YL Update: A Chronicle of Weekends

I have not been in Chicago for the past 8 weekends. That means that I have a lot of updating to do! The first couple weekends were Guatemala, the next couple New Staff Training, and the last four I spent doing some pretty great things with Young Life.

Weekend One: The day after I returned from NST I took a group of high school juniors and seniors on a WyldLife Leader overnight. The goal of the night: spend time in community and grow in the Lord. I focused the weekend on a message entitled "Story" by Donald Miller. Miller outlines that followers in Christ all have a climactice scene before them: to stand before the Lord and hear the words "well done my good and faithful servant." The question is, how will we get there? What story will we write? We studied the life stories of some of the greats from the Bible--their highs and their lows; we shared our life stories; we rejoiced in a God who works in and through our weaknesses.

Weekend Two: The great humor of Young Life in Chicago is our college leadership weekend. It's called the Leader/Staff Development weekend, aka, LSD. Yes, we go on a yearly LSD trip and can imagine all the jokes that follow. During this weekend the speaker spent his sessions focused on the common denominator between all Christian faiths: the Apostle's Creed. We spent time talking on the beautiful paradox of a triune God and looking at how that nature impacts ministry. Another great weekend.

Weekend Three: 7 to7 on the 7th. That was the catchy name of the 2009 YL All Nighter. The Dark Knight on IMAX at Navy Pier, Young Life club and a dance party at a barn, 2 hours of all access gaming at Game Works in Schaumburg, cosmic bowling, and breakfast. A months worth of fun in one night and I'm still recovering. Actually, any opportunity we have to show kids what fun without alcohol looks like is a really positive experience. And it was that.

Weekend Four: That's this weekend. This weekend I had the privelage of attending my niece Kiersten's first birthday party. She's sweet and it was fun to celebrate her. Noah had his hand in everything, but the day was really Kiersten's. It's amazing to see how much (or little depending on how you look at it) she's grown in the past year, to see her personality show, and to watch how those sibling relationships develop so young!

It's nice to look ahead and NOT have to be gone next weekend. Hopefully will provide some time to rest up after the non stop grind that has characterized 2009.

Guate (only a month late)

I've always bragged that I lived in a global south country and never had "anything" happen to me; this trip set a few things straight. Enjoy the chronicles of (mis)adventure. As you may recall, the time surrounding Christmas was especially blustery. In fine midwestern fashion, it took us 7 hours to travel from GR to Chicago--leaving NO time for me to pack a suitcase. My roommate met us at the highway with a few things and rushed us to the airport. We arrived after Tasha's flight was scheduled to leave, but due to the massive sheet of ice spread over the midwest, we were able to make it out of O'hare.

Our first day in Guate, we headed out to Coban (about 4 hours from the city) in hopes to spend a day enjoying the water at Semuc Champey. The drive went well (minus the scare of being pulled into a police checkpoint--never know what you're going to get there) and we made it to Coban. As we went to book our trip to Semuc, we learned that we needed to pay in cash. No problem, ATM down the road. Unfortunately, that ATM decided to consume my card...yes, my only ties to cash were embedded in the bowels of an ATM in Coban, AltaVerapaz, Guatemala. Sweet, right? To add on, no cash=no Semuc. So, the next day we turned around and went back to the city.

Beautiful drive, Great conversation, not a complete loss.

We went out for dinner and decided on Antigua for the next day. That is, until Tasha woke up with her eyes swollen shut! A severe allergic reaction led me to believe we might have to take a trip to the hospital (which are even scarier than the police checkpoints). No need, swelling and bulging went down and we were able to enjoy Antigua with 75% of our vision in tact.

Things started turning around here. The next day we went to the ruins at Mixco Viejo with some friends from school. Mixco Viejo marks the edge of the Spaniards' path of conquering. The ruins were very different from any I'd seen, and I love the histroy. The only downfall of this day was a touch of carsickness from the windy/bumpy roads there. Not bad.


From there on, we were home free. Spent a day in the city market shopping and a day at the spa with pools heated by natural hot springs and cheap massages. Couldn't ask for more! After Tasha left, I spent time catching up with friends from my time in Guate. I got to climb the volcano with the Greene's (YL staff in Guate), navigate through random "ecological parks" with Sherry and Javier, catch up with Trisha (my old roommate), spend a day at school seeing students, help out at soccer practice with the new freshman goalie, and spend time with my dear friend Karina and her super sweet daughter Ily.


All around, it was a great time to be back in the country I love with people who played an extremely important role in my life.