don't go chasing water slides

We've got one @ Malibu now.  These fine gentlemen from our Spring Tool & Tackle group are building this water slide as the grand finale to our obstacle course that campers partake in every Night 1 of summer camp.  This slide is going to be a whole lot of fun!

covered in bruises and dry wall dust

This new job of mine is very physical.  People often ask me what exactly it is that I do here @ Malibu.  Often I pause and reply, "I carry things".  And that is exactly what I do. Amongst many other things, I carry things.  Keyboard pianos, baskets of fruit, bags of concrete, boxes of steak, sail boats, amplifiers, you name it, I've probably carried it.  In addition to build muscle, all this carrying leaves bruises of various colors and sizes all over my body.  I feel as though they are war wound trophies of sorts.  Ones I have earned the hard way.

We have 2 construction projects going on here @ camp, and when there are just 9 or 10 or you on the property, we all pitch in to help in various ways.  Yesterday, Nick and Stacy (2 of our interns) and I vacuumed up dry wall dust in one of the new houses.  For those of you who are new to the dry wall dust scene, let me elaborate.  Once the drywall is in, taped and mudded, a lovely, powder fine dust is left behind.  It covers everything.  So you sweep.  And scrape-where chunks of mud dropped.  Then you sweep again.  Then you shop-vac.  First the corners, edges, sills and outlets.  Then you shop-vac the entire floor until of the magical white powder is gone, because if any is left behind it could stir up and settle in the wet paint when the painter comes through.  And that my friends is no good.  When you work with dry wall dust, it gets in and on every part of you. 

My body is tired, my heart is full, our God is good.

I have a new office

In a crazy orchestration of events, in July of 2010, I left Young Life field staff and found myself with the job I had always had in the back of my mind, but one I thought could never be a reality.  I am honored to tell you that I will no longer update this blog once a year for a month in the summer while I'm on assignment, but will update it regularly, as I am now on full time property staff @ Malibu.

I have been hired as the Guest Services Coordinator and Marketing Manager for my favorite place on earth.  The last several months have been quite the adventure.

Some highlights:

• In October, I marched into the Lynden border crossing and asked to begin the process of getting my Canadian work visa.  Thanks to NAFTA, I was granted this document that will allow me to work in Canada for the next 3 years and possibly up to 5 years. 
  It would have been well within reason for them to deny me this work visa, but our God is greater.
• I spent Halloween @ Malibu.  Terri, Bruce and I trick or treating to the only occupied house on the property.  Also, Terri and I spent the evening carving pumpkins for the Property Managers Meeting that arrive on November 1.
• Over the course of this year I will obtain many cool and obscure trainings and certifications.  For instance, in February, I went to sound & light training.  I can tell you all about what exactly is inside of a speaker, set up and adjust your soundboard and identify stage lighting items.  In just a few days I leave for Arizona to receive my high ropes course operation certification.  My resume will be quite interesting to say the least.

This property and this job are adventures in themselves and I am excited to spend my first summer @ Malibu.  I'm excited to keep you updated on what we're up to and how God is working in my life through this new role.

once a week I dress like a pirate for dinner

It's totally normal to dress like a pirate for dinner.  It's also totally normal to send your Work Crew boys to bed @ 10:30pm only to have them woken up @ midnight, blindfolded and "kidnapped" to go through the Malibu Ropes Course in the dark. 

It's day 4 of our last week here.  I can't believe it's gone so fast and that I have to take these 42 incredible kids to the airport on Saturday.  It's been fun, it's been hard, it's been an honor to serve with these kids and our Work Crew team.

I am healthy.  Thanks for those of you who prayed for my health!  We've had a few fevers and kids put on bed rest for 24 hours, but overall we are whole and in one piece.

Below are some pictures of our WC boss team and kids.  Please be praying for our transition home and for these kids as they return home.  Some of them return to hostile and unhealthy situations, others will go off to college.  Pray that when given the choice of the world or Jesus, that they would choose Jesus.  

Tomorrow we will be on the ropes course from 6am until 5pm.  Then we get the day off as Work Crew and Summer Staff.  Pray for us to have fun, rest and get some closure as we enjoy a time off together.

Five Alive

Five alive is a orange juice box drink served here @ Malibu.  It contains 100% of your recommended daily vitamin C.  Today I have had 2 Five Alives.  Today I am feeling under the weather.  I have a sore throat, runny nose and zero energy.  PRAY for health.  Not just for me, but for our whole Work Crew.  We have several sick kids.  Jason who works in the pits is on doctor ordered bed rest for the next 24 hours.  He has a fever and very sore throat.  Abby from the dining hall is in bed resting from severe head and chest congestion.  Illness @ camp and specifically the work crew can spread quickly because we are living and working so closely.  Please pray for our health and wellness!

| In other news... |

• 4 days ago was night 6 for our first week of campers.  Night 6 is Say So night here @ Malibu where campers are given the chance to declare their decision to walk with Jesus.  We had a number of kids stand up and at the very end after they had all sat down, one young man from Montana stood and said that when he got here, he was determined to do everything to keep God out of his heart, but after being here for a week, he couldn't keep God out of his heart and in fact wanted Him there!  It was an incredible end to a great week!
• Week 2 is under way here-it's day 3 for this camp and today they will compete in the Pool Olympics and Malibu Regatta.
• Our WC boy in charge of collecting the trash from all over camp is the happiest, friendliest 6 foot 7 inch young man I have ever encountered.  The highlight of his Malibu experience is getting to clean the bottom of the boats while they are still in the water.
• Our outdoor crew boys' highlight from yesterday was getting to take out some power lines.
• Our Work Crew kids love each other so much that they are already planning our reunion.

We are the Work Crew. We work @ Malibu.

We are in full swing here @ Malibu.  It's Day 3 here (we don't keep track of days of the week- we just know days by their camp day number) and our kids are learning their jobs and doing an incredible job!  Here are some highlights from our time with our WC kids:

•   We have 42 work crew kids-14 male and 28 female.  There are 2 male and 2 female work crew bosses who work alongside of the kids in their departments.  I get to work with and oversee all of them.
• Friday, June 5th I spent all day in SeaTac airport picking up our kids as they flew in from all across the US (Georgia, the Carolinas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, etc.)  They all arrived safely and happily.
• The first day we were here was without campers.  It was a day of training and getting camp ready.  While my WC boss team and I were in a meeting, our kids had finished their jobs and made their way into our lounge on their own to worship together.  It was wonderful to see them signing together without us suggesting it.  (there is a picture of it above).
• Day 1 here @ camp is boat day when the Malibu Princess brings in not only the entire camp but also 20,000 pounds of freight.  It poured down rain while we were doing freight, but our work crew is so stellar that they loaded it all on smaller boats and then unloaded and hauled the freight into camp in about 2 hours which is a boat day record.  
• On night one, our dining hall crew served, bused and reset the dining hall in an hour which Sharon (the head chef) said was easily a night 1, week 1 record. 
• Our kids are hard workers, and are getting long so well!  I can't imagine having to say goodbye to them in 2.5 weeks.

Things you can be praying for:

• Health.  We have some kids with sore throats and sniffles.  We don't want any sickeness because it spreads so quickly.
• For WC unity to continue.
• For health and rest for our WC boss team.
• For the campers that are here right now.  They're a very interesting camp-a lot of energy, kids who are into/think they're vampires.  It's a very strange feeling week.  Pray for them as they process the gospel as JC (our speaker) presents it.
• For rest for me and everyone here putting camp on-assignment team, property staff, work crew, summer staff and interns.

June 2010 | Malibu Assignment

This summer I get the honor of returning to Malibu for the month of June to serve on the 1st Session Assignment Team.

For the first summer in 4 years, I will not be filling the role of Head Leader.  I have been placed as the Work Crew Coordinator for this year's assignment.  The WC Coordinator is basically the mama bear of the Work Crew.  We will have 44 high school students from across the US coming to volunteer for 3 weeks of their summer and work harder than they've ever thought of working.  I will oversee this group of kids as well as 4 fantastic adult Work Crew bosses who will work directly along side of the WC kids.  As the mama bear, I get to care for, work with and extend loving discipline when necessary.

If you find yourself reading this blog, I ask that you would pray for us.  Even now, less than 40 days before our arrival @ Malibu, I ask that you pray with and for us.

Things to pray for @ this point in time:

• our WC Bosses: Dan Hartsoch, Ryan Johnston, Sarah Field and Angie Leon
• one our of WC girls found out recently that her dad has cancer.
• for all the travel details of getting an almost entirely Southern US Work Crew to Seattle and then to Malibu