maybe i'll keep doing this.....

so it's christmas break, and i'm back at Hidden Acres after spending a little over a week at home with family.
i've been using this blog simply to do assignments for LAUNCH (the leadership program i'm doing at camp), except for once. in September a long time master science teacher from my high school died, and i posted something on here just to work through some thoughts. i found out over christmas break that someone who i never would have expected to read my blog read that post and found inspiration in something i said. so now i'm thinking, "what if i did that more often? what sort of unknown effect could i have on maybe just one more person?" and i like writing; i feel like i can communicate more effectively by writing and process things better, so this is my attempt at starting to blog regularly. i hope that God uses something i say to touch someone else's life and mine in the process.
i feel that i have to confess that i'm much better at talking the talk than walking the walk (that's Christian talk for doing what you say you're going to, just in case any non Christians are reading this. we have a bad habit of using words only mean something to us, sorry!) for example, in that september blog i said,"i'll admit right out that i've spent my time here on this earth unwisely so far, but i don't want that to continue, and i hope and pray that you'll join me in examining your life and challenging yourself and learning to trust God and chasing after God and cherishing love and your loved ones. but most of all God i pray that i would not continue wasting what you have generously given to me and that i would be able to use your gifts to me to give glory back to you as you created me to." yeah, not much of that really happened in my life. if anything i've been backsliding into some sinful habits and behaviors, but one thing that i've been learning is that GOD DOESN'T CARE. it's not that He doesn't mind when i sin, but it never once affects His love for me. i've been learning that Christians can be just as sinful as non Christians, and it's not my place to judge anyone. my job is to let the love of God flow through me and show Jesus to them. and, God, i pray that you would help me with that!

one more thing; we're doing the Truefaced study in LAUNCH right now, and i would highly reccomend it to anyone. it is a message of hope and grace for the Christian and non Christian alike. God bless you!

Sunstream Retreat Center

today, instead of having class in the morning, we visited Sunstream Retreat Center in Ogden, Iowa. our assignment was to have five questions to ask, but we only have blog about three of them and the answers.

i asked, "what is your focus, is the board or director more in-charge of the center, and when was sunstream founded?"

ok, Sunstream was founded in 1973 because the Assemblies of God church district wanted a conference center in a centrally located.......location, so they wouldn't have to keep changing centers and going to minnesota or missouri.

Sunstream does not have a board, so the director has most of the say in things that go on at the center.

the question about focus was really, "are you more focused on the retreats in the off season (august through may) or summer camp, like hidden acres is?" the answer is that Sunstream is more focused on the retreat season because that is when most of their revenue is brought in. Sunstream does not run camp like we do here; they hire summer staff to run the kitchen, activities, and for maintenance, but they do not plan camps. they play host to whatever group wants to put on a camp, and they just provide the facilities, food, and activities, and the group provides the counselors.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

so my last post was about my values, mission, and vision. and since it's about what we can see ourselves doing, it follows that we should find out what we're good at or what we're cut out to do.

Strengths: working (serving, my spiritual gift), according to Strengths Finder my strengths are: adaptability (or flexibility) belief, harmony, and responsibility. i don't like conflict (harmony), but increasingly i find myself not really minding conflict if it means putting something right that i view as wrong. if i am given a job to do i do feel a moral obligation to finish it and do a good job (responsibility). i am very good at doing different jobs simultaneously, in fact, i work better if i have two or more jobs to alternate working at cause it gives me a break from the monotonousness of doing the same thing over and over (adaptability)

Weaknesses: ticklishness, girls (i'd like a relationship, but God keeps saying no) i'm not really self motivated, i can be incredibly lazy when there's nothing to do, but maybe that's allowed of there's nothing to do,

Opportunities: well, here in America i have the opportunity for an extended education. i have the opportunity this year to study camps and conference centers to see if i could make a life at one.
i also have the opportunity this year and the years to come to learn how to live on my own and handle adult responsibilities......responsibly.......

Threats: my sin nature.......me myself and i. as i'm looking into college for next year about the only thing that will keep it from happening is me and my laziness. unless God says, "NO".

Values, Mission, Vision.......mine!

so we've been talking about organizational structure in class and every organization has to have a clear statement of values, mission and vision. so Brett wants us to write out our values, mission, and vision statements. so, here goes!

Values: I value children, family, friends, and justice.

Mission: My mission is to help people and help them to right the wrongs that have been done to them or have just happened in their lives.

Vision: I can see myself being married and having 3 or 4 kids and running an orphanage or being a foster parent for children who have been abused.