This whole internship has been kind of a blur. ItвЂ™s not too shabby getting to travel across the world to show JesusвЂ™ love to travelers and climbers alike.Д¬urrently, I am home support-raising while spending quality time with my family. Climbing will be used as an evangelism tool. While community was a guiding factor in my relationship with God, it wasnвЂ™t the only thing! Because I loved the program so much, I am going back to staff the climbers school come August. Throughout this time I gained an identity in Christ independent of community. Two weeks later, I was off to New Zealand to learn about God, and GodвЂ™s heart for me! It was six months of learning, growing, crying, and rejoicing in who God was. She had connections to YWAM and thought it might be a good idea to connect with the climbing program there. Enter Youth With A Mission in Oxford, New Zealand. Remember the Colorado mountaintop friend? She had been walking with me all along. So, I called my grad school, pulled out of my leasing agreement, cancelled on my roommate, and found a program where I could completely immerse myself in learning who God was, is, and will be. In order to move forward and be successful, I had to stop faking the whole Christian persona and do this вЂњfollowing Jesus thingвЂќ for real. This is when I knew I needed God - God had been gently pursuing me, calling me closer and closer and I think I began to understand. All the blood, sweat, and tears I put into this all these years seemed pointless. I had worked since I was in 8th grade to get into grad schoolвЂ¦ but once I finally got to grad school, I felt empty. This was about the same time I was ready to go off to grad school. She, unbeknownst to me, started disciplining me - showing me really what it looked like to have their identity completely rooted in Christ. It was not until I met someone on the top of a random mountain in Colorado who changed how I looked at religion. This got me through college, but when I graduated and moved to Denver, it became apparent how little of a relationship I had with God. I did all the вЂњrightвЂќ things, said all the вЂњrightвЂќ things, and acted Christian except when it was inconvenient for me. From then on I became a great luke-warm Christian. When I graduated high school as an exemplary church goer and left for college, I realized community was everything to me, so when I did not have it, I lost touch with who God was and why I really loved God. I wasnвЂ™t good at singing, but passion had to count for something! Through the choir, I became more and more invested in the community, even attending SUMMIT and dragging my parents as leaders with me. I stopped caring how lame вЂњchurch choir campвЂќ sounded and went every year. From there I begrudgingly joined the Wesley Choir and fell in love with singing, but most importantly the community. I joined a round table with people who I still consider my best friends. As a 6th grade babe, I was a wide-eyed bushy tailed kid who needed friends.

My responsibility this summer is to connect people with people - whether that be through friendships, emails, texts, meals, or coffees! I am the people person, connector, liaison, or whatever you want to call me. My name is Taylor Phillips and I am so excited to be a part of the Oikon movement as an intern.

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