Summer Part II (read part one below, first!)

After the mission trip, I had about a week to recoup before I went to Montreat Youth Conference, in the mountains of NC, to "search for the signal." Montreat Conference Center hosts 6 youth conferences every summer for Presbyterian youth around the country. The youth have the opportunity to learn in small groups, experience two different forms of worship, and have fun and fellowship with old and new friends. Montreat reaches out to approximately 600o youth every summer. I have been going to Montreat since I graduated from high school in 1992, and even spent a summer on their staff. It is an amazing place where so many feel close to God, and where it is said the the air is thin and the distance to heaven is close.

This year's theme...

Walking to worship...

1300 youth and adults waiting for worship to begin...

Dave-train playing his mandolin in the instrument band...

Candle-light service around the lake on Friday night...

After about another week of down-time, Rachel and Natalie came to hang with me for a few days of Camp Aunt Becky.

We went to the children's museum

And the local water park...

I was housesitting, so they also helped me care for the dogs...

We ate a lot of yummy food, did some back to school shopping and took in a baseball game, too! It was fun times!!

Then it was time to head back to Montreat for the last conference of the summer. The girls' dad was keynoting for the 5th and 6th conference, so we all met up (Mandy, David, girls and I) for a last Montreat summer hoorah. This time, I served as a small group leader, living on the 3rd floor of the inn and leading Small Group 27, an awesome group of 21 young people and 2 adults from all over the country. It was an awesome experience!

Small Group 27

And now, 3 days of respite before it's back to school. I go back to work on Wednesday, and it's a week of prep before we welcome our students on August 17th. The summer went by so fast, and I would say "where has it gone?", but pictures are worth a thousand words!