i work with the junior high kids (7&8 graders) and if i thought it was going to be like last year, i couldn't be more wrong. we had kids with the worst attitudes imaginable. a 7th grader who refused to tie her own shoes laces. kids who won't stop asking what we were doing next, complaining about how they didn't want to do it. kids who wont sleep at night or during FOB (afternoon nap time) and then complain they're tired when it's time for activities. kids who in every possible way made all the counselors job so difficult we wish we could quit.
i was very frustrated and could not stop asking God, why? i was already struggling just being out at camp, when all i can think about is the DR and how much i wish i could be back there. i disliked being with the kids because i didnt know what to do with them. every time we had bible study or when we were suppose to talk about God, they would drift off so far and couldn't care less when we tried to bring them back. eventually, we just gave up. the goal became to just make it to the end of the week.
but in my most difficult and frustrated moments, i remembered this one thing we were challenged to do from training week. we painted rocks, where we put what we wanted God to help us with this summer, and every Sunday, we would gather and pray as we start another week. Justin, who did the exercise with us, gave us this challenge. to "Get Up and Get Down". basically what it is, is that every morning, when we got up, we would get down on our knees and pray for our kids, pray for camp. because we all as counselors made a pact to stick to it, no matter how hard it was, everyday, i made myself get up and get down. and that got me through the week.
Week 2 comes along, and we had the most awesome group of kids.we had a whole ton of fun, and the kids were so into everything it was just amazing. then halfway through the week, i started asking God, "what are we teaching these kids?"sure we're having a good time, doing all this fun activities. but if they don't learn anything about God, then it's pointless.
"Get up and Get down" this week also came a lot easier. and because we had a smaller week with fewer kids, i got a chance to pray for them individually. i really enjoyed it, and i started to put in effort to look for something that they might need prayer for. it felt like as we went from day to day, i could just see them growing and it made me excited.
at the end of each we of camp, the campers fill out evaluations and the counselors and camp gets ratings and what not. we also get to see what the kids wrote on their evaluations. as i read one evaluation after another with my other counselor, both of us started to cry just because the kids wrote that they learned more about God, or they want to change their lives and live more for God, or they were afraid to pray and now they're not, or that we've shown them to love God more.
the entire time that we had all been wondering if we were even making any impact at all in their lives, God was using us to change their lives. it is also awesome to see all of them put that they want to come back to camp next year.
but this challenge to "get up and get down" is something that all the counselors out at camp have decided, we're going to make it stay. it's got us through our hardest weeks, and even on super good weeks, it's helped us to love the kids more. anyone can try it. it's not always easy, but its definitely life changing.
