out that freedom and share it with others, especially this summer.

Day 2: Rocks, Snow, Sickness and Free-time

I woke up to find the creek that runs near our tent frozen. It did indeed get cold out, but I was able to take a hot shower to warm up. J We met in cabin 4 (now named the cove) for some prayer before we were sent on our personal devotional time. It was amazing being able to read Gods word while sitting in the early morning sunlight and gazing at snow capped mountain peaks. I will definitely be able to get used to that!

After breakfast we learned how to tie ropes. I can now safely attach someone to a climbing rope and a climbing rope to an anchor such as a tree. After Lunch we drove to the rock form known as God’s Face. To get there however, we had to climb up a pretty steep trail called ‘Tick Trail’. It is named that because a lot of ticks like to hang out there and attach themselves to whatever walks by (I haven’t found one on me yet though…). The view from the top of that ridge was beautiful and it looked like it was going to be a nice day but then a snow storm came through and made everything wet and slippery. Everyone kept up good attitudes and made the best of it!

Weather in Colorado is even more ridiculous than that of Minnesota. Since I’ve been here I have experienced blazing hot sun that nearly fries your face of if you stand in it too long, below freezing temperatures, random rain showers, strong winds, and snow storms. The weather can literally go from 70 degrees and sunny to 30 degrees and snowing in five minutes! I’ve learned rather quickly to pack and dress in layers.

Almost all of our male staff have come down with some sort of stomach flu today. It started with feelings of nausea in one person but now they are all saying they don’t feel so hot. I’m really hoping it’s not going to spread any further! I’m thinking that a couple of them might have altitude sickness but others have something more than that. This brings me to prayer requests.

Prayer requests:

Health among our staff and quick recovery for those who are feeling under the weather

Energy and focus as we learn and train in these next few weeks

That we as a staff will be earnestly seeking to know God’s heart for this summer and for us as a team and as individuals

Praises:

The staff is working wonderfully together so far and is really starting to bond and lovingly care for one another! :)

We have all been getting sleep

No one has been seriously injured

God’s creation is BEAUTIFUL!!!

I’m hoping to get another post up soon. But until then enjoy the warmer and more predictable weather of where you are!

God bless and have a wonderful day!