Back where I belong

Bull River campground, Montana

Canoeing with Rachel (Megan's roommate at University of Idaho & only girl Trever's ever dated, when he was 14). She explained how to rock climb. Belays, Aussie style repelling (face first), anchors... ah yes all this newness. I'm feasting on it.

Stuffing 5 beastly marshmellows in my mouth for a team challenge & downing a can of diet pepsi. Might never drink the stuff again.

Solid conversations with Cyle, Rachel, Joy, Robby. Full of encouraging words & honesty.

Being surrounded by 4 mountain goats...a mere 20 feet away. I can't describe how beautiful the hike was. The land is gorgeous. Gorgeous. Like Pastor Bob told me to take my camera up cause it's pretty up there. But unlike I'm accustomed to...that actually means it's pretty. Pretty where I come from is a pristine pool. Here it's mountains and clearwater lakes hidden in the valley and smog drifting confidently over the precipise and "here come the mountain goats! wow they're getting a drink!" and lets scale this vertical rock wall. I'm learning that words have a different meaning than I'd thought. Fun is fun! Pretty is stunning. Hike is forget-the-workout-videos, hike. Wow. Glory be to our great God.

Bible study

We got kicked out of the Donut house and hour from when it started. Not nearly enough time for our growing group (up from 8 to 10 this week) to share. Next week they're coming here, to the Kit's guesthouse.

Job Search

Today I filled out/turned in employment aps for the new Kroc Center, Olive Garden, & Mackenzie River Pizza Company. Gathered aps for Starbucks, Super 1, Applebees, & Costco. Checked in unsuccessfully at Skippers & Safeway. Wow no wonder I'm exhausted today. Then I went to the church, needing a big hug from papa. Jeff May had me come in his office to talk about the loose ends of the internship. Said this might not be the best place to have intensive discipleship training if I'm seriously interested in ministry. But he can provide resources for whatever I want/need. Names, numbers. Invited me to jump into working on the newsletter. Anyway we had a really good talk about God & life. I asked him for advice for the Romans study. He talked about how we live in a rules based culture. Tell us the rules we're supposed to play by, what the results will be & then we'll do it. Faith isn't like that. Life in Christ isn't like that. It's taking a step toward God when we don't see where it goes. I just want to have my eyes opened to steps of faith I can be taking.

A-Shay's (Andrea Shanklin)

Straight from job hunt, to church, to gram & papa's to chat with gram & help make dinner. Ate and ran to Donut House from there. From Donut House to Andrea's. Her dad asked me to come to talk about dirt biking/for dessert. They live by the resort, on Tubbs hill. hahaha...he is a big man. A big shirtless man. Full of life, ease, and swagger. He runs the roost. He showers with blessings. And forces you to be comfortable. He tells Andrea to walk me out. We all obey because we know he is logical & cares & isn't capable of detrimental advice/orders.

I'm going to their cabin with them this weekend. It's 5 miles south of the Canada border. Andrea said we can walk across. Suuweet. We're going on the dirt bike ride of the century. Straight up a mountain with 3 foot rocks we'll have to wheelie up. Haaaha! Uuuuhhh. MrShanklinSir, Andrea's dad's name to me... (joking but really...he's shirtless & tells me not to be shy or I'll have to come back and try again, eventually calls Trever a scumbag & says he's my protector from now on. "Jehovah Raja...somethin somethin") Anyway, he was thinking of places he could hook me up with a job. Nothing yet, I was basically too tired to focus/face anything else for the day & they sent me away in a down coat, gloves, and beenie (Jeep ers).

Their family was so comfortable. Like ridiculously. And awesome. It was so nice to be with people who want you to be nothing but yourself. I haven't been with those who make it so easy in a long time. It takes a lot for me to feel like I get to mellow down. Usually I'm trying to help others do that. It was actually completely foreign. He said what took so long? When I said I knew I'd gone against/tried to stop God's plan by going to Kansas. I said I had to pay for it. hah...it was just like we got right down to what's up. Anyway...God is good, all the time. That's what I told Jaymian after study because she went to drive away crying. I don't even know, I just prayed with them all at the end and entrusted them to God. I can't. I'm incapable. I'm too tired. I'll never be awake enough to lead perfectly. Phew... ok good. Goodnight, then.