ToDaY. ToDaY iS tHe DaY!

So tOdAy was the day I have been waiting for since, oh, let's see, wEek OnE in PrOvO. From my very fIrSt CoUpLe WeEkS into EfY, and throughout the wHoLe sUmMeR, I wanted to be a Bc for eFy. My first SiX sEsSsIoNs that I did, I sWoRe that my gOaL was to be a bC in PrOvO ( I mean, not every team gets to carry around wAlKiEs; and some of their cHaSe dOwN sToRiEs.. DaNg!) . It wasn't til the end of the summer when I worked my last tWo WeEkS, which were both in ReXbUrG that my plans changed a bit. That was where I decided I wanted to work as a bC on the ReXbUrG tEaM. The people I met during the tHrEe WeEkS I worked in ReXbUrG have undoubtedly become some of my aBsOlUtE bEsT fRiEnDs! There is no doubt on my mind that I was meant to meet all of them for a reason.

I'm going to go just a little of subject for just a second, but don't even worry! I promise I'll get back! When I was first hired as a CoUnSeLoR, I was never scheduled any weeks in ReXbUrG. I had tWo weeks in PrOvO, OnE in SlC, and tWo in CeDaR cItY. That was it. In fact, when I signed up, I signed up for pretty much everywhere in the WeStErN sTaTeS except for IdAhO cause I really didn't want to work there. At the end of week TwO in PrOvO, JoN and JiLl were telling us in BuSiNeSs MtG that they needed counselors in DiLlOn, MoNtAnA and BoIsE, IdAhO. By then all I wanted to be doing was working EfY. So I signed up.

FoUr DaYs later, I was down in St GeOrGe packing up my stuff, getting ready to move back to OrEm, when I got a PhOnE cAlL from the EfY oFfIcE offering me a week in BoIsE. They had just left a VoIcEmAiL, and I still wasn't sure if I wanted to do it. So I didn't call them back until the next morning after I had talked to my mom. I was definitely going to take it!

By the time I got ahold of them, they said that all the spots in BoIsE were full, but they did have a spot in ReXbUrG they needed to fill; so I took it! Before I knew it, I was riding up to ReXbUrG with HeAtHeR hAnSen and KrIsTiN hUmPhReY. HeAtHeR I had known from my weeks in PrOvO, but KrIsTiN I had only seen, we'd never talked or anything.

That first week in ReXbUrG was a little strange. A new pLaCe, new pEoPle. Total I knew fOuR pEoPlE, and rEcOgNiZeD one other. I just didn't know where from. Aside from HeAtHeR and KrIsTiN, I knew AnDy BrAsHeR and AmBeRlyN HuTcHiNgS. BrEnNoN mOoRe, one of the HeAlTh CoUnSeLoRs, was the one I recognized, but not well enough to ever really talk to. All fIvE of us had worked PrOvO.

I met loads of new people that week, and had a pretty good time; but I was having some major PrOvO withdrawls. Both me and KrIsTiN were. After the FrIdAy NiGhT dAnCe, both of us, who were Co's that week, were doing cOuNsElOr LiNe Up in the parking lot, and all we did was complain about how much better pRoVo was. The next morning we got to know some of the other people on the bC tEaM a little better, but by then it was to late. We were done in rExBuRg.

Obviously GoD knew that I needed to build stronger friendships with the people that were up in ReXbUrG, because FiVe WeEkS and TwO sEsSiOnS later, NaTe WoRtHeN, the CoOrDiNaToR up in ReXbUrG called me up and offered me week SiX! I was eCsTaTiC! Then in the middle of week sIx, he had another spot open up for week SeVeN; the week that KrIsTiN would be coming up for! Could life had been any better? It was during those two weeks that I really started to develop my fRiEnDsHiP with the people who are now some of my greatest friends! BrAdEn GrEeN, sPeNcEr DaHl, KaSeY bUtLeR, RiLeY wOrThEn, AlEx PiZzA, ScOtTy B; none of them had been there the first week I was there. NaTaLiE bLiSs, LyNdI bUcHaNaN, DaNi LeWiS, HeAtHeR tOdD, BrEnNoN mOoRe, NaTe WoRtHen, BrAd BeAuFoRt, SaRa WaLkEr, TiA hAmMoNd, BrYcE eVaNs; they were all there, but I wasn't very good friends with any of them. I knew who they were, and talked to some of them occasionally, but that was about it. And KrIsTiN and HeAtHeR; we would have never been the great friends we are now had we not gone up there together. What if I had never worked in ReXbUrG?? The fOuR mOnThS of my life would have been completely different! This here slideshow, is just a handful of the things I have done with my friends from the BuRg since those last TwO wEeKs. I am so glad I got the chance to rEdEeM myself!

But to get back to where I was originally going with this, on OcToBeR fIrSt I signed up to be a bC in ReXbUrG; a few days later I scheduled my interview, and on NoVeMbEr 7th, mE, AlEx and KrIsTiN went in for our interview. It's been about tWo and a hAlf weeks since then, and today I found out that I didn't make the cut for this year. But ya know what, I really wasn't all that sad about it. I'm actually sUpEr ExCiTeD to be a cOuNsElOr again! I can't wait to have that oNe on OnE with the YoUtH, to get to work with different cO-cOuNsElOrS every week, and to be back at the BuRg with all my fRiEnDs! With all the things I have been hearing about next year, cHaNgEs that are being made, the people who are being hired, there is no doubt that EfY 2o09 is going to one of the gReAtEsT yEaRs YeT!