Tornadoes and more tornadoes

We're getting down to the nitty gritty. This morning, I continued to call youth pastors for housing and get donations for the youth pastors. Then, this afternoon we went through the programming meeting. It was awesome! We got to watch the videos they made and they were so good! I'm working with such talented people! I'm so excited for what's to come this summer. I'm excited for next Friday when we hit the road. It will be so great! I cant wait for that first night of camp! The students are going to flip out. 

The first official camp starts Sunday. I'm not in charge of it but its here where I'm living so I get to go to all of the main sessions. I'm excited about this because I will actually get to see each session and how everything fits together. I won't have to worry about that when I'm on the road. I think it will help me with my job too because I will get to answer questions about what's going on.

Monday, I get my shirts that I have to wear all week. I'm so excited about it! It's becoming more real to me. I got my first name tag today. It's awesome! I'm an official CIY Event Staff! 

Tonight has been an interesting night. First, I got to go to dinner with my customer service partner. It was great! We went to Hackett's Hot Wings! So good! We had such a great conversation! It was awesome! Then we came back to the dorm and hung out because a bad storm was coming. The sirens started going off. Let me tell you. The people I am with are not from here. The people here have no idea what to do when the sirens go off. It was kinda funny to me. They were asking me questions like "can you hear a tornado coming." Well ya but I had to stop myself from saying stuff like that. I was teaching the girls something new. They were freaking out. They had no idea what to do if a tornado would actually hit. As the sirens were going off, I told the girls to grab their pillows before they went down stairs. That is an obvious thing for me to do. They were like why? Are we going to sleep down there? They had no idea that you are suppose to use your pillow to cover your head. It's like this. If I was in Florida and a hurricane was coming, I would had no idea what to do. I would probably freak out too. But a girl on ES is from Florida and she thinks they're no big deal just like this situation. I got another perspective during this experience. It was cool to get that perspective too.

Tonight after that, the girls in my team went through our goals for ourselves so that we can keep each other accountable. It was awesome to hear our goals and what I can do to help my teammates. One girls goals were so similar to mine that it will be easier for me to keep her accountable but the other I will have to work at and it will be cool! 

If you haven't noticed already, I can hardly contain my excitement for this summer. I know that I will have struggles and that I will get stressed or one of my teammates will but it will be one of the best summers of my life.

       My awesome name tag!!!!!

        Hiding in the storm shelter!!!!

Frustrations

Have you ever been around 25 other people for so long you start to get frustrated? Well it's starting to happen to some of us here. Hanging out with every event staff is starting to be overwhelming for me. Everyone is having their own conversations while also trying to talk in the conversation beside them. Everyone is fighting for attention because we are still trying to learn things about each other. It's just getting to be too much. Me, being the shy one that I am, gets overwhelmed really easy and I just start to shut down and get in my cocoon. I will start to not talk to people anymore. It's so much easier for me to talk to someone one on one rather than group on group. I'm definitely not saying that I hate the group. I love the group! It's crazy how much these people are beginning to mean to me even though its only been 10 days since we have known each other. I'm just saying that I start to get frustrated with something's people start to say when they are trying to grab attention. It starts to be hurtful. I absolutely love my job! I also love my co-workers but I also know when I need my space. Working with them for 9 hrs and then hanging out with them for sometimes 6 more hours afterwards is too much for me to handle everyday. Maybe twice a week but not what's been happening. Anyway, that's what has been going on. I was lucky today that I got to get out by myself for awhile and do laundry at home. It was a great time for me. Even though when I got back I found out that the girls were freaking out that I went home because they thought I went because I was scared of the storm that is headed our way. I was like girls. I have been in many storms. I wouldn't go home because a storm was coming plus the dorms are the safest place for me to be because it has a basement and my house does not. It made me laugh. FYI the storm is going to miss us anyway. Anyway I was slightly chuckling to myself when they told me what had happened. I didn't say anything to them when I left about the storm. I just said that I need to go home really fast. So funny. 

Fun Filled Day

Fun. That's what today's word should be. I got to test many of the games the students are going to play during the move events. They are going to have so much fun with them. I also got to test out one of the things the students are going to do on day 2! It's going to be super exciting! Students: be prepared for day 2! It's going to be awesome! I also got to work on housing for my second event and get donations for different locations. I'm excited about what I'm doing. I'm excited for what I'm learning. I'm excited to get on the road and get started. I'm excited for what's to come! It's going to be an awesome summer! I know I keep repeating that in these blogs but it is so true. I'm around some of the best people who are so creative and so God centered. It's amazing. I wish I could video tape my day for everyone. 

Memorial Day Fun!

Today, we got to sleep in a little but today. It was great! Then we went into work for a couple hours. I got to go to the office and help organize PC cases. These are cases that holds everything that I will need for the week. I really got to talk and get to know a PC and another event staff. It was one of the highlights of my day. Then we went back to Ozark to take down some sets so that we can load them into the trucks this week. I felt a little useless while over there just because I had no idea what was going on and what needed to be done. I would ask people and they would say go take this to the trash so basically all I did from 12:30 to 3 was take stuff to the trash and paint.  You know that was a little hard for me. But I think it was something that God has been working with on me. You see I'm someone who likes to do big ideas. I like doing something that actually makes a difference but really the small things are also big things too. If I didn't take the trash out, it may have not been done and the auditorium would be full of trash that would get in the way of everything else. I didn't do much of taking stuff down. I didn't do much of the big stuff that a lot of the other people were doing but sometimes the things we consider to be small are not small. Our boss for today asked 6 people to take the trash out and they didn't. This was probably because they had many other jobs that needed to get done. He then asked me to do it and then every time after that he would come to me and tell me this needs to go to the dumpster. It's something that needed to be done and it was the perfect job for me because I could actually do it. Anyway, we finished with that then went to happy hour at Sonic for some drinks and snacks. CIY then had a big Memorial Day party for us and the staff. We ate and played whiffle ball. The whiffle ball game was staff against event staff. Of course we did not win but I actually hit the ball and it was a pretty nice hit. It was awesome! Lol I got a kid out but that's ok. We then came back and a girl and I decided to go on a walk. The walk was a little scary but we had some friends come rescue us and we played sand volleyball to end the night. Today was a lot of fun and I'm beginning to realize that I'm making some lifelong friends and I've only been here a full week today. It's so cool and I can't wait to see what it looks like at the end of the summer.

I'm feeling like I'm 22!

       Today was the last day of my first week at CIY Move! It's crazy at the amount of firsts I've done these 5 days. I can talk about that a little later. Today was my 22nd birthday. Yes, I listened to the new Taylor Swift song 22 4 times today but multiple people sang it to me. The other event staff here at CIY have been awesome to me. I got two cards from all of them. Yes 2! We ended the day by going to my aunt and uncles (Thank you Trey and Michelle for letting all 22 of us come!) to eat and play games. We had a lot of fun and I got to be with my mom on my birthday. 

     Ok now about this week. My specific job here at CIY MOVE is to be a customer service event staff this summer. I will be traveling to 2 locations in Tennessee then 3 locations in California. My job is to do everything I can to help the youth pastors throughout the week. I have a partner helping me throughout the summer, Courtney. We do the housing for the entire camp for the week. We also help a little but with registration. This week I have done a lot of firsts. I have made official calls. I have to answer the phone CIY Move this is Kristin. Isn't that cool! I've had to call local businesses to ask if they will donate stuff. I'm making local rounds next week to physically go to the businesses and promote CIY. I drove a 15 passenger van full of people today. These are only a couple that I can think of right now. It's crazy how much I'm learning. Today, I got a phone call asking if their group can be moved because a student pretty much sliced off his toe. WHAT?!? Lol it was kind of an experience to talk with him on the phone. Anyway, I'm having so much fun and I cannot wait until I get on the road and actually start meeting these voices that I know now. 

       These other event staff are amazing people. They go out of their way to help out whoever needs it. They truly want to know your story and everything that you are. I've had so many great conversations. I've already made so many long time friends! This summer is going to be an amazing summer. 

       2013 CIY Move Event Staff

My awesome cards!

Kristin

Isaiah 41:10

Team time!

Tonight was great! We got to have our first "team time." It was great! We went out to dinner and just got to know each other. Before, we would just go to dinner with a big group of people. Some of our team went. Some did not. It just depends. I really got to know my teammates more tonight. We had to answer specific questions that were prompted by our team leader. What our most embarrassing moment is? How is your home life? What is your story? As many of you know, these questions aren't the easiest for me. First, the only embarrassing story of me is a junior high cheer leading dancing move. Ugh! Not even going to talk about it. Second, first conversation with my team I had to tell my story and all about how I lost my dad. I didn't want to feel like everyone was feeling sorry for me. But, it was actually really good. Everybody's story is so different. Some grew up a Christian. Some didn't. It's awesome! We then went to Walmart and that was an experience in and of itself. People talking in accents (task complete), finding coffee machines, buying kids cups, riding Tamone in the arcade, you know the normal Walmart experience for every normal human being. We are playing a game where every person has a certain task that a certain person has to do. Many are really outrageous like mine. I'm going to try to do mine tomorrow. But shh... the person can't know yet. My roommate though did hers tonight. She had a guy talk in a British accent for at least an hour. It was great! Well Day 3 is coming to a close and I can already tell that this summer is going to be awesome!

Jake riding Tamone!

It's Gonna Be Great!

Today I started my CIY internship. I'm an official CIY Move Event Staff member. I'll just go through the day for everyone. I woke up at about 7:00 this morning from a text this morning from one of cousins, Trent. He told me to have a great day on my first day on the new job.  Then I went back to sleep and woke up again about 8:30. I really wanted to get some sleep because I knew that this summer was going to be a summer of no sleep for me so I tried to sleep a little bit longer. I finally got up at about 9:30. I started getting ready and packing. Yes, I packed this morning but luckily it's down the street from my house so I can just go home when I forget something (which I did). I left the house at 11:15 to go to Walmart to get gas and order contacts. I was getting super nervous. I was about to meet 25 other people who I have not met before and I need to remember 25 other people's names. (It's harder than you think!) I drove around for about 10 min because I didn't want to be super early! So I got to CIY about 11:50 because we had to be there at 12. I walked in with 2 other girls. Thankfully one was my team leader. So she was the first person I met. We were the first three people there! (So glad I didn't go earlier!) We started mingling and getting our name tags ready. They said our name and where we were from. This was hard question for me! Where am I from? West Plains really but I didn't want to confuse people so I put Webb City. Some people who work for CIY came around and were introducing themselves to us, they were like oh ya you're the local girl.  Haha I guess that's a good thing to be. We then ate lunch, Subway. We got to get our binders which we have to take with us when we go to the CIY building. Chase, our leader, then said that they were going to jump us right in and start moving some things because they didn't want to start orientation today since mostly everyone will be here tomorrow. So we went over to OCC and mingled more then got right to work. I was voted in to go and load stuff into a Penske truck. I did not know what I was getting myself into. We loaded and unloaded 3 truck fulls!! We got the Penske stuck once and had to get a truck to pull us out. That was a lot of fun. Man! I'm going to have some huge arm muscles by the end of the summer! That stuff is heavy! That's about all we did for today. We ended the day back at CIY with a debrief kinda. Chase gave us journals. These journals we have to carry everywhere. Mostly they are journals that we will write things in so we don't forget something. Like instructions, phone numbers, etc. they can be used to journal in but I'm choosing to do this instead. We were officially done with day 1! We then all decided to go eat at the mall food court. Mostly because its like the only place in JoMo that will seat 22 people fast. It's been great getting to know people. I ate at China Pantry and someone asked why did I pick the most sketchy place in the food court. Lol. Obviously, they had forgotten that I live here.  I said its good. I eat there a lot. Then they were like oh ya you live here. Most people went safe and got Chick-fil-a. We then went back to the hotel. Good thing to because as soon as I walked into the hotels door the tornado sirens were going off. There were some people who were a little scared. I was like this happens all the time. It didn't help that the news was showing the Oklahoma tornado. Praying for those that were effected there. We were safe inside the hotel lobby. We were going to be just fine. Some people were like I've never been in a tornadic thunderstorm before. They had no clue what to do or even where to go. We started playing games. It was so much fun. More things to get to know these new people. To end the night, most of us went to orange leaf. Got ice cream, played more games, and told everyone our name and favorite cereal. There are several that don't like cereal. It was a little crazy. Now I'm in my room about to go to sleep. I get to room with one of my teammates which I'm excited about! More time to get to know each other. I think we are the first full team here so that's exciting. We all get to know each other. Everyone seems to be so nice and friendly! I had nothing to be nervous about of course. Tomorrow is orientation and later this week we will be doing team bonding games. It's gonna be a great summer!! 

It's Just The Beginning

My school year has come to a close and my summer is getting ready to start. I'm getting so excited and so nervous at the same time. During this week, I have been trying to get all my stuff situated for this new adventure that I'm about to embark on. I've bought all the stuff that I need. I have an eye doctors appointment to get contacts tomorrow. I'm getting my clothes ready and my room clean. I'm starting to realize that I'm going to be putting myself out of my comfort zone. 

One thing about me is that I can be an incredibly shy person. I'm learning that shyness doesn't get you anywhere and that for me to meet new people and get things done, I have to talk. I'm about to meet and be around people I have never met before 24/7. Yes, I've had small conversations with them on Facebook chat but that only goes so far. My biggest fear is the beginning. I'm nervous about the start. But, it's just the beginning. I'm excited for the relationships that I'm going to make. I'm excited for what God has in store for me and my team this summer. I'm excited that for 6 weeks of my summer I'm going to be at church camp. I'm excited that I get to travel to Tennessee and California for 3 weeks each. I have all this excitement. I'm just hoping that my nerves don't get the best of me. That the first day, I will walk in and make instant and life-long connections and relationships that will have a positive influence on my life. 

This summer is going to be tough but I have no doubt that its going to be a summer that I will never forget.

Kristin

Isaiah 41:10

Forgiveness

So if your like me now when I hear the word forgiveness, I start singing the new song by Matthew West. "It's the hardest thing to give away and the last thing on your mind today." I can be the first to admit that I have a hard time with forgiving people. It's hard for me to forgive people who have done me or my family wrong. For the last couple of weeks at my church, we have been talking about forgiveness. Today, we wrote on a card people's names and what we forgave them for. I had several names on that list. We then walked around and put our cards in a coffin to be buried. They are no more. The one way to forget what happened is to forgive the person who did it. I forgave people today. I don't have to carry it with me anymore. I don't need to be angry at them. The hardest thing to realize about the person(s) who have wronged you is that Jesus also died on the cross for them just like he did for me. Now, I can't be mad at the person. I have to be mad at the sin. The sin is what is messed up. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to do but it needs to be the first thing on our mind today. God will forgive you if you forgive those who wronged you. You see we are the worst people. We don't deserve anything. God doesn't rate sin. Humans rate sin. A sin is a sin and we all do it. So instead of getting mad at the next person who you believe has wronged you, first step aside and say to yourself I am a sinner and I have done worst things to God than this person has done to me. You will get a perspective on your life. I know that this can be hard but it has worked for me. 

Forgiveness

Kristin 

Isaiah 41:10

Final-ly over!

My finals are finally over! I have been so blessed this semester to have awesome professors that have actually cared about my teaching career and the success of my years here at Southern. I'm so excited to start the summer though. This summer is going to contain many awesome experience that I'm so already thankful that I get to be apart of them. God has been teaching me that I need to be excited about all aspects of my life. I need to positive and encouraging to everyone around me no matter if I'm with my friends or at work. All of this is important to the well being of my friendship and myself as a person. I start my internship in 11 days and I cannot wait!!

Kristin

Final-ly Stress!

Finals are finally here. I can feel the anxiety in me rise just typing this right now. I'm not sure I have ever been this stressed about finals in my whole college career. These finals can make of break me. These finals are so important for my future career.
I work at an on campus job. It's a daycare for students, faculty, and alumni of the school I go to. The stress level of the employees this week has been crazy hard. One little oops and you get blown up (or think your getting blown up on). God has been teaching me that my school stress should not effect my work and visa versa. This is hard sometimes!! Today, I hadn't even gotten my foot in the door and somehow I had already done something wrong. At that point, I said ok. Fixed it. Took a deep breath and said out loud "This is going to be a good day." I had to take a minute and remind myself that I've been stressed out because of school and not take that out on someone at work. My kids still need to feel my love. They still need to be took care of and that is my job.
Sometimes little reminders like "this is going to be a good day" is all we need. The bible says "Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:30, 31 NLT) God is always there to give us strength, to allow us to say "this is going to be a good day." Letting God help you is crucial.
Finals are here but God will help me control my stress levels.