Chapel Planning and Kayaking

This past week at camp we had a church student ministries program rent out the camp. So everyone did projects around camp all week long. There were times during the week when I worked at the Archery range and times when I scrubbed down some dishes and I also scrubbed down plenty of toilets this week too. But my favorite project from this past week was planning the lessons for the 4-12 year olds at family camp. I was able to use plenty of things that I have learned in my ministry classes. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on the lessons. I found plenty of fun games to play and crafts and also found a fun song called Puttin' On My Armor. I have been blessed this week to use the gifts and talents that God has given me to work and glorify Him. This past week I have been able to live in the cabins which are on the outskirts of a hayfield. This makes for beautiful walks back to the cabin at night with wonderful stars. Today I had to opportunity to go on a kayak trip down the Mississippi River. It was so much fun! I had a blast drenching my partner Lindsay in the process of moving down the river. I also have a very distinct Chaco tan lines now. This coming week will be Senior High week. I will be living a Heckman House 8, or better known as "the cave". My cabin consists of all high school camp staff workers. This could mean that it will be a great week or it could be a very tough week.
Prayer requests for this next week: That gossip would be minimal. In a cabin of camp staff this could very easily happen. Also for energy. During Senior High week the nights get later and later and the mornings stay the same.

Week One: Done!

The first full week of campers comes to a close tomorrow. This week has been a great week. For this blog I have decided to bring back the top 10 list of things that have happened this week.
10. This morning I went to wake up my 8 year old to find that she was completely underneath her fitted sheet. I mean she was sleeping in her bed with the fitted sheet tucked into the mattress with her inside. Neither of us are quite sure how she got there.
9. For the first time in my 20 years of life I have encountered leeches. I HATE LEECHES!!! GROSS!!!
8. I have played Apples to Apples Disney everyday for the past 5 days.
7. I have hot glued 240 popsicle sticks together for a total of 30 catapults assembled this week.
6. I have bagged up a broken arm more times than I can count.
5. I have tickled and scared girls multiple times a day.
4. Our cabin has had meaningful cabin devotions every night this week.
3. I've gotten more sleep this past week than I do during a month of college.
2. I jousted another counselor with a noodle weapon and won by a vote of 2 out of 3 because it was a draw.
1. I got to dress up in my knight costume and be filmed for a camp video chasing a maiden.

That is week one in a nutshell. More to come later on.

Catapult Building and Junior Campers and Leeches

Yesterday was the first full day of Junior camp 1. I have a cabin with 6 kids from ages 8 to 11. During rotations this week I am teaching catapult building. It's one of those things where I am crowd control because I i have knowledge about building catapults whatsoever. Yesterday afternoon I helped out with archery during free-time until I had Kieffer who works at the lake come to me with my 8 year old who was in tears. So I took the girl back to the cabin and Kieffer took my place at archery. My little girl just wanted some hugs and love pats so I sat on the couch and just gave her some love. Then it was time for instruction hours. Which is when I have my time off. I'm grateful for this time off to spend replenishing myself and rejuvenating. Please pray for the rest of this week that I would be able to minister to these girls and show them God's amazing love. I also have a camper with a broken arm. Pray that she would be able to have fun even though she has broken arm.

Today I had catapult building during rotations again. Then this afternoon I went creek stomping with my cabin during free-time. I had the lovely pleasure of picking 2 leeches off of my campers feet. We caught 6 minnows and 2 crawdads. It was super fun. I'm looking forward to tonight when we have our cookout. These girls have been super fun so far and I'm really looking forward to everything that will happen this week!

7 Dippy Dips

Hard to believe that tomorrow will mark the first full week of camp. The past few days have been wonderful. Yesterday we had a day of prayer and fasting. We had a morning session taught by Tim Blackburn where we then went out for an hour on our own and asked ourselves the question. "Where am I?" We asked this question through relational, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of life. Then for each outbreak of prayer after that we went through the ACTS prayer model. It was wonderful to just spend a day in the presence of our Lord and Savior. Today I was re-certified in CPR. We went our variety show acts. I will be in a group seeing the "Stand" song from VeggieTales. I'll be dressed in my knight costume. The variety show will be medieval themed. Then today I learned a new children's song titled the 7 Dippy Dips. It was pretty humorous. I discovered that I will be a counselor for junior campers next week. I'm very excited to see what this next week will entail. I will greatly appreciate any and all prayers for this first and crucial week of camp.

Friends, Farts, and Fears

I just arrived at Village Creek Bible Camp yesterday which will be my home for the next 10 weeks. It has been so wonderful catching up with my FRIENDS from last summer and then starting to make some new friendships as well. I have learned that the friendships at camp are unlike any other friendship I have ever encountered before. These friendships form like rapid fire. They start as small talk and before you know it you are sharing life's biggest secret with them.

As close friends we also share stories about FARTS. Yes, farts. I have two friends in-particular that tend to bring farts up on a regular basis. Example, tonight we had Mexican casserole. Enough said.

On a more serious note while on my 5 hour drive to camp yesterday I had plenty of time to think and process about life. There came a point on the drive where I was overcome by FEAR. I started thinking about everything bad that could possibly come out of being at camp this summer. I soon realized that this was the Devil already trying to keep me from serving the Lord to the best of my ability.

I have so enjoyed being back at this wonderful valley. I cannot even imagine my life without the place. I am so thankful for the work that God is doing and will continue to do in the weeks to come. 

My prayer requests this week would be for patience. Getting back into the constant people routine is hard work for an introvert. I would also ask for prayer to be open and willing to reach out to new staffers. There are A LOT of new staff and not a lot of returning staff.

40 days done...

This year for lent I decided to give up all secular music. Let me tell you it was hard. I never knew how often I listened to music until I consciously had to think about what music I was listening to at all times. One thing I noticed from this fast from secular music was that my devotions were all the more powerful because I had no trashy music coming into my life to wreck what God was teaching me through me devotions. Today, being the first day that I could listen to secular music, I did. To my shock I changed it 30 seconds into the song because I felt disgusted.

There are many other things that have happened within the past 40 days that I would like to share. First, the weekend of Feb. 24 I went home. I had a wonderful much need relaxing weekend with my family. I did not touch a single bit of my homework and it felt great.

Second, the week of March 2nd my roommate and I had our BASSYCS girls over for a movie and pizza. It was so much fun to play with them outside the normal Wednesday night routine.

 Third, the weekend of March 9 I got to go on the Christian Ed retreat. This weekend is always a lot of fun because I get so hangout with mostly Christian Ed majors all weekend and get to goof off and learn about God at the same time. This particular retreat we talked about Back to Basics. We focused on the Christianese words that are often thrown around can then lose their significance.

Fourth, I went on a road trip with my mom to Pennsylvania to visit some of our family. I had a great time with her and we got to do lots of shopping and site seeing. We went to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Hershey World, and the Flight 93 Memorial. I will cherish these memories I've had with my mom because I know they are going to diminish as time goes on.

Fifth, I went to Calvin College in MI to visit one of my greatest friends ever, Kendra, who I hadn't seen since before Christmas. I had a great time catching up with her. We went to a Gungor concert with each other. I have been listening to them nonstop ever since.

Then this week happened. This past week has been quite the adventure to say the least. It started off with an almost all nighter to write a research paper for my Psych and Ed class. Then I started to get sick. On Wednesday I woke up with a fever and didn't go to any of my classes. Luckily I was going home that afternoon. Later that day I got the news that one of my peers had suddenly died in his dorm room. It hit our campus pretty hard. This guy was a great guy. A man who was pursuing the Lord's calling in His life. But, we can rejoice that he is in heaven in the presence of our heavenly Father. It was hard not to be with the Taylor community during this time of grieve but it was great to be home in the presence of my praying parents. I woke up Thursday feeling so much better. I was able to enjoy all of the events that I had planned this weekend. From chatting with a mentor from high school to having pancakes with a good friend to teaching in a preschool classroom at church to meeting my brothers new girlfriend and her son.

I'd say despite the downs of this past week that I can live knowing that I have a heavenly Father who loves and cares for me. I know that "In the chaos, in confusion, HE is sovereign still".

Enduring the cross...

As many of you know I am the Co-Director for a ministry called BASSYCS. BASSYCS has become very dear and near to my heart over that past 2 years. I have loved growing relationships with the kids of Upland and being involved in their lives. Anyways... tonight at BASSYCS was like any other night. All 4 of my girls showed up we played dodgeball, worshiped, listened to a message, and then went off to small group where the girls would say their memory verses for the week. There is one particular girl in my group who Jenn (my co-leader and roommate) and I knew wasn't a believer. We have been praying all year that we would have a serious moment where one of us could sit down with her and have a conversation of what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That moment happened to be tonight. Bear with me the details are many and wordy.
The verse for the week was Hebrews 12:1-2. If you have ever heard this verse it mentions that Jesus endured the cross. Now picture a fourth grader drawing pictures out to help her memorize the verse. She comes to the word endured and has no clue as to what it means to endure the cross. She asks, "How do I draw out endured the cross?" Bingo, the perfect opportunity for Jenn to share what Jesus did for us on the cross. This girl for the first time in her life realized the pain that Jesus endured just so that she could be saved. After hearing Jenn explain to her what it meant to endure the cross the young girl wanted to write Jesus a thank you note for what He has done for her. Jenn explained that He wants more than a thank you note. He wants her to live for Him. He wants her. She didn't quite know what to do. Jenn explained that she can pray to ask Jesus into her life. She still was confused. She thought that she had to have a memorized prayer in order have Jesus in her life. So there in that moment with 2 minutes left of small group I round up the other 3 girls into the hallway to take them to their parents as Jenn stays to pray with our new sister in Christ. There you have it. Another sister in Christ.
Another thing to add is that this very morning I prayed for my new sister in Christ. I didn't pray that she would accept Christ into her life but I prayed that she would have a better understanding of Christ in her life. Answer to prayers. God is good.