So it's been a while....
I will be honest, I was having high hopes for this summer. I was expecting such a wonderful, fun-filled, neverending blasty summer after a long and hard working school year. Starting off, that was NOT the case. Matt was on a constant job hunt, working night shifts to build his savings and then got a second job as a graphic designer during the day time (which I thank God for!) and for the first month and a half I hardly ever got to see him. :( It was quite rough, because I wanted to finally have time in the year to be around him and my friends and not spend so much time at the apartment by myself.
Nevertheless, I've found ways to keep myself entertained. I got the opportunity to attend FCA Camp in a place called Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. Our regional representative, Ben Gooch, and I went to UTMartin together so we know each other very well. He found out that I has been chosen to lead FCA this upcoming school year and jumped on the opportunity to get me at camp to get me prepared for the year. I prayed about it long and hard and felt the Lord tugging me to go. I got two students from my FCA group to go with me, Alyssa and Erin. We got on the bus in Columbia, TN on June 28th and had NO idea what to expect. We ended up traveling with the high schools from our region such as Lawrence County, Maury County, Lewis County, and so many others. I could not have asked to travel with such an amazing group of kids! They were all truly blessings to me...
We arrived at the campsite, and this place was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Lake Junaluska is unlike any conference center I have been to, not only was it that but it looked like a tiny vacation resort for families and older couples. It felt like a small-town community smack dab in the middle of a lake surrounding the mountains. Absolutely stunning....
FCA is an outreach for high schoolers using the tools of sports and athletics. So camp for the students was incredibly active. They would get up in the morning and compete in games against all their huddles and then they would have devotions and quiet times before lunch, then we would break up and have our "break out sessions" where they did leadership and evangelism training, had seminars on outreach and fundraising ideas, etc. It was so informal... and they were answering a lot of questions I already had. But the best part of the entire week were the evening services. Watching all the students praise and worship God, giving their lives to him is what brought me to my knees. I can't even really explain all of my experience here but it was so moving and it was on purpose that I was drawn there for the summer. Now I can not wait to start school for the year and share my experiences with all the students. It's going to be an awesome fruitful year.
