One of the greatest opportunities I've ever been blessed with is the privilege to spend two summers in a row as a camp staff intern at Saranac Village - A Young Life camp in upstate New York, in the Adirondack State Park. The camp is located on Upper Saranac Lake, and it is holy ground. Every week, over 400 high school students from across the nation come to have the best week of their lives and hear about a God who knows and loves and pursues them each individually. I fill the role of a PM Cook intern, which legitimately just means I make dinner every single day - for almost 600 people (including the camp staff and guests).
Many people wonder why I have decided to spend two summers here at Saranac while I really could be using my time working in other places - perhaps improving my chemistry skills or working a job in-industry that may look great on a graduate school application down the line. The truth is, it's in this place that I have experienced the most growth as a human being and as a follower of Jesus. I am constantly being pushed to become more of who God has designed me to be, and I am completely confident that the ways that the internship is designed to challenge interns and demand self-reflection and future planning has prepared me for the rest of my life in a manner that no professional development could ever accomplish. Not everyone gets to spend two summers in a row as an intern (there are only four of us who got asked to come back for a second year), so this opportunity has meant the entire world to me. The glory of the Lord shines in these photos. It shines in this place. You can taste and see His goodness. I wish I could share this place with all of you. Check it out, if you're ever in the area. This summer 2018, I am posted up in upstate New York, working as Food Service Intern at one of my favorite places on the planet, a Young Life camp named Saranac Village (right on Upper Saranac Lake). Young Life is an international Christian ministry that I volunteer with back in Cincinnati, and one of its major tools for sharing the gospel of Christ with teenagers is through summer camping. High school students are taken to gorgeous and secluded spaces, designed by Young Life to reflect the beauty, joy, and adventure of full life in every single aspect of the camping experience. Our camp on Upper Saranac Lake is known for its beautiful surrounding mountains and the fun of the waterfront, which boasts several opportunities to play on the water - parasailing, water skiing, wake boarding, and tubing are all available daily. It is my personal joy to spend the summer as a kitchen intern, cooking dinner every day for hundreds of students who have come to play and who will be told the joyous news of a God who loves them more than they could ever grasp. I'll be here the entirety of the summer, returning to Cincinnati just in time for welcome weekend. Until then, I'm anticipating mountains to move in the hearts of campers in this place.
This spring, during UC's Spring Break, I had the opportunity to go to Haiti with Young Life, and it was a life-changing experience. Every year, my Area Director (essentially my boss, but I'm a volunteer), Ryan Mecum, leads a trip to Maissade, Haiti, where volunteers get to work on the YL Camp property, learn from the Haitian staff, experience Haitian culture, interact with members of the community, as well as worship and pray a lot with the friends who are on the same mission we share in two completely different countries.
Obviously this trip was somewhat a trip to do manual labor. When we arrived on the camp property, we were brought to a small plot of land that was leveled out, and the goal for the end of 4 days of work was to have the frame of a new dormitory up. We started by digging lots of holes, which was somewhat hilarious because we did not have any major equipment; all we had was two post-hole diggers, a couple of shovels, and our hands. In the three years that Ryan has been doing this trip, this was the first year that they brought post-hole diggers, and also this was the largest trip that he had ever taken, so we actually were able to accomplish a whole lot of progress and were getting up wooden frames by the end of the week. It was much more progress than either of the last two years had done. Something that was really fun was that a lot of the people on my trip had been the past two years, so they were able to see the way the camp was developing over a full three years of time. They were blown away by the new building that they began working on the previous year, just as we were doing this year, and were really encouraged to hear about the way the camp was being used to proclaim the glory of the Lord. One of the most important things I learned during this trip was the way that the Young Life staff lived their lives in just a complete and utter trust in the goodness of the Lord. Their lives look so different than ours, as they simply have to deal with several natural disasters having major impacts on their entire nation's economy, a government which seeks only power and cares poorly for its citizens, as well as a history of poverty and brokenness. Some of the testimonies that the staff and students shared with us are crazy - dealing a lot with Voodoo priests and natural disasters destroying property and families as well as poverty just stopping them from being able to save family members from health issues because hospitals are too costly. Because of this life, though, they have to believe that God is who He says He is. They have to ask him boldly and with expectation for provisions daily, and they get to see him provide constantly. I think it is so easy for Americans to believe that they are not completely dependent on God in every moment of our day, while it is just simply clear to these Haitians that there is no other explanation for the blessings in their lives. It was a blessing to be able to communicate with them thanks to our main translator and trip leader, Darsen, who is the one photographed above. As we were exposed to Haitian culture for this week, we were naturally exposed to a lot of brokenness which broke our hearts. One of the most important things that the staff told us was a reminder that when there is something that you experience or see that moves you enough that your heart is broken or that you cry, the proper response is to ACTUALLY RESPOND. To do something about it. Oh man, was my heart broken for this beautiful country and its wonderful people. So I did something. I began to sponsor a Haitian child named Marco through Compassion International, an international ministry that allows people to pay a monthly fee to give children all over the world the funds to have clean water, proper nutrition, schooling, as well as the resources to learn about who Jesus is and what he's done for us. I cannot think of a better way to respond to an experience such as the one I had in Haiti. My very favorite part of my trip was hanging out with the children and attempting to communicate with them in Creole, for they had incredible open and friendly spirits. They loved so well and received our love with open arms. I can't wait to be a part of Marco's life and help him receive the resources every human should have. And I can't wait to return to Haiti - hopefully on this trip next year - and continue to work to develop relationships with these people that I love so dearly. Now one of the coolest things about this trip was that one of the people who came to work with us was a Young Life friend who is actually a professional photographer named Katherine Dalton. She took photographs throughout our entire trip, so here's a taste of what she's got: This past week, I had an incredible experience with some incredible guys. As the spring semester of 2016 was coming to a close, we discovered that there was a single week between our time in co-op and the summer semester beginning, and we wanted to do something worthwhile in that time. So, in a very short amount of time, we planned a cross-country road trip.
In seven days, we traveled through 12 states, all the way to Las Vegas and back to Cincinnati. We spent a minimal amount of money by eating way too many cans of creamed corn and peanutbutter sandwiches, as well as by finding free camp-sites to reside nightly. God revealed so much of his beauty to us along the journey those 12 states, and we were able to meet some incredible people along the way. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to travel our nation in a friend's Mom's car, and for the opportunity to experience life in a very full way with people who I care a lot about. Now, as summer begins, I look forward to finding other opportunities to see God's beauty and full life through returning to life in classes and on UC's campus. This past week I was able to volunteer to work at Saranac Village, a Young Life camp in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. As you can see, it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The work week was used as a tool to help get the camp ready for campers to come all summer long. A lot of outdoor work at the camp such as mulching, painting, raking the beach, or planting new flowers was done to make the camp as beautiful as possible. One of the goals of all Young Life camps is to be a place where God can be seen clearly through the beauty that surrounds you at these locations. Thus, we try to make every inch of the camp incredibly beautiful so that when kids arrive, they are taken aback by the awe-inspiring nature and surroundings. This week was extremely rewarding; it was so cool to serve alongside people whom I'd never met before, but who all had the same goal as I - to serve this camp so that it can be used as a place where kids can come and experience Christ for the first time. Personally, I worked in the kitchen and dining hall, preparing the hall for each meal, helping wash dishes, and helping out the kitchen staff in any way they needed. I also met several people from Ohio who all knew people from my high school; it was so cool to find these new connections at one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
Just for the adventure, we volunteered to take a friend who was also there to serve to the Canadian border, since she was indeed Canadian. We drove from Saranac to Niagra Falls and were able to get a nice glance at the falls from the American side before dropping her off with her Canadian friends and heading back to Ohio. I'm so thankful for the adventures that I took on this week, all thanks to this opportunity to serve Christ! Welcome to my Honors Portfolio! I hope this opening page can be a place where I just give updates on fun things going on at college or in my personal life, while the other pages will be more specific to Honors Experiences and Academic goals. Thanks for coming and reading about what's been going on with me! Here's to a great first year at UC!
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