recruting, reunions, and retrreating.

so this past week has been extremely busy and filled with fun, relaxation, craziness, and joy. :) when i think about the Lord and how He has a perfect plan for me and my life it is hard not to be filled with joy, but at the same time it is hard to always think about His perfect plan. we doubt sometimes, me included..but this weekend and week were filled with joy and no doubting. :) last thursday me and 4 other RVR staff members headed down to good ole lynchburg, Va for a recruiting/ reunion trip. most of the staff here at the ranch came and come from Liberty so it's a perfect time to go and recruit and have a reunion with previous staff as well. all day friday we set up a booth telling students about the great opportunity we have to serve at the ranch and what it is all about. just spreading the word about the camp and getting e-mails to remind students that we would be back in january was our mission. we did accomplish that for sure. when i found out i was the intern going on this trip i was excited... excited to be reunited with family i had formed over the past 4 years. it was a little overwhelming almost to see everyone from those 4 years in just a few days, but more than overwhelming it was encouraging and wonderful to reconnect with those from my past. i miss the burg so much and the people i have grown to love as my family. but as much as i miss them i do know that i am where the Lord wants me. our friendships are not conditional and will pick up just where we left off when a visit occurs. i got to spend time with my mentor/ role model Donna. she is such an encouragement to me in my walk and such an inspiration to my goals of being a woman after God's own heart. i got to see my coaches who became so close to my heart and mean so much to me.. i saw teammates, friends, professors, and my church family. i couldn't have asked for a better weekend. we tailgated all day saturday and then watched the liberty football game. last home game of the season which we won by a blow out. my brother charlie came and visited and watched the game. it was great to see him.. he is growing faster than i expected.. he is a man! weird! i'm hoping he will end up at liberty.. be praying for that! we returned on sunday evening and the next day the interns and i packed up our bags and headed to gettysburg, Pa with matt, michelle, and baby Lilah for a relaxing 3 day retreat. we showed up to our little cabin and made it our home for the next few days.. we had nothing planned, but to relax, refuel, and connect with each other. the first day some of us hiked a bit and then played games and watched a movie. we played this game called settlers of catan. don't ask, but it is my new favorite board game! i still haven't won and i can't say it is everyone else's favorite, but they still play it with me! it's so much fun, go look it up! we played 3 times over the 3 day trip.. the game usually lasts 2 hours. :) saturday we had a big breakfast and then headed to historic gettysburg where we walked around battlefields and ended up spending most of our day at Devil's Den. look that up too and check it out. after we soaked in the views and history we started climbing all the massive rocks that were there! can we say so much fun!?!? take a bunch of camp staff to a place with big rocks and it won't be long until we are all over those things with shoes off and climbing in mind. we had some great climbs, which i am sure weren't safe, and some pretty cool pictures. after that we hit up the gettysburg outlets. there aren't many, but they were great! us girls only hit one store in the time we had, typical girls. :) ps. i need to go back there because in the food court there was this little shop that sold fruit smoothies and reminded me a bit of rita's, but made with real fruit and soooooo good. i got a mango/orange smoothie and wished i had 5 more to drink.. it was that good! so that is on my list of things to do again. :) the next day we took a hike, packed up, ate yummy veggie burgers, played settlers of catan, and then headed home.. it was a great relaxing lazy and active trip we all needed.

learning to accept His love,
beth.