Family visits and more :)

Group Pic outside the Vail Church

I feel that it is almost pointless by this point to explain that my blogs are long overdue... because they always are haha, but better late than never I guess. So there is only a week left in the Vail Summer Project, and I honestly cannot believe it. My time here has been so incredibly Spirit Filled and just an incredible period of fellowship with the Lord and other believers; definitely life-changing. Our theme for this week reflects how we need to use all the we have learned and grown through this summer when we return to our campuses and try to apply them in our daily lives... it is : Get out of Vail, and BRING IT home! I am so excited to see how God uses me this year at Duke; sure I will be leading a Freshman Girls Bible Study, but there is so much more to be done beyond that. It is time for my life to become a picture of the Gospel and all God has done in my life. I cannot be content with anything less than that and look forward to stretching myself beyond my comfort zone in all areas of my life. Please pray that my burden for the lost will continue to grow as I approach my return to Duke and that I will always look for ways to show the love of Jesus.

Whew, I got a little excited writing that paragraph above haha, I mean every word though. Anyways I figured I would fill you guys in on some of the weekly themes we have had lately that kind of shape our focus for that week. The past month or so have been...

• Get out of Complacency and into Intentional Living : (probably one of the most convicting themes of the entire summer, it really woke my up. I feel like I should make it the theme of my life haha)
  
• Get out of Judging Others and into Loving like Jesus : (also quite applicable in my life)


• Get out of Relying on Others and into Relying on God : (the cool things about this week was the emphasis on prayer, and how it should be like breathing during out day in its frequency. Its hard to go to God before our family or peers, but if you try it, the resulting peace is overwhelming)


• Get out of Vail and Bring it Home : (the applications here are pretty obvious, but actually following through and carrying it out wil be the challenge, keep us in your prayers as we come down off this mountain)

Now lets flashback to almost 2 weeks ago when my parents and Robbie visited!!! Sadly Snort could not come because she was playing soccer for Jesus in Brazil with the Charlottle Eagles. We missed her terribly, but completely understood of course : )

The fam flew into Denver on th 20th and visited with Drew, Natalie and the new baby Honey Hill!! Then Tuesday they came up to Vail and visited me at Piney, where mom was utterly shocked by the type of work I did there. hehe it was pretty funny, you will have to ask her for details. Then Tuesday night, they came and watched us play an International Soccer game at Ford Park, and Robbie actually braved the altitude on those lungs and played with us...scoring quite a few goals I might add (he is in white in this picture and I'm in pink). Wednesday I took the day off and we all went rafting which was really fun (we had some pretty sweet wet suits as you can see in the picture to the left), and then that night they came to our Wednesday service at the Vail Church. Thursday I got up and had breakfast with them before I left for work, then they ended up coming back to Piney and went for a hike while I finished out the day (5.4 miles with a sweet waterfall at the top) (here my cute little parents are at the top, aw i love them :) Then Thursday night mom and I (mostly mom) cooked dinner for a group of other Cru kids for our "lifeskills" that night. We had a slight fight with the oven, and a few issues with the microwave, but everything was delicious and it was definitely an unforgettable evening. Then Friday morning at 3:45 am, Robbie and I left with 4 other kids from project to climb another Fourteener!! Mt Quandry, Rob took the change in altitude like a champ and we all made it to the top (this picture is us at the summit, 14265 feet im pretty sure). I am going to attach a video if I can... After our descent, we met up with mom and dad in Frisco and off they went back to Denver to catch a flight back to NC. (Below is a picture of the whole Quandry crew: Robbie, Ciara, Me, Rob, Dennis, and Andrew at the bottom)

Their stay was amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Oh i didnt mention that their room was literally 3 steps from mine; they stayed here at simba which was so so great! Cant wait to see you guys when I get back!