Tahoe 2010

Last year, when i was a sophmore in highschool, i was able to go on my youth group's annual Tahoe snowboarding trip. The four day experience changed my life for the better-it was a crazy and amazing time to truly witness God work in & through people. 

When this year rolled around, our youth group was a tad nervous about the trip. There were 75 students signed up, and an overwhelming majority of them were not followers of Christ. We anticipated the trip for weeks and weeks and weeks.  

Sooooo, on the first night i was running up the stairs and ended up twisting my foot, and spraining it :( SUPER lame = me. So i was sitting in the lodge for the majority of the trip, and i was  super  bummed. I did not  like to seee everybody else coming in & out of the lodge, talking about their FUN. 

But. On the first night, we talked about ways in which Satan attacks us. That is when it hit me. I knew that Satan was trying to change my outlook and mindset on the situation i was in. It was sooo easy for me to make excuses not to go over & talk to that girl, help out with things around the cabin, or participate wholeheartedly because i was hurt. That first night, everything just clicked in my mind, & it became sooo clear as to how this foot injury could be a huge opportunity to realy minister to people regardless of how i felt; OR it could completely get in the way of making the most of this trip. So from that point on, i stopped feeling sorry for myself, & used my time of sitting around to be not distracted by friends & comfort zone, and to begin to become more aware of people i were not as close with. 

There are so many times in my life where i know i have a choice to go talk to the girl in the corner, or to stick with my friends. And much more often than not, i choose the latter. The guilt that follows that choice sticks with me for days. But, no matter how uncomfortable/awkward/self-conscious i feel, choosing to go befriend somebody new turns out to be so much more rewarding. The Tahoe trip was a time where i was able to meet new people, and just become friends with a huge group of people i usually don't talk to. So many people expressed how happy and loved  they felt on the trip, because everybody there was a family. I was sooo extatic about how everyone bonded & how loving everyone was. 

The last night of the trip is the time that is truly indescribable for every person on the trip. The room is just filled with God. You can feel it all around you. We always have a time where we let people go to the microphone and express their feelings/commitments/ experiences. It was amazing to see, one by one, all cof the people we had been praying so desperately for, going up and talking about how they now accept Christ. The night was filled with alot of tears, alot of prayer, alot of hugs, and alot of the overwhelming feeling of Jesus' love.