Being a camp counselor

I have attended VCC/ The Grove since I was a wee little one and ever since I was old enough I went to summer camp with this church, and some winter camps. I never missed a year. I feel like every camp I learned something or grew in my faith. Each year still holds special meaning to me. In fact I just finished a scrapbook that chronicles my life throughout jr. high and high school. Man looking at those old pictures, I realized what a goober I really was.

But this summer was different. I got to be a counselor. I really do not know what I was expecting by being a leader this year but really it was not what I got. And really this was totally different than being a counselor to the 3-6 year olds in Louisiana for those six weeks. And I keep saying really. I really need to expand my vocabulary.

I was counselor to six beautiful freshman girls. They are so mature in their faith and their actions that they really inspired me throughout the week.

I have always been called the mom of any group of friends I was in. This is because I am an innate caretaker. I just am always prepared with the most random things whether it be bandaids or scissors. So really this was the perfect setting for me because I got to be the 'mom' to these six girls. One night, some of the girl counselors and I got to do wake-up calls (which is basically going into the cabins super early in the morning and waking everyone up any way we want to while filming it.) Well this particular night we woke up four cabins and one of them ended up being my girls. I kept telling them all week that they probably wouldn't come and wake us up and I ended up being one of the counselors that woke them. It was beautiful. However, they didn't take it lying down. When I got back to the cabin, they ambushed me with pillows. Luckily, I was able to get mine and get off a few good hits of my own, but I conceded and let them win. I'm not going to lie, I really think this was my first pillow fight.

One of the highlights of camp were the other counselors. If I had a picture of all of them I would put it up. But here is a picture of Lynnea, Candyce, Emma, Cor and Me (Perhaps the cooler counselors)

The other counselors were just amazing people and when you yourself are a counselor, you get to know the counselors in such a different way. We bonded over the early leader meetings, the special privileges of doing whatever we wanted at anytime of the night, and of course, at the end of the week lunch at Chipotle. Some of these counselors were friends with my sisters and others were my own counselors and leaders in the youth group and still others were people I just met. But this week, we were all pretty much equal even though Cor, emma and I were the rookie girls.

Between my trip to Louisiana and my week as a counselor and the random weeks in the middle where I slacked and read and obsessed over this upcoming year, this summer has challenged me, molded me, encouraged me, and sometimes made me frustrated. And now as I get ready to go back to APU in two-ish weeks, I really want to find time to process what I learned and how I grew. I hope that i can take what I experienced and apply it to my life. I want to set goals that I will read everyday and work towards in every decision that I make throughout the days ahead.

That is my plan this upcoming week. Maybe if I write them down, I'll share them with you.