Week One

    Week one can be remembered from a few simple words.- puke, French braids, lice, fears, triumph, tears, campfire, and trust. You might think that these assortment of words may be random or out of place but the week in itself was random. 

    After a long week of intense training, counselors  huddled underneath the pavilion waiting for our campers to arrive. Most counselors had sweaty palms and exchanged anxious looks to one another until they heard their name announced over the booming loudspeaker, alerting them that their campers had arrived. 

    A few days later, after camper names and personalities had been remembered, I started to pick up on little pieces of their lives as they casually chatted amounts themselves in the cabin. One of the most heartbreaking moments I experienced was when I overhear two campers talk about how they had both been sexually abused but their own brother. Feeling  overwhelmed by these occasional bombs of information I turned to the Lord and my co-counselors for help. The Lord provided me with the wisdom that I needed when talking to the girls and my co-counselors provided me with a well needed break whenever I needed to get away to either rest or pray.

    One of my girls not only overcame her fear but knocked it completely "out of the park." She climbed the Rockwall, auditioned for the talent show, and tried water tubing. Once when praying with her the Lord reminded me of 2 Timothy 1:7, which tells us that the Lord does not give us a spirit of fear. What an important verse to remember as we go about tasks that make us anxious or when facing a fear. 

    After the campfire meeting on Wednesday night, all of my girls sat in a circle in our cabin and poured out their hearts with tears flowing down their cheeks. One camped shared how life is kind of like the rock wall. We have to keep looking at the top of the wall, just like we should always keep our eyes on Jesus. If we look down or at our past we can get distracted and fall. She continued by saying that some of the pegs on the wall were out of reach or wiggly. This represents the "bumps in the road" or obstacles we have to go through in life. They may be hard, but they are only temporary.

    At the end of the week I discovered that some of my girls had lice. If you know me at all you will know that lice is one of my biggest, irrational fears. The little critters and the eggs that they lay just make my stomach turn sour at the thought of them. But there I was, having to deal with the situation head on, literally. So I swooped my hair up into a bun and started picking through heads, trying to removed all the unwanted nits. Although I never want to experience this situation again, I am certainly thankful for it. It taught me to get over myself and I got to talk with a woman who works in a children's home. She certainly has given me a lot to think about as I plan my future. 

    Saturday morning eventually rolled around and it was time to say goodbye to the girls. Although it was a tearful parting, I was thankful for the much needed rest that awaited me that day. I learned so much that first week of camp and I wouldn't trade those hard trails for anything.