Following the recon, we were able to drive down south near Yakima for a staff retreat to relax, raft, and hike! Instead of relaxing or hiking, all three days I chose to raft the Tieton...pretty cool river! The rivier only runs high enough for rafts for a short amount of time during the end of summer when they let the water go from the dam. It was the first time I was able to practice rowing an oar frame and cat raft, so that was a blast of a challenge!
After our retreat, we dove into two weeks of serving the Seattle King's School 8th grade class. The first week, the ladies joined us on adventure and the second, the boys.
The groups were split into 8-10 kids for each "mentor group" they would be with for the rest of the school year. I partnered with Leslie and had a fantastic time with our ladies. I got to hear their stories. Some of them had and still are fighting battles that I can't imagine going through...let alone in 8th grade! I was encouraged by their joy and laughter and willingness to try hard things that were out of their comfort zone. Here are just a few highlights of the trip:- One gal got to tell me her story of how her brother died from cancer at a young age and her dad's sickness...all with a smile on her face and hope in Jesus who was sustaining her and encouraging her to share His love with others!
- I got to talk with another young lady who struggles with feeling included and loved by her friends, but tries her hardest. I was so encouraged by her willingness to interact with people who didn't necessarily like her...we got to talk about Jesus a whole lot:)
- Every single girl rappelled on rock day! Most of them started the day by thinking they weren't going to do it because it was so scary, but they overcame their fears and we all celebrated afterward! It was amazing to hear their stories about how much that impacted their time.
- We made it to a lake on our hike and all the gals jumped in the freezing cold water...which I was WAYYYY too chicken to do!
Please continue to pray for these ladies as I know some of them have a relationship with Jesus, but some don't have much interest.
The next week was the boy's turn! Because of the raging fires happening all over Washington State and the inversion in the weather, we got smoke out! The night before the trip was supposed to happen, we made the decision that the weather was too unhealthy to bring kiddos over. So what did we do? We brought the adventure to them!
That night, we packed our bags and all the gear and headed out for the west side of the state where the air was fresh and the sun was [mostly] visible! It was a nice change in scenery and refreshing for the guide team to have fresh air to play in:)
We adventured just as we had planned on in a different area which included hiking, rock climbing, and rafting. Since it was the guy's group, I was support staff. This meant that I was assigned to make sure they had all the food and gear they needed and throughout the week, was given roles to help in the guiding realm. I was on the rock for two days at Mt. Erie...beautiful! What an amazing place to climb! And then I guided my first raft all by myself on the Skagit River! I was thrilled. This happened because I am a level 1 guide and the Skagit is a level 1 river. Ya. That pretty much made my summer:)
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