WOW!

So I have to say I have not been good about posting on this blog. I promise to work at that and get better at updating! So this was my first Christmas away from home:( It was hard but I am very blessed to have an Aunt and Uncle who live near by that I was able to spend the holiday with. Well the canyon is not used to getting a lot of snow and we got its just before Christmas. We had a few bad snow storms come through and most of us (interns) drove through one to get out of the Canyon for the holiday! We all made it safely to our destinations that night with lots of prayer! I felt kind of at home with all the snow and cold weather. The sad part is it has all melted. It was 57 degrees in the canyon on Sunday. We now have lots of mud! But life here is good. I am excited for everyone to return from their vacations and hear all about them. We have been working hard the last few weeks and have another group coming in tomorrow for New Years. After that the whole staff of the camp and their families are going to a retreat at Canon Beach! I can't wait! It will be a great time of refreshing and fellowship as a staff and body of believers. Well, I will post pictures when I return from the retreat! Our God is an awesome God! Miss you all!

Love ya!

Taralyn, Jeremy, Janelle, Jessica, Juliana

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I had a great one! I surprised my family and flew home for the holiday! Our WHOLE family was together! It was wonderful. It has been nice to spend time with friends and family although I will admit the busyness of life outside of the canyon is kind of overwhelming. I miss the quiet peaceful feeling of the canyon were there are not as many distractions. I miss the beauty of the hills and my friends. But it has been great to spend time here and I am excited to go to church tomorrow. God is so great and I feel so blessed to have the family I do and to have the opportunity to take the journey I am on. There will be no surprises at Christmas. I will be spending it in OR at my Uncle Tim and Aunt Teresa's house. We have a very busy schedule at camp when I return all the way up to the week of Christmas. Well, enjoy all the of the Christmas shopping and baking you have to do I can't wait to make Christmas cookies. Please pray for me as I travel back to the canyon on Monday and pray that God will continue to teach me and grow me. Thank you for your prayers.

Love ya,

Janelle

Over a month!

Wow! It is hard to believe I have lived in the Canyon for over a month! I love it here though. It has been a great month of building relationships and seeing God in so many ways! I am in Hermiston now at my Aunt and Uncle's for my weekend just to get away for a little bit. We have a had very busy weekends at camp. I am getting really good at cleaning toilets and making beds! I also am slowly and I mean very slowly getting over my fears of spiders!!!!! I had to kill 12 the other day and I screamed every time!!!!! No fun! But I feel so truly blessed for this opportunity to serve out here for this year and am excited to continue to bring you along on this journey. I will post more pictures soon!

Janelle

All the girls! Amber, Emily, Andrea, Me, Amanda,                                                                                                                      Jamie and Elise.

So, the coast was BEAUTIFUL! We had a great retreat in Seaside OR. It was a good time of bonding for "Team Intern"! I think my favorite part was a two hour time of solitude that we were given to spend time in the Word and prayer and set our personal goals for the year. I walked down to the beach and sat in the sand. It was so amazing to sit there and listen and watch the waves crash and just draw near to God. The day we got there was my birthday and they had birthday cake for me! It was really fun. One of the girls knew that I loved lemon cake with lemon frosting so they made me a lemon cake. The funny thing is she forgot the frosting:) They had another cake too! After this retreat I am even more excited to see what God will do in my life and also in the lives of the other interns. Please just pray for us as we continue to serve out here. Pray that we would serve as Christ would serve! Miss you all!

Nell

P.S. We went to Haystack Rock which was were part of Goonies was filmed!

Hello! Sorry its been awhile. I have had a busy week. Work is going really well and I am still loving it out here. Tomorrow all the interns and our small group leaders are headed to the coast! I can't wait! I have never seen the pacific! We will be there till wed. morning. It is our intern retreat were we will be doing a lot of goal setting and stuff like that. I will fill  you in on all of that when we get back! Please be praying for us as we go that we will grow closer together spiritually and grow closer to God! Thank you for your continued prayer while I am out here. I am missing home a little bit but know this is were i am suppose to be and I am excited for this journey!

Love ya all!

Janelle

Another day in the Canyon!

Well, another day has gone by. I worked in the kitchen all day today and had a great day. We had a staff meeting this morning and I was suppose to share my life story but I got out of it this week so next Thur. it is! Things are going really well here! I hope to get more pictures up soon so you can see the other interns! I have to head to staff worship (which I am very excited about!) Oh, and work at 5:45 am tomorrow. AHHHH!

Love you all,

Janelle

This is the view from the camp of pool!

The Iron Kettle (my new work place)

The Sports center!

Day off!

Well, we did our first town run yesterday. Two cars drove to Bend OR which is a two hour drive. We went to Costco (which overwhelmed me), Target (my favorite), Goodwill and Walmart ( I got my groceries there). It was a long day but we got what we needed and had fun hanging out with one another. When we got back we unloaded and then a few of us played basketball with other camp staff. It was fun but wow I need to get into shape. Last night we also watch Count of the Monte Cristo (sp?) which i slept through most of it :)! Today is just catch up day and relax. It is beautiful out. The sun is shining and the leaves on the trees are turning. God's creation is so amazing. Things are going great here although I miss you all! Write me or call me please!!!!!!!

Love ya,

Janelle

                                         My Bed!

The View from my bedroom Window!

HELLO!

Sorry for not updating sooner my Internet has not been working in the condo so I had to find a place to get on! Well it is Saturday morning and I am sitting on a porch swing looking out at the beautiful mountains. I first want to tell you all how awesome it is to see God's creation and the beauty of it. There is no flat corn fields! It is so strange. I arrived here Wed. afternoon and got my stuff moved in. I am living with 4 other single female interns in a 7 bedroom condo. It is great and I love them all. We have spent a lot of time training together over the last few days. I am the new kitchen intern and I am very excited. Yesterday I cut up 60 lbs of potatoes, cut and seasoned 150 lbs of roast and made homemade sub sandwich bread. It was so much fun and the kitchen staff is a blast! The camp facilities here are really nice. I will be spending my weekends in the Iron Kettle (dining hall) and during the week I will be working with Housekeeping (cleaning bathrooms and hotel rooms). I am very excited to see all that God will be teaching me over the next year. There are a total of 13 interns here for the year. We have small group leaders we will me with weekly and also have weekly worship night.

 So I told you all that I would be in the middle of nowhere. It is very true! We drove through Antelope and I just laughed at how small it was and there is nothing there. Then we kept driving and driving and driving farther down and down into the canyon. I just kept laughing. To get to a store we have to drive at least an hour and that only gets us to a town that is not much bigger but has some stores. 

I am really excited for this year. If you want to plan a visit I would love it. I can have guest anytime during school season but none during summer. I have Mondays and Tuesdays off during the week so that is the best time to come. so take a look at those calenders and pick a date! Well my new contact information is:

Address: PO Box 212 

Antelope, Or 97001

Phone: 541 489 3189

I would love to get letters or packages and always love a phone call! I will update again soon!

Love ya all!

Janelle

Oregon

Well, I am in Oregon now. What a day! Saying goodbye to my family was hard. I really miss them but know that this is just part of the journey that God has for me. I will be spending the next week and a half with my Aunt and Uncle in Hermiston, OR. Then October 1st Antelope here I come:) Please pray for me as this journey continues! Will update more later this week!

Love Janelle 

Last week home

Well, I am leaving De Kalb IL on Saturday. I have very mixed emotions about it all. I am very excited for this new journey I am about to embark upon but I am very sad to leave my friends and family for a year and go where I know no one yet. It's hard to say goodbye and I don't do well with goodbyes. I have begun packing. It's going slow because I can't decide what to take and what to leave behind. It is harder than I thought to move for a year and to pack to fly with all your stuff. Anyway, I am praying that God will give me strength and encouragement as I leave. Can't wait to post pictures of camp and update you on everything going on. Pray for me!

Janelle