Camp Teams: A Summary

Whoops

I had planned on blogging about each camp. Now it's in the middle of September basically. I had good intentions, I swear. Well, let's see what I remember about the last five weeks of camp...

Little Galilee Christian Camp

In order to fulfill the set number of weeks required by the school and still help out with the LCU volleyball camps (more on that later), while my original team was on break, I was sent to Little Galilee with the sports camp!

To be honest, I was really intimidated going into the week, because it was the second summer of camp teams for all of them, while it was just my first week. It was really great getting to know all of them a little better throughout the week though.

The infamous sports team: Shannon, Isaac, myself, David, and Katie.

One of the highlights of that week for me was meeting Cameron Mayhill (the missionary for the week of camp from Haiti), who actually remembered me from the Restoration Week fair at LCU. He remembered that I wasn't able to be on his Restoration Week trip because of volleyball season. However, I loved hearing his presentations about Haitian Christian Outreach and talking to him one-on-one and asking questions. It's possible that I could organize a personal trip in one of my spring semesters to go and work with him (stay tuned).

Throughout the week, we experienced a lot of wildlife... A faculty caught a small snake during a recreation time. There were a lot of baby frogs that were around camp (and one centipede that I remember.)

 

Advice I Gave to High School/Jr. High Girls During Volleyball Camp in List-Form

1. If you can serve and serve receive well, you'll win 90% of games.

2. Newbies pick scissors in "rock/paper/scissors".

3. People who think they're good at "rock/paper/scissors" usually pick rock.

4. I'll braid your hair (every. day.) if you plan on coming to LCU.

5. That's about it. It was a long (but fun!) week.

Two Weeks at Lake Region Christian Assembly 

I was finally reunited with the music team after two weeks of being apart. At LRCA, our first week was spent with some really amazing high schoolers, a few of which go to school with us now! I lost my phone the first night during an almost hurricane, and I was walking through rivers retracing my steps using "Find my iPhone". It turned out that the male adult leader in my family group had it in our team backpack and had turned it off, so I naturally thought it drowned in all the rainwater. We were off to an interesting start.

The next day, I went canoeing with some campers (as the only adult) and we managed to flip a canoe, then flood it. I was really proud of myself then. Kidding. 

One of the nights, there was a themed supper/dance party (decades), which was seriously one of the highlights of the summer for me. I met some really amazing people that week; I loved talking and sharing with the girls in my family group.

The second week was a specialized camp: there were many electives that the campers could take, music electives, sports electives, etc. Our camp team helped teach some music electives, including specialized instruments (I'm hopefully never going to teach piano again. It is not my forte. Music pun.) and music theory in general. I helped out with the volleyball elective for awhile. Luke and I's family was called the Slippery Sloths. 

Oil Belt Christian Service Camp: Deeper Life

The legendary Jono Schnautz signing our new gazebo!

Luke and I went back home (our home camp) for the last week of camp. Aly and Rodney also enjoyed their time at Oil Belt too. My younger sister was a camper there, actually and was in my family group (PANAMA). We ended up building a new gazebo. I used power tools for the first time (I bet my dad was proud. Or worried.) 

Oil Belt was such a great week to end on. We saw several rededications, baptisms, and campers called into vocational ministry.

Luke teaching about God's Will

The Zambian flag. Our missionaries were from Zambia that week.

Camp Teams: Statistics

Total number of camps: 9

Estimated number of campers: 547

Rededications: 14

Baptisms witnessed: 12

Number of times Sadie cried: 10 (Eleven if you count me crying during the next section of this blog.)

Sticks of deoderant Sadie went through: 4

What I Learned/How I Grew

*Leading a small group was something I hadn't done before, I was always on the other side, answering the questions, enduring the awkward silences, hoping no one asks me to pray. I was always amazed or shocked when I would be talking about something that a speaker had said, and the campers were actually attentive! 

*I think I got a lot better at public speaking. And improvising. I worked really hard to be good at being Simon in "Simon Says" (shoutout to Tim Price for teaching me).

*I learned to lean on God and my teammates so much. There were days where you didn't want to get out of bed, but you had to put a smile on your face and represent Christ and LCU to these students. Remember that while it may be your seventh week of camp, this was the only week of camp for most of your kids. Pour into them. 

*The power of prayer was so evident in my team and my life this summer. Some of our toughest days, we would pray for attitude adjustments and energy. It was definitely not our energy, but God's great strength allowing us to do what we could. 

*Even though you're hearing two sermons a day, six days a week, quiet time alone with God is vital. I remember what Rob Maupin told us during training week. The word of God is your food. It sustains you and is the basis for your life, and that is so true. Even if you're at camp the entire summer; even if you go to a christian university or are in full-time ministry. 

Thank You

*Thank you Jeremiah Ratliff and Lynn Laughlin, for choosing us, training us, and being a resource for us throughout the summer. 

*Thank you deans for working with us. Thank you campers, for being such a blessing. Sometimes you listened when we taught you, sometimes you taught us.

*My team. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to spend the summer with. Aly, thank you for teaching me how to be disciplined and to love people unconditionally. Rodney, thank you for teaching me how to be a better Christian friend, listener, and worshiper. Luke, thank you for teaching me to trust in God and to long for His Will in my life, even if it's not what I want to hear. 

*Thank you to everyone who prayed for us, provided a meal for us, or interacted with us this summer.

 Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen."

Yours,

Sadie