Home in the Mountains

someday….

Some day my cowboy will come! 

(Source: ehollingsworth)

Today 3 guys that I am here on project with got baptized in a river about 15 minutes away from where we are living. It made me remember my own baptism only a month ago and what a big commitment it was. I am still so happy that I did it and went through with it and to see the joy on my friend’s faces when they came out of the water just melted my heart. It was everything I could do to hold back tears of joy for them! To think, the water in that river contains the same H20 droplets from 2000 years ago when Jesus was baptized. It just blows my mind that all of our ancestors have used that same water as we do, we are literally all one Church body, the body of Christ. We were all washed by the water, the same water, and all of our future brothers and sisters will be washed in the same as well. It floors me every time.

There are no words to describe how beautiful God’s creation in Vail is! This is the view from the porch of my condo :)

So I am home from working at the ranch. While I was there I was teased that I was a city girl and though I could not except this coming home made it seem more ture than I ever thought it would. By my standards I wouldn’t say that I’m from the city at all. I am from an area in Charlotte that is more like suburbs. But having said that, there is one Harris Teeter per every five square miles and there is never a shortage of Targets, Walmarts, or shopping malls. Coming back made me even more sure that I want to live in the country when I graduate and have my kids raised there also. While the His Reigns ranch is not necessarily what you would consider to be way out in the country, but the nearest walmart is about 20 minutes away. Going into town seemed like a treat, not just going down the street. I miss driving down a quiet windy road surounded by cow pastures and people on tractors instead of the neighborhood surrounded straight, flattened out roads of the “city”. It really is true when you hear someone say you don’t know what you have until it is gone. Being at His Reigns made me realize how beautiful His creation really is and how sometimes it is easy to over look it. Growing up I guess I always felt there was a part of me that was a “country girl”. EEVEENN though I am British, thats ok haha. As my sister’s friends once told me, “Sophie, you are the most country british person I know!” And I take that as a completment!!

It is the greatest feeling in the word to get something accomplished! I have been working with four horses on and off for the past two weeks and everyday for the last week. These horses are in my “string”. This means that I am in charge of these horses to make sure that everything gets accomplished that is required training-wise. I am working with these horses to train them to submitting to their rider. This is done by getting the horse to flex its nose around towards the rider’s foot. If you pick up on one reign, you want the horse to automatically just bend around to that side, without you having to pull and tug on his nose. This is one of the ways for a horse to submit because he can’t go nearly as fast and as easily around in a circle as he would straight. It is so great when the horse finally does this because it means that he trusts you. He may not see the purpose for this right now, but in the long run it is very important. This is kind of like with us and God, we may not see or understand why he does what he does or why things happen to us but He does. He can see why it will help us in the long run, so we just have to trust Him and submit to Him so we can benefit in the long run!

For this month the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work on a growing farm/ranch to learn how to work and train horses. I guess this technically isn’t really just a farm or ranch because it is also the campus of a summer camp, but we do the work here like you would if you were on an actual ranch. For an average day, we try to be out working at 7 AM everyday and be done by 5 PM in the evening. It doesn’t always happen this way but that is always the goal! In the morning we do chores like clearing fence lines or putting in fence posts. It’s not always glamourous or extremely fun but it has to/needs to be done so it’s worth doing it.  In the afternoon we work with training the horses, whether it be working them in the round pen or the arena, or riding them on trails. It is all a great experience, no matter what the job…or the weather haha. Throughout all of this, God has been teaching me tons of stuff, through the horses and through the others that are working here with me. The Lord has slapped me in the face and showed me what I need to work on in my walk with Him, as well as how to do it. Being able to work here has been so great for me and I can’t wait to see what’s coming up next!!

Soph

Easter at Leatherwood

Smith :)