Day 13- may 31st
Today was the first day of running a camp schedule, which means we have to start getting up at 6 every day and we have meetings until 10:30pm today. It was a long, but good day. We went to a local observatory today, which was quite a treat. French camp, ms is the least light polluted place in the midsouth, so, there is a large federal grant for observatory equipment. There were two profesors there who are world renound for their work in astronomy. They went and explained how big space it and everything. It was extremely humbling to realize that I live in one of the smallest planets and there are millions that we don’t know about out there. A God created this and still has enough love to care for me as a person and wants to have a personal relationship with me. It is humbling to realize how small I am.
Day 14 june 1st.
Today was a day where I could barely wake up, even though it is Sunday, there is still a full day planned. We got 2 hours off today since it in Sunday, but still, it isn’t a restful sabath. There was no manual labor done, rather just meetings and paper work. There is some grumbling in the guys unit about some volunteers that have been working here. Mostly just one guys has been causing some issues with the volunteers. Hopefully it will pass over, but I doubt it will. I will see where it goes before I talk to anyone about it. Today my struggle is keeping a good attitude inspite of my lack of sleep. I have been put in a leadership position, since I have the most cabin experience in the guys unit this year. It is a year with a lot of new staff. Realizing that even though I may feel like crap, I need to keep my attitude very positive because people are looking up to me.
Day 15 june 2nd
I didn’t get to bed until late tonight. I was walking around the campus of CRS before I went to bed praying over the campus and over the buildings. As I was walking another guy was walking and we started talking. We talked for upwards of three hours. Mostly he talked and I listened, but I had been praying for God to show the needs of the people around me and for me to be able to meet their needs. Which was interesting, since as I was praying that this conversation was struck up. This was a guy I have known for 4 years and never seen him break down, since he is very much so an introvert, but he broke down and was trying to get to his cabin unnoticed so he wouldn’t break down infront of people. One of the most common things that happens at camp is that people see their sin in a new light than they did before and they actually see their sin. People act like mirrors and when you are in a place where everyone is reflecting Christ, it is a convicting environment.
Day 16 june 2
I have been sleeping in meetings recently, not intentionally, but sleeping nonetheless. It has been a struggle to stay awake due to the massive amount of material being covered. However, despite my tiredness, it was an exciting day. The guy I am paired with is a great guy and I have known of him for awhile, but never actually gotten to know him until now. He has been dating one of my close friends for awhile, which is how I know him. We went on the staff campout where we will take out campers every Monday and it had been raining for a while, so, we cheated on building the fire and used paper towels to start it, since neither of us felt like starting it with just twigs in the rain. Both of us have done it before and are capable to starting a fire in the rain, but neither of us felt enough enthusasism for the outdoors to do that.
The more I get to know matt, the more I like him, but also the more I worry for him. He changed his life in a lot of ways and grew closer to Christ because of his changes. What he based the reason for changing his life on is a temporary thing, a girl. I worry that if his relationship ends he will go back to what he was doing. Since he still struggles with addictions, even though he hasn’t been on anything for a year.
Day 17 june 3rd.
Today was the second to last passion play practice. It is probably the night where campers are the most open to hearing the gospel, since all week we have been trying to demonstrate the gospel to them and show it to them in practice, but this is the clearest presentation of the gospel. While we were practicing it, almost all of our hearts were not in the play and we were, all of us as a staff, joking during it. After one run through, one staff member started praying and a few of us felt guilty for treating this so lightly and started asking other staff members to take it more seriously. After this, one long time member sat everyone down and basically told us we have no excuse for acting so jokingly during this. After she talked to us everyone took is seriously and I have never felt so low during the passion play. The story of my savior was something I was taking lightly. Strangely enough, in all this, I play the Sanhedrin who arranged for Christ death.
Day 18 june 4th
Today my alarm went off for 10 minutes before I woke up. I am getting sick, I am exuasted, and campers aren’t even here. In the past few days several staff members, who are older than I am, have been coming to me asking me for advice, but also confiding in me with their personal lives and also in their concerns and issues for camp. The problem with a staff member and the volunteers is still going on. After talking to my unit director and another staff member talking to the unit director the issue was addressed and it seems to have mostly been resovled.
Today I trained several people in how to sail and in how to teach camp skills, and several other activities. Today is the last full day of training. I have an appointment to talk to the director about issues in the guys unit on Saturday. I have a lot of respect for the director and am looking forward to talking to her.
To end the last full day of training, all the guys went for a midnight swim and we sang cheesy 90’s pop songs on the floating dock to the girls unit. It is one of the many strange bonding times that have been a crs tradition for years.
Day 19 june 5th
Today we have half the day off and half of Sunday off. I spent the entire day sleeping and then I woke up for supper, ran to walmart and around 9:30 met with the director. There have been some issues in years past with the guys unit when there either isn’t a UD who builds solid relationships with the unit or there isn’t time to build solid relationships. The authority card really doesn’t work well at camp, since every staff member is so desperately needed, it is rare and difficult to fire someone. I talked to carrie about the schedule and how there needs to be more down time for the sake of building relationships with staff from the prospective of the leadership staff. She agreed and asked how I was doing and how I was handling the year and my thoughts on the rest of camp and such. I have a lot of respect for the directors openness and her love for camp.
Day 20 june 6th.
Campers are coming in two hours… I dunno if I am ready for that yet. I have 12-13 year olds, the oldest group of kids on CRS campus. Pray Christ works through me and I loose myself in all this.