After my very fun week of visiting with my cousins I went back to camp to counsel my first week of Intro campers. Intro camp is for kids grades 2nd-6th. This particular week was an all girls week and we had about 27 of them that showed up for it. I had no idea of what I was getting into. I have 5 younger siblings, I have done babysitting multiple times, and I help out with the local youth group.But the challenges that I went through that week were either different or more extremely amplified than I had experienced before. I counseled a cabin of 5 girls ages 7-9. They were challenging because one of them was already sick when she arrived, several of the girls got homesick multiple nights, the heat was extremely intense that week with days getting up to 108 or 110, I had a sassy girl, a girl who did not like to move fast in the mornings, and a girl who got offended by the other kids easily. It seemed like daily I was settling a conflict between them all of some sort. I was not the only one who went through trouble that week. The whole camp felt the stress. We had accidents, injuries, illnesses, bloody noses, conflicts of interest, crazy hot days, and many difficult kids to deal with and try and be like Jesus to even though we as the staff felt terrible at times. It felt very long and most of the counselors did not sleep very well. It was one of the hardest weeks out of the whole summer.
And yet through it all God was right there with us and showed us His grace and love. Somehow we all got the energy to take care of and love on the kids. Even though people got hurt the injuries did heal. Even though we were all really hot it just made the pond feel sooo good in the afternoon. The challenges also drew the staff closer together because it made us all realize just how much we needed each other to get through the week and really, through the summer. And even though my campers could be really difficult at times, there also many times that week when they were truly fun as well. They were thrilled to have me play in the pond with them. They liked having me pray with them at night. They wanted to paint my nails for me, (which I allowed them to do). And as the week went on many of my girls opened up to me about challenges that they were going through. My sassy girl had divorced parents and a sister she did not get along with. My homesick child had never been away from her parents before. My girl who got offended easily told me that she was the only person in her immediate family who was a Christian and loved Jesus. My girl who who had come sick shared with me that she had, had a bad illness for a long time. Another one of my homesick girls shared that her parents were going through a divorce and how sad she was about it. I felt really grateful to be able to be there to try and comfort them and to hopefully give them a great week away from some of the struggles that they had back at home.
When the week did end I was totally exhausted and a little hysterical from lack from sleep and crazy events. I went home for the weekend to spend 4th of July with my family and friends. I also got the joy of having two friends from camp who decided that they wanted to spend Independence day with us. And so we had a good time with them going to the fireworks and a BBQ and watching "Frozen." We so needed that time to talk out everything we had been through and try to recoop. ha!
Anyway, I did take pictures that week. Here they are for you to see...
The Counselors and Kids of week 3.
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| One highlight of this week is that a cat mysteriously showed up to camp in the middle of the night. His was just a little kitten. We adopted him as our barn cat and named him "Midnight." He was so friendly and sweet! |
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| The girls playing games together before riding horses. |
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| Two of my campers dressing up for "wacky Wednesday" |
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| This fourth of July had one of the most beautiful sunsets ever! |
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| Fireworks!! |
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| My sister Kyra and I with our friends from camp, Ali and Leera. |
