The kids are gone, but I'm still here...
Ok, current situation: we've been invaded...by highschool football players. Last week was pretty low key and peaceful as there weren't many people around, but this week an area highschool is holding football camp up here, so things are a bit noisier. At 10 pm a week ago you wouldn't know anyone was up here. We're not involved with this camp though, they're just a host group so we just see them around.

My first week without regular child campers was actually a lot of fun, not what I had anticipated. I thought I would be almost alone staying at camp and therefore evenings would be boring (as now my work day ends at 5 instead of carrying through the night). However, there were still a few summer staffers around for various reasons, and we had a good week watching movies, going out, and swimming in the evenings. The first two days I occupied my time helping out mostly with cleaning the nature center and animal tanks. I also spent some time chatting with the director, learning a bit more about the underbelly of the camp- numbers, finances, unseen jobs, etc. Then Tuesday night MDC Goldenrod brought some residents up for two nights. Goldenrod is a Mennonite organization that serves mentally dissabled adults. I was a bit worried how my days with them would go, but they ended up to be a real joy. I led arts and crafts and gym time for them, and helped out in other areas when needed. All of the guests were fairly high functioning, and the happiness, curiosity, and laughter of some was contagious. Friday morning the full time staff and I walked the highway in orange vests with trashbags and gloves picking up trash- the yearly clean-up of Amigo's two miles of adopted highway. It was hot, but fortunately wasn't as boring as I had imagined. It was almost interesting to see all that people absent mindedly through out their car windows, it sickens me a bit. Everything from McDonald's bags, car mats and sandals to bottles, broken game controllers and Visa gift cards(probably empty, but I'm going to check it out). When you litter the trash doesn't dissapear, a concept I think many still don't understand, or rather chose to ingnore.

I still have one more week up here, and honestly I have no idea what I'll be doing the rest of this week. Today I hung out in the office, did some organizing and mailing, as well as helping to clean the lodge for a guest group. I've learned that at camp job descriptions aren't concrete, everyone sort of helps out when and where it's needed, which is why my day in the office involved housekeeping as well.

Oh, about those pictures...the computer they're stored on broke, so still nothing, sorry. I'm staying in the health shack this week, a little building with beds for three, it's own bathroom, a microwave, fridge, and tv. It's grand in comparison to the cabin lodging the rest of the summer. Well it's thundering so I'm going to go hope I can walk back to my cabin before it starts to rain.
Posted at 22:34 #

Almost Done
Hello again! Second entry in a week's time, this is a record for me! I have an extra break today since no campers signed up for soft pretzel making today, the interest activity that I'm helping with this week. Well, things are still running smoothly up here, we're in our last weeke of campers. It's another fun group of kids, but I must admit I'm growing a bit weary of it all, and will be ready to head home when the time comes. The same menu, stories, and activities every week are starting to feel perhaps a bit too routine, and it's been difficult to find renewed energy for the kids this week since we staffers have gone through it so many times. We've been told several times this summer to remember that even though this is our sixth week of camp it's the campers first, and we need to keep our energy and excitement levels up for them. So we're trying, but the summer has been draining. It will be nice to only have to worry about brushing my own teeth and getting myself places again in the fall.

I realized that I haven't told you much about how a typical day around here is for me, so I'll do that now. We have worship two times a day, in the morning after breakfast and again before bedtime. I'm on one of the three worship teams we put together, one team does morning worship and the another evening worship each week. So my limited guitar skills have improved this summer as I've been playing a lot, even though it is mostly the simple camp songs that we play. It's been an opportunity I've enjoyed, as I don't think there are many other settings where I would have volunteered to play guitar infront of others, children are quite forgiving. In the mornings we do cabin activities, which range from archery, swimming, and paddleboating to arts and crafts, nature center, or sometimes taking much needed showers. Next it's lunchtime, same food every week. Along with the male head counselor I lead the prayer song before meals, and dismiss cabins to eat. We usually either pick straight and quiet or creative lines to eat first, so it's interesting to see what kinds of songs or dances the kids come up with the get dismissed early. At least once a week we also have a theme lunch, today is pirate day so we're decked out with eye patches and skull tatoos. Then comes the counselor favorite- R&R, aka naptime. Interest activities are next where kids sign up individually, those are fun things like pretzel making, shaving cream wiffleball, or giant dutch blitz. I've even led some country line dancing this summer (no, I had never done it before..) Camp is a place to try new things :) Counselors get a break in the afternoon when resource staff take all the kids to play dodgeball, swim, or slip-and-slide. It's amazing how much you can love being with your campers, but it's still so wonderful to be away from them, and probably necessary to keep you sane. Dinner, another activity, and evening worship, followed by bedtime, or maybe a late night snack or night hike first, and that's a day! They're tiring but fun. And I've gotten used to a no later thatn 11 o'clock bedtime...we'll see how I adjust back to college sleep patterns in a few weeks.

Oh I hear the kids coming back, so it's time to go. I'll post pictures later this week, so stay posted!
Posted at 15:13 #

Sports Camp
Well it's been a great week. This past week has been sports camp which Amigo does in cooperation with Bethany Christian Schools, meaning we run an almost normal week of camp only instead of doing the usual camp activities, the kids choose between volleyball, soccer, and basketball which the Bethany coaches run. I've been helping out with volleyball which has been great. It's been too long since I've played and it was fun to play with my highschool coach.

Camper numbers are very low, so I'm the counselor of the only girls cabin this week while the other female counselors are staying in a staff cabin. At first I was slightly dissapointed that I wouldn't be able to hang out in the staff cabin, but I have a wonderful group of girls and they've been so much fun. They all love to sing (along with myself and the other staff in my cabin), so we worked up two acts for the talent show last night, after which we spent a good deal of time hanging out in the handicapped shower and singing four part harmony together. All six of my campers will be 7th-9th graders next year, so they're the oldest I've had. I thought at the beginning of the summer that I'd enjoy the younger ones better, but getting five 8-year-olds places on time and to bed, reminding them to brush their teeth, and keeping them out of trouble and at peace with eachother all while trying to maintain a happy and calm attitude proves to be quite stressful at times. It almost feels like a week off, as my girls can for the most part take care of themselves, and I can be more of just a friend.

This week it rained! Praise the Lord. It wasn't much, but it helped. The lake is very low right now which makes boating more difficult, and the deep end of our swim area only comes up to the kids shoulders. The rain also now allows us to drive up the drive or walk up certain paths without leaving a trail of dust clouds behind us. Although when I made my choice of where to spend the summer I was slightly dissapointed that I'd only be going to Michigan and not somewhere beautiful like Colorado or Oregon, I've been marveling at how beautiful our little area of Michigan can be. It may not be the coastal mountain range, but it sure is a nice change from Goshen, IN, and it turns out the beauty of God's creation stretches all over. When I go home, it's even nice to look at the cornfields sometimes...

The first few weekends I went back to Goshen to spend some time at home and hang out with friends, but the last three I've stuck around up here. The summer staff is a great group of people, and even though we're at an empty camp and the closest town doesn't have too much entertainment, we've managed to have fun. After we send this group of campers home this evening, I'm looking forward to my last weekend with the summer staff before we head into our last week of camp together. Well I'm on break right now and I think I'll go use the rest of it in an attempt to supplement the lack of sleep I got last night. May you enjoy the weekend as well! God bless.
Posted at 11:29 #

One Month Reflection
Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, but I thought I'd post my one-month reflection, it's below. I promise I'll write more this week, as the past week was quite the adventure. But now, it's time to get ready for staff meeting and our next set of campers! Only three weeks left, it's hard to believe it's gone so quickly. Happy reading...

Charity Grimes July 1, 2007

Camping Inquiry Program at Amigo Centre- One Month Report

The past month at Amigo for me has been full of joy, stress, laughter, yawns, and new experiences. Working with the other staff and kids has been great. I’ve immensely enjoyed having a cabin of girls each week to mentor, watch out for, and have fun with. A few highlights have been seeing the joy on the kids faces while playing for worship and jumping up and down and laughing with them during silly songs, learning new things with campers about God’s creation, talking and hanging out with the other wonderful staff, and seeing kids grow to feel safe and confident at camp who we know have major struggles in life. One touching moment for me was when one of our campers volunteered to read the scripture one morning in worship. He is 12 and is quite behind in his reading and overall intellectual development. Seeing him feel confident enough at camp to get up and stammer his way through the passage, followed by the sheer joy when he finished and received high fives and compliments from others was incredible. We only have a week with campers, but moments like that, and the opportunity to reach and encourage them spiritually or in other aspects of life has been rewarding. I see God in the faces of these kids. I can only hope that I’ve been as much of a blessing to them as so many of them have been to me.

Although camp has been wonderful, it also hasn’t been without its challenges. Dealing with homesick campers, girl spats, exclusivity, and campers with emotional baggage has definitely been challenging. We work through things together though, and I haven’t had any major unresolved problems.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about worship this summer, but it has been much more of a blessing than I ever expected. The scripture is the same each week, but the different camp pastors put a bit of a different twist on each story. It’s been refreshing to hear again the simple themes of God’s pure love for us, and feel God’s presence without needing to highly analyze and intellectualize biblical concepts as we do so often at college. Also to hear the stories again and think about them with children has been refreshing, and an attempt to recapture a piece of that childlike innocence when approaching God.

I feel I have definite support from the other staff, and I know I can go to those above me at any time if I have questions or need to talk, and feel comfortable doing so. I’ve been making a good attempt at accomplishing my goals, but I have much less time than for some reason I thought I would have. So my spiritual development goals have been hard to work at regularly, as being with kids 24/7 and getting worn out has made it somewhat difficult to take time for myself to journal or pray.

Overall everything at Amigo is going very well, I’m happy where I am, and have already gotten more out of the summer than I expected. I look forward to many more fun and meaningful times throughout the next month.
Posted at 15:07 #

And the summer begins...
Well, it's now been two weeks since I first arrived at Amigo Centre for the summer! As part of the leadership team (I'm working as female head counselor this summer), I arrived with a few others a week before the rest of the summer staff. At first I felt pretty out of it, as the only non-returning member of the leadership team I couldn't share stories about summers past, laugh at old jokes, and didn't know much about the set-up of and how things are run at Amigo. As the week progressed, however, I became more familiar with the grounds and other staff, and enjoyed doing a variety of random tasks to help prepare for the summer and learning some new skills (like driving the pontoon! one of my favorites). The first Saturday we spent out on a golf course, taking pictures of teams who participated in a golf scramble to help area kids to come to camp this summer who otherwise might not be able to afford it.

I was really excited for the rest of staff to come after my first week. We went through another week of orientation, learning how things run, talking about how to deal with campers, and getting to know eachother. It's a fun staff, and I'm looking foward to a really great summer with them!

I've also really been enjoying being in this more natural setting these past weeks. It's a new kind of confirmation for me of my major (environmental science), as I've been amazed at the complexity of God's creation, and constantly curious about the different plants and animals that I've come across. It's been fun to be on the water as well...I surprised myself a bit this week by deciding to swim across the lake! It sure was tiring but a good time.

Well I'll certainly try to keep up with this blog, although my attitude towards to internet has changed quite a big since I've been at camp. There are just so many other things to do in a beautiful place. I went from checking my email probably 5 times or more a day at college, to almost entirely forgetting about it for days at a time, then checking out of necessity, and I've found myself actually a bit overwhelmed at trying to respond to all the emails. But keep sending them! I really enjoy hearing from friends.

Well tomorrow afternoon our first campers arrive, so I should go get some good sleep to start the week off right. I'm super excited but also a bit nervous about having my first cabin. Keep me in your thoughts this week, and stay posted to hear how it went!
Posted at 22:36 #