Every time I come to West Virginia to work, I feel like enter into a time travelling portal. Never before in my life do weeks pass by so fast. I originally arrived to this region almost 4 weeks ago! I can’t even fathom that… So much has happened, but at the same time, every day feels like a blur (probably a symptom of dehydration).

This week was probably the easiest one, for many reasons that you will now be pressured to read.

To start, I finally feel like I have my true routine. I wake up at 5:30, get myself ready, start breakfast for the crew, we leave for work, we come back, someone makes dinner, and we all find ways to relax. To the average reader, this may sound extremely dull, but I’ve come to enjoy the simplicity of my new life. Plus, my phone now gets better reception at the campsite, so I can regularly text and call people (praise God!!). As much as I love getting to reach out to my loved ones now, I do enjoy the disconnect from the “unimportant stuff”. The brain rot that social media induced, isn’t really a temptation anymore, so I find more time for reading and writing.

Another reason why this week was easy, may not initially make sense. There was a massive heat wave that came over this region this week! The temperatures were regularly in the high 80’s with humidity around 70% or higher. To most, that sounds like torture! I do agree, it was miserable, especially when you’re swinging tools and digging into uncooperating mud. But it meant that we got to take more breaks, cool off by springs, our project manager brought us Gatorades, and we got pool passes as a reward for finishing the week! All these little things made the week a bit less miserable.

The last reason why this week was easier, was we got to work on a different project! So, as a part of the agreement to staying at the State Park, we have a few days specifically dedicated to working on their specific projects. So technically we’re paying rent through manual labor haha! On Thursday, instead of our typical 35 minute drive to work, it was a lovely 5 minutes! Our job was to widen out a trail in the park, since due to rainfall, trees were uprooted and essentially destroyed the trail. It definitely provided some adrenaline swinging a pick mattock when there was probably a 50 foot drop behind me (I promise that I was being safe!). Lots of helmets, water bottles, and bags took a tumble and required strategic recovering. It was really nice getting to do something different, and there was more shade at this project site!

After this week, I am officially a quarter of the way through this job! It feels bittersweet, I really am enjoying the happy brain chemicals and the time with my crew, but I’m also excited to go back home. I’m extremely grateful to God that I have the ability and the opportunity to do this, He opened a lot of doors to make this happen (maybe I’ll tell that story next week).

Until next time, I am going to getting up to a lot of fun this weekend! I’m hoping to go grocery shopping, thrifting, shove Chinese food down my face (my family and boyfriend can attest to how much I’ve been craving it), and attend some of the parks educational programs. I’ll be going back to the local church tomorrow (they’ve asked me to do special music, I’m definitely not nervous about that), and I’m hoping to get a hike in. And on Sunday, my boyfriend is going to come up, and we’re hoping to do some more hiking at New River Gorge National Park!

Thank you for reading and thank you for all the prayers! I truly felt God’s protection and guidance this week.