First night of YL CLUB!!

Hey everyone,

So tonight was our first night of YL CLUB! It was awesome! We had about 85 kids show up to the Popers Barn, many being regular attending club kids but also a handful of new upperclassmen and the first timer freshmen! It was so great to see old faces as well as the new ones!

At club we played a great mixer out on the drive in the rain where two teams had to line up with a partner and the two people in the front have to hold a broom and run it to the end of the line, with all of the other partners have to jump over it! Needless to say, Danea has to buy her mom not only 1 new broom but 2. ;o)

Once upstairs, we sang a few great songs to bring us all together and then went into the famous MOUSE upfront!!!! Remember back to when we were on assignment and my crazy mouse story... Well, I have a little rodent box next to my couch right now with the mouse trying to eat through the box again! I will have anxiety all night over it. I am hoping to keep him alive until morning, to then return him to the pet store... :o) But the game went great and the kids went nuts! Fantastic! 

After the upfront game, we were interrupted by the "Popers Brown Dumpsters" instead of the "Lost Canyon Dumpsters"! The kids loved Jeremy and Zach and had never seen the skit before so it was a lot of fun to see them so excited. 

A few more songs and club ended with a great talk by Scott about what Young Life is all about. We then prayed, hung out for a few minutes and headed to Dions!

A great start to the semester for sure which is so reassuring during these difficult financial times. We know we are made to do this ministry when we are in the midst of all these awesome but lost kids! 

Please keep up the prayers and check back for weekly updates!

LOVE YOU ALL!

*Kayla

Young Life Support

Hey everyone,

So quick update on Young Life's status here on the west side... We are all still struggling financially, but there is hope. The guys have come up with a plan of action and will be sending out letters explaining ways that people can help. Basically what it says and shows is how even $10 a month makes a big difference in our lives and the ministry we are doing. 

A HUGE thing that is being offered is that there is a donor somewhere out of state that is willing to MATCH each donation we get. So if someone decides to donate $10 a month, it becomes $20 a month! Which is awesome! So, if you have been thinking about starting to donate to a non-profit organization or you are wanting to start tithing (this counts as a tithe because it is still going to Gods work) now would be such an amazing time!!! Again, ANY amount helps, and even the smallest or largest amounts will be doubled in these next few months. So please let us know if you or anyone you know is interested!!! 

Young Life truly is an absolutely amazing organization that we feel called to be a part of. We hate having to ask for donations and find people to help to keep Young Life going on the west side. But we do this unpleasant task of asking because we believe in it and we believe that God is working in teens lives here in Albuquerque. We all know how many  lost kids are out there, and we are trying our hardest to reach them.

Thank you so much for your consideration and continued support. Please keep up the prayers! We appreciate them so much.

*Jeremy & Kayla

Since we've been home.. Please keep praying!

So.. Since we have been back it has been a bit hard adjusting from the long month with long days full of spiritual blessings to home with what seems like much shorter days filled with hardship, struggles and loss.

Since the day we left camp, we knew we would be coming home to the loss of a family friends sweet baby, which was hard for everyone who knows them but especially the family. Early in the week, Jeremy got a bad cold and was pretty exhausted and trying to recover. Once he started getting better, I began to get sick and have come down with Bronchitis. No fun. On top of being physically and emotionally drained from the weeks events, financial strain began to burden our thoughts. Jers tuition will be extremely hard for us to pay for this semester and we are trying to figure out how to make that work... As of next month, Jeremy's salary will be decreasing because of his graduation from the Latino Student Staff program. On top of that, money on the West Side of Albuquerque for Young Life is decreasing by the thousands monthly which affects everyone on staff on this side of towns salary and livelihood. 

Sadly, this strain and uncomfortable position we are all in has brought up the conversation a few times as to whether or not Young Life is where we are supposed to be and if we can survive doing YL, financially. We love YL and see ourselves doing it for the rest of our lives! But it is going to take a lot of prayers to be able to continue on staff much longer.

For right now, I have been looking for other jobs, on top of the one I have, and recently applied for a job at the church... We will see what God does with that.

So, after reading my wonderful little vent-session, I ask you to pray for us, please. YL in general needs prayers for finances. Finances to pay YL salaries, for camperships, for props, for food we need for events and so much more. Pray that God will raise up people willing to donate to YL here on the west side. Not only financially, but time wise also. We need more people on committee willing to help us leaders out and do the back end work and praying for our ministry constantly. Pray for our YL KIDS!!! They are the reason we are doing this and the reason we push through the struggles. Their salvation is so important to us and that is why we want to devote our lives to this ministry. Pray that so many lives are saved this year at club and campaigners and that God is working in each kid that steps through the Poppers barn doors on Wednesday Nights! 

Personally, please pray for Jeremy this year with school. He is so ready to be done with college and is so close, but for some reason it is so hard for him to get into all the classes he needs to get anywhere. He has so much to offer this world in ministry and is ready to get busy doing it full time! 

We thank you guys for supporting us in what we are trying to do! We love you guys!

The Moore Family

Please prayer for our close family friends. They have experienced a loss that none of us can imagine. Their baby girl drowned on Friday and they and their two other kids are having to deal with the heartbreak and pain that comes with this tragic loss. They are one of the nicest most loving families that we know and I am so sad for them to have to be going through this. 

We love you Moore family and will all miss Bailey so much.

Last day at camp...

This has been such an amazing month. The kids in our house were awesome and I got so attached to all of them. I am so sad to know that I won't be able to watch them grow up and be a part of their lives like I have been everyday for the past month. Even sadder than that is that for the younger kids like Tegan, Grayson and Aiden who are a year and younger, they won't remember me. Me being someone who loves them already and wants to see how God works in their little lives and how they will grow up to be beautiful adults. I wish that we all lived close together so that I could continue loving them and hanging out with them. :o( But I am very thankful for the community that I do get to go home with back to Albuquerque! They definitely are my second family back home and I know that this month has brought us all closer than ever. 

As for all the adults who lived in the house, I will miss them all so much! They have made a difference in my life and I will never forget the great conversations and moments of love and laughter we had! God truely worked through each and every one of us this month putting situations and moments to allow us to minister to not only each other but to kids at camp. I am so blessed to have had this experience and opportunity and am excited to do assignment again next summer!

Last week, then home!

Hey Guys, 

So quick update about last weeks group. Out of the 400 hard, rough kids, 107 of them stood up at the end of the week and said that they had accepted Christ into their lives that week! God is good!

Prayer Requests for this last week:

Everyone is absolutely exhausted. ATeam, Work Crew, Summer Staff and Families are all just kinda dragging. Along with the exhaustion has come irritability. PLEASE pray that we could all continue to get along and not fight or argue amongst our house mates and others at camp. We would also really appreciate prayers for patience with everyone out here on assignment as well as with the leaders who seem to be overly demanding and whinny this week. We need energy in order to continue giving this group of kids the best possible week that we can. So please pray for that. 

Jeremy and I are very ready to come home now. We love being out here on assignment with the other families, but we are missing our own lives back home and the routine that we have and are used to. 

THANKS! We love you!

End of Week 3 with pics.

Me, Tiffany & Kristi on Rock Star night!

Rock Stars!

Ha Ha! Brady Didrickson, he had to wear the wig this night and loved it!

Will & Kristi :o)

:o) Love it!

This week has been a long one. Not only are we just really running on low energy, but we have had a pretty rough group of kids. Head leaders had to deal with EVERYTHING this past week. There was a large amount of drugs taken from kids this month along with a lot of gang activity. We were waiting for any minute a fight to break out. It was kind of scary to see the kids dressed in all black and blue and look across the field to see the kids all in red. They had their little "Whistle Code" and had a few run ins with each other, but thankfully all fights were held off. 

Head leaders had their work cut out for them this week with the late night sneaking out and the high amount of guys and girls trying to sneak off together. However, it is awesome because these are the kinds of kids that we want here at camp. If this was a camp full of Christians, we would not have a job to do. This is an outreach organization and I feel like head leaders, program, the speaker and all summer staff and work crew truly did an awesome job trying to reach out to these kids. Whether they accepted Christ or not this week, they heard about him and how HE wants to know them and be a part of their lives and loves them unconditionally. That is a big step either way. 

It was really cool to see how a lot of the "Thug" kids really loved Jeremy. They would go out of their way to find him and give him a hand shake with a chest bump. It is so good for them to see someone who grew up with a similar up bringing as them, make it out of the ongoing routine of drugs and violence to a life filled with happiness, hope, love, and most of all FAITH! You could tell that those kids looked at Jeremy like he was something different and that they were interested in a life like that.  

For that reason alone, I have really been thinking more about Jeremy starting an Urban area in Albuquerque. He has gone through a training called Latino Student Staff and is now certified to be an area director for that kind of an area. I have always been nervous though about it because I don't see myself relating to kids who are really involved in drugs and gangs but I feel like they kind of get jipped sometimes. So we have been praying about what God would like for us to do with that. If he was to start an Urban Area, he can be an area director in Albuquerque. If not, there really isn't much work for him left in NM because there are already area directors in ABQ and Jon Guerra is trying to get Rio Rancho started. I definitely don't want to leave Albuquerque, so this may be our only option and one that I am slowly starting to be ok with. 

It is a challenge to work with rough kids, but if it weren't challenging, we would not be doing Gods work to the fullest. We can not only minister to the easy kids, we have to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations in order to be able to reach everyone, everywhere as well as grow in Christ ourselves. 

MY prayer this week is that EVERYONE who reads this or hears about what we are doing, will go out and allow themselves to be stretched and maybe even feel a little uncomfortable, but tell someone else about the LOVE of Jesus Christ. Its not always easy, its not supposed to be. But we need to do it! Its what we are called to do.

LOVE YOU ALL SO SO MUCH!

Characters/ Program

After Oprah. Melvin, Lil Wayne, Kristi, Bella & ConYA West

Edward & Bella

ConYA West

ConYA West

The Dumpsta's, Stank & Jerk

The Skunk Hunt

So Lost Canyon tends to have a bit of a skunk problem... Most nights, Jon Offner, (the property manager guy who's wife is a head leader this month) he usually goes hunting around the property with some of the guy interns for skunks. You will see them with their BB Guns and large boulders running around camp in the late hours trying to kill any skunk they may think is lurking.

I am usually very jealous because they will come running into our house saying they have one cornered, grab the giant light and head back out. I am usually yelling after them, "Take me with you!!!" The night that they said I could go and I didn't, they cornered a skunk into the lake and killed it on the little island thingy. When they brought it back to the house to show everyone, it stunk soooo bad, but all I wanted was my name on it as well!

So last night, it finally happened. I was finally a part of the hunt!!! They cornered it by the club house and then drove it into the pool. But it was hard to see since it was midnight. So guess who they needed!?! ME!!! (or anyone else with a light I guess, luckily I was the one who had it!) So there I was in on the chase while carrying the giant light. Tyler is driving our get-away cart and we are closing in on the ADORABLE little teenage skunk. Finally, we hop out of the cart and take off towards the booger and know it is time for its final breath! Mike and Nate have their BB Guns aimed and ready to fire away while Offner has his giant boulder! They are right above it and my spot light is on target. 

1............. 2................ 3................ ping! ping! SMASH! 

"Spit, GAG", "OH yuck, its in my mouth, oh gosh thats aweful!" "AH he's spraying! He's spraying!! RUNNNNN!!!" 

We run back to the cart and 3 of us jump in, but where is our get-away driver Tyler? Oh he is too busy still tasting the skunk spray! When he finally gets back to the cart we head a little closer to the scene of the killing.. Oh but wait... There is no dead skunk.. Only 4 guys looking up the side of the mountain saying, "He got away, we couldn't see him anymore." Whoops.. I guess when I ran, my spotlight was no longer on target of the spraying little dude and he got away. I guess Im not a very good hunter. But at least I was there and have the horrid smelling clothes to prove it!! 

:o) Good times at Lost Canyon!

Who knows what day it is....

When Jeremy is busy at night, the summer staff guys and I burn bugs with a blow torch! And I video tape it! :o) Its awesome!

Hi friends and family!

We miss you guys! A lot has been going on this week and its actually been pretty rough.... 

To start off.... The stupid mouse died! I wanted to be sad about it but hated it too much to really care. So they bought two more on Monday and they were both dead by Wednesday. :o( I guess we are just going to skip the skit with the mice since we can't keep the dang things alive.

The guys at camp have been having a hard time because they have to kind of stay behind closed doors a little bit but are doing ok. There are some summer staff girls who think I can get their phones back for them or something and have been asking me :o) I don't even know where they keep their phones! So they are really struggling with the "no phones except once a week" policy. As for Work Crew... WOW!!! They have been working from 7:30 am till about midnight each day. They not only have to serve every person 3 meals a day, but then they have to bus every table and wash EVERY high chair in the dinning hall! Pray for ener

gy and rest for th

em. They are so tired but are doing an amazing job. As for A-Team, Jeremy had to cancel the Salsa Lessons he was going to teach because the girls are too in love with him and it would have just been more of a distraction to them than anything. Us wives have been having fun with late night conversations and just great time spent together. I am SOOOOOOO blessed to be around all of these wonderful Christian women who are just huge role models to me and have taught me so much this month.

I had the opportunity the other night to walk with a barely 15 year old girl who has a 9 mo. old daughter. She was afraid of the dark and asked me to go pick her daughter up from her pod. I did and was shocked by her story of drugs, gangs, theft and arrests that have taken place in her young life. S

he for some reason said she trusted me and told me her life story. It was such a blessed time because I was able to share with her what I know about Christ and how he can save her from the life she has been living. She was not completely convinced that she was ready to give her life to the Lord, but I think it at least planted a seed and says something that she even listened and was very interested. She trusts me and I am a testament to Gods love and that shows through to these girls. Even if I am not doing anything at all for them or with them, I still am representing God in everything I do, and to these girls who love my husband, they see something special about us and our relationship. And if that is the least that they get out of this week, seeing a relationship blessed by God and a woman who loves Jesus, that is a huge step in the right direction. So many of them believe that there are not true relationships out there or real Christians. But there are.

Today was "Spa Day" and every girl got a 45 minute massage, 45 minute facial, 45 minute mani & Pedi and

 more!!! It was a 5 hour ordeal and Jeremy, Jon and Tyler ran the Bingo station dressed as Old Russian Men... HA HA!

Will was not helping out with this because he broke his hand playing basketball this morning and is now in a big soft cast thing.... Dang it!

Babies and their Mama's

Sooo..... The mentors, mama's and babies arrived yesterday... It was a rough day for sure. One bus with about 40 moms and 20 or so babies showed up with a leader throwing up. We had to immediately take all of those people to the gym and quarantine them for a long time till we knew what to do. Our head leaders had to talk to the AZ health department and eventually, after the sick leader was tested by the flagstaff doctors and they said she was clear of viruses, those campers were able to join camp this morning. (They were confined to their dorm rooms). It was so scary because we were all sure they all were going to have to go back home! But God was faithful and made things work out right. 

Now that all the moms are here, it is a very different experience for A Team. The men's roles have changed dramatically and us spouses have been very very busy. Since many of these moms have experienced some sort of abuse, they don't exactly like men very much... HOWEVER, the attraction that the majority of them have to Jeremy is getting worse. 

In our twilight skit they were going crazy! At one point some girls were screaming saying they were going to sneak into "Edwards" room (which is Jeremy). And then later in the night some of them were asking where "Edward" was and someone said, "Probably with his wife" and they responded with, "Oh he's married? Well ill just steal him from her then". Others have overheard some girls saying, "Oh there's your man, you better go get him".

The majority of it is just funny and some little crushes, but some of it is pretty crazy and very forward. Not just with Jeremy but with other guys around camp too. This is why the guys do not have very upfront roles this week. But since Jeremy is on Program and does the most skits, he is THE most upfront guy out of everyone, and the girls definitely like him. So hopefully they will see and get more out of this week than the cute guy in the skits, but actually here about the man in their lives that loves them unconditionally, God. 

This is so important for them to hear this week. From the sounds of it, many of these girls do not have a good male role model to show them how they deserve to be loved and looked at. And many do not know about Gods grace and his love for them. That is my prayer for this week. Pray that these girls see that love and look to GOD for fulfillment in their lives.

Of course the babies are adorable but it is just so weird to see girls as young as 13 (maybe younger) as moms and some pregnant with their next baby. I thought this would be a really exciting experience, but I have really been having more conflicting feelings. I am very proud of these girls for being brave and choosing to have their children rather than having abortions. But its hard to see such young girls who have cut their own adolescence so short by making just bad, but common decisions in their lives. Don't get me wrong, these girls LOVE their kids and they are their whole lives, but its just hard to watch a 13 year old feeding her baby and knowing that she will miss out on a lot that most high schoolers get to be involved in.

Anyways, I am not sure how this week will end up or what God will teach me personally about this. But he is definitely working in not only these girls but in the work crew, summer staff and A Team. 

Blog ya soon,

Kayla

Pictures from week 1

Me, Sean (Zach Ephron) and Amber saying goodbye.

Jer and the ABQ summer staff boys. Skyler & Desi. Cody and Kyle are missing.

The spain group that Jeremy LOVED!!! They had huge crushes on him I think :O)

Will and Kristi

Spain group again on "Gremmy" night.

Me with my girls from home on Summer Staff! Tsenre, Amber, Me & Danea.

Jeremy with two High Rollers, Kyle and "Zach Ephron"

Jeremy & Zach Ephron

Me and Kristi on Rock Star night!

Kristi and Aidin!

Week One Is Over!!!

Hey guys,
Week one ended today and it is very bitter sweet. We had an awesome group here with kids from Colorado, Arizona, Las Vegas, California, and a group from SPAIN! This week I had an opportunity to share a little bit about my life in front of the entire camp during an event we called best day/worst day. It was a very spiritually and emotionally draining experience but went well. I cried through the entire thing but kids really got a good idea of what my best and worst days were. After I shared my story, I had a three leaders ask if I would join thier cabin times. This was so exciting. The first group we had the opportunity to hang out with was a group of girls from central phoenix. Because it was an entire group of girls, Kayla was able to meet the goup of girls with me. This was humbling because I very rarely have the opportunity to talk to large groups of girls about faith, forgiveness and grace. These girls were excited to know that, even though my life was very difficult at time, Gods grace has always been bigger.

The next cabin time we were able to sit in was with the group from Spain. This was the most unique and best experience I have had since coming on to young life staff over three years ago. It was amazing to see that the kids from Spain connected with my story. My favorite part was when I told them my last name. . . it sounds silly but when they found out that my last name was spanish, they got wide eyed and were really excited. They said they knew a lot of people with that last name where they are from. I think a couple of the girls might have had little crushes on me and the guys always wanted to hang out. I felt very encourage and loved by this group. At the same time, my heart broke for them. Where they come from, christianity is seen as an outdated tradition. During their cabin time, a couple of them said that they would be christians if they knew that there would be other christians where they live. It was really sad to hear them say this.

The last cabin time didn't ever happen but the girl that wanted to meet up with me found me before she left and she said that I was a big inspiration to her and that I made being a Christian look different than she had seen before. She said that hearing my story made her think that God could use her to do big things one day. I got teary eyed and, broke the Young Life rule and gave this girl a hug. She was very sweet and her words were some that I hope I never forget.

This week was amazing but now its time to gear up for Young LIVES. Care takers arrive tomorrow and the teen moms get here the following day.

Before I sign off, I just want to commend my wife for all her love and hard work this week. She has been my hiding place away from the business and has also stepped up in making sure I'm doing ok. She's the best. I'm a lucky man. God is good.

IN HIS GRIP-JEREMY

Day 8, i think....

Hey Guys,

Sorry we haven't posted in  a few days, we have been super busy!

So to give you an update on the devil mouse. She ended up getting loose in the club room and snuck into Jeremy and Will's dressing room while they were changing! They had to catch it this time and were probably half clothed while doing it! Ha! Kristi and I laugh about it because it was us with the stupid thing in the car and then our husbands in the dressing room. :o) She (the mouse) was a hit last night though when there was a game where the Jonas Brothers (the werewolf characters) put her in a kids mouth!!! Ha! 

As far as camp goes, it has been fantastic. The capernum kids have been amazing. There is a boy with down syndrome named Sean, but he goes by the name "Zach Effron" (high school musical hottie) that absolutely LOVES Jeremy! He follows him around and blows kisses to him from the audience. Its so cute. 

On the pool games day, there is a synchronized swimming challenge. In one of the groups there were kids from all areas, including a high roller. (The one I mentioned that could not walk or control any of his limbs except to put his leg behind his head :o) They included him in the number and did awesome! The boys would lift him above their heads and then dunk him in the water and for the final finale, they lifted him by his arm pits and legs and it looked like he was flying. The smile on his face was indescribable. 

The kids from Spain have been completely loving it here too and want to know everything that the Americans know. However, they make fun of the spanish that people speak here :o). One of them asked Jeremy, "Why does your spanish speakers say 'way'? They say, Que Pasa Way. What does that mean?" Jeremy thought that was hilarious because it is so true! New Mexico spanish speakers through 'way' in all the time. Ha. Its foreign to the spain kids. 

Our kids from Albuquerque that are working here on work crew and summer staff are doing amazing. We have Denae, Tsenre, Amber, Hope, Desi, Skyler, Cody, Ryle, Laura and I think that is it. But they are great and are enjoying serving the Lord. Be praying for their month. A few of them did a skit called, "Life House Skit" look it up on you tube, its an amazing skit. They were fantastic and had me bawling through it. I was so proud of them. For another prayer request, Hope, one of my girls, had a seizure the other day. She hasn't had one in a few months so it was kind of odd to have one now. So please be praying for her to not have anymore.

Last night was Oprah. Each skit that we have put on this past week were all tied together in this one, long play of sorts. It went AMAZING! I have never attended an oprah where the crowd NEVER stops cheering. Especially during Jeremy and I's twilight skit. Holy cow, they love that thing! At the end we had a surprise kiss to finally have our characters fall in love after a long week of pick up lines and failed attempts at flirting. The house  went nuts!!!!

Anywho, we will update again soon. These next few days wont be as busy and we will be getting ready for YOUNG LIVES! Bring on the teen moms and babies!

Love you all!

Kayla

OMG Funniest Memory Award

So super funny story for ya.

Kristi (Will's wife) and I decided to go to Flagstaff after lunch today. We had to run a few errands for people and get some walkie talkies from best buy. Along with the errands, we had to make a stop at the pet store to buy a little white feeder mouse for a skit. We buy the little mouse and get on our way heading back to Williams. About five minutes into our drive on the highway I look down and see this little white mouse and its blood red eyes starring up at me on the tip of my shoe!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Somehow the stupid mouse got out! 

At this point, I look up and see the road sign that says, "Williams 27 miles". I try to coax the mouse back into its box but that doesn't work out so well and she ends up crawling into the dash of Kristi's car from the floor board!! I thought for sure it was going to crawl across in the dash and come out right on Kristi's foot. Her and I are laughing so hard that I cant catch my breath and we're freaking out over this stupid mouse. Kristi continued to drive, picking up speed to hurry and get this thing out of here and I finally get the mouse back in the box by grabbing its tail (gagging the whole time)... PHEW! but then.....

 I see the mouses little face come out of a mouse size hole it had chewed in the side of the box!!! WHAT THE HECK CRAZY MOUSE!! So I quickly put the box and the escaping mouse into a shopping bag. No sooner do I get the bag tied that I see its evil little teeth bitting through the bag! By this point its just stressful and not so funny... Well still pretty funny. So Kristi reaches back behind her seat and finds a trash bag and I hurry to stick the mouse, its box and the grocery bag full of items all inside of the garbage bag! We think its all ok from there, but its not. The possessed mouse starts clawing and biting the thick black bag. I am watching its every move and every time I see a piece of the bag get bittin, I would slowly move my foot to where the mouse was chewing and... KICK IT! We decided at this point that the trauma to the head or suffocation was ok with us. 

Once we finally got off the exit in Williams, about 20 minutes later, the bag had stopped moving. Oh crap..... Kristi and I just kind of look at each other and say, "Is it dead? Did it stop breathing? We killed it!" Just then Kristi says, "Listen" and turns up the radio. At the exact moment we thought the mouse had suffocated, the song by Jordan Sparx, "No Air" started playing. The lyrics were calling out to us saying, "But how, do you expect me to live alone with no air, air, can't live, cant breath with no air". Great we are horrible people!

We finally get to camp and tell the guys to have the cage ready for the devil. Once they open all the bags up and find the mouse they put her in the cage. and what does she do, escapes! Crazy mouse... After contemplation of letting the stupid mouse run free in the forest we decided to just put her in a huge tupperware packing tub and hope she sticks around. 

After a four hour trip that should have taken 1, it was very stressful but a really good laugh that we wont forget! Dang Mouse.

A few pictures of kids!

Look at the excitement on these kids faces!

He had is cowboy hat and kept throwing it around while he was dancing! So cool!

Day 4; Welcoming of kids

Hey Guys,

Quick update on how the welcome went... AMAZING!

Jeremy and Will along with Jon (another program guy) did such an awesome job being in character for about three hours straight! They welcomed 9 different areas to camp including 1 capernum group called "The High Rollers". 

Now Capernum is completely new to me and I have never experienced having them at camp. If you don't know what that is, it is a group of kids who are special needs or handicapped. When their vans pulled up and the doors started flying open, I was in absolute tears! Three high school boys with down syndrome ran out of their vans onto the stage area and started dancing their buns off! Another kid who is not able to walk, speak or control his limbs actually leapt out of one of the vans into the arms of Sean McGever, the camp speaker! He luckily caught him and greeted the kid telling him how happy we are to have him here. Even though their were no words spoken from this kid, the look on his face and the shaking of his body in McGevers arms showed how incredibly excited he was!!! I could not contain myself! I had to actually walk away to stop crying and catch my breath! 

God is already doing so much in this place and is going to change these 450 kids lives this week, I know it! Please be praying for them and for all of us. 

Love you all!

*Kayla

Hey Guys!!

This is my first time posting anything on this blog but it looks like Kayla has done a good job with the updates. I have already been pretty busy running around, practicing and acting crazy in front of a ton of perfect strangers so I think that we're on the right track to having a really FUN month here at Lost Canyon. I would love it if you could PRAY for my voice. I haven't even been here for 24 hours and I'm already feelin the strain. Also, today was so reaffirming in a couple of ways. One was that while I was sitting out in front of the massive camp dining hall waiting for my cue, I had about ten minutes to lookout over the lake and watch the water move and the sun start to fall. It was amazing. I was praying for the skit and God let me know that what Kayla and I are doing here at Lost Canyon is perfect. He wouldn't have us anywhere else in the whole world. Serving HIM by walking alongside of kids and leaders is his desire for us in our lives right now. Another cool thing was, tonight I got to sit and watch 8 albuquerque kids and leaders from my club worship their creator in preparation for a long month of service. WOW! God is good! How refreshing it can be to see hard work pay off.

**PRAYER REQUEST**

MAJOR PRAYER REQUEST!

Hey again,

So we found out just a little while ago that here at camp the sewer is really messed up. Guys from a pumping place have been working all day on it and have not been able to get the mechanical problem fixed. If this does not get fixed by tomorrow morning, we may have to turn kids away and postpone camp. THAT WOULD BE AWFUL!!! So please, PRAY PRAY PRAY for the sewer to be fixed and for camp to begin tomorrow with no hang ups or problems. Thanks.

Day 3; Day 1 of camp

Wowzers. Who knew that being a spouse could be so exhausting! 

After Jeremy's early morning meeting, we got out of the hotel around noon today to head to camp. Once at camp we unpacked into our awesome house and began getting settled in. For Jeremy the practicing, costume rehearsals, meetings and stressing began immediately. For me, I had wife duty of unpacking ALL of our stuff and wow did we bring a lot! After rearranging our room and adding some extra comfy bedding to our little full size bed, our room was complete and I accomplished my task for the afternoon. :o) Let me tell you though, this downsizing from a king size bed to a full for the next month might just kick our butts! 

Our first night in the hotel, at 3am, I asked Jeremy to move to the other queen bed that was in our room. :o) Then last night in the middle of the night, he voluntarily moved to it. We don't have that option here. Its funny because if we were still dating, we wouldn't care if we were on a couch or love seat even, we could snuggle and nap all day. NOW---- "Scoot over Jeremy!", "Kayla, stop touching me with your feet", "Move to the other bed", HA, Do those conversations make us an old married couple? Oh well, thats our bed for the month. Let the cuddling begin! :o)

As for expectations, it isn't so far what I expected. I am having so much fun! The assignment team has four bikes assigned to our house and Tyler Davis (a friend of ours on ATeam) and I took off on a couple of these bikes and just rode around all day. He is a son of the camp director so is considered one of the 19 children in the house. However, after the many comments from people today making fun of me, they are taking me off the spouse list and adding me to the list of kids as well. :o) Jeremy makes fun of us saying we are like little kids just riding around the neighborhood all day. 

Anywho, it has been a long tiring day. Ill blog next time I have the chance. Miss you all!

Blog ya later,

*Kayla

Day 2

We made our way from Flagstaff to Willams today. We are staying in another hotel until tomorrow when we can head up the hill to camp and move into our house! Jeremy and Will worked all morning and afternoon tying up any loose ends on program while I took a walk to a truck stop for breakfast and then tanned by the pool while shopping online from my ipod. Could life be any better? Tanning AND shopping all at the same time!? Just kidding. 

Once we arrived in Williams we met up with most of the other people on assignment and all their kiddos! We are definitely noticed here at the hotel with a handful of kids running up and down the halls and pushing the juice buttons in the lobby area. :o) They are all super cute and everyone we have met and will be working with this month seem really nice! 

Thats it for now, blog soon.

*Kayla

Lost Canyon, here we come!

This is where we will be living for the next month with all of the other families that are on assignment. There will be 19 kids under the age of 9 running around this place! Crazy, right!? 

Young Life Assignment

Last year Jeremy found out that he would be doing program on a Young Life assignment this summer at Lost Canyon camp. Jeremy could have been called to do program any other summer, but God has truly picked the perfect summer for it. I just graduated and am fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to come with him for the month. That may not be the case in the future. This month is all in his hands and he has been preparing it for us and all that will experience it for a long time now. After many months of praying, planning, traveling, practicing, shopping and stressing, the time has come! 

We arrived in Flagstaff, AZ today where Jeremy and Will (another program guy) are hard at work trying on their best rock star outfits and picking the perfect booty shakin' hip hop song to welcome kids to camp. We will head to camp on Friday to get set up in our home for the month and get ready to welcome the 500 kids for this next weeks session.

At camp, Jeremy will be involved in all of the skits that are performed! Now, this isn't just one or two skits a day. Every event that takes place at camp is introduced by one of the skits and MC'd by the characters throughout the day. Somehow, I got talked into playing "Bella" for the Twilight skit each night. Uh oh! AND-- Ill have to sing on one of the nights each week! Not my style for sure. But its all for the Glory of God, right? So I'll do it with a smile on my face. :o)

I am planning on keeping our blog updated every few days, if not daily. We would love for you to follow it and see what we are doing for the month and how God is working in not only our lives, but hundreds of kids lives as well!

We would really appreciate prayers throughout the next month for our health, kids' health, program to go smoothly and for me to not miss my mom too much :o) Thanks for the support you all give! 

Blog ya later,

Kayla

ps. To find out more about Young Life and the camp we are at you can visit http://sites.younglife.org/camps/LostCanyon/default.aspx