Kyle's Blog

mr. & mrs. chupp

2009-09-12T12:00:00.002-04:00

Here's the new blog

www.mrmrschupp.blogspot.com

My favorite Story in all of HIStory

2009-09-09T18:08:00.006-04:00

What had its beginnings long before, started on April 11th on the side of Sulphur Mountain overlooking the town Banff and the Canadian Rockies. Vanessa and I were there surrounded by enormous beauty, so much bigger than us. As we walked up snow covered trails to the top it was overwhelming to think we could be a part of something so awesome. It was in that time, after a brief snowball fight, that I asked Vanessa if she would be my bride and marry me. She said yes! and we both jumped into each others arms and celebrated. Time flew by, sometimes too fast and others not fast enough, until August 7th when we were married in my backyard down in Georgia. It was the best thing that has ever happened to me! It wasn’t too long ago when I first started understanding how amazing God’s plan for marriage is; to represent the most amazing love between Jesus and His people is huge. To be a part of something that big, with the woman I love, as we journey through life’s adventures together is such a privilege. Knowing that all of history is God’s story, so quite literally HIStory, this is by far my favorite part of it.

(Photo by Erin Chupp)

So as we begin this section of life together I invite you to follow along as we join blog’s together. By keeping each other accountable hopefully we can be better updaters for any followers that like to keep up. Check back this week for the new address.

15 Bean Soup Disaster : (

2009-02-07T19:43:00.003-05:00

I didnt bring anything much home for Christmas which meant that I had two suitcases to fill up with 50lbs of groceries ( thanks Mom and Dad) that are hard to find in Canada. One of the things i was looking forward to the most was 15 bean soup. I had been bragging about how good it is to people here. In keeping with tradition I wanted to wait till it got a little cold before having it for dinner.

I thought -15F was good enough. So I checked the directions and I am supposed to soak the beans for at least 8 hours, so I do it for 12. Then it says cook on low for 2 hours, sounds easy enough. After about three hours I cant wait any more and its dinner time so i serve myself up a big bowl of the soup, and the beans were still hard! For the rest of the night I play with the soup with varrying temperatures and the lid on the pot on and off untill finally I forget about it for long enough for all the water to boil out. Atleast the beans are fully cooked now and I have enough 15 bean paste to make lots of leftovers. They are good on nachos.

Monster Jam

2009-02-07T19:11:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Christmas gifts from Memaw and Paw Paw me and my cousin John got to go to this years monster truck show at the Georiga dome. It was so awesome!! The night started off with the monster truck raqces, followed by some 4 wheeler freestyle. These guys were doing back flips on them, its was crazy. Then came the event that I laughed my head off the entire time, trailer racing. This is where some destrcution derby type cars raced around the track. The rules were they had to be pulling a trailer with a load and thye had to finish the race with the load to win. Right from the start these guys were just rippin it around the corners and it wasnt long untill porta potties, refrigerators, and all kinda of things were spread out all over the track. Then the next round of cars came by and plowed into the debris creating even more carnage.

The last event is the one i was most lookin forward to, Freestyle! The drivers each have a limited time to run those crazy trucks right on the edge of out of control while trying to get the biggest air, and do the sweetest tricks. There was several tires and wheels that feel off and trucks that flipped over while catching fire, it was awesome! Last run of the night, Grave Digger. He won the freestyle and the race event that night.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T00:33:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all and please enjoy one of my favorite songs of all time!

Ho Ho Home for Christmas

2008-12-16T12:58:00.003-05:00

Sunday afternoon I made it back home to Georgia for an extra long Christmas break after travelling through Salt Lake City and JFK in New York on stand by. It was so awesome to be able to get home amd see my whole family at the airport. Then going to cut down a Christmas tree and put it up before going to our churches Christmas program that night. When I left three hills Alberta it was -30 F so it was kinda nice to step ouside in Georgia even though i do miss the snow. Ill be home untill January 12th so if your around here lets get together and hang out and eat some pumpkin pie or go fishing or something.

Happy Thanksgiving - Enjoy some Pistol Shrimp

2008-11-27T19:40:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I sure do miss some good home cookin, but most of all, hangin out with my friends and family around home. I am so thankful that I do in fact have that to come home to in less than a month now. I ran across a sweet creature of the sea and thought you might wanna check out how the Pistol Shrimp gets its Thanksgiving Dinner

PS Go Carly for being in the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade - Your awesome!

Taste of Heaven

2008-11-17T15:07:00.007-05:00

Last weekend me and Vanessa got to go visit our friend studyin in Calgary. We were all excited to get out into the mountains after being in the plains for such a long time. So we headed to Johnston Canyon in Banff and had an amazing hike. The sights were so breathtaking and awesome. It was just a little icy on some parts of the trail which made for some fun. Also we got to go down underneath one of the many waterfalls and and then had lunch right downstream from it. Hearing the power of the water and seeing it shape the canyon was too cool.

We also got to go with John to his church, which was started by Iranian Muslims - most of which were now Christians. A man we met translated for us the service which had to of been so hard, I was really appreciative of that. Then at the end the last song they sang had both English an Farse on the screen. I had never heard the song before but i started to try and sing the English version while they sang the other one and it was amazing. I thought about the disciples in the book of Acts when they started speaking in all the different languages and how cool that would be. I also thought about being in Heaven and singing with everyone from all over the world. Could we still be able to hear the beauty in another unfamilair language but in some way be able to understand it at the same time. It was quite a cool weekend with two tastes of Heaven. To see more pictures, please click HERE

When we got back to Three Hills there was a group at our church here from Ukraine and before they left we all sang How Great Thou Art, they sang in Ukrainian and we sang in English. How cool was that!

BIG Thanks to Vanessa and her photography skills for providing the pictures on the last two posts.

My First Solo

2008-11-05T22:09:00.003-05:00

Hot Dog!!! Thats what i remember saying after I cranked up the engine, taxied to the runway, kicked up the throttle, and took off. Then I remember thinking oh man...I gotta bring this thing down now. Then a couple more screams, excited yells, and an excitied song praising God - after all no one was else in the plane with me : ) So many nerves in the weeks before lead up to pure excitement the day before. I would not be here without the love of so many people from all over, I cant begin to express my thanks! I know its just one step in this process and Im just begining, but its all too exciting. Click below to see way too many pictures of the incredibly beautiful sunrise and me flying solo for the first time.

Click Here

The Time Has Come

2008-10-27T18:55:00.006-04:00

If everything goes smoothly in the morning this guy...and this guy...(nervous smile?)

will be taking their first ride solo together from 7:30-9:30. If you are in the town of Three Hills Alberta I would caution you to stay inside and pray. If you are elsewhere then you should be safe but prayer would still be a good idea.

All kidding aside things have been going really great in my flight training and tomorow morning after getting checked out one last time by a different instructor I will hopefully be soloing. No need to worry about anything just thought the funny face would be good for a few laughs : ) I just wanted to share this exciting time in my training. And by the way, prayer is always welcome.

Praise the Lord for Freezing Wind

2008-10-22T15:55:00.004-04:00

Its been a long process for my school as they looked into purchasing an additional airplane sense before I was around. After raising enough money and prayers they found a "newish" Cessna 172, equipped with the Garmin G1000 "glass cockpit" navigation system, down in Florida. Very long story short, the new plane landed at the Three Hills airport on Friday afternoon. Basically it is the schools fourth 172 which will provide more oppertunites for flights now, sense the schedule board stays very booked up. In case you are like me and wonderingare mission group going to be using this new kind of technology and will it be dependable in the bush. The reassured me that indeed this is the way things are moving towards, and it will make everything safer as well. By the way Freezing Wind is what we sometimes the name we call the plane, sense it registration letters are FWIND. W actually had an article written up abou the program and the plane and you can check it out along with more pictures below.

Click HERE for the article and picture

My Birthday

2008-10-18T00:33:00.008-04:00

Why yes that is a lion in our lap - thanks for askin. This is a picture of us at the town Guzoo. Follow the link below to get caught up with pictures on extended birthday fun. There is also some pics at the bottom of a Native reserve that I like to help out at a couple hours north east.

Click MEE

Week of New Things

2008-09-10T13:36:00.000-04:00

Last week I finally got started into school and had a week of a bunch of new exciting things. I got to move into my basement apartment, which is the first time living away from home for me outside of dorms. It was really weird. For the first week or so I felt as if I was sneaking up on somebody else’s house. I’m still trying to unpack.

I spent more money than I ever have at the grocery store at one time. I went on 10% Tuesday and I think almost everything I bought was also on sale before the 10%. I was feeling pretty good, it took me a couple of hours to get to the checkout to hear the total $110….dang! Then looking at the number of bags it suddenly hit me, I have no car and I live about a mile and a half away from the grocery store. Luckily it’s a small town because I was left with no option but to walk to shopping cart to my house on the side of the road. After about an hour, and a bunch of laughs from neighbors later, I made it.

Last but not least I got to go up on my first flight here at Prairie. I get along with my instructor really well and am learning a lot already. I usually spend 8 hours a day at the airport doing some kind of work, its super crazy but really rewarding already. My second flight was exciting because we had carb ice before we took off and frost on the wings so we had to pull the plane into the hangar and crank up the heat. When we finally got up the sky was clear so I got a clear view of the beautiful snow covered Rockies as I looked out over the prairies flying 2000 feet above the ground. It was awesome.

Dang I Wish I had a Picture

2008-08-19T11:22:00.003-04:00

I was wondering what to read from the bible two days ago so I asked God, What do you want me to read. I hear Job 37 in my head and think uh oh was that just me saying that, I dont know if there is even 37 chapters in Job. So I turn there and read this: ( actually starting in chapter 36)

26 “Look, God is greater than we can understand. His years cannot be counted. 27 He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain. 28 The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits. 29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven? 30 See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea. 31 By these mighty acts he nourishes the people, giving them food in abundance. 32 He fills his hands with lightning bolts and hurls each at its target. 33 The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.
It continues on in chapter 37 and says, 13 He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love.

I thought man that is awesome I sure would love to see a good lightning storm up here in the Prairies. Last year we saw the very end of one at the beggining of the year and then nothing. So then last night rolls around and this is were I wish I had a picture but hopefully I can paint it for you. The volleyball game stops suddenly when we hear thunder and a blur of lightning. We stop not swo we wont get struck but so we can go watch the action. So its down to the train tracks we go to watch and hope and on the way there we can see the most beautiful sunset. On top of the layer of colors sat a layer of dark. The thunder continued to rumble in the distance as our eyes stay peeled looking for bolts of lightning. YEAHH I yelled out when I saw the first one split the sky, and then another and another. Pretty soon we had a good seat on top of a pile of railroad ties with an incredible panoramic view of a lightning-set, sunsetting over the prairies with lightning bolting in almost 360 degrees. Man, God is huge, and what an awesome gift He gave us that night. Id say definately one of the top 10 sights ive ever seen

Float Plane Landing

2008-08-17T17:09:00.005-04:00

I'm back now in Three Hills, Alberta at Prairie Bible College. I had a very unexpected, yet very awesome summer this year. I cannot thank Vanessa's family enough for everything they have done and did while I got to visit. I had such an awesome time there and will miss the place and the people there alot. Ive tried to post some pics of the beautiful country surrounding Vanessa's house so have a look.

http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/shared/27314/8kyxs9jmn0ezug2

Ontario

2008-08-06T20:07:00.010-04:00

I left Georgia a little early for school so i could visit the great state of Ontario and see where Vanessa lives ( I mean province). My time here has been amazing so far. To my excitement she lives away from everything where i can hear cows while i sleep and look out the window laying in my bed to see a ton of bright stars. And by my bed i mean her room because i took it over when i came her and now she shares a room with her sister just like when they were growing up ( thanks Alex).

Sense Vanessa has to work everyday during the week I had a list of things to do around their house to keep me busy and earn my keep. I dont want to make it sound too bad though because sometimes that included going into town to catch fish untill Vanessa got off work and then bring her home. So far weve got alot of smaller bluegill, bass, and perch off of docks, shores and in rivers. There is water everywhere here it awesome. This seems like the kinda place that would be so easy to take for granted living here but coming from the outside I cant get enough of it. I wish I had much more time and much less to day besides exploring corn fields, old barns, rivers that lead to lakes, and beaches that no one knows about.

One day her mom surprised us by taking us to the local float plant airport. Ideally i would really really like ending up flying at float plane on the mission filed someday. Up untill that day I had never even seen one. Im not sure how it all happened but somehow, thanks to her mom, me and Vanessa got to go up in the plane and I got to fly it. I was so cool watching the water splash up beside the plane on the take off. We went to two remote fishing lakes that could only be reached by air. My eyes stayed huge with excitement the whole time. We touched down in the first lake and after a while we took back off again and sharply turned around and flew about 20 feet off the ground through a narrow marsh land surrounded by tall trees untill it opened up to a another big lake. After practically skimming the water for a while we headed back.

The landing back at the airport was awesome. We came down over some trees and then into another narrow passageway. Below us some water started to appear under some tall grasses but the lake itself was still a little ways ahead of us as we got lower and lower. We finally touched down on top of the grasses and then floated into the lake and over to the dock to tie up the plane. The pilot said once you fly on floats you never go back. I hope he is right.

Last week I decided I would become a well driller. Actually one of her moms good friends owns a drilling company and was short one guy for a couple of weeks and wanted to know if i would be interested. Wood eye! So I show up monday morning at 7:00 at his farm and we go over to the shop where the fun begins. The day is filled with huge trucks, oversized tools, and everything covered in either grease or mud- or both ( including me). On the way to the first job the owner warned me about this and I was thinking - bring it on! I am not the biggest guy in the world and luggin around the tools and machines and just doing this work has been challenging. Its one of those situations where you ask yourself, do I have what it takes? Without giving up even when I suck at welding, or cant figure out how to move a pipe, or smash my toe, God keeps telling me at the end of the day, yes you have what it takes. Everyday I come home tired and take a hose shower in time for dinner. The owner Dave has gave me this opportunity in a heartbeat without really knowing me and offered to pay me by donating directly to the school. He is an awesome guy to work for. Tomorrow its back out to the Georgian bay to try and find water. After 180 feet down today nothing yet so we are crossing our fingers.

SummerTimeSummerTimeSummeTimeSummerTime

2008-07-06T14:45:00.010-04:00

This summer has been great. This is the first time in a long time when I dont have a full time job or school which makes me available for just about anything. Its been the best being able to hang out and spend time with friends and family and be there to help out when anything comes up around the house, or at church with the college class or youth group.
We got to float down the Chattahoochee I dont know how many times with several first timers, my buddies, sisters, and even one of those inflatable killer whales for Cinco De Mayo. Our family managed to all be together in one place at the same time a couple of times. One day we camped out in North Georgia before heading out to the lake the next day for alot of tubing and wakeboarding. We also all ended up together for the fourth of July in Pine Mountain Georgia for fishing and fireworks. Years and years have gone by with bread balls and cane poles fishing for bluegill, which I still really like doing. This was the time for one of the elusive Lake Innsbruck bass to find itself on the end of my line...and then under the knife...and then fried headed towards my stomach...delectable. It has been awesome spending time with my family doing new things and old things once again.
Being home also gave Vanessa a chance to come and check out the south for a week. So much to see and so little time. We stuck pretty close to home and did things that I love doing. We checked out stone mountain and the super partiotic lazer show which did not disappoint with the usual song like Dixie, Devil Went Down to Georgia, and other favorites. Of course we went to the Hooch and did a little fishin and tubing. One of my favorite days was probably Sunday. We wake up get to go to church and meet everyone there and she got to see some good southern Gospel singin. After churhc we ate lunch and relaxed on the couch while we watched the Braves game on TV. After that we hopped on the John Deere and rode to the end of the creek up for a little back yard fishin. I guess it had been a while for her so I got to kinda re-teach her how and we both caught fish while wading in the water cold water under the Hot Gerogia Sun. That night we went to the fox theatre to catch a summer movie and get a chilli dog from the Varsity. Thats a good day.
One week I got to go be a counselor for the youth group in the North Carolina mountains for a week which. It was so much better than I expected. I had several revelations in my own life as well as really getting to connect with the kids there. The last night there I was asked by Chad, the sepaker, if I would mind speaking about what I was doing, the whole mission aviation thing. So I was like what no way thats tonight What am I gonna say. Then instantly several ideas come into my head of what it would be. I didnt have much time to work on it with the busy schedule which turned out to be good. I got to see God big ways there. That Sunday night when I got home I had the night service to give my testimony of what has been going on in my life. I found it most hard to narrow it down enough to fit in the time period. It was awesome to see alot of people show up and to know I have there support. I feel lucky to have an incredible home church like that as well as awesome friends and family here.
PS when shootin the Hooch, River Rats or tractor tires work much better than those pool floats from walmart or the killer whale. Ask Mario if you dont believe me.

Graduation

2008-05-05T23:27:00.009-04:00

We made it through the first year!!! I wasnt really excited about walking in graduation when I heard about it. After all we were only doing a one year bible program in Wilderness Leadership and we where walking beside other people who were completing their 4 year degrees. As time grew nearer and We fought to finish the year well, something that is especially hard for me, I began to look forward to the closing time and the ceremony. I realized that yeah, this was a stinkin hard year and alot of amazing things have happened and it was indeed something to celebrate.

I was super excited that my mom got to come up and experience those times and see the places behind some of the stories and pictures. We had an awesome time checking everything out. She got to experience some Canadian "flurries" which usually mean like 3 or 4 inches of snow - not like our flurries down here in the south. She stayed with my impact family and Ulrich had to help her scrape and brush off the car. Little did she know that those brushes come stnadard in rental cars in canada. We even got to check out the airport that hopefully ill be getting to spend alot of time in.

Im home for atleast the rest of this week. Everything that I thought I was going to be doing this summer hasn't been working out so far. Even after searching and praying and thinking it was so right. God only knows what is going to happen. Right now I am seeing if I can get a work permit in Canada and we'll see if that goes through.

In my devotions I read 1 Corinthians 15:58 which I had previously underlined and it says " Therefore , my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give your selves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I remember that I liked that verse before because it encouraged me to work hard, which i like to do but it is hard sometimes. The part that really hit me in the face this time which i never noticed before is when it says" you know that you labor in the Lord is not in vain." This hit me all over the place on so many different levels. Im still trying to figure out His will and get to spend time with all yall here, Ive been loving it! As we watched the last sunset for that year at Prairie I praise God for it all.

Big long post - Pics are Here

2008-04-06T12:01:00.001-04:00

Skills have long been over and what and the world have I been doing all this time in Montana still? Well...
After skills we jumped right into a class called Adventure Business and Management. I thought it was going to be a breeze and similar to other management classes I have taken but boy was I wrong. Our teacher said the real class title was God what do you want me to do with my life? Adventure was the unknown outcome of anything, business was how that thing operated, and management was keeping those things in line – sort of. It was really an intense and amazing class that I learned a lot about both my life and how to run it, and also creating a vision, mission, and values for a company and how to run that. There was so many connections between the two such as who the “customers” are, and following the values that are pre set, and customer service and non of it was that lame Christian, how is this connected, kind feeling. It helped process experiences in my life this far and challenged me to examine where I am now and what lies ahead.

That next weekend we had our first practicum that we planned for every moment between skills and the time the youth group got to camp. We set up a three day camp for a youth group that came in from Washington. We were given the opportunity to plan everything from meals, to activities, to chapels, and debriefs, and everything in between. The staff was here but they became invisible unless we needed some extra helping hands. We were so sick of planning and having meetings and during the first day we thought to ourselves why in the world did we set bed times so late, we wanted to go to bed because we were beat. Man was it ever worth it. I made several connections to the kids and the events seemed to be very impact and beneficial for them. It was hard to see them leave so soon after spending all day and all night with them but Ill never forget that time.From there we had our Wilderness First Aid class which I was really looking forward to. We went through three days of intense training and scenarios to prepare us to handle a broad base of things we may encounter in the backcountry. It was a ton of fun and I learned a lot from it. The last scenario included a wrecked jeep with a fire beside it and people scattered all over with blood, burns, wounds, and hypothermia. As we went on they became more and more realistic and were very helpful to know how to react in real life.Then came practicum number two which was on the other end of the spectrum. No planning but lots of manual labor. To me and my buddy Jason delight the town of Plains Montana’s fire wood supply had been stolen and we were faced with 2 splitters, a lot of mauls and axes, an older town men with chainsaw to cut rounds for us. Two days straight of swinging all day and my muscles were tired and we were loving it. I love chopping wood but we have had no wood to chop at camp this semester so I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. One of the local church’s supplies wood to the people in the area and it was all stolen so we built a fence and chopped wood to replenish the supply. After it was over they needed a couple of volunteers for the next day to go logging up in the woods and so my hand went up. This was a day full of 4 wheelin through dirt and ice, felling trees, and a little more chopping. We had the chance to chop some for the pastor who looked absolutely burnt out. He explained how every year this minister just drains him because he has to chop wood for 150 people each year and then himself to. The town was just overwhelmed with our service and it was awesome to be able to give back to the town that we go to church in. We also got to go to Anaconda Montana to a juvenile center to play basketball with the guys there. It was a lot of fun and but challenging to connect with them. They were pretty shy and we had limited time. It helped making fun of ourselves sense we lost 12 to 97 or some ridiculous number like that both games.Next was our search and rescue class. We got to use a lot of our wilderness first aid skills in different searching operations that were set up for us. We even had a retired survival instructor from the air force come in and teach us for one day about surviving. Everyone was forced to make a fire that night without a lighter in the windy or snowing conditions or nobody was gonna be eatin supper. The last day was an amazing day and it started out with a search and rescue helicopter landing at camp and then a surprise rescue operation right when we sat down for dinner that lasted till one in the morning and had to 5 different people carried out on litters, broken femurs, gun shot wounds, drunk guys with guns that were hypothermic in the creek, and the plains community ambulance talking to us on the radio and waiting for the patients. It took many hours to organize and search this dense section of marshy creek woods with headlamps. At the end of it we got to ride in the ambulance and finally eat dinner at one oclock that morning – best pizza ever.The next weekend we had our orienteering challenge. We car camped out in a wilderness area and woke up at 6 to have a good Friday service around the campfire next to the river before we went out. We split up into groups of three with a compass ans a map and got clues at each checkpoint of how to navigate to the next point. It was long day of hiking that you hoped you didn’t shoot a wrong bearing or that would mean backtracking and not finding how to get back. In the end it was a ton of fun and it helped solidify the skills of orienteering for me.At the end of March we had another practicum opportunity back in Anaconda. Our group was actually able to go back and play basketball again before heading off to a roofing project. It was amazing. We were warming up and our back was turned to the door when one of the guys came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and he was smiling and his hand was stretched out towards mine. Man it was so awesome, my heart was tugging that day as I really got to connect more with those two groups of guys and hear the chaplain speak of how God has opened up his ministry there. As he would always pray for us “praise God and kick the devil, Amen!” The roofing was a lot of fun and hard work. It was really cold and windy there and usually started snowing for the last part of each day. It was an old Victorian house that they had turned into a kids home that couldn’t find foster parents. The roof was so steep that we roped in with climbing harnesses to finish it. Any day hangin from a chimney and shootin nail guns through shingles is a good day. We also got to stay with a local family that had a cabin out in the woods with Moose tracks in front of their house in the 3 feet of snow, 3 wood burning stoves, amazing food and conversations, and a basset hound named Harvey to wake us up. It was a good trip.We got back and its time to pack and leave for tema challenge trip. Our last horay trip of the year that the junior interns plan for us. We actually decided to hike as one big explore team which was so much fun. It was filled with incredible sometimes sunny snowshoe hikes through beautiful woods and over frozen lakes and up a peak called Baldy. Every night we set up camp with a fire pit dug into the snow. On the last night we camped beside the frozen lake and dug out a couple of feet of snow on top of the lake to have a fire on top of the frozen lake. It was amazing with beautiful stars.Its Sunday today and everyone is packing up to head back to Three Hills Canada to go back to Prairie. It’s a very confusing and intense time of leaving this beautiful place this time for good, and then getting back to Prairie for a couple weeks of an intense theology class and seeing friends that we have been missing for a long time. And then leaving all that for good. Several people are coming back for a second year but they will be gone a lot of the time. Its been an amazing year that is such an awesome gift from God that I never ever expected. This whole time I was kinda thinking I cant wait to get through this first year of bible school so I can start flying next year at Prairie, that is until I signed up for the explore program and I have made more best friends, had the best and most valuable experiences, and learned and growed more than I ever hoped for.
Yall have been an incredible support for me back home and I love it. Apparently Im not getting much better at keeping this up to date but im still workin on it. Im not sure whats in store for the summer but Im excited to see whats next.

Winter Camping Specialization

2008-03-04T23:43:00.007-05:00

I choose to specialize in winter camping this semester which meant for days in a quinzhee and lots of exploring around the area. Over night isnt tooo hard because you know that the next day you get to go back and dry out your clothes and everything so no big deal. But 4 days is another story.
The snowing tradition continued for the whole four days. We built this quinzhee the night before and woke up to about a foot of new snow everywhere ( dont leave anything flat on the ground or youll never find it). To our surprise we did not only have a ton of snow but also hurricane..well okay more like intense blizzard force winds non stop. I was sitting up and putting on my shoes in the morning and snow was blowing into quinzhee from outside! Trying to cook breakfast in this weather was ridiculously hard it it became apparent that our ridiculous idea of building a ginaormous quinzhee big enough to walk into and fit an indoor kitchen was well worth a try.
And we did it! A full day of shoveling later and it was complete. Pictures will never do it justice but you can get an idea. This shows about half of it with a circular center counter. A walkway that two people could pass through, and bench seats that linned the walls and could comfortably fit 15 people even though we didnt have that many. You could almost stand straight up when walking in the door and I could stand all the way up on top of the counter and not hit my head on the roof it was so high up.
This is entire group on top of it. It was so big we had to huck snow up as high as we could and then there was someone on top that picked up that snow and brought it to the top of the hill. It was totally worth it though. It provided an amazing place to hang out, cook, and talk. Over the four days we talked alot about investing into other peoples lifes and asking questions. Overall just purposefully making it a practice to talk about eternal things that matter. How often does that happen even hangin out with all your Christian friends?
It was an awesome four days. Being out there we soon realized that it was also hard to do something else in that terrible weather. So we built an indoor toilet. We built a miniature quinzhee and used the toilet seat that we had strapped to out backpack and put it in there. Then we used a ski pole a sppon and our hands to dig out a deep and narrow hole. It worked beautifully. We also got to do some backcountry snowboarding, a night hike with snowshoes under the stars and lots of other fun in the snow stuff.

Telemark Skiing Class

2008-03-01T22:01:00.007-05:00

Telemark skiing is dang hard! It is the best form of back country travel because you can hike up hills and ski down them. On the bottom of the ski are scales that grip the snow in one direction allowing you to go up hills easier without slipping down. Of course we push ourselves and go the craziest routes and try and summit the hardest peaks around so it makes things a little more tricky. Basically your toes are clipped in with you heel free to go up and down and when you do a telemark turn you lunge down and then pop up the other direction. Its a killer leg work out and a tough skill to master. I learned to really like it and enjoy the trip up the mountain instead of viewing it as a lot longer and harder version of a chair lift. If you go for a hike in the winter you can do it with tele skis on and then when you get to the top instead of hiking down you get the added benefit of skiing down.
All of a sudden all of our avalnche class training became very real to us when we all heard a loud echoing explosion sound that bounces off all the mountains around us. We were quickly told that that was the famous "wump" sound and to be on the lookout. Someone then spotted on the face across from us a slide where an avalanche had just occurred. It was actually really cool because of someone just saying "ya wear a helmet when you ride a back...safety safety blah blah blah" the danger was all of a sudden very real to us. We were constantly digging pits to do tests and picking our routes very carefully based on snow pack, degree of the slope, and other things like tree cover.

By this time in winter skills they came to a realization that we were spendint o much time going up and down the mountain are speding lots of money on diesel gas, a broken thumb from the sterring wheel, and lots of time shoveling and hiking. So the decided we would just go up once more and stay up for the rest of the four days. This was a surpsie to everyone and an added challenge to be sure. The warm showers after ward feel so amazing. This last pic was the sun shining on us in the morning after waking up before heading to the summit. That was a good gift.

Winter Camping Class

2008-03-01T20:56:00.005-05:00

I really liked winter camping even though it was a challenge for me. The way it was described to me was that its not about how to survive in the winter time its about how to thrive in the winter time camping. We have had record breaking snow fall this year and even the big 6x6 military truck with chains on the tires was not able to make it up the hill like normal. So we spent the alot of the day hiking with snowshoes and shoveling out the road for the truck to get up. All through Winter skills i dont think it ever stopped snowing but very breifly a couple of days. Mostly it was snow all day and night long. The hikes were especially beautuful when the sun did decide to peak out.

When we got to the spot we were going to camp at we had no time to rest because we had to start building our quinzhee. This is kind of like a iglo but instead of block s of ice that you cut out it is made form a big pile of snow that you shovel. You first stomp out the ground to pack it down and then start piling a huge pile of snow in that area. After you have a good dome shape you let it harden for a couple of hours then you get to "mole" it out which is a blast but you get snow all over you.

With about 8 feet off snow everywhere all you need is a shovel an imagination and some muscles ( got that covered) and you can build anything you want. Me and my buddy scott built a couch with a foot rest and drink holders after our quinzhee was done to relax on and then we started on the kitchen. It was nice not having to worry about how much water we had because if we needed more you just fire up the store and melt some snow. Warning: you can burn it and that is some nasty tasting water. We eat pretty good out there. This is us testing out the noodles (ramen) for our spaghetti dinner that night. We used sticks that we found laying around and they worked quite well.

We were all pretty exhausted and couldnt wait for dinner to be ready so we could just go to bed in our new shelter. It actually sleeps very good in side all that snow. It blocks out virtually all sound from outside and everything around you is white snow. Just beware the dreaded "wump" while the snow is settling which could be ugly if it collapses on you.

The next day we got up and decided to make some sled runs for our air sleds that we hiked up with us. At the bottom of the run the was a small drop off that we made into a ramp which launched us into the air. Luckily there was plently of powder for all the ugly landings. It was a great time as long as you can keep clothes dry and have fun to keep your self warm which can be tricky at times.

Mountaineering Class

2008-02-26T19:59:00.006-05:00

This was our first class and it was two days long. It was soooo much fun. We got to carry around ice axes and not only look cool but through ourselves off the side of the hill into endless amounts of snow and then lean how to self rescue ourselves using the ice axe. We also learned how to set up c rigs and z rigs to use pullys to help pulling weight up.

We also learned how to build anchors in the snow for climbing rapelling and rescuing team member on our rope team. We built a big anchor and put all 7 of us on the rope got a running start and then jumped down the side of the hill. I guess we had enough momentum that it ripped out our anchor and we caused a mini avalanche on top of ourselves as we slid down the hill. I ended underneath the snow with no idea how much was on top of my face so i immediately started trying to uncover myself to breath. Thankfully i wasnt to deep but when your covered up it all feels the same, its a freaky feeling
During the self rescue training on the way back up the hill i fell into a tree well. I didnt hit the ground and i was head deep in snow. I decided to stay in the whole and scare one of the instuctors, it was hilarious.
We were wearing harnesses and were roped into each other with climbing rope in case one of us should fall. When you do fall you are supposed to say "falling" so to practice we had to randomly while walking run and jump off the side and scream falling while the other guys jumped to the ground and jammed in their ice axe. When we established that everyone was solid the last man in the crew would get up and run over to build anchors.

2 Weeks at Prairie then back to Montana

2008-01-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

Well it was easier to pack this time but I found out its still hard as heck to leave! It was however good to be back and see all my friends again. Sadly there was less snow there than when we left to come home for Christmas but I knew that in a couple of weeks Id be in Montana covered up in snow. We covered a full semesters class in less than two weeks with 4 – hour and 20 minute classes a day, it was a killer. The class was called Biblical Theology of Mission and it was amazing. You know it’s a good class when it takes the whole first class just to explain what the title of the course means. Basically it was this, Gods mission is to Glorify Himself, and we are created as was everything else to glorify Him. We talked about the prologue of the story then dived into Genesis all the way to revelation seeing Gods mission revealed and learning about various characteristics of God and we should make application of those. It was in this class that I realized that many of the immeasurable goals that I had set for myself were coming true and that was really exciting. There was several sunny days even though it was it was nice to play outside and see some good sunsets. There wasn’t much time for anything except for class but we are all looking forward to going to Montana back to camp bighorn and the discover group is looking forward to going to Guatemala. Pack my bags again and say goodbye for 3 months and head towards camp.

Man is it good to be back at camp now. The staff here is amazing and the food delictable...as was the first semester. They have been giving us all the things that I missed the most like enchilladas, baked oatmeal, hot wings, resses pieces cookies, and hot chocolate with mint tea in it

This semester we have even more gear and the same 6 guys living in a cramped up space so we traded two of our dressers for two more bunk beds bringing the total to 6 beds. Our room looks like a submarine set up but its pretty sweet. Now everyone has their own bed and there is some organization going on.

All these pics are from a couple of days ago here at camp it just poured snow all night and we woke up to this. I guess thats what they mean when they say that down at camp they dont get much snow down in the valley. I cant wait to see the waist deep- up to 6 feet of snow up on the hill. Me and Scott decided it would be a good time to hike up to the cross behind camp. It was absolutely beautiful. At one point we both ended up on our butts at exactly the same time...part of the trail was covered in ice hidden by a bunch of fresh snow. On the way down we found a good tree to do some pull ups on. If the 6x6 military trucks get working then we are planning to start skills tomorrow(Thursday). Our green team gets to do Mountaineering first and I cant wait.

Christmas Break

2008-01-20T23:00:00.000-05:00

It was sooo nice to be home with my family and also friends over the break. It was cool to sit around the fire ( even if was in the 60's or higher) without tv distractions and talk, play cards, read, or just relax. Also being back at my home church was amazing. Seeing everyone there was good but I wish I had more time to talk with and catch up with more people. I have a feeling this is gonna be a long post because I realized alot of things over the break and im so excited about it that its hard to shorten it by too much. So just skim through if you wanna but dont worry the next couple will be having alot more pictures because winter skills training starts in 3 days.

God used this time of rest to really show me some awesome things. I have been reading through this book about men and I got to the part talking about the warrior stage in our lives. I first read about God being a warrior and that there are certain things in life that are worth fighting for. Also, that He makes man a warrior in His image because He wants us to join Him in the battle. Then it went on to talk about the dangers of paralysis, or passivity, that has been passed on to us from Adam. This gets me so angry. It is crucial that a man gets past this tha

t lies deep in our bones. We must with the help of God, overcome it intentionally, repeatedly, on front after front across the seasons of our lives. I my heart God has placed this thought that says I will not let evil have its way. There are some things that cannot be endured. Instead of saying, why is life so hard, we take the hardness as a call to fight. Set your face like a flint like in Isaiah 50:7. It is also essential to keep the integrity of the heart as a great reservoir or passionate strength and Holy desire. I pray that myself and other guys let God awaken the warrior in us and restore that heart in me, that we would be His, ready to serve. Also that after getting past fear or doubt to serve we may fight one battle at a time and not be lured into fighting battles that are not ours to be involved in.

I was a really nervous to be honest to read the next section because i didnt want to rush into it and it was called the Lover. I realized that I have been awakening other passions in my life for quite a while and are now becoming more real than ever. The things that I love in life such as music and song, or viewing Gods created beauty and now being able to purely look at and appreciate them like never before. Women uniquely display the personification of beauty, are the personification of beauty, and it often takes her to turn a young guys attention away from battle. The battle is not what its all about. Great memories remain with me of wading in the middle of a river and fly fishing with fish jumping out of the water around me. Also recently, our night hike through the Rockies on a moonless night with no headlamps and then sleeping under the those same stars not wanting to close my eyes even in exhaustion because I didnt want to miss a single falling star. I'll never forget seeing for the first time the sheepfold (aka the big dipper), and Cassiopeia in the sky after having them pointed out to me by one who I truly admire. What is greater than the intense desire, the piercing joy of beauty? My pursuit of Beauty had turned into Gods pursuit of me. God as a lover romancing me, stirring my heart those times ( I know it sounds weird). I realize that God has many such gifts for each of us, all particular and customized for us. I pray that He will open our hearts to His romance and to see the things that He desires to show us.

Then things all of a sudden clicked in me as I read on. For we must remember: the battle is for the Romance. What we fight for is the freedom and healing that allow us to have the intimacy with God we were created to enjoy. To drink from His river of delights ( I love those kinds of phrases). I just now began to see a connection between the warrior and lover and understand the phrase warrior poet. I owe sooo so much to the one who called me a warrior poet several months ago and challenged me by not telling me what that meant. How sweet it has been to hear it from God.

Wow another long posts, I gotta quite that. There is so much more to both of those sides and I have been so amazed at them that its hard to shorten it down. I take alot of those words out of the way of the wild heart so I can better express what I have been learning. i continue to pray that God will awaken both sides of me and guard my heart for whatever He has in store for me.

2007-12-14T01:20:00.001-05:00

Im home for Christmas and what did I do while I was gone? How in the world do I answer this? There are a couple of things that stick out that I learned but they don’t even begin to brush up against the side of everything that happened to me. After my Old Testament and New Testament class I can see the bible as the whole story that it is, and how I am a part of. Not just how this old testament that we never read connects to this new testament section of random stuff about this Jesus that I love, but really how they are one piece and it continues on to today. Every thing I read is heard in full surround sound and seen in high def 3d IMAX. This law that we read about in the old testament making it impossible to meet the demands of God was not done away with by Jesus, He was the fulfillment of it. The Israelites were waiting for their Messiah to come and rescue them as they were seeking after exactly whatever they thought God wanted them to do, wondering when is the promised one coming to free us? We were challenged that if we haven’t wondered this same question then we should be. I realized I looked forward to Jesus’ return but I have never longed for it and wondered why not yet?!

Finally this man, Jesus, comes who did not fit the description of anyone’s idea of the Savior. Things change through His life on Earth and He develops a following of people who realize this is the one who they were promised. Now things begin to make sense and joy will be ours in these times until He is captured and hung on a cross to be crucified. What is going on? "What at first seems to be foolishness is really the wisdom of God. What seemed to be weakness is really the power of God, conquering human rebellion and Satanic evil. What appears to be humiliation is a revelation of the glory of God. Gods self giving love, mercy, faithfulness, grace, justice, and righteousness are revealed in the event by which god accomplishes the salvation of His creation. What seems to the world to be Jesus’ defeat, the early church proclaims to be His surpassing victory over all the enemies who stand opposed to Gods creation".* "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died".* Everything else pales in comparison.

So where is and what does He want me to do until He gets here? I am going after training to be a missionary pilot because I believe that is what God called me to do. At the same time I am open to the fact that maybe He brought me along this path this far in order to show me something from this perspective, and then get me to go another direction. This Explore year has been a gift to me out of faithfulness to God in trusting and following after Him. On the way home in the airplane I was blown over by a peace that said you are exactly where you need to be, don’t worry I’ll take care of you.

This has been a huge initiation for me which is a incredible answer to prayers. The goals that God placed on me have been coming true and He is showing more incredible things than I could have ever imagined. I believe He is getting me ready for something really challenging next semester and I hope it’s the hardest thing I ever been through. So please pray for me not for my safety, but for perseverance to endure the trials that come and count them as gain. Even now as I write this it makes me nervous but I want to be warrior for God because I am made that in His image. I hope He opens my eyes to see how He is developing me. Also that I might have the strength to rise up and accept my training. Finally when I am losing heart I will be given grace and encouragement to hang in there, all the way through to victory. I can not thank yall enough for all the prayers you have already raised up for me. Each comment or post means the world to me and I thank God for it. I am also so thankful for all the new people that He has brought into my life and the impact they have had on me. I know this is not something that I am doing by myself or that I ever could do alone. I hope that the joy set before us in Christ is so breathtakingly awesome that everything else is suffacted in His glory. I wish i could better express whats happening in my life and I hope this isnt all too crazy, but I know it is crazy. Man, its good to be home.

*1 Drama of Scipture
*2 Galations 6:14

Halloween!

2007-11-27T18:47:00.001-05:00

Its Halloween Time ( i know not really but Im trying to play catch up). The night before a couple of us went out to find this mysterious "Door in the Field". Some of us were unsure if it really existed and others were scared to see what was inside. Some people on campus have been but no one will tell you about their experience. We finally found the area it was supposed to be in and parked the car and started walking around this random farmers field. Eventually we found it. It turned out to be an old shelter that someone had built along time ago. The door was the only thing you could see above ground and then it had about 10 steps down into a smalle bathroom size living area. It was all made of stone and kinda creepy but totally cool. Planning a camoing night soon.
We all really wanted to carve a pumpkin but there are no pumpkin patches up here and the IGA ran out of them. So i kept checking back and asking the workers there when they would get more. Finally it was the day of and I was like hey, yall still dont have any...and they were like uhhhh. So I asked if I could just have the one they were using as a display and pretty soon after that I was walkin out with a free pumkin. So we went and hid it in a patch of grass on the trail on the way to the tracks and asked if the girls wanted to go for a walk on the tracks. So we were walkin and they were in front and they stumbled on it and they were like oh look a pumpkin, lets carve it. They quickly figured out we had put it there but it was still fun. Anyways we carved a sweet face in it and put it propped up in a tree between the domrs. ( we found the leg of an animal and decided it would look good hangin out of the pumpkins mouth and so we put it in).
As you can see above the green team dressed up and went trick or treatin that night. We all collected cans for the food bank. Some of the people insisted on givin us candy we to turn down would have been just rude, so we took it. I was huck finn with a wife beater, fishin pole, overalls roled up and no shoes. It was freezin cold. Sometimes I wish these guys would talk me out of my good ideas.

Theres Beauty in them there hills!

2007-11-27T17:54:00.000-05:00

Well its back to schol and the flat lands of Three Hills. It has been tough getting to know people here and to branch away from our own group that we have grown so close to. It has even been hard to hang out with people because alot more people will just stay in their dorms and wonder we everyone is at. One of my favorite places to go and walk or talk is the train tracks.
There is beauty here through nature but it is so different than it was in Montana. We like to go out and have fruit sets on the tracks. Whats that? A fruit set is going to the IGA after dinner and getting a peach ( not as good as a Georgia Peach) or your fruit of choice, and taking it out to the tracks to eat while we watch the sunset. (Update: They dont ahve peaches anymore and the sun sets before dinner at like 4:15, its crazy early). We have fun here too but again we have to look harder for it and often times be a little creative. Pic up top is Vanessa, me, Julie, and Jason.

Goodbye to Montana Till January

2007-11-25T15:51:00.000-05:00

We are leaving Montana now (October 16th) and wont be back untill late january. It has been a challenging blast. The tops of the mountains around us were already snowcapped during our kayaking skills. The pic above is of the main lodge. On the top level is our classroom and on the bottom we eat, and hang out by the fire. Its easy to find people because there are about 6 people to a small room so you cant really hang out in there. Everyone goes to the lodge, basically the only other building. Now that we are done with skills we can check out any of the gear and go kayaking our climbing or whatever. The nearest town is Plains and you have to get a ride there and it supper small. After an all nighter full of movies and hot chocolate we are ready for the ten hour bus trip back to the flat lands of Prairie.This is the cross that overlooks the camp that is situated on one of the smaller peaks after a short but strenuous hike up.

Challenge Course Class

2007-11-09T15:26:00.001-05:00

This Was the static course at Camp Bighorn. It consisted of 6 events that were 30 feet in the air on the side of a mountain. The way to get down was a 330 feet zip line with a wicked free fall drop at the beggining which you will be able to view below. Please enjoy

We went through 3 days doing differnet ropes course events and"initiatives" that meant anythig from walking through mouse traps to navigating a broken body trail with people who couldnt see or use their arms or legs, etc. It was pretty awesome and the leaders made the debreifings after the event very good. After this we were done with skills rotation and I had to pick a specialization. Oh man, tough decison. I really wanted to do kayaking just to learn the skill more and also it was sooo fun. I finally decided to go with challenge course and so i got to say challenge is my specialty. I realized that this would be good to learn for any type of ministry. I would be able to talk to people and lead events, and discussions that go beyond sunday school answers no matter if we are on a river somewhere, in the backcountry, or downtown. We got to check out some other coruses as well as lead a group of middle school and high schoolers at the camp through seveal differnet events that we designed. Later at lunch I learned that one of my kids was the pastors soon at the church that I go to in Montana and love the pastor and his sermons. Also I think next semester he is gonna give me banjo lessons! Anyways it was a good week and I learned a ton.

There was only three people that choose to do challenge course and one of them was my buddy Jason so we had alot of fun no matter what we did. The last couple days were spent designing and building a new ropes course at the camp. The coolest event was a rolling log obstacle. Picture a ladder laid down on its side and the rungs are logs that spin as you step on them, it was totally awesome and no one has every made anything like it. This is one of the 6x6 trucks that camp owns and we used to get people down from the zip line when we ran the event for other students.

Kayaking Class

2007-10-30T12:09:00.000-04:00

I finally got this dang thing to work. Everytime i tried to post and wait for the pictures to upload it would then give me an error. Oh well. We continued kayaking class for the three days after my birthday. I was totally excited because it is always something i wanted to do...wear a skirt and get in a little boat and go down some huge rapids. We went down many of the same rapids that we did with rafting excpet this time we actually got some sun which was amazing.
We were too far away from the rapids with the camera to get any good shots but this is me eddying back into the third set of rapids on triple set on the Clark Fork River. It was a ton of funa nd very challenging. The waves continued to change so i either got smakced in the face, launched over the top, or tossed upside down, it was soo sweet!

This is the green team after we ate lunch. Alot of this year has been abotu building healthy relationships and what it is like to live in community with that love that God fills us up with. Kayaking is a very individual sport and it forces the student to take responsibilty of whatever happens to them going down the rapids. The teacher can show you how to roll, paddle, and navigate the rapids but when the currents gets you and you start floatin in there is prettty much nothing they can do. If the see you are about to flip and you cant perform your roll to upright yourself they must wait till you float down through the rapids and then at the other side help you back in your boat. We talked about how God is like this and how He gives us everything we need to handle tough situations. We see how His strength is made perfect in our weakness. So we are goin through hard times and cry out for help, but He is often times not a God of the eleven o'clock hour who is gonna swoop down to rescue you. Often times we have to completely die to ourselves and then after 12 and into the next day He will be there for us and let us know He was there. Hopefully we take advantage of those times and learn quickly from trials. Count them as joy!
Even though it was sunny it was still cold. For one half day we went to a local hot springs with our kayaks and practiced in the warm water. This is a picture of me upside down in position one of the roll before you snap back up. It was nice but i still wasnt vey good at it till the end of the day. I actually left my bathing suit at camp so i had to borrow one from the lobby where the had a box of old ones. Then when we were getting back on the bus someone said whose bathing suit is this under the seat...ohhh those are mine.

Birthday Party

2007-10-12T00:01:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to me! This is pretty much a good activity for a birthday.

Thanks Mama and Dad for sending me a party in a box. There was like 2 pounds of confetti and we threw it on the floor and all over our selves, then slid on our stomachs on the wood floor.
What else would we do now but line dance!
And then some more dancing. At the end of the night my shirt was totally covered in sweat and my legs were sore.
We put the pinata up outside and it took several good beatings before buckmaster busted it open and everyone dived ontop of the candy. My intern Jules birthday was the next day so we had a comined party. Everyone had a blast and told me my parents were awesome and to thank them for everything. Thank all you guys for your cards and letters, it made for a really sweet day.

Rock Climbing Class

2007-10-11T23:16:00.000-04:00

I was really looking forward to rock climbing class sense i have never donw any real climbinging before, outside, on real rock. This was the first day with Tim Kickert just showing us some basic technique
We learned all about tying knots and equiptment. Also how belay people, and set up our own top rope anchors. This means that we could go anywhere and i could set us up and get climbing.

Climbing is a individual challenge. You want to be able to climb a really fun route but eventually you dont want to be able climb everything you get on you want a challenge. So you pick a hard route and you keep failing and thats not fun either. Its like you gotta push yourself to do things you dont think you can do and sometimes youll get it and sometimes you dont, thats when learning takes place.
This is what we climbed on the last day. Its what is called a multi pitch climb meaning that you climb all the way to the top of one rope, then you transfer to another rope that is set up because it is so high. This one was about 120 feet high. We set up a loop so you climbed up the two ropes and then belayed down three ropes to do it all over again.

Rafting Class

2007-09-30T22:12:00.001-04:00

This is rafting class. It was freezing cold outside and in the water. I would almost rather have been in the water most of the time because during the three days it was mid 50's for the high and often times raining. The last day we camped out and then rafted all day down the alberton gorge on the clark fork river. Above is where we ate lunch, double cheeseburgers, chips, and cookies.
This is my first guiding experience on the paddle raft going down class III "Fang", it was pretty much awesome to the max. We also got experience on an oar frame raft which is a larger paddle raft with a metal frame attatched to it. Then two oars stick out the side, this is waht usually carries all the gear.
After the rapids we learned how to flip the raft and then the easiest way to flip it back over. The water was good encouragement to hop back in really quickly.
We leanred a bnuch of skills such as reading the river, guiding paddle rafts and oar frame rafts, whitewater swimming, and swift water rescue which included the throw bag. Looks like Brad in the water isnt gonna make it with that throw.

Backpacking

2007-09-16T00:50:00.001-04:00

I just got back from the 5 day backpacking trip that took us all around the Montana-Idaho state line and it was incredible. My body is beat up and I loved it. Thats my team on the top - the green team! Below that is my and my friend Jules trying to take a self potrait and not fall of the ridge. We encountered a little bit of everything: a 11 hour hiking day made up of all bushwaking down ridges up a creek bed, and up a mountain ascending nearly 3000 feet, relaxing days by a lake with fishing and catapulting chipmunks, and also classes most every night. We got to choose our own path with our final destination already established where one of our teachers was camping that night. When we got there by map and compass we had class. The mountains ridges were endless and there were more crystal clear lakes than you could count on two hands. I have never seen glory revealed to me like this and been so fortune enough to emerse myself in it. It was a hard week at school both physically and mentally.

Camp Bighorn

2007-09-16T00:27:00.001-04:00

I made it to Montana! This place is awesome, I am constanly left speechless when trying to describe my surroundings. The first picture is when me and my friend Jason Buckmaster climbed the mountain right behind camp after dinner one night. You cant see the camp but it is right below us. At the bottom you can see the river that is about 45 seconds away (and full of big fish) and the mountains on the other side. The picure on the bottom is of me and my friend Vanessa making some sweet oragami fighter dragon/bird-beast things during class. We all get along really well and it is really tight group now. We have been staying busy with an outdoor programming course and kitchen duty before we leave for backpacking in a week. The speakers here are awesome and make your head spin sometimes when questioning life and your faith. There is a hot chocolate machine that is always on and always makes a perfect cup with a delicous layer of foam on the top.

Woek, Work, Work....play

2007-09-15T23:49:00.001-04:00

The two week course was no intro course. We dove head first into a mind blowing course on worldviews. The schedule was something like this: wake up at 6:00 for a run - usually 3 miles, then breakfast is at 7:45, then class starts and goes untill lunch, after lunch is "free time" where you have to do homwork or you'll never stay caught up, then dinner and class again untill about 10:00. Finally one night we got off and had a free swim night in town. They have a pool, two hot tubs, a water slide, springboard, and rope swing. This is my friend Abby from California and we had been planning our outfits ever sense we first found out about the swim.

Side Trip

2007-08-27T00:32:00.001-04:00

Hey Yall
The trip up here was great. We made it on both of our stnadby flights by the skin of our teeth and our luggage followed quickly behind us. Because of this little mix up we were able to take a little detour on the way to school to check this place out. Just about 30 minutes from Three Hills. We took alot of pics so I made a shutterfly.com acount to load them up to so you can easily view them. Sorry guys I have been using any free time for studying and paper writing. Hang in there and I have got several updates to make.

Sharpen Up

2007-08-09T20:52:00.001-04:00

Time with God. I once was at a summer camp where we had a booklet that led us through a quiet time every morning. One day we were instructed to read a paragraph outloud as if God was talking to us. Man how refreshing that is, I cant belive God would talk to me like this, if I could only read his words for me like this all the time then.... oh wait. The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The only defensive weapon given to us in the armor of God. If Im gettin ready to go i cant leave this out.

Ephesians 6:10-20

Gotta Be Fit

2007-08-09T17:24:00.000-04:00

After I get to school and go through the 2 week introductory course on world views the first thing we do is take a fitness test and go on a week long backpacking trip in Montana. I was told that I should buy my running shoes way in advance before I leave so that when i get there I can "continue" my training.

Hebrews 12:1-2