(no subject)
OK.. I'M A VERY LAZY PERSON.. AND I ALSO HAVE SOME SHORT-TERM MEMORY ISSUES, SO I'M GONNA COPY WHAT AMANDA WROTE ABOUT OUR WEEK-LONG COVECREST TRIP.
COVECREST! (giddy up!)
i spent june 20-25 in tiger, georgia with 14 other people from my church at a lifeteen camp called covecrest. despite the 12-hour bus drive (we got reeeally lost!) i had an amazing experience...
monday: after arriving late, we met our emcee for the week-- matt smith from mtv's the real world: new orleans. he's soo funny and ate dinner with our group. we played icebreaker games with the rest of the camp, did some line dancing, and met our small groups and leaders.
tuesday: hiked up the mountain with no view, then had to hike to find our lunches! we later had water wars... games included kiddie pool races, water bag fight!, water dodgeball and sprinkler marco polo. i hyperextended my knee during the first activity, so i was in pain for the rest of the week :( did the huuuge slip n' slide, then candace, cheryl and i had a funoodle fight. we also did the zipline where we met hott jeremiah and bradley. that night we met happy, this man with an incredible life story and the most optimistic outlook on life i've ever witnessed. he was truly inspirational, and i feel so blessed for having the opportunity to meet him. later we split into guys/girls, and the boys did outdoors stuff while we had a toilet paper fashion show and talked about beauty. we then t.p'ed the guys' room and got into a bit of trouble :/
wednesday: still separated from the guys, we did various activities... stations of the cross, journaling, confession and adoration. since a visiting priest didn't arrive for confession, my group missed that and the adoration parts. after lunch we did the rock wall, as well as high ropes stuff. i was able to do confession finally, and then we met back with the guys for mass. after dinner we had a parish pow-wow and dee split us up into our whitewater rafting groups for...
thursday: rafting was sooo fun!! my raft included megan, travis, chase, patrick (patches o'houlihan), his sister rebecca, and our hilarious guide, brenner. he had a tattoo on his shin that was the virgin mary that wrapped around and transformed into bob marley!! he's from deland, and kept us laughing the whole time. i can't believe i was scared to raft... and i can't wait to do it again! we were so wiped after doing that for 5 or 6 hours, but unfortunately after mass and adoration we had a verrry long parish pow-wow. finally, we were done about 12:15 and could rest!
friday: our last full day included making rosaries (girls) and morning mass. then we had messy olympics, where we were covered in things like: shaving cream, syrup, bird seed, oatmeal, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, cherries, cereal, gummy worms, cantaloupes... the list goes on! had tug-o-war in the mud pit and then went to the waterfalls to rinse off. all the girls met in the lodge, while the guys met upstairs. we were given little novenas to give to the boys, and all of a sudden, they all walk in to "all for one" playing, holding roses and handing them to all of us girls. it was enough to make me cry!! we then had a very serious adoration, and a small parish pow-wow before bed.
saturday: had a final mass, took tons of pictures, and said our goodbyes. it was really sad, leaving all these incredible people we'd poured our hearts out to. thankfully the ride home was only about 9 hours, and we kept ourselves occupied recounting stories and sharing songs. i was exhausted when i got home, but of course i told my mom everything and was up 'til almost 2 am doing that!
ALL RIGHT.. THAT CONCLUDES WHAT SHE WROTE, BUT ON THE WAY HOME, ME AND SHANNON WROTE A PRETTY KEWL JESUS SONG.. AND EVERYONE WE HAVE SANG IT TO SO FAR HAS LOVED IT. SO NOW WE CALL OURSELVES "SANCTIFYING GRACE".. MY MOM IS TRYING TO GET US ON THE RADIO.. YAY? :/ BUT I REALLY FEEL LIKE COVECREST CAMP HAS REALLY CHANGED ME.. AND IT WAS AWESOME GETTING TO TALK TO MATT SMITH, AND THE AMAZING SINGER/GUITARIST- MATT MAHER. AND EVERYONE THERE WAS SO AMAZING. SO I ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO TRY TO COME NEXT YEAR.. AND MAYBE EVEN TO VISIT LIFETEEN.COM (IF YOU DO GO ON, YOU MIGHT WANNA SEE THE PICS THAT ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN, IT'S FROM THE WEEK I WAS THERE!). IT'S A GOOD SITE. I HAVE MANY MANY PICS FROM THE TRIP AND SOON I'LL HAVE WHITE-WATER RAFTING PICS. SO EVERYONE CAN SEE HOW MUCH FUN IT WAS..!
AND ALSO.. THIS IS WHAT SHANNON WROTE, SO BETWEEN TEH 2 OF THESE, YOU SHOULD GET THE GENERAL GIST OF HOW THINGS WENT..
I haven't updated in a while. This is simply due to the fact that I have been out of town. i was in Tiger, Georgia. Never heard of it? Well don't try to find a map and look for it....it's like a little uncharted city. hehe.
anywho, there, my youth group and I went to Covecrest, a Lifeteen Camp. And I didn't think it was possible, but my life changed in one week.
First off, we drove to Georgia in a short bus. It was kinda cramped, but nonetheless interesting. We took 12 hours to get there though. It only should have taken 9, but our bus driver got us "kinda" lost.
When we got there, we were greeted by wonderful counselors, including Matt Smith, from MTV's Real World New Orleans. I had to do like a triple take. It was very cool. If that wasn't enough, when we walked in to the room everyone was in, Matt Maher, a Christian singer who I had heard about when I went to CLA, was there playing his guitar and singing away. It was unbelievable.
The week just kept getting better. We learned about transubstantiation with Matt Maher and heard numerous stories from Matt Smith. We learned amazing songs that everyone of my youth group members enjoyed. I spent a week with these wonderful people and I will never forget it.
Highlights:
*White Water Rafting. We went on level 5 rapids!!! I didn't fall outI It was quite remarkable. I was with Cheryl, Candace, Amanda B, Jen, and Jay Are. OUr guide, Danny, was the coolest person ever. We are getting a disc of pictures sent to us. So those will soon follow.
*Songs: everyone written Matt Maher as well as Who Am I, Undignified, Sanctuary, and Above All
*Rock Climbing, Zip Line, and High Ropes Course...just wow...so fun. SO high above the ground. Jeremiah and Bradley were awesome
*Counselors: Jackie Francois, Liz, Jen, Holly, Jed, and Wade....they were hands down my favorite
*Matt Maher, Afro(less) Greg, Wade, and Jed performing the Cowbell skit from SNL
*the mountain climb....not a view at the top..but quite an accomplishment
*the biggest slip and slide I have ever seen and probably will ever see
*Water Wars...just insane
*Messy Olympics....covered in syrup, crisco, vegetable oil, melon, chocolate, paint, whipcream, cherries, egg, bird seed, etc etc...We got Jed pretty bad
*Mud Pit Tug o' War...got plunged into it head first
*Mass everyday with Monsenier Moyer and Matt Maher. Well one day with Fr. Bill.
*Teepeeing the guys' rooms.
*The Rose Miracle: Full fledged miracle!! Counselors decided to end the dispute with the guys vs the girls by doing something nice for everyone. So the guys decided flowers. So counselors called like 4 flower shops asking for a donation of 200 carnations. Finally a shop said i don't have carnations but I can get some daisies for you. How awesome. So they went to the shop to get them. Meanwhile, Nick, a counselor, who had to stay behind while we were all rafting, decided that he'd go into the chapel. He doesn't like to say the rosary, but he thought he would. He was talking to Mary through Prayer and Mary told him that saying a Hail Mary is like giving a Rose to Mary. So he said "ok Mary I'm gonna be giving you some roses." So he said the rosary twice. The counselors made it to the flower shop and the lady was like well i couldnt find the daisies but i randomly found roses outside. there should be 200 of them. the counselors couldnt believe it. seriously, how nice of that lady! but weird...why did she not know that there were 200 roses outside in the back? and...why would there be 200 roses randomly out there in an uncherted city, tiger, georgia...cause seriously, this would not be the place to have a sudden need for 200 roses. they thanked the lady and came back. when they arrived at camp, all of the counselors, including Nick, counted the roses. There weren't 200. There was only 106. Nick was in shock. There are 53 Hail Marys on one rosary. Nick said the rosary twice meaning he said 106 hail marys. He offered 106 roses up to Mary. It was a sign. Mary was giving all of those roses back. How cool is that!!!
*Adoration the final night: I spent personal time with God. This changed my life. I am closer to God now. More than I thought possible. I have finally and honestly excepted Him into my heart and i am almost 100% positive that the bread and wine are really the body and blood of Christ.
*The first parish pow wow....harsh words, but with the help of Holly everything was taken care of.
*the next pow wow...Dee said she was inspried by me and everything I had to say at the first pow wow and asked me to lead it. I think it went pretty well.
*the food: the best food ive ever had
*the waterfall. how awesome is God to give us something as amazing and beautiful as a waterfall.
*Happy. this man we called Happy, was such an inspiration to literally everyone in the camp.
*Everything: It was the most amazing experience of my life. I am truly blessed to have been able to go to this. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
My life changing experience there truly marks the beginning of my deeper spiritual journey in Christ.
pictures will follow.....as soon as i figure out how to do an lj cut! plu i know i am forgetting things.
THAT WAS SHANNON'S.
THEN, THIS PAST THRUSDAY, FRIDAY, AND SATURDAY, ME AND SHANNON AND AMANDA PARKED CARS FOR THE RACE. PRETTY FUN.. EXCEPT MY FEET HURT EVERYTIME I PUT A LITTLE PRESSURE ON THEM! I GOT PAID $430 FOR 3 DAYS.. NOT BAD. AND I'M LEAVING ON TUESDAY FOR MINNESOTA! I'LL BE GONE FOR AWHILE.. SO TONIGHT IT PRACTICALLY MY LAST NIGHT OF FUN.. AND I'LL BE LIVIN IT UP... GO-CART CITY AT 4.. THEN TO TRAVIS'S BONFIRE! YAY!
COVECREST! (giddy up!)
i spent june 20-25 in tiger, georgia with 14 other people from my church at a lifeteen camp called covecrest. despite the 12-hour bus drive (we got reeeally lost!) i had an amazing experience...
monday: after arriving late, we met our emcee for the week-- matt smith from mtv's the real world: new orleans. he's soo funny and ate dinner with our group. we played icebreaker games with the rest of the camp, did some line dancing, and met our small groups and leaders.
tuesday: hiked up the mountain with no view, then had to hike to find our lunches! we later had water wars... games included kiddie pool races, water bag fight!, water dodgeball and sprinkler marco polo. i hyperextended my knee during the first activity, so i was in pain for the rest of the week :( did the huuuge slip n' slide, then candace, cheryl and i had a funoodle fight. we also did the zipline where we met hott jeremiah and bradley. that night we met happy, this man with an incredible life story and the most optimistic outlook on life i've ever witnessed. he was truly inspirational, and i feel so blessed for having the opportunity to meet him. later we split into guys/girls, and the boys did outdoors stuff while we had a toilet paper fashion show and talked about beauty. we then t.p'ed the guys' room and got into a bit of trouble :/
wednesday: still separated from the guys, we did various activities... stations of the cross, journaling, confession and adoration. since a visiting priest didn't arrive for confession, my group missed that and the adoration parts. after lunch we did the rock wall, as well as high ropes stuff. i was able to do confession finally, and then we met back with the guys for mass. after dinner we had a parish pow-wow and dee split us up into our whitewater rafting groups for...
thursday: rafting was sooo fun!! my raft included megan, travis, chase, patrick (patches o'houlihan), his sister rebecca, and our hilarious guide, brenner. he had a tattoo on his shin that was the virgin mary that wrapped around and transformed into bob marley!! he's from deland, and kept us laughing the whole time. i can't believe i was scared to raft... and i can't wait to do it again! we were so wiped after doing that for 5 or 6 hours, but unfortunately after mass and adoration we had a verrry long parish pow-wow. finally, we were done about 12:15 and could rest!
friday: our last full day included making rosaries (girls) and morning mass. then we had messy olympics, where we were covered in things like: shaving cream, syrup, bird seed, oatmeal, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, cherries, cereal, gummy worms, cantaloupes... the list goes on! had tug-o-war in the mud pit and then went to the waterfalls to rinse off. all the girls met in the lodge, while the guys met upstairs. we were given little novenas to give to the boys, and all of a sudden, they all walk in to "all for one" playing, holding roses and handing them to all of us girls. it was enough to make me cry!! we then had a very serious adoration, and a small parish pow-wow before bed.
saturday: had a final mass, took tons of pictures, and said our goodbyes. it was really sad, leaving all these incredible people we'd poured our hearts out to. thankfully the ride home was only about 9 hours, and we kept ourselves occupied recounting stories and sharing songs. i was exhausted when i got home, but of course i told my mom everything and was up 'til almost 2 am doing that!
ALL RIGHT.. THAT CONCLUDES WHAT SHE WROTE, BUT ON THE WAY HOME, ME AND SHANNON WROTE A PRETTY KEWL JESUS SONG.. AND EVERYONE WE HAVE SANG IT TO SO FAR HAS LOVED IT. SO NOW WE CALL OURSELVES "SANCTIFYING GRACE".. MY MOM IS TRYING TO GET US ON THE RADIO.. YAY? :/ BUT I REALLY FEEL LIKE COVECREST CAMP HAS REALLY CHANGED ME.. AND IT WAS AWESOME GETTING TO TALK TO MATT SMITH, AND THE AMAZING SINGER/GUITARIST- MATT MAHER. AND EVERYONE THERE WAS SO AMAZING. SO I ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO TRY TO COME NEXT YEAR.. AND MAYBE EVEN TO VISIT LIFETEEN.COM (IF YOU DO GO ON, YOU MIGHT WANNA SEE THE PICS THAT ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN, IT'S FROM THE WEEK I WAS THERE!). IT'S A GOOD SITE. I HAVE MANY MANY PICS FROM THE TRIP AND SOON I'LL HAVE WHITE-WATER RAFTING PICS. SO EVERYONE CAN SEE HOW MUCH FUN IT WAS..!
AND ALSO.. THIS IS WHAT SHANNON WROTE, SO BETWEEN TEH 2 OF THESE, YOU SHOULD GET THE GENERAL GIST OF HOW THINGS WENT..
I haven't updated in a while. This is simply due to the fact that I have been out of town. i was in Tiger, Georgia. Never heard of it? Well don't try to find a map and look for it....it's like a little uncharted city. hehe.
anywho, there, my youth group and I went to Covecrest, a Lifeteen Camp. And I didn't think it was possible, but my life changed in one week.
First off, we drove to Georgia in a short bus. It was kinda cramped, but nonetheless interesting. We took 12 hours to get there though. It only should have taken 9, but our bus driver got us "kinda" lost.
When we got there, we were greeted by wonderful counselors, including Matt Smith, from MTV's Real World New Orleans. I had to do like a triple take. It was very cool. If that wasn't enough, when we walked in to the room everyone was in, Matt Maher, a Christian singer who I had heard about when I went to CLA, was there playing his guitar and singing away. It was unbelievable.
The week just kept getting better. We learned about transubstantiation with Matt Maher and heard numerous stories from Matt Smith. We learned amazing songs that everyone of my youth group members enjoyed. I spent a week with these wonderful people and I will never forget it.
Highlights:
*White Water Rafting. We went on level 5 rapids!!! I didn't fall outI It was quite remarkable. I was with Cheryl, Candace, Amanda B, Jen, and Jay Are. OUr guide, Danny, was the coolest person ever. We are getting a disc of pictures sent to us. So those will soon follow.
*Songs: everyone written Matt Maher as well as Who Am I, Undignified, Sanctuary, and Above All
*Rock Climbing, Zip Line, and High Ropes Course...just wow...so fun. SO high above the ground. Jeremiah and Bradley were awesome
*Counselors: Jackie Francois, Liz, Jen, Holly, Jed, and Wade....they were hands down my favorite
*Matt Maher, Afro(less) Greg, Wade, and Jed performing the Cowbell skit from SNL
*the mountain climb....not a view at the top..but quite an accomplishment
*the biggest slip and slide I have ever seen and probably will ever see
*Water Wars...just insane
*Messy Olympics....covered in syrup, crisco, vegetable oil, melon, chocolate, paint, whipcream, cherries, egg, bird seed, etc etc...We got Jed pretty bad
*Mud Pit Tug o' War...got plunged into it head first
*Mass everyday with Monsenier Moyer and Matt Maher. Well one day with Fr. Bill.
*Teepeeing the guys' rooms.
*The Rose Miracle: Full fledged miracle!! Counselors decided to end the dispute with the guys vs the girls by doing something nice for everyone. So the guys decided flowers. So counselors called like 4 flower shops asking for a donation of 200 carnations. Finally a shop said i don't have carnations but I can get some daisies for you. How awesome. So they went to the shop to get them. Meanwhile, Nick, a counselor, who had to stay behind while we were all rafting, decided that he'd go into the chapel. He doesn't like to say the rosary, but he thought he would. He was talking to Mary through Prayer and Mary told him that saying a Hail Mary is like giving a Rose to Mary. So he said "ok Mary I'm gonna be giving you some roses." So he said the rosary twice. The counselors made it to the flower shop and the lady was like well i couldnt find the daisies but i randomly found roses outside. there should be 200 of them. the counselors couldnt believe it. seriously, how nice of that lady! but weird...why did she not know that there were 200 roses outside in the back? and...why would there be 200 roses randomly out there in an uncherted city, tiger, georgia...cause seriously, this would not be the place to have a sudden need for 200 roses. they thanked the lady and came back. when they arrived at camp, all of the counselors, including Nick, counted the roses. There weren't 200. There was only 106. Nick was in shock. There are 53 Hail Marys on one rosary. Nick said the rosary twice meaning he said 106 hail marys. He offered 106 roses up to Mary. It was a sign. Mary was giving all of those roses back. How cool is that!!!
*Adoration the final night: I spent personal time with God. This changed my life. I am closer to God now. More than I thought possible. I have finally and honestly excepted Him into my heart and i am almost 100% positive that the bread and wine are really the body and blood of Christ.
*The first parish pow wow....harsh words, but with the help of Holly everything was taken care of.
*the next pow wow...Dee said she was inspried by me and everything I had to say at the first pow wow and asked me to lead it. I think it went pretty well.
*the food: the best food ive ever had
*the waterfall. how awesome is God to give us something as amazing and beautiful as a waterfall.
*Happy. this man we called Happy, was such an inspiration to literally everyone in the camp.
*Everything: It was the most amazing experience of my life. I am truly blessed to have been able to go to this. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
My life changing experience there truly marks the beginning of my deeper spiritual journey in Christ.
pictures will follow.....as soon as i figure out how to do an lj cut! plu i know i am forgetting things.
THAT WAS SHANNON'S.
THEN, THIS PAST THRUSDAY, FRIDAY, AND SATURDAY, ME AND SHANNON AND AMANDA PARKED CARS FOR THE RACE. PRETTY FUN.. EXCEPT MY FEET HURT EVERYTIME I PUT A LITTLE PRESSURE ON THEM! I GOT PAID $430 FOR 3 DAYS.. NOT BAD. AND I'M LEAVING ON TUESDAY FOR MINNESOTA! I'LL BE GONE FOR AWHILE.. SO TONIGHT IT PRACTICALLY MY LAST NIGHT OF FUN.. AND I'LL BE LIVIN IT UP... GO-CART CITY AT 4.. THEN TO TRAVIS'S BONFIRE! YAY!