I got back from camp yesterday afternoon.  It was a great week!!  I'm really tired today -- I think as long as I'm there and HAVE to keep going and walking up all those hills, I can make it, but as soon as I get home and all the activity ends, I crash. 

Anyway, it was a great week of camp.  I was the counselor of cabin #16 out of 18, and I had five middle-school-age girls in my group.  At first I thought it was going to be a really long week, because my girls came in two "sets" of best friends and didn't mix very well to begin with.  But by halfway through the week, they were starting to talk with each other more and to "unite" as a cabin group.  It was great to see that happening.  I laughed as I listened to them talking on Thursday afternoon:
"When I first saw you, I thought you were a cheerleader or something." 
"I thought you were a lot older than you are at first."
"Really?  What did you think about me?" 
The power of first impressions.. haha.  Anyway, we ended up having a good week together.  Making hobo stew on the campout was a lot of fun (and very yummy, of course!)  and we had a great time putting together our performance for the camp-wide talent show!  Here we are working on our hobo stew:

And here I am on the 20-minute, straight-uphill hike to the campout -- love the face paint, haha

On Wednesday night, I got the opportunity to talk and pray with one of my girls who decided to recommit her life to God.  She had been convicted of putting other things before God and wanted to change that.  She and I prayed together.  It's always such a blessing to get to be a part of God's working in these young lives!!! 

The elective classes I got to teach this week were crafts and interpretive movement.  Those were fun.  I had never taught the crafts class before -- it got a little crazy/stressful, trying to help 10 little girls with craft projects!  haha.  But I enjoyed it.  One day in crafts, the girls painted ceramics, and when they finished, they painted the paper on the tables:

Hanging out with the other counselors was great, too.  There were four of us counselors (with our girls) staying in the lodge, and all four of us had the same off-hours, which was pretty neat.  During our morning off-hour, we all took our showers, had our own devotions, etc., and then during our afternoon off-hour, we had a short devotion and prayer time together.  Here are the four of us:

(I'm second from the right)  I'm gonna miss those girls!  :-) 
And here's me and Alisha, another counselor and friend:

Things were different, without our old director there -- he was definitely missed.  But I do really admire the assistant director (now director) because I know it was hard for him to step up into Lloyd's shoes. 
So anyway, all in all, it was a great week, and I thank you all for your prayers!  God was working, not only in the campers' lives, but also in mine -- He taught me some stuff this week, too.  So I thank Him for that, for a blessed week, a good group of girls, answered prayers, and the decisions that were made, including the two girls who accepted Christ!!! 

One last picture, taken at sunset the first night at camp, after it had been raining: 

God bless,
Ashley

And I'm on my knees, crying,
May I be an offering
In all I am and all I do
Make me pleasing to You.

• Post A Comment! • Send to a Friend!