How many summers did you spend in the Canyon?
I spent 11 incredible summers in the Canyon! I started coming to Laity Lodge as a camper at Singing Hills. I was a camper at the Hills for two summers, in Delta Babes and Tri Love, then moved over to Echo Valley where I spent five summers as a camper in cabins A, B, E, H and I. I served on Work Crew at Echo Valley and then as a counselor at Echo Valley for two summers during my time in college. My last summer in the Canyon was in 2010 when I was a Work Crew Boss at Singing Hills! (The first summer the new Work Crew cabin was built at the Hills!)
What are you up to these days?
I worked at Laity Lodge every summer during my time at the University of Texas at Austin, and then I graduated and moved to Houston, where I’ve been for the past seven years. I currently have the great privilege to work full-time for Young Life College at the University of Houston. I spend my days with college kids and get to tell them about how deeply they are loved by their Savior. It’s the most fun grown-up job. I’m also a graduate student at Dallas Theological Seminary, working towards my master’s in Biblical Counseling. Fun fact: my Area Director / boss, Anthony Adamson, is also a Laity Lodge alum.
Do you have a favorite camp memory?
How can you even pick just one?! Being a Hills camper and waiting at Cantina. Getting to be a camper at Echo Valley. Sneaking out in all black and pitching rocks when we got caught (I was always in the bad cabins and we actually had to pitch rocks.) Cabin I learning “Hitzoo.” Learning how to wash dishes and operate the Hobart on work crew. Sneaking out with campers. Days off as a counselor with my best friends. 10 weeks in my favorite place. Work Crew bossing at Singing Hills and serving alongside my girls and my co-boss. Getting to see campers say YES to a life with Jesus.
But the one that tops them all was when I was a Work Crew Boss at the Hills, one of my former campers was coming to serve on my work crew. She had just walked through a horrific tragedy, and I knew she was coming in to her time on work crew with so much pain. The Lord MOVED in her life that summer and I was so honored to be a part of it. My strongest memory is sitting on the floor of the bathroom in the work crew cabin and crying with her, and watching her come to believe that Jesus is good even when our circumstances are not.
What do you miss most about your summers at camp?
Oh, I miss everything! I miss the smell of camp. I miss the friendships I made at camp. I miss getting to be unplugged for a whole summer. I miss opening day and meeting my campers and smelling like burnt popcorn. I miss switch days and Chili’s dinners and staying up late talking with my friends and campers. I miss going back every summer to the place where I met Jesus.
How does LLYC still impact your life today?
I met Jesus at LLYC many years ago, and because of my summers at LLYC, my life will never be the same. I met two of my very best friends through LLYC. One of those best friends and her husband – Rachel and Dayton Whites, are on staff with LLFC. I’ve gotten to take some of my Young Life girls to serve as childcare for a YoungLives weekend camp at LLFC, and introduce them to the Canyon where I met Jesus. LLYC is so deeply embedded in who I am — I will never be able to put in words how grateful I am for how Jesus moved in my life through my summers in the Canyon.
