Dear Mr. and Mrs. Washington,

I just want to tell you thank you!

I spent this summer on summer staff at Washington Family Ranch, a Young Life Camp in Antelope, OR. This summer my life was changed in radical ways. I was stretched and challenged like never before. My faith was pushed and tested to the point I thought I might snap. Through all the challenges I learned so much about myself and who the God I serve is. It was so incredible the change that happened in those two months.

I now take every chance I get to be intentional and love someone. I now look for opportunities all around to be in and build community with those in my surroundings. I am now fully confident in my relationship with Jesus and who I am in Him.

On my drive back home I realized that I was a new person coming back. I realized that I had matured in ways that I am still processing even months later. I left Missoula, Montana for Oregon at 8 a.m. on June 9th not anticipating the change that was going to happen in me over the next two months. I just knew I was going to have a good time and build lasting friendships. I left with the intent to be gone for three weeks, but those three weeks turned into seven weeks. I am so thankful for that. I learned so much about myself and my faith in this time.

As someone who has grown up and lived in Missoula for the majority of my life I had heard your name. I kind of had a sense of who you are. I saw your name all over including on the Grizzly Stadium. My grandfather worked and retired from the Montana Rail Link so your name was thrown around occasionally at the dinner table. I knew you were a guy who had some money and had made a name for yourself. It was not until this summer that I knew you were a donor to Young Life. Not only did you donate a whole magnificent camp, but you also support Missoula Young Life, the place where my love for YL sprouted as a senior in high school. I found this fascinating.

I heard the story of how you donated Washington Family Ranch to Young Life and was in aww. It was all I talked about when I got home from camp. My favorite part of the story of you donating camp is when you saw the guy at the now sports center and you donated the whole thing. I’m sure my family got tired of me watching the camp promo video over and over talking about how the man who donated it all was from my home town in Montana. Everything you have done is apart of changing not just my life, but the lives of many adolescents’ lives. I watched hundreds of teens stand up on the last day of camp every week to proclaim that they have given their life to Jesus, including football players I went to high school with. It is because of you that thousands of kids each year get to see a little glimpse of heaven.

Thank you for supporting the organization that changed my life. Though Young Life I realized that I am fully loved and deserve acceptance. It is because of donors like yourself I have found my passion for my life. In the past year I not only spent my summer at Young Life Camp, but I started Young Life College at University Montana Western, where I am studying elementary education. It is because of people like you that people like me can find their passion and do what they love. You are an inspiration! Keep doing what you do!

Thank you,

Jourdyn