primary camp

I counseled a wonderful group of seven 7-10 year olds for three days.  Luckily, they all came with friends and worked well together.  My two youngest were best friends but needed constant direction and took a combined six or seven trips to the nurse.  They were absolutely adorable but took so much effort- I wish I could have given more to some of the other campers.  One of the girls, though needy had my favorite camper comments of the week.  We were talking about times when following God means making hard choices and she started talking about persecuted missionaries.  I was absolutely floored.  Girl after my own heart right there.  During the pine cone ceremony she said that what she learned about God this week was that God gave us each of our fingers to remind us of something.  This was referring to a prayer model taught earlier in the week.  The other girls were sweet as well.  I was surprised at how perceptive a few of them were.  During one of our cabin times we talked about everything from heaven and hell to death.  I had to watch every girl go down the slide at least four times each, "yep I'm watching!"  That was fun.  I enjoyed sharing the camp experiences with these campers because they get so excited about everything and they crave attention.  The giant slip and slide was a huge hit with both campers and staff, maybe even more so the staff.  Not unusual.  We tend to be the kind of people who enjoy life.  For example today we were at our lunch meeting after the campers were gone and everything became a reason to yell and bang on the tables... plates, random people who walked in, drinks, food, anything.  On a lower note, one of my fellow counselors badly sprained her ankle during the night game last night and had a late night hospital adventure.  Since I was with my girls, I didn't know what was going on and I heard rumors ranging from her being paralyzed to that she couldn't sit down to that she had broken her leg.  My adrenaline was at four million miles an hour.  Thankfully, cabin aunts and uncles put the campers to bed so the counselors had a puppy chow party in the staff lodge.  It was awesome.  Theres a guest camp this weekend so I'm going to be lifeguarding Friday afternoon and most of Saturday but I'm off until then.  Since most of the program staff road tripped to the ER last night we are all exhausted.  Hopefully doing something fun while I'm off.  High school camp is next week but I probably won't be counseling which I'm actually pretty disappointed about.

life is good, eternal life is better

A spontaneous adventure to Seattle happened yesterday with four of my friends.  The day before we had dinner in Yakima and played a lot of signs.  We left early, had some epic jam time and sleep time in the car.  We found a Sushiland in Queen Anne and it was a huge hit with the out of towners (sushi comes around on a conveyer belt).  We walked around Seattle Center, tried (and failed) to touch the fountain without getting wet, and took lots of pictures.  Much to the delight of my friends we took the monorail downtown and did Pike's Place.  Since it was a Saturday there were tons of people and musicians, and the fish were being thrown which was awesome.  We went to the original Starbucks and I got a mocha with half a shot.  (The first coffee drink I have ever bought, it was delicious).   Then high on life, we walked around PP some more and did the gum wall and the crazy hat store.  We went (in one case hopped like a kangaroo... theres the coffee!) down the harbor steps and met my family at Ivar's for dinner.  It was delicious and I'm glad I got to see them.  More walking around and being random and enjoying street performers and the Westlake waterfall.  Then we went back to Queen Anne, took a roundabout adventure to the Fremont troll, (something was going on in Fremont, people with red cups everywhere...), and went home.  The day was an answered prayer for good fellowship and fun with some of my staff friends.  Primary camp starts today... its gonna be crazy/awesome!

trying new things

So I counseled for the first time this past weekend, for outreach camp.  My nine girls were darling.  I had a co-counselor from the sponsoring church and we got along well enough.  It was good to be able to tag team for the first time.  The first 24 hours were pretty stressful because it was overwhelming and I didn't get what I was doing.  I've decided my least favorite part of counseling is meals.  Walking a bunch of kids through how to scrape and stack their plates and wipe the table and sort their silverware and keep them entertained for the whole meal is exhausting.  Not sleeping for more than three hours at a time is too but I figure that will get better.  One of the girls breathed like a freight train when she sleeps and my bunkmate kept coming down for reasons unknown to me.  One girl was crying for over half an hour during the first evening session and it took me awhile to even figure out that she wanted to go home.  A few minutes and a chat with her sister later, she was good as new enjoyed campfire more than anyone and remained glued to my hip for the rest of the weekend.  Some of my favorite moments were connecting with my fellow counselors and swapping stories.  So in the same day that I got my first batch of campers us lifeguards went to the river to practice river tubing which is an activity we will do with some of the older campers.  Lets just say there was a flood warning on the  river a few weeks ago, I did not in fact use my best paddling skills when I realized I needed to be back across the river ASAP and that the river was rapidly taking me past the jump off point.  Needless to say my co-workers ran down the side of the river screaming my name until they saw me walking back toward me.  I had to bail out of my tube and claw rocks/swim to the side.  Great fun.  Then we thought we lost our kayaker as his helmet (which he lost without harm) came floating down the river.  So then we spent a frantic 20 minutes trying to find him.  Talk about an adrenaline crash right before going to pick up the campers.  Awesome.  All in all I mostly enjoyed the experience, especially once I bonded with the girls and they understood me and the rules.  Seeing a few of the them stand up to accept Christ at the last evening session was beautiful.  I can only pray that it will mean something to them in the long run.  Now were in our first session of junior camp and since the session is so small I'm on program staff this week.  Last night we played plane crash, where staffers are 'victims' and the kids find us and carry us in to get points.  Trying to a group of ten year olds about center of mass is just hilarious.  Especially the ways they encourage and boss each other around.  Lets think guys, you can put your arm under my waist or hold my belt loop by one finger.  Which method will be more effective?  I led bb guns this morning which was fun.  The kids get so proud of themselves for hitting the targets.  Another Ghormley tradition I'm coming to enjoy is Techfast, breakfast + techno.  The meal ends with a giant dance party.  What a way to start the day.  I went on the zip line today too which was pretty cool.

life stories

so my surprise of the day (think about how much i like planning and organization) was that the camp starting tomorrow that I wasn't expecting to be counseling for, I am counseling for.  God sure is teaching me about giving up control this summer.  This is an outreach camp, run through our sponsoring church, for kids in the community who wouldn't otherwise be able to go to camp.  We aren't as involved as we would be for one of our own camps but they still needed some counselors and help running activities and such.  Pray for our staff as we prepare for this and for the campers who will be coming this weekend, many of whom have little knowledge of Christ.  So anyways, the real meaning behind this post.  We've been sharing life stories, or testimonies throughout staff training and we did several tonight in an effort to finish up.  What has been shared has been absolutely mind-blowing and inspiring.  The hurt and brokenness that some of my friends have experienced shatters my heart into a million pieces.  I can't even imagine.  The honesty that they have about it humbles me immensely.  It makes me think of how we are to bear one another's burdens and weep with those who weep.  One of my fellow staff members has had a past that is beyond words.  This is the person who brought us warm towels and hot chocolate during lifeguard training, puts so much care into his work, who said  in his message that he has truly learned to bear other's burdens and that since we are his summer family he would do anything for any of us.  Someone who has experience such evil and sin can turn around and love others so well.  This is the power of healing in Christ.  This is what astounds me.  Through life stories, we grow closer to one another and maybe even learn about ourselves.  There have been multiple times when, after hearing someone's story, I regret things I've said to them before, not realizing what that might mean in their life.  Its another lesson in not judging someone, especially not before you know their story.  Well its going to be a growing weekend for sure.  Pray that we all may encounter God deeply and personally, especially the campers we are serving.

life stories

so my surprise of the day (think about how much i like planning and organization) was that the camp starting tomorrow that I wasn't expecting to be counseling for, I am counseling for.  God sure is teaching me about giving up control this summer.  This is an outreach camp, run through our sponsoring church, for kids in the community who wouldn't otherwise be able to go to camp.  We aren't as involved as we would be for one of our own camps but they still needed some counselors and help running activities and such.  Pray for our staff as we prepare for this and for the campers who will be coming this weekend, many of whom have little knowledge of Christ.  So anyways, the real meaning behind this post.  We've been sharing life stories, or testimonies throughout staff training and we did several tonight in an effort to finish up.  What has been shared has been absolutely mind-blowing and inspiring.  The hurt and brokenness that some of my friends have experienced shatters my heart into a million pieces.  I can't even imagine.  The honesty that they have about it humbles me immensely.  It makes me think of how we are to bear one another's burdens and weep with those who weep.  One of my fellow staff members has had a past that is beyond words.  This is the person who brought us warm towels and hot chocolate during lifeguard training, puts so much care into his work, who said  in his message that he has truly learned to bear other's burdens and that since we are his summer family he would do anything for any of us.  Someone who has experience such evil and sin can turn around and love others so well.  This is the power of healing in Christ.  This is what astounds me.  Through life stories, we grow closer to one another and maybe even learn about ourselves.  There have been multiple times when, after hearing someone's story, I regret things I've said to them before, not realizing what that might mean in their life.  Its another lesson in not judging someone, especially not before you know their story.  Well its going to be a growing weekend for sure.  Pray that we all may encounter God deeply and personally, especially the campers we are serving.

deep cleaning

today we deep cleaned the kitchen.  it was gross yet rewarding.  productivity is nice.  awesome hike yesterday (climbing loose rock!  egad!) one of my teammates encouraged me, which was great.  i don't think i would have done it without that.  the view at the top was spectacular and very windy!  it was a nice way to spend a day off.

choke and grope

I am finally FINALLY lifeguard certified, after a solid week of training and 8 hours in the water today learning deep water backboarding and doing our final skills scenarios.  I am so thankful to be done and I am grateful for the patience of our instructors and the wonderful girls who through all of this have become good friends.  Choke and grope refers to the proper way to support someone with a head neck or back injury in the water, which we all did A LOT of today.  I shared my testimony during life stories tonight as well as hearing some heart-breaking-yet-inspiring stories from my fellow staff.  Its one of those things that you always think about how it could have gone better when you are done, but I'm not unhappy with tonights telling.  We have a day off tomorrow.  So far my plans include going for a hike led by our executive director, and possibly going into Yakima for dinner.  It will be nice to have a day off and to do something different and hopefully get to know people more!  Campers come on Sunday (ignore previous posting).