Too Much Fun to Take Pictures

It was a wonderful and crazy weekend. We were told earlier this week that we would have two groups here on Friday and Saturday: a mens' retreat from an Omaha church that would take up the cabins, and then a junior high retreat from another Omaha church that would take up both of the lodges. We spent much of this week getting prepared for them.

We didn't have any activities on Friday, but it was more like an extended work day. We had to build some campfires in the evening so we didn't officially get done with work until around 10, although we DID have plenty of goofing-off times before that. So after we got off of work late, we got to get up super-early the next day so that we could enjoy a big breakfast from Paula and still have time to get to our 8:30 activities. (Most days I don't even get UP until 8:30! But you really can't judge me if you live on the west coast, because that's like 6:30 for you!) My morning shift was low ropes with Christina, who is a part-time intern here. We had two of the junior high groups rotate through, and I learned how to facilitate one of the courses that I didn't know how to do. (With low ropes, you can pretty much make up what you want them to do as long as you have a basic idea, but the problem is getting the campers excited about it so that they don't complain too much or give up.) After that we had some free time before lunch.

I ate about five cookies at lunch, by the way. Apparently, when you don't have an oven (or ingredients, for that matter), you really start to crave baked goods.

After lunch I worked the zip line. I had helped with the zip line last week, but this week I was in charge of the sending end. I did have 16-year-old Kirk to help me though, and I was often able to delegate tasks that the campers could do to help me since they get to ride for about 30 seconds and then just wait around for the rest of their group. I had to make sure people were helmeted and harnessed correctly and tightly, attach two straps plus the safety rope to their harness, make sure someone lassoed the zip line cable and lowered it enough so that I could attach a carriage, hook the two straps to the carriage, then carry the zipliner back as far as I could and finally push them across the ravine. It's quite a bit of procedure, and since I hadn't done it before, I was a little nervous that I'd occaisionally skip a step or do something incorrectly, but I was told by several people (campers and staff) that I was doing it well. Apparently I was doing it quickly too, because in the first two groups everyone who wanted to go twice were able to, and there was leftover time at the end of the third group. I don't really credit that to myself, because all I was doing was making sure people were getting their safety equipment on and then pushing them down the zip line as soon as they were in gear. At the end of the day, we had some time before dinner, so Kirk, Owen and I went on the zip line ourselves. It was my first time going on this zip line, and the first one I've been on in several years, so it was quite the experience! I found out this weekend that low ropes and the zip line are two of the least favorite activities to lead, but I actually like doing these activities, so I have a feeling that I might get stuck with them a lot. I mean, with the zip line, unlike climbing wall and high ropes, you don't have to harness yourself, it's definitely not time-consuming, and you don't have to deal with campers freezing up or being too scared halfway through. (On the zip line, as I would hook the harnesses to the carriage, some of the campers would admit that they were scared, but all I had to do was say "You'll be fine; it's fun" and then push them before they could get any second thoughts. The ones who were the most scared always wanted to do it a second time.)

Dinner yesterday was great: Pasta! I'm excited to enjoy the leftovers tonight and the rest of the week. After dinner, I helped clean up the dining hall, and that was the end of my work. Paula's girls were hanging out at camp while Paula was finishing up in the kitchen, and the Solmens were helping Paula out, so their kids were there also. I decided to play some games with the kids. It started out with me and the boys playing some Eastern US-style game with a football, but then we interrupted the girls from the board game that they were playing so that we could do something fun outside now that the sun was coming down. We started out with tag, but that got old quick. Someone suggested hide-and-seek, but since my least favorite part about hide-and-seek is being stuck alone for a long time (and also the possibility of losing people), I suggested couples' hide-and-seek. So we paired off and had a crazy fun time playing that in the dark next to the woods.

This morning, no one else was at camp. Seriously, how do I end up alone almost every weekend? Do my coworkers seriously have things to do every single weekend? Anyway, I was alone so Adam picked me up to take me to church. On the way,
*PAUSE*
I was about to continue that sentence with something serious and spiritual and stuff, but first I just have to tell you about something else on the way: We saw the Mystery Machine. It was pretty cool; this van passed by us and it was painted just like the one that Fred and Shaggy drive. That hasn't been the only awesome van I've seen in Fremont. A few weeks ago, Erin and I saw what was originally a 15-passenger van, only it looked like someone sawed it in half so now it had a pickup bed. It's vans like these that make me miss driving, although I feel extremely blessed that I will never have to get lost alone or drive a long distance for the duration of this internship. But, hey, other people live just fine without cars. On the way home, I saw someone riding a horse in the middle of the city of Elkhorn! Now back to my regularly scheduled blogging, continuing from "On the way,"
Adam mentioned how he noticed that I really opened up and was in my element with the kids the day before. We talked a little about how my future could involve working with kids, including the near future which could mean staying for summer camp, what ages of kids were the best, and stuff like that. Then he told me that, because Kristjun has a passion for music, Adam suggested that he join the church worship team, and likewise, because I obviously had a passion for working with kids, that I should get involved as an occasional volunteer in the children's ministry at church. Before this conversation, I thought I was getting as much of a "church kid fix" as I was allowed to have by working with the junior high girls on Wednesdays, but it would be cool to get involved with younger kids as well. Last week my mom also suggested that I find a family at church that I could just voluntarily babysit for to occupy my Sunday afternoons that would otherwise be spent at home and alone, so I was keeping my eyes open for a potential family at church today (which, by the way, was an excellent sermon as usual, and you can hear what I hear by going to http://www.relevantcommunity.org/messagepodcast.aspx).

After church, Adam and Sarah switched cars so that Adam could take their kids home and Sarah and I could go to a meeting at Jimmy John's for the student ministry leaders. All of us interns were supposed to go, but since the other two apparently had plans, it was kind of awkward as we went around to each person describing their group and then it got to me and I was kind of like "well, I don't have my own group, but...". I did get a lot of good information from the meeting, though. I learned more about the backgrounds of some of the kids and got some tips for how to effectively lead and run a student ministry. I am kind of in charge of making sure the girls' groups run smoothly and, starting in October, I'm opening and leading the icebreaking games. (Actually, I have to start this in the second week in October, because during the first week of October, I'll be at a conference in Colorado!) I also now have the opportunity to help plan a service project that the entire student group can get involved in this winter. Also, Sarah mentioned some things at the meeting about good things I was doing at the Wednesday night meetings, like getting the girls to think, get involved, and get to know each other better through the apparently addicting game of ten fingers, which the younger girls like to play almost every week. It's good to know that at least I'm doing something right. Oh yeah, and I'm super-excited for this Wednesday. Since it's the last week of the month, that means it's our "Reach" event, where all the students get together for a fun outreach-style activity. This month, we're going to watch To Save a Life outdoors with popcorn and soda, plus pool and Guitar Hero to play.

That pretty much sums up my weekend. Next weekend we will be hosting our "Heart of a Warrior" Father-Son retreat, but between now and then, I don't know what all we'll do (besides a lot of cleaning I'm sure!). So, for those of you who read my blog (and besides my mom, I'm not really sure if I have any readers), what did you do this weekend? Any plans for next weekend? If you don't have any plans, I do have one suggestion: go and watch Courageous! I was so excited to see a prescreening of Courageous, interview two of the actresses, and write articles about it for several publications, so it is a tiny bit of a letdown that I will be extremely busy on opening day, but I hope that all of you can live my dream for me and go and see this amazing movie!