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
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
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