Let the adventures begin

As soon as I take a step off the water taxi I finally realize that I am back. I am back in a place that has a special place in my heart. And let me tell you, it felt gooooooood! After saying my hello's to everyone, it was time to change right into my work clothes because there was a camp coming in 4 hours. There was grass to mow. As I equip two other interns and myself with landscape tools we go to work and take down grass that measures up to a foot high. By the time we finish up, the horn is blared indicating that the Malibu Princess has rounded the corner and everyone needs to report to outer dock. This was the beginning to an amazing opening weekend to my summer of 2011.

For about a year and half or so I have discussed with Gary Hopkins baptism. I talked to him about what it meant and going into last year I had a great idea. I wanted to get baptized at Malibu. It was the place where my faith began and it was a place that will always be in my heart. The idea was to have Gary(my mentor) baptize me sometime during the summer. But our plans were squashed when it was revealed to us that under Young Life policy baptism is not allowed on property. This summer however I still had the burning desire to be baptized here at Malibu so I talked to Gary going into the weekend. It felt like the perfect opportunity, it was preseason, so there wasn't as many campers, there were a lot of friends that were here that I wanted to share it with, and I just felt pulled by the Holy Spirit that it was something that I needed to have done.

So as the weekend winded down and times for the baptism seemed to be slipping away, I decided to be baptized at night at 1130 pm. Now this water wasn't just any water. It was water that was below 60 degrees. And just to please the Young Life policy we all went out to Hamburger point which technically isn't YL property but it owned by the natives. As Gary and I walked out into the water it was apparent to me that Gary wasn't handling the water very well. He shivered and sputtered a prayer as his early signs of hypothermia kicked in. And so, in front of a group of friends, interns and property staff, in a place that is always going to mean a lot to my faith, I was baptized.

I am going to try to update this blog as much as I can throughout the summer. I hope to share my adventures and the journey that God has set before me.

Couple of crazy things that happened this weekend as well:
-Broke a wheel off a tractor, then fixed it
-Poured over 3 cubic yards of concrete
-Helped to push a 850 pound replacement part for the hydro with two tractor and plenty of hands up a hill
-Took part in three way plunging attempt to unclog plumbing ("this is bigger than the three of us")

God Bless!