I promise this won't be a play by play, but there are a lot of stories to tell. I had such a fun week! This week was "wow week" which was something just for the kids that came the first week of camp. We had all kinds of fun things and I can't even count how many times I said "Wow!" :)
Sunday night I got to camp and we had dinner and worship which were both fantastic. We also met the LITs for the week and camp doctor. After that, Dori, my co-counselor, and I went back to our cabin and we decorated and cleaned a little getting our cabin ready for the next day. The campers would be on their way in a few hours!
 |
| That's Dori! :) |
 |
| Sorry, it's bad quality, but here's some decoration. |
 |
| My rug :) It's so empty without my camper! |
After we were ready for bed we were sitting around talking about our lives and what all we were going through and how we were feeling for the next day, you know, just serious stuff, I guess. Well, all of a sudden, Dori turned her head and kinda freaked out. We had a mouse in our cabin. He was kinda cute and fluffy. Nonetheless, he didn't need to be in our cabin. I ran to cabin 3 to get a radio, quickly. I didn't even think about my knee...
Well, I called our unit director, and she said she would be on her way. I ran back to my cabin (I didn't have shoes on either) and the mouse was still there. I asked Dori where he was and he was under a bunk somewhere so I got to his level and all of a sudden, he started running toward where Dori and I sleep! But, then he slowed down, and squeezed through a crack in our closed door! We both screamed!
Maybe a few minutes later our unit director came in and we had to tell our story. We were not the first with this problem either. We fixed the problem by setting up our own mouse trap. It was just a piece of cardboard to block the door. No more mice for cabin 5!
Anyway, Dori and I got settled in and went to bed after that eventful night. We felt a little closer after that. :)
The next morning we had breakfast and we sang a few songs and had a pep talk. Then we went back to the cabin and shortly our campers started arriving! It took a little bit for all of them to get there but we got them all and we went to the pavilion to see the camp doctor, make our cabin flag, and got our picture made. Soon, we headed to lunch!
Each day, the campers go to two activities. Each are 2 hours long. All the counselors work specific activities like horses or the ropes course or riflery and archery. My activity is the waterfront. It usually the most favorite activity ;) So, I lifeguard all day. But the campers go around to all the activities.
The rest of the day went as the usual camp day goes, only without nap time.. sigh. We had activities and on Monday nights we have a treasure hunt! Each treasure has a specific prize that goes with it along with getting to throw your counselors in the lake. My campers got a night-time tractor ride. I was also thrown into the lake. But, as a part of wow week, there was a firework show to accompany!
 |
WOW!
The rest of the week was great! Tuesday night I pulled out my guitar and I played a few songs, but unbeknownst to my co-counsleor I had written a song called Hope and I played it for my campers. They really liked it! One of my campers told me it sounded like something they would hear on the radio. She was so sweet to say that. If you'd like to hear it, it's up on YouTube here.
Wednesday was wild Wednesday! As another part of wow week, there was a hot air balloon that a few people were fortunate enough to get to go up in it. Not me, though. However, there was candy thrown from the hot air balloon and my campers got some for me :) (At this point, my knee was a little sore. I was trying to be careful and not run a lot, anyway.) Also, that night we went on a night-time tractor ride! It was fun. We went around camp and we could see the stars and everything. Dori and I had really started connecting with our campers and we had inside jokes with them and so our devotions were more personal and our campers definitely came out of their shells. :)
Thursday night we had girls night. We had a luau on one of our beaches (I brought my grass skirt)! We had games and fruity drinks and singing and dancin'. Our girls were 10 years old so most of them absolutely loved One Direction. Two One Direction songs came on and Dori and I had a pretty awesome dance party with our campers. Later on that evening, we went to a camp fire with another cabin and we made s'mores! It was so good! I also brought my guitar and my hula hoop so we had some fun with those. My girls asked me to play my song and so the other cabin got to hear it as well. Some of them asked for my autograph, ha!
We had a group devotion with the other cabin that night as well. We sang a few worship songs, then we let the girls tell everyone what they learned this week. It was great to hear some of what they learned and that some of the work we counselors put into it is worth while.
Friday was Fun Friday! We had breakfast in bed and then gave the campers some time to do things on their own and play with some of their friends in the pavilion and on the activities field. I lifeguarded at the pool for a little bit but then I went to paint faces! It's one of my favorite things. For lunch we had corndogs which were really good and then we cleaned up a bit and headed to rest time.
That afternoon I had to lifeguard at the waterfront so Dori kept the campers. That night was the adventure. See, the theme of our summer is Pilgrim's Progress. I've never read the book, but I'm working on understanding the story. So, throughout the weeks to come, I'll try to explain better the story. But, we started out talking with our campers about what they learned through the Bible skits. A lot of them said you need to follow Christ's path for us and things along that line.
When our color group was called, we stood up and got our burdens. In the beginning of the story, this guy named Graceless lived in a city called the City of Destruction. Graceless woke up one day and read a book. That book was the Bible. He told his family about the coming destruction but they didn't listen. Graceless realized all his sins and that he had to own up to them which is what the burden was. On our journey we passed by an angel. She was near a cross. In the story Pilgrim's Progress, Graceless whose name changed to Christian, looked to the cross, and the strings holding his burden to his back snapped with extreme force and tumbled down into an open tomb. This symbolizes what Christ did for us on the cross and how our burdens disappeared after the tomb was opened on the third day. Throughout the rest of our journey, we face trials and people telling us they had a better way or people telling us to turn back.
We made it to a palace where we could rest. We sang some worship songs and I had my sweet campers surrounding me. I'm not gonna finish the Pilgrim's Progress story this week. I'm gonna learn some more about it before I do. But, that night was an awesome last night with my sweet girls. While I was in the shower, they took some funny videos on my camera. There was much laughter and enjoyment this week. A lot of them told me this was there favorite week ever. I had pretty goofy, awesome, sweet girls this week.
Saturday, we had the closing ceremony and I got to sing on stage with all the campers. Here's a laugh though, one of the strings on the guitar was friend was playing to accompany us broke in the middle of the first song! He did a great job playing with a popped string in front of all the parents, I must say.
Alas, I had to say goodbye to all my campers which put an end to Overnight 1, but Dori and I will be back next week to have more fun with new campers. (Sorry, I can't post any pictures of my campers. Don't want to get in any trouble. But I'll do my best getting other kinds of pictures.)
Here's a typical moment we have. This is Dori.
 |
| I was being serious. |
 |
| Really serious. |
 |
| But it was funny. :) |
Talk to you next week!
Anchors aweigh
Emily Anne
