Final Reflections & Photos

We have returned, showered in something other than a tent shower, slept in our own beds, and had a bit of comfort food. Life is taking on a sense of normalcy for our team who served in Greeley, CO last week. For this final blog post we have two reflections from our last two adult leaders and a sampling of photos from the trip. 

Reflections come from Garrett & Morgan. 

After the close of Week of Hope some R&R was in order. There was no better way to escape and enjoy than beauty in the mountains. From Greeley we all loaded into the bus and ventured out west spending the afternoon supply shopping in Walden, CO.  Once back into the camp site located at the base of Bull Mountain we set up camp in two Yurts. The Yurt gave the feeling of both staying in a teepee and a cabin. After a late lunch consisting of hotdogs and Leigh’s magical mac and cheese we all enjoyed a hike through the local nature trials and many fun card games inside. The baked potato dinner was enjoyed inside while staying dry out of the rain. Getting ready for bed everyone was able to lie down and peer at the brilliant stars through the Yurt skylight. With a busy week it was very nice to spend such a great evening before the long car trip returning to Denver. This was the perfect way to complete a God given experience with great people and amazing memories.

-Garrett-

In a week of service where all of our group was divided among the various Service Crews it was great to hear everyone's highs, lows, and shout outs when we did youth group devotions at night. It was my chance to check-in with the full group and learn what they were getting from their experience with Week of Hope. My favorite part of this time together was never having to volun-told someone to share, the students were eager to share about their day. The students were able to think about what stood out to them during their time of service, free time with the other churches, and morning/evening programming and share how their day impacted them. The personal pieces of pride for me happened in hearing the students' highs of the day be based around spending time with their fellow Calvary youth group members and seeing glimpses of the Spirit moving within their service activities. They were getting wonderful nuggets of truth throughout their days and bringing them to share with the group. No matter how much you hope students get why service, faith, cross cultural interactions are important and how each of those aspects of life impact our understanding of God, self, and other you cannot force them to get it. The fact that each night during our devotion time they were naturally offering up how they were making these connections gave me a piece of hope. A hope that our students were expanding their understanding of faith and communal responsibility. It was an honor to share this week of service with our wonderful students and leaders. 

- Morgan

Thank you for taking time out of your day to share our week with us by reading the blog. It was a great week of service and connecting with one another. To close out this blog we leave you with photos from this past week.