Jr Hi #2

What a week...full of fun and smiles and excitement and sickness? Yes it is true, this week consisted of (throughout the whole camp not just my cabin) 2 broken legs, a few sprains, and a million feavers and colds. Though having sick kids is not something that anyone enjoys, its nice to have one person off your hands for a few hours. I only had one girl with a temp, though I had many with scrapes and cuts and such. I also was quite sick for a couple days yet was only able to get a couple hours extra sleep at that time.

Ok so enough with the sucky stuff...this week of girls was a blessing. They had no problems, not many annoying questions, not many complaints, and very good when it came to listening......most of the time. The past weeks before this one were filled with girls who would not listen to a word I said...which was extremely hard. Thankfully God gave me a break from that. These girls were also quite mature and enjoyed doing stuff on their own. though they were flirty and jonas brothers crazy, I was still able to take them away from temptation. And the games.....thy actually liked playing them! I was very excited.

I was filled with exhaustion though as I worked through trying to break the ice and get my words into these girls hearts and get them to respond. They really were not to interested in the learning aspect of camp. It was quite frustrating as I have felt that I have not been able to pour into any of my girls much. I am struggling with the idea that I am not doing a good job as a sr counselor because I do not know how to speak words from God to these girls that I have been given. Its a huge burden and is causing me a lot of pain at the moment. Yet I ask for prayer, I do not feel the support that I am needing to fight this. It sucks. I feel as though its time for me to have someone else with me again in order to fully pour into these campers. I once again am alone. Though I love being alone, I dont feel as though I have much to offer these girls spiritually or physically. I can only keep on praying that God will show me why I am here. It's been hard.

I hope that next week will go even better than this week did, yet I do not know if that will happen. Only God knows. As for me now...I must rest and gain the strength and energy for another week alone.

Jr's #1 and #2

Oh man.....where do I even begin. Well lets begin right now. I am sitting in the staff lounge trying to type with a pulled tendon arm hahahaha. that's only a small struggle of the week.

God has a sense of humor as he not only gave me one hard week alone, but two. Jr's are tough man! And not tough in the sense that they are brave but tough in the sence that they test your ability of EVERYTHING from biblical knowledge to physical strength. The idea of counseling jr's along was scary, actually doing it was even worse. Though I will say, it was a really good experience....that was just the first week.

The second week of jr's I had a co with me named allana. The week was easier in the sence that I had help, yet harder in the sence that I was quite sick and my co and I did not get along. We did not see eye to eye on many things at all, and the prospect of working together and having communication was very limited. Though both weeks the girls would cuddle up to me and to allana the second week, we were both exhausted by the end of it and ready for the jr hi's to come back. 

Though I could go on forever about how the 2 weeks were and what happened, I wont take up the whole blog. My skills as a sr counselor were tested by these jr's and I am sure that I failed emensly. Hahaha. but hey, thhats bound to happen once and a while. I did however get to help a girl on her journey with christ and giude her to recomitting. which for me was a first ad a great experience. I pray for many more experiences like that this summer...but for now, it's time to go wake my campers up.  

Jr Hi 1

Well. I know it has been a while, but I finally have a chance to update this.

This week was the first week of camp. Jr Hi 1. It was pretty sweet to be able to counsel this week alone. I had 9 beautiful girls who were a challenge for me. My week began with them not knowing much and not wanting to do much. They did not seem interested in the activities here but were more interested in spending the whole day in the cabin reading. It was quite frustrating on my part because no matter what I seemed to do, they did not seem happy.

The week continued on like this. Not wanting to anything for activities that was not at the water or was not the screamer in turn I was doing my best to tell them that they had to go to their activity. In q-town they would never stand while singing, never jump, and get distracted while sid was speaking. One of my girls turned to me and said "do we have to hear a lecture every day?" that was kind of harsh i found. My skills with disipline are minimal, but this had gotten to the point where I was struggling to know what to do next.

Other than one girl injuring herself multiple times I was also faced with a meltdown. It was filled with raige from a girl after she got hit in the eye with a branch because a boy called her a weiner and she was chasing him. Meenwhile I had a CIT in my cabin telling her testimony for the first time and I wasnt there to support her. I was unsure of what to do next. I decided to give up and call in Amanda. By the end of the week the girls, though they still would not listen nor were they enjoying the activities, seemed to finally be soaking what sid would say up thanks to a play the drama team did and a movie that sid showed. They saw that there was a point behind everything. That was really good to see.

It was a very long week filled with struggle. but I have come out od it feeling good about how it ended. Though the only games they liked were the night game and big blue, and the only period in the day they looked forward to was open activities, they seemed to have a lot of fun in the end and told me that they all had a great week.As for me, one week alone with jr hi's is tiring.....lets see what 1 week alone with jr's will do.

my updates on life will begin in a week once again. srry for the long delay

Not much to say still...sorry

Okok I will write this now, you get no exciting pict's this time. I havent really been taking to many which sucks, but I have not had opportunities or time. Umm..this week was pretty good. I am exhausted from maintenance (cant spell) which I think is a good sign haha. other than having a million guest groups around, the only exciting thing to report is that i managed to get through family retreat. that is one retreat that takes as much energy as possible. It seemed to go REALLY well this year which was sweet. Many families came and seemed to really enjoy the retreat and the food! Good job Laura. I was in the kitchen which kinda sucked for me because I really really wanted to get out there with the people and kids. Having skills in the kitchen has started to give me disadvantages now. Im hoping that through this God will help me grow in maturity. I really want to be with the kids, unfortuantely I have to wait.

We've had many people come in since the last time I poasted, a lot of now faces, but it was really good to see Dave Clark back for another summer. The camp is still lacking on some major people though. Getting prayer for boat drivers, a skate park leader, dishpit crew chiefs, and more male CIT's would be great! Speaking of the skate park...it looks AMAZING! it's kind of weird at camp and looks really different but is well done! When the weather clears up I'll take some pict's and post them.

Another good thing is........I have a house!!! Yes the basement suite that I was looking at I managed to get with the help of God and my parents. I am so excited to move out in sept. It will be a big step in my growth as an adult and in maturity. All I can say about this is...come and visit me in the fall!!!! I have a couple pict's of the place here. The kitchen, living room/front door, and me signing the papers.

Other than that not much is new. If I think of anything I'll post it, but um yeah. Keep camp in your prayers, know that God is doing great things here already, and have a great week. (I sound like scott bayley there haha)

First week of AC

Yes, yes, yes I know I am like overdue for this. But the first week of AC nothing really happened that would take up a whole blog. Anyways...Advanced crew has begun! Though im in for a great 2 months, it is hard being back. The first week was really hard on me emotionally for a number of reasons. Though I am slowly getting through it. Still frustrating, but it is ok. God is good, and the devil is not. (dont ask) Umm this past week I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen as well as on maintenance which has been good. I find that being on maintenance gives me a better chance to connect with people for our hours are all the same and we are able to socialize while cleaning and such.

There are still many people to get to know. But that's ok. Im making the rounds. I managed to have a lot of fun one night with Doug, Phil, and Candice as we went out and did random things on a wed night. Here are a bunch of pict's from that. We had a lot of fun!I am in room 311 AGAIN. Yes this is the 3rd year in a row! (not gonna lie, kinda upset bout that) But it is ok cause I have sweet roomies. Alice, Sheri, Candice, and Alivia is supposed to be in there when she comes. That could change though. It's cool to be with different people that I havent really lived with before, it gives me a chance to get to know all different personalities in a closer way I guess I am trying to say. One night meesh came to visit our room, and she, sheri, and myself had a photoshoot. It was random, yet fun. Here's the one that turned out the best.This week nothing exciting is happening....other than work. I plan on working hard to become closer to the people here for I've kind of been hidden for a number of reasons. Pray that I can put myself out there. Life right now is hard as I try and climb out of a hole I fell into, but it goes on...Im still really deep in the hole, but I am slowly climbing out. Have a good weekend!

Another part of my 16 month journey is about to begin

Well guys...kaleo is over. So what is next? CAMP QWANOES!!!

Yes the summer is upon us, but before the fun and games begin, the work must take place first. Advanced crew is the first step. I had a decision to make of rather I wanted to begin advanced crew right from the start, or take some more time off and come later. I decided to begin right from the start due to having nothing to do inbetween. My friends are all away on trips and I cant get a job for 10 days, so there was really no point in staying longer. Inbetween those 10 days I did go to regina to visit my friend and my 3 year old nephew. Right now he is leaning on me trying to read a book. Haha Here are a few pict's of the trip.

I couldnt figure out how to deleat a pict off of here, so you get 2 of brayden touching the ball thingy. I think the second one is better.

It's been kind of nice to be out of the camp bubble for a while, but definately a challenge to see the world and hear swear words again and such. Though it was nice to be able to sit back, watch movies, and hang out with my friends in regina for a while without having to worry about anything. The impact the world can have on you is quite hard and can suck you in to things so easily. I found myself getting tempted by extended amounts of alcohol and money. Though its been good to be away from alcohol and to push myself to avoid it, I still find myself wanting it at times. That's something I still have to work on.

Umm..this week I did something that for me was challenging. I finally admitted to Jon that I like him. We talked about it and found some common ground. He seems to be open to the idea of God changing his heart for me if that is God s will which is good. As for me, I will keep on praying for God to show me the meaning of why I like him so much. Kinda random I know, but it was good! I have never talked to anyone about a relationship before.

This week...umm...On monday I go back home and pack all night and all day tuesday which is when I head back off to camp for Advanced Crew! I'm really excited for AC but also kind of scared of how awkward it might be what with not having my kaleo friends there. But Im sure God will prepare my heart for that. It's so soon! Im really excited for this summer and spring at camp. I have a lot going for me this time. As I hate to say and havent said for a long time but know that I should...Bring it On God! Haha now Im in for it.

Kristen and Aimee, here is the eating jello with a fork picture. Hahaha Just for you

The Journey is Over

Well...I did it! I managed to cross the finnish line at great speed but with a sad heart. Sad, because I new it was time to move on. Haha man, the tears that were shed on sunday could fill an ocean.

This past week started out kind of umm....icy. It began with a nice trip up to mount washington for our kaleo retreat. We went skiing on that monday (last day of the season) and less than half way through the day found out that Jordan had gotten pretty hurt. He's ok, he just has a concussion and a shredded up face a bit on his right side. Nothing broken and nothing that will not get fixed eventually. I finally gave up cause I was to grumpy to keep going. The next day was much better. It was sunny and beautiful with no one skiing on the mountain. we were given 3 hours for personal time, and we could go basicly anywhere. I decided to go up...up the mountain..in the snow...by myself. It was really encouraging.

On top of that, we had a bunch of dinners. We had one with the staff on thursday, one out as kaleo on friday, and of course the grad banquet on saturday. Other than that we just chilled, packed, had chapels and our last worship. It was quite painful saying goodbye to those times for I looked forward every week to those. I found it so hard to comprehend the fact that it was our last time ever having those amazing moments to sing and share with eachother.


On friday we had like an evening on the town which consisted of going to a resturant for dinner first. At that resturant Jordan left for a while then came back with a bunch of roses. He got all the guys to line up along the stairs holding one rose each. Meanwhile Jen was in the bathroom with Alivia. When she came put she walked up the stairs and collected each one of the roses. Walking up to jordan, he knelt on one knee, popped out a ring, and perposed right in front of us! Jen said yes, so we have another wedding comming up to go to which is sweet! After that we went to a coffee shop and then to the breakwater. There at the end was a bunch of paper bags with candles inside. On it spelling kaleo 6 and one with each of our names on it. It was so neat.Grad....where do I even begin with that? it was amazing. Lots of people and families to meet. The day was long, but started with ben getting baptized. Then began the group shots of kaleo 6 all dressed up. This is my best one. Everyone is looking except for jordana hahaha. Then we had the ceremony and I had the privilage of playing in the band which was sweet. Lech was our speaker, we saw the picture of the year, kylie and jordana were the valedictorians (cant spell) and Kylie one 2 awards (one shared with Jordana) and eric won the other. I was hoping that I had a chance at one of the awards, but unfortunately did not win anything. But that's ok. Then came the banquet. The food was great and the photos after were fun, but then our group got split up forever. Amelia was the first to leave which SUCKED but we new it was comming eventually.
That night I stayed up almost all night with a group of people, only getting an hours worth of sleep down in the lounge on a chair with like 8 others on couches and such. It was an amazing last night together as we all just sat and talked and played games and laughed. But as morning came around, it was time to leave the room and say goodbye. As we all huddled around people to pray as they left one by one, the tears were unstoppable. Even for the men which brought me so much Joy. Seeing Jon cry, oh man he is stronger and more stubborn than the average rock wall. He broke down! Him and Ben watching them weap as they said goodbye to those they loved more than anything brought me joy as well as broke my hears. I managed to get home safely driving myself, though my eyes are sticky from crying so much. Im excited for what is ahead, yes so upset to leave what is now behind. Time to see what's next.As Kaleo is over and a new chapter has begun, the memories still live on. That first day will be forever stuck in my brain, and the people that God gave me are ones who have helped change my life and who are some of my closest friends in the world. All that's left is to remember to pray for them. Thank you everyone for your support through this year. Remember that my blog will keep on going through the next 4 months as I go through a summer. As kaleo would say "Not Goodbye, just see you later." As for now, Kaleo is over.

The Time Has Come

Well guys...It's been a short yet amazing 8 months, but the time to say goodbye has come. Though my heart achs as I pack up my room, and try and process the thought that I will never be in a room with these 26 other students all at the same time again, I try and remember what is ahead. This past friday my church group said goodbye to our youth. The kids and teens that we grew quite close to. The girls who were more than hyper, and the boys who could not stand to listen but you knew that the secretly were interested. It was a sad night but a good night. Here's a pict of our youth and us all together.Umm this week we went on our second surf trip, it was pretty sweet. I love surfing though I cant seem to stand up on my board. The first day sucked, but the second day though most people did not come back in, rocked. Here's a pict of our hardcore group of girls. We had more girls the second day than boys. It was pretty sweet, and the waves were better.

Umm...we also went kayaking. I dont really have any picts from that because my camera would of gotten drentched if I had taken it with me. But it was a lot of fun! I fell in multiple times...thank God for dry suits. Haha. Umm...what else did I do. We just had a sweet time bonding together and doing our last 2 papers and trying to get as much friend time in as possible. Ooh, and I decided to do a surprise party for Jordan's 26th Birthday. Haha, everything worked out perfectly as he went to bed at 11 (thanks to jens help) and ben woke him up and got him downstares at midnight! It was pretty sweet hahaha. Here are a few pict's from that. All in all it was a good week.
This week we are up at mount washington for our grad retreat, then we have a few dinners, and then grad is on saturday which is when we begin to say goodbye. I warn you, I will probs be a grump after that week. Im going to do my best to put up another blog post the week after grad, but I might be to busey crying and being upset haha. Anyways, prayer for this comming weekend would be great. It is going to be hard, it is going to be filled with tears, it is going to cause pain, but in the end it will be good. Prayer to have all of our hearts prepared for this day would be great, cause I know that it is going to SUCK. I don't feel ready, but deep down, I know I am.

Chester and the countdown

Less than 2 weeks until it's time to say goodbye. Well....where do I begin with this week? I don't really have much to say, but I will do my best. We had our last class this week. It was kind of a bittersweet thing, but it was good. It was christian worldview, and I had many people asking me "How did you like it?" umm........I couldnt really answer that. I think that I would of liked it if I had understood it. I found it extremely hard. I kind of got the basics, but not really. So that kind of sucked. But the prof was really good, I think I would take another class in that field if I could understand it better. Umm...oh we had a wonderful infestation. Not a huge one, but we had a case of lice go around. Praise Jesus I did not get it. My hair is SO hard to pick out. It was also deb's birthday this week, her parents did a few small things for her and surprised her with cupcakes and flowers that they got someone to make nad pick up. Here is a pict of our room on her birthday, and the prank that she played on the morning of her birthday at like 2 AM. Other than having class, we didn't do much. But I do have a story for the week...

...I made a new friend during the week. He was average size, had dirty hair, ate a lot, came to visit every morning, and was a great tree-climber. He was a raccoon. He came to norm's little cottage every morning around 8 and waited till me, or stevie, or ken fed the cats. He would hide somewhere until we left and then come out, scare away ginger, and start eating her catfood. I managed to catch him doing it one morning and scared him away. The next day he did it again, so I ordered the trap to be set. That night norm put a couple marshmallows in the trap and set it outside, and the next morning the marshmallows were gone, the raccoon was sticking it's head out from underneath the house, and the cats were up somewhere high. He had not set the trap. He was a smart one. So I decided to name him. I named him chester. Finally after tieing up the food in the trap we caught him. I felt really sorry for him, but sat with him for a bit in the morning as he hissed and groweled enough to scare me and make me back off a bit, and tryed to tell him that it was his fault. Later in the day I fed him a couple sausages for he had given up on trying to get out. I had been talking about him for days so people were finally able to come over and see him as he looked at us scared and unable to really do anything. Finally norm got a truck and took him away to an open forest so he would not bug us anymore. It was sad to see him go, but it was a fun experience. Haha. Here's a couple pict's of chester.

This weekend we had Jr's retreat. I was in the kitchen and was completely dead by the end of the weekend. It had been a long week previous to that. I did not get much time with the kids, but I was able to meet one girl. she had a pretty bad case of lice and I was helping pick through her hair. other than that I found myself working and not being able to really hang out with the kids.

Umm, this week we have a surf trip comming up, a white water kayacking (cant spell) trip comming up, and a paper due. It's really sad that the time has come to begin packing up for the next step on my 16 month journey, and scary to think that I have been here once again for almost exactly a year, but it is time to move on. It is time for God to take us all away and lead us around the world to serve him. Please pray that he will continue to prepare our hearts for departure day comming up in 14 days. It will be really hard, and im not excited, but it is time to move on. Other than that, not much is new. Life's going. Hope you guys are enjoying your week and I will tty later. Oh and as for this blog, I think I am going to keep it going for the summer. That way you can know how my weeks with a different cabin is going if you feel like it. Signing off for now.

To much to type!!!

Well…where on earth do I begin with this blog? I’ll start on the part of earth known as New York. Wow, what a trip. It was amazing! We went there really unexpectant of what we would be doing and ended up coming home knowing so much and seeing so much of what we had heard about. It was really good being able to experience that culture. No, no one got shot, and yes we did fine with getting on and off the subways. Haha. Umm ok. So we were working with Metro Ministries. We had 2 leaders showing us everything named kim and kim which Im sure everyone who reads this would know who they are. They were AMAZING! They made our trip what is was. If it wasnt for them, I donno what it would of been like, but it would of probably not of been very good. Throughout the trip the kind of work that we were doing were all odd jobs. Painting, filling, wrapping presents, sorting keys, serving at their staff retreat, a bunch of things like that. It was fun for sure, but our focus was all over the place. We also got a day of visitation. This gave all of us an opportunity to go out and see where the staff members go each week. See some of the kids, see their living conditions. It was a neat experience. Here’s a picture of me with some of the kids below. I loved watching the interns learn everything. Metro gets 40 interns over the course of 1 semester, and there are 2 semesters in the whole year. It made some of us think about becoming one. umm...we went to church and to a staff meetimg, we met pastor bill the founder of metro, we saw a sunday school demo, and just had a really great time getting to know the staff members and seeing some of the famous places in new york including ground zero and the trump towers. God blessed us with great weather the whole time we were in New York. Great for sightseeing. I have a whole journal of everything that we did, unfortunately I can not tell you everything. But all my pictures from the trip are on my facebook. Thank you all for praying. It was an amazing trip!

Another thing that happened this week was my baptism! It was really good. I was hoping for a few more people to show up, but that is ok. People are busey these days. I had the wonderful privelage (cant spell) of having Amanda baptize me at camp. It was really a blessing to be able to do that again and have so many friends around me to support me and encourage me. Here are a few pictures from that. Oh, and no the ocean was not to cold.

I had youth again this past week. It was good to get back and see the kids faces again. I'm really going to miss them when it's time to leave them in 3 weeks....yes kaleo ends in 3 weeks. I know i know it's a shock. But it's time. It's time to pack up and head out in different directions. As for my direction, I will be at camp still. 10 day break spent in regina with a friend, and then it's back here for AC. I'm really excited for this summer, but not really sure where it will take me. We shall see! umm...this week we have class. our last class. Christian Worldview. It seems to be good from what i've seen so far. After that we have like a few small out trips and a few final papers, and then it's a grad ceremony and time to leave. so a lot is happening, yet at the same time not much is happening. I hope you are all doing well. I am just getting over a cold, so I'm almost well. And umm...yeah. Have a fantastic week! message me if you have any questions about my trip.