Throughout my week at UTC I encountered so many messages from the Lord! The first message I learned was to fully surrender to the Lord and completely trust His timing. From red shirting my indoor track season of my freshman year I was stuck questioning what Gods plan was for me. I didn’t know why this happened to me, and I started to notice that I wanted to be in control of my own plan. At UTC I sprained my shoulder during the special, but I was surrounded with countless teammates cheering me on for the remainder of the time helping me fight through the pain. After I returned home though I had to take 6 weeks off of pole vault to completely heal. This time was hard, but I began to believe it was the best time to take a break. I was able to dive deep into the Lord after coming off of an all time spiritual high from camp. I was able to see that God’s plan was for me to slow down and really focus on the present right then.
Another message God placed on my heart at camp was the power of teamwork. Throughout my freshman season my pole vault team became very separated. Many people didn’t get along with others and the team started to split apart. However at camp during the special I learned how important it is to have a good group of teammates to cheer others on through challenging times. After experiencing how powerful good team chemistry is, and how far it can get you I have tried implementing that in my own team back home. I feel that brining the lessons I learned at camp about teamwork can really help my team’s chemistry grow
Natalie Yoder | UTC Colorado 2026
