Chardon

This week has been astounding, and once again I cannot believe it is almost over.

I had a shalom moment on Wednesday night during the worship service we put on the for the church.  We sang A La La La, and did the 'milk another cow' verse, and the older folks sitting in the front row had tears streaming from their eyes they were laughing so much.  I couldn't help but laugh with them as I sang.  God was definitely present in that laughter, and I loved every second of it.

I also had my camper boys tell me they didn't want to make friendship bracelets, and that they were just too hard.  But in the next five minutes, they were making them and exclaiming about how much fun they were.

I had the privilege of working with two great counselors this week: Colleen and Ian.  Colleen, unfortunately, came down sick today and had to leave halfway through the day which left Ian and I with twenty-five crazy campers.  But they told me some of the sweetest things today, primarily that they wanted the three of us to come back for next summer's camp at their church, because they were actually having fun this week.

There is nothing so rewarding as knowing that you really are reaching your campers.  Yes, Fridays are usually full of goodbye hugs, but few campers actually tell you how much they've appreciated the past week; I've only really heard it from parents.

Our host family has also been incredible.  They are down to earth, and they feed us excellent healthy food (not to mention our beds are ridiculously comfy).  But those aren't the only reasons.  They all have hearts for God, each in their own unique ways.  God is present in their lives each day and it is a wonderful thing to witness.

Chardon has been a blessing.  That's all I have to say about that.

Peace.

Middletown

Middletown was wonderful. The ride down was fairly uneventful. I had eight great 2nd and 3rd campers (and they loved doing crafts, which was a relief), and a wonderful host mom. She made Abby and I the most delicious food.

The ride back to camp was, in a word, exciting. Columbus interstate rush hour traffic (and getting to merge in said traffic), several near collisions, and several cop sightings. But we got back safely, albeit it about 20 minutes late.

There's not much more to say about it; it was just that good of a week. I tried a new craft, clay crosses, with the kids and they loved making them. I will have to in the future, and it now makes me wonder why I haven't done the clay before.

Peace.

Cleveland Heights

Cleveland Heights was the most difficult week thus far. It's not to say our campers were particularly bad kids, or kids who had disabilities. The church is technically an inner city church, even though (as the pastor put it) it appears that the Cleavers live right next door. All but one of our campers were African American. They were completely adorable (at least my group was; I'm not sure how much pre-teens would appreciate being called adorable). Kathryn and I had the younger kids. Thus, they were adorable.

But they were a handful. The first day they were lethargic as could be. The next days they had more energy, but all they wanted to do was play games. We could eek maybe one craft out of them, but that was about it. However, by the end of the week they were getting up, singing songs at the top of their lungs, and one of our campers said one of the most adorable prayers. Kathryn and I both wish we could remember exactly what he said. It was just that hilarious and cute. His prayer was something along the lines of, "I know you're up there in the clouds watching us, Jesus. And Barack Obama is our president and we'll take things one step at a time. And we love you God." I had to stifle my laughter while he was praying.

The week, in a phrase, was "organized chaos." Even then, sometimes it was just chaos. But the church appreciated us being there and having the camp period. So that was good to know.

We did have a quite enjoyable time with our host families. We were able to visit President James Garfield's monument in Lakeview Cemetery, eat gelato and walk around Little Italy, and just spend time relaxing at our host homes.

Peace.

Northwood

This past week was spent in the company of some particularly wonderful children of God. Five of us drove up to the Toledo area to spend a week in the town of Northwood. We had a wonderful time. There were 30 or so campers, so most of us co-counseled, which was nice for a change.

The kids were great, and they loved singing "When We Worship God." Sarah (the other permanent outreach counselor, whom I will rarely get to work with) and I were able to co-counsel together, and we had the 4th through 6th graders. They were incredibly well-behaved and receptive of all the Bible stories, games, and crafts. We had a fun time.

Our host family was wonderful. Much like Vandalia, we didn't actually spend much time with our host family. Instead, they opened their beach house for us - located right on Lake Erie. We all got our own beds, and just two counselors had to share a room; the rest of us had our own. I got to fall asleep to the sounds of waves lapping the shoreline. It was incredible. Not to mention we got to go out on the lake one night in a sailboat - which we all got to sail ourselves as well.

Our church coordinator's fiance happened to be a retired chef, and he made us the most delicious meal Tuesday night at the beach house. We cooked over a Swissmar Raclette and made kabobs, and cooked all sorts of veggies, beef, chicken, shrimp, and carmelized mushrooms. It was delicious, and I would post pictures, but I have no way of uploading them right now.

All in all a very exciting week. I'm excited for next week as well; I get to go with two of the same people I went with this week.