Pine Ridge, South Dakota. My home for the next 10 weeks. As I flew from Philly to Detroit, to Madison I was questioning my decision for the summer. Could I really serve all summer in an unfamiliar place, with a bunch of strangers, and give (hopefully inspiring) talks every week to a group of students? When I stepped off the plane in Madison, my first thought was, “how much would a ticket back to Philly be?”. All these fears kept creeping in… that is until I met my team.

My team consists of 12 uniquely gifted people, who come from so many different walks of life, and who live all over the country. The bonds between us formed incredibly fast. So fast, that instead of just being teammates, after only two weeks of knowing each other, we are now family. One, big, wonderfully dysfunctional family. We tell poop jokes, make each other laugh constantly (one of these days they are actually going tomake me wet my pants), and we argue like siblings. Although we have tons of fun, what is so amazing is the seriousness of which we are able to talk about our lives, testimonies, and God.

The Next Step Staff who is serving this summer in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, is full of God loving people with giant hearts, hard workers who are always willing to pitch in, and punny dad joke loving jokesters. It has been two weeks, but already we have amazing stories and have made incredible memories. Whether it be all the Hannah Montana songs sung on our 14 hour road trip, or the spontaneous dance parties there is always fun to be had. We have prayed with and over each other, have sung out for the glory of God with each other, have broken bread, and supported each other in the telling of our testimonies.

My team. My Family. They are AWESOME. I am so blessed that God has placed them in my life this summer. I cannot wait to see how He works in every single one of their lives. I can’t wait to see how God uses us to grow one another’s faith.

Looking back on that moment I stepped off the plane in Wisconsin, I feel so silly. Why didn’t I trust that God was going to deliver to a place of peace. He always does, always has, and always will. Over the last two weeks he has delivered me to a place of hope and excitement many times. But the firsttime he gave me peace was when he placed Brady, Dani, Ellen, Katie, Sarah, Jake, Kevin, Matt Rob, Treston, and Tylor, in my life. All I can say at this point is “Thank you Jesus! Thank you for these wonderful, amazing, people. Thank you for continuing to show me peace.”

#LickitandStickit2K16 Story of the Week

Thursday, June 2, 2016. There is a mouse. We have been deep cleaning our new home all week, and because the place is shut down the rest of the year we are bound to find mice. Luckily, I’ve only run across dead ones.

*QUICK SIDE NOTE*

I am INCREDIBLY scared of mice. I have this thing called suriphobia/musophobia—look it up on google, it is a real thing. Basically if I see a mouse I am done for. Crying, screaming, running… the whole shebang.

Anyway, I’ve seen these dead mice, and I’ve run away, screamed a little, and have screamed a little more when Kevin pretended that the dead mouse I saw was actually alive. I had only seen dead mice… up until Thursday. I knew it was coming, that it was bound to happen, but by no means was I prepared for it.

We do testimonies every night, and Tylor was in the middle of his when all of a sudden it happened. Something scurried across the floor, someone yelled mouse, and I ran, screamed, and cried a little. Since Tylor was in the middle of telling us of the wonder that God had done his life, I couldn’t leave the building, so I sat on top of a box on the opposite side of the room and listened.

After Tylor finished his story, it was time to leave to bed. Naturally I had to make sure the coast was clear of mice before I stepped off of the little white box I was standing on. The boys went first with a rubber mallet in hand to humor me. As they turned the corner all of a sudden I hear, “IT’S STILL IN HERE!”, followed by the banging of the rubber mallet. Next thing I know I am in the fetal position on the floor, and I hear laughing. HA. HA…very funny guys let’s pretend that there is a… “THE MOUSE IS ACTUALLY STILL IN HERE!!!”. (A word from the wise, never pretend that there is a mouse, because before you know it, there will actually be a mouse.) I quickly jump back onto my box, turn around hold my ears, cry, and scream, while the guys are running all over the place chasing this mouse with a rubber mallet. I’ll spare you the gory details, but let’s just say I will not be using that rubber mallet anytime soon.

After this whole ordeal, after Ellen was finally able to use words to communicate, and as soon as I mustered up the courage to get off of my box, the boys proceeded to go on a mouse hunt around the house. I don’t know if as an animal lover I can say I was excited about that, but fingers crossed I won’t be seeing any of those evil little creatures anytime soon.