Week 9: In Which I Come to the End of this Adventure

Week 9 was a very different week at camp for me. It was my final week there. I did not counsel any kids. It went by very quickly and each day was filled with both a good deal of work and much needed rest. I lived at the Timberline camp and did maintenance and kitchen work with a different group of people than I was used to working with a ranch camp. I cleaned bathrooms, took out trash, did dishes, helped with meal prep and clean up and had lovely long afternoons off with lots of time for watching movies in the staff lounge either by myself or with my friend, Luba.

I also did things such as sleeping in a hammock for the first time out under the stars. Which by the way was a very cool experience, literally! It gets cold at night up in the mountains even in the summer at times but lying there being rocked to sleep by the hammocks motion and staring up at the thousands of brilliant stars in the sky while listening to epic Lord of the Rings soundtracks from my Iphone was an experience I'll never forget!  Then I got sick with a stomach bug for a day. (That was just a big nauseous blur). So glad it was only for a day! I learned to make friendship bracelets with a country music singing, guy counselor from southern CA and watched the stars come out with a group of girls on the Etna summit and had a good time talking with friends from the camp around a campfire at one of their homes.


My final full day there was filled with lots of emotions for me. I knew that camp had to end. I was ready to go home to my family but yet at the same time I was really sad to leave my new friends that I made there. I had come to the end of this adventure. This I copied from my Facebook page. I wrote it on August 14th, the day before camp ended as kind of my final thoughts about the summer."Today is my last day at Kidder Creek camp. I go home tomorrow. It is so hard to believe how fast it all went by! And yet how long ago it feels too. It was 11 weeks ago today since I came here and started work. My heart is so full of so many good memories and friends that I have made. I will miss them a lot. I thank God for letting me work here this summer and for all that he has taught me and blessed me with."

On Saturday camp officially wrapped up for the summer. Many people said goodbye and headed home that day and many others had already left. Before we all broke up though the directors of the camp let us know that God had used the Kidder Creek staff to bring many children to come to know him that summer and impact lots of lives. God working through each and everyone of us had used us to make an impact for eternity. And that was what made the whole summer worth it. The ups, the downs, the days that went well, and the days where everything fell apart, the times I had strength and energy, and the times I was weak and sick. It was all used for his glory and we had made it to the end and finished this race together.

As a thank you the camp paid for the staff to go to a rock climbing gym together and then out to dinner together. It was the perfect way to end it all and celebrate together. Afterwards there was a lot of hugs and goodbyes from each of the staff members to one another and then it was over. Everyone headed home. And I went back to my family and home a tired, but happy girl. I knew that this adventure had changed me in some ways. In some ways I was not the same as when I had started out on it. I had been stretched and grown. I had learned more responsibility and maturity. I had grown closer to Jesus. It was a good thing. As I walked through the front door I smiled at my family excitedly awaiting my arrival and said "Well, I'm back." ~Anna 
                                                                    
To these memories I will hold
With your blessing I will go
To turn at last to paths that lead home
And though where the road then takes me,
I cannot tell
We came all this way
But now comes the day
To bid you farewell
I bid you all a very fond farewell~"The Last Goodbye"

My friend Luba and I. :)

The Kidder Creek staff rock climbing together.

Friendship bracelets. One I made myself, the other two were given to me.

The kitchen at ranch camp that I worked in that last week and ate in all summer.

The cabins at Timberline.

My sister Kyra and I with our friend Caleb from the Timberline part of camp.

We loved hanging out with Leera and with Rachel and Sarah, and Ali and Annie from Ranch Camp.

Week 8: My Final Week of Counseling

Week Eight at Kidder Creek was my final week of counseling. It was also one of the best weeks and most fun that I had counseling at camp this summer. God allowed so many good and fun things to happen and I got a very fun and sweet group of five highschool girls ages 14-16 in my cabin. Each one of their personalities was so different and unique from one another but they got along and we all helped each other through the week.

One of the cool things that God did that week was to give me the courage to finally speak in frong of a crowd without being afraid which was something that I had been struggling with all summer long! Sunday afternoon when all the campers came in I was asked to give the message that evening around the campfire. Most nights I had been teaching on Tuesdays and had a message and outline all written out that I usually gave. This time though I had very little time to prepare anything beforehand. I was a little nervous about how everything was going to go but prayed about and jotted down a few notes about what I wanted to talk on. Up to the very moment before I was supposed to talk I was scared. Right before I was supposed to speak I prayed about it again though. Suddenly I felt like all the fear I had been struggling with vanished in an instant. I stood up and in a clear, steady voice addressed all of the 20 or so girls staring up at me and started to talk. I didn't have much of an outline, my message wasn't written out but I know that I had a message from the Bible in my heart that I wanted to share with these girls and so started in on it. I felt the Holy Spirit work through me and give me the courage to speak unlike I ever had before. It was awesome experience and I praised God for speaking through me and getting to share the gospel message with people who had perhaps never heard it before.

The rest of the week after that I spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each of my campers and hearing stories about their lives. We played card games together, had some good discussions during devotions, and made each other laugh a lot during horse science and vaulting throughout the day. In the afternoon I had a blast kicking soccer balls in the grass with them in the afternoon.

I did have a very sobering evening at camp though that showed me that underneath all the smiles and laughter of a bunch of the girls at camp they had also been through some very tough or terrible experiences throughout their young lives. It was during the Thursday night campfire that many of the girls shared their life experiences and how God had helped them through some really sad or rough situations and by the end of it there was hardly a dry eye to be seen. All of the girls cried and prayed together and I know that God helped to heal some hurts and wounds and bring these girls closer to Him.

Week Eight ended on a high note with one of the best dance nights we had, had during the whole summer and we all celebrated a fantastic week together. I finished that week strong. I found out that weekend also that I was not to be counseling for the last week. I was going to be put on maintenance. The race that I had been running as a counselor all summer long had ended. I wasn't even going to be in the same cabin for my final week there. That Saturday I packed up and cleaned up the "Paint" cabin that I had counseled in for so many weeks. In the quiet and solitude of my cabin I thought about each and everyone of the girls that had passed through it in the many weeks of my counseling. I sat down by my bunk and prayed and thanked God for each and everyone of them. No matter if they were easy or hard, whether they were Christians or not, whether they liked me as their counselor or not I was thankful for each and everyone of them and for the chance that God had given me to make an impact upon their lives in that one short week that they had each had there. And then I thanked God for allowing me to be a counselor this summer. His ways are so much higher and better than my ways and plans! I thanked him for both the good moments and the bad that I had experienced. He used them all for his glory and I grew closer to him through it. Below are several pictures from the week. Enjoy! ~Anna

My campers and I at breakfast together.

That's me doing a trick in vaulting called "The bunk bed." Not easy!

Katie and Bayleigh. Playing soccer with these two was so fun!

Four of my campers and I right before they headed back home. We had so much fun together that week!

Me in front of my cabin.

This was my home for the summer.

Laughing like crazy. Just cause it's fun!

Week 7: A Time of Testing and Trial

I don't even know how exactly to talk about what this week was like for me. It was unlike any other that I experienced at camp this past summer. It was a time where God gave me some very broken and hurting girls to each and everyone of the counselors there to love on. I had some very young girls, (it was another Intro camp), who had been through some rough and really tough trials in their young lives and they desperately needed to feel Jesus's love for them through others.  I heard some really hard, sad stories that broke my heart for these children.

I so wanted to make things right in their lives and heal the hurts that they had gone through. But I couldn't. Only God could. All I could do was ask Him to help me love on these kids and give them one of the best weeks that I possibly could while they were at camp. And then pray that somehow circumstances would change for the better when they returned home. It wasn't easy but I felt privileged and blessed that God allowed me to give them comfort and any help that I could while they were there. One night when I was putting some ice packs on some of my campers who had gotten hurt they suddenly spoke up and thanked me for being there for me. They told me that a lot of other people weren't very nice or kind to them but that they felt very loved by all those at this camp. That brought tears to my eyes. During the night-time the girls that week oftentimes got scared or lonely even though they were all together and safe in the cabin. I played worship music from my Iphone for them and they all very quickly settled down as the words in the song praised God and talked about His love for us. And I heard some of the girls softly singing along to the songs in their bunks. Those songs soothed and comforted us all.

I myself though went through a lot of anxiety for my campers that week. I started experiencing stomach pains which I couldn't connect or trace to any other physical problems and felt a lot of overwhelming sadness. I was really helped and comforted by the verse that says: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9.  I knew that even in my weakness God was still using me for his glory!

That was the week that I didn't see to the end though. By Friday morning I woke-up feverish and sick to a very hot early August day. My wonderful friends Luba and Ellen took over watching my campers that day while I rested in the room set aside for sick people at camp. It was all kind of a blur for me and I didn't even say goodbye to my campers. I wrote them farewell notes on postcards instead. Good thing because by that night my fever still hadn't gone away. I was sent home from camp to get a full weekend of rest. My dad came to pick me up. At home I crashed into my own bed. There at some point in the night my fever finally broke and the anxiety died down at last.

That weekend though turned out to be really fun. I slept in late on Saturday and woke-up feeling so much better. My friend Luba invited me to go shopping with her and I gladly accepted. We drove up to Medford together and had tons of fun shopping at the mall and then going to the see the new Marvel movie, "Ant-Man" afterwards. I was so thankful for the time to recover and be with a friend away from camp from a while. It was a special day that I love looking back on.
~Anna

Week 6:A Week of Fun

 Week 6 at camp had a lot of good times for me as a counselor. I got to counsel my favorite age group of kids, jr. highers! They were so great and fun to work with. :D Like any other week their was some sad and hard moments but also a lot of joy. By then I had gotten to know those around me really well and had made or was starting to make some closer friendships with the girls I was working with. One of the toughest parts of the week was saying goodbye to my new friend Molly that I had become good friends with and had talked with a lot. She had to head back home to start a new job as a teacher and was definitely missed at camp! Before she left though we went out and had coffee together which was a lot of fun. I also had a good time taking walks and talking with my new friend and fellow counselor, Luba. Her kindness and encouragement to me blessed me so much and I loved getting to spend time with her. Below is a picture of all the gal wranglers and counselors at camp. One more counselor, Annie, also came to work with us but it was after this photo was taken. As you can probably tell already, I love this photo!!

One of my sweet campers that week, Emma.

Devotion time with my campers in the grass.

All in flannel!

The Kidder Creek staff that I worked with.

My friend Chris teaching vaulting. He was my favorite wrangler to learn vaulting with.

My sister Kyra also became really good friends with Molly. This picture was taken right before she left.

On Saturday night after camp was finished for the week my whole family went to the rodeo where we got to watch our good friend, Laramie Collins, win all-around cowboy. It was an awesome night filled with good times, and friends both new and old. We made some of the best memories.

My siblings and I were really excited to introduce our friends from camp, Rachel and Sarah, to Laramie. Our professional cowboy bull riding champion friend. ;) We had so much fun with them all!

Week 5: The Half-Way Mark

Week 5 at camp started out tough for me. It was the middle of the summer by now and I found out that I was not the only one who was starting to have a hard time. I'll be honest that going into that week I was feeling so tired out by then that I cried before the campers showed up. My physically tired body was letting me know that it was having enough. Several of the girls that I was working with gave me prayer and encouragement and then I cleaned up my cabin and put a smile on my face.

My campers that week were 5 girls ages 7-10. That's right, Intro Campers again. I was rather nervous about how this round was going to go after how hard the last one was but I was trying to be positive about it. The girls all seemed really excited and happy to be there and had huge smiles on their faces as the evening progressed. But when night time came on it became a nightmare. They were terrible sleepers. For the first two nights of camp that week I got repeatedly woken up by them for a variety of reasons. By Tuesday evening I was feeling so burnt out. I was trying to be happy and cheerful for them and to not let how tired I was show through. But I felt like I was doing a terrible job.

 On my off time I called my mom and told her how frustrated and tired I was feeling. She tried to comfort me but also reminded me of the fact that I had signed up for this and shouldn't complain about it. She then asked me if I had prayed about it. That stopped me in my tracks. No, I really hadn't prayed about how I was feeling or doing. After I hung up with her I spent the rest of my off-time talking with God about how I was feeling and about my frustrations. By the time I had to go back to my campers I had an overwhelming sense of calm within my heart. I felt much more cheerful without it being forced and from that point on my week was so much better! My campers got settled in and quit waking up so much in the night. I got a night of peaceful rest and woke-up feeling renewed and refreshed. I ended up having a fun time with those campers that week. They were all great children and made me smile. Apparently by God's grace they also really enjoyed having me as counselor and told me flat out that the loved me, wanted me to be their counselor next year, and that I was the best counselor ever. That encouragement couldn't have come at a better time. Wow, it's amazing how God always sends just what you need to hear when you need it most! :)

After the campers went home my sister and I invited some of our new friends from camp to come over to our house and we had an awesome girls night of fun and fellowship with them. We crashed on the floor and sofa's of the living room and watched movies late into the night together, ate pizza, painted nails, gave eachother much needed massages, and some of the gals got hair wraps done. It was one of the most fun weekends of the summer! We got to relax, recharge and get to know one another better. It was the awesome way to end the week and celebrate the fact that we had all made it half-way through the summer. ~Anna