Saturday, June 6, 2009

Suitcases

First of all...Happy 21st Birthday to David Freakin Bosma!

After spending three weeks at my sister's in New York, I made my way down to a small town in northeast Pennsylvania called Waymart. This would be home for the next three months. This had been my home for the past two summers.

Life at camp is generally filled with children laughing, screaming, and jumping in the pool. Then we have the counselors who are at their wits end trying to figure out what to do with ten inner city kids that won't listen to them and can't understand their "funny" accents. The program staff work hard figuring out how to teach kids about the Bible, how to boat, how to climb ropes, how to build a campfire, and how to swim. After long days, it doesn't take long to fall asleep once the head touches the pillow.

What people don't see are the things that go on before camp even starts. Before all of the staff get there. The hard work that happens in order to have camp happen. I, fortunately, get to see that. I join in with about eleven other people as we clean, cook, scrub, laugh, cry, drive the mule, huge van, and live under the same roof. Needless to say, it gets pretty intense.

The others who have been here for three weeks say that I'm crazy for not sleeping in and doing nothing (as I'm not getting paid to work), but I say, "You'd be foolish to want me to do that. You'd have more work to do." So, I join in.

I've been doing a lot of learning about different personality types and how they work and don't work well with each other. It truly has been a blessing to be a part of this team of workers as we get ready for the rest of the staff to come. I've been fortunate enough to have talks with a few of them.

I'm finding it difficult to have the desire to be around people and have to "try" with relationships, but I'm trying to ease my way into it before the rest of the staff get here this coming week. Because people don't understand what my mind and heart are going through, I feel as though I am misunderstood and I'm not sure how to talk about what I'm feeling.

Be blessed and be a blessing.