the trip.

So this will be the very condensed version of my five day trip because it is 11:46 pm and I have been sitting in a van for the last thirteen hours and all I want to do is SLEEP.

Saturday we served in the early service, attended the late service and then met in the volunteer lounge for dinner that Cadre made us. We were told where to put our bags, where to sit on the bus, but not where we were actually going. We drove all through the night, barely sleeping on and off, and were SO ready to be done driving once we saw the signs for Tennessee and finally someone blabbed that they knew we were staying in TN. I was kind of mad that the secret had been blown, but still just excited to be done riding in the van. After a few hours of winding through the mountain roads in TN, Justin randomly turned the van into the steep driveway up to Ocoee White Water Rafting . We were all so confused at why we were at a white water rafting place at 7 am, especially since we were the only people there. No customers, no owners, no employees, nothing. We got out of the van and stood around awkwardly for a while, played a few rounds of "Thumper" and "Ninja" (essential 24/7 games), and waited for direction from Justin. He finally told us that we were in fact going rafting, not just using the parking lot, and we FLIPPED. Rafting was awesome, definitely the best of the three times I've been.

We were given the time to shower, eat lunch, and hang out a little before loading back up into the vans. After another hour or two of driving through the winding roads, Justin made another completely random stop on the side of the road, this time in the grass right next to a bridge. He just turns around and says, "Hey guys, if you want to go cliff diving get changed into your bathing suits and head up there with me in five minutes." I thought he was kidding! I had just fallen asleep and seriously thought he was joking. But a few other girls and I changed into our suits in the other van and headed up the mountain across from the bridge. I think I heard someone say the jump was over 35 feet! It was exhilarating! Most of us had never gone cliff diving before, but it was so impromptu and adventurous that we LOVED it!! I loved it so much that I jumped three times! :)

We then drove to a standard campground and set up our tents. We spent the night playing frisbee, a few more rounds of Thumper and Ninja, roasting hot dogs on the fire, and making s'mores. It was a pretty decent night, as far as camping goes. We woke up at 6:30 the next morning and were shouted at to get the campsite completely packed and cleaned up and be loaded in the vans with our hiking clothes, breakfast, lunch, and filled water bottles in ten minutes. Cadre told us that something had gone wrong with the campsite reservation and we had to be out of there immediately and find a different campsite to stay at for the next night. Discouraged, we rode up in our team sports uniforms to Mount Leconte, wondering what our agenda would be. Obviously, we wouldn't just be hiking because our motto is, "If it was easy, it wouldn't be 24/7." At the base of the mountain we were told that each team would have a cot ( two long poles supporting a long piece of mesh between them) that would hold one teammate at a time, whom we would carry up the entire mountain. Every ten minutes a different teammate would jump onto the cot and the order of teammates riding the cot that we initially picked (heaviest to lightest) had to stay the same for the duration of the hike. So for 5.1 miles, my team and I carried on our shoulders that cot holding one of our teammates. HARDEST THING I'VE EVER DONE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. We were literally crying out in pain by the second half, and even the strongest guys in my group were begging for help from any of us because they were literally too weak to continue. It was an incredible team building exercise, though! The view from the top of the mountain was gorgeous, and the entire hike back down (without the cots, thank the Lord) I couldn't stop thinking, "We carried our teammates up ALL THIS." It was incredible; the hike down seemed to last forever. Apparently it took us all of four hours to reach the top of the mountain, and I'm sure it took at least one hour to get back down.

Driving to what we assumed would be another campsite, the group was still positive but completely exhausted. Justin turned the van up into a steep driveway right off the main road, which I know from my experiences in TN that means there are houses or cabins at the top. Sure enough, we pull up alongside the most gorgeous cabin at the top of the hill, and two older 24/7 girls are standing on the balcony on the second floor. Again, WE FLIPPED. We were crying we were so happy. We had a surge of energy despite our ridiculously difficult hike just hours earlier as we ran screaming through every room of the cabin, shouting things like, "WE CAN SHOWER!", "THERE'S A GAME ROOM AND A MOVIE THEATER!", and "OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!" I don't know if I've ever been so overwhelmed with happiness in my life!!

And what's more: the fridge was filled with SODA. We've been on an all water diet (meaning no soda, juice, etc.) and at the cabin we had all the soda we could ever want and coffee for breakfast!! Emily (Justin's assistant) made us each meal, including lasagna with salad, eggs and cinnamon rolls, and tacos! We spent all our time in the cabin watching football, hanging out in one of the two hot tubs, swimming in the indoor pool, playing in the game room (equipped with air hockey, pool, Galaga, and more), and watching movies in the fully equipped movie theater with at least 15 reclining bucket seats.

Tuesday we hung around Gatlinburg for a few hours, then went back to the cabin to hang out some more. Then Justin told us we were going to have a prayer and worship night and that Cadre would be washing each of the students' feet, just as Jesus washed those of the disciples. Their act of serving us by washing our feet was so humbling and moving, something I've never experienced before. We spent hours in prayer and worship, encouraging each other, singing and journaling, and enjoying the presence of God as we worshipped him in the beautiful cabin He provided us. Lives were changed for sure!!

Then this morning we got to sleep in until 8, and began the day with a Q&A with Justin about things like the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues or prophesying, committing to one church, discernment, and a whole load of other things. Then Justin opened the living room doors as we began our morning of prayer and worship, and if we wanted, we could go out onto the balcony and worship. Some stayed inside, but I couldn't resist going out to the balcony and thanking God for providing such a beautiful cabin, with a view of the rolling hills and trees for miles and miles from where I was standing. We were so sad to have to leave that beautiful place, but excited for what God has in store for us back in Florida!

Now, after the longest drive in the world, we are back at our home sponsors, and I have an 8am wake-up tomorrow. Good night! (Or should I say, good morning!)

And by the way, happy birthday to me! :)

the expedition begins!

Today has been SO great so far! Of course, any day without a workout is a great day.

We started off at the church for morning prayer at 7am, so we got to sleep in a little. Prayer and worship rocked, and we prayed for all of the people affected by the 9/11 attacks. In rememberence of this day nine years ago, the 24/7 students and some Bayside volunteers prepared and packed lunches for about 15 fire and police stations around Manatee County to thank them for their services and to bless their day! Two of my friends and I were assigned the EMS unit off of Manatee Memorial hospital, where we brought four lunches of chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, chips, fruit salad, and water bottles to the team. After getting through several different rooms in the hospital and passing by several very confused doctors, nurses, and security guards, we found the room where the EMS was sitting. Apparently, they had no idea we were coming today, but they accepted the food and even let us bless their lunches for them! My friend Cody who was with me wanted to be in charge of the blessing so that he could sneak some prayers for protection and awareness of the Holy Spirit in there :) It went well, though, and the two members of the team that we met with seemed generally grateful and surprise that a couple of kids drove to personally deliver a homemade lunch for them and thank them for their service.

When we got back to the church, we were immediately dismissed so that we could go back to our host homes and pack for our trip tonight. My instructions were to pack the few items that were on the list we were given two days ago and be ready at the church with my 24/7 weekend clothes and my bags at 3:30. I'm assuming that we'll be serving in the church services tonight, then hitting the road! Wish me luck on my mysterious journey, keep my team and I in your prayers, and I will write again hopefully as soon as we get back! (By the way, I have no idea when that will be, so it could be days before my next post.)

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

day four (part two)

Since my last post the day has absolutely turned into the best day ever! I feel like I'll be saying that every day of this program because the way I am already seeing God moving is blowing my mind!

So to recap what went on this afternoon:

First, we had a debate with Pastor Matt Moore, who is the Fusion (middle school) pastor. What an awesome man of God he is, just as all the other pastors at Bayside are. He broke us up into four teams, each with a different side of a debate which we were to research online, look up in scripture, and use our personal views and beliefs to support. The two debates were "Why speeding is a sin/not a sin" and "Why leaders in the church should/should not be able to drink alcohol". My group was assigned "Why speeding IS a sin" which is SO CRAZY because I was literally just thinking about how I felt about it this morning as I drove to the Y! Weird coincidence or God preparing me for the day? Who knows? ;) We had a blast debating our topics and getting fired up in the moment as well as listening to the other teams trying their hardest to win the debate. At the end we mostly all agreed that both issues have certain boundaries or exceptions for different people or situations, but it was so fun having such heated debates! It was a great way to channel any frustration we've been harboring from our workouts or team times into a positive activity.

Next, we sat through a sort of orientation for A.C.M.E. (stands for "All Children May Enter") which is the children's ministry at Bayside for newborns up till 5th grade. We got to tour all of the ACME classrooms, playroom, special areas, and Pastor Jason even let us slide down the massive slides! :) We totally wished we were all back in elementary school again.

After that was when the awkwardness started. We kept being told we were going to do something at a certain time, then 5 minutes later the activity and time changed. Then 5 minutes after that the time and place changed again. We were all thinking to ourselves two questions: Why isn't anything planned for us right now? And if there aren't any plans for us now, why can't we just go home and chill with our home sponsors? But it turns out that 24/7 has more student-caused drama than I would have expected, so Justin was meeting with the student leaders while he stalled us until he was ready to talk to the whole group. So while we were stalling, Justin played us an AWESOME video sermon from Pastor Craig Groeschel called "The Making of a Man of God" about Elijah. This sermon literally rocked our worlds.

We saw yet another example today of how God works in such mysterious ways. This sermon was an impromptu, random solution to a time issue Justin had, and this was not what was planned for us today. But instead of this afternoon being a wasted hour watching a boring sermon video and discussing the message, we learned so much and were laughing so hard at Pastor Craig's ridiculous analogies and weird facial expressions. The message was about being unconditionally obedient to God's will for your life, going through isolated pain and truly hitting rock bottom, and finding out later that all of the things you've been through have led you to this right place at the right moment for a specific reason. It truly touched everyone watching it, especially two people who broke down into tears because this was the exact message they needed to hear today. God is so amazing!!

In short, the message was from 1 Kings 17 and Elijah was told by God to drop everything and move to a place called the Kerith Ravine, where he would be isolated and suffer. Elijah was nervous but immediately obeyed and though he suffered much, God provided a brook for Elijah to drink from though the land all around him had not seen water for a long time. God commanded the ravens to bring bread and meat to Elijah each morning and each night. This taught Elijah to see that though God didn't give him a year's supply of food or above and beyond what he could want, God DID provide him what he needed each day, day by day. This is how God works! Then the brook dried up and God sent Elijah to live with a widow with a son that she could barely provide for. He commanded the woman to make herself, her son, and Elijah food and promised that her flour and oil would not dry up until the rain fell again and each day she had enough to get through that day, then the next. Suddenly, her only son died and Elijah prayed to the Lord to raise the boy from the dead and He did just that. The main point of this story is that if Elijah had not been so obedient to God, he wouldn't have done all the things he did to lead him to that house where he raised that boy from the dead.

So when it says in James 1:2 "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds", do it! God builds you up, then breaks you down, and the cycle begins again. Each time through the cycle you come out stronger, more faithful, more passionate, more focused on God than you were before. And God's plan will lead you to do amazing things in your life!!

I can only hope that God will show me more and more of these revelations throughout this program and the rest of my life.

The rest of the day went quickly. We met with Justin for a while to address some issues and some changes to our daily routines that will be made permanent....AFTER OUR TRIP.

WE'RE GOING ON A TRIP!! All I know is the temperatures of where we're going so that we can dress accordingly and the items I need to bring, which include a head lamp, weightlifting gloves, a poncho, a sleeping bag, and a couple other sketchy items. We leave sometime Saturday night and I have no clue where we're going or when we'll get back! YAY FOR ADVENTURES!!

But I have to go to sleep now, I have a big weekend ahead of me!

day four.

Last night the Epic Hoedown Throwdown was so awesome! We had over 450 kids come out in their craziest redneck gear to bash an old car and tv, compete to win an iPad, root on the lawnmower racers, and listen to Charles' message. I think one of the things I love the most is not only seeing young people worshipping, but seeing the ones you don't expect worshipping with all their hearts (even in crazy clothes and makeup). I love the Epic kids so much because you look around during worship or prayer and people of different ages, cliques, backgrounds, races, etc. are all coming together for a single purpose: to praise and glorify God. Last night ROCKED!

Today was team sports day...YESSSSS! We played flag football, which I had never really learned how to play before, so it was definitely a learning experience. But after playing each of the other teams (3 games total) I started to figure out what the rules were and how to play the right way, so it was awesome. It was still definitely a workout, but a much different kind than we have been doing every day so I appreciated switching it up. And surprisingly, mostly everyone played with good integrity and sportsmanship (that's what's so nice about playing with all Christian guys and girls: everyone is accountable for their actions and is trying their hardest to play fair).

So now we're getting ready to have class with Pastor Matt Moore. Not exactly sure what to expect but I'm sure his message will be awesome!

3 words to describe me today:

SORE. SORE. SORE.

It's ridiculous just how sore your muscles can get! You have a super intense workout and expect to wake up the next morning with a few aches in pains. Now multiply that by THREE unbelievably intense workouts with no day to rest in between and you get what I'm feeling right now, which is constant aching and soreness in every muscle of my body. The only muscles that weren't hurting when I woke up this morning were my upper abs but today's workouts changed that real quick.

So going back to yesterday, a little recap of what we did was we met at the Y at 6:30 (slept in!) and the girls did laps in the pool for 30 minutes straight with minimum resting. Then we did a 30 minute version of a cycling class, then weightlifting or optional cardio for another 45 minutes. When we were done, we got on the floor in the gym and did a 7-step ab workout twice. Even though every new exercise we do is what I would consider the hardest thing I've ever done, yesterday's workouts were ideal. Super hard, but possible.

Today, on the other hand, we started the morning off with Consequence Time (CT) for people who failed the scripture memory test yesterday. This means we had to meet at the church at 5:30am, an hour before our initial call time, to walk laps around the church for an hour. It wasn't hard, it was just annoying for the people who passed the test and still had to do the CT. Since one person from each team falied, they just made everyone do it. But it was actually fun! The majority of our time was spent watching for falling stars, speaking in horrible british accents, and singing butchered versions of our favorite Disney songs. After morning prayer, we jogged a half-mile to warm up and then did more ab workouts (gag) and did the "plank" position for 2 minutes while they quizzed us on the Code. Then we ran 2 miles and were timed (double gag). I am so horrible at running, I hope we do NOT have to run tomorrow. But overall, today and yesterday's workouts weren't completely horrible! :)

Yesterday we had our leader's meeting for Venue, which is the new college and 20-somethings service that will be held weekly in the youth auditorium every Tuesday, starting September 21st. This is an extremely cool ministry where 24/7 gets to lead rather than serve, so we'll be doing all the tech/sound/lights, creative directing, planning, worship, and other things pertaining to running the service. We went out yesterday to the Sarasota campus of USF to promote the Venue by meeting kids through cornholeing, but there were literally like 7 people on campus and I think all or most of them were teachers so the whole several hours were spent cornholeing by ourselves in the boiling hot sun in dark jeans and T-shirts. But today we had our first 24/7 meeting to plan the Venue and the service is coming together so nicely! It's seriously going to be awesome! :)

So at the moment I am in Volunteer Central at Bayside during our 3 1/2 hour block of time for school. But since 3 other people and I are doing the "sinner's classes" (joke!) we are alone in this room for all that time doing schoolwork, but most of us don't have too much to do so this few hours ROCKS.

All I gotta say is: 2 leather couches, 1 VERY tired 24/7 student. I'm gonna go sleep when I finish my homework for the day so I'm out! :)

the first day

One thing I can say in total confidence about 24/7 is that they do not ease you into anything.

The morning started off with prayer and worship at 6am, which was really enjoyable and put all of us in the right mindset to do the many, MANY physically strenuous activities we did today. Morning prayer ended at 7am, and we were all sent outside to immediately start a timed mile run, so that the leaders could record our time and compare it to the times in the following months. We also were instructed to do as many push-ups as possible in two minutes, then as many sit-ups as possible in two minutes. Our numbers were recorded, and apparently, these tests will be done the first of every month to see how we improve throughout the duration of the program.

After our so-called "warmup" we did a three mile run around the church (6 laps around the entire church) as a group while doing "indian sprints". For those of you who are like me and don't know what indian sprints are, they are when the group runs in a single file line and the person in the very back sprints as fast as they can to the front of the line and the cycle continues for the entire three miles. It was KILLER, and several of us struggled pretty bad, but we all completed the run, so that's something!

Then we were given one hour to go shower and come back to the church dressed in quality but casual attire for a "class", which was basically a Q&A with Justin about anything we didn't understand in the handbook. Later, we were given another hour to get lunch and come back to the church dressed in our team sports uniforms. Little did I know that we would be doing more strenuous activities for twice as long as we just did this morning.

We did several team building exercises, some as a large group, some in our individual teams. The exercises focused on communication, though during most of our activities we weren't allowed to talk, and five push-ups were the consequence for each peep from us. (Thanks to an extremely opinionated and slightly oblivious girl in my group, the whole group did around 50 pushups in addition to the ones we did earlier this morning.) The activities also focused on strategy, teamwork, patience, careful observation, leadership and submission to leaders. But the activities we did in our individual groups were by far the best!

Each team had to complete four different exercises, each timed, and the group with the best combined time would be given some sort of advantage for an event we're doing next week. One activity was the seven of us pushing the 24/7 van a half-mile, and another was a slightly more difficult version of the "the floor is lava" game we all played when we were kids. Another one we did involved jumping, riding piggyback on a teammate, or walking on thin boards to get to checkpoints. The checkpoints were either picnic tables where all of us had to fit on half of one bench (nearly impossible!), or tiny pieces of carpet that all seven of us had to be standing on in order to move on. We did a lot of "snuggling" as we called it, which was extremely close contact and some required groping and pulling on your teammates to stay upright.

But the most amazing activity was our next-to-last one which was four tall, skinny poles arranged to make a square, with a rope tied round it about five feet off the ground. The exercise was for all seven of us to make it out of the square by exiting OVER the rope. This meant that we did a lot of throwing our teammates into the air, jumping or climbing on each other, and three-tiered piggybacks. Somehow we all did it but when there was one teammate left alone inside the square, we all wondered how he would get out. My teammate (who is about my height) literally high-jumped horizontally over the five foot above ground rope and into our arms, making us the fastest team to complete the challenge.

Our combined time was 43 minutes for all four activities, while the other teams finished in 52 and 53 minutes, meaning my team WON and gets the advantage next week!

So, now that I'm basically dead as you could imagine from what I've been through today, I'm studying up on my scripture and 24/7 Code memorization for my test tomorrow, then PASSING OUT. No idea how I'll get out of bed tomorrow when every muscle in my body aches.

And today was only the first day.

in the beginning...

I had QUITE the busy weekend!

To start off, Friday was Orientation. The parents had a Q&A with Justin while the first year students were briefed on what to expect in the coming months. We were given two 24/7 shirts and our team uniforms (24/7 shorts and a underarmor shirt in a specific color). I am on the grey team, which means that my team will be playing against the two other first year teams with red or black shirts and the "Cadre", or leaders, in white shirts when we do team sports. Is it just me or does it sound pretty awesome that within the subgroups of first year students and the Cadre, we will have our own teams for playing sports? I'm so pumped for team sports days! We were given a Student Handbook which basically covers all the rules I outlined in one of my previous entries.

One thing that I was surprised to learn from our handbook was that for every movie we watched (no rated R movies though) we are required to write a paper on the summary of the movie and three spiritual principles discussed in the movie. Guess that means I won't be watching too many movies for the next year!

Saturday was Family Fun Day at the (gorgeous!) clubhouse in Waterlefe. Since the sky decided to open up throughout the entire time frame of the party, the students, parents, and home sponsors mostly stayed inside and got to know each other while munching on Chick-fil-A. Saturday night was my last night to stay with my family before truly moving into my host home.

Then today was my sort of farewell party with my whole family, which gave me a chance to say goodbye to the people that I won't have the fortune to spend as much time with during the next several months as I am used to. The goodbye-ing was much harder than I thought it would be because my family is all so close, in our relationships and in location. I am definitely going to miss my family (immediate and extended) for the duration of 24/7 but this experience will not only teach my to be independent but also to appreciate the closeness of my family even more than I already do. But I can't wait to show my family the woman I will become because of what I will learn from 24/7!

One thing that I thought everyone reading this should know is my weekly Bible verse and monthly quote. I will be required to memorize scripture weekly and an inspirational quote on a monthly basis throughout the duration of 24/7 and I encourage everyone reading this to do it with me! You never know when a passage in the Bible will stick out to you and help you through something you're dealing with.

This week, my verses are Ephesians 5:15-16. "Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

And my monthly quote is from George Washington, focusing on our "God First" theme for the month of September: "My supreme purpose is to please God and to share the light He has given me with others."

Now it's time to turn in, as I have a 5am wake-up call! Tomorrow I will be at morning prayer at Bayside at 6am, then off to the Y to work out with the group for the very first time!!

Keep me in your prayers, everyone! :)