Silas Rappe loves Moab. He also loves his work as the area director for Young Life. His wife calls him an Uber-Geek, but he said he was only a simple geek in high school.
1. What initially brought you to Moab?
My parents! We moved here from Ignacio, Colo., when I was five. I did live in Fort Collins, Colo., for about five years, but after getting married and serving with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) I felt called back to Moab to work with the youth and our community.
2. What do you love most about living in Moab?
There is really very little that I don’t love: The setting, the recreational opportunities, the community. Everything about Moab is why I live here.
3. What do you dislike about living in Moab?
Not much, I would say that it would be the same things that are in every town.
4. What is you occupation?
I am the area director for Young Life in Moab
5. If you could have any job in the world, what would you most like to do?
I have to say that I am pretty happy where I am. I hang out with kids, work with amazing volunteer leaders, and am surrounded by a committee of Moab community members who care deeply about our youth.
6. Describe a typical day in your life.
This time of the year usually starts with breakfast with my lovely wife and baby girl. Followed by a few hours of office work (emails, summer camp planning). A lunch meeting and then assisting in coaching the High School Soccer team as well as co-coaching with my wife for a City Rec soccer team. The evenings vary but usually involve Young Life in one way or another. I’m busy, but I love to do what I do.
7. Some people have bumper stickers on their cars that read; I’d rather be sailing. What would your bumper sticker read?
“Try Not, Do or Do Not, There is No Try” -Yoda
8. Tell us one thing people don’t usually know about you.
That I am, as my wife puts it, an “Uber-Geek.”
9. In high school, you would have considered the person most likely to…
Ugh, no idea, I was a simple geek in high school.
10. What is your favorite Moab activity?
The ones I don’t do nearly enough – rafting and mountain biking in the La Sals.
11. Tell us your favorite non-Moab place to visit.
I don’t really have a favorite, but I would love to be able to go back to Sienna and Florence in Italy with my wife, Sarah.
12. What do you consider your greatest achievement in life?
I have two – marrying Sarah and my sweet baby girl Lyda.
13. If you were President, what’s the first thing you’d do to make life better in America?
Wow, that’s tough. It would be along the lines of coming together, setting asides differences in order to see things move forward in unity. United we stand, divided we fall.
14. What superhero power would you most like to have?
I have to go with the tried and true power of flight.
15. If you could be an animal, what would it be? Why?
Again the idea of flight plays into it and I would have to say a type of bird of prey. Amazing creatures!
16. What is your all time favorite movie?
I guess if I would have to pick something, I would say the Original Star Wars Trilogy.
17. And, your all time favorite book?
The Bible. It’s all there!
18. If you were stranded on a desert island, which three CDs would you want to have with you?
Seriously, what kind of a question is that? Can I say three mixed tapes? Also can they be MP3 discs, because I could fit so much more on MP3 discs? Actually make it MP3s on a blank DVD, 4.7 gigs worth of goodness. With a little mixture of everything, besides current pop country.
19. If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Why?
Jesus, there is really no one else who has influenced our world like He has in the last 2000-plus years.
20. What is your life philosophy?
Matthew 22:36-40- “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
