Monday, June 21, 2010

Day Two!

We have had quite the adventure today! After Erich and I blogged last night, we went back to our cabins to try to catch some sleep. The door to the girl’s cabin was propped open with the garbage can because they thought it would be cooler. Now I have been camping a million times, and know better than to leave our door open with no screen, but since 23 other women/teens didn’t shut it, I just went along with the crowd. What a huge mistake. At some point in the middle of the night, I hear a scurrying sound. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I actually heard anything because I was sleeping pretty soundly, until I hear “L-l-l-l-o-o-o-r-r-r-i-I”! Maureen heard the scurrying also, but neither of us were about to get out of bed to check it. We gave it a few minutes and it walked back out the door. We don’t think it was a raccoon because none of our food was taken, and the cooler was right inside the door. It was probably a skunk, but we feel better believing it was Jack the dog coming to make sure we were ok. (Although, we don’t think Jack actually stays at camp at night, but that is our story and we are sticking to it.) J

We meet up with the boys for breakfast, and the first thing Daniel and Brady say is, “MAN, were we cold last night with all the fans.” I tried to protect them, but sorry Bernadette and Debbie; the girls threw them in the lake. (Ok, I was just kidding about the lake, but the girls had no sympathy.) We ate our pancakes or biscuits and gravy (which were surprisingly good since they are feeding over 200 of us) and met up with Kelly and Promise. After we loaded up our lunches and the magic truck, we set out for Blue Ridge, Georgia. (It was only about 30 minutes away, and the scenery is gorgeous!)

We met the Kimsey family, and their granddaughter, Breanna was there and wanted to help. She was eight years old, and reminded me a lot of my girls. (Very cute and helpful, and loved hanging out with teens!) She was mad because she had a dentist appointment and couldn’t help us paint! (Although, when she came back, she had the Sara(h)’s paint her face with “war paint” so she could look like them. I think she wants to be a Sara/Sarah when she grows up. J)

Mr. Kimsey took to us right away. So much so that he tried to hook up Megan with his fifteen year old grandson. (Can you say awkward for Megan! J) He would take each of us aside and tell us a new story. We heard all about his stay in the hospital with meningitis (which he felt the need to show us a picture of. . . .there is a reason I went into ministry and not nursing. . .just saying.) J He told us all about his rusted 48 pickup truck in the front yard because he wants to paint it and make it a ‘gorgeous lawn ornament’. He was so endearing, you just had to love him!

Once we took a survey of what needed to be done, the teens split up and delegated jobs to one another. In the course of the morning, we did all of the jobs that they had for us, and had to go looking for more. The leaders stated that they hadn’t seen a group so dedicated to getting the jobs done and finished correctly!

Between all of us, we fixed their leaky roof, cleaned off the paint that last week’s group left on the windows, moved the furniture off, cleaned and painted three decks/porches, fixed, painted, and hung the eaves on the trailers, disassembled old telephone wires from the box on the house, weed whacked their whole yard, and hauled it all away. An awful lot of their house was covered in lattice work that we painted by hand. (It was awful, and we all agreed we never want to see that color blue again. Hehe) I AM SO PROUD OF THE TEENS!!! The other groups came back at three, but ours chose to stay and finish the house they had been working on for the past three weeks. (Did I mention how proud I am of them?) It was a really hot day, but we had Alanna be our ‘H2O’ teen, and Caitlin led us in prayer at lunch. It is fun to have the teens take responsibility and watch them shine.

Our team effort counselors are lots of fun. After meeting a lot of the other ones today, we think ours are the best! Promise goes to North Georgia College State University during the school year, and loves to crack practical jokes. He split the group into two teams for a water fight at lunch, and would make up silly names for their ‘mission’ to get a certain person on the other team. (Names like Operation Bluebird, etc.)

Kelly goes to Charleston Southern and is the organizer. She knows what is going on at all times, yet lets the teens lead the day. She found us more to do, and called back to the outpost to get us more supplies. She loves all kinds of music and thinks Megan is her little sister, because she reminds her so much of her real little sister. (Emily agrees that Kelly and Megan are a lot alike) She was shocked that I knew the words to popular music. . . .hmmm, was that her way of saying I’m old? Jk.

We stopped by Dairy Queen on the way back to camp and treated ourselves to some ice cream. (It was only an hour before dinner, but I promise that everyone ate well at meal time. J) (Peach cobbler and sweet tea for dessert. . . again, just saying.)

Worship time was a lot of fun tonight. We started with a skit that was actually funny about blind dates, and then they called out that they were going to play a game and needed two volunteers. Caitlin got picked to go onstage and they played a game from the “Minute to Win It” game show. She rocked with a box tied behind her back filled with ping pong balls and had to jump around any way possible to get all ten balls out of the box. She wasn’t allowed to stand on her hands though. J She won and gets to go to the outpost and pick up her prize later. (We are so proud. . .hehe).

After the game, they had a musician from Australia named Chris lead us in worship music. It was very upbeat and a lot of it we knew. (Some even had hand motions that we could do.) During the entire music selection, he would break into spontaneous prayer and it was a very uplifting experience. The witness talk tonight was on building our foundation on the ‘rock’ instead of on the sand. They talked about listening for God’s call and acting upon it, no matter what your friends or society think is cool. They asked us why we were here, and not one of our teens said, “Because our parents made me”. (I say this because a lot of the other groups had teens who said that. Our teens put a lot of thought and effort into the question.

After worship, we got to break down the day as a small group. We did our Hey Gods, Yah Gods, and Mad Props. (Mrs. Asbrock, the group gave you the biggest Mad Prop for the cookies! Thanks a bunch!) They are a quiet group, but seem to be opening up more as the day goes on. (Ok, so they talk all the time, but when it comes to prayer, they are opening up more and more.) They are working on their devotionals and seem to be taking everything seriously. Thanks for the continued prayers from home. Please know that we are praying for you too! We love and miss you!

2 comments:

  1. Of course, it doesn't surprise me a bit that our teens worked so well....I had first hand experience watching some of them work in N.O.
    Not a slacker in the group. We're proud of our teens :) So glad you had a good day.
    Oma

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  2. What fun you are having while getting so much work done! John--get off the roof!!!!!!! Just kidding. Keep up the good work

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