Camp Lakeside Week 4

What an AMAZING week at camp this was!! We had 52 kids signed up at the beginning of the week--an all-time record for Camp Lakeside. Six kids decided in the beginning of the week that they were bored and they wanted to go home. I hated to see them go, but I also hated their attitudes towards the experience they were getting, so we said good riddance to them and had an AWESOME God-filled week! We had ELEVEN children come to know Christ! ELEVEN!!!! That's an AMAZING number!! What an AMAZING GOD we serve!!! Here are some things that happened this week:

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Me and my very very good friend and coworker stayed in Wildwood cabin, along with 13 of the sweetest girls EVER!! It was so awesome to see and hear how God was present in each of these girls' lives. They were so sweet. And they ALL had something to say--every moment that I was around. I told them at one point that my name wasn't "Ms. Red" anymore, and that they had to guess my new name before I would listed to them. It was interesting hearing the things they made up for me!! The picture above was taken at 11:30 on the last night of camp. We told the girls that if they cleaned up, we had a surprise for them, so they cleaned and we had a DANCE PARTY!!! YMCA!!!!!

The next day, the last day of camp, we had some extra time in our cabins before swim time. We were all hanging out, talking and telling funny stories. Somehow the radio just happened to turn on thanks to one of the little girls and we had yet another dance party. It was so much fun to watch the girls go crazy over songs like YMCA and Wild Thing and Mony Mony. I was tired, so I was chilling on my bed, and I had a few of the girls rubbing my back and talking to me and stuff. Well the next thing I know, those girls who had been so sweet to rub my back, are pushing me on the FLOOR. I hit the ground, and I hear "get her! Get her!" I'm thinking to myself, "Oh dear. This is going to end badly" I look up, and they've all got SHAVING CREAM in their hands, running after Emily, who has been so busy dancing that she had NO IDEA what is about to hit her. Poor thing got creamed--bad. But it was SOOO funny!!!

Also on the last day, it rained like crazy! The sky was lighting up with lightning, so it cut into the kids' swim time. But I don't think it bothered them. We played and danced in the rain like nothing had ever happened. The lightning died down, but the kids were having so much playing in the rain. So the counselors snuck into the gated pool area, locked the door, and waited for the kids to notice. It was so funny watching them bang on gates and scream "We want in!!" hahahaha!! Of course, being the good guy counselors that they are, I got pushed in the pool, fully clothed. It was soo much fun. Oh, and yes, we did finally let the kids in to swim, but not until I got those silly boys back!!!

The talent show was amazing this week. We had 15 kids sign up to do all sorts of talents. There was singing, flexibility demonstrations, piano playing, dancing, and bouncing balls 100 times. It was so nice. At the end of every talent show Mr. Blake, the worship leader, surprises the kids with "Great Balls of Fire" and everyone gets up and dances and it's just a GREAT way to end the week. Then we announce the winners (everyone is a winner at Camp Lakeside!). This week, in the middle of Great Balls of Fire, we were very rudely interrupted. About 10 seconds before the song ended and about 3 minutes before the end of the talent show, everything went silent. Our guest preacher for the week had unplugged our AMP and then proceeded to yell at Blake (in front of parents, kids, and counselors) about how we should all be ashamed of bringing that music into the church (this was a talent show, not a worship service) and we should be ashamed to call ourselves Christians because we listened to that music (heaven forbid he finds out what we were listening to at the dance party!). OH AND he mentioned that we shouldn't bring the world into the church (being a preacher, shouldn't that be your desire? Isn't that how the world gets saved, by bringing them into the church?) ANYWAY, the night ended on a really sour note, and the parents, hearing and seeing the tension between the counselors and what-not, decided to leave. There were no rewards given, there was no "Goodnight, we had a great week" speech. It just ended sourly.

BUT I won't say that that little episode spoiled the whole week. It was an AMAZING week at camp. I can't wait for next week (day camp!). Although it makes me very sad to think that camp is almost over. I'm desperately going to miss the place--and the PEOPLE! Holy moly! God really knew what He was doing when He put us counselors together. I've made some AMAZING friends these past few weeks! (NOTE: I found out this past week that Emily and I will be in the same dorm building this next fall!!! I'm sooo excited about that!!)