Meet my Campers!

Here's my campers! We are the Rawhide girls! :) We had such a fun week together! It would be awesome to have as good of a cabin next teen week!

This is Faith. She made some important decisions that week and if you think to pray for her as she strives with the Lord's help to make them lasting decisions, that would be awesome! She wrote me such a sweet letter before she left.This is Emily Whitt. Most of you who read my blog probably already know her. It was so fun to have her in my cabin. Her and Jessie go to my extension church during school and camp, I guess :), so we'd been planning for this week with all our red stuff and were all excited and then it came and went so fast! I actually still get to see Emily around camp a lot since her dad works here, so that's fun! :)This is Christine. She is expeienced in Tae Kwon Do...thankfully, none of us girls ever had to experience her skills. Hee, hee! She was a sweetheart through and through. :)

This is Emily. Emily received Jesus Christ as her Savior on Tuesday night. I had been deeply burdened for her to be saved since our one-on-one. I had close friends praying for her and had mentioned her name in the counselor prayer meeting. It was amazing to see the power of prayer - God worked in her heart that very night and she was added into the family of God! She was beaming through the rest of the week, and it was neat to see her take steps of growth right away. In team meeting she was the only one to know the answer to Jon's question, "How does Jesus demonstrate humility in John 13?" She raised her hand good and high: "He washed the disciples' feet!" It was encouraging to me as a counselor to see her excited to know the answer because I knew that that was what she had learned in her personal devotions that morning. Another thing about Emily, she loved energy drinks, and boy did they get her high! She was a fabulous cheerer for team events. ;)

Here is Jessie Markham, whom you all probably know, too. She is my extension Pastor's daughter, and one of my good friends. She was a very hard worker memorizing her verses, and had the loudest scream on the team, I think! Even when she got plagued by a nasty cold!

This is Callie. Callie always had funny stories to tell. We had fun getting to know each other during our one on one. She also worked very hard on her verses right up to the end. I was proud of her for not giving up!

Here's all my girls plus one right before they piled into the van to leave :( They were so much fun and so sweet! They wrote me the sweetest letter and poem ever! I miss them already! They were all very tender girls. The Lord worked in each of their hearts and gave them the courage to share their testimonies on Friday night. God is so good.

Teen Camp 1

First of all, meet my sweet roomie, Nichole Fitzgerald. I have loved having her in my room! She is so sweet and always an encouragement. Nichole is working in the snack shop this summer and doing a fabulous job! She makes amazing Western Blizzards. ;) She was my faithful prayer warrior for me and my campers throughout the week.

Monday we got our campers and I only had 6, but they were a great bunch of girls. Tuesday, the first day, they were all already dressing alike. We all wore jean shorts with a red top. Tuesday night was Taco Bell night. The camp ordered in taco bell so we could eat it while we played Family Feud. Jessica Markham was in my cabin and was chosen by the team leaders to play up front.

She did VERY well for our team! Go Blazers!

Here's HelainE RozellE cheering loud and clear for all to hear during Family Feud. I love my Helaine! ;)

One of my campers from Snow Camp 1, Jennifer Waltho, was at camp that week. I had requested for her to be in my cabin, but by the time her church got here it was too late :( We had fun seeing each other around though. She's a sweetheart!

Bryce and I had challenged our cabins to do well in cabin clean-up because the losers had to eat without their hands...sooo we actually ended up getting a tie that day - both 100's! Since we already had napkins set at our spots just in case, we went ahead and ate with our napkins AND our silverware ;)

I think this picture is cool. Jessie was working hard on her verses - she said close to 30! It was a beautiful day so we were memorizing outside and I snapped a picture of her with the sky as a background - it's like a professional Sears picture! haha! :) Not only did the girls work hard on verses. But on Friday after we turned in our verses, they decided they were willing to go for Super Posse (super cabin), and so at 2:10 they took off in all different directions to get everything done on the list before 4. I was running all over making sure they got them done and letting them know what needed to get done next - I ended up running from the lake front to the archery range 4 times! It was like playing the night game in the heat of the sun! haha! We were all hot and tired, but able to turn in our super posse sheet at 10 minutes to 4, and won the posse territory for our team. Yeah, Rawhide girls!Then it was final scoring...

...Here's the program guys:This is Abigail, Jennifer, and me. We all were ready with our RED sunglasses!
Bryce with his competition face on and me with um...a smile? oops! I guess I was happy that we were going to WIN!

And a long shot...we had to get his pants...capris...pants? Hee, hee! Yeah, RED!

Red team WON the week! YAY! It was very exciting and intense. None of us had any clue which way the week was going to swing, so we were pretty much going insane when the region turned RED! "Boot to the Head, Boot to the Head, to blue from RED, Boot to the Head!" Haha! YAY! :)

Family Camp 1

Family Camp 1 was our first official week of camp. It's a good thing family camp is first on the schedule because it's a little more laid back. I'm scheduled to be in Baby Block 1 (which is babies from 0 to 12 months - so cute!) all summer during services. These are some of the babies we had that week. The little boy's name is Parker. Isn't he adorable? He was fussy the first couple days - I got a good typical crying picture. But then on Wednesday he took his first steps, and being able to walk made him cute and happy for the rest of the week! He loved getting his picture taken. Even at 10 months he knew to hold still and smile and then wait to see how it turned out. I've got lots more, but these were some of the good "kodak moments." :) The little girl smiling is Elizabeth - she was nice and easy to keep happy. Jocelyn is the last one and is also in the picture with Sarah Dersch (my group leader). Jocelyn is from Jordan's old church. I got to see Jenn and Jordan up on campus a lot that week because they had friends there so that was a treat. :) When I wasn't in baby block I got to help Jenny in the maintenance office, work at the wall and zipline, and help with other evening activities like date night (I got tips being a waitress!...such nice families) :), funny time (sitting with kids), carnival, etc...SO MUCH FUN! :)

Staff Training Week

Staff training for Northland Camp started on May 30th. I still remember how the first day or week, ahem! I was really nervous, but now the people here are some of my closest friends! The theme this year is from Philippians 1:27 - 2:18: "Thinking Like Christ." It's been a very sobering study as I see Christ's love and humility in taking the lowest position in EVERY choice and His example as a servant though He was Lord over all. It is a constant challenge to me when I catch myself taking my personal interests over that of others or the many times that I grumble and complain throughout the day or struggle giving unconditional love to those around me. The first 2 weeks of camp are spiritually intense but it is so good not just in preparation for the rest of the summer as a counselor, but also in preparation for life. I'm so thankful for all the Lord is teaching me here. It has been amazing to see Him working in my life, the lives of fellow staff, and the lives of campers.
The first two pix are during one of the morning sessions: Alyssa Mitchell and Helaine (both dear friends from school)
The other 3 pictures are from the last night of staff training. We had a cheering competition (hence, Emily's PV war-paint) and then went to have a counselor rally time run through at children's groups. In the skit Bryce (my brother counselor) fell under the influence of Worldly the Kid and stole some candy so that's why he's in jail. But you would all be happy to know that by the end of the week both he and Worldly get straightened out, and Worldly the Kid turns into Chris the Christian. (ironic that his name really is Chris) :) But I don't have a picture of him cause he was hiding from the "police."