AndyPeckham.com

Hey everyone,

It’s weird to be writing something addressed to the general world at large, and yet I guess since there are very few people who even know of this website, that isn’t really true. It is my hope that I will be able to use this website as a way of letting people know in general where I am and what I’ve been doing. This year has been a really good year for me. I have been able to slow down a bit and reflect on my last two years of internship. I haven’t felt stressed much at all this year. I often realize how good God has been to me and how much he has blessed me. I have been thinking a lot about what I will be doing after graduating, but I’m excited about discovering what God has in store, and trying to remain open to that, and yet at the same time stepping forward in faith even when I’m not sure yet.
So right now I’m in the middle of the last semester of my four years at Prairie Bible College, in the little town of Three Hills, Alberta. Three Hills is a small town located about an hour and a half north and east of Calgary. I’m finishing a Bachelor of Art’s in Ministry, with a double major in Outdoor Education and Leadership. I’m rooming off-campus with my friends Tim Andries, who was on my Blue Team in the Explore Program when I was a junior intern (first year of internship, second year of college), and Levi Bergen, who who did a two-year intership the same time as me in Discover, the sister program of Explore. This semester I am taking 4 classes, plus finishing my internship class (huge paper), and another class (Wilderness Instructor). I’m working as the Supervisor for our school’s climbing wall. I also work about 12 hours a week in the dining hall. I’m playing on the basketball team, so I have practices and games on the weekends. What! Andy’s playing college basketball! We’re in a small league of smaller schools, so it doesn’t mean I’m very good. I’ve been spraining one ankle often which has been annoying. So between all that I keep myself pretty busy, but a whole heck of a lot less busy than when I was doing the Explore Internship.

I hang out with Tim Andries, Dennis Landon, and Jeremiah Jordan in my free time. We spend a lot of time talking about doing all sorts of cool things, but then I get tired of talking about doing things and plan some sort of trip. Some of the trips haven’t worked out, but Dennis and I got to go backcountry telemark skiing in Kananaskis a few weekends ago. Just yesterday we went driving around the prairies here and found a little hill to ski down. It was big enough to get about a half dozen turns in. That big. Unfortunately, the weather here is very dynamic. There will be times of extreme cold (negative 30 or colder), and then a warm Chinook wind will come through and it will be above freezing for a while. This has been frustrating, because it melts away the little snow we get here. Not that there are a lot of places to ski around here, but you start to get really desperate after living in the prairie lands.

A few weekends ago I got the chance to get a ride with some other friends down to Camp Bighorn. It was great to be able to see all my friends there. I got to hang out with the interns I worked with last year, Hannah Mikul, Nathan Nash, Jeremy Freeman, and Mandy Vargas. My friend Andrea, who did the Explore internship with me, is now married to Luke Underhill, and works on permanent staff at Bighorn. I have a lot of other friends there who are working there now. I got to go to my home church, the Bible Chapel, in Plains, and talk with some of my friends there, such as Luke Dryden, who I worked with building log homes last summer.

I had an amazing Christmas break. I spent 2 days ice climbing near Canmore, Alberta, with Nathan Nash (Explore Intern). Then we drove down to Montana and went skiing. Then we drove to his place in Washington, and we climbed the South Gulley route up Guye Peak, at Snoqualmie Pass. That was a great climb. Short, but quite steep. Then I got to spend 2 nights with my friends Brian and Beth Meaden, whose wedding I was in this last October. Then I flew down to southern California to stay with my two brothers and sister-in-law. We rock climbed at Joshua Tree, and spent Christmas Eve with cousins and grandparents, which was really neat. Then we had Christmas Day with just the 4 of us (Daniel and Katie, Joseph, and myself). My uncle Karl came to visit all the way from BC, which was a lot of fun. We went down to San Diego for a few days to stay with Katie’s family, and I actually relaxed and did nothing for a while! We did go for a hike one day, but otherwise I just lazed around the house and did some reading. It was so refreshing not having a packed schedule for once. I don’t think I could handle not doing much for very long, but it was good for me. I got hang out with Oliver Malabuyo, one of my best friends from all the way back since 5th grade in the Philippines.  It was so good to be able to catch up with him.  Then I was fortunate enough to get a ride back all the way to Alberta with my friend Sara M., who was a Discover intern at the same time as me. We got to stay with my very hospitable Uncle Dale and Aunt Donna in Utah on the way up.