No more camp blog

Dear World,
So, I've had a while. Camp has been over for about 4 weeks for me. I've been going over the summer, and frankly, this whole past year, as it relates to camp, and I'm just ready to get on with things. I don't want my thoughts, year, and entire life to be centered around Sambica. It's a camp. A wonderful one, but not a home. My home is my home, where I spend most of my life. My camp is my camp, where I spend my summers. If I stayed totally centered around camp I won't be able to focus in on the rest of my life.

I'm moving forward, I have so much else to focus on. When I first started this blog, in 2010 for my first year at Sambica, it just about changed my life. At the end of it, I made a post on if I was going to continue the blog throughout the year, and I chose to keep it up. This time though, I will be turning off my Sambica/camp blogging for the year. I will post once Refuge's come around, but from now on, posts will only come when I go to Sambica.

BUT, I just can't give it up! I love to write. I love blogging. So, I will be creating another blog. This one will be for my everyday life. For things I go through that don't really have anything to do with Sambica. It will be for my thoughts and my ideas. You can check out that blog by clicking here. Please follow it. I would love to make it just as popular as I've made this one. If I was able to get a few hundred views a month on that blog as well, I'd be very happy.

I'll update once a Refuge comes around. :)

In Him,
Maddie Rose

What I miss the most.

Dear World,

It feels different being back home. (though I'm not currently home. I'm in Oregon for a short period of time, but I was home for about two weeks before we left.) There are the obvious things that would be different. The temperature (BIG one), scenery, daily schedule, and basically the way of life as a whole is just completely different. One of the big things I find myself missing is just the Washington culture and way of life. It was so inviting to what I enjoy and I miss it very much.

Un-like last year though, I don't miss Sambica in quite the same way that I did. Last summer, I missed my memories, experiences, and the camp itself and always wanted to be back there again. This year I miss the people more. The program I was in allowed me to make such deeper and closer relationships with Elites and mentors. When I left last summer, I continued to talk to maybe 1 or 2 of the mentors, and Elites always SAID that we wanted to stay in contact, but never did. This time, every single mentor wants to stay in contact and talking to Elites is just a regular thing. Doesn't even feel excessive. Just natural. It's one of those things you don't think too much about. Of course we'll talk a lot. I woke up 3 feet away from you everyday for 3 weeks. It would feel weird if communication was limited.

I told one of the current mentors, Sage, (I usually try to call them by their real names after camp is over, but she will always be Sage to me.. :) ) that I was really scared to be forgotten as these last weeks went on. This, I know, is a lie fed to me by Satan, but it's definitely a good one because my biggest fear is getting close to people and having them either forget about me or move on and try to push me away. BUT, one thing Sage is good at is reassuring you of the truth, no matter how hard it is to accept.

I'm so happy for the mentors I have this year. Each one did something different for me, and each one knows me in a little different way. Some know more than others, but they all know different things and I feel so blessed to have so many want to be there for me.

In Him,
Maddie Rose

Camp...

Dear World,

It's been an intense weekend. I've been really busy and extremely exhausted, but I'm finally going to be getting around to doing my last post of camp.

As I've thought about camp this summer, I keep forgetting about my time as an LIT. It seems so distant, and un-important. Though, I know it is. Those first 3 weeks were extremely rough. That's where a lot of the painful changes took place. It wasn't till the last couple of days that I started opening myself up to a select few people, and I was completely blown away by what was there for me to experience. So, I was extremely excited for my next session as a PIT where I'd get to invest in these relationships more, and see what God had for me through them.

Little did I know that the PIT program leaves little or no time to invest in lives other than campers. From 6:45 in the morning when I'd step out on the field to do inflatable set up, to 6:00 at night when we'd finish our debrief and head over to dinner, we were working. We would usually get at least one break a day, but it would only REALLY be a break if you went back to where we lived and took a nap. If you chose to take your break any where else, you were basically still working. If we were ever trying to hang out at the waterfront on our breaks, and see if we could find time with a mentor or Elite, that time was usually always cut short or prevented from happening at all when at least 2 or more campers would come running up to you and want to be with you. And the thing that was hard was they were on the same schedule we were, so their waterfront time was just as long as our break.

It was difficult a lot because we'd be working so long, and by working I mean we'd be entertaining kids for 6 1/2 to 7 hours (if you didn't have a break, which sometimes you didn't), and then we'd have a night activity with the other Elites, which would usually go till 9:30, then we'd have an hour to shower, and get ready for bed. We'd often utilize this last hour to work on those relationships with other Elites and mentors that we had little time during the rest of the day to invest in. Occasionally it would go right up to 10:30 when lights went out, but usually, we'd talk much longer. Sometimes till 11:45 or midnight. So it was really hard the next day when we'd be up by 6:15, with little sleep, and then have to go through our whole 17 hour day again. Especially when we'd be meeting 6 completely different cabins and we'd want to make it a great fun experience for them.

So, it was really difficult. It really tore me apart to have so little time with Elites and mentors. . . but, I can't tell you how rewarding it was to see how I could work with these campers for such a short period of time and have such a big impact on their lives. I asked one girl to tell me at the end of the week what her favorite thing was that she learned, and she came running at me on the last day and told me that she learned that Jesus loved her more than anyone else could. (I nearly cried when I got this answer) One girl was always teased for her singing and asked me what she should do. Another had a hard time dealing with other boys. My partner and I had a talk with him, and he straightened out so quickly. A boy last week asked me to take him to Heaven and when I said I wasn't able to do that, he asked me how to get there. I had question after question after question, I tried to answer them the best I could, and when I didn't have an answer for them, I told them that I didn't know, but if you asked God, He would probably tell you. The excitement in their eyes when some would come to me later on with an answer made up for the lack of depth in every Elite and mentor relationship.

I saw clearly how I was able to make a different in about 20 kid's lives. I met 350 kids JUST this past week, not to mention the two weeks before. I don't know if I was able to do much for all of them, but I do know that when I'd act crazy and fun, it would add to their camp experience, which was enough to make it an all around great experience for each of them. It was so great to see how God was able to use me this summer in these kid's lives, whether in a close personal way, or just by making their time on Kayaks, Archery, Bouldering, or Rockets a really fun time. I'm just happy I was able to be of use to Him. :)

In Him,
Maddie Rose