A Life Extraordinary: Pointless

If I could sum up how I feel right now in one word it would be Tired, but as tired as I feel I loved every moment that led up to this point. Camp was amazing to say the least,  although I did struggle a bit through the week with the feeling of being separate. I was both the oldest counselor (with my elderly 24 years) and the only counselor from Normandy. Sometimes I felt like everyone else knew what was going on but me, but when it came down to it I had to just keep reminding myself that this disconnect didn't really matter, I was there to form relationships with the kids and to help them having an amazing week at camp. In that I believe I succeeded. I was also blessed to be placed with a co-counselor for the week. Although Erika is only in high school I was impressed by her maturity level. Over the week we had a lot of great conversations about our lives and I was able to talk to her a lot about going to a Christian College and teaching overseas. It's a relationship I see definitely continuing in the future.
     The camp this year was a little small, with just under 70 campers (from 4 churches, although most were from Rainier View CC). Instead of mixing all of the kids up to make small groups they left our cabins as our groups, so I got a chance to become very close with 7 girls and watch them grow over the week. It was an incredible transformation really. The first day getting the girls to talk was like pulling teeth. Erika and I found ourselves prompting a lot of answers. But by the end of the week we couldn't get the girls to be quiet. They all had answers to every question, and even more, volunteered to pray out loud, something I was terrified to do at their age.
   Aside from digging deep into the Word, there were also many chances to just have fun with each other. The theme for the camp was "Pointless," so each time we gathered in the A-frame they would play pointless videos like this awesome Jelly Fish video or, to go along with our camp mascot, which was a pointless unicorn named Charlie, a video of The Unicorn Song, which, if I never heard again I wouldn't shed a tear for (and was also apparently one of my grandmothers favorite songs, when I mentioned it to my dad he, not surprisingly, knew all the words, it's catchy). We also took part in many fun outdoor games, in the sunshine and in the rain. I, being the accident prone person I am, continued to injure myself throughout the week, beginning with twisting my ankle on the first day while playing leap frog, that's right, it is possible.
     One of my favorite games of the week was kickball, BUT, the bases were actually rafts filled with water, we all got soaked, which led to many happy campers because it was actually sunny and relatively warm that day. However, I can't discount the traditional nightime counselor hunt. Maddi, Erika and I hid behind the nurses trailer and were found by only one camper (who also happens to live at the camp and had a slight advantage). We got a little bored as we waited back there for campers that never came, so we had a lot of fun with each other, mostly eating taffy (which was supposed to be the prize for campers that found us), and at one point I reached out to grab a fern, and, being the accident prone person I am, got a fist full of stinging nettles instead, that was fun...
    As the end of the week rolled around I was really sad to see the camp come to a close. I really loved my girls and even more I really love spending time with the youth, and, to be honest, didn't miss technology at all. If any of you know of any jobs a long the same lines as "camp"let me know. And I don't mean summer day camp, been there, done that. Working with youth is something I've found I just really enjoy doing.

Ok, now picture time... :)

The camps theme was "Pointless," and was a study of the book of Ecclesiastes

This was Charlie, the camp mascot. One night Cabins A and C (well mostly A) decided to play an INNOCENT prank and kidnap Charlie and hold him for ransom, so this is Me, Maddi and Erika getting him. I can now honestly say I ran through a field with a Unicorn.