Winter Park Adventure(WPA) Part 1: The Lowdown

The new adventure has begun! This will be my 6th day here in Winter Park, CO, and it has most certainly proved to be an adventure! When I was waiting for the shuttle at Denver Airport to take me to Winter Park, there was a girl there also waiting. So I said "hi" and found out that she also is going to Winter Park to work for the winter. So we kept talking, and it turns out shes staying at the same place that I'm staying. When we got to the Lodge (where we were staying) we found out we were in the same room! Over the next couple days we found out that we are working in the same place in the park. Her name is Eve and she is amazing. Truly I believe that she is the best room mate that I could have gotten. She doesn't drink too much, she hates smoking, shes got a level head, and she's a lot of fun to be around.

I'm staying in the employee housing wing of the Winter Park Mountain Lodge, which is a hotel. The rooms are decent, even though we don't have a kitchen, only a microwave, and mini fridge. We have a good sized bathroom, with a shower, and, since yesterday, hot water. I assure you, a cold shower at 3,000ft above sea level in the Rocky Mountains, is a high price to pay to be clean. Many people on my floor didn't take a shower for 4 or 5 days. >_< Our rent will be a lil' less this month.

Also being at a 3,000ft elevation the air is extremely thin and dry. It can be hard to get to sleep at night because the air is so dry it hurts to breath. Many mornings I've woken up with blood in my nose.Walking 20yrds on flat ground leaves you huffing and puffing, and worked up to a sweat. They say that 7out of 10 people get elevation sickness, which looks like diarrhea, stomach aches, and throwing up. Thankfully no one on my floor has go it.

I had my first general orientation on Tuesday, and my 2end orientation for Moffat Market tomorrow, and that's when I learn all the details of my schedule and my specific job. The Moffat Market is a food court, so I'll either be a cashier or doing food-prep. Eve and I went to check it out, and it looks like its going to be a really fun place to work.

I also got applied for a second job working the evening shift as a server at the restaurant inside the lodge I'm staying at. I've been told to go see the manager this weekend and she'll tell me my hours...people tell me that means..I'm HIRED! lol So that will be really fun. I'll be starting the beginning of next week.

One of the main questions I've been getting: Is there a lot of snow? There are only patches of snow right now, and its been t-shirt weather the past couple of days. This is not a good thing seeing as the park is suppose to open on Wednesday. However, there is hope. We are expecting a blizzard this weekend, and Jesus is Lord. :)
Everyone here is extremely friendly. Many people know me as being very friendly, but the people here have caught me off guard by how friendly they are, and in truth at first it made me feel uncomfortable. lol But I have let this place take me outside of my box and teach me how to be just as friendly. Winter Park Resort is known for being Colorado's Favorite, and Friendliest. A couple years ago they were in competition with other ski resorts in CO to see who could be the friendliest according to the guests, and 4 out of 4 times this resort won. :)

While there is no snow, literally the only things for people to do is hike, skateboard,and drink. Winter Park is a tiny town with a liquor store or a pub literally on every corner. Like Sonics in Oklahoma or Starbucks in California or a Ponderosa in Montana. So it seems like everyone here are alcoholics or at least love to party. I stick out like a star in the heavens. :) To the glory of God.

With our work still not begun most people have been quite bored. Eve, struggling between her shyness and her boredom, put this sign on our door:

click to enlarge

 

Lol. She cracks me up.

Some Simplicity from a Detailed Loving God

To the people around the world who love and care about me: I have 9 more days in MT. Thats a week and two days. :) I can hardly wait for the adventures that await me on the other side. I will be thoroughly enjoying a long awaited visit to California, lasting 1.5weeks (*big happy sigh*) before I head to Colorado to hibernate for the winter at Winter Park Ski Resort. I'll be working in the food&beverage department there until April. :D I have no idea what my big ol' Papa has for me there, but I know It'll be rediculously good. Already he has worked out what I had thought was impossible or hard in order get me there.  



This picture was taken yesterday@Winter Park Ski Resort, CO. 

Three months ago when I had been asking Papa what I'd do after my time in Montana was up (He had told me I'd only be there 4mnths), I was talking to my friend, Katie, about it and she said, "Savannah, you should just move to Colorado." I had joked about moving to CO before because the Silicon Valley is a rediculous place for a career-less person to live because the cost of living is so high. So when Katie said that I should move to CO I laughed, knowing that she wasnt serious, but in that moment I also heard that fimiliar voice say, "Seriously, Savannah. What if you did move to Colorado?" So answering him I said, "Well, I have no money, and no job, so even if I did manage to somehow get there, I would have no way to pay for an apartment. I have only about 2more months in MT, and I dont know who would want to hire me for only two months. I dont know anyone in Colorado that I could room with. I dont have a car that I could take there to get to a job if I were able to aquire one in CO. I have no idea how me moving to Colorado would be possible right now, but from the pictures I've seen I bet Colorado would be a nice place to live." However, dispite all this, I felt peace about moving there, and Papa, said "Go for it! You focus on the big things, I'll work out the details." So I took a big breath and said, "Ok, Papa, if you want me to move to Colorado in 2 months I trust you to make it happen. I'll persue it until it happens." So thats where it started.

           A week later I was hired at The Wilderness Club as a housekeeper. They only needed someone for 2 months. A little bit after that I ran into an aquaintance, who had no idea I wanted to go to CO, tell me about her daughter who worked at a National Park all summer and they payed for her room and board, and that I should look for an opportunity like that. I not only took her advise because of the free room and board, but also because a couple weeks earlier Katie, my family, and I went to Glacier National Park, met a worker there off-duty, who told us all about working there, and we talked about how much fun it would be to work in a place like that. This is not anything I've seriously considered before, and so I knew that it popping up twice like that out of nowhere probably was not a coincidence. I googled job opportunities at National Parks in Colorado, and found out that they all are only open during the summer, but that ski resorts are looking for employees for the winter season. I jumped on it and applied to 5 different positions. 4 of those were at a resort in Steamboat Springs, CO, and 1 was at Winter Park, CO. Who would have thought that the only one who was interested was the one in Winter Park? It was the easiest job I ever got. They don't give free housing, but they provide it for cheep, and provide free transportation. I'll be working in the park's food court, doing food prep, and casheir. My supervisor told me that basically all I have to do is smile all the time, act like everyone is my best friend, love on them, and serve them with excelence. So excited I get paid to be me.
         A couple things I was concerned about, however, was the fact that I didnt have any brothers or sisters in Christ there. At least not that I knew of. But I knew that is something God could easily bring me, and prayed for that. I also felt sad that I would not be able to come home for Christmas, and was worried I would have no family to spend Christmas with. When my family and I went to Oklahoma, for my neice's birth, however, I made some beautiful discoveries. Friends of my sister who are real Christians who know love, and the full gospel of Jesus Christ, go to Winter Park frequently in the winter, and their 2 children whome I've met and love, are going to a ministry school about 45mins from the park, and a branch of that ministry is 3miles from the park. Not only that but its a ministry about loving people, one-on-one descipleship, empowering people with who they are and what Christ has given them, and having the Holy Spirit teach people Himself. I hope that I will be able to conect with the people there and possibly volenteer there. Not only that, but the 2 children who are near my age, will be going to Winter Park to go skiing frequently with the school they are in. Not only that, but I found out that the whole family will be spending Christmas at Winter Park, and they invited me to spend Christmas with them! :D Isnt that amazing! Papa is so good. He makes things so simple for us. All we have to do is focus on our dreams; focus on the big stuff, and Papa will work out the details perfectly. :)

While being here in Montana I've gotten the opportunity to let my heart heal from a lot of crap, and get the relationship with God back that I once had. Its been super healthy, and now the Spirit inside me is itching to love on every person I see again. So stoked I get to go out into this world, and be Jesus to people! LET THE ADVENTURES BEGIN! :D 

Where Did All Your Posts Go??

If anyone was wondering where all my posts from the past year and a half went....I deleated them. lol At the time I thought I was simply deleating drafts, but I later foundout that I had deleated nearly all my posts. :'( So I apoligize, and if anyone knows how I could get them back, that would be amazing. :)