And this is the end....

Hey everyone.
So it's that point in the summer where I don't know if I am happy or sad. I mean, the whole part about where all my friends are leaving on Friday is not super cool, but I am so happy to get back home. I guess I just need to keep reminding myself that this isn't the end for us. I swear there is going to be a 2010 Colorado LT reunion in heaven and we are all gonna be there. However I am really happy to get home. There are tons of people back home that I haven't seen all summer and I really want to just hang out with everyone before school starts (which won't be possible, but I can try). Also, it's so cool to go back to a campus and be so epically inspired to get God to be famous. Every person I talk to here is so excited to get back to school and broadcast that awesome message of love to every single person we meet, which is totally amazing, mostly because you don't have to travel to foreign countries and risk your life, you can do it right in your own back yard, which is TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I also have had a whole summer for God to totally rock my world and to point out some things that I need to hand over to Him and stop trying to handle myself, because honestly, God can take care of things way better than I ever could. It's just a matter of trust. Still have another day or so here, one more hike through old man mountain, a trip up to trail ridge to star gaze with some friends, one last day of work, a shuttle ride out to Denver and a flight to Detroit, lots of hugs, tears, and goodbyes, and I will be home.
-Go Green-
Sammy

How to hike CCY

So I hiked CCY today. It was a pretty crazy experience that my hiking group (Daniel, Kristin and I) broke down into three 10 step process in order to explain our CCY experience.

Finding the Trail Head
1) Start driving up Trail Ridge Road with your two hiking buddies looking for the turn off road
2) Unknowingly miss the road and drive to the top of Trail Ridge before realizing you missed the turn off
3) Start driving back down Trail Ridge looking for the trail head, but get sick and pull over and puke out of the car
4) Switch drivers
5) Continue down Trail Ridge
6) Find the turn off road
7) Drive up this scary steep narrow dirt road before finding the trail head
8) Finally pull over and get out of the car
9) Get all your hiking gear together
10) Pray for God's blessing on your hike (which has already been pretty crazy)

Hiking CCY
1) Follow the trail
2) Stop a few times to talk, have water, pray, journal, and take pictures
3) Finally get to Chapin
4) Hike to the top of Chapin and chill for a while
5) Hike down, then start the painfully long hike up Chiquita
6) Get to the top of Chiquita and celebrate
7) Turn around a see a storm coming in, put on some garbage bags and hide behind a rock for wind protection while you wait out the storm
8) Hike down Chiquita over toward Ypislon
9) Hike up Ypislon
10) Wait for Kristin to take a quick trip over to Fairchild (which she hiked in about 30 min there and back)

Getting back home
1) Start hiking down Ypsilon
2) Realize quickly that the rain has made all the rocks slippery
3) Fall a lot, twist both of your ankles while falling
4) Realize you don't really know where the trail back to the car is
5) Keep hiking over rocks in the general direction you think the trail might be
6) Look over and see more storm clouds
7) Get caught in a rain/hail storm, but keep hiking because it's getting dark and that means colder
8) Finally find the trail
9) Stop and pray, thanking God for a majorly insane adventure
10) Make it back to the car and drive back to the Y'


Quote of the Day: I want to pee on the continental divide so that my pee will be in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Galatians 2:20

Hey Everyone
So I know it's been a while since I updated, but here's what's been up lately, which has been some pretty amazing stuff.
First and most importantly, I got re-baptized on Tuesday night after LT, which was a totally amazing experience. Not only did I publicly dedicate my life to God, but I got to have it done by my two closest friends at LT, which was super amazing. I could not have asked for two better people, and Daniel's words before hand were so deep and meaningful! AH I LOVE IT!!!

I seriously can not look at this picture without feeling an overwhelming sense of not only love from God, but from those two amazing powerful people!! AH!!! IT'S SO EPIC!!!

Another awesome thing is actually not really all that awesome, but I have come to realize my LT story. I started off the summer with no idea what would happen and as the weeks went on, I started to realized 4 seemingly separate issues that I was struggling with when in reality they all string together to work together in solving my problem...and just as I figure out how they solve each other, I find out there is this whole other issue that will take a while to take care of, so its kinda like God taught me what he wants to learn at LT, then he gave be homework....grrr.....

Now it's the last week of LT services and I just finished the last LT 2010 service that I will have to make slides for which is sad and exciting at the same time. I really can't wait to get back home, but I don't want to leave all my friends. Can I do both at once? That would be awesome. Anyways, tonight is another late night of talking with Daniel and Kristin and on Thursday, the three of us are hiking CCY (Chapin, Chaquita, and Ypsilon), then I'm hiking Longs a week later!!

-Go Green-
Sammy

Down in the river to pray...

So Thursday night after LT...it was pretty much epically amazing. The meeting itself wasn't super special or anything, but afterwards, I got invited to join some friends to go out to a campfire hang out they were having in the nation park. So after a crazy drive around Estes Park, we finally got to a camp site and set up. We hung out for a while, I had a good chat with Daniel about some past things that are still bothering me, ate some s'mores, those who were of age partook in the provided beverages, then the best quote of the summer so far was Justin pulling out his guitar and saying "Someone hold my beer, it's time to worship Jesus". So for the next 4 or so hours we sat around a campfire and sang praises to God and prayed a lot. It was so awesome and such an amazing God moment that I can't even describe it. We even spent some time going around the circle and praying over each person there. Daniel said some really amazing things about me and I am so happy to have such an awesome brother in Christ. As a result of this late night adventure, I haven't been able to get "Down in the river to pray" out of my head. Such an amazing song. If you haven't heard it, check out this youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1FQqSGxBso

Also I am going to read Les Mis....the book...cause I went to Walmart today and we got into a long talk about it and now I really want to read it.

-Much Love and Go Green-
Sammy

this is so much fun.....this is so much fun.....this is so much fun....

Hey Everyone!!

So last night was pretty epic. First, I had an amazing dinner out with the craft center staff. Then I came back to the Y and went to the biggest dance party of the summer. A bunch of people were invited and we had a group of about 40 or so people there. We did some salsa and some kind of swing dancing and it was super fun. It was kind of cool because all this time spent dancing with Daniel, Kristin, and Amy made us the more well informed dancers so I got to walk around and help people which was super fun!! Then we ended up staying up late being silly playing ninja and the ha game and the "this is so much fun game" and some hand slappy games....and a bunch of other stuff. Some of the videos are hilarious!! Anyways, today was a pretty slow day. Made a present for Sean while I was at work and then refilled all of the sand art sand bottles. Now I'm working on some Graphic Design class homework and getting ready for MSU hang out night with the Moore family! It's gonna be totally awesome. Speaking of totally awesome, there is going to be a Very Potter Musical 2 coming out on youtube on i think the 22nd!! I CAN'T WAIT!!
-Go Green-
Sammy

Love could be so caffinated!!!

So project day today was awesome. Actually, the last few days have been pretty awesome. First of all, Monday was a great day because I got all of my slides stuff that afternoon, which is a record so far in LT. Then I worked on Tuesday, got back from work, had dinner, sat down and worked on the slides while talking to Sean. The talk it self wasn't that interesting, but after the talk, we had a four song set and as we were singing, I was really looking at the words. A lot of the songs were talking about things like giving up myself to give my life to God and I thought to myself that I have been happy with person I have become. Sure, I've had a lot of struggles and a lot of crap has happened in the last year or so, but all of that has led to this point in my life. I can honestly say I am happy with where I am right now. I love the fact that I even came to LT in the first place. I am absolutely thrilled that I have met so many amazing people, and even a few friends that I am sure I will be talking to for a long time!!! So why do I want to give that up to be closer to a God who has brought all of this to my life....I just don't get it...but not in an "I'm pissed off and frustrated way"...I just need to figure it out.

Anyways...on to project day. We went out to Boulder today and had a few hours of free time so a few of us went to Boulder Creek...which I think should be renamed Boulder Rapids, cause we went tubing down it and it was AMAZING!!! SO FUN!!! Then we went and had evangelism time. Matt and I ended up talking to this guy who had just finished a painting out on the street and after talking about art for a while, we talked to him about what he believed. Basically his belief system is that he believes in the good of people, but he doesn't believe in a God because according to him, a God wouldn't let someone who tried their best to be a good person go to hell. It was really interesting. The drive home was nice because it was just me, Megan, and Troy and we jammed dischords music the whole time.

Another thing I am really struggling with is missing Sean. Up until a few days ago, it was just a missing him in the "i just want to hang out with him, be in the same room with him, play cards and chess and talk and all that jazz" kind of way...but lately it's been more of a "i really want to kiss you" way, which I still find crazy that it took this long. But yeah, i really really miss him and I can't wait to see him when I get back. I just want that amazing feeling when he holds me, in that I'm never going to let you go way. Yeah...
Well now I'm having hang out time with Daniel while he does laundry so I'll update again soon.
-Go Green-
Sammy

Busy Busy Busy

Hey Everyone.
So I haven't been able to update for a while because I've been busy and I haven't really wanted to. Today, I went into work and found out that I had the day off. So I went and had breakfast, back to the dorm to take a shower, did some reading, grabbed some lunch and hiked eagle cliff. I feel really productive today. As for what I've been up to, I realized recently that as much as I love hanging out with Daniel and Kristin, sometimes I get a lot of stuff that I need to work on, and not many....or pretty much no "hey you are doing good in this area" so I've was pretty bummed on myself for a while until I talked to Sean and got a major motivation to keep pushing forward in this whole LT thing.
As far as the past week, my mom came to visit. We rode the zip line, hiked up lumpy ridge and hung out at the craft shop, as well as a couple of shopping trips so that was really fun.
One of the night this past week, the trio (Daniel, Kristin and I) went out to the outdoor chapel and hung out at the giant cross they have back there and had the most epic prayer time ever. It was super amazing. We had a group prayer out there and they each were really into it, and I was waiting for what I should add, something I should say, and all I could hear was "Be still and know that I am God". Just be still, listen to nature, listen to the sounds of the night, listen to the strong prayers of those who I am meant to learn so much from, just be still, be silent and wait. The best part was as soon as we finished, we looked up at the stars and we all swear they multiplied by like 50. It was awesome. The walk back was really creepy, mostly because we were talking about getting attacked by mountain lions the entire walk out there so it was pretty crazy. Nothing much else has been that exciting. Just enjoying my day off and hopefully getting some reading done and talking to some people. Right now, I'm off to put some Eagle Cliff pics on facebook. I totally had what I am calling a "Daniel Moment" on the way up. Just thinking about life and how it compares to a walk up Eagle Cliff.

Some notes I took after getting to the top:
1) Even though I might stray off the main the path, if I keep my eyes focused on the top (God), I will eventually be led back to the path that I should follow.
2) Sometimes the path will be unclear, but as long as I keep pushing toward the ultimate goal, the path will eventually become clear again.
3)God has placed people along the path for you. Some to take the journey with you, and others simply to point you in the right direction.
4) Even if you think you have reached the top, as you look around there are still more mountains to climb, more trials to face, but each one will bring you closer to God.

Also, I was listening to my iPod on random and I pulled out a quote from one song that summarized the whole trip.
"The body is weakened, but the faith is still strong."

Anyways, like I said earlier. Picture time!!!
-Go State-
Sammy

More Stuff

Hey Everyone
So I haven't really been in the greatest mood lately. Most of our deep late night talks have been more of a challenge for Kristin and Daniel, but the last two have been pretty interesting for me. It basically got down to me realizing that I have no fire for God...at all. I just don't have the want to pursue God and get to know Him which led me to finally saying "I want to want to know God". Then project day on Wednesday was us prepping for going out and evangelizing in Boulder next week. Thursday, the talk was about confessions and forgiveness and our late night talked turned into me realizing, after Daniel's many prompting questions, that there are people who have wronged me in my life that I just don't want to forgive right now, which turned into a long day at work thinking about all of that. Not to mention Daniel made a creepy face on our walk back to the dorm on Thursday night and freaked me out. I also have a TON of stuff to do, and so little time to do it. On the plus side, my mom got here today so I get to hang out with her for a while which is super cool. And I got earrings from Sean from India today!!! YAY!!! Well time to chill out and get stuff done, and apparently I have been recruited to drive the dorm's resident cripple to the movies tonight.
-Go Green-
Sammy

LT stands for "Long Talks"

Hey Everyone
So I woke up this morning feeling like crap again, I really hate being stuffy. Anyways, I've been thinking about how awesome friendships are and how great it is to have close friends who believe in things that you do. I don't think I've ever been in an environment like this one before and it is so amazing and empowering. It's so cool that I can walk around and talk to people about my life and say things like "God is so amazing, that message last night was so powerful" or staying up until 5:30 in the morning talking to friends about God and my life and my struggles and really opening up to people on things you have only shared with your closest friends. Thursday night marked a major bonding point between Kristin, Daniel and I. Amy hung out with us for a bit for the dancing part and then left because she was tired and had to work. The three of us kept dancing for a while. Salsa, Cha Cha, Tango, a bit of waltzing for like...a second, this cool line dance thing, and of course no dance party is complete without busting out cupid shuffle. Eventually we got tired of dancing and started talking about stuff. It ended up getting pretty deep after a while and before we knew it, we looked over and saw the sun coming up over the mountains and realized that it was 5:30. Lucky for Daniel and Kristin, they had project day and didn't need to be anywhere until 10, but I had work at 8:30. It ended up making it a really long day and I still wasn't feeling 100% better...actually I still don't. Hopefully a good breakfast and some grape juice or tea or something will wake me up today.
One of the things I really love about God is that His presence really draws people together. I find it a struggle to become really close friends with non-believers, but if I run into someone who believes in God, even if I don't know it yet, it's like I form and instant connection with them and it's like we've been friends for years. The best part is when those relationships do develop over a few years and you form a life-long bond with someone that nothing can break. I am totally excited about the fact that I can keep going in LT with a support group like Daniel and Kristin. After Thursday night, it feels like any of us come talk to any of the other two about anything and the other two would be there for support 100%, which reminds me of my relationship with Kyle and Andy. I've heard it said(that people come into our lives for a reason....sorry, Wicked tangent) that being a Christian is about community, about sharing your struggles with each other and forming accountability and the awesome feeling of knowing that someone else has struggled with something that you are struggling with and they can lead you and help support you when you need it most. I think the Wicked tangent is actually very fitting.

"I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return."

It's really exciting that I finally feel like God wants to do something in my life this summer. Hopefully this is me getting out of neutral in my relationship with Him and hopefully kicking it into high gear....or at least 1st or 2nd.

Well I really need to get going if I want to eat breakfast before work. If I have the need for a brain dump again, I'll be sure to post...otherwise, see you after project day!

-Go Green-
Sammy

Project Day 4 aka Project Day Burned!!!

Hey Loyal Followers
So this has been quite a week since I last posted for many crazy reasons.
1) So I ran slides on Tuesday, which as anyone who has worked on a church tech team knows is a very stressful job sometimes. Our first problem was that the girl who had all the slides typed up and ready to go got locked out of her room and none of us knew this until she showed up about 15 min before the service started, but before this, I retyped up all the slides for the songs in an hour and got everything ready to go so that was taken care of....until the middle of the talk when the speaker mentioned something in reference to his slides...which we never got...so we tried to fanagle that to work and it kind of worked, but it was really bad and a huge distracting pain and I felt horrible about it. So after that fiasco, we decided that if we don't have it before the service, then it just ain't happening. Problem solved...hopefully...
2) After the service, I was talking to my buddy Daniel about everything that happened and he talked to sense into me about how stupid I was being for stressing out so much and after a while I felt better.
3) After the long talk with him, a few friends and Daniel and I got together and had a Latin dance party on the admin building porch until 3:30 am, which was totally awesome!!
4) Project Day was a trip to Winter Park at Snow Mountain Ranch (the other half of the YMCA of the Rockies, besides Estes Park Center, which i where I work). It was pretty fun except for the part where all of us got some sunburn and I had a pretty major crash on the Luge track and I think I got sick a little because I woke up this morning with a major stuffy congestion thing and in a lot of pain from the sun burn and road rash, but all better now.
Anyways, I have to go get ready for LT service tonight. Daniel, Kristin and I are having another dance party, this time with good Latin music and dressing up with heels and dresses and stuff so it should be fun. Guess I'll see you next week.
-<3-
Sammy

Project Day 3

So apparently I only update after project days, weird.
This has been a pretty great week so far. Right now, it's about 15 min. until Friday, so it's kinda late. Tomorrow is four months with Sean, which is super exciting. I don't think I've ever felt this secure in a relationship and it's really great to have such a wonderful guy. <3 Sean <3

Ok...so back in Colorado. The talks we had this week at our Tuesday and Thursday LT meetings were really great this week. On Tuesday, he ended the talk with "What are you afraid of and why?" which led me to two things.
1) I am afraid of changing. I am afraid of becoming a completely different person by the end of the summer and Sean won't love me anymore and all my friends won't care about me anymore.
2) This is LT. We are learning about things like sharing our faith with people, and frankly, that's really scary and hard and I have no idea how to do that.

So after the Tuesday service, I spent some time talking to one of my LT buddies about my fears and as we were discussing my fears about Sean (among many tears), I get a phone call, which is weird because the cell service in Estes Park SUCKS!! Anyways, I pulled out my phone and it was Sean calling me just to tell me that it was 1am in Ohio and that he just wanted to hear my voice and tell me that he loved me and that he missed me. It was amazing. It felt like God saying "Seriously, you are worried about this? Why? You have nothing to worry about. Oh, you don't believe me? Well here you go!" Which was totally awesome!! The next day (Wednesday) is project day, which meant a day of hanging out with the MSU gang and talking about God and sharing our testimonies/life stories with each other and this week, they decided to do a "how to share the gosple with people" workshop, which was God talking to me again saying "well you asked for it, so here you go"

Thursday(tonight)'s talk ended in making about that God is good and God is strong. God is so good that he will be there through all your fears and struggles and God is strong and will help you with all your problems and fears, which I feel has been proven pretty well this past week.
Now on to face my next obstacle, whatever it may be....and getting some reading done.
-<3 and Go Green-
Sammy

Project Day Number 2

So I have been super busy and up to a lot of stuff lately. Sunday, I went to our first workshop day, which for me is "learning to read the bible" workshop, which is super cool and really interesting. I'm getting some stuff done on my first Graphic Design 2 project so that is exciting. Also, our LT meetings laptop started deciding it was going to crash mid-service, so mine is the new LT computer....which means I am in charge of typing up all the slides for each service, which is actually kinda cool! Today is project day again which means spending time with people from MSU who are here and bonding as a group before we go back to state. Today we went on a nice drive through the mountains, stopped at different scenic spots and took lots of pictures, then hopped into some trash bags and sledded down part of the mountain. It was so cool!! We started a thing last week were we have two people from our project group share their life story and how God has affected them and next week is my turn. I am really working on trying to compile all my thoughts into one solid story, and I have a running list of things that I don't want to forget. Right now, I am waiting on some books to read for the summer to show up.
Last night we had a couple come in as speakers for our LT meetings for the week and it was really interesting. They spent the evening talking about relationships between men and women and how we should treat one another. The woman made some really good points, like the fact that when two people get close, the evil forces in this world (her wording) will try to drive a wedge between people. And if you don't believe that, think about how society keeps trying to convince the world about how "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" News flash: Men and women are both from earth and they were both created in the image of God. Also she made a point that is actually stated in the Bible about how women should have "gentle and quiet SPIRITS, not gentle and quiet MOUTHS" which is a really empowering statement. Tonight the couple is have a Q and A session followed by another talk on Thursday night.
It was really nice having these past two days off work and even better that I got spend some time talking to Sean yesterday because he is now home from India!!!
Thank you all for keeping up with this blog! I am really loving all the support and will be back to update again soon!
-<3-
Sammy

My first Project Day

Hey Everyone
So yesterday was pretty much a full day of actual leadership training and small group discussions with people from MSU. It was really great to get a really tight bond with the people from state who will eventually be the leadership team for Riverview next year. I also have finally been here long enough to make a to-do list for the summer that I think i can manage. Today is another day of working with the kids at the craft shop, then tomorrow all of the craft shop employees are headed to the low ropes course for a team building exercise which should be super fun!
-Go State-
Sammy

Greetings from 8,000+ feet

Hello loyal followers (if you do exist, please leave comments)
Anyways, this first week has been totally awesome. Moved in, had orientation for work, had our first two LT meetings (every tuesday and thursday night) and started working in the craft and design center. Making tie-dye shirts and fun mosaic stuff. I even got to make some samples for the store so that the kids can see a cool finished project and then want to make one. And the kids are so fun and cute when they work on their projects. Anyways, today is one of our team leader's birthdays so we are going out to celebrate tonight.
One of the challenges of the summer is to memorize a list of 99 verses and read through the entire new testament and (if you finish early) psalms and proverbs. So i am going for it. I might not finish it by the end of the summer, but I am sure going to try!!
I'm about to go post some picture on facebook so if you are friends with me, you should go check them out!!
-<3 and Go Green-
Sammy

PS - if you want to talk to me, i have skype and I am usually on at night, my screen name is gfsquirrely. if you just want to call me, shoot me a text to let me know you are calling the community dorm phone, then call 800-777-9622 ext 1177

Addresses!!!

Hey!
If you want to send me a package or letter while I am in colorado, here are the two addresses!

Letters, Financial Support, and Very Small Packages

Estes Park Center

YMCA of the Rockies

Samantha Brooks – Staff

P.O. Box 20700

Estes Park, Colorado 80511

Big Packages :-D

Samantha Brooks-Staff

2515 Tunnel Road

Estes Park, Colorado 80511

-<3-

Sammy

PS - One more day in Michigan before I leave!!!

Getting ready for take off

So the semester at MSU is over and went great! The paper work is in, the first check is in the mail, and the second one will be sent out friday, the bags are getting packed, and I'm getting excited!! I also got to speak about my trip at Ore Creek Community Church yesterday and tell all my friends about the trip! Very excited to finish packing and get going!
If you were at church, here are the prayer requests that I talked about during the service, and if you weren't there, then here are my pre-trip prayer requests.

1. Safe flight there and back (and that all my stuff gets there and back)
- I am leaving on monday, one week from today and i am coming back on August 14th
2. My mom, who is losing her first born child for 11 weeks
3. Support Raising!!!
- I am still raising money to pay off the flight and shipping my stuff, if you are interested in helping me out and you haven't gotten a letter from me, please call me at 248-431-6704
4. Good Internet and Cell connection in the mountains
- My class started today
5. Keeping me open-minded to learn whatever God wants me to learn this summer
6. For the entire Riverview LT team
7. For my boyfriend, who is traveling in the mountains in India right now
- he gets back home on June 9th, and we celebrate 3 months together tomorrow (5-18)

Thanks for your help, you prayers, and your support!
-Go Green-
Sammy

Support Raising

Hi everyone.

We just had our first group meeting of most of the Riverview gang traveling to Colorado. We talked about support raising (money and prayer from family and friends) and got to know each other a little and prayed for the exciting adventure we are all about to embark on. I am currently compiling a list of people to send out letters to and filing out paper work for the YMCA and GCM.

Prayer Requests:
~Success in raising $1000 by April 15th (if you are interested in helping and I haven't sent you a letter yet, please give me a call at (248)431-6704.
~Remembering to keep this blog updated for the rest of the semester and throughout the summer.
~My mother (she is losing her first-born child for 11 weeks this summer)
~I keep an open mind and follow whatever path God leads throughout the rest of this semester and over the summer in Colorado.

Thanks for your support and I'll update again soon!
-<3-
Sammy Brooks