It's currently almost one in the morning, and I'm dyeing some of my hair blue, but I never said that I have normal sleeping patterns and all of this is totally irrelevant because I'm going to recount some of my favorite memories of camp. Starting now.
This means I have to dig way, way back into the little chasm in my brain that stores all of my precious memories from the summer in order to remember what happened during the first week that I counseled, which was June 22nd through the 28th.
During week one, I counseled with Danae, whom I had known during the school year, but not super well. However, counseling with her was awesome. We were both pleasantly surprised to find out that we worked well together, despite our many differences, and were effectively able to show the love of Christ to our seven goofy, candy-obsessed, slightly hyper, but precious campers. Danae is very chill, realistic, and by-the-book, while I am a bit more outgoing and weird. She was quite a bit more strict than I was with disciplining our campers, and so good at just telling them the truth. She didn't beat around the bush with telling them what they needed to hear if they were disobeying, or simply needed to hear Biblical truth about a situation. Our campers really loved both of us even though we're polar opposites. They even called Danae "mom"...and then they started to call me "dad" and that was just strange.
I remember one night, we had to take one of our campers out on the porch of the cabin to address some issues that had been coming up during the week. The girl, I'll just say her name was Morgan, had been taunting some of the other girls in the cabin, to the point that it was becoming bullying. One of the other girls had even come to Danae in tears because she thought Morgan hated her. Morgan claimed that she was just joking every time, but Danae and I were able to tell her that the way she acts towards others should reflect God, and we explained this to her. She protested, and claimed over and over again that it was all merely joking. We asked her to tell us a little about her life at home, hoping to find out the root of the problem.
Morgan comes from a very broken family. She is a foster child, and one, if not both of her parents (I can't remember exactly) are in jail. She has three sisters, but all of them are in different foster homes, and she doesn't get to see them a lot. She desperately misses them, worries about her parents, and, while her foster-parents are very kind people who treat her well, she doesn't have a very strong relationship with them.
My heart shattered hearing all of this. There are so many kids who come to camp, and you could never imagine the hurt that has been built up in their hearts. All of the walls that have been built up. They have adorable, smiling faces, and just want to have the most fun week of their lives, away from all the troubles at home and school.
Every Monday night during the summer, the Gospel is presented to all the kids on the Ranch. They get to hear, some for the first time, the fact that Jesus Christ loved them so much that He died for their sins and rose from the dead. They have the opportunity to make the decision to believe in Him, and to change their eternal destiny.
One Monday night during the first week of camp, my camper Margaret decided to believe in Jesus Christ as her Savior, and she was miraculously saved. The reason she got to go camp was because her family listened to a Christian radio station where she lived. The radio station ran a contest for a free week of camp at Word of Life. Margaret entered the contest and won. It was all in God's plan that she could come to the Ranch and hear how she could have eternal life in Jesus Christ.
These stories are only some of the reasons why I know God wants me to do things for Him. He wants to use me to do things that matter eternally.
~grace&peace~
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
hello, my old friend.
Oh, hi there. How's it goin'? Long time no see. Well, of course that would be my fault. Wow, it's been a solid six months since I posted on here. Don't get me wrong. I've been meaning to write and even had a few rough drafts typed up. But then summer happened, and I had no access to a computer for ten weeks and was out of the country for a while, so more and more time crept away from me.
Okay, enough wallowing in my guilt. It's time to man up and just write an entire post. And I should probably catch you up on all the latest craziness. This summer was insanity. God-glorifying insanity. You see, while our school year at the Bible Institute ended back at the end of May, all of us students are required to complete a summer ministry in order to graduate from first or second year. The majority of students work at one of the Word of Life camp properties up in New York for eight full weeks of camp. Only a few are allowed to do their ministry outside of Word of Life during the summer. This is because Word of Life runs four camps on four separate properties in Pottersville and the neighboring town of Schroon Lake during the summer--specifically, two youth camps and two family camps.
First of all, there is the Word of Life Inn, which is located nine miles down the road from the Bible Institute. It is considered a family camp and is set up like a hotel. Families each have their own Adirondack-theme decorated hotel room and are served their meals in a dining room. Every week for the eight weeks that the Inn is open during the summer, a guest speaker comes to speak providing solid lessons that are rooted in Biblical truth. There are programs offered for kids, as well as on-site activities for the whole family, plus plenty of things to do in the surrounding areas.
Right across the street from the Inn is the dock where you can take a boat across the lake to the world-renowned Word of Life Island. Yes, it is in fact a literal island in the middle of Schroon Lake (some people do actually wonder that). The Island is a fast-paced camp for high-schoolers, and it's basically the definition of the word "loud". Every week there is a different speaker who presents the Word of God in an age-appropriate manner to the kids. They have Bible lessons every morning and evening, as well as crazy games and activities throughout the week.
Then right across from the Bible Institute property is the Word of Life Family Campground. It is centered around a family atmosphere and has campsites where families can stay in their owns campers, or they can opt to stay in one of numerous cabins. There are activities for every age group and Bible lessons every day.
And lastly, (but my personal favorite because I'm super biased), the Bible Institute property doubles as the property for the Word of Life Ranch and Ranger Camp, which is where I worked this summer. The Ranch is technically two camps on one property. The Ranch camp is for ages six to ten, and its program is basically a Wild West theme with cowboys and Indians and sneaky bandits who smell terrible and like to steal important things.....and people. The Ranger camp is a camp specifically for that awkward age group--middle schoolers.
But really, all of that only begins to scratch the surface. God did wonders through the people who were working at these four camps this summer. I feel beyond blessed that God allowed me to have the privilege of being a camp counselor to many precious children for five of my eight weeks of summer ministry. He allowed me to accomplish things that I never imagined myself being able to do.
Sure, I can tell stories for days about the hysterical things that happened. Those moments where I was just thinking "Seriously, am I in a movie right now? What on earth, is this really happening?"
And I can tell even more stories about those moments where I felt utterly hopeless, bound in the chains of my self-reliance. The moments where I could have fallen to my knees in exhaustion. Every day I learned a little bit more of what it means to rely on God instead of my own hopeless efforts.
But the most treasured stories are about the life-change that I was able to see in campers. Like when a camper just simply understood the Gospel and believed. Or when a camper would come and tell me "I have a lot of questions. Do you think we could talk about them?" Um. YES!! There are few things that make me more purely joyful.
So, hopefully in the next few days I will be able to recount to you guys some of my favorite stories from this summer. I also plan on telling you a bit about the other part of my summer ministry...those other three weeks, two of which were spent in another country. But that shall be saved for a later date.
~grace&peace~
Okay, enough wallowing in my guilt. It's time to man up and just write an entire post. And I should probably catch you up on all the latest craziness. This summer was insanity. God-glorifying insanity. You see, while our school year at the Bible Institute ended back at the end of May, all of us students are required to complete a summer ministry in order to graduate from first or second year. The majority of students work at one of the Word of Life camp properties up in New York for eight full weeks of camp. Only a few are allowed to do their ministry outside of Word of Life during the summer. This is because Word of Life runs four camps on four separate properties in Pottersville and the neighboring town of Schroon Lake during the summer--specifically, two youth camps and two family camps.
First of all, there is the Word of Life Inn, which is located nine miles down the road from the Bible Institute. It is considered a family camp and is set up like a hotel. Families each have their own Adirondack-theme decorated hotel room and are served their meals in a dining room. Every week for the eight weeks that the Inn is open during the summer, a guest speaker comes to speak providing solid lessons that are rooted in Biblical truth. There are programs offered for kids, as well as on-site activities for the whole family, plus plenty of things to do in the surrounding areas.
Right across the street from the Inn is the dock where you can take a boat across the lake to the world-renowned Word of Life Island. Yes, it is in fact a literal island in the middle of Schroon Lake (some people do actually wonder that). The Island is a fast-paced camp for high-schoolers, and it's basically the definition of the word "loud". Every week there is a different speaker who presents the Word of God in an age-appropriate manner to the kids. They have Bible lessons every morning and evening, as well as crazy games and activities throughout the week.
Then right across from the Bible Institute property is the Word of Life Family Campground. It is centered around a family atmosphere and has campsites where families can stay in their owns campers, or they can opt to stay in one of numerous cabins. There are activities for every age group and Bible lessons every day.
And lastly, (but my personal favorite because I'm super biased), the Bible Institute property doubles as the property for the Word of Life Ranch and Ranger Camp, which is where I worked this summer. The Ranch is technically two camps on one property. The Ranch camp is for ages six to ten, and its program is basically a Wild West theme with cowboys and Indians and sneaky bandits who smell terrible and like to steal important things.....and people. The Ranger camp is a camp specifically for that awkward age group--middle schoolers.
But really, all of that only begins to scratch the surface. God did wonders through the people who were working at these four camps this summer. I feel beyond blessed that God allowed me to have the privilege of being a camp counselor to many precious children for five of my eight weeks of summer ministry. He allowed me to accomplish things that I never imagined myself being able to do.
Sure, I can tell stories for days about the hysterical things that happened. Those moments where I was just thinking "Seriously, am I in a movie right now? What on earth, is this really happening?"
And I can tell even more stories about those moments where I felt utterly hopeless, bound in the chains of my self-reliance. The moments where I could have fallen to my knees in exhaustion. Every day I learned a little bit more of what it means to rely on God instead of my own hopeless efforts.
But the most treasured stories are about the life-change that I was able to see in campers. Like when a camper just simply understood the Gospel and believed. Or when a camper would come and tell me "I have a lot of questions. Do you think we could talk about them?" Um. YES!! There are few things that make me more purely joyful.
So, hopefully in the next few days I will be able to recount to you guys some of my favorite stories from this summer. I also plan on telling you a bit about the other part of my summer ministry...those other three weeks, two of which were spent in another country. But that shall be saved for a later date.
~grace&peace~
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