Sprinting through the airport

I'm so happy to be home!!! I love the state of California and I'm very glad to be back:) and so excited to be back at camp! I missed it!!! Getting home was a tad crazy but an adventure nonetheless! Our plane was late getting into New Orleans which meant we our flight was late getting out. Our original connection was only 30mins and we were a tad worried but when we heard our plane wasn't scheduled to land until 8:50pm and our connection was at 9:11 we were freaking out! They said we would have to stay in Houston overnight because the flight to CA that we were supposed to be on was the last one out for the night. I was not about to stay in TX overnight and miss the first day of camp! So when our plane landed in Houston we had to go pretty far but Disa and literally ran through the airport with our backpacks on! Disa said it was a good thing we were wearing our running shoes:) we just made it into our plane and they closed the doors behind us! I can't believe we made it it I'm so thankful we did! It's good to e home and at camp this week at a great church I love!
California girl through and through,
Amanda

A stroll in the park...and the RAIN!

Today was a great day! I got up early, hit the gym, went to another hotel to get some of their free breakfast and then headed to meet some friends before going to the Garden District. We got day passes for the street car and were planning on a beautiful day touring uptown New Orleans. Well instead we experienced one of the scariest thunder storms any of us had ever been in..while on a cable car! The rain started the minute we boarded the first trolley. So we ditched our shoes right away and put on flip flops..good thing we brought those because we walked through puddles almost up to our knees! After a beautiful but scary and wet ride to the Garden district during an intense lightening storm we got off and had a delicious lunch at a little Mexican food place. There was an exotic ice cream shop the girls wanted to try and it was a lot farther than we thought. This was the part when we got off the street car at the beautiful and flooded park thinking we were only six blocks from it. It was definitely not six blocks! We finally found it and were soaked and very soggy! We had lots of laughs and fun times today on the street cars and city buses as well as being the only fools walking around in the rain. All the local stores were out of ponchos and we had 3 umbrellas for the four of us. When we got back downtown we wanted to shower and nap but that didn't happen because of the insanity with youth groups trying to get about the town in the pouring rain. I planned on staying down at the hotel where we've been working evening events but there was too much craziness I had to trek back across town to my hotel where we had pool furniture being thrown in the pool and the fire alarm going off! Sadly I didn't get to go back to the big hotel for evening events because we thought it'd be best to have some people stay at our hotel to make sure things were under control with the crazy weather . Things are mostly good here now. Some exhausted youth and some wild ones. I'm currently doing floor sweeps and updating my blog! I love this app!
Tired from a long but great day,
Amanda

Wisconsins

Today all our youth groups arrived! My team was sitting in the lobby of our hotel from 9-6 anxiously awaiting their arrival! Most of them drove 28 hours and had been on a bus since yesterday morning! They were hot and tired and ready for a shower! It was so fun greeting them all as they got here! Some of their rooms weren't ready so I pulled out some of my camp counselor skills and played games with them and entertained them for awhile! I was telling them I worked at a camp in CA and they asked which one and they actual knew what El Camino Pines was and made a trip there last summer to do work projects and help!!! Crazy small world! It was great meeting everyone and I'm looking forward to working with them this week!
Lovin the Wisconsins,
Amanda

Calm Before the Storm

Tonight was the opening night in the Superdome! It. Was. Awesome. When we were in there we heard thunder. I was a little worried on our walk over there bc it was getting cloudy and looked like the sky might open up and dump buckets but hoped it would come pass and be over before the evening session let out. Well...it started about 8pm when I left the dome to head to a hotel for community life events. The rain started and came and came and came. I just kept walking and got soaked despite the umbrella I had. All the Gathering participants had to stay in the Superdome until the storm let up a little bit! It was crazy. When I finally arrived at the hotel across town I was drenched and cold. But I instantly met three girls who are awesome! Their names are Alisan, Sarah, and Adrian. I get to work with them every night this week! We like to hashtag:) We got to have a whole 'fun zone' (lots of bounce stuff and a DJ) to ourselves for a little bit! So fun! Once the Superdome was released we had a lot of kids at the hotel looking for dances and events so we dealt with a lot of sopping wet kids who were barefoot and the hotel did not like that! However, due to the storm we didn't had nearly as many as expected. I definitely see the storm as God's grace upon the Community Life team because it meant we could have a little practice run and a lighter night figuring out how to shuffle youth and people through the hotels and to events. So we like to describe tonight as the calm before the storm of 3000 kids in a hotel late at night that we know we will have to deal with tomorrow. God is good and I'm so thankful for this opportunity! He has also provided another cool opportunity for me tomorrow! At 6am I get to take 3 kids from a cross country team running! They don't want to mess with their training schedule while they are here so a girl on my staff volunteered me and of course I agreed! I warned the kid that it's been awhile and I definitely am NOT a cross country runner! Not sure what I'm getting myself into!! I just finished rounds to make sure everyone was in bed and being quiet. Off to bed!
God is so good,
Amanda

Quite an Adventure!

Well our flight was supposed to take off from Ontario at 1am this morning and we didn't leave until 215! There was no power in the plane and thunder and lightening storms between CA and TX. When we finally got to Houston, our connection flight was taking off. So missed that flight! They then gave us standby tickets..along with a bunch of other people who were trying to get to New Orleans. After walking almost all over the entire airport..which is huge!..we got tickets for a 12:50 flight that got us here by 2:00! I was worried with all the shuffling and trying to get on a flight our luggage wouldn't make it here. BUT we are here, alive, have our luggage and are on our way to the convention center now! This whole day and all our hours of travels have been crazy but this summer God has been teaching me that life is an adventure and you just gotta roll with the punches! I'm loving it!
Happy to be here with my luggage and ready to serve,
Amanda

A Delayed Flight

Tonight Disa, Anna, and I had a 1am flight...it's currently almost 1:30 and our plane has no power and we are still sitting at the gate. It's weird to think that it's the middle of the night and I'm wide awake. I've gotten really used to the camp sleep schedule of going to bed at 10:30 and getting up at 7. Thankfully we just got word that out the aircraft door has been closed! And I just downloaded a cool blog app so I updated this from my phone!
Hoping to make my next flight on time,
Amanda

My Favorite Campers

This past week I got to serve at Hope Lutheran Church in Temecula. This was my second year at Hope and I loved it! I was very excited to return to my favorite campers from last summer! Our team had six wonderful people and it was such a blessing to work with them all! The girls stayed at a beautiful home in Murrieta and thoroughly enjoyed our luxury accommodations and the boys stayed with an amazing couple about 5 minutes from the church. We had wonderful meals and host families all week! We got to meet some amazing people during our stay. My all-time favorite campers go to this camp. We had 29 kids and they were CRAY-ZAY! They were bouncing off the walls and driving us up the wall most of the time because they weren't real big on the whole listening thing but despite the difficult kiddies I still loved getting to spend the week with my favorite kids! I had the third graders for Bible Study this week and we had so much fun reading and acting out the Bible stories. They also loved my guitar and trying to play it and singing together. It was a pure joy to be with these amazing kids and I'm going to miss them so much! In addition to working with great kids all week..I got to meet lots of dogs. There was a dog at every host home we went to! God's humor? I think so! I am not a big fan of four-legged creatures of any variety but this week I fell in love with the dogs we stayed with! There were two Yorkies and an old Golden Retriever. They were adorable and so much fun to play with! The weather was pretty gross this week and the humidity made the kids insane but we got to go swimming almost everyday and the warm evenings were great for driving with the windows down! I loved being back in Temecula and getting to see the wonderful families I met last summer! Now I must pack for my trip to New Orleans tonight and my last two weeks of camp!
Missing my favorite kiddos,
Amanda

Solheim Lutheran Home

This past week I got to stay at and work at Solheim Lutheran Retirement Home. It. Was. So. Much. Fun!!!! We got to do camp with elderly campers! We had a team of 7 counselors and did 2 worships services and 3 Bible studies a day. We acted out the stories and sang A LOT of songs. I had the privilege of working with an amazing team this week. I was so blessed by each and every one of them! Each night during our devotions we went through a chapter of the book of James and grew and learned so much as a staff. We especially enjoyed talking in our British accents together:)
We got to meet some amazing people, stay at the home (quite the accommodations!), and go on lots of adventures! It was such a joy meeting the residents, playing bingo, and doing crafts with them. Being there for 4th of July was great too! We decided to dress a little nicer in our red, white, and blue, and the girls wore dresses and the boys wore button up shirts. The cutest thing was their BBQ in the courtyard when everyone had matching hats, were singing patriotic songs, and eating hot dogs and hamburgers. We got to hear lots of stories and we learned so much from working with these amazing people!

This is Rose. She is a Dementia resident who carried her baby Darlene everywhere. Dancing with her and her baby was one of my favorite things to do!

This is Hannah, Nate, and I headed to the Concert in the Park in the Solheim van!

Our team with Pastor Charlie at the 4th of July BBQ!

This is Ms. Mohr. She made me this hat. She is 94 and has lived here for two years.

On Thursday night we went to the Grove and met up with Johna. I love them!!

This is Evelyn (top), Patti (left), and Ruth (right). They were such a joy to work with!

This is our team on the last day with Jack an Charlotte. They were an adorable couple we all fell in love with! Doesn't Jack look like the old man from Up?

We pushed all our beds together, made guacamole, and had a movie night! 'Twas great fun!

Overjoyed,

Amanda