the LAST week

Metro week was so great I didn't even think about posting! One of the summer staff told me this weekend that the Metro group was the most unique, and fun groups he has seen. He loved the conversations he had with Shane & Chelsea. Its rare to get good conversation out of campers when they are not specifically assigned to your cabin. It was a huge compliment to us! (Although I really have nothing to do with it these days)

This is the final week of camp. As far as my plans go its my final week ever.

I've the oldest group I've had all summer - high school girls age 14 to 18 from West Palm Gardens, FL. AND 4 leaders! The leaders are awesome! I hope I dont spend all my time with them only.


We started out staying in Grace Cabin yesterday - its own building. But then a camper climbed the roof to fetch a frisbee disc and his foot went through the roof! We got the pleasure of moving all our gear to the furthest most cabin on camp from Grace which is in the dead center. The hike is exercise for sure!

I can't believe this is the last week. keep praying!!! I'm worn OUT!

2:33am Saturday morning...

I'm sitting up in the office burning photo DVDs. Its been a rough last few hours. I started putting the DVD together around 8.30 starting with 800+ images. The first burn only went 5% after 40 minutes so we decided to cancel and cut it down. It wasn't too much faster with only 623 images so I decided to cut it down more... only it was completely lost altogether! Started from scratch with only 300 images and after 1 hour had the first copy complete at 1:15 am. Now every 6 minutes a new one is burned.

only 45 to make. tonight.

typically two computers are used to double productivity, but since I'm not the standard photo person I did something wrong that won't pull up the file from the server. I'm nervous I'll mess up the working computer fiddling with the file on the other one. Chances are I'll only get 20 done tonight and mail the rest Monday.

Metro North comes Monday!

As for the week in recap, RAIN! The rain didn't let up until Thursday afternoon! We have never seen this much rain in one week of camp ever! Monday through Wed were completely rained out, and we had a few hours of sun the afternoon of Thursday and a full day of sun today, of course right as the sun went down it started again and hasn't ceased. I'll be sleeping in the office tonight rather than trekking to my bed.

As for campers, the week turned out to be a bit more odd for us than we expected. Odd in the sense that we didn't know what our job was so we just sat back. 6 of us were counseling and half of them didn't sit in on the small groups with their cabins because of the awkward dynamic as a breeding ground for tension. We still hung out with kids just on a smaller level.

Rain Rain Rain!

It has been pouring buckets since last night. We had a great thunderstorm all night. The rain let up for about 6 hours and picked back up right has afternoon activities started. The rain is much needed, and GREAT for tubing! The river has been very low all summer.

The half way point

The second week with campers is over, and it was much different than the first. I had 11 middle school girls on my own ranging from age 11 to 14. The personality of this week's girls was a 180 from before! They liked getting dirty, being loud, and even infrequent showering patterns. Their joyful spirits really helped refill mine.

The creeking trip Wednesday was one of the best ones I've been on in a long time simply because they enjoyed getting muddy and wet. Thursday night a cottage 2 doors down asked us to be quiet because our pillow fight was so loud.

More importantly is their spiritual progress. They came in all but two church goers, having accepted Christ in a VBS setting or with their parents (this was actually the theme of most of the campers). Our speaker for the week, Joel Goddard, is good for the 'pew sitters.' He taught the history of worship - from the stars singing praises to Jesus going straight to the desert after the spirit descended from Heaven.

The stories and significance of the Old Testament really came alive to the kids (an example is the bit about the people in the desert not going to the mountain when the ram's horn blew, instead they sent Moses - we still send one priest to meet God and then expect that person to pass it on to us, when God's intention has always been for each of us to be a priest. )

10 of the 11 girls made new spiritual commitments. They realized that they're contact with Christ was because they were open to receiving by 1. having a quiet time 2. not being distracted. Most of the decisions were in regards to less TV & Internet time. One camper accepted Christ Wednesday night!

for this week:
I will not be counseling but in charge of photos & video. We have a special group coming in that is doing their own program and we will only be running the camp & activities.

Thursday photos from week 5 (SLOPAROOOOO)

Rainy day at camp.















Last week's cabin at Linville Falls.















Overlook at Linville of the gorge that was used in The Last of the Moichans. (sp?)















(Out of Order)The end of the Sloparoo! Jumping in the forbidden pond of vanishing mud.
















Sloparoo!! Self explanatory I think.















3 of the 5 of my campers! I was banned from the festivities for ear problems.























The Sloparoo began with 2 messy games - Bloody marshmallows (catching ketchup covered marshmallows with your mouth) and finding m&m's in a plate of flour with your mouth.

I can't believe it's been a whole week since my last post! But then I can because the last four days have been busy.

I have some photos to post from the last half of the week. But until then:
Marilyn (who was upset about coming to camp because she didn't know anyone) is currently missing camp to fullest. Ironic.
All five girls made decisions to become more like Christ in the area of respecting their parents and not being judgemental. Having the attitude of Christ was an ongoing theme throughout huddle times, after teaching discussions & cabin devos. They were a difficult bunch because 3 of the 5 stuck strictly to social standards talk as little as possible about God & spiritual matters, but it made a good opportunity for Farrah to take leadership and make a path with or without her usual posse. The youngest of the group, and one of the least spiritually interested, Amber, also broke from the group for good reasons in the end of the week. She decided not to sit with the other girls on the bus home because they were going to be hanging out with the boys ... a big deal in 7th grade! It was a pleasant surprise!

As for this week -
I got campers Sunday evening, before staff even moved our gear to new assignments! They were 2 hours early! Then Monday morning we had 2 more girls added to our group and we all had to move across the camp to a new building so that there would be room for us all. They are middle school girls from 11 - 14. The maturity difference is certainly there. 8 are from one church, 3 from another. So far there is not a divisive spirit!

We're on the Mango team and our name is:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M O MANGO!

The total number of campers this week is down by 100ish so its more intimate and the meal lines are shorter - but theres also less excitement with less people - please pray for our spirits! It is easy to get tired and lazy with few campers.

A few photos

Monday evening session - lights down, music blaring, counselors singing, screaming & clapping!

































The entire camp splits into 2 teams - Mango & Pommegranite (red & orange). The program directors dress in large finger suits the first night then use foam fingers the rest of the week.


















Every Tuesday night Vive La Noche (Live the Night) where all the daytime activities are open at night - zipline, climbing tower, snack shack with special activities - the bonfire & hay rides. This time we learned that Shelby (2nd from the right) is a beast at tetherball! She beat us 2 on 1, and a 24 year old man!

teams!

I'm so excited we're offering REPELLING down the 90 foot waterfall we hiked/creek to every wednesday during creeking (big creek, small waterfalls, hike up it, get wet, play). They used to offer the repelling a long long time ago. I'm excited its back! I want to go! But I think i must wait for my entire cabin to sign up before i can.


due to rain yesterday we scratched out our usual camp wide camp and played ultimate frisbee girls on girls/ guys on guys with the games intersecting in the middle. chaos.

our team this week: Mango
Team name: the super sweet skittle loving mango tango spidermonkeys!

new week!!

Just in - 6 mountaineer girls (high schoolers) that will be coming in tomorrow! Two were in my cabin last year!

Looking at my 2nd week

Talley (the program director, aka my boss) informed us that we have exactly 233 campers next week with 239 bunks at camp. Only 30 of them are Pioneers (grades 3 - 5). But we have many more Mountaineers (high schoolers) than usual - just under 100!

First week back in plumtree!

Update of the last few days:
I arrived at camp Sunday evening after a four hour drive from Atlanta for my brother's wedding. It's been fantastic to see so many old faces - and there are many new ones too!

For the first time since I've been on staff (last three years) we have more post high school workers than those currently in high school. It brings so much to the maturity of the discipleship we offer, especially to our older campers. I believe we have six new counselors from Moody Bible Institute alone. (One of our program directors that has been here for 5+ years just graduated from Moody)

This week is unusual. A large church from Cary, NC has more or less 'rented' out the camp for their middle school students. (they did the same for high school last week) They brought their own leaders/counselors, speakers, games, etc. so we are running the activities and a handful of our own games. Even during weeks like this, it is the heart and priority of the camp to invest as much as possible into the kids & their leaders even though none of us are in a cabin with them. This is more difficult because we don't have a small group to focus on specifically, but a large to group to spread ourselves out over. It is most difficult during meals - eat with anyone rather your cabin, and staff tables are prohibited!

Because we are not counseling, we have the luxury of sleeping in until 10am (a real luxury here!) and plenty of personal time for reading & writing during the day. The sleeping arrangements are also not standard - 27 girls in one 3 bed, 2 bath house! The boys have similar arrangements. There is a plethora of bunk mattresses distributed over the floor!

Sleeping on the floor is expected to be the norm most of the summer - especially next week with 230+ campers (there is only just over 100 this week). Our capacity is 250 including leaders, pastors & campers.

until next week!
a