Weekend

So I made it to California! Wednesday afternoon, Chris picked me up from the airport and we enjoyed In-N-Out burgers, Intelligentsia coffee, and a walk down the Santa Monica Pier. I had never been, so it was definitely enjoyable. The weather was sooooo nice! I definitely have not missed the snow, although up in the mountains it has been pretty cold.

After a long drive up into the mountains, we hit Forest Home (MSA's mountain camp site) around 7 p.m. I said goodbye to Chris and met the rest of the staff. Definitely a bit overwhelming that night since I had been up since around 4 a.m. California time - such a long day! I haven't quite adjusted to pacific time yet either - I keep waking up at 5 a.m.

There are still times that I feel completely out of the loop compared to the other staff. I haven't really gotten the chance to get fully filled in on what I missed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so I've had to fill in a lot myself and jump in whenever I can.

The rest of the staff seems pretty great so far...and thankfully one of the girls invited me home with her this weekend since I would have been at Forest Home alone otherwise. I'll also be here next weekend for the Super Bowl!

The past two days have actually been pretty chill - we got some time to finish our "homework" reading assignments, which was good since I didn't get one of the books and had to borrow it. We also went on a few hikes - the mountains are amazing, and I've forgotten how much I miss them in the Midwest. We have time for worship every morning and we switch between camp classroom training and spiritual training. There will be some campers coming up next week, so we'll be sitting in during their classes and observing.

It's definitely been a transition, especially not having constant access to the outside world...it's not really a big deal, but it definitely makes me miss home more than I think I would otherwise. Today was better than yesterday though, and I think next week should be good.

Hope you all are doing well.

Until next time!