Here are some pictures so far...








To the right, the Discipleship Team (along with the dorm supervisors) is working together to complete a task during our Teambuilding Day!

Leadership Team + D-Team = Leadership Staff 2009!

During the first night of orientation, we played some silly games... Here, a guest judge is deciding which "Bubble Gum Sculpture" took the prize!

This is a little game we like to call "Bird Monster"
(don't ask...)

Battling it out in the game of "Wah!" (again...don't ask... )









Overall, we are having a wonderful time!! God is so good, and He is teaching us something new every day! Thanks for your continued support!

Prayer needs:
-Energy / Continued Health
-Adjustment of the staff to Keswick life


His,
Melia

Let the madness begin...

Today is the first full day of summer staff orientation! We got up nice and early to spend some personal quiet time with the Lord before starting the day. The leadership are all really excited that everyone's here, and we're eagerly waiting to see how God is going to work in and through each staffer! Pictures should be up soon! :)

His,
Melia

D-Team Training

So... I started this post on Tuesday when the d-team was about to arrive, but got sidetracked. We are now winding up our d-team training and wow, am I excited for this summer! What a great group of leaders! We've spent a few days blasting through a crash course on discipleship and small group leading. I think they're a little tired. :)
It's crazy to think that the rest of the staff arrive in just 3 days!!! Eeeeek! It's going to be a hectic weekend...we have a big group coming in so the staff are all dispersed to host homes until Sunday morning at which point we will work like mad to get everything set up in time!

Some prayer requests:
-pray for energy and strength. We're all tired.
-pray for confidence for each of the d-group leaders. They are all going to be great, but I don't know if they realize that quite yet.
-pray for the safety of the staffers traveling here on Sunday

D-Team:
-Antionetta (Children's Ministry)
-Alexia (Children's Ministry)
-Will W (Teen Ministry)
-Andrew H (Teen Ministry)

Thanks for your prayers! We need 'em!


His,

Melia for the SS09 Leadership Staff

And so it begins...

I'm sitting at the San Diego airport with a lot of mixed feelings... To be honest, I am not all that excited about returning to Jersey after spending the week off in sunny California! But at the same time, I am so excited for summer staff to officially "start"! I land tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 6am, and the Leadership Team arrive that afternoon to start training (eek), so I hit the ground running. I think that I am about as ready as I will get. There are always unforeseen complications that will arise...even in this past week there have been a few staff changes/shifting. I am thankful that God's plan is bigger than mine, and am confident that He will provide the staff we need. As this week kicks off, please pray for us as we get to know each other and learn how to work together as a team.

Here's the leadership team:
Zakira--girls' dorm supervisor
Andrew P--guys' dorm supervisor
Lauren--head lifeguard
Cameron--snack shop supervisor

-Melia :)

Welcome

Welcome to the blog of the 2009 Summer Staff at America's KESWICK! We're trying this whole update-by-blogging thing, and we'll see how it goes. Hopefully someone will post an update every week. We'll also post some pictures, highlight events, and generally let you know what's going on. If you're not a fan of blogging, you can subscribe to get an email notification every time we update.


This year's training officially starts in less than a week!! The Leadership Team (dorm supervisors, head lifeguard, and snack shop supervisor) arrives on Sunday the 21st and the Discipleship Team arrives on the 23rd. Then, the big day...June 28th...when the rest of the staff arrive!! Hopefully we'll be ready. :)


At the moment, I'm still neck-deep in contracts, paperwork, and interviews as I attempt to confirm this year's summer staff. I would appreciate your prayers as I finalize things. As soon as I get a final list of this year's staff, I will post it.

I'm excited for this summer--I know God has a lot in store for us, and it's going to be a blast!

His,

Melia
Summer Staff Coordinator