The Life Story of Me

Brokenness

2007-12-05T15:13:00.000-06:00

During the past month, I focused a lot on my second core value, brokenness. For many of the girls in Beautifully Abandoned, this was the one thing they didn’t want to hear about. Most of the girls came from very hard lives and have learned to be very defensive and independent so as not to deal with issues or be hurt again. The idea of being broken before the Lord scared many of them, yet they knew that’s what they needed. After core one evening, I gave each girl a jar to carry around for the following two weeks. The jars were to represent everything they had stuffed away, not given to the Lord, and tried to hold on to themselves. At the end of the two weeks, we had a core meeting in which I allowed God to minister to them. I told them the story of the woman who poured out her tears at Jesus’ feet and then gave them the opportunity to do the same. I had set up a cross which they could come to, pour out the “tears” in their jars, and give everything to Lord. It was incredible. As they poured out the jars and came for prayer, I felt in my spirit a release of so many things they had been holding on to. Many of them came to the feet of Jesus that night and were touched by the Lord.

A Quick Update...

2007-05-08T13:57:00.000-06:00

During this internship, God has taught me more than I thought I could have learned in such a short period of time. One of the many ways that God has spoken to me is through what we call LTEs or Life Transforming Events. There have been several that have taken place since being here. One of the first LTEs was the Fall Fasting LTE. For this retreat everyone on campus fasted food, music, and all communication for three days. It was a weekend set aside completely for God and myself. Never have I felt so close to the Lord. During that time, God showed me how much I have kept back from Him in order to be in control of my life. He asked me to lay everything at His feet and to trust completely in Him. It was one of the hardest and best decisions I have ever made. The LTEs that I have taken part in while here have changed my life.
God has also placed in my life an amazing net of accountability and leaders in my life to help me grow in Him. I am placed in what we call a core which is very similar to a weekly small group except that we live together. Each core has a name and vision. My core is called Radiant Reflections and it is our vision to become clear reflections of Christ. The leader of my core, my CA, or Core Advisor, spends time leading small group times as well as personally meeting with me and pouring into my life. Several cores live together in the same dorm hallway and we have in charge of us a RD, Resident Director. This person meets with all of us and pours into our lives while challenging us and pushing us to the Lord. Both my CA and RD have made a huge impact on me as they have pulled issues out of my life I did not realize were there while also helping me to discover who I am in the Lord. I also have an accountability partner who I meet with weekly. We challenge one another and keep each other accountable on the areas of weakness in our life. I am so thankful for all the leadership and wisdom that God has placed before me.
While I have been hear at the Honor Academy, I have had the opportunity to be a part of different classes taught by amazing men and women of God. One of my teachers who many of you know of is Ron Luce. He teaches a weekly Character Development class that has shaped my life while being here. There is also a women’s class that I attend each week. This class has helped me develop my life as a woman of God. Another teacher is Dave Hasz, the director of the Honor Academy. He is an amazing man of God who is full of wisdom and understanding. There have been different modules that we have gone through as an internship thus far. Some of which are units on leadership, missions, and worldview. During each of these units, God has opened my eyes to a greater understanding of what is being taught. In the leadership module I learned so much more about what it means to be a leader and how to apply that in my life. As Christians we are leaders and we must live our lives as such. The internship is currently going through the worldview module and I am being constantly challenged about what I believe and why. I am so thankful and blessed to have taken part in these classes.
One of the main parts of the internship is what we call Ministry Placements. Because Teen Mania is a student run ministry, each intern is required to put in 31 hours of work each week. My job is to call youth pastors across the country and promote the Acquire the Fire youth events. This has been an amazing part of ministry during my year as an intern. God has given me several opportunities to pour into the lives of those youth pastors. It has been amazing to call these youth leaders who have a heart and passion for young people and instill in them hope and encouragement to continue their ministry. There are also those that have lost the vision for their ministry whom I have had the chance to relight the fire that God started in them and push them to do more. During the year, I have been calling specifically for the Acquire the Fire event in Muncie, Indiana. This event recently took place and it was one of the most memorable times of my life. I had the opportunity to talk with youth pastors that I had been encouraging over the phone for the past several months and have the opportunity to see and minister to the thousands of youth that attended the event and were touched by the Lord. God gave me several chances of ministry during this year in which I was able to share what he has been doing in my life.

The Tyler 10K

2007-03-27T22:40:00.000-06:00

Well, my most recent LTE was the Tyler 10K. Every year a small city near the Honor Academy, Tyler holds a 10K race. It is 6.2 miles. For the last several weeks, the internship has been training for us to run the race. We finally had it last Saturday. I always told myself that I would never do something like that, but now look where I am! It was actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be. My main goal was to run the entire race without stopping. I did it! It was really exciting. I ran with my friend Maria the whole way. The route that we ran was really cool, because it was a historical neighborhood full of really nice houses and sceneray. That defintely made the run a bit more entertaining. Well, I was proud that I finished the race and without stopping. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it because during the previous two weeks, I had not been able to join in coporate exericise becuase I was sick. However, God gave me strength to run the race and I did. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to do it.

These are pictures of Maria and I after the race. We ran together and then went and ate good food. yum....

My Little "Road Trip"

2007-03-27T22:25:00.000-06:00

Well, on the way back from my ATF event in Muncie, a group of us had decided to take a little trip on our way back to Texas! Instead of riding the extremely uncomfortable school bus (all the charter buses had broken down the week before) we rode in our own car and took two days to drive back to Teen Mania. On the way down, we stopped in Memphis to do a little touring. It was quite interesting. The first part was us arriving at the hotel. It was a really weird hotel. It seemed like it was going to be really nice on the outside and in the lobby, but it wasn't. This was the fanciest ghetto hotel ever. It was so weird. The service was not the best, we had the strangest sink in the world, the mirrors were screwed on crooked.... it was an adventure. Anyway, the next day we stopped to visit Graceland! Yes, we went to see good old Elvis. Actually, we never did get to see his actual house because it cost $25 and as interns, we don't have that kind of money. We looked around at some other things though, so that was fun. After that, we went to the National Civil Rights Museum. I got to see the place where Martin Luther King Jr. died. It was a really cool museum. It was really interesting seeing the history as well as all the different ideas and evidence of King Jr.'s death. I felt like I was in the movie Elizabethtown. I don't know if ya'll have seen it, but I have now been to two of the places that are in that movie. It's exciting... After the museum, we got back in the car and headed back to campus. The trip was really fun and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to do it.

There were a lot of mirriors at Graceland, and ya'll know how I love mirrors...

I'm as cool as Elvis was!

That is where Martin Luther King Jr. was assisnated. We couldn't take our cameras into the builiding, so these were the only pictures I got.

ATF in Muncie, Indiana

2007-03-25T21:21:00.000-06:00

As ya'll should know, I have been calling for the Acquire the Fire youth event in Muncie, Indiana, since I have arrived. I have talked with several youth pastors numerous times and have had a chance to develop relationships with them. It has been amazing to encourage them, pray for them and their ministry, instill hope, give new ideas, and wisdom as we have talked over the phones. Well, last weekend all of my hard work finally paid off. At the beginning of the year it was expected that this event would pull about 5,000 people. During the year my call team has had to face one person leaving because of a dismissal, another leaving because of finances, another have to take an extended break because of a death in the family, and the other two having to carry the brunt of the work while dealing with their own issues here and at home. Some of our work days have been long and grueling. However, God blessed our team immensely for our work. On nearly every registration deadline, we had about 800 people register for an event in one day. The Lord also blessed our team in other various ways. Then at the ATF event, we brought in about 6,000 young people; 1,000 more than expected!! It was an amazing event! God moved in the lives of the people there. I was able to meet some of the youth pastors that I have been speaking to for so long. It was a blessing to do so. The thee of us that were left on the team at the event had the chance to go into the arena and see it begin. It was one of the happiest and most life changing moments for me. I was able to see the fruit of my labor as well as the goodness of the Lord. Thousands of young people began pouring out their hearts to God in worship as His presence fell upon the arena. During the event, I also had the chance of being a part of the alter calls. It was amazing to kneel at the front of the arena and then seend thousands of young people jump from their seats and run down to seek the face of God. I was able to pray over them and for them and witness first hand young people crying, praying, and pouring our their hearts to the Lord. There was a group of 4 young girls I saw crying during the alter call. After seeking the Lord for a moment, I went over to them and asked if I could pray for them. I laid hands on them and prayed over them what I felt the Lord was laying on my heart. As I was praying they began to weep before the Lord. It was an amazing time of ministry. Thousands of lives were changed at this event. I still cannot believe the goodness and power of God. It is because of what all of you have done for me over the past months that this happened. Your prayers and support have changed and sowed seeds into the lives of 6,000 people. Thank you.

This is my team. We call ourselves the Muncie Monkeys which I think you can see why...

This is a picture of the actual event.

I even got to have some my family come and visit me at the event!!

The Ring

2007-01-21T17:20:00.000-06:00

The Ring! The Line!
The Fellowship! The Plan!
The Ring! The Line!
Always honorable! For life!!

Here at the Honor Academy all interners receive the Ring to symbolize the comment that we have made to live honorbly before God and Man in word, thought, and deed for the rest of our lives. The January class of 2007 has recently arrived on campus. After their week of Gauntlet, we have what is called the Commencement Banquet. At this banquet, the January interns commit to being here for one full year. However, myself and the rest of the Augest class had the opportunity to make a commiment to become a part of the Fellowship and live out the rest of our lives honorable to God. I chose to make this commitment and am now able to wear the Ring. This is probably one of the most important commitments that I will ever make. I am now here at the internship wearing the Ring with honor and humility.
The Ring is in the picture that I have posted above. The Line is the line of interns that have gone before me and made the commitment to wear the Ring. I also have the privilege of being a part of the Fellowship of the Ring. (they came up with that name before the movie came out just so you know.) The Fellowship is the group of people across the world that proudly wear the Ring. We join together to help, serve, pray, challenge, and encourage one another across the globe. Even though we may not know one another, if someone you meet who is wearing the Ring is in trouble you help that person in his struggle. If someone wearing the Ring falls away from a life of honor, the others in the Fellowship will mentor and disciple him until his honor is returned. Actually, the rings given out to the interns to not belong to us. They belong to the Fellowship of the Ring. If you fall away from a life of honor while wearing the Ring, it is taken away until honor is returned. Those wearing the Ring have also made a commitment to serve in the Plan. Simply put, the Plan is a detailed way to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and make disciples of all nations.
This is the commitment that I have made. I will wear the Ring with pride and live my life honorbly "before God and man in word, thought, and deed."

My HA Family

2007-01-13T12:06:00.000-06:00

Ok, so one thing that I was realizing is that I haven't introduced ya'll to my family at the intership. Here at the HA we have cores and with that we have family cores. My family core is made up of two woman cores and one guy core. We all call each other family and often refer to one another as brother and sister. Each individual core has a core name, but we also have a family core name. Our name is the OC, Organized Chaos. This is exactly what my family is! We are a bunch of crazy chaotic people that, thanks to certain individuals in the family, are organized. We have all sorts of types of people in our family too. It is quite the interesting mixture. Before Christmas break, we had a family core Christmas party and took some pictures. Now, some of these people are no longer with us becuase they graduated. We will be getting new family members at the beginning of the year. I wanted to show some of them to ya'll!

This is the entire family. Yes, we are rather large and we have our own ghettofied family sign.

These are my brothers. Their core name is The Others.

This is my sister core. Their name is Stand.

This is my core, Radient Reflections. Ya, we're a little crazy in a good sort of way.

Heather Bray! Just don't ask...

Kyle, David, and I.

Kat and Lauren. I really don't know why she is holding the chips...

Matt, Cale, and Mike.

Andrea, Hannah, Emily, and Sarah.

My brother Matt Downey.

JJ and Sarah! Yes, we are that cool.

Jaime and our adopted MA (Management Associate), Alica.

Ashley and Maria.

Januray Graduation Gala

2007-01-13T11:45:00.000-06:00

Before Christmas break the HA had their annual Graduation Gala!! Hurrah! It is a gala that is honor of the graduating class. I've dsicovered that the HA is the best at putting on informal formal banquets. They have a buffet line with plastic forks, plates, cups, and paper napkins. I just thought that I would put some pictures here for you all to see!

These are the Januarys from my family that graduated.

This is Jaime. The old January in my room that graudated. She was my ACA before I became ACA of room 2201.

The CA and a new ACA of Radient Reflections!

In the middle is Tara, my RD (Resident Director) She is amazing! Then of course there is Maria, my best friend at the HA.

Heather Hall and Rachel Lantz. Weird huh? Two friends, each with one part of my name.

The one and only Holly Bailey!

My good friends Mike and Kyle.

This is Crystal. The adopted CCMer of my core.

This is one of my good friends, Caleb.

Another great testimony....

2006-11-27T13:38:00.000-06:00

I just had to tell you all this great story of mine. Once again, it is about calling. Well, I have been trying to get a hold of this rather large list of people who went to the Battle Cry Leadership Summit (BCLS) that I called for. I have been calling these people EVERY DAY and I still haven't gotten a hold of about half of them. Well, I came in on Monday and I was feeling rather down and discouraged that day for various reasons. I started calling, but I didn't get a hold of anyone all morning and during the early afternoon. Finally, I started on this BCLS list in hopes that this time I would get a hold of somebody. Well, I call this lady and low and behold she actually picks up the phone!!!! Praise Jesus!! Well, I start asking her about the BCLS event and how it went and about Acquire the Fire (ATF). She didn't seem very interested at first, but I continued to ask her questions and give testimonies about ATF. Then she really starts opening up to me. We then go on talking FOREVER!! It was amazing!!! We just started sharing our hearts with each other, and she began telling me about how things were going, what she was struggling with, how she was discouraged, and different things she needed help in. This call was AMAZING!!! I got to encourage her, give her wisdom and new ideas, stir up a new passion and flame in her heart, and pray with her. This call was totally God. By the end of the call she was praising the Lord and crying and encouraging me! It was exactly what I needed to hear. It totally made my week. Before we said good bye, she was telling me how when I called she had been laying on her bed really discouraged. She had been praying to the Lord asking him to send her someone to encouage her, give her wisdom. She prayed for a sign from the Lord to show her that she was doing what He wanted and following His will for her life. That's when I called!!!! How cool is that!?!?!?! Oh my gosh!! This call was amazing ya'll. Anyway, I just had to let ya'll know 'cause I was super excited about it. Anyways, I'll see ya'll at Christmas!!! Peace out.

ESOAL, Emotionally Streatching Opportunity of A Lifetime

2006-11-18T16:12:00.000-06:00

Well everyone, here is the long awaited and promised entry about ESOAL, also known as Toture Camp. I'll try not to make it too long. Remember now that ESOAL was an optional LTE. You could ring out at any time. First, let me explain to you the purpose and goal of this LTE. The goal of ESAOL is for you to die to yourself and to live only on the strength of the Lord. While dying to all that you desire, you also find there are issues that you need to deal with that you never knew were there.Bascially, ESAOL causes you to reach what the HA calls BAR. BAR stands for the burial of your old self and ways and the resurection of your spirit man relying on the strenth of the Father. Thus you have BAR, Burial and Resurection. If you felt that you had reached BAR you had the option of choosing to ring out of ESOAL or you could continue. Everything in ESOAL has done in a military fasion. All the participants were put into companies which consisited of about 6 to 8 platoons. Each platoon had about 7 members. The leader of a company was called the Second Leutinent. Those over him were the Captain, First Leutinent, and the Major. The man over everything was the great General Hasz. Companies were ordered around like in the military. We marched like the military and talked like we were in the military. If you messed up acting or speaking like the military, you suffered the consequences. All of the challenges that we faced were called evolutions. In ESOAL, it pays to be a winner, first time, every time. If your platoon won an evolution, you could take a quick break, recieve more sleeping time, not roll the hill, etc.
Let me explain a few things that you are forced to do while at ESOAL. Before ESOAL even began we were require to memorize several verses, a hymn, and a grid with countries on it. You were tested on all of these things during ESOAL. If you failed these tests you suffered the consequences. There were also two nights in which we had to watch a very long and boring documentary, but we couldn't fall asleep because we were tested on it at the end. This doesn't sound very hard, but when you only got about 3 hours of sleep and had done extremely physically streatching evolutions in 95 degree weather it became very difficult. If these tests were failed you also suffered the consequences. Sometimes, you were forced to ring out. There were several different times that you had to do PT (Pysical Trainging). During the night we had what is known as the Sleep No Sleep Cycle. We were allowed to get into our sleeping bags to "sleep." What happened was we laid down for 7 minutes and then we were called up again. Then we had to run to a pool of cold water and dunk our heads in. On the last night we had to completely immerse oursleves in the pool. We didn't actully get any sleeping during this evolution. If you didn't know, it takes the human body approximately 7 minutes to fall asleep. We had to eat absolutely disgusting food. The food that we were fed for our normal meals wasn't that great either. There was a hill that we had to roll over and over for about an hour. Yes, there was lots of throw up over the hill, and yes, we did roll through it. There was the OC (Obstacle Course), which was physically challening yet fun. It was in a giant pit of Texas red dirt. There were several walls you had to climb over, tunnels with mud and water you had to low crawl through, nets up walls you had to climb, barrels you had to carry, ropes you had to swing on, tires you had to hop through, ropes you had to low crawl under, and a giant mud puddle you had to run through. You had to do all of this as quickly as possible. There were the Slimming Marches. You marched in complete silence in the military fasion for about an hour. There was Hide and Seek. During this your company split up into singles or pairs. You then had to cross a vast area of forest and get to the other side, whithout being caught by the facilitators hiding in the trees. If you did get caught, well, may God be with you. These are only some of the MANY evolutions that we were forced to go through during ESOAL.
God taught me so much during ESOAL.
There were several different areas of my life that God dealt with me, and I'm still continuing to learn. One of these things is my pride. During ESOAL I saw how much pride I had in my life. I wanted to do everything on my own and without the help of people in my platoon. I thought that I could handle everything on my own. The night that I reached BAR I realized that I couldn't contine without the people in my company. I had to remember that EVERYONE was better than me. If they were not there to help me along the way, I would not have survived through ESOAL. God also showed me that I never truly put others above myself. There are so many times that we think in our minds that we are putting others first. We convice ourselves that we are doing this because it is the good Christian thing to do. However, rarely is putting others first and serving thing a lifestlye and truth in your heart. I wanted to do my thing and not have to help others. I was concentrating only on myself surving ESOAL.
Truthfully, I didn't really care if the others made it. God knocked my upside the head and showed me how my heart truly was. Putting others first is now something that I am continuing to work on every day.
I learned how selfish I am. Before ESOAL I didn't really consider myself a selfish person, but I was wrong. Every time that I wallowed in self pity or my circumstances, or concentrated on how I was feeling, or throught about what I could do to make it through, I was being selfish. I wasn't putting others before myself. God worked in me in incredible ways during ESOAL. These are only some of the many issues that God taught me. I am continuing to learn, grow in, and practice these principles in my every day life. I thank God that I went through ESOAL. It was the most streatching thing that I have ever done. I was being streached physcially, emotionally, and spiritually all at the same time. It truly was an opportunity of a lifetime.

ATF Calling

2006-11-13T13:35:00.000-06:00

Well, I decided that I should take a moment to tell you about my ATF calling experience. Basically, God is simply amazing. I love making calls to youth pastors about my event. God is so good. It is so awesome being able to talk with youth pastors about what they are doing, get excited with them, get them excited about ATF, encourage them, speak into their lives, and pray with them. I have had so many amazing stories. Last Friday was a good story. I have been calling about 20-25 youth pastors about the Battle Cry Leadership Summit that they went to. I have been calling them for about 3 weeks now and I still haven't gotten a hold of them. I have been calling them every day for the last week. It has been very frustrating that I haven't gotten a hold of them. Anyway, so on Friday I sat down at my desk and I was like, "This is ridculous. I have got to get a hold of these people because they are suppossed to be very excited about ATF and commit to attend. Lord, I pray...." So I sat prayed out loud for about 5 minutes. Then I continued to pray out loud as I began to call. Then I realized that I first had to make a follow up call for a guy not on my list that I had called the week before. I called him up, but he said that he had to leave right then for a doctor's appointment, but that he wants to talk to me about ATF. I asked him if he was going to go. Then he said of course he was. They go every year. He wants to double his youth group so he will commit to bring 40 people. Then we said good bye and I hung up. It was the fastest commit that I ever got! I was very excited to say the least. Anyway, so then I began praying again for the people that I had to call. I prayed specefically for people as I called them. It was amazing! I got a hold of a bunch of people! I was able to have really good conversations with them. God used me in their lives it was incredible. I prayed with them, encouraged them, heard their testimonies, and got them excited about ATF. The calls were totally annointed by God. It was hard core. God is amazing. I made five commmits in one morning!! FIVE!!!! Do you realize how good that is?!?!! It's close to a record!! God is sssssoooo good and sssssooo faithful. I love the Lord. He rocks my socks!!!!

More Friends!

2006-10-13T15:33:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to post some pictures of more of my friends at the HA. After I receive my picture CD from Captain Schultz, I will put up a post about ESOAL aka. Torture Camp as Michelle calls it.

These are my friends Caleb, from Muncie IN actually, and Cara from Arizona. Caleb is one of the callers on my Muncie ATF team. Cara is a great friend that I've had since Gauntlet.

These are my friends Tim (left) and Jason (right). I can't remember where Tim is from but Jason is from Illinois.

This is my other good friend Jimmy. He's the guy in the middle. He is from Oregon.

This of course is Toby, whom you've seen before. He sits next to me in the call center.

As usual, I have to leave and quickly head out. I get to go do K-Crew! Yeah! Actually, I'm not serious in case you're wondering.

Radiant Reflections

2006-10-04T15:41:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of my real core mates. At the HA, your core is basically a small group. It's made up of two or three dorm rooms that are next to each other. You meet together every week and become very close with one another. Our core name is Radiant Reflections. We are called this because this year we want to be relfections of Christ. We want to turn away from our old ways and follow after the Lord. We want to be so intimate with God that people can't help but see Him shining through us.

This is my Core Advisor, Ashley (left) and our adopted core MT (Ministry Team), Mindy. Ashley is from Virginia. Believe it or not she is from the country. You would never know with all the silver and gold bling she wears. :)

This is Sarah (left) and Anna (right). These girls live in my room. Anna shares my passion for ballet which is exciting. Sarah is from California and Anna is from Wisconsin.

This is Alicia (left), our adopted MA (Management Assistent) and Erika (right). I don't know where Alicia is from, but Erika is from Minnisota.

This is Kristen (left) and Emily (right). They are from Florida and New York.

This is my core mate Rachel Lantz, from Ohio. Yes, her last name is Lantz. She is the first person I've met with the same last name that I'm not related to and she is in my core. How ironic is that?

This is Maria. She is from Minnisota.

This is our core baby, Ernest Henderfier. I had a lullaby about him and everything. Just don't ask.

The Adopted Core

2006-09-27T15:41:00.000-06:00

Here are some picutres of a few of my friends. I can't do much right now becuase I have to run off and get ready for ESOAL. Please be praying for me. It starts tonight.

This is Maria. She is my best friend here at the HA.

This is Mike (left) and Kyle(right). We're hanging out for our usual Sunday night football.

Well, I'd love to post some more pictures, but it's taking to long. I have to run off and get ready for ESOAL. These are really the people I hang out with the most anyway. I'll post some more pictrures of my friends and core next week. Please be pryaing hard core for me. I'm going to need it.

ESOAL, here we come!

2006-09-13T11:21:00.000-06:00

Well, at this point I don't have any pictures. I would like to take some of campus and random friends so that can all see what's going on down here. Until then, I will update you about ESOAL. Here at the HA, we have what they call LTE's, of Life Transforming Events. The upcoming LTE is called ESOAL, Emotional Stretching Opportunity of a Lifetime. As far as many people here at the HA know, it is the most gruesome spiritual training in the country. Oh course, that's just a speculation. At least, let's hope so. In preparation for ESOAL, the interns have been split up into companies and than into platoons. Each person then has an individual number. Actually I feel like I'm in a concentration camp running around with 03-05-114 written on my arm. Anyway, my platoon, platoon five of company three, work out together at corporate exercise every morning. We learn each others strengths and weaknesses, build unity among the team, and push ourselves to our limits. The Interns have also been given verses, a hymn, and a list of countries to memorize. These must all be known by ESOAL because there will be a test at the beginning as well as other things to memorize during the LTE. It must all be known word for word and in the correct order.
Here is the little I know right now about ESOAL. We are going to spend five days outside of our dorms. We will not sleep in tents, will not have showers, and will not have beds, and will have very little sleep. There will be various challenges stretching us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Each challenge must be completed as a team. Also, those who are winners will receive rewards. This means that the platoons who do well may receive extra food, sleeping hours, etc. The goal of ESOAL is to beat your body to its physical limit thus dying to yourself, but then continuing because you are relying on the strength of the Lord. It's going to be a hard weekend. HA has even hired actual military sergeants to come and facilitate ESOAL. You can all be praying for me as I prepare for this vigorous challenge.

Hiking Halet's Peak

2006-09-02T15:52:00.000-06:00

In this section pictures will be posted randomly throughout. Also, if you want to start at the beginning of my Colorado story, this isn't it. Wasn't thinking when I poasted this so this is actually the last section. The first to you can locate on the left of this webpage.

On Sunday morning we all got up at 2:45 am. It was very cold. It was about 40 degrees. (I have to give a shout out to Anut Tammy. The backpack was awesome! It was exactly what I needed that weekend. Becuase of the super crazy padding it didn't hurt my shoulders while I was climbing. Thanks so much!) I put on a lot of layers along with a hat and gloves. I thought it would be enough, but I would later find out that I was wrong.
We all met at the bus at 3:15 and drove to the foot of the moutain we were going to climb. When we arrived we all lined up in hiking groups that the HA selected for all of us. I was in hiking group 22. We decided to call ourselves Duce Duce. The purpose of the hiking groups was to make sure that everyone stayed together, made it to the top, and stayed healthy. If we had hiked as one large group it would have been chaos. As we stood waiting to hike, suprise, suprise, it began to rain. My group and I got together and prayed that it would not rain hard that day while we were on the mountain. Thanks to God it didn't. It did drizzle however, which was nice for a while because as we started to climb we got really hot.

Fianlly Duce Duce was called to begin hiking up the mountain. We were all very excited. However, it was really dark and only two of us had thought to bring a flashlight. Thus, the people in the middle of the line got shafted. The going was rather slow, but we did alright. Though it may have been dark, I have never seen such amazing stars in my life. It was so gorgeous!

By the way, for any of you that were worried or are getting worried. I was fine the whole climb. My hiking leader did a great job to make sure that we stopped every ten minutes or so for a little water and sometimes a little food. Toby also did a great job leading the way, giving us hiking tips, and helping the girls that were having a hard time. TM also placed staff at different checkpoints on the mountain trail to make sure that everyone was there, we were drinking a lot of water, and that we were all feeling well. I was perfectly safe.
Anyway, as we kept on climbing that sun started to rise. Though I never actually saw a sunrise because it was cloudy all day. We all started to get rather cold and put some of our layers back on. There was no sun, the drizzle may have started out okay but it eventually made us very wet, and the higher we went the windier it became. We kept on hiking through the cold, stopping here and there to take some amazing picutures! I have never seen such beautiful sights in my life! How could anyone look at those mountains and not believe in God? Well, at one point it began to hail on us. Then it stopped for about a minute and then it started hailing even harder. This made it even colder for all of us. We were wet from the rain, it was windy, and the hail did not make things any better. When we hit the tree line and started hiking in the tundra of the mountain it became even colder. The wind was much worse and the higher you got the colder you got. Thankfully the hail did stop though.
Finally we made it to the top of the mountain, and we were only a half mile from the peak. We were the third group to arrive. We had to stop at the last checkpoint before heading to the top. At this point we had reached the end of the trail. The rest of the climb was by forging your own trail and actually climbing in some areas. The staff at the checkpoint told us that we had to sit and wait for a while becuase at that time the visibility was three to five feet in front of you. Becuase I was cold and wanted to get to the top, I was not happy about waiting. However, it's better to be safe than sorry. Duce Duce then sat down together and tried to eat a little lunch, but our fingers were so cold that we gave up. We were basically sitting in a cloud, which added to the cold, so we couldn't see anything around us.

(This is an example of what it looked like where we were. If you hiked down for about two minutes you could see all around you.)

TM staff finally decided to wait for all 36 hiking groups to reach the top then the leader, Mr. Neil, would take us all up as one group. The option was also given for those who did not want to wait in the cold to go ahead and ahead a hike back down. Of course, I was too stubborn and determined to do so. As people began to arrive, we all began to realize how cold it really was. Almost everyone at the top got together and formed a large penguin like huddle so that we could keep warm. At least what would be considered somewhat warm at the top of the mountain. Then we all sang worship songs and had orselves a little worship session. I stayed at the top of that mountain waiting for the last group to arrive for about two hours. It was approximately 15 defgess with a windchill of zero. We were all wet and hungry, and the sun never came out. I was freezing cold. My gloves were much to thin for that weather so I couldn't feel my fingers, and my toes were like ice. Whitout a scarf, my face was cold and receving wind burn, and the rest of my body was just cold.
(This is Tamra, my hiking leader, and I about to hike back down.)

When the last group finally arrive, Mr. Neil said that he would hike up a little ways to see if the visibility was any better than before. He came back down and told us that the visibility was now zero and that it dropped about another twenty degrees as you went up. We had to hike back down. I was not very happy at hearing this news. I had worked hard all summer, exercised here at five in the morning, and waited in the freezing cold for two hours, and I couldn't got to the top. I saw the wisdom and reasoning of the decision but I still wasn't happy. Actually, it took about a half hour after starting to hike down for me to feel my fingers again.
(In this picutre you can see the difference of what we were standing in at the top and what it was like only two minutes down.)

I hope that you don't all think that I didn't have fun. I had a great time. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. It was so much fun meeting new friends, hiking the mountain, and having that great adventure. I loved it. There were some people that hurt themselves coming down or who became sick, but we are all okay. I found out later that our experience was one of the hardest in HA history. Anyway, that is the story of my trip to Colorado.
(This is Heather and I at the bottom of the mountain when it started to actually rain.)

This is my group Duce Duce. Top: Jill, Tamra, Allie. Bottom: Katie (she's from Michigan and was actually born in Sparrow Hospital), Toby, Kristina, and I.

Free Day in Colorado

2006-09-02T15:10:00.000-06:00

Well, one thing that we discovered about the Rocky Mountains is that it rains about two to three times a day. For some reason it was also very cold the weekend we were there. Of course I figured that I would be all right since I had a tent. (Ironically, it was the bungalow that I used in Tijuana, Mexico.) However, our tent was missing a few strings to tie down the cover and I woke up completely soaked and very cold. It was not cool. Thankfully, there was a laundry mat near by where I could dry my sleeping bag.
This year Teen Mania (TM) allowed us to have a free day to get used to the air. I had never really understood how different it would be! We had to get up at the usual time, 4:30 am, for corporate exercise. We did so little that morning, but after our very short run I was dying!
Anyway, the buses took us to a city that was near by our campsite where we could hang out for the day. Heather and I rode together and entertained ourselves on the way.

When we got off of the bus I got myslef hooked up with some of my friends. We created a whole big group of people to criuse the town. My friend Ryan decided to dub us Team Cool. Here is a picture, most of the girls are in my core. Ryan is the one taking the picture. From left to right: Heather, myself, Allie, Mel, Maria, Ashley (my Core Advisor), Rachel (her last name is Lantz! How wierd is that?), Erika, and Maria.

Ee kept "painting the town red" as dad would say. Where that saying comes from or what it means I have no idea. All I know is that people defintely don't say that anymore. We decided that we wanted to stop and get pizza for lunch. There was a waiter there with the craziest hair in the world! He serioulsy looked like a chia pet, so, thanks to Ashley, we took a picture with him. Don't worry about him or anything. He was really nice and we didn't hang out with him or anything. I'm not doing anything stupid down here.
On the day that we were in the city, there was some sort of historical fair going on. It was really interesting. Mom would have probably been there for hours looking at everything and explaining to all of us what happened and asking tons of questions so that she could know everything. Unfortunately, the group I was with wasn't very interested in staying so we left pretty fast. We did take this picture at one of the clothing shops though.
After we looked at the fair, we went to the most gorgeous hotel in the world! It's some sort of cool historical home that they turned into a hotel, but I don't know why it was important. Actually, while we were there someone was getting ready to have here wedding there that day. That's why there are white chairs in one of these pictures. Inside the loby was a piano. I wanted to sit down and play is so much! I miss pianos a lot. Rachel, you would have totally loved this place. Actually, you would have flipped out. It was incredible! I thought of you all weekend. Right out of the front door of the hotel was the most beautiful view of the mountains. It's too bad that TM wasn't able to have us HA interns stay there! Oh well, camping is more adventureous anyway.
After looking at the hotel, my group went back to camp. Then I hung around with Heather and my new friends playing hacky sack (it was funny watching my try to play anyway), BS (it's a card game), or attempting to make fires. We had to go to bed at 8:00 because that next day we were going to hike the mountain.

Driving to Colorado

2006-09-02T14:48:00.000-06:00

Well, hello family! How are all of you? This is a post about my trip to Colorado. I'm going to post it in different sections so that you can easily stop and come back to it. It may be rather long, but I hope that you enjoy!

It all began Thursday, when we left Honor Academy (HA) at 8:00. We all loaded the buses and drove for about 18 hours to our camp site. I was really afraid that the drive was going to be really boring because I didn't know anyone on the bus. Thankfully, I met a lot of great new friends, talked with them, joked around, and played mafia. We had a great time!
This is a picutre of Sharon and I making funny faces on the bus.

These two crazy people are Rosemary (on the left) and Jane.
This crazy dude is Toby. He is a lot of fun. All of you would not believe how much he is like Jason! It is so weird! He is actually from Colorado, so he gave us all of the tips that we would need while climbing the mountain.
Anyway, so we drove and drove entertaining ourselves in the strangest of ways. We seemed to stop a lot on the way. Our bus always seemed to be the last to arrive anywhere! While we were driving I took a nap because I was so tired from not sleeping the night before. (You cannot understand how hard it is to sleep on some of their busses!) Then I woke up and I was surrounded by cliffs! It was crazy! Then I got really picture happy. It's a good thing that I had a digital camera! Here is one picture I took from the bus. I thought this was beautiful, but I would later discover I was wrong.

We finally arrived in the Rocky Mountains at Estes Park. Heather Hall and I got a tent and found a group of girls to room with us. Never have I seen such clueless girls about how to set up a tent! It was rather strange. The view outside our tent was gorgeous! Everything about the park was absolutely amazing! We had finally arrived in Colorado!

Texas baby!

2006-08-24T15:16:00.000-06:00

Yes, everyone I am in Texas. The state that is a land of its own. The state where you go outside and pray to God that you don't start melting into a puddle. The state where everyone talks with a Southern drawl, walks around in a Cowboy hat, and eats Tex Mex food. Hmm... Who would have thought that I would be in Texas. Me, of all people. Well, whatever. Anyway, I just wanted to set this up so that all you people in other places could see how I'm doing and check out pictures of what's going on. Well, I love you all and hope you enjoy this. (once I get some pictures anyway)