Completely Melting Under Stress

Dear World,

I am so stressed out right now. I don't know what to do, there's so much going on, my head is spinning and i want to drop everyone and everything and lie in my room, on my back staring at the ceiling. There are a lot of things going on that i have to deal with and a lot of people who are there for me. It's not stressing me out that they're there for me. Not at all, I'm so happy that they are adament about helping. But it's many people. A good 12. I love them all so much and i don't want to hold out on them, so i have to constantly be re-living things to people. It's good for me to hear things from different people's point of view, but sometimes, one person is enough.

School is completely flipping me out. I'm doing very poorly and it is really depressing me. I've always been a good A student, and failing assignment after assignment is REALLY stressing me out. I don't understand half of what i'm doing and am having a mental, over-load, brake down every other week. I'm pushing through, and getting most of what i have to do, done, but only by scraping C's and D's. It's extremely frustrating and all the emotional stress is NOT helping with things out-side of school.

I feel like God is completely apart of another life. My night time life when I'm reading my Bible. Not when I'm about to rip my hair out because of school, a dis-functional band, and family problems. I don't feel like I'm faking the whole religion. Not at all. I had never actually read the Bible before this summer, and now I read it every other day. But I'm having trouble asking God to take control of my day and guide it in His way. I feel so much closer to God than I ever have before in my life.... but it's not enough. I want to be closer. I want to feel Him next to me every minute of every day. Not just those nights when I pull out my Bible. Though, granted, it might be more when I'm focused completely on Him. But I want more than what I have right now.

I'm so stressed right now, it's not even expressable. Blogging is a good outlet for me. To be able to get it all out. Anyway, goodnight!

In Him,
Maddie

My name is Maddie

Dear World,

Hi, my name is Maddie.  I love Jesus and the stripes on racoons. I think glassy rocks or cool and I'm scared of fish and Disneyland rides. I like to go to the grocerie store and spin around and around in the fruit section and watch the colors go wizzing bye. I think lensless glasses are amazing and if you want to be my favorite person in the whole wide world, send me a letter. 

I'm usually very seriuos, but when in the company of friends and my sambica awesome people, I'm very silly and weird. I like making people laugh, even though I'm not that funny. I'm terrible at keeping a straight face in a staring contest, but I'll kill you in a laughing contest.

I'll die for my family, under any circumstances. I don't get along well with my sisters, even though i love them very much. At the end of the day, we each have each other. I love my older sister, Kayla, to the end of the world. She's the greatest roll model in the world. My little sister Sydni is pretty cool too. I enjoy watching her grow up, and I'm excited to see what she'll end up being in life. My Mommy is incredible and can do anything. God adds hours to the day for her. She's amazing. I love her!

My friends are everything to me. I want to fill as much of my time and life with being with them. If one of my friends are hurting, I drop everything for them. If there is a person in particular who purposefully hurt them, then I will do everything i can to make their life hell. I love to give advice and be a witness for Jesus and help my friends in their own Christian lives, but I can't deal well with my own personal conflicts and problems. But that's where my friends come in. They are the best. They help me so much by showing me what's going on in their lives and what they did about it.


My mentors mean most to me. (apart from family) After all, they're the ones who have helped and are helping me most in everything i'm dealing with. Of course, I turn to them first. None of them actually know each other. Over the course of the past 3 years, I've acquired about 5 mentors. 7 years if you're counting one in particularly who's been with me since I was 8. All of them help in things only the one ever could. I love them the most.


I'm obsessed with bubblegum and have at least 3 packs in my room at a time. You can never find me without it. My life revolves around music. I've been playing the piano for 9 years and the guitar for 2 days. I'm playing guitar and singing on the youth worship team. I write, play, sing, and arrange music. It's my favorite thing.


I can't say enough that I love Jesus! I'm not concerned with all the little nick-nacky things of the religion, I only live my life for Jesus and love unconditionally and act as a witness for Him. I'd rather be talking about God and our Christian lives with a friend, or anyone, than anything else. Nothing makes me more happy than to think that there is one person who will always love me no matter what I do... Jesus!


I'm truly terrified of one thing and it's the un-knowing of what is coming and what is going to happen. The panicked state your in when you're fearful for yourself, family, friends.. the unknown. I'm terrified of that feeling. Second to that is the thought of living forever when I go to Heaven. I'm truly terrified of living forever and ever, but I love God, and I trust Him, so, doesn't that mean that He'll take care of me and I have nothing to fear? Doesn't matter, I'm still terrified.


That's me. Who're you?


In Him,
Maddie

Friends

Dear World,

My wonderful, wonderful, friend Delaney Aydel gave me an idea on what i should write on my next blog post. She only just gave me this idea about 5 minutes ago and i would like to write my post before i forget what I've thought about. (Forgive me if this seems kinda scattered. I'm on the phone with Delaney at the moment, listening to her rant about her frustration on downloading programs. Quite funny, but slightly distracting.)

Friends. Well, there are different classifications about friends. There are, of course, friends. Then there are best friends, ok friends, good friends, really good friends, the i'll trust this friend with my life friend, the i love you friend but is only just a friend and is basically like a brother/sister friend, and, of course, the i love you friend but i'm too shy to tell you that i really love you so I'll just pretend that i don't friend.

I'm not going to talk about different types of friends. I was just pointing something out. lol. You know how you are supposed to have God in your relationship with your husband? It's just as equally imoportant for you to have god in your friends. But you can't pick and choose your friends based on if they're Christian or not to find god in the friendship. Well, you can pick or choose your friends based on if they're Christian, but only a few show God through it. Let me give you a couple examples.

Take Delaney for instance. Out of the 5 weeks I was at SAMBICA I only saw her for 2 and yet i got the closest to her. Why? Because throughout the 2 weeks we were together we constantly were showing Jesus to each other through ourselves. We were the teen models of what it's like to follow Jesus and we were always there for each other and God was constantly revealing God to each other through ourselves. Last day, she was the first one by my side when I completely broke down in pain and misery. She didn't have to understand, she didn't know the half of it, but she knew that what was wrong was serious and she didn't ask questions. Just, held me and let me cry on her shoulder. Since then, I've talked to her most out of the people at SAMBICA and we keep learning more and more about each other and God keeps showing himself to us through each other.

Another example. Sarai Dominguez. Delaney jokes with me often that I menchen her in almost every post. Maybe some of you (maybe family and church people) know her as Pluto in my blog. She was a mentor from camp. There's something different between a mentor and a councilor. A councilor... well, you really only see them for a week. Well, not even. More like 6 days. But when you're with them you're always going from activity to activity and everything is crazy crazy crazy, fun all the time. But a mentor, you're with them for 3 weeks. Sometimes, 24/7, based on the program. You're basically with them all the time. Either working or hanging out. 3 weeks is a long time. You tend to see the worst, best, and most broken state you could be in in the other ELITEs. Pluto saw, THE WORST of me, the beeest of me, and the most broken state I've ever been in. I talked to Pluto almost every day. After I was crying on Delaney's shoulder on the last day, I was crying on Pluto's. For some reason me and Pluto got really close. I remember random things from the many talks we had. Like that she knew my kids were gonna grow up to be preachers, and that she predicts I'm going to be an ELITE mentor, and that she's gonna stalk and call me everyday to remind me to read my bible. She's not a stalker, that's for sure. The one thing that makes me love Pluto so much is I've never been able to fool her with walls or disguises or anything else I use to try and block people out from knowing the real me. She saw through that immediately. Which is what I love about her. It's what made her advice to me always so helpful. And what made God work in our relationship. Her strange gift of X-Ray vision is what has made us so close.

When God shows through in how he works in a relationship with a friend, you know it's special. You may both be Christian, but that doesn't mean you work well together as friends. Your friends shape who you are and you need to hold those select few as close as possible. Because they will have the biggest impact on your life. And if you don't have those select few yet, you will. If you open up to it and allow yourself to be vulnerable.

Also....notice how my description of Pluto and I's relationship was 3x as long as Delaney's and I's? haha. I don't love Pluto more, just had more to say about her. I love the crap outta Delaney though. haha

In Him,
Maddie

The Christian Life

Dear World,

It's been a while since I last posted on here. Sorry! I really like blogging, but I've been very busy with school. I started about 3 weeks ago, which, i guess is when I last posted on here.

You know what I feel is funny in the light of Christianity? Religion. You know, Christianity isn't a religion. It's a way of life. Once you choose to take this path, it changes your life forever. You are held accountable and nothing is ever the same.You can't just get away with your usual crap. You don't just feel guilty. You feel sorry. You want to change. Life isn't the same when you're a Christian. God will catch up to you eventually. It can't just be in the category of religion. It has to be something bigger. It's like, Life or The Christian Life. It's one of the two.

Glad I chose the right path.

In Him,
Maddie

Jessica

Dear World,

Today, I thought I should write about a person individually, rather than a broad topic. I was scrolling through the people who have meant something to me in my life. There are many. Mostly SAMBICA mentors. But I've talked about them many times. Then I thought of Julia and Sally.. Eh, they are amazing, but they still aren't the right ones. Who is it I'm trying to think of. Then I remembered. La dur. Jessica Nguyen. Who has meant more and changed more of my life than her? Uum... no one.

I met Jessica at SAMBICA 2 years ago. I think I was 12. I was just a camper. I didn't come back the next summer, but I kept in contact with Jessica. She lives in Washington so I rarely see her except for Thanksgiving when I go back up there to see my family. There's been a lot of ups and downs in our relationship but we are very close. I've wronged her many times, but she never ceases to forgive me. She came to visit me in January for MLK weekend. It was just sorta a chill weekend, but it was awesome to get to see her in a different environment. I've really only ever seen her in her car... Driving me around. I was speaking with her on the phone the other day (one of the rare times) and was thinking about how different we are. She is insanely analytical, and I'm insanely not. I'm an artsy person. Though I do over think things, I tend to just let them go if they get too complicated for me. Often times when I talked to Jessica I would get so confused because she just goes off on sooo many different thoughts. But she's so loving and caring that I don't think I could get rid of her if I tried. And oddly enough, I've tried... and failed... several times. But she also reminded me, on the phone, that we are also very much alike. I kinda fail in seeing those ways in an obvious point of view. Though I do know we are extremely alike.
Jessica... Well, she's an extremely beautiful woman. And I'm not just talking about her physical appearance, even though she's drop dead gorgeous. She has such a beautiful heart. She trusts God with her life, and gives everything up to Him. I'm amazed by her, because she is so incredible. Even though she isn't perfect, which she tells me often.

I love Jessica like a sister. There's nothing I wouldn't tell her. I'd trust her with anything. I hope she trusts me. Even if not, I love her very much. And she means a lot to me.

I love you Jessica! Thank you for eeeverything!

In Him,
Maddie

To wrap up the summer...

Dear World,

Today was my first day of school. But I'm going to write this post as if it were yesterday. ok? ok.

Today is the last day of summer. I'm closing a lot today. A lot happened this summer. Yesterday, Saturday, I wanted to do something special to close off my summer. But I really wasn't sure. So I decided to just play it by ear. I went to church this morning and it was pretty good. But the thing that made it one of the best days of my life was when this older gentlemen, His name is Gary, came up to me and told me that he had a message from God! A message from God? What? That doesn't happen to people like me! That happens to people like l4d from camp! And Pluto. The women who's lives are completely and 100% devoted to God! Who have been through so much, and have come out on top with Jesus on their side! The women who mentored and are mentoring me through one of the toughest times of my life! This happens to women like them! Who are mature in their faith, and understand it better than me! Well, this time, I guess not. It's me. Maddie Rose Chaney. 15 years old, and taking my faith seriously for a total of 7 weeks. So, Gary leaned close to me and said into my ear so only I could hear and talked to me as if He were God himself delivering the message, "I know your feelings seem overlooked with everything that's going on, but they are not to me. I love more than you could ever know." WOAH!

I don't think I can elaborate much more about how extraordinary this was. But let me move on. After I left the main sanctuary, I went over to the youth room to hang with my buds. But something was pulling at my heart strings. What was it? I thought deeper, then knew. The wife of the pastor at our church! Her name is Mary, and she is one of the most extraordinary people I've ever met. But she wasn't singing today. She was sad. There was a lot going on in her life right now. But why? Why are you putting her on my heart God? Surely there isn't anything that I could do. Is there? Yes! Be myself! Give her a hug. Maybe, try to make her smile. Let her know that she is loved. It isn't much. It won't change how God is working in her life, or how much it might hurt her, but I've always felt that it was the little things like that that help people the most. I know they are for me. When someone walks by me and grabs my shoulder turns there head around for a moment and smiles at me always makes me the most happy. Small gestures like that. So i did, I sought her out, and found her in about 20 seconds. (she was standing in the hallway)I talked to her for a minute, I kinda failed in letting her know that she was loved, but I did act like myself and everything.

All in all, this is the absolute best way I could have ever asked to end my summer. I'm going to miss it, but I'm going to go into the year that's ahead with what happened this summer as a reference. I'll never forget it and how the Lord has worked in my life and brought incredible people like l4d and Pluto into my life. But I'm also not going to look back, miserable because I can't live in what happened this summer for the rest of my life. I don't necessarily have to be excited about what's coming, but God has used SAMBICA and l4d and Pluto and the mentors and the amazing ELITEs like Lizzy Rolf and Delaney Adel and Spencer Turner to prepare me for what's coming. I can make it through anything.

God is with me. He's right there. He wants me, and I want Him! I have several people that I've met this summer that I know are more than willing to talk to me about absolutely anything. If I need to scream and yell and vent, they'll listen, and if I need to cry and ball and brake down, they'll comfort, and if I'm lost and don't know what to do, they'll point me to Jesus and remind me that He is the only way and show me how much I've made it through already. I love them all. Words can't describe how much you all have helped me and how much you all mean to me. You truly have no idea how much God has used you all in my life. You are forever apart of it.

Thank you God for everything you've given me, and the chance you gave me to go to SAMBICA this summer. Thank you for the people you've brought into my life, like the ones I've said here, thank you for revealing yourself to me this summer and really telling me how much you love me and how you will be there to take care of me. I will be OBSESSED with you Lord. You have shown me what it's like to lean on you, and now I will fall on you. I love you God!! Thank you so much for this summer!

In Him,
Maddie

Fear

Dear World,

I often struggle in figuring out what I'm scared of. Like, legitimately scared of happening. Not someone jumping out of a dark corner screaming. I know I'm scared of, like, someone in my family dying, but seriously, who isn't scared of that. I try, and try, to find a weakness. One small flaw in my seemingly strong wall that blocks out all fear. And, I think I've found it.

I think I'm scared of being scared. You know, that feeling where you're heart starts pounding really fast, your face gets hot, you're worried about what will happen because you have no idea. I hate that feeling. It is, what I'm scared of. Well, maybe not scared of. More like, I'm waiting, apprehensively, for it to come. Because I know there are moments in our lives where that happens. I know, I've had them. And, I don't know under what circumstances that that feeling will come. Which makes me even more scared...

oh, and I'm scared of red ants.

In Him,
Maddie

Different People

Dear World,

Today, I want to talk about... different people. What's the difference between different and normal? Is there even normal anymore? When comparing one person to the other, yes were different in personality, looks, maturity, style, likes, dislikes... things like that. When you get into an argument with someone, sometimes, no one could necessarily even be at fault, because the situation was been viewed by two, completely different points of view. It's impossible to say, I understand you, because we DON'T! We are all SO different that even if we tried, there is no way on earth we could understand each other. Even when people are struggling with things. You can't even understand their struggles, because there could be so many different things relating to it that you wouldn't know exactly what is effecting them or how much of an impact it's having on their life. How much it's hurting them, changing them (and maybe not always for the better). There's no way of knowing.

Why do we judge people who are different in their weirdness? My friend, Jackie Leonard, is the WEIRDEST person you have ever met in your LIFE! and she's an adult! which makes here even "weirder". If you don't love her weirdness than you wouldn't have been able to find out that she is one of the most compassionate, loving people you've ever met. And she is hugely accepting. And you know what the awesome thing is? She does not CARE if people like her or not! Why do we have to be so judge mental of the way that people are. I mean, if someone had thought that Jackie was crazy, and off the bat, didn't want to get to know her just by a first impression, they could have never found out how much of an amazing person she is!

We're all a little weird, some more than others. We should feel comfortable with it, AND be comfortable with other people's weirdness. It's who they ARE, and they ARE that way for a reason. I love looking at one of my friends and then comparing them to another and looking at just how DIFFERENT they are! It's crazy! But I still love them both because they are both individual!! If they were the same, then where would the fun in that be? If everyone was the same, life would be boring. And I know that people say that a lot. "if the world was filled with a bunch of copy cats, then it would be soooo boring." But seriously. Pick one person you know, and imagine EVERYONE IN THE WORLD INCLUDING YOURSELF being EXACTLY like that one friend!

Thank GOD were different! Oh my goodness, how grateful I am that we are all not alike! Ah, I think I would go crazy if I had a million of just ONE of my friends!

...goodness.

In Him,
Maddie

Good People

Dear World,
I am so thankful for people in my life who keep in reminding me of God's love for me. It's a very important thing to have as a part in your life. Good, Christian friends who are willing to smack you when you're not making the right decisions. I'm glad for those people.
In my life, those people are-
Linda Romero
Sarai Dominguez
Dawn Bailey
Jessica Nguyen
Delaney Adel
Chelsea Lidstrom
Krista Guenther
Lizzy Rolf
Spencer Turner
Courtney Harrison
Melissa Ramont

We all need good Christian friends. They'll keep you in line ;P I love mine. Each and every one of them. All are loved a lot, but all in a different way for the different things they have each done for me. I Love you Guys!

In Him,
Maddie

Lost

Dear World,

I am Lost. I'm spinning in circles, confused by these many different situations, feelings, emotions, circumstances, and trials. I feel as though I'm in a dark room, with words and flashes of past events jumping at me out of the darkness. I'm lost in my thinking and feeling. What I think is not relevant. There is too much. Too much around. Too much to do. To deal with. I'm spinning and spinning... what is all this. I can't even tell anymore. Was that love or judge? Wait or hate? I don't even know anymore. What do I do? Am I supposed to ask that? Where do I go? I'm so confused. There's no one here! HELP!

What is that? I don't know. I'm to confused to tell. Who is that? It's so dark here, but that person is bright. Their shinning. The room is spinning. I can't focus on them. What are they doing? Their picking me up off the ground? What? Their hugging me? Their so warm. I don't remember... why... I was, scared. Was I scared? no. confused? I think. I don't know. I don't want to remember. I just want to stay here. With this person. I feel safe. What did they say? I'm... not sure. Wait, they said it again. "I'll always be here. I always was. But you called out to me, and now you are aware of my presence." I... don't know. How do I respond? Do I respond? Do I just stand here, and let this man keep hugging me? I don't want to let go. "You don't have to let go. I'll always be here." You'll never leave me? Why weren't you here before? "I was here! I always was here! You just didn't know it. And now you do. Which is what makes all the difference..."

"I love you!"

In Him,
Maddie

He gives and Takes away??

Dear World,

He gives and takes away... he gives, and TAKES away.

None of this is my words. Sometimes, I just need to listen. And this is what I heard when I was IMing a friend that I met at SAMBICA. Her name is Delaney Aydel. We were talking about my last blog post, and the song, Blessed be Your Name.

"I was actually just thinking about that same topic last night when I was reading my bible

The song comes in part from the book of Job. I was reading the verses that are in it.

I was thinking, and it just kind of hit me that yeah, God takes away, but it's His to take away. He blessed us with so much. I think the thing to remember is that things can ALWAYS be worse, so we need to just remember all the things we have, no matter how small, because every one of them is a blessing, so we should praise God no matter what. We can survive on so little that every tiny luxury we have is such a gift."

There's not much left for me to say about that. Delaney basically said it. =) The world needs more people like Delaney. She yearns to be with God, and lives out what she says she is going to do. I'm so happy I met her because it shows me that I truly need more people like her in my life.

I'm struggling, still, but it totally caught me off guard that this had been going through her head too. When I talk to Delaney, I want to be close to God too, because she already is multiple steps further than me. It was encouraging. Now, I will continue to be encouraged when I heard Blessed be Your Name and think of Pluto, and that line, and what it means... but, like I said, and you all have read, it will be hard. But now, I'm trying even harder.

Thanks Delaney Honey! Keep walking in your faith. It's been a blessing to know and talk to you!

In Him!
Maddie

He Gives and Takes Away

Dear World,

Today was my first time back to church since I left 7 weeks ago for SAMBICA. I have not wanted to be home. I've wanted so much to be back at camp with l4d, and pluto, and dodge, and tiger... Camp was a world away. It was a safe place, and there, nothing could hurt me. God was real, God was there, God loved me and held me on a pedestal as his wonderful creation. Here at home, nothing is the same. I miss camp so much, I feel like it has been taken away from me. Like it was one of those perfect, wonderful things and the only thing you hate is that you can no longer be there. And there is literally, no going back. It's 2 states away.

I miss the mentors insanely. I hate writing this because it makes me miss the one I'll be talking about soo much more. When I was at camp, I had a conversation with Pluto about things that were going on at home. I don't remember exactly what I said to her, but somewhere along the way she brought up the song Blessed be Your Name and the part where it goes He gives and takes away. She brought it up because sometimes it's hard to sing that He gives, and He takes away, because singing it, means you believe it, and to believe it means you have faith that God will fill the hole left by what was taken away.

Today, at church, the very first song we sang in worship was that one. As soon as I heard the chords for it, even before the words, I thought of her, and what she said. "He gives and takes away". Then i thought, how does that apply to my life right now? Well, it's obvious. He's taken away SAMBICA. He's taken away the security that it provides. Right when worship was over, during church, even before the pastor started speaking, I texted Pluto, in kind of a silly way saying, 'guess what the very first song was we sang in church today?' A moment later, her reply was 'BLESSED BE YOUR NAME??? aaah! God is so good!!'

...

I wasn't sure how to reply. I just sent a smiley, but 'God is so good?' I wasn't sure if I believed that. I've only been able to fill in the "He takes away" part. Not the "He gives" part.
He takes away--
the unity of my family
the safety of my camp
the immediate support of my friends
the feeling of being able to talk to a mentor whenever I need it

These 4 things are huge. How do I fill the gaping whole they've left in my life?

I DON'T KNOW!!

Is it worth it?

Dear World,

So, life is hard. Shit happens. We do stuff we're not proud of and we wish that things didn't happen to us. So... how do we deal with it? I'm still trying to answer this question for myself. Does God provide? He has definitely shown himself to me in brief past moments, but is that a real relationship? Brief moments from a loving and caring father, followed by extended silence and waiting. That's almost torture. But is it worth it? It would take work to be able to hear more from God. Long, hard, patient, work. Lots of reading, and praying, and waiting for an answer. I want desperately to hear back from Him, but I'm too scared that it won't happen. I don't want to be let down again... but, in the long run, at the end, what's waiting for me... is it worth it?

...

Love Always,
Maddie

Camp is over, but is the blog?

Dear World,

Yes, camp is over. But I have not yet decided if I will end the blog. To have the blog as something to keep with and always have a thought in the back of my head that I have to write another post, is so good for me. It keeps me plugged into the day and aware of what is going on. Another thing though is, the blog was originally for writing about what is going on while I was at SAMBICA, and now that camp is over, it would only be obvious that the blog would be also. Would people still want to read it after camp? That's my only question. I guess it would keep things interesting, you know, carrying what I learned at SAMBICA back home with me, and other people can read about how it has changed and effected my life. Still debating in my head.

Friday was my last day at camp. It has been absolutely fantastic. God used SAMBICA as a tool to finally speak to me in ways He never has before. I'm definitely going home changed. The thing I'm going to miss about the camp the most is how the other ELITE can speak volumes into, not only my life, but other people's as well. It's not only the mentors. And most of the time, it's not even small ways. It's legitimate, heart to heart, encouragement that everything is going to be ok. We are truly being trained for something amazing. It's awesome to see, nearly all of the ELITEs wanting and longing to be there for one another. We grow so close that it hurts us to see the other hurt. And I'm not just saying that from my point of view. Others have said it as well.

This program. The ELITEs. It's all amazing what the camp is doing. God is using them to change hundreds of lives, and mine is one of them.

In Him,
Maddie

Mentor Appreciation: Tokyo

Dear World,

Tokyo was our ELITE supervisor. She wasn't exactly a mentor, but she had everything to do with the ELITEs, so I am going to write a mentor appreciation about her too.

Tokyo is the single most awesomest person I've ever met. She also happens to be indescribable. When she talks, she's very "here's the truth, and now it's your choice" sorta thing, ya know? She completely speaks on truth and shows us... the truth, basically. No, beating around the bush, or doing a build up sorta thing. It's very plain, and simple. And i love how she delivers her messages so amazingly. She's also incredibly dorky, and funny. She's not a crowd pleaser and is completely individual in an, I'm going to do it my way, sorta thing. But also, not an arrogant or immature and selfish, I'm going to do it my way, sorta thing. She's very accepting, and loving. I love her, and am thankful to her for being our ELITE supervisor!

I<3tokes!

In Him,
Maddie

Mentor Appreciation: Dodge City

Dear World,

Just thought I'd finish it all up. I'll do Tokyo on Friday.

Dodge is one of the coolest people I've ever met. Or, actually, one of those people who thinks their insanely cool. And he is! He's hilariously cool, but it cracks me up how cool he thinks he builds himself up to be. Not only is he cool, but he is one of the most gifted speakers I've ever had the privilege of listening to before in my life. It's amazing! I love listening to him talk. When He talks, it's almost like I can hear God talking to me through His mouth. And that has happened with other mentors, but it seem to happen every single time he gets up in forum to talk. That and his cocky coolness (just kidding, he's not cocky. It's just hilarious) are what I'll miss the most about Dodge City.

Dodge is awesome and makes cleaning bathrooms not as nasty and gross and boring and terrible of a job as it seem it should be.

Will miss ya Dodge!

In Him,
Maddie

Mentor Appreciation: Pluto

Dear World,

Just thought I'd throw Pluto into the bunch of mentors that I'm doing tonight.

Pluto was the first Dining Hall mentor. And I absolutely loved her to pieces. Dining Hall was my favorite work area, just because she was doing it. I'm not entirely sure why. It was just probably her awesome... strange, personality. I've opened up the most to PlutseyBaby. (I still hate it!) The strange thing is though, I feel like she really listens. Often times, when I tell people about things, yes, they listen, but they don't really... listen. You know what I mean? Like they have their ears turned on, but their not actually processing anything I'm saying. I feel like Pluto really does listen, and she responds. (normally with a question first.. lol) She's entertaining, WEIRD, loving, caring, generous, selfish, whinny, and annoying. But it's all apart of the wonderful Pluto that I had to learn how to love. lol. just kidding.

I<3you sooo much, and will miss you even more!

In Him,
Maddie Rose

Mentor Appreciation: Lady

Dear World,
(over night, night is tomorrow so Imma do Lady now)

I haven't gotten to know Lady as well as some of the other mentors because this was her first session as sthe dinning hall mentor. She has been such a Joy to have for a mentor though. She's sweet and funny and nice. She knows her stuff to. (Biblically) I wish I would have been able to get to know her better, because this is my last session, but the time that I have known her has been amazing. Tomorrow I have her for dining hall, which is why I'm writing this tonight instead of in the morning. Lady is amazing. I really do wish I would have gotten a chance to get to know her better.

but I do <3you Lady!
Maddie

Mentor Appreciation: Kitty

Dear World,

Today, I had Kitty for an area mentor. Oh, what good memories. I'm going to share a brief story before I move on in my telling of Kitty.
The first day of maintenance, when we did a garbage run, there was this one hill. No, lets not call it a hill. That's a bit of an understatement. There was this mountain. And this mountain had a dramatic slope. When you got to the bottum of the mountain where you entered the street, there were some cars there. Probable 2 or 3. Kitty had a cart on the back of the golf cart, so it made it especially difficult. So when we got to the bottom of the mountain, Kitty got stuck in this little patch of road because he accidentally parked backwards. It took him like 10 freakin minutes to get turned around, and the whole time I'm dying from laughter in the passenger seat.. haha
So ya, tuns of memories with Kitty. He is so chill... Chill Kitty! It's one of the funniest things to hear him try and yell. It's like a small, scared child, calling to hid mommy. The only thing is, the small scared child is up a 50 foot tree and has lost his voice due to the amount of screaming the child was doing to get someones attention. After the child has lost his voice is when you compare it to Kitty. It's hilarious. Kitty is lay back, and cool. Kitty is Kitty, and that's really all there is to it. He is such a Godly man and I love listening to Him talk in forum.

I will miss Kitty SO so much!

In Him,
Maddie

Mentor Appreciation: TigerLily

Dear World,

Today it's TigerLily. =P

She made camp so freakin legit. Fun? no. Entertaining? no. Happy? no.

Crazy? yes! Like a one man circus? yes! Ecstatic? yes!

TigerLily has made camp soooo fun! Not only is she exceptionally hilarious! But she's kind, and caring, and compassionate, and understanding. She's many different things. But most of all, she's herself. She aspires to be, TigerLily. She's 100% original, and no one can even attempt to be her. TigerLily has been absolutely awesome! I'll miss her SO so much!

Love to you TigerLily! Had an awesome day with ya.

In Him,
Maddie Rose