Back from some Time Away...

Hello all!!!

So, I realize it's been a very long time since I last posted on here, but I think it's time to pick this up again.  I actually have free time now!!!

Because I don't want this to be a really boring "here's what I have been up to the past 527 years" post, I'm just going to shot-gun it and then get to what I actually want to say.  So here we go!

-Graduated from Gordon College in May with a degree in psychology and neuroscience
-Finished the hardest, but most rewarding year of school ever
-Continued to grow with the most amazing group of ladies and roommates I could have ever asked for
-Started dating the greatest guy in the world
-Sent out about a billion résumés all over the country and got a job doing exactly what I want!
-Started woking full time in the "real world"

It's this last point that I want to touch on in this post.  Last summer, I got a whole lot of nudges from the Big Man that I was supposed to move west after graduation and do something out there.  Well, I was totally into that and was super psyched.  Enter amazing man...well, obviously, I didn't want to move away from him and from my family and...well, everyone else that I know and love.  It became clear very quickly that I wasn't going to get a job on the east coast, so I started applying to jobs all over the country.  As if that wasn't scary enough, I actually got interviews from some of these places.  Long story short, I got a job in Utah (I know...of all places!) and drove across the country with my dad the Thursday after graduation for job training.

This dream job of mine involves kids, hanging out in the woods (well, desert), not having access to technology for a full week at a time, being a mentor, and being a positive example and influence for troubled teens.  For those of you who know me even a little, you know that this basically combines everything that I love!!! I am working as Field Staff for a company who does wilderness therapy for troubled teens just outside of Salt Lake City.  Kids are sent to us and are basically sent to the desert for 6-12 weeks.  They are put in groups, we hike 4 days a week and they have therapy twice a week.  My job is to connect with the kids, help them with their therapy assignments, answer questions, encourage them, and basically do everyday life with them.  Even though I am only out there in the field with them for a week at a time (I have a week on then a week off, but they stay out in the desert for the whole time they are there), the relationships that are built are amazing.  A lot of these kids are into drugs and alcohol, have depression, aren't getting along with their family, and are cutting.  I get to praise them, to encourage them, to listen, and to push them to be better.  I quite literally couldn't ask for more!

So yes, I have an amazing job, but I would be 100% lying to you if I only mentioned the good.  This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done.  Following God's call out here was terrifying and still kinda is.  When I got here I didn't officially have a job, I didn't have a place to live, I didn't know ANYONE, and I really didn't even have any money.  I had to sleep in my car for a night, I had to borrow money from my parents to put the deposit down on my apartment, and I still didn't know anyone.  Thankfully I was offered the job (obviously!) and things are going well.  All kinds of people have come out of the woodwork saying that they know people out here and are connecting me with all kinds of folks.  I'm pretty sure I have found a church and I am starting to hang out with friends from work.  I have to say though, one of the things that I am being taught while I'm out here is to be alone.  I still don't know too many people and my schedule isn't one that lends itself to making friends very easily.  I basically spend a lot of time by myself.  This is something that is pretty foreign to this kid.  I have lived in community my entire life and it's been hard to find alone time.  Thus, I had adjusted to that life and really enjoyed spending time with people just about all the time.  Now, I find myself with entire days in solitude...and I absolutely love it.  I mean, I talk on the phone a lot, I skype with friends a lot, and I go out with people from here a decent amount, but I get a lot of alone time.  I am able to read books, to go for loooooong runs, to cook, to be crafty, to explore Salt Lake City, and to think.  God really knew what He was doing when He sent me out here!

I guess I just want to share how thankful I am that I trusted.  He never said it would be easy, but He promised that it would be worth it.  I know that everything happens for a reason and that we serve a GOOD and LOVING God, but when He asks you to use the talents and gifts that He has given you to further His kingdom, it's scary.  "Utah???? Why Utah???? Can't I go to Vermont?? Or even the Carolinas...there is a wilderness therapy place there.  Can't I just get a job in Boston?  That's where my family and friends are...can't that work??? No.......oh. Really??? PLEASEEEEEE???? You REALLY want me out west??? *sigh* But I'm scared.  You've promised that you will be with me always.  I guess I'll go. But please be with me!!!!" Thats a little taste of what some of my prayers sounded like.  The one thing I'm thankful for in all of this was my confidence that He wanted me HERE.  Not once did I waver in where I was supposed to go.  It was that I just didn't want to leave my home for the scary unknown.  Again, this experience has been anything but easy.  But I wouldn't change it for anything.  If I hadn't gone, I can guarantee that I would have spent the rest of my life wondering "what if?".

And I have totally gotten little tidbits of reward already.  Like, I got to take one of the students from the group where I did my training to the airport to go home.  She hadn't been home in months because she went to detox and came right to us after that.  But man, was she ready.  I got to be with her as she ate her first meal not cooked in a steal cup over the fire.  I got to see her cry tears of joy when it really hit her that she was going home.  And I got to see her walk onto the plane and into her new life.  Being able to see a kid succeed and really change their life for the better...that's why I'm here.  That's why God wanted me to move across the country to THIS job.  I have absolutely no idea how long I'll be here (but I did promise that I will be heading back east for good in no more than a year) or what I'll accomplish, or what my purpose is.  But for now, I guess I just have to trust my Father and do the best I can with what I have been given.

Love to each one of you!!!

L

P.S. The pictures are just a few that I have taken of the beautiful desert where I spend my days with the kids