Wyoming!

Wyoming Mission Trip 2014

God has blessed me with yet ANOTHER amazing experience to intern with the youth of Hillcrest Baptist Church. This week we embarked on a long journey to Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. We took about 54 Jr. High/High school students and 18 adults on a Hour-and-a-half plane ride, and a hour-and-a-half road trip to Happy Jack Country Church, our home for the week. 

Sunday we joined our family at Happy Jack for worship. Our youth choir sang and a 16 year old student preached. God was definitely there! 

Ansley!

 

Good 'ol Spicy Uno! It was entertaining teaching them how to play...

Sunday night we all went to Trinity Baptist Church in Laramie for worship and another student who shared. These guys are amazing y’all. 

Half of our group went to Cheyenne and the other to Laramie for day sports camps and VBS in the evenings.

Sports camp was probably my favorite part. We just walked to the park across the street from the church and played Frisbee, baseball, kickball, and Lava Monster with the kids. The park was absolutely beautiful with such PERFECT grass. I made a few grass angels…

I love action shots! Our team leader surprised us with Sonic. :)

The view of Trinity Baptist Church from the Park..

VBS was all student lead, and they did an incredible job!

Cheyenne also has an incredible outreach during their "frontier days." They pass out water bottle which are labeled with the gospel! We labeled somewhere around 14,000

My "twin"

Our last day we went to the mountains!

The interns just chillin!

The water tasted sooo good!

Michelle!

So, this mountain you see has a very interesting story... Me, Alex ( another college intern), and two high school students (Hannah and Sydnie), decided to climb up and slide down on an air mattress (which apparently this group has done before, so I'm thinking, "No big deal, right?")

Took us a while to get up there since the air is so light... 

The view alone was worth it!

The weirdest thing: here we were trekking in the snow, and I am not even cold. In Texas, we don't get snow, we get ICE.

The top! There is about a 15 foot drop where Alex is standing..

The other side!

So all four of us get on top of this queen size air mattress... We shove off, go over the 15 ft drop, picking up speed rather quickly. About a another 50 feet, we start headed toward trees, Alex mentions not being able to steer it, so he yells, "Just get off!" I am in the middle, Sydnie rolls off the side, I roll off after her, Alex jumps off and then Hannah. We all go tumbling down the mountain.The most terrifying thing was seeing trees every time you roll, and not being able to stop yourself...

Over half way down, I figured it would be a good idea to tuck and roll the rest of the way down so I don't break anything. Immediately my sunglasses flew off, causing me to think I just hit my head. I finally came to a stop, to look around for the rest of the crew. Alex is running toward Hannah, who I think is dead. She just sits up in the snow, her left side paralyzed and starting to have an asthma attack. She, thankfully was okay, and turned out to have "only" sprain her wrist.
Sydnie landed about 5 feet from a tree with only a few scratches and bruises. Oh! And a wet phone. :)

Thankfully, I ended up with a few scratches, bruises, and sore muscles myself.

On the flip side, we are all closer now since this near death experience. I was ready to meet Jesus that day! 

Chilling at the Denver airport

Share time was always incredible to reflect on how God used us to make his name famous.

Our group of fearless leaders! 

Such an amazing and incredible group!

Blacklight Run!

Well I am following up with America's new years resolution... Getting in shape! I love to exercise. Call me crazy, but I also love sports. So far, we have done pretty good. We run 3-4 times a week and the other day do crunches or push-ups. It makes it so much more worth while when you do it with friends.
My friend Tony introduced me to M-100's. They kick my butt. (In a nut shell they are like up-downs, mountain climbers, and squats all in one 3-minute-full-body workout. I am I can't move after 2 sets.) My first time at an up-down I face planted on the concrete.  OUCH. But they work!

Christmas Eve, I talked my mom into doing a 5K with me. For a 8 year breast cancer survivor and a mom, I was incredible proud of her! A few other friends decided to run too!
Standing out in the freezing cold, I painted our neon colored nails..

 The gang!

 Glow sticks for everyone!

 Shelly even found paint...

 I love to run with these too. They challenge you and keep pace.

 Mom and me! She was so excited!

 13,000 strong!

 Through the Blacklight zones

 WE rounded the turn toward the finish line, and Aaron said, "Brindley, wanna to race?" I took off in a sprint, and all the people who finished before me lined the sides. They started cheering us on! Man, that adrenaline is addicting!

We were covered in glow dust, and we had a blast. Couldn't wait to get home and warm up though...
Mom said. "So when's the next 5K?" :)

2014?! ALREADY?!

It's already 2014? What the heck happened to 2013?
   
    2013 began with the anticipation of an adventure. Things changed, some of which will never be the same. I have more stories, I know a little bit more about the "other side of the world," and feel a little more aged. (Which is debatable to be a good thing or a bad thing...) I learn some incredible lessons, some of which I am still learning.
      The last six months have been hard, but great! Adjusting back into my own culture is tougher than I thought. There are so MANY things we take for granted here! Like fast food (otherwise spending hours cooking for one meal), driving everywhere we go (other than walking), everyone speaking ENGLISH (so you actually know when someone is talking about you).
       Things have gotten comfortable again, settling back into the old routine. Back to school, work, church, and spending fun day with friends. How is it that I still feel homesick? How can I be away and be homesick at the same time be here and homesick? WHY?!
       Call it an "AH-HA!" moment or a "Lightbulb!" moment when everything just seems to click. Like "Why didn't I think of this before?!" Yesterday was one of those moments. During my Devo time (My one-on-one time with Jesus in the mornings) God just somehow revealed to me:

                 Brindley, you're homesick because your missing me! Before you went to Africa, 

you were listening to me and watching for me. 

You were more aware of me and what I was doing. 

You did the same thing in Africa, because I was the only thing you were familiar with. 

You held on to my Word, and you came to me everyday, and you trusted me. 

You are only at home when you are with me. I made you that way. 

And I am always here. Where is your focus? 

That is what I have been missing! That's why sometimes my patience wears thin, why I give up trying to disciple people, why I just want to move back overseas. God is just as real here as he is there. It just depends where I look. 

So in 2014, where is your focus? Do something bigger than yourself.