murtys blog

murty said on May 25th, 2008

murty can has squirrel?

hey kids!
well i am here! i have finally made it to okoboji lutheran bible camp. but before i get into that, i will recap you on the last few days i spent before coming down to milford, iowa.

i spent a day and a half in gaylord, minnesota. this is where annika’s parents reside currently, and where annika grew up. their house is set by lake titloe (interesting name…) and surrounded by beautiful gardens and forresty type of environment. so i was able to spend a fair chunk of my time there by myself, catching up on sleep and computer stuff. but i did spend a fair bit of time outside enjoying the sunshine and awesome weather.
i also went squirrel hunting, determined to find my first squirrel and i did! so i took photos and showed annika when she got home from teaching. she was confused and informed me that what i saw was actually a chipmunk… silly boy!
it was really good to relax for a while and catch up with annika’s parents as well as her sister and kids.

we headed back to minneapolis on friday afternoon and headed to “downtown minneapolis”. this is basically like adelaide cbd, so just the main city part of the city. we ate at the spaghetti factory and checked out the new gutherie which has a observatory overlooking the mississippi. was fantastic! we also checked out some funky looking sculptures at the sculpture park.
overall i was impressed with downtown minneapolis, it is a very nice city and it is a lot easier to get around in a car then it is in adelaide.

saturday morning, annika and i arose early, packed and headed back down to gaylord (roughly an hour away). then we tripped down to okoboji lake in iowa with her parents.
[side note: highly recommend the movie 'lars and the real girl']
we had lunch at a pizza buffet place then got dropped off at camp.

i rocked up at camp feeling very confident and ready to tackle it head on, but after annika and her family left, i suddenly felt very alone and scared. i knew a few people here, but my mind was freaking out and my heart felt heavy and confused. a lot of it was probably to do with not knowing what to expect for the summer, but i think this was the first time it has really hit me, i am in america!
these times are when i really need to say to god ‘you need to take the wheel here’. so looking back now, it was a humble way to start off at camp, and even after a day, i look back and praise god for taking control and enabling me to feel welcome and accepted and finding my spot in this place.

i won’t go on for too much longer, but i just want you to know that i have already established some awesome friendships and am having a great time and loads of fun. the people here are very encouraging towards my faith and i am so grateful that i have been placed here and am apart of it.

prayer asks: that i am not selfish in who i develop relationships with; the kids and families that i will be apart of ministering to; god creates in me a pure heart and mind; i am always humble and unselfish; god uses my talents and abilities to bring people closer to him

thanks guys, missing you all!

love murty!

p.s. i saw my first squirrel at camp yesterday! wooo!