I am the Rivercrester

A few weeks ago I was accepted as a ministry intern for Camp Rivercrest! I am now busily preparing for the big move to Nebraska, a state that I have never been to before. I started this blog to keep my friends, family and ministry partners updated on my life, but first, let me share a little about how this all happened...

I was a couple weeks away from graduation and had no plans for what I was going to do with my life from that point on. My dreams for living abroad fell through when I hit the reality of legality. I seriously had no idea what I was going to do with my life, so instead of studying for my finals, I would spend half the night worrying about my future. I couldn't spend the rest of my life selling UO Ducks merch! But, coincidentally, it was while selling UO Ducks merch that the lightbulb went off.

I was discussing with (okay, COMPLAINING to) my coworker about how my dreams came crashing down on me and I had absolutely no plans. She was trying to be encouraging, saying things like "What do you like to do?" and I, in my bad mood, was being difficult, responding with "Nothing!" I think she was fed up with my whining at this point, because she finally said, "Jessica, God has a plan for you, and you've just gotta believe that." Now here's the lightbulb...."Camp!" I had loved my Christian camp jobs in the past, and earlier that day I had been asked to be a counselor for my church's kids camp that summer, so this only made sense. I quickly Googled "Christian camping jobs" and found a job board on the CCCA website.

One job sounded amazing: an internship, great pay, full room and board, an amazing campus, all in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. I quickly applied for it, excited for this new opportunity. A week later, I received an e-mail saying that all the positions had been filled before I had applied, so I was once again faced with reality and no dream job, or any job at all (well, besides that nice part-time minimum-wage job selling Ducks merch!). At this point graduation was about a week away and I still had no plans, but I learned something through this experience: my previous plans were done on my own, and my plans easily fail. But if I made my plans through God and what HE wanted me to do, maybe I would have a better outcome.

I tested this little philosophy. And it worked.

I went back on the CCCA website and found two more jobs that I was qualified for. One was an outdoor education instructor at a camp in Colorado. The other was a ministry intern at a camp in Nebraska. I applied for both, hoping that I would get the job in Colorado, but applying for Nebraska as an emergency back-up. After all, people had always told me how beautiful Colorado was. Nobody told me anything about the beauty of Nebraska; in fact, I don't know anyone who has been to Nebraska...except for my grandmother, but that's only because she was born there.

School ended, and by that time I had better hope for a future because I knew that the Lord would take care of me. I went on a family vacation to California, and during that time I got an interview with the job in Colorado! I was actually riding my bike home from the beach, when suddenly my phone rang. I had to stop, pull off of the bike path to a side street, and then call the interviewer back as quickly as possible. So I had the interview while sitting on the sidewalk and wearing a surfsuit. Has anyone had a weirder interview experience?

During the vacation, I also received an e-mail from the camp in Nebraska asking for a good time to interview me. We scheduled a time after my vacation, so that I wouldn't have to interview on a street right next to a busy beach. (This interview ended up taking place on my driveway, just in case you were wondering.)

I kept on waiting to hear from Colorado. It sounded SO much better than Nebraska. Then one evening, I finally got the acceptance. Suddenly, I knew in my heart that this might not be the right job. Nebraska seemed like a better choice, and I'm not really sure why. Both were one year programs. Both offered the same stipend. Both provided room and partial board. Both allowed for me to learn more about the camping ministry and industry. The camp in Colorado was definitely a good one (enough to quit my job over). But, for some reason, after much comtemplation, I decided that, if accepted to work in Nebraska, I would go there. If not, of course I would go with my initial choice of Colorado.

I waited awhile to hear from Nebraska, but the more I waited, the more it seemed like it was exactly what God wanted for me. Finally, the day came that I would leave for church camp (remember, this was the camp I was asked to volunteer at the same day the lightbulb went off). I checked my e-mail before I left since I wouldn't have internet access at camp, and, lo and behold, an acceptance e-mail from Camp Rivercrest in Nebraska was there! I quickly sent a polite thanks-but-no-thanks e-mail to the Colorado camp, then wrote back to Rivercrest saying that I would happily accept. I would have to work out the details of packing, getting there, and tying up loose ends later, but for the next four days, I could rejoice as I had a blast at the kids' church camp, thinking This is what I'll be doing for a LIVING for the next year!

So as of today, I am still at home in Oregon, attempting to pack and get everything situated before I leave. I will fly to Nebraska exactly one month from today, and I have plenty of loose string-tying to keep me busy until that day. The Lord has blessed me plenty since making this decision as well. I think I'm working more now that I'm currently unemployed that I was when I was working, thanks to housesitting, babysitting, media work, and other odd jobs. Going to Nebraska will be a completely new experience; I've never even been in Central Time Zone before! I'm not sure exactly what my future posts on this blog will be because I know very little about what's going to happen. I'll get to learn what it's like living in a small farming community and get trained in several aspects of camp work. Best of all, I'll get to use this set-apart time to grow closer to the Lord. I'm excited to see all that He has planned in this!