NSC - Part 3

This I guess would be a wrap up of camp and then a quick update of what's going on now. I'll come back again sometime to fill in some blanks about the last few weeks of camp.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at camp. I'm sure I mentioned before how much I love the camp staff and how amazing they all are. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to spend my summer with! We also had a great bunch of kids for teen camp!

There were a few campers that a few of us wondered how well they would fit in with everyone else. However, we were pleasantly surprised at how well everyone else included them, cheered for them, and encouraged them. We had one camper who was away from home/his family for the first time. He was extremely homesick the whole week. We had campers as well as staff trying to talk to him and encourage him to stick it through. It was a rough week for him and sadly to say he ended up getting sick and had to go home Friday. I hope he will give it a second chance next year.
I think teenagers are often stereotyped into being click-y and uninviting so it was great to see this group band together and extend a hand to everyone no matter what they looked, sounded, or acted like. We had 7 baptisms that week and many more decided they wanted to follow Jesus.

We also had U-Crew there for teen camp. U-Crew is a small group of students from Union College who go around to the different summer camps (and maybe campmeetings too) and help out wherever they can. It was a good thing they were there because we had something like 72 or 74 campers and not enough activities to keep them all busy. So U-Crew stepped in and ran a sports period and a drama/improv group. We don't think we would've been able to handle that many campers without their help!

Junior Camp provided a whole new set of challenges. I think I spent more time with the kids that week then any other week! We had two little girls who were after each other the entire week. I'm not sure what started it but they just did NOT like each other! One of them called the other "Irka" and when asked why she called her that she said it was because "she irks me". They'd tell each other to shut up and were just down right mean to one another sometimes.

Another challenge was the heat and humidity. Most of the week (especially the beginning of it) was in the 90's with high heat indexes and high humidity. One day it was around 94* I think with 90-something percent humidity and a heat index of something like 112!!! We had a few kids get heat exhaustion and they'd have to go lay down in the nurses cabin for a while, drink lots of water, and getting some electrolytes.

We also had a couple kids that were sick that week. One of them ended up leaving again but this one little girl (totally my buddy within the first couple days) was sick and super homesick. The nurse that week was a male so when there was a girl camper needing to go up there a female staff would have to sit up there til she was done. I got that job at least 3 times I think. It started out with eating my breakfast outside with the girl and try to get her to stop crying and at least give camp a chance since it was only Monday. She wasn't interested and we ended up in the nurse's cabin most of the morning. I return a couple times with her but by the end of the week she was doing great and all smiles. She got my trading card and kept asking me to sign it. She was so cute.

Sunday after all the kids had left and several of the staff, John, Shawna, Joanne, Ashley, Angie, Joanna, and I all went out on the pontoon boat one last time. We went up the Mississippi River for an hour and a half and then came back. It was SO relaxing and a great chance just to talk about the summer and about life. We enjoyed waving at some other boaters, laughing, and eating some super tasty fruit and a few other munchies. When we got back we got Jeff to drive for us and we went tubing for a while. It was a great ending to an amazing summer.

I can't tell you how much I love those people and how badly I miss them already!