I apologize for the belated blog post. June was quite the month. Speaking of which, where do I begin?
I left beautiful Hawaii for beautiful Colorado on the evening of June 5. By the way, I do feel very blessed when I get to travel between two beautiful places. My trip to Colorado was great, but wasn't the vacation I thought I'd get. The first 10 days I spent solidifying plans for the Colorado trip David was heading up with 17 students and 6 leaders. I was also able to spend a weekend with my beautiful cousin Haley Black (oops actually Haley Hendrickson, doesn't that just roll off the tongue) helping her prepare for the wedding. A moments pause...a little shout out to Haley, Haley you were the calmest bride, by far, that I've ever met the week before and even the day of the wedding. Andrew and Haley Hendrickson were married the evening of June 20, and what a beautiful wedding it was.
"Ready or not, here they come" was my motto on June 16, the day students arrived. Due to the kindness of family and friends, I had gathered 25 sleeping bags and with the help of my mother in law had prepared a small cabin for 11 girls and a Yurt for 11 boys. ( you may be asking what is a yurt? well imagine with me an alien spaceship, put some bunkbeds in it and you have yourself a yurt) It was a miracle that all the kids were able to fit into such a small space, but we only needed these two housing accommodations for sleep purposes only, and they fulfilled their jobs. The trip consisted of Focus on the Family, shopping at the mall, Penny Arcade in Manitou, team building games, night games, Indoor skydiving, scavenger hunt, homeless ministry ice skating...whew let me catch my breath....breath caught, I'll continue...rock climbing, hiking, pool, horseback riding, mini bikes, elitch gardens and boating. But the highlight of the trip for everyone was the Desperation Conference at New Life Church. God rocked all of our boats, and our students experienced God in a new and first hand way.
I've never seen such change in our students. These students came in with division amongst the group, and left with true unity and love for one another understanding "what makes one tick". Some came with an attitude of I'm-a-Christian-because-I-grew-up-in-the-church and left with a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Some came with a timidity and complacency in their faith and left with a fire of passion and boldness to reach the lost. Sunday, June 27, David and I were praying on our own and came together and felt the Lord lay on both of our hearts Acts 2, specifically the idea of baptism. We presented the opportunity to the students to be baptized as a statement of dying to the old self and living in the new representing what Christ did in their hearts on this trip and 9 students decided that once stepping off the plane in Kona, they were going to be baptized in Hilo at Coconut Island in the dark June 30. From what I heard, it was absolutely incredible.
Please continue to pray for us and our students. Anytime you are working to see Jesus transform hearts and minds, it is a battle. And we feel that battle each and every day.
Please pray for David and I. This is a new season for me and work, which is scary since we just increased our housing (moved into a 3 bedroom house) and I don't have a consistent job. God provides...
Love you all,
Kelsey
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