Sambica thus far...

Dear World,

I am an ELITE. I am an SIT. I am a GIRL. I am doing this to serve the LORD. I am working for HIM.

This week I started at a camp called SAMBICA as an ELITE, SIT. I have 2 more weeks to go and want to inform people about what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, how it effects me, and what the outcome at the end of the session will be. (I'll be sure to update this more than once a week)

I am very blessed. I have 2 parents and 2 sisters. I have uncles and aunts and cousins that love me. I don't have a lot of earthly possessions, but family is the most important thing. If it wasn't because of my family I wouldn't be at this camp right now.

The reason I wanted to come to SAMBICA is because I came as a camper 2 years ago and had one of the most life changing experiences i had ever had. So, I signed up this year to be an SIT (staff in training) , hoping that I would be able to have a somewhat similar experience. I am a naturally hard worker and i knew that when I came to SAMBICA i would be doing real, working jobs while I was here. I didn't care. So far, I am sooo thankful that I came. I had some tragic news broken to me and my sisters the week before i came, and I was very numb about it for the first few days. When I got to washington to go to the camp I spent the first 2 days with my cousins Ellie and Sadie (6 and 2). They made me forget about all that was going on. I was so incredibly thankful for the time I spent with them.

Sunday was sign in for sambica. I was greeted by the ELITE mentors. The place was bubbling with joy and anticipation for the weeks to come that it put me in a dark place. Yes, I was very excited to be there. But the tragic news that i had been given was never far from my mind. Naturally i thought that that was how the whole session was gonna go, so I stopped looking forward to it. But the next day, Day 1, changed that in an instant. I was still very down by the great excitement, but my spirits had been lifted just by being able to be there. I had missed the camp and was so excited to be back.

Things have been tough this week. Week 1. I've been able to talk to a few of the mentors about what's been going on in my life, and they have been very helpful in showing me that there is nothing that will help me more than leaning on GOD and His WORD. I've started reading my way through Psalms and Proverbs (suggested by one of the mentors) and it has been very helpful, even though it's only been a couple of days.

Things have also been good this week. Thursday we had the carnival, and I don't think I've ever had more fun before in my life. Kids were excited and running from here to there with there tickets. ELITEs were excited and dancing around like they were drunk (though we weren't, lol) and I was having a blast running one of the games with my friend Claudia. She was so high energy that it pumped my spirits as well.

So, to sum it up, this first week was a success. I'll put up some more in-depth posts now as the weeks go on.

In Him,

Maddie