Nashville Trip

It's no secret that my favorite summer working Fuge was in 2008 when I was out in New Mexico at Glorieta. Maybe it was being in the midst of the beautiful mountains, the no humidity, my incredible Bible study groups, and the fact that I got to see bears. Mostly though, I think it was my staff. There were close to 40 of us, from all over the country, that came together to serve the Lord and love on students during their week of Fuge.

The night we celebrated Christmas in downtown Santa Fe

Not gonna lie, singing Christmas carols in July, in a very public place, in matchy t-shirts,

was one of the most embarrassing things I've had to do as a part of a Fuge staff! :)

Before 2008, there was this joke among Fuge veterans called "The Glorieta Curse." Let's just say, there had been some rough summers in the years prior. Knowing this, we were determined to make it a great summer... and it was.

This past Sunday, after church, I ran home real quick, packed a bag and headed to Nashville. My director (and wonderful friend) from that summer, Jeremy, was going to be in town on his birthday (Monday) and some of us were getting together to celebrate him. I hadn't seen Jeremy in a couple years, and so I was so excited to spend time with him, and with the other Fuge staffers that came for the party. In all, there were 9 of us there, I think, from my summer out at Glorieta, and it was such a sweet time together. At the end of camp, you get hit with that thought of, "wow, this entire group of us will likely never be back together again," but it's those little mini reunions that keep those memories so vivid in our minds.

The birthday boy, Jeremy, and me back in 2008

At our staff appreciation dinner.

Love him!

Jeremy, as "JAW Man," duh!

We laughed about the crazy stuff that happened in our 7 weeks of camp, and we laughed about the things we did together as a staff, we sang pop music together like we did in '08, and just enjoyed one of those moments that, though we hadn't seen eachother in awhile, it felt like hardly any time had passed at all. By far, my favorite part of the night was when we were getting ready to break up the party, and Jeremy asked if we could pray together. As a group, Jeremy led us in a prayer for the things going on in our lives, the members of our staff that weren't present, but are still very much in our hearts, the different Fuge camps our former team members are working at, and the ones we'll be taking our students to as youth ministers. Above all, we praised God for being the reason for our friendship. It was Him who brought us together, and our love for Him that keeps our partnership in the Gospel growing strong.

I love those people so much and am so incredibly blessed to still be able to call so many of them my friends. I learned so much from that staff, and a lot of them continue to pour into my life. It doesn't make sense that so many people, with so many different stories would connect the way that we did, except to say that the Lord's hand was on our summer together at Glorieta. It was definitely a summer that changed our lives.