time to blog
Well since the last time I blogged I have been at camp for a week (a somewhat boring week because we had a rental camp and then a small Wheeler camp). The next week began with a pool party at the Nelson home (Cal Nelson is the guy who hired me and I work with two of his sons, Adam and Jared). At the pool party we also had a team golf competition. The prize was a $10.00 chiles gift certificate. My team began the day with three people who had never played (me being one of them) more than putt putt and we ended by winning by 4 strokes. The rest of the week was spent at the community center in Indianapolis. It was a neat experience. We lived on the seventh floor in the dorms there. During the day we helped out with various activities at the mission. The guys and Karyn ran a basketball camp and the girls helped pick up kids for the camp and then helped with various other activities. Two of the days I went on home visits with a couple field workers. This meant three or four of us piled into a van and visited children who have been involved in club at the center. It was neat to see the environments that the kids with whom I have been working all summer come from. It was also difficult! I saw the shows that were watched in front of these children. Shows that I would never consider watching myself and children as young as 1 were in the room seeing them. I saw alcohol being used excessively. I even saw some drug use. This really made me think about the words of an 80 year old volunteer at camp. I was talking to this lady one day and she said "with the problems these people have in their lives it is a wonder that they are doing as well as they are. I would go and jump off a bridge if I had half the problems." That is so true! I cannot imagine growing up in that home life and experiencing those things and surviving it. Many wonder why so many kids coming from these environments begin a life of crime. Today I wonder why these kids don't begin sooner. I also wonder that we can be shocked by it. We admit that man is totally depraved. This totally depraved child begins life by seeing drug use and violence. What else can we expect but that this totally depraved child will have no respect for the law and begin a life of crime. Finally I am shocked that any of these kids come to faith in Christ and learn to lean on him. I know some kids who come from the worst of these homes who today are living their lives for Christ! What grace God shows man. To think that these people who are my friends could have followed the examples their parents set for them and begin a life of crime makes me realize that God has been gracious in my life. Well enough reflection on that.... One afternoon I was able to go putt putting with a group of pre schoolers....that was so much fun... if you have never seen little kids try to hit a golf ball you really need to have that experience. Well that week finally came to an end and it impressed on me more of a desire to spend my life working in the inner city. I got home about ten on Friday night. We had to leave my house around 6 on Saturday morning in order to be on time for my two o'clock meeting at Calvin for counselors. Calvin was good. I enjoyed seeing people I hadn't seen in awhile. Ted Donnelly's messages were challenging. I also had a wonderful time hanging out with the Jr. Highers (I was a jr high counselor) That is such a neat age and I loved it. Well that brings us up to the presant. Tomorrow I will head back to camp for my last week there... I cannot believe that summer is almost over and I will never be able to work at camp Hunt again (the Camp is changing to a Chemical addiction recovery program for men) Oh well we will have a good week and then we will go our seperate ways. I think many of us our planning on working at the community Center next year so we will see each other just in a different capacity. After camp ends I have a week before I have to head back to school.... I am excited about that I have missed my school friends this summer and am ready to see them again.... Well I will go now
Oh and just a message to all who do ratings of people's blogs.... My blog was never meant to be updated reguarly....I don't have time... However when I do update I will give you a good over view of what has been happening in my life and careful consideration of the world...and this summer (as I have stated many times) I have access to computers seldomly.... have a nice day
wow!
What a week! This week we had the 10-12 year old boys at camp and it was a week packed full of stuff. the staff had responsibilities from 7:30 in the morning till 10 or 11 at night! It was also quite a wild group. 4 boys were sent home for misbehavior and many others had to miss activities and help with chores around camp. The way the camp was run was also very different. In the mornings we went into Bloomington for a Sports Challenge VBS program at a church there and then we would come back for lunch and spend our afternoon doing rotations at camp. After dinner the counselors all had a meeting together and the rest of the staff played with the kids. then we would have chapel and snack and they would head to bed. Nothing really happened on Tuesday it was a smooth day. On Wednesday the VBS did not meet but the church put a program on for us where the kids learned to box and then got to box against the state boxing champion who goes to church there. That evening during game time the "fun" began. We had a 3 on 3 basketball tournament going on. You would think this game was the biggest deal in the world. The kids were getting so angry at everything. Our ISS had to hold a kid down on the ground to keep him from hitting someone. Then while that was going on another team lost and one of the kids got very angry. He and another kid started walking away from the playground area where they all were supposed to stay so I followed him and asked him to come back. He shrugged me off so I just kept walking with him and he just yelled about how he wanted to be alone. I told him he could be alone he just had to come back to the playground. Well we walked by the maintanance guys cabin and Justin one of our maintenence guys was there and he came out and helped me and the kid was furious with him but Justin brought the kid back to the playground. The next day I was sitting in VBS and these two kids were play fighting a little but I told them to stop because these kids cannot play fight without gettin into a real fight usually. Well they didn't listen and all of a sudden it was a real fight and I and a couple other staff people got in the middle and broke it up. THose two sat out of the activities that moring. Well that day we were in the water camp so we had water baloons and a couple round 3 foot deep pools and a slip n slide. Well Thursday was not a very warm day and in the morning it was freezing. I was not planning on getting wet but I was there to help out. Anyway I was standing there and I see Adam and Travis talking and I realize they are going to throw me in the pool. So I sit down hoping they won't do it because I am already cold. Well they keep coming so I start yelling that I have tennis shoes on so they pull those off and one grabs my arms and one grabs my legs and they throw me in the pool. It was really funny but I was really cold the rest of the morning. The rest of Thursday went well. There was a problem all day with one camper and Travis was able to talk to him Thursday night and the camper asked about how he could recieve Christ and the camper did accept Christ Thursday night. This was a camper who everyone remembered from last year because of the problems he caused and he was sent home so it was exciting. Friday at VBS we had some fun. WE had ice cream sundaes for snack and I was sitting there talking to a kid when someone all of a sudden starts rubbing whipped cream all over my face. I turn around and of course it was Adam so I chase him a little and wipe the whipped cream all over his shirt. Then I go and wash my face in the bathroom. I go back outside and go over to talk with Adam and Travis. Travis picks up a bowl of ice cream to eat so I grab it from Travis and pretend to smear it in Adam's face and then hand it back to Travis where Travis then takes the ice cream and smears it in my face. It was really funny so I go wash my face again.
Well God also worked in some unique ways at this camp. At VBS there was a chance everyday for children to pray the sinners prayer and then raise their hand to indicate they did. Many of our campers raised their hands several times throughout the week. As the counselors watched this they knew it was a problem and were able to talk to these boys in depth about what it means to be saved and eternal security and things like that. It was very beneficial. All in all the week was a good week. my stories about the boys fighting probably made it sound like these were horid kids but many of them were wonderful, had wonderful attitudes (most of the time) and really made camp enjoyable. It was probably my favorite week yet this summer!
What a month!
Well I haven't posted in a long time because I have been at camp. I have been very busy! but I have also had lots of fun! Working at camp is one of the best things to do with your summer. I work with 13 other people and we have all become very close. One of the things we have had most fun with is creating pranks for the other sex. It all started when Adam threw me in the lake with my jeans and sandels on. Since then we have created posters to tease him with. We also got our boss and the camp secretary to help us write a note that said he was not going to be allowed to go on a staff trip to Holliday World because he had broken rules... it was really funny! He didn't really believe it for very long but he said it was the most creative prank ever pulled at camp... so I appreciated that! We have had 4 camps for kids and 3 family camps. The kids camps come in on Monday and leave on Thursday usually then the family camp comes in on Friday and leaves Sunday morning. Sunday nights we usually have a time of prayer and orientation with the staff and volunteers for the next week of camp so we haven't had a lot of time off. God has really blessed the camp with several children accepting Christ into their lives at each camp. The camp this past week (10-12 year old girls) was amazing! The last night many of the girls asked Christ into their hearts! It was amazing. The staff is now praying that these girls will truly live differently as a result of this decision. I could tell stories about camp for the next two hours but I won't bore all of you with it. It truly has been an amazingly fun time and I am grateful for the way God has been at work in my life, the lives of my fellow staff members and the life of the campers that we desire to influence!
