It really is hard to describe the week. Math and I were often frustrated with the staff projects (or lack thereof) we would receive, so we took it upon ourselves to finish off Shawn Hill…you know, the mound in Area 3. Our kids had demolished that thing, but there was still a hefty lump that needed to be removed. So we typically spent our mornings shoveling, rain or shine. After lunch, we got to spend daybreaks with our kids. In a way, it felt like a waste of our time…we basically laid around all day! But at the same time, it was great to catch up with each SIT, ask about how their groups were going, and give them encouragement and advice. Spirits were high for the first part of the week, that’s for sure.

After dinner, Math and I were sure to attend and critically watch each campfire and worship, as our kids were actively participating in them.

Nite break was most certainly a different kind of festivity! We had been teaching our kids how to have a crazy – yet healthy – good time all throughout the month, but nite breaks really took it to the next level. Each night, half of Shawn Hill came to the SIT Lounge in cabin 4, joined by much of staff, to release any leftover energy – positive or negative – in the form of pure craziness. At precisely 10pm each night, the music would go on, the cornucopia of junk food would spill over, and the PDA room would be activated (…please, no questions). I must say that each night’s nite break was crazier and more creative (Go Fish, anyone?)…there’s nothing like the energy that results from having NO energy after a day of whiny kids.

Shawn Hill quickly learned that if they wanted to shower, relax, nap, read, or write letters…that would happen on their DAY break. Nite breaks are for fun and community.

About halfway through the week, we witnessed some of Shawn Hill start to fall… their groups began storming, and they were finding themselves running on reserve energy. But as the counselors they were shadowing grew more and more tired, Shawn Hill realized that it was their time to shine. They really pushed through to the end, and I can’t tell you how proud I was to watch them work! It probably got annoying to hear, but I told them so many times earlier in the month, that the best way to be a good counselor is to genuinely care about your kids. Yes, sometimes, it seems scary to have to find the energy and constant conversation with your group… but if you really want to get to know each camper… if you really care about them, you’ll never run out of things to say, questions to ask. This was more than evident on Friday, as our kids said goodbye to their campers. As Math and I pulled them out of their groups after their closing worship so we could have our own closing, none of them wanted to go. I may have even seen a tear or two from Shawn Hill… and that’s what it’s all about. I mean… not crying necessarily, but genuine love and honesty. Now obviously, I could go through and tell you which kids had harder groups, or did a better job, or had the most patience, or did the best bible studies… but what is more important is the way in which they all grew and supported one another.

Math stressed to the kidz that the way they would grow closer to one another and create staff unity is by having shared experiences as they focused on the campers. And Friday, as we gathered once again, united by our never-present SIT Shawn Hill, I think we all found this to be true. It was so good to be together, and we all felt so much closer to one another; we told stories from throughout the week, and as each kid spoke, Shawn Hill was able to relate and understand the joys and the trials. I don’t think we ever had so much fun together as a group until that moment.

We held a closing worship, which almost all of staff chose to attend in addition to the family of each SIT. The worship, though simple, was composed of Shawn Hill’s favorite camp songs, and the laying on of hands and praying for each member of the group. What a beautiful and honest way to end a month of growth.

still a blur

In some ways, Shawn Hill got the shaft throughout the month. Math and I always took second pick – our own decision – whenever we worked out schedules with the other SIT group. One of these picks was to have our kids shadowing week 4 (- the other group shadowed week 3). We were apprehensive about what that would mean for us. For one thing, it meant that we would have about one hour to debrief everything the kidz had come to camp to do! Not the most ideal situation… but generally most cons have an accompanying pro. In this case, though we had to send Shawn Hill off without much time to take everything in, they are being sent back into the world with all of this fresh on their minds. It is an opportunity for them to share and continue their growth off the ridge, as they learn that God is everywhere, and the need for ministry calls out.

For the summer, for Shawn Hill, for the words to describe it all, the photos to see it, and the heart to feel it…thanks be to God!!

All of our hard work paid off, though, and we received many small, unexpected rewards throughout the week. During our first day digging up Shawn Hill, Mr. Ben gave us leftover cookies and icing from day camp! After our night chatting on chapel rocks, Miss Jenni gifted us with a pie and a half that she bought specifically for us, in thanksgiving of all of our hard work! Other staff members began hanging out with us at our sleepouts and bringing food from the staff lounge for us to munch on! The kidz really began to feel a part of staff, and it was so incredible to witness the bonding that began to happen between the SITs and staff.

The greatest reward came at the end of the week! Shawn Hill attend its first full staff meeting, and although staff meetings aren’t typically rewarding, this particular one meant the kidz received their first assignment!! That’s right… each one of our SITs was paired with a group to shadow for week four. We didn’t really like to call it shadowing though, because the SITs role was exactly that of any other counselor (…just with fewer breaks). After the excitement of the staff meeting (which was relatively short, all things considered), we attended a staff worship with the rest of staff, and then had our final Dance Party. Bedtime came early as we anticipated a day of fun spent in Washington DC the following day.

All things considered, we were definitely ready to get off the Ridge for a day and chill in DC. So, we woke up early Saturday morning, had the typical cold breakfast, and Andrew drove us to the closest metro station, at the end of the line. Boy were we excited to ride the metro!

Err…tired, but still excited!! We brought Mr. Kevin with us… better known as Kevlar – the international counselor at camp this year. He’s from Thailand/Australia, and really wanted to experience DC. So we got off the metro, bagged lunch in hand, and walked towards the Washington Monument…which we figured was a good landmark to start with. Once we saw the Capitol, we headed in that direction, only making it about halfway across the Mall before we decided the bagged lunches would have to be devoured. So, down we sat, finishing our lunches at 9:30am. Whoops. With new energy, we conquered as many museums as we could find: The Natural History Museum, the Hirschorn Art Museum, The Air and Space Museum… even The Postal Service Museum! It didn’t take long for us to get cranky. It must’ve been well over 100 degrees, and there’s not much shade in that city. We walked around Chinatown, checked out Union Station, and before we knew it…we were ready for dinner. I can’t tell you how stressful it is for me to make decisions on my own… let alone with 13 people! Somehow we ended up at Fuddrucker’s with few complaints, and after dinner, we decided it was time to head back. After all…we had shirts to silkscreen!!

The trip to DC was a success, I’d say. Everyone got to see SOMETHING they were interested in, we got some exercise, milkshakes, and a breath of…well…polluted air. Yeah…some things at the Ridge will just always be better.

Silkscreening shirts was pretty chaotic. We had so many good design ideas that we ended up making 5 different designs! We screened shirts well past midnight. The results, however…were TERRIFIC! So many sweet shirts were made!

I think we all increased our wardrobe by a fourth at least. With kids coming the next day, everyone was on a high. It was sort of bittersweet, considering that our last weekend was coming to a close… but week 4 is what we’ve all been waiting for…

(press the play button if you dare)

Around midnight, we had spent enough quarters, so we headed back to camp…NOT without a stop at McDonald’s! (This may or may not have been my doing…) We went through the drive through in a 15-passenger van and ordered 8 Oreo McFlurry’s among other things. What an uplifting way to start out the week!

Monday morning was a let down. We were ready to work hard to better the camp. This, however, is the assignment we received: we were to clear parts of the forest behind the archery range so that one could walk easily from one large tree to another. The reasoning for this is because Mar-Lu-Ridge is going to allow people to bury ashes of a loved one in a tree in this area. So essentially, we were creating a burial ground. ?!?!?!? It was so ridiculous that we just laughed and hacked away. Still, underneath all of the laughter, it was almost every person’s thorn that night. (“My thorn is that there are so many of us ready and willing to help camp, and I feel like our usefulness is being put to waste. I mean… a graveyard behind the archery range? Really?“)

As if the kids weren’t frustrated enough, we decided to take them down to the challenge course in an effort to avoid further ridiculous assignments. We spent about an hour and a half at Raging River, where the goal is to cross over three stumps with one plank. The kidz didn’t really take it seriously…so nothing got accomplished. BUT, we succeeded at encouraging everyone to storm a little more – usually a good thing.

Tuesday, Math and I knew it was time to start begging for a real staff project. Before our kidz got to camp, we had joked that we should move the mound in Area 3. This stupid hill of dirt was dumped in the middle of a large field years ago when camp put out a sign asking for fill dirt. As is often camp’s style, the dirt was never moved. So what better project than to get that hill outta there! Hill…. Shawn Hill?! Talk about a good strategy to get this staff project approved.

Step 1) Make it sound totally cool so the kidz dig it. Easy… tell them we want to move Shawn Hill.

Step 2) Ask Basil and Bill if it needs to be done. Simple… they thought it was the greatest idea ever.

Step 3) Tell Andrew that Basil and Bill think it’s the greatest idea ever

The plan worked, and we got ready to dig for Wednesday. In the meantime, Tuesday was spent painting the Ridge Inn – a much more rewarding job than preparing a burial ground. Tuesday night, we had cookout dinner in Ark Area 4. Math got 2nd degree burns on his right hand, and I fed him. Weird. After we finished dinner, we headed back to the Raging River, where we spent another hour and a half trying to complete the challenge. This time, however, Shawn Hill got serious…perhaps a little too serious. Frustrations increased, and we decided to come back to it another day.

Wednesday morning, we started digging up Shawn Hill, bright and early. We went into it with such a great attitude and so much energy! Our first goal was to get the grass off the mound; once that was accomplished, it would be much easier to shovel away the dirt. It didn’t take long to realize what we were in for… a couple of hours later, our hands were blistering, our clothes soaked with sweat, and our water running low. But we wrapped our hands in duct tape and pushed ahead. The hill looked better by the second! Eventually, Basil brought us his truck, which facilitated the process.

After a hard day’s work, we spent the night in Area 3 with the kids, hoping to get an hour of shoveling in first thing in the morning before First Aid/CPR training.  Well…shovel we did, all the way until we received the news that we wouldn’t be able to do First Aid/CPR because Derrick was unprepared.  Bummer!  The kids had mentally prepared for a break, and Math & I were ready to take a few hours off for once!  So much for that.  Andrew told us we could keep digging up Shawn Hill all day or go back up the ridge and do some shoveling there.  I complained that we were too sore to shovel all day, so Andrew let us wash some windows and do some weeding.  Much better.  Math decided to take the night off – his first solid break all month.  We continued working awhile and then helped out with the Christmas Eve service.  That’s right…it was Christmas in July!  A tough day…but we actually accomplished a lot, and it felt good to be sore!

Math returned Friday at lunchtime with two important items in hand: silk screening tools, and the newly composed and recorded Shawn Hill song…

One SIT leader from each group has had to attend the staff meetings, though the kids generally hang out somewhere else during this time. Because of Math’s intense hate for staff meetings, I’ve been the martyr and attended each one. (I’d rather return to a happy co…) This particular staff meeting was especially ridiculous, and Jeanette and I couldn’t WAIT to retrieve our kids, who were going to attend the second half of the meeting. Finally, we all joined together. Jeanette & Josh’s SITs were getting assigned to groups to shadow for week 3, and Shawn Hill was on staff. The assignments were exciting for the other group, though I think Shawn Hill felt a little down…jealous and anxious to have groups of their own.

With the staff meeting over, nothing but fun lay ahead. On Saturday, Shawn Hill was going to conquer 15 miles of the Appalachian Trail (AT), while the other SITs would have some chill time in Washington DC (we flip the next weekend). Concerned for our calf muscles, we nixed the idea of having a dance party, and decided instead to have a large bonfire, followed by a series of Super Secret Staff Sleepout Games (SSSSG) in Dining Hall 1! Both were better than expected, if I might say so myself. The fire was REALLY large,

the marshmallows REALLY delicious, and the games REALLY hilarious. I can’t say much about the games, since they ARE super secret, but I will say they included Monster Truck Rally, Airplane, The Corpse of Crim, and Narnia*. (*some of these games may have been made up on the spot, but this is for the general SIT to decide)

Bedtime came around 1am; alarms were set for 6:30am. Sick. I wanted to stay up and talk to Math and Kaitlin – the typical nightly ritual, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. At around 3am, however, I decided to wake up, and the three of us plus Liz snuck down to the staff lounge for Coke and cookies. There we sat for the next hour, recounting the ridiculousness of the staff meeting – a healthy vent session for all.

Math woke me up to get breakfast at 6:30am, but I was barely conscious, so he went alone. He played the role of dad, bringing us all breakfast in bed at 7:30am after he downed 3 bowls of cereal with the other SIT group. We all somehow found the energy we needed and got up, packed up, and cameled up, chugging tons of water before the big hike. (I will admit that I did not chug nearly as much as everyone else.) Derrick, the new camp director, piled us into the van, and off we went, singing to the camp song CD at the top of our lungs! Shannon, one of the adventure counselors, came with us, since she knew what she was doing and I did not. The hike was not as rigorous as I expected, but it was still fun for all (inside Bucko). The first 6 miles or so were a little tough, and we stopped at a nice overlook for lunch – crackers, easy cheese, nuts, and fruit roll-ups. We continued on a ways, the path straightening out just enough for me to walk with my eyes closed in an effort to catch up on sleep. We eventually came to a little park, where we stopped long enough for me to nap. We had plenty of time, so the break fit nicely into our scheduled. We arrived at the Garvey Shelter around 5pm and settled in, sending a few campers to get water for dinner. The rest of the night was really chill…we needed that. We sat around and talked, ate a pasta and biscuit dinner (load up on carbs!), and Math and I sat down with several of the kids to do evaluations of the past week. Devotions led by Math are always exciting. This time he had us do thorns and roses, but we could not say any words smaller than three syllables. Needless to say, several words were made up in an effort to comply to these rules. The kids were in bed around 8:30pm! There’s not much to do in the woods once the sun goes down, and everyone was exhausted. The ten of them squished into the loft of the shelter, while me, Shannon, and Math slept downstairs with four through-hikers. I made the decision to bring a tiny blanket rather than my huge sleeping bag. Not sure if that was the right thing to do… At the time I thought that I would rather have a light pack and not sleep well than a heavy pack and good sleep. But when I lay awake all night, cold and uncomfortable, I thought twice about that decision. Oh well! We woke up leisurely around 9am and made oatmeal for breakfast. Got our stuff together, and hiked the final four miles! What an accomplishment!!
Since it was Sunday and all, we stopped on the final hike to worship. Neither Math nor I really had anything prepared, so I decided to share something I had learned last summer in Senegal. I asked everyone to pair up and, without taking anything from their packs or off the ground, I encouraged them to give their partner a gift. After a moment of thinking I was crazy, it clicked for the kids, and different gifts were given – a hug, and exchange of bracelets, some water. We talked about other things that could be given – praying for someone, a smile, sharing one of your talents, being honest, etc. What a good reminder, as we hiked through God’s creation, that materialism is unnecessary! One of the greatest gifts we can give is love, and it never runs out. I proceeded to tell one of my favorite stories in Senegal: there are over 100,000 children begging on the streets of Senegal, which becomes quickly overwhelming. Should I give them money? food? I obviously don’t have enough to give something to EVERYONE, so who do I choose? One day, a small girl approached me, holding out her hand for money. I didn’t have anything on me at the time, so I put my hand in hers, and held it. She walked with me for a ways, all smiles. She pointed to the bracelets on my wrist, and then pointed to one on hers and smiled, making the connection that we weren’t so different after all. Then she continued to play with one of the hair bands on my wrist. I took it off and gave it to her – it was of no significance to me. She was overjoyed! At that moment, I realized that I may not always have fancy things to give, but I can ALWAYS give love. I told this to my kids, not without shedding a few tears. I had been thinking about people that spend six months hiking the AT with just a pack on their backs. Why do we feel we need so much to survive?

We arrived back at camp in time to eat a late lunch and get ready for registration! Staff is hard work… is Shawn Hill ready for this?

SIT Week Two was consumed by debriefing. Like the first week, we still had 3 bible studies a day, pool time, store time, and campfire and worship daily. But unlike the first week, nearly everything was led by the kids rather than me and Math. Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience for all of us. Some bible studies rocked and some needed improvement…but it was so awesome to watch the kids get excited to lead things! Since there were ten kids, we paired them off, and each pair led a day’s bible studies. In addition, we halved the group, and 5 did campfire Tuesday night and worship Wednesday night, and the other half did the opposite. Now, it is important to realize that the campfire and worships we planned were for both SIT groups and happened AFTER the all-camp campfire and worship. That’s right folks, we did week 2 double campfire/worship style so that we could take in as much as we could in the way of how to design a “good” campfire and worship. As you can imagine, this was slightly overkill. We spent a good half hour (at least) each night debriefing everything we had seen during the day (3 bible studies, 2 campfires, 2 worships). My oh my how those kids grew throughout the week!

So what did Math and I do all week? Well, a lot less than usual…that’s for sure. But between week 1 and week 2, we had to get through several sessions, such as: Housekeeping, Emergency Procedures, SIT Manuals, Personnel Policies, Group Dynamics, Scenarios, and…the favorite…

Conflict Resolution.

Now, mind you, with four SIT counselors, conflict resolution couldn’t be anything less than elaborate. Generally, rather than sitting staff down during training and simply talking about resolving conflicts, the administrative staff decides to stage a conflict between two people. It’s quite possibly one of the most exciting parts of staff training each year, as older counselors keep an eye out for it, and younger counselors things it’s totally real. So why should we treat our kids any differently?! We decided Math and Josh would fight. Obviously, Jeanette or myself would not be able to keep a straight face…so we weren’t qualified. Rather than just a small argument, however, they decided they wanted things to escalate over time, and I was told to step in “once the fists start flyin”! To make things ever more complicated, this argument was going to take place during Marble Mayhem – one of the best challenge activities of all time. The goal of Marble Mayhem is to get a marble from a starting point into a bucket that is several yards away. Each person has a PVC pipe that is halved (we call it a chute). Essentially, everyone needs to line up their chutes and let the marble roll down them – much harder than it sounds. So while the combined SIT groups were attempting this challenge – all four counselors included – Math and Josh began to bicker, quite childishly, I might add. Unexpectedly, this really began to annoy the kids. Multiple times, one of our kids separated Math and Josh and told them to quit acting like they were ten! But they continued bickering, and the rest of the group began to get extremely frustrated. We all decided to take a five minute break, and Math and Josh walked off to try to work out their problems – pretty realistic. We gathered again, with everyone at each other’s throats, for one final try. We never succeeded. Since lunch was just around the corner, we had to sit down and debrief (our favorite!) what had happened. Josh led the debriefing. About 3 minutes into it, Math started muttering comments under his breath. One of my campers said, “Mr. Math – if you’ve got something to say to Mr. Josh, then just say it!” !!!!!!!!!! Math then said the line that later sparked at SIT shirt design: “I’ve got something to say…WITH MY FIST!” Then Math jumped up and began wailing on Josh, and the two punched each other – HARD! multiple times! I had somehow ended up in charge of breaking up this fight, though they didn’t necessarily make it easy for me! I immediately jumped up and tried pulling them apart, but not without getting hit a few times myself. One of Josh’s campers jumped up ready to help as well…boy oh boy did we have them fooled! With Jeanette’s help, I got them separated and began resolving the conflict. I was so nervous beforehand about what to say, but it all felt so real at the time, that I think my mind jumped into counselor mode and took care of my words for me. Once the conflict was resolved, we told the kids it was all staged, and we all sat there and breathed for awhile. Most people laughed about it…some were legitimately afraid! Phew! Needless to say, we never completed Marble Mayhem…

Another funny moment happened in Area 3… All the little kiddies went to bed, but we still needed to have SIT campfire and worship. There wasn’t really a good location to do it, so we went behind the lodge and sat on the volleyball court, consumed by darkness. What followed is described by Math as “the best campfire EVER”. It included a new skit called the barbershop skit, written by Math and Josh… but even funnier than that was a scenario skit which our kids devised on their own! Earlier in the week, we did scenarios – acting out various camper situations that occur and having to handle them. Scenarios are always hilarious… you’ve got homesickness, bedwetter, bullying, counselor crush, cursing, inappropriate dress, first period, and more… Some are handled well, and others are just too overwhelming to know how to handle the first time around! Anyway, the kids enjoyed scenarios, so they thought they’d create a few more and have the counselors handle them in their campfire. First, they called on Mr. Josh and sent him away. They whispered to us that the scenario was that a zombie of Aggie’s father (from a legend at camp) was attacking a camper. They called Josh back and Josh immediately jumped into action, pushing the zombie away and telling him that he had to register as a visitor and the main office! Then it was Math’s turn. In Math’s scenario, the game ET became reality, and the mothership was abducting campers. Math didn’t know what was going on, so he just decided to tackle everyone he saw. Typical. My turn was potentially the most confusing. When I approached the situation, three campers were rolling down the hill and screaming something I couldn’t understand. I kept trying to tell them to sit up so they would quit rolling. Apparently that was poor advice… they were supposedly in arks, rolling down camp road. All the kids laughed at me and said I handled my scenario the worst! Oops. Jeanette’s scenario was to deal with one of our campers who hadn’t pooped in a week and a half… true story. Hopefully such extreme scenarios never occur, because I’m clearly the weakest at dealing with them!

This is getting long, so I’ll write another post about our weekend activities Stay tuned!

In the beginning there was Shawn Hill. Err… there wasn’t really Shawn Hill… and that was the problem – or the answer, perhaps. What I mean to say is that Math and I received schedules on Day 1 with a list of our kids – 7 girls, 4 boys. We had already spoken with each one of our kids (multiple times) on the phone… all except for Shawn Hill. The elusive Shawn Hill. We didn’t know much about him, except that the schedule was calling him Steven Hill – all the more reason to believe he didn’t exist. As our kids showed up one by one, we told them of Shawn Hill and the ongoing debates as to whether or not his name was Shawn, or if he was even real.

The first day came to a close, and all was well, though Shawn never showed. I couldn’t believe how much Math and I lucked out – our kids seemed to exceed our expectations, and I couldn’t be happier. We continued to joke about Shawn Hill, though lightheartedly… in case he decided to show up a day late or so.
As you can imagine, we played some games, took an extensive camp tour, got to mingle with the other SIT group and senior high kids, and closed the day with IP time (InterPersonal time) and devotions before joining everyone else to watch Holes!

I should stop at this point to reiterate a very important aspect of the past month: for the first time (ever?), there were TWO groups of SITs. Math and I had ten kids, and our friends Josh and Jeanette had ten. For whatever reason, twice as many people as usually decided to apply this summer, and rather than rejecting applicants, a decision was made to create two groups. This created the basis for many issues throughout the summer. For one, the two groups ran things differently, which was apparent and often frustrating to the kids. For another, many groups of friends and even a few relationships were divided between the two groups. So even on day one, many of our kids expressed anger and frustration at the fact that we couldn’t all be together all the time. What’s more… it became quickly evident that all twenty SITs will not be hired next summer – we would be even more overstaffed than we already are! So our kids became competitive and nervous…many doubting if they were in the right place and doing the right thing. Math and I gave them the pep talk to further their fears and explain how we hoped to run our program. We told them that our number one priority is honesty and good communication. We promised to be straightforward with them – to praise them when they were doing well, and to critique them at every chance in order to help them become the best they could be. We wanted them to realize that being a counselor, in many respects, is not “fun”. Err… it’s a different kind of fun… where helping and serving others is your reward, and there is no longer room for selfishness. Though we probably scared everyone beyond belief… I think the conversation was definitely positive and helped the group know what the month held.

So Shawn Hill never showed up. No explanation, no nothing. But he was anything but absent in our conversations! We received a fourth of July shirt for each member of our group, including an XL shirt for Shawn Hill! So the week continued, Frederick Keys baseball game and all, as we began to form our group identity around the infamous Shawn Hill. Math and I made the decision to immediately push our group into interacting with the kids as often as possible. They loved every second they spent with those kids… a good sign for us! At the same time, week one allowed our kids to still be campers to a certain extent, as they interacted with other senior high campers, participating in such frivolous activities as a dance party (DP) and a coffee house/talent show. Everyone was on a high, and very little storming seemed to occur within the group.

However, as the first weekend approached, tensions rose. We had each of our kids fill out a self-evaluation sheet – one way we could encourage them to continue improving. Math and I then had the opportunity to discuss with each camper what they wrote. They seemed nervous, but I think they soon realized that we aren’t as scary as we seem. Friday night we had our very own double SIT DP, followed by a fun-filled sleepout. I was nervous for Saturday. I knew my energy would be low since I’m used to having time off each weekend. I also knew that my kids would have low energy, and storming seemed to be right around the corner. Plus, the other SIT group planned to take their kids into town to chill in a park, while we decided to stick around camp. I knew that wouldn’t sit well with our kids. Saturday morn, both groups took an abridged version of the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, which was eye-opening and a good way to understand one another’s differences. I’m an ENFJ (though my F and T scores were the same, so I could potentially be an ENTJ).   (Read about my personality type! http://www.personalitypage.com/ENFJ.html)  Afterwards, the other group headed out, and after many complaints, our group settled down into some chill time, playing guitar and chatting it up in the chapel. We had a relatively low key day… talked some about how to plan a bible study, campfire, and worship, and assigned them into groups to run activities for week 2.

Sunday came before we were ready for it…. look for another post soon all about week 2! AND check out my photos…I have tons and tons!

When they come today, we’re going to make a time capsule of sorts, having them write down their expectations and fears (which we will bury and dig up at the end of the month). Then we’ll hang out with the rest of senior high and make mailboxes and decorate journals. It should be a fun-filled day!

I have so much else to say and so little time to say it A super-speed explanation of the past week is this: I experienced the Exodus story with 70 junior high kids for confirmation camp, serving as their minstrel with Math. It was totally moody and full of adolescent attitudes, but the grand shift from Sunday to Friday in those kids is unbelievable. I even had a girl come up to me, pound it, and say: “Miss Amanda…I think you are SO AWESOME. You play the guitar SO WELL, and now I want to learn how to play! You should feel proud because you’ve inspired me!”

Once the campers left on Friday, we cleaned like mad and had a really powerful staff worship that Math & I planned. More on that later.

Yesterday we had a 2 on 2 badminton tournament. I have so much to say about that…. but the most important is that my partner Ben and I came in second place!

Today I am sore and tired, but overjoyed and impatient to see what the coming month holds!