Covecrest!

Ok so I'm finishing up my second week here at Covecrest, and it has been SO amazing! I really don't even know where to begin. I live in a bunkhouse with 14 other girls, and the 11 boys live in a bunkhouse right next to us. Last week we had "work week" and we did lots of random jobs to get camp ready for campers. I stayed on the same project all week---we had to clear out a TON of dirt from behind a house to build a retaining wall. It was tough, but very rewarding. It was really great to be with the same group of people and have the chance to get to know them.

This week we have been having general training. The 26 of us Summer Staffers have had the opportunity to grow in our faith together and get to know one another veeerry well. This week we have been experiencing camp like the campers will. We did this crazy obstacle course through the woods in the dark one night. It was intense---I have quite a few battle wounds from that one :-) And my clothes will never be the same...there's this awesome part of the obstacle course where you have to army crawl through sludgy mud. It's pretty gross, but so much fun once you give in to the fact that you're going to be covered head to toe in mud. There are also 'snipers' throughout the course that throw flour bombs and buckets of ice water on you. It was a really fun way to bond with all my new sisters :-)

Every night (and sometimes during the day) we have sessions. For those of yall that have been on retreats, you know how intense these can be. Someone starts out with a talk (on being missionary, reconciliation, holiness, etc.) Then we have some time to journal and process everything before we gather back together and share our thoughts with everyone. I was so surprised at how quickly everyone was willing to bear their souls to us. It is hard for me to open up a lot, so this has been a really challenging experience. It has also been incredible though, because allowing myself to open up to all of these people has made us so close. Seriously, I have only known these people for 2 weeks and they are already my second family. It's pretty incredible!

Alright, well those are the basics for now...I'll try to post again soon! Maybe I'll work up the courage to post something from my journal, we'll see :-)

Loving my home away from home,
Marissa