Finishing Up Camp

Well, we have been home from camp for a few days but this is the first chance I have had to actually sit and take the time to write about it. Things are pretty busy right now!!

I don't remember a whole lot about Thursday, so this party will be short, haha. I spent the morning working and then the afternoon on the Island. Most of my Island time was spent watching several of our girls (including Bonita and Cupcake) on the high ropes course. That thing looks hard!! They all finished it and were rewarded with a fun trip down the zip line. :)


After their free time I went back to the Inn for dinner and then all the leaders came over to the Island for the final night of devotions. We were invited to lead our teens in it, and we were excited to hear all that they were learning.

We also had a mini celebration for one of the teens, J, who turned 18 that day!!! Since we do the mission trip every year on the same week, and this year camp fell on that week, we have spent the last 3 years celebrating his birthday with him!! We thought he would really enjoy a pink cake. :)
After enjoying some cake, we all got together to share what God has been doing in us all week. That went pretty well, although many of our teens were exhausted by this point (it was about 11 p.m.), so some just sat trying to stay awake. Still, it was nice to connect with them and hear a little about their week.

Friday was our last day at camp and for the most part we definitely ended on a high note. E was able to return to the Island on Thursday night, just in time for the all you can eat Ice Cream Party. So, she had all day Friday to enjoy as well, which was really nice.

Friday morning I, of course, had to work, but I was able to get a lot accomplished. After lunch A and I decided to rent jet skis and have some fun on the lake. I really love jet skis! They are actually pretty cheap at the Inn, and I decided to splurge a little. It was really fun!!

After jet skiing we met up with D and J and got on a boat to watch them go tubing. At the Inn they have the tubes that you sit in instead of lay on...so much easier to hold on!! It was hilarious watching J and D try to not flip over. J managed to stay on his tube, D did not, haha. They finally convinced me to go as well and it was pretty fun.

During this time our teens were on the Island competing on the Dodge ball competition. They made it to the finals!!! Unfortunately, they lost to another team (one that had several counselors on it), but they still had a lot of fun. All 18 of our teens either played in the game, or cheered the team on. It was so awesome to hear all about it when we went to pick them up! They came together as ONE team...all on their own!!!

After tubing we had about an hour and a half before we needed to get on the boat to go to the island to get the teens' luggage and start the process of heading home. I went and packed and was at the boat on time. There was some sort of mis-communication and the guys weren't there. They came on the next boat, though.

It took several hours to get everything taken care of...loading and unloading luggage, getting all the teens on boats off the island, getting the luggage loaded on the buses, getting the teens and leaders loaded on the buses. I have to admit I was easily frustrated through this process (one leader, not many people listening to her), but we pulled away from the camp at 7:04 (our goal was 7). We were on our way!

Most of the teens had a hard time saying goodbye, which was actually pretty cool. Most (although not all) really had an amazing week and are really hoping we will go back next year. I had some concerns about some things, so I wasn't sure at first. However, I talked with our more mature teens to get their thoughts and they all thought it was great spiritually as well as fun. So, hopefully we will have the chance to go back next year!!

The bus ride home was pretty miserable, and I am SO proud of how our teens handled it. We were on a school bus for 6 hours and the bus driver refused to stop, at all. Finally, one of the girls begged him because she had to go to the bathroom so bad, so he let us have 5 minutes to use the restroom. We were not allowed to get anything to eat or drink, and were on the road within 5 minutes of stopping. We were cramped, hot, tired...it wasn't fun. However, none of the teens complained (at least not out loud), which was amazing.

We also had several teens on our bus that were from Philly, but not our church. They didn't have a leader with them, which I will never do again. I had to take leadership over them when they weren't doing what they were supposed to (like trying to buy food at McDonalds at our 5 minute rest stop when we very clearly stated several times that they were not allowed to buy food). In fact, the only problems we had the entire trip home came from teens that we were not really in charge of.

The final challenge for us came when we actually arrived at the church. A massive downpour started as soon as we pulled in and we have to unload all of our luggage in the rain. We were trying to get everyone to go in the church and form an assembly line to get the luggage inside as quickly as possible, but several people were only concerned with getting their stuff and getting home, which made the process much more complicated. The visiting teens ended up grabbing their bags and leaving before we were finished unloading and we ended up with several of our bags missing. We are hoping they took them by accident and we can get them back soon. We'll see!

Finally, around 2:30 a.m. we were all soaked from head to toe, but heading home. We had an amazing week, but were exhausted and ready to sleep in our own beds. Plus, the Cornerstone Block Party was that day, so we had to get some sleep before coming back to the church for that.

Only time will tell how lasting the impact of the camp really was. Everyone was still talking about it at church on Sunday. For some of our teens, it was life changing. It was a challenge that they struggled through, but overcame, proving to themselves that maybe they aren't as "hopeless" as they thought. For some, it was the realization that they have just been coasting along spiritually but they really want so much more. For others, it was all about the girls they could meet. And still for some, it was just too hot to really focus on anything. (And for one, the swim test will haunt them for a long time and unfortunately overshadow an otherwise good week). I guess that's about what I would expect from 18 very different people.

When we were loading up to head home I was very unsure what I thought of the whole week. Like I said, some things were amazing, and some things weren't. However, after talking with many of our teens about their experiences I definitely think this week was worth ALL the effort and I am praying that we will have the opportunity to go back. And, I am praying that we will see amazing fruit from this week in each teen's life, even the ones that only remember being hot and tired for 7 days. :)