going going gone and going going still

I realize this entry is much over-due and I regret not having posted more in the past few weeks. At the current moment I am in a hotel room in Bozeman, MT (Having come full circle, it is the same hotel I stayed in here the night before I went to the park).

About one week ago I said goodbye one by one to my gurlz, being left in Grant with lots of wonderful international friends. Even though it was hard to say goodbye to my American friends, their leaving turned out to be okay because I got to spend my last days getting to know more cool people. Because I have been so bad about updating this, I'll try and report of the juicy stuff in a nutshell so you can get some idea of how wonderfully adventerous my last few weeks were.

Beautiful moments in my last few weeks include:
One night about 2 weeks ago we heard that the northern lights were supposed to be out, so we laid on the beach for a couple hours and although we did not see them, we did see some (10+) sick shooting starz. I hiked to some magical waterfalls, sat in a hot spring, and forged a river all in one day. I got an unexpected day off and spent it trail-running at Lonestar Geyser. Other beautiful moments include: watching movies with and learning games from my Czech friends, Jiri and Ondra, playing ultimate frisbee on the beach at sunset, visiting with my college buddy Rob Howells who came out with his family, camping at the foot of the Tetons in Antelope Flats with Rachel, driving through purple mountains' majesty at sunset with Rachel, and FINALLY seeing Old Faithful go off on my second-to-last night in the park (even though I have been there multiple times and have lived 20 miles from it all summer).

This summer has been sweet and nommy. Lots o' learning, lots o' fun. Lots o' loving. It wasn't really what I expected it to be in the least, but it was wonderful in so many ways. The ministry part was different that I thought it would be too, but also a good experience. Through the summer we had a few "regulars" at each service (employees) as well as many other visitors that popped in and out of our services. Working in the park in affiliation with ACMNP was a neat experience in many ways.

I am grateful.

After I spend a few days at home packing and repacking, and visiting with family and friends, I am off to school for a semester of student teaching in Western New York and Ecuador... I'll keep you posted.

to be cont.