the cutest blog on the block

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Hello! Rachel Here

With some pretty exciting news!

Besides me actually WRITING something after being gone for a month.

*hears the crickets chirp*

I was busy. And unmotivated. This is no excuse, but there it is. Alas.

So, my news!

My church's youth group always does a big trip during the summer. We call it an "X-Tour," and I've been going on them since 2007. That was my first ever X-Tour, and it was a pretty awesome one. We got to walk fifteen miles in Death Valley, whitewater raft on the Colorado River, horseback ride in Red Rock Canyon, Utah, hike the Narrows in Zion National Park, and a whole host of other awesome activities.

This year, 2012, marks the ten-year anniversary of the very first X-Tour. So this year is is X-Tour X, where not only current youth group members can come, but also alumni, namely my brothers and I! We're looking forward to it like nobody's business, let me tell you.

For more information about our tour (which begins June 20), click here. That will tell you everything you need to know about where we're going, what we're doing, and who we're doing it for.

And now, MY NEWS.

Our pastor, Ron Hunt, knows that my brothers and I are really looking forward to going on this X-Tour X, and us being older and wiser (well, marginally) we would also be in capacity of chaperons. But for yours truly, Ron had a different task in mind. He is, in fact, a follower of this little blog right here, and asked me if I would consent to be their resident blogger for this trip. This would be the first time there has ever been someone actually recording the impressions and day-to-day experiences while on the trip itself. So I won't be writing just for my own personal journalistic pleasure, I'll be writing for everyone, what they think and how they're feeling and how they're doing.

All in all, somewhat intimidating for a girl whose main pleasure is writing for herself.  To be perfectly honest with all, I am not accustomed to receiving compliments on my writing, unless they're from my own family who knows me and is honest with me. If some random Joe off the street says, "Hey, I read your blog and I like it!" I tend to get nervous. Very nervous. And somewhat unnerved. So this whole resident blogger thing will be putting me out of my comfort zone, and I await it with considerable trepidation.

But the thing that makes me feel like hiding under the bed is that those as-of-yet unwritten blogs of mine will be shared on other social networking sites, like Facebook or Twitter. They will be read by seven hundred other youth group leaders and pastors, looking for ideas and inspiration on what to do with their own youth ministry. Aaron tells me my writing it acceptable (his words are "brilliant," but he is deeply biased), but to have my pastor tell me my writing is good, good enough to be read by seven hundred followers, well, it's a bit of daunting prospect. As I said before, I wanted to hide under the nearest convenient bed when Ron mentioned that little piece of information. This might come as a shock to you all, but I am not used to other people reading my writing.  Unless it's something like this, then I'm okay with it. But this newest venture scares me, and I hate being scared. But I've been scared before and I will not let that deter me.

We of the Flores Family do not flinch.

 So now, all that remains is for me to write it out, send it out and hope it works. Strangely, this tactic has worked plenty of times before in the past, so I have hopes for it.

Be on the lookout, all of you, for my posts from the Wild Lands! I send them out with hope and fear and something like joy.

Over & Out,
Rachel

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