Plan, Prep and Go! The school year has begun! After a wonderful mini-retreat of climbing and lake swimming, the interns and directors headed north to the triple Earth pimples to begin training and prep for our incoming freshmen. The training was good, and it was great to be able to form and get to know my fellow interns in a different context. Although many of us have been 'independent' for some while, when we were instructed to shop for our group on a budget- we all went into our adventure zones. Imagine four women, in the ice cream section, squealing over their extra budget money and trying to decide which flavour to choose. 15 minutes later and 5 elderly laughing men later (I guess they don't struggle with the ice cream decisions as much as we do) we left with our choice sugars. The week ended with a celebration 'ice cream set' on the train tracks (a tradition of Explore's- to have 'whatever' set's [watching the sunset] on the train track. Fruit sets, jam sets, ice cream sets etc). What a blessing to be able to share this year with some of my greatest friends and supporters.  What's Next? Our freshman arrived a week ago and have been drenched in information and orientation. Explore numbers are much higher than they have ever been in the past. Previously we capped the program at 32 students (8/team), but as there was so much interest this year we bumped up the number to 36 (9/team + interns). This year I am a Sr. Intern, which means that I am in my 2nd year of internship and help co-lead a team with a jr. intern (1st year of internship- what I was last year). White is the colour of our team and Matt is my Jr. Intern. It has been great working alongside him and watching how our partnership works. We will be heading down to Bighorn in 1 weeks after the freshman complete a modular Bible class on campus. They are all pretty pumped to start with the outdoor stuff and seem like a great bunch of students. I am jealous for your prayers as I will be teaching rafting as well as interacting with this group daily. | | | | | |
