June 1

So, I had Monday and today off, very nice to take a break. Monday we drove up to Mammoth Springs, about an hour and a half drive through the park, longer if you hit Bison jams as we did. Those guys are so bold, they'll just chill in the middle of the road and stare down RVs and trucks, they're awesome! We left Old Faithful around 8:30am and got in just in time for the start of things at 10. This was our orientation for ACMNP, they gave us information on how to run our services on weekends. Really, not much of this was new, we covered most of it during our regional training in March. However, we got to meet the rest of the ACMNP staff from around Yellowstone including our support staff and got to spend some quality time getting to know the other staffers in our own areas. I actually really appreciated that, I work with one gal but the others I really haven't gotten to know yet, in fact the other younger guy working in Old Faithful I STILL haven't met, he wasn't able to get work off on Monday. There are roughly 40 student ministers working with ACMNP in Yellowstone and add on our support staff, (families that live near Yellowstone, kinda like host families, they're there to take care of us) we had a grand barbecue potluck that night. SOOO many people, I was a little overwhelmed, although I haven't eaten that much good food in a while... deviled eggs ahhhhh. Oh yeah, part of our training, we got into our area groups and made some decisions on our services. Our Old Faithful crew covers the Old Faithful area and the Madison campground, about 15 miles north of OF. We hold 3 services at each, 2 in the morning and 1 at night. Best way to cover the most ground is to split our group of course. So we made 2 "teams" chosen basically by who had vehicles, so I'm one of the two team leaders. Split second decision, I volunteered to preach this first week. (eeep!!) In addition to that, I opted to cover the Old Faithful area, my team includes Staci, the gal that I work with. Just the two of us for 3 services on Sunday.
I'm just a little nervous about this one haha. Pretty cool though, last night I was trying to think of what I could preach about and God just started putting ideas into my head. And later tonight, I've started reading through Corinthians, and I got to chapter 2. Paul is telling the Corinthians how when he first came to them with the Gospel message he "did not come with eloquence or human wisdom"(vs 1) instead he went to them "in weakness with great fear and trembling." Suffice to say, I could identify with Paul. But I know, just as with Paul, it's not about me. I'm not out there to perform, I've got nothing to lose! This one is all about God and He's the one who's on the spot. Thank God for that!
So that was Monday, today was a pretty good day as well. Got up for lunch then went a few miles north for my first hike. I did about 5-6 miles, my body might be acclimated but my lungs aren't. It wasn't a difficult hike, about 2 hours, but still felt it pretty good. Halfway through some dark clouds rolled in, and it really started to rain just as I got out. (Thanks mom for my new raincoat, works GREAT!) Rain, hail, and sunshine all within about an hour. I actually think I heard that someone died today, got hit by lightning... probably shouldn't have said that, MOM PLEASE DON'T WORRY!! Got back and went to dinner, then sat in front of the fireplace in the Snowlodge and read more of Black, almost done with that one.
This just in. My roommate Justin just got back, and apparently he's moving out tomorrow. He's hooked a deal and moving into a better dorm with a friend of his. Add to that, Jeremy moving to Roosevelt in 3 days, I'll have the room all to myself for a while! Downside, they'll probably be throwing more people in with me. It'll be a coin toss, so be praying that goes over well. I might see, if I ever meet Ben the other young guy in our ministry group, if he could move in with me.

I'm gonna do a quick Bio of our ACMNP staff, just a little of what I know anyway.
Staci Creekmore- Fine Arts major going to school in Oklahoma, she's lived all over the world having her dad in the Air Force. We work together in the Old Faithful Cafeteria.
Amber McKenzie- Very sweet petite girl from North Carolina. I'm only now starting to get used to her accent haha.
Sarah Staal- From Chicago. Her shyness just about rivals my own so I don't know much about her at all.
Ben Auger- From Georgia... haven't met him yet.
Rod and Linda Post- Sweet older couple. They worked in Yellowstone with ACMNP last year, so Rod is our area leader. Rod is retired and he's working here at the visitors center. They have an RV that they live in here and they've offered to have us over anytime, especially since Linda isn't working at all this year.

One last thing. I had to say goodbye to one of our workers today. I didn't know that she was leaving tomorrow, her name is Toon and she's from Thailand. It was kinda sad, she is a really sweet girl and I had fun working with her. Thankfully she had a notebook and she was writing down emails and names for facebook.

That's all for now. Thank you all for your prayers and support, I look forward to seeing you all again soon!