Final Blog

Sorry its been so long since my last blog. This is going to be my last one, since I'm going home on Tuesday. (I won't be back in St. Marys until Saturday though). Its been weird saying good bye. I don't think it has really sunk in that I'm leaving so soon. It has been such a good and challenging year, and I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers for me during my time here. The challenges haven't stopped quite yet though. Last Sunday Caitlyn (the other RAD participant here with me) fainted in church. She went to the hospital for a few days, and remained kind of out of it. She and I got quite familiar with the British health care system (its not all its cracked up to be). The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her, but released her anyway. She is back at the house, but still very weak. It will be very difficult for her to fly home, both physically and mentally. Please keep her and I in your prayers as we finish our time here, and head home. I can't wait to meet all of you again, and I can tell you about my experience personally.

The Beginning of the End

Greenhill has been under construction for about the last 5 months. They are building new guest accommodations, a new parking lot, new tent bases. The center is definitely in a state of transition. It is true for the volunteers as well. Although Caitlyn and I are the next volunteers to leave (on June 24th if your wondering), there are a lot of others who will be leaving soon after. By September there will only be one member of the current staff left. Because of that there are a lot of "newbies" now. There are two locals (Jason and John), and two internationals Pavel from Czech Republic and Chantle from Spain. They are fitting in very well, and have really become part of the team. Its nice to meet new people, although its weird to think that I'll be leaving them in a month. One more thing that has added a change in the atmosphere is that Christof and Seb are on vacation for the next month. They are the two most experienced instructors, and the two that I probably got the closest to. Christof is going on a road trip through Scandinavia, and will be back two days before I leave. Seb is visiting family in Peru, and won't be back until after I leave. I will really miss those guys. Plus almost all the climbing I did was with those two, so now I have to find new people to go with, this should give me a good opportunity to get to know some others in the short time I have before I leave.