God has a plan? Who knew?

Camp has happened yet again in my life and it never ceases to amaze me that I always learn something from it. I love that I continually learn from this experience, which makes me always go back, with the added benefit of the friends I've made and the kids I get to work with. Simply put: I LOVE CAMP!

With that said, I would be a liar if I didn't admit that, at times, camp is hard. This year was especially hard because we were not at our usual site, Colby. We had to learn to share - which was EXTREMELY difficult, & not as successful as I would have hoped. It was frustrating having to deal with the elementary staff & kids, but we got through it nonetheless. There were more than a couple campers that I wanted to strangle at times because of the way they were acting, but now that I've had my chance to rest & look back, it was not a bad experience. I am so greatful that we even got to have camp this year that all of the frustrating stuff is easily overlooked. But that doesn't mean I can't still look forward to being back at Colby next year :-)

Here are a few things I learned this year:
Patience. I like to think that I'm a pretty patient person most of the time, but that doesn't mean that you can't learn to be even more patient. We had a lot of younger kids this year, 1 of which is OCD, 2 were known to have psychotic episodes (luckily they did not have any at camp), and 1 was autistic. 2 campers had attitude problems and were too cool for their own good which made it difficult to get them to participate in anything. I think individually they were all fine, but when put together, it made for a very trying week at times.

Acceptance. I was so taken back by the kids and their ability to accept everyone. When I saw the autistic kid at registration, I immediately thought that there was going to be problems, just based on past experiences with my sister. But I was sorely mistaken. A number of kids took him under their wing and made sure that he was included in everything. Not once did I see anybody get irritated when he wanted to be included in a game or activity. That warmed my heart in such a way that I can't express in words. I just wanted to hug each camper for being so accepting of someone with special needs.

Love. On more than one occassion, I got emotional. That hardly ever happens. Period. And it's not because I don't feel loved, but rather, at camp I feel so loved and safe that I can open up in ways that I never have before. It is where I feel God's presence the most, which makes me feel comfortable enough to be able to open up and let the emotions flow.

God has a plan. This is by far the most important lesson I learned at camp. Especially given everything that happened with UCSD. Sure, I heard it before but for some reason, it really sunk in at camp. Our theme for the week was "Amazing Race, Amazing Grace," and we talked a lot about receiving spiritual training in order to be able to leave it all in God's hands, which is easier said than done. I never thought of it that way until this week. And now that I see that, I am so greatful for it and will cherish it and use that training to the best of my abilities.

Things I am greatful for at camp:
A staff lounge. We were not able to really have a place for just our staff. Usually, we have one where the staff can go (not all at once obviously) to be able to vent their frustrations at camp. It was not so this year which lead to me building up a lot of frustration by the end of the week.

Colby. God, I miss that place. I didn't feel as spiritually renewed as I do when I get to go to Colby. But, hopefully next year we will be able to be there.

The staff. Without them, camp would not happen obviously. They are such an amazing support system when it comes to venting, getting ideas, and hugs. And while there are a couple of changes year after year, I still get to work with the best camp staff. I would trust my life to these amazing individuals and in a lot of ways, I have because they've helped me through the most difficult struggles with myself. I can't express enough how thankful I am for them and how I feel I've made life long friendships with them. This is probably the best part of my camp experience.

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. And that, in a nutshell, was my week at camp :-)