A typical day at camp...from the drive there to My Story

Let’s look back to the camp held the weekend of August 14th 2010…

I left my house this morning at 6:15AM to pick up my co-workers Vuvu and Roxanne from their homes before heading to the campsite (the three of us make a mean team!!). After picking up Roxanne, we got lost in the township called Thembalethu while trying to find where Vuvu was supposed to be meeting us. Finally, after a couple of turn-arounds and trying to avoid hitting the random cow and stray dogs wandering the dirt road we found her and made it on time to the campsite to set-up before the kids arrived.

First adventure…CHECK

As soon as we arrive at camp we begin setting up…having Vuvu and Roxy to work with is quite a blessing! They’ve really taught me a lot about working with youth…and just being plain silly and having fun!

Well the kids arrived in their busses around 9 and to start the camp off right, while one of the boys was walking to his tent…a monkey (no joke) ran up and grabbed the grocery bag of food right out of his hands. We warned the kids about the monkeys…but to be honest, I had no idea they were so bold! From there, the monkey ran up a tree with his new bag of goodies and then hopped onto the roof of the main building at the camp, got comfortable and chowed down. Oooh…I felt really bad for the boy who had his food stolen….he was pretty upset.

Second adventure…CHECK

Everyone got settled into their sleeping areas, the boys in the tents and the girls in the dorms. Breakfast was served and then, when everyone’s tummies were full…the sessions started. My session comes first….I LOVE teaching the session on “Great Communication Skills.” The kids were entertained by my examples of good and bad body language, speaking too fast/too slow, and using gestures to get my point across etc. etc. We also played this cool puzzle game where a volunteer practices good/bad communication skills to put a 5 piece puzzle together. It’s hard…and the kids learn a lot!

The sessions continued throughout the remainder of the day with breaks in between to play games. Here’s a picture from one of the games…it’s a hoot! Everyone gets their own balloon which they secure to their ankle. When we say GO everyone runs around trying to pop each other’s balloons. It’s so fun to watch and the kids love it.
We ended the day with worship music and a session called My Story, and then the movie “A Walk to Remember”…if you haven’t seen it, you should.

During My Story the kids get to write down...Their Story. They don’t have to share it with anyone unless they want to but we believe this is a way for the kids to bring any of their issues into the light and hopefully start working through them. As facilitators we get to read their stories, and we present our stories to the kids…whether we struggled in high school/college with some form of addiction, acceptance, peer pressure etc. and then focus on how the Lord has used each one of those experiences to mold us into the people we are now.

My Story?
Throughout high school I struggled with acceptance…aka-being cool and making sure people thought highly of me. When I went to college, it got even worse…I thought my identity was in the grades I got, the way I acted at parties, the friends I hung out with, the things I did on the weekend, the extracurricular activities I participated in (like soft ball-what?! - that was a stretch)….the list goes on and on. Now I was stressed out AND needed to find ways to calm myself down. Eventually I got totally BURNED OUT (literally fell apart) trying to please everyone! It was clearly a battle I could not win.
I almost had to drop out of school that year…my senior year of college. But a few simple words changed my life…”There’s gotta be more than this.” More than the tests, more than appearances and trying to please everyone.
Over the next few weeks I started my journey with God…which turned into months and now to years. “God!...I can’t do this on my own”
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.
God doesn’t expect us to carry the world’s burdens on our own! I learned that once I decided in faith to turn my life over to the Lord…He is the only one I need to please. If I’m doing my very best and I still fail or I disappoint someone I know that God’s perfect love will carry me. That was a hard lesson to learn, but it changed my life.

So there ya have it….a day at camp. I really appreciate all your prayers over the past two months. The camp journey was a long one but well worth it. I think each Peer Educator left the camps feeling like they had learned something new about themselves…and I already got one testimony of a young lady who started reading her Bible again. She shared this verse with me:
“Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it’s own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13:14.