Day 2

Busy Busy Busy! We started the day off with breakfast and soon after we took part in morning sessions for senior and junior high kids. Pastor Brett was the speaker for the senior high session and Pastor Jonathan Unverzagt spoke to the junior high kids. Those of us who heard Pastor Boe speak we proud that he is a part of our church family. He did get a few "boos" because in his introduction HAD to mention he was a White Sox fan! After the morning session we had the opportunity to take part in elective sessions in which the kids could choose to attend. Some of the favorites were Jim Johnson speaking on the End Times, hearing about Nate and Emily Nash's personal experience with cancer and how God has helped them through this difficult time. And in our suffering, we can know that God is in control. Another was the AFLBS musical- which showcased remakes of other movies encouraging students to attend the Bible School! After our sessions, the lunch lines seemed to get LONGER, LONGER, and LONGER! Where are all of these people coming from?!?!? But a record was set today as the Lunchroom served 1,800 people in an 1 1/2 hours! After lunch we gathered together for our group picture... MOST of us made it in there- if you ever see this years photo and play the game "Where's the Dalton FLY" we are the little orange pinpoints towards the back! haha :)

THE CLIMB
Most of us journeyed up Emerald Mountain- as we made our way to the base of the mountain we felt like we had already climbed up the whole mountain and it hadn't even begun! We all started together working our way up- through encouragement and determination and MANY breaks we were able to MAKE OUR WAY higher up the mountain... we are so proud of all of those people who made it halfway up! It takes a lot of work but viewing God's creation is so worth it!! As some of us rested halfway up, others continued on and climbed one step at a time. Finally, we reached the last step to the top! It was such a joyous celebration. Many people were in disbelief that they were able to make it that far because they weren't planning on it but WE DID IT and we have pictures to prove it! We did run into a little rain on the way up the mountain but God knew we needed a little "cool down" as we were working hard! After taking many pictures on the top of the mountain we made our way back down and that was a difficult task- our legs were sure getting a workout in! I am sure the "older" adults will be a little sore tomorrow ;) haha After we got back we ate supper and joined in evening service provided by Pastor Brian Ricke- who is the current pastor at Calvary Free Lutheran Church in Arlington, SD. He spoke on how Jesus exposes the half hearted Christian from the book of John 8:31-39 He was a very great speaker and the kids really enjoyed hearing from him. His Action Points include: 1) On a scale of 1 to 10 ten being the best, how consistent is your daily Bible reading habits? 2) Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal area(s) your walking in stubbornness or denial, especially in the form of habitual sin. 3) Set it as a priority to pray for change in the area(s) revealed to you for at least one month. 4) Find appropriate Scriptures to facilitate change in those area(s). Allow the Holy Spirit to work through those Scriptures in your life and place them in your heart by memorizing them. After the evening session we take part in a session called "NIGHTLYF" and it is a fun time with lots of laughs. Each session they take part in a game called "Minute to Win It"- in which kids can put their name in a drawing and 10 are selected to participate in the game of choice for the night. The hit for tonight was called Face the Cookie- in which participants can only use their face to move cookies from the forehead to the mouth! And the catch of the game is you have to complete the task in less than 60 seconds! :) Maybe we will be able to get someone from the Dalton youth group to participate! One additional highlight was some of us made our acting debut by being included in the evening "Storybook"!
Another BIG highlight of the night was we placed 2nd in the finalists from the BEST T-SHIRT contest!! Such a proud honor for the Dalton Youth Group!!

For the agenda tomorrow- some of us are going to be going horseback riding up the mountains while the others take part in activities available all around the YMCA campus. On Thursday we plan on going into Estes Park to go shopping and Friday we will be having 2 volleyball teams from the Dalton Parish being represented! It will be so much fun!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Pray for the speakers here at our conference, including Pastor Boe, as they speak to 2,000 people about God's Holy Word! Pray for Pastor Mark as he is still struggling with his foot, but is a real trooper.

I will continue to work on posting pictures but am not having much luck on the blog! If i am not able to get them up in the AM- I will post them on Facebook and you will be able to find them there!

Quotes from the trip so far-
Mike- "He's living the life", "He's living the life", "He's living the life"
Deveny M- "I worked off a whole cow today" (after climbing the mountain)
Brittany- "You guys we ACTUALLY made it!" (referring to making it up and down the mountain)