Summer Program Week #4

Things are starting to wrap here in Flushing, NY, even though it doesn't seem like it. The attitude of the program has become less stressed as the entire program has become a routine for all of us. Now we are doing it like it's something we've always done. Since week one, we've been averaging in the mid twenties for kids in the morning, and in the afternoon, we've had about ten to twelve kids.
The morning portion of the program includes breakfast and lunch, supplied for free by the city of New Yo. We have a short chapel following breakfast, and by the end of chapel, most of the kids have arrived at the program. As the weeks go on, we can easily tell which kids are going to come late, and which are going to be early, and also which kids will NEVER actually be coming. That is definitely obvious.
After the chapel, the younger kids start arts & crafts, and the older kids play dodgeball. Christa and I help with the arts & crafts, and Daniel leads the Dodgeball. I personally hate the game dodgeball, so this worked out in my favor. Craft wise, we've done origami, lanyard, coloring, drawing, tie-dye and then put fabric paint on a shirt, and next week we are planning to do paper mache, which I'm excited about. Its one of those things that I did a lot when I was younger. I had this spectacular book with all these cool things to do. I was really crafty when I was little, which has bled a little bit into my adulthood, because I love to knit, and not follow patterns, and I love to make collages. I'm not a bad drawer either. I just don't do it that often. Musically, I have been much more consistent with being artistic, because it's like my second language. With drawing, and other types of art, it's like I'm going in blind, like how I feel when I try to speak Spanish. There's this point where I'm blocked off and I can't see anymore. If I really practice, I get a chance to expand and see more, but I haven't really had that option here. I brought my sketch book, just like I  planned to speak a lot more Spanish, and then didn't really get a chance to use it.
After Arts & Crafts, we switch over to playing board games until the lunch arrives (Dan and Milton have to go get it). Once lunch is over, most of the parents for the morning program pick up their children on time. Then we get started with the afternoon portion of the day--academics. More often than not, some of the kids have been desiring nap time, so we've given it to those who were interested. But the problem that I see with it is that unless we separate them all into their own individual places, they never sleep, so it's counter productive, because it makes them not listen to the volunteers in the room. After they "nap", we have them read for a little while, and write summaries about it. Then the packets of work appropriate to their age and level are given to them, and they do that until about four o'clock. Then we let them have special activities. We have done drama, music, and baking with them.  This usually lasts somewhere between a half an hour to forty-five minutes, and the kids start going home around this time. We have computer on some days, some days we play board games, and on Friday, we watch a movie before they leave. During the special, or during the time that they are doing their work, if there are enough volunteers, some of us clean up, and make the place look nice, so that we don't have to do it after they leave. Some days we even leave before six o'clock, because the parents actually come on time.
For chapel for the last week, we have been teaching the kids a song with motions, and then talking about a fruit of the Spirit that is associated with the song. The Thursday and Friday before last, we did Love and Joy(and I played and sand "Amazing Love"), Then on Monday, we did Peace, Tuesday we did Patience (We did "Trading my Sorrows"), on Thursday we did Kindness (we taught the song about Peter and John healing the crippled man), and on Friday, we did a review.
When we have chapel, the hardest part is getting the kids to stand up when we sing. It never ends. Now that we have musical accompaniment, there's less of a focus issue, but it's still impossible to get them to stand. Sometimes it's the exact opposite, though.
There's this young guy, named Shaquille, who we are pretty sure has ADHD, because of his need to move, and focus so easily switched. He never listens and obviously cannot sit still. Every day we try sometime different. The best solution so far has been to have him sing with us when we teach the song. After we finish every song, he always says "More! More!" He's quite an armful. Sometimes we have to hold him down so that he won't run away, because he does run away. He drives me up the wall, but I see that there is some unfulfilled need for him to see and to learn. On Friday, he was playing dodgeball with the big kids, got hurt, hit someone, then ran away to the bathroom, and one of the volunteers yelled for me. Once we got him out of the bathroom, I took him for a walk around the building. He loved it, and had such a great time trying to and opening doors, and seeing what was behind them. When we got back down stairs, I had him draw me a map of where he'd just gone, and he drew a lot of doors, a staircase, and drew the roof, full of chimneys. (I think because he didn't get to go on the roof, that he was imagining all these chimneys) Then I asked him to draw me his favorite thing. He said music--and drew a guitar, a drum set, a "big piano", and a microphone. A kid after my own heart. When it comes down to it, Shaquille, though hard to understand, and to get to listen, he's quite exceptional. He reads rather well, and if he's focused on something, he will do it. I think when there is too much going on, he runs in circles (literally) because he can't decide what he wants to do.
It's been interesting being in charge of the volunteers. I've never been one to place degrees of separation between people because of the level that they are in comparison to where I am, and so working with the volunteers has been bringing them up to my level. However, at the same time, I know that most of them don't have the exact same experience with kids as I do, in a camp setting, and so I know that they are challenged by the amount of energy that these kids have and the amount of attention that they require.
One volunteer couldn't figure out why he was here. Spiritually, he felt like God was calling him to be here working with kids, but at the same time, he just felt worn out, tired, and like it wasn't going that well. So I challenged him to try and get to know some of the kids at a slightly deeper level. So he played Sorry with Yeong Seo, Phoebe, me, and Edward. Then I asked him later how it was for him, if he felt like he was making some progress with working with kids, and he said he felt better. Something I've noticed with the volunteers in general is that they can handle the kids when they are one to one, or one to two, but when they all come running with the desire of tickling or tackling, it's very easy for the volunteer to lose it.
My role as the observer in that case is to get the kids off of them, whether it be to direct them toward something else ("Look! Shiny!") or to point out that they are disrespecting the volunteer. My role as the volunteer supervisor is to teach the volunteer how to interact with them when they need to keep the child's attention, and how to hold their cool when they are overwhelmed with children. Interaction is key!
This week we learned that it's almost impossible to get enough kids to go to Camp Deerpark. We rented a huge air-conditioned bus with comfy seats and had eight kids, several parents, and a large group of volunteers. I had a great time. I went swimming, got to chat with Sylvia and Alicia, and get my hair trimmed, but I also know that there was a financial burden that was taken because we did not make the ends meet. We will continue these next two weeks to take trips on Wednesday, but they won't be to Camp Deerpark.

Prayer requests and praises:
With no correlation to my Flushing week, besides the fact that I'm here and they are my family there, my parents head to Japan today, and are on a flight to Salt Lake City as I write. I found out about my housing situation, that I am going to be able to stay with my grandparents off campus, to cut financial costs. With this decision, I still plan to stay connected to the hall that I was going to live on, because I love all of those girls, and I was looking forward to their companionship.  Zach finished debreifing this week, and is at home now, and I might call him sometime.  There's a reunion at HDC for all those people that were in training when he was, but because of some planned family things, he went home early and missed that. I get to see him in two weeks. Marie finished up her Music Academy today also, and is going home today, I think.

That's that.

Taking a Baby Step

Some of you already know this, but I am heavily addicted to writing music. I'm not shy to admit it or show it, so when I get the chance to play for people, I take it, and RUN! But I haven't recorded anything, besides maybe a piano track for a song when I was a sophomore in high school, a couple from live recordings here and there, and nothing was ever copied onto a CD. Thus, when I say I've started making recordings of some of my songs that aren't from my camera's crappy sound system, it's a big deal.
And I have. I started making some of my songs into mp3s. Note: I'm recording myself, usually in one or two takes, and it's far from perfect. But I do like it that way, I just don't feel confident in those abilities yet.
Thus, I'm giving everyone who reads a chance to listen in! And if you know some of my songs, suggest one that you want recorded! Leave a comment and I will email you one of the better mp3s that I've done in the past week!
Thanks so much for reading and listening!

VBS Week!

Wow. It's intense that this week flew by.
I was talking to Sylvia the day after I got back from seeing Zach, and was telling her about how I was going through withdrawal, and how I knew the weeks would fly by once I let them. And somewhere between spending several hours reading and writing out verses on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, somehow this week has reached an end, and we are halfway done with this program!

We had Vacation Bible School take over the morning section of the program, and I took Monday and Tuesday mornings to myself to attempt to recover to being back in Flushing, in a city, and feeling like I didn't want to be there. But my God time, as most God time is, was fulfilling, and I felt like I could indeed function for the rest of the week, and the rest of the time.

The rest of the week, from Wednesday through Friday, I worked at the VBS in the morning with the first and second grade group. The other leaders for the group were Vanessa, Tito, and Kevin, and then the sixteen little munchkins that came with us. It was glorious, and fun, and stressful, but we all had peace that once 12:00 came around, those little glorious, stressful, and fun munchkins would go be all those things with their parents.

There also was a lot of peace in the fact that we didn't have to plan and run the program ourselves. I personally felt a lot better about the entire thing because I wasn't in charge, and only had to be a piece of the puzzle, not the designer. I don't really think that God ever intended only one person to be a designer of anything. We are the church, and because God has sneakily given us all the different gifts that we need, there is no need to attempt to do things on our own. That being said, if someone is trying to do that, they should ask for help, and others should donate their advice and their time.

In the afternoons on Wednesday through Friday, everything was so much easier. There wasn't a peak of stress like there has been in the past with the kids at our program, when we are trying to get them to listen to us. Everyone listened, everyone did their work. We communicated with the kids, and with parents. We ate good food made by Christa's mom, and had kids do their academic work so that they could bake food with Hannah later! They made cookies and brownies this week.

Bethany and her friend Nicki were at the program this week--Mark and Annabelle went for a vacation away and the two of them were with Hannah this week as "mommy". They weren't required to do all the work the kids in the afternoon program were, but if we let them to theirselves, they could go pretty crazy, so I took it upon myself to play Monopoly and Risk with them. (I know, such a hard task.) We played for several hours each time. And I dominated each time. They can win next time. I'll teach them strategy.

On Thursday evening, I also got a chance to eat dinner with Weslea and we got to talk about life. That was awesome. She said there might be an option for her to go to Guinea Bissau this January (of all the connections. . . :)) and so I really wanted her to be able to meet Zach, but maybe some other time. (He's going to be chock full of business until I get to sweep him away.

Now, we have the next three weeks of the program to go. We are halfway done. I'm leaving the Thursday of the last program, and then I'm on my way to Harrisburg, for a day of debriefing, then a night bus ride home to Toledo. That's the next three weeks in a nutshell. Are we ready? We hope so.

Prayers/Praises
-Yaya VBS!!!
-I sent in my housing form request with all the letters of support yesterday. Next Thursday, it goes before a housing committee and they decide if I can stay with my sister or if I have to stay in the dorm. I'm willing for both, but I need to know so that I can prepare for that.
-Three more weeks of program. Fill in if it's a prayer or a praise. It is both for sure.
-Pray for rest for all the staff, so there is need for less coffee.

Weekly Update #10

So this past week was a week of challenge; a week of exhaustion; a week of sickness; a week of celebration.
As the program continued, we had many ups and downs. There have been kids who started bleeding and started hurting or got hurt--the IcePacks we got for the coolers have gone to good use otherwise.
We've improvised through activities, and played Dodgeball one thousand times (although I have to say, I have not played Dodgeball once). Having such a spectrum of ages really changes the way the program is run--we have mostly kids going into third grade and under, but they all seem so much older. I think age stereotypes melts away when you learn names and faces.
This past week, I went temporarily insane, to match the lack of being prepared to tie dye, and feeling like there wasn't enough staff, and worrying about food, and tutoring work, and people.
Tuesday wasn't such a great day. I ate some green beans that were in the free lunches for the kids, and around five o'clock, I started feeling nauseous, eventually went home, and then later puked for the first time in seven and a half years. (and then again, and again, and again.) After that, I was sick of being sick, and I went to sleep. I felt better the next day, and have felt better for the rest of the week, but I don't think I've gotten my hydration back to where I wanted it to be, which sucks in the morning when I just need to get up and go, and I feel the need to be watered.
On Wednesday, we were going to go to Camp Deerpark, but then there were more staff that were going to go than kids, and it was going to rain, and so we cancelled the program, and got the day off. Which was absolutely perfect in going with the fact that I had been sick the day before--my mom told me I was contagious and shouldn't go to work. Unfortunately, there were people in my house all day, and I had to seem like I was completely healthy to match their output of energy.
My landlord, bless her heart, thinks that if you leave the fan on when you aren't in the house, that it will cause the house to burn down. But on the days when it was 100 degrees, and I would come home and the house was a sauna, there was no way I was going to leave the A/C and the fan off when I was gone. When you come home and the house is 92 degrees, there's something wrong.
Anyway, so she asked me if I had a learning disability, because I couldn't seem to "grasp" that I have to turn the fan off. My learning disability is that logic. I don't understand it. And, unfortunately, it is socially too late to ask her, because she will think I am starting a revolution in her house.
Thursday was survived, though the morning was stressful--we have been averaging twenty-five to thirty kids in the morning, and ten to twelve in the afternoon. We tie-dye shirts with them on Tuesday (I washed them all at my house on Wednesday), and on Thursday, we painted them with fabric paints.
Once Thursday evening came around, I had to skip Discipleship. I was leaving in the early morning for D.C., and had just gotten over being sick.
Friday morning --2:15AM, I woke up and Dan came over and picked me up and drove me to the Bus Depot. The most hilarious part of the morning was the fact that we were at a stand-still. At 3:00. On the high way. WE saw all the people who were still out, all the people who continued their day like it was light outside.
I barely made my bus. There was nowhere to check my bag, so I just put an ID on it, and then put it in the pile of bags that where checked, and I prayed that they would load it up like everyone's. I sat next to a middle-aged man named Jeff, who was going to Charlotte to start a better life for himself and the family he was leaving behind. He shared his Jolly Ranchers, grapes, and bought me a Fanta and a bag of chips (which I saved to give to Zach later). He was asking about the book I was reading, "Jesus for President", and said, "Oh, so you are into religion?" I said, "Yeah, Christianity." It was quiet for a little while, but later he started talking about what faith he'd grown up with, and how open his parents were, but how he wanted to start going back to church once he got to Charlotte. I'm praying that he does.
When I got to D.C., I was swept away with familiarity, and was so happy to be in a place where I felt like I could navigate myself.
I got off the Metro at Brookland, and then waited for Emily under the overpass. It's amazing what being in a city longer term does to you. I was completely comfortable doing that, whereas one year ago, I would have probably stuck as close to the station as I could. Emily got off the train and we walked and talked our way to the WCSC house. It was bizarre but wonderful to be back there! I felt at home (and played the piano for almost an hour), but felt no obligations. I had a great conversation with Kim, got to see my garden, ran into a couple current WCSCers (they were upstairs) and enjoyed half of an Everything Bagel with Emily before she left to bring a future student out for their interviews.
Around 12:30, the Hazletts arrived, picked me up, and we all headed to Dulles! It was a hot ride, there being no A/C in the car, but it was fine for me--I'd been in a cold building for the past three hours.
We arrived at Dulles a little earlier than the flight was supposed to come in, but then we waited around until an hour and a half after it landed for Zach to come out of customs. It was so awesome to surprise him. He didn't know that his family was coming, though he thought I might.

On my ride home from Harrisburg on the Amtrak, I took the time to reflect about my day with Zach, and here it is. Yes, I am long winded, I know.

What a whirlwind. I just spent a day with Zach. Just twenty-four hours. He’s home from Africa—Here to stay! Thank God for that. I don’t think I could take another year of him being gone. Props to those people who send their fiancées on mission trips, I couldn’t do it. He’s changed, but we can still pick up where we left off. I’m so thankful for that. I can handle this feeling of knowing he’s home now! Even if I can’t talk to him everyday, knowing that he’s just a few hours drive away, rather than a day/s flight away gives me so much peace. He seems to have adjusted well to America so far. Occasionally, he makes an observation of things—like the idea of a grocery store—with everything you need—like four TVs (in the store)—all being in the same place at the same time.
The Hazlett’s came and picked me up at WCSC, with all my stuff, and we headed off to Dulles. We got there early, and we remembered that Zach and his group had to go through customs to come back—so then the wait added to be more than an hour. Noraa had called me “Grace Hazlett”, saying that I was going to marry Zach, and I had accidently touched Taylor’s butt, so she said that it was because I wanted to touch Zach’s butt, and she was going to tell him that when he got there.
I was just starting to fall asleep while waiting for him (Waking up at 2:15 to get to Manhattan at 3:45am, and still getting stuck in traffic is quite annoying. But I slept pretty well, had a great seatmate, with whom I had a great conversation with about life, the universe and Everything (which is, God). He also shared his Jolly Ranchers, grapes, and bought me a bag of chips and a Fanta (didn’t know I was vegan. (But the guy sitting across the aisle from me did—he saw the PETA stickers on the back of my Macbook and asked me if I was in DC for the Animal Rights Convention.)), and Zach got off the airplane, out of customs, and all of a sudden he was there—same clothes, just more worn, and a little more covered in dirt! He was wearing the hat that he wore to Honduras, and looked like he had shaved his head again, and was bald. His face was plastered with a super smile and we could tell that we’d surprised him. Earlier in the day, I had texted Marie and told her what I was up to (because before, it was TOP SECRET), she reminded me that I should let his mom get the first hug. So I did. I let his entire family envelope him, before he smothered me with a wonderful losing-your-balance-hug. I was freaking out in my head—I was nervous and I had had too much caffeine earlier in the day—and was in complete shock, and I couldn’t stop looking at him! He’d changed so much—and looked the same at the same time. There was more hair on his face (and his chest, as I learned when everyone was swimming later). There was a lot less hair on his head (something I hope stays that way for a long time.)
His teammates were Africanized (which meant, for most of them—they lost weight). They looked relived and ready to be taken care of by someone else. (Which, for another tangent, is one thing that I loved the most about this trip.)
We swept him away from his team, and took him into the van (which, though un air-conditioned, was a wonderful trip because we’d all been frozen in airport for two hours), and then went to a grocery store, to pick up some stuff for dinner. Zach was in a bit of a shock. He kept looking around and because he could see everything that he needed it was so bizarre. He said that there was nothing like that store within a hundred miles of where he was. When he saw four monitors stacked together, he exclaimed—four TVs in the same place—so bizarre.
It was so wonderful to hear his motivation and energy. I have this feeling that he was ready to get going with what he wanted to do—either with school, or with work—he said he wanted to get a job. He wanted to get a motorcycle—and I think that is a great idea. I can’t wait until he does. I want to ride it with him!
After that, we headed to a National Park that was on the way to Harrisburg. Denice and Toby grilled food, I ate a lot of Dolma, and we all hung out around the park. There, Zach presented everyone with their gifts. When he started doing this, I could see how much he had thought through everything, as he gave everyone their gifts. He wanted each of us to experience a little bit of what he did in the past month. And the love that he expressed through that made me feel overwhelmed with the great beauty of the fact that Zach really does love me. More than I can expect. I was the last person that he gave the gifts to.
Zach had given everyone a little package that you make tea with, promising to make it with them, because it’s a two person thing, and because it makes about three shot cups per person. I received one of those. He gave each person three pieces of gum that they had in Guinea Bissau. There were two packages of crackers. One was a type that you were supposed to have with the tea, and one was a cookie with some Nutella in the middle. Both of these had some milk products in them, and Zach didn’t give them to me (which is why I assumed I didn’t get any. Later, he told me that he got hungry in customs and ate some, but when I told him I wouldn’t have been able to eat them anyway, he was relived.) Zach gave seashells (that were completely gorgeous) to Jaynie and Noraa, from the seashore that they went to in Guinea Bissau. He gave Aleks two iguana feet and two snake skins of snakes that he had killed. Both of them were poisonous.
Zach found some awesome sculptures to give as gifts to a couple people. My favorite was the tiger—it was more like a jaguar in shape, and had teeth that were probably from an iguana’s foot. He gave two pieces of artwork to Taylor and his mom. They were small paintings from a local artist in the area, but Zach picked them out because he felt like they represented Africa the best. He got Noraa a teenager sized wrap-around skirt, telling her that the girls in Africa are given the same ones, and roll them down to the right length, and then they keep them, and grow into them. He gave Jaynie a skirt also, with an additional hair scarf to just wrap around her head, like the women wrapped around their heads when they had to carry things like water on them. He got his father an entire outfit in a teal green—including a cute hat to go with the big shirt and short pants. It was so beautiful.
Then he gave me my gifts. He laid out the tea and the gum, and then reached in and handed me a necklace—not too fancy, with mostly black beads, with a design where the middle was—and a slight heart on the middle bead. It’s the first piece of jewelry I’ve ever received from a guy—and it means so much to me. And then he unfolded a wrap skirt for me—the same pattern as Noraa’s, and proceeded to help wrap me in it. There was a ruffle/ripple on the edge. Then he pulled out a shirt to go with it, which he helped me put on. It had three buttons and long sleeves. Zach said it was custom-made, and that he designed it. I was a bit incredulous—how did he know my size. “I’m the same size as you, Grace. “ Ah, I had forgotten. I had been so nervous that he was going to get something that he was going to get me something that I wouldn’t like, and would be disappointed with, but I knew that it was going to be alright when he started.
When we got back to HDC, Zach went in, and although there was a bit of a fiasco with Denice’s Ipod being dropped in the ice bucket, and a slippage of Apples to Apples cards all over the backseat (and Zach accidently yelling “Jeweli!” instead of “Grace!”), we brought him in, I said “Hello” to a couple of people—Kaitlyn, who was on Zach’s team in the beginning, but had to be resituated when health problems stopped her from going to Africa, was back for debriefing at the same time. Everyone was slightly surprised to see me there (especially the HDC staff, because they knew I was doing a GO assignment in Flushing), but understood at the same time. We drove to the Comfort Inn, and I got to sleep in the adult room (and fell right asleep, for that matter,) and was on the sofa bed—which was more comfortable than the bed in my house at Flushing. This is very sad.
We all woke up late—a little before ten o’clock, and ate breakfast at the hotel. Toby and I both had a couple spilling moments, but we learned that they offer coffee lids for a reason, and were thankful for the napkins that were also provided. Then Toby, Denice, and I all left for HDC to pick up Zach to come spend the day with us. We all changed into swimsuits and went in the itty-bitty pool that the hotel provided, and made the best of it, I should say. We played with the underwater camera, made as big of waves as you can in a square pool, and did handstands and somersaults to our delights.
We had lunch—I had the rest of the dolma, a salad of lettuce, tortilla chips, and salsa, and lots of fruit and some bread. And another cup of coffee. After we ate, we played a couple rounds of Uno, before we decided to look at some of Zach’s pictures with him. These were beautiful, and slowly the idea that Zach has been gone for a while, and this trip changed him, and the fact that he’s here now, and he’s not leaving soon, have started to seep in. And I feel a peace about me that soon we will get a chance to be in the same place and not have any obligations, and soon the degrees of separation will subside and we can be together for however long of a life God bids us.
When Zach came with me into the train station, and said goodbye to me in person, there beside me, with a kiss on the lips, I could tell you that it was perfect. It left me wanting more, excited for the future, motivated to finish strong, and ready to make things happen. I noticed many other changes in me while I was with the Hazlett’s. I felt like I was helping because I wanted to help, and because I could see the solution would make sense if I helped along with them, and because I love them. I could see that I wasn’t a third wheel when I was with them. I feel like part of the family.

Thanks for reading!

Prayer Requests and Praises
--I have four more weeks to go. This week is VBS, so we get a break in the mornings, but pray for all of us as we continue to work our butts off to make this program awesome for the kids.
--Praise that I got to see Zach! It was so awesome, which you probably read. Praise that I also got to go back to D.C.
--I am currently planning to apply to live off campus for the fall, and could use your prayers as I fill out the form. Anna already has an apartment in the perfect location that we are going to share with her roommate, and we just need to get me approved by the committee.
--Pray for Zach as he does reentry and debreifing
--My younger sister Marie is currently at Music Academy at Northwestern University. Because she talks so much with her chest voice, her vocal chords are really stressed and she has to rest them. Pray for her rest.
--My parents are going to Japan at the beginning of August. Pray for safe flights, a wonderful time with their friends, and a great celebration of 25 years of marriage.

Weekly Update #9

This past week started with the Fourth of July. Sylvia, a friend that I made through Zach being at training last fall was working at Camp Deerpark, came with her friend Ben, and walked around Manhattan with us. We visited a Cathedral, played a piano that was on the street (that's a story in itself), walked to Starbucks, walked to Cocoa V (which was closed for the July 4th stuff), and then settled down for our seating to watch the fireworks. Our neighbors had brought a feast with them, and offered some to us when I said "You guys have quite the feast there." We had some later on, when we got hungry. The fireworks were great, but then I don't really like fireworks that much anyway.
And then the first week of the summer program began!
And one week later, we are still alive, still optimistic: still stressed out.
I can't really tell the millions of things that have happened since we started.
More and more kids signed up.
We have busy afternoons.
Camp Deerpark kicked off well, although the bus ride was intense. We are getting a better bus for this next week, though, so it's going to be better.
On Saturday, we had a very intense day of shopping and then I had to go to worship practice.

Weekly Update #8

I spent this past week at Camp Deerpark, a Mennonite camp located in Deerpark, New York. It's this beautiful, hilly, green, vast camp that enveloped me in love and affirmation and questions. It relieved stress and caffeinated me. It gave me peanut butter, and lots of vegetables. It gave me new friends, and time to build off of the seeds of starters. It gave me a chance to raft, to swim, to pick peas, to challenge myself, to sing, to wake up way too early and go have devos, and to see God in the beautiful place that is camp.

Sunday started out sort of silly--after waiting at the pick-up spot, in the Bronx for an hour, meanwhile meeting someone who is coming to EMU this fall (how awesome),  we found out the bus had broken down, and a couple parents volunteered to drive some of us to Camp. Along the way, we stopped to pick up the bus driver (and I had to pee so bad I went in the woods at that point), and we got lost, and arrived at camp around nine or ten. More people came later, we had a short campfire, and went to bed. 

On Monday, I woke up--no lie-- at 5:50, and went for a run down the hill. I made it a little bit back up and then I walked the rest. Two cups of (GOOD) coffee and devotions later, we had our group prayer, breakfast, and started the training. Monday felt so long. There was some manual overview and then lunch. After lunch, I took the swimming test, and passed with flying colors. I dove into the pool (no belly flopping or fails (yaya)), and proceeded to go down the water slide. As I did, I realized I should pinch my nose, did so, and screamed as I splashed into the water. The ring in my nose pushed against the other side of my nose, and hurt a little bit, but I didn't think about it until Zachary, the Program Director, asked, "Are you bleeding?" I said, "No," and brought my finger to my nose, and I was, in fact, bleeding. A lot. Because I was wet, it kept dripping. Right down my neck. They found some gauze and I cleaned myself up, but there was no Biohazard bag, so I had to take my bloody gauze with me to my next activity, which was fire-building. I burned the gauze. There was no need to carry it around. Alicia and I rocked at the fire building, and then I beat Christian at ping-pong. Of course, we did only play one game. We had a cookout for supper, and I owned the fire, and the veggie burgers (and of course, the poor cow-flesh burgers).We had some good discussion before we headed down to play kickball. Which I was great at--until Christian started playing outfield. And when I did get on the field... let's just say I'm way too competitive for my own good. We had campfire, singing a whole bunch of songs that I had never heard before, and then went to bed. 

On Tuesday we went for a hike to the Back 40, which means a very steep hill with an awesome view. There were wild blueberries on the way. This was before lunch. After lunch we went rafting. Talk about a leadership developing activity. But I didn't want to be that person. We eventually figured out that Matt's paddling was the key to all issues of the raft going in any other direction, and then continued directing as so. We had to stop early because the other group's raft was leaking air. We had a camp out, and slept under the stars. I went in around three because I was cold. 

Wednesday was great! We did some challenge course activities which were frustrating and challenging at the same time. One favorite was the bouldering wall--there was a long strip that you had to boulder down. My other favorite was the wall that you had to get over. People had to lift you up, and someone had to pull you over the wall, and then you pulled them over the wall. After that, we were all exhausted, and I went back to the dining hall and Sherrie was there!! It was great just to talk to someone who wasn't work affiliated or anything, and just wanted to talk and see where I was with everything. After supper, Sylvia needed to go shopping, and as they were leaving, they caught me, and I got to go along. It was a wonderful break from what we were doing there. Sometimes I just need someone to steal me away before things that I want to do start feeling like obligations so I can be refreshed and relaxed for the next thing that I do. I got to bed at ten. 

Thursday showed up, and we had some great sessions--Ken Bontrager led a talk about telling your testimony, during which I had to poke Matt to keep him awake. Dan, Christa, and I went to Freedom Farms after lunch. We explored the property, met the family who owned it, and I picked shell peas, all the while taking it in, and LOVING it. I got to talk to Deborah Bontrager about my life. That was fun.We went to Walmart in the afternoon, and were told to find supper for three dollars. We were also shopping for all of camp's needs, so I rode in the cart with Alicia as she shopped for medicines for the camp. We also picked up some nose studs, since I was messing with my ring, and broke it during one of the sessions. For supper, I got a can of beans, a roll, a banana, and a Powerade Zero. The goal of this was to help the staff appreciate the $3 dinners that the camp makes. (which are awesome meals, and I'm a vegan). Then they took us all back to camp and we had a banquet (to show how awesome the $3 meals are) and a talent show. The talent show was fun, because they had a dance-off and a Camp Deerpark's Next Top Model. I walked in the Model one. That was a lot of fun. And then, towards the end, Christa and I sang two of my songs. That was a lot--a lot of fun. I love singing for people!

Friday rolls around, and with Christa and Dan supporting the ladder, I took the staff picture on the roof of the dining hall. Then we ate breakfast, cleaned up. I got to pick up litter around the camp. We left around eleven. The traffic was normal--bad, and we got there around two, and then passed out flyers for a little while, and then we drove to the drop-off station in the Bronx, which took way too long. We rode the Subway home. 

I ate beans, a bowl of bran flakes and soy milk, and vegan chocolate chips for supper. . . 

Prayer Requests and Praises:
--We got a much needed break from the city for a week, and will continue to go every Wednesday.
--I've been reading and running and praying a lot this past week! Thank God for that!
--I made new friends!
--Our day camp program starts on the 6th of July. We have 33 children coming for the morning program, which is free, but only five for the afternoon, which has a still very affordable tuition. Pray for enthusiastic and awesome volunteers.