soulful singing in the southwest

this weekend we got to go to leadership weekend for young life at lost canyon in northern arizona. the southwest region split into two weekends so we went with about 300 leaders. leadership weekend is not a new ordeal for me, consisting of leaders coming together to get rejuvenated and excited about the upcoming school year. it's one of my favorite young life events of the year.

while i've met most of the leaders briefly at leadership and around the office, i was going into this knowing few people. i got to bring three of the campaigner girls from coronado high school, where i'm leading, who are going to be junior leaders this year. driving up with them and another junior leader from saguaro high school was a blast and a great bonding opportunity. these are now my girls. i am their young life leader. and i'm so excited to get started with this ministry.

now i know the name and school of almost every leader and junior leader in scottsdale. something that completely overwhelmed me when i first got here. and lord almighty are they great people. so fun. so loving. we truly came together as a community this weekend. between large sessions and smaller seminars we hung out. laid in the grass. talked and laughed. got to know each other. sweet time. the sessions were insane. i will tell you one thing, the southwest knows how to worship. they touched on some of the greats: how he loves, set a fire, beautiful things. and they do it right, so loud that you get lost in the music and scream out as loud as you can to god. i love it. my kind of worship. i was brought to tears. that doesn't happen to me every day. i got time to reflect on the past two weeks and what god has already done in my life here. it is mind blowing. it doesn't make sense. but it is so so good. we got to pray over each other. i prayed for girls i had just met the day before. girls i will be leading beside for the next couple years. strong community. i am surrounded by people who all out love jesus. 

it was a fantastic weekend. everything i needed. lost canyon is beautiful. i have dozens of new friends in the area. i am excited about ministry this year. we are starting club this week and i have four campaigner kids who get it and are ready to come alongside jorge and me to make this thing happen. against all odds and plenty of reasons why coronado young life should not work, we are going to do this. to give our all and serve. to love these kids. i cannot wait.

i truly love it here.