Life at LeaderTreks

SERVING IN PAWLEY’S ISLAND, SC
On the 16 hour drive down to Pawley’s Island two weeks ago I had no idea how God was going to be at work in my heart and the heart of my team. My hope as you continue reading is for God to be at work in your heart as well as you share in this experience. As God continues to teach us what His grace looks like in everyday life, may we learn to extend His grace to even those who we deem undeserving. In reality are we not all undeserving of God’s grace.? Yet He extends it to us, in hope we will do likewise. I pray you may find ways to extend grace to all you may come into contact with each day.
LeaderTreks has led several trips down to the area to restore homes in this poverty stricken area as well as restore broken relationships due to racism. Here is a story of some of the work in progress done by LeaderTreks...
Donella Smith is 24 years old. She has 5 children ages 3, 4, 7, 8 & 10. The father of those children is in prison for abusing the children and their mother. She has spent the last 10 years living in a run-down trailer that is easily 30 years old. It is a two bedroom trailer but one of the rooms is unlivable so all six people live in one bedroom! The trailer was considered condemned living, where no one should be allowed to live in it.
LeaderTreks partners with a local ministry called Nehemiah Project who’s goal is to share the love of Christ in an area where racism is still rather prevalent. They do so by following Christ’s example of not only investing in the spiritual well being of people, but by meeting physical needs as well. Over the past two summers, Christ’s love has been shown through Jr./Sr. Highers’ extensive labor on building them a brand new house. I was blown away by the work accomplished by 12-18 year olds, those who are so often viewed as too young to change the world, have changed the world for Donella and her five children.

THOUGHTFUL R EFLECTIONS...
Many of you have heard of the show Extreme Makeover. In the show, people are chosen for the most part because they have given so much and sacrificed of themselves to this world or even to their own families but have not gotten much in return and so they are finally cashing in so to speak on their good deeds. What we did was completely different and I learned it was never meant to be like that show. Donella wouldn’t qualify for Extreme Home Makeover; she’s made some poor choices and she’s paying for them, she struggles with having the means or even the know how to help herself and her family, not to mention the people around her. So why didn’t we find somebody who has the capacity to do more for the community and their own family, who deserves it more? Well, Donella qualifies for our work because she has intrinsic value. And on the surface, it might seem like Donella’s life isn’t worth very much, but that is not the case at all. The highest price possible was paid in fact for Donella’s life, infinitely high. The Son of God sacrificed himself on a cross so that Donella’s life and her children’s lives might be spared, immediately giving an incredibly high value to her. Donella rose to the surface as somebody in desperate need and God called us to her; not because she has great church attendance, sings in a church choir, or teaches Sunday school and makes few mistakes in life, but because God loves her. And that is where real hope and true grace actually begins. Being loved by God not because of what we have done or accomplished with our lives but because we are His children. Our daily interaction with the Smith family, the conversations we had, the hugs we gave, the labor we poured out only had any permanent impact on the Smith family because it was done in the name of Christ. Without that it doesn’t have the capacity to truly change people’s lives at all.

May this story of God’s grace truly challenge us to seek opportunities to share His grace in all of our relationships.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING…
As we have been out of the office a lot lately my training has been very experiential. Once again holding true to the LeaderTreks philosophy of Principles + Experience= Transformational Change. Throughout our time in Pawley’s Island, my eyes were opened to another aspect of leading trips. Logistics are not something we tend to get excited about but are an essential part of running a successful trip. Realizing how prepared I must be as far as running a worksite, getting materials needed on time, being several steps ahead of the students, recognizing the
greatest need of the team of students, discerning the balance between challenge and encouragement, and seeking partnership with the youth pastor can be overwhelming to take in all at once. However, the training of principles as well as gradually taking on more and more responsibility in each experience is truly preparing me for transformational change in the lives of students as well as my own life. Recently I was informed I will be leading my first trip in February with all responsibility minus the work site. Excitement, anticipation, and a continued
desire to pursue God for strength encompass my thoughts as training continues.

STAFF RECRUITING TRIPS...
We are in the midst of recruitment season. On a surface level it looks like long car rides to various universities, lots of fast food, being gone for half of the week, and a busy schedule of speaking in classes. There is so much more going on! Our staff team is bonding as we have an over-abundance of time together. While it is often easy to get irritable on long road trips and constant travel, instead we are engaging in deep challenging conversation, lots of laughter, and shared memories. As far as recruiting goes a continued excitement for the ministry of LeaderTreks especially among college students grows within each of us. If you have spent anytime talking with me about LeaderTreks, I am sure you already have heard how transformational it has been in my life and in the lives of students. As I look at taking more responsibility in the recruitment process I am excited to share this opportunity for transformational change. In the next few weeks we will continue to travel to Cedarville, Indiana
Wesleyan, Huntington, and Moody. If you know of any college students, recent graduates, or anyone who may be interested in LeaderTreks, please contact me! I would love to give them more information about the work God is doing in and though LeaderTreks.

CONSIDER JOINING THE MINISTRY OF LEADERTREKS...
Over-emphasizing the need for prayer within the ministry of LeaderTreks is not possible. We know God ultimately is the one at work and is simply using us to advance His kingdom. Without Him our work is in vain. As we look to our current and future ministry, God must consistently be at the center of our lives. For those of you who are already praying on a regular basis, thank you so much! God is very much at work! If you would like to join my ministry at LeaderTreks in prayer please email me and let me know!
Right now there are eight full-time staff at LeaderTreks. We are at a time were recruitment is incredibly important. You can partner with LeaderTreks by spreading the word in churches and among young people. Feel free to give out my name, email, phone number, to anyone who may be interested as well as direct them to them to the website.
Asking for more people to partner with me at LeaderTreks in financial support, is hard, humbling, and faith stretching. Knowing the economy continues to struggle and the stress it puts on all of us is completely understandable. With all that said I want to express my deepest appreciation to those of you who have been able to make my time at LeaderTreks possible through your financial support. I also ask that you prayerfully consider joining my ministry at LeaderTreks through monthly support.

The start of weekly updates!

It’s been a while since I have been on my blog! I am now going to update at least once a week and there should be a new post by every Friday. Feel free to hold me to that!
I will be sending out a newsletter soon so be excited! Stories of the Grand Tetons are coming your way!
AT WORK:
This past week I went through my first week of training for leading leadership training events (LTE). Each morning I was taught the content of Foundations of Leadership, then either Dan or Renee (two people in their second year of the Summit program) actually taught the content as if they were doing it for students (I role-played a student), then immediately afterwards I taught it to four or so people in the office (including the founder!). Going into the week I was pretty nervous about it, mainly because after I teach I get critiqued and given two challenges to better my teaching for the next day. It went really well and I did improve throughout the week and by the end I am now silver certified in Foundations. Being silver certified means I can teach it and may be signed up for the next one booked by a youth pastor. I’m pretty excited! I love the material I am teaching and how it impacts students’ lives and my own life!
Today I am going to be going through several of the initiatives (or games used to teach the principles) with the rest of the staff and will be learning to debrief the initiative and reinforce what I just learned how to teach. So not only do I get to play games all afternoon but I get to see how to help students practically apply leadership principles to a game and then to their own lives.

AT HOME/OUTSIDE OF WORK:
This past weekend I went to two weddings!! Friday night the daughter in my host family who is my age got married. It was beautiful and fun to see how all their planning worked out so well. Also getting to be a part of surprising Audrey as she walked out of the church and everyone released butterflies instead of blowing bubbles. I also helped out with the 16 kids who were there as well. Audrey planned a separate reception for the kids with a magician, pizza, gift bags, and kids’ shows. It was so fun to entertain the kids and to ask them about their relationship with Audrey and Wes. They were so cute and obviously adored Audrey. I had met one of the little girls two weeks before at church and she told me during the whole wedding ceremony she was asking, “When do I get to play with that nice lady from church?” So cute!
The other wedding I went to was Phil & Erin, my boss from work. I also spent time with both of them during my internship with LeaderTreks in Costa Rica two summers ago. I remember many conversations with Phil convincing him he needed to propose! It was so exciting to attend the wedding and see about 10 students who Phil had on past trips, some of whom drove all the way from Texas just to be there. It is just a testimony to the impact he has had in their lives through his ministry here at LeaderTreks. I also knew about three of the students and it was a surprise to see them and a great chance to catch up with how God is at work in their lives.
Last night I had a chance to out to eat with several people from work and one of our partners from a church in Texas. Amy was an adult leader on one of my trips in Costa Rica and someone who truly loves serving God through mentoring others. If I lived in Texas I would love to be mentored by her! She is someone who has a lot of wisdom and who listens for God’s voice. There was also a lot of stories told about LeaderTrek trips in Zambia and the death, ministry, hurt, pain there as well as the joys of being in their culture. Just hearing the stories there were so many emotions running through me, laughter, joy, pain, desire to go. It is exciting to hear about God’s work where there is little hope.
Just one more reason why I am so glad to be here!

Second day on the Job!

Today was my second day at LeaderTreks and so far I am excited about the challenges coming up. It has been a bit overwhelming with all the information I am taking in and getting used to. So far I know a lot is going to be expected of me as far as being involved at the office. It is exciting to know that I will be given ownership of projects, challenged to reach my potential, and will learn to live out the gifts God has given me. I am excited to grow through the times of failures and sucesses although it is a bit nerve-wracking. Here are some specific prayer requests:
A humble teachable spirit as I am trained and challenged
My first backpacking trip in the Grand Tetons (Sept. 6-14)-this entails building relationships with the other staff, and growing as a new staff member.
A good community/support group outside of LT-meaning friends, church, other ministries
The Zimmerman family (my host family) as they morn the loss of their father/grandfather
My financial needs are still lower than 10%

Praises:
Experiencing God's blessing in so many ways since I have moved here
Enjoying time with my host family (The Zimmermans)
Good times to connect with friends and family

In Wheaton!

It's kinda crazy to actually be here finally all moved in a living with the Zimmermans. Once again I am feeling so blessed to be here. I just got back from a quick trip to Cedarville to see tons of friends. It was such a good time to catch up but sad knowing we are not all together still. It was an encouragement to have good conversations and reconnect with such good friends. I miss you all!

Right now I'm setting up my room, having fun with my new laptop, teaching my cat to get along with two golden retrievers, getting to know the Zimmermans, and trying to prepare for LeaderTreks. I am excited and anxious as I start at LeaderTreks but feel ready to begin. I have been blessed lately by so many more prayer partners! It is an awesome feeling to know friends and family are praying for you each day of the week.
God continues to teach me that He is faithful in caring for my needs physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I am still waiting to see the awesome ways He provides for my financial needs as I still have under 10% of monthly support. At times it scares me but I know He will provide in mind-blowing ways. I am so thankful for those who have already supported me and pray an extra blessing on them.

Praise God!

Wow! I have been blown away by God's answer to prayer and His timing. In brief I now have a place to live with a couple who's children are all out of the home. They told me they only have one rule for me and that is that I cannot pay anything! What a blessing!

It was just the night before I found out that I found myself getting nervous about a place to live since I have little support right now. I was talking to God and finally came to peace being reminded again of the sparrows that God cares for. I had decided in my head to accept an apartment for $415 and realized I was just going to have to trust God to bring in the support. It was the next morning that I was surprised by an email with the free place to live. Oh and another blessing is that is is walking distance from LeaderTreks! As of now I do not have a car yet so that is an added blessing until I find a car.

Thank you all who have been praying!

First Post!

Finally I got a blog set up! This is where I would like to let people know what is going on with me and what I am learning working at LeaderTreks. I am going to be posting prayer requests and support updates as well.