Saturday, June 29, 2013

Go camp!

While I can rarely post, there might be some random posts found on it website from other points of view. Yay for dpbhouse.com !!!

Just the beginning


So I am trying to type on my little phone screen which is not ideal in the least. Therefore I apologize for typos in advance. I also would like to attempt to blog enough to cover the last two weeks!
MY TRAVELS
These began with a wonderful send off with sweet people. It was so good to see them all one last time and in typical Emily fashion, it had to be with a big group! This being the first solo international flight for me, I can't say I was thrilled.... But lots of flying in the past definitely helped. It was also nice to make many fast friends in every line I stood in or seat I sat in. Or even in every store I walked in! Always wear a happy shirt when traveling because then people want to talk to you.
I made it to Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Zagreb and definitely was a zombie in each place, but God got me safely through!! My camp director picked me up and it was to the camp we went!! Croatia is a beautiful place and even a jet lagged person can see that!

TRAINING
It was wonderful to meet people from all over during my first few days of training. The only people that arrived before me had that wonderful and sweet southern accent! We had to stick together in the midst of the foreigners. Training was pretty simple but intense. Everything done at the DPB house has a purpose so we did a lot of activities that had teaching time at the end. Many of the activities were for team building and it definitely helped us become good friends quickly. Every morning and afternoon we had a team Bible study which encouraged us all in scripture. MK camp is going through Ephesians this summer so we were able to go through that deeply together. Nothing bonds like the unity we have in Christ.
These few days went by so quickly as we anticipated and prayed for the campers to come. It was a lot of work to learn everything and clean the camp and we were actually a little exhausted before the campers even arrived. I had a moment of ambition and decided to help dig a trench that needed to bury electric wires. I ended up working with all the male staff in the hot sun. (We had a heat wave the first week we were here). No one anticipated the huge rocks that are found in Croatian soil. We were covered in dirt and sweat... Which then turned into mud. But we all felt accomplished when it was finally over...2 days later.

CAMP
My head hit my pillow right as we heard "CAMPERS ARE HERE!" so no nap, but the excitement was energy enough. It was precious to meet the girls God so specifically put in my room. Some if them were already great friends but by the end of the first night I couldn't remember who had just met and who went way back because they had already bonded so quickly. I had the best girls...they even all looked alike. But they got so close and I could tell that they trusted me as well which was a total blessing. I am definitely one for silliness and every night I had new surprises. We sang songs and played games and basically did every crazy thing we could think of.

CANOEING
I was immediately put into canoe training with the veteran canoer Sheri. However these are not your typical canoes. Everyday they must be hauled back and forth and INFLATED. yes yes, inflatable canoes. And then we must tie on the safety ropes and put the seats on and haul our canoes into the Kupa. It is quite a lot of work and we make the campers be part of every step. I must say it is exciting to watch the groups grow as the week goes on. We separate the campers into 5 groups of 5 and they rotate sports together. By the end of the week they have learned how to work as a team and get things moving. The faster we put together the canoes the more time we have in the water! 
Every day canoeing is different because of the weather or the campers or discoveries. We found a rope swing the first day and it is an event to canoe there and get to swing off the tree and then swim around. However the later days it rained....but canoeing goes on! I was not in the water those days though because it was FREEZING. We all splash each other and flip canoes and the instructor may or may not have a water gun. I'm head instructor for next week so everyone will be getting wet :)
I got a special treat on the last day and the girls in my group wanted to swim in the river so I got to go rock climbing because the rock is right next to the river.... And this is a real rock. None of that wooden column with plastic hand holds. No this is the side of a mountain that they have revamped to be safe for campers. I made it to the top of "Exodus" and want to explore "Genesis" and "Revelation". Cool names for a cool rock wall. 

GAMES 
I volunteered to be a game leader and my camp director immediately took me up on that. I did not 
know any of the games until we were playing them, at least for the most part. Here is what I personally posted about my time as game leader on our camp website. 



        "My first week as a counselor probably could not have gone better! I had a precious group of girls in the blue room (BLUE ROOM FOR LIFE!) and they all ministered to me as much as I got to speak to them. It is amazing to see the bond and unity that a relationship with Christ brings. Even by the first night I didn't know which of my campers were long time friends and which had just met because they showed so much love to each other. This was an answer to prayer! A very specific prayer that I was apprehensive that would be answered. But God provides more than we could ask or imagine. 
The unity that I got to see in my own room was magnified in our large group games. I volunteered to help lead these games and was knighted as Lady Gavina, the lady knight. Lady Gavina was a helpful role in our nightly drama and therefore got to transfer out in to the world of our Medival games. The Medival theme was in every game that we played and it was great to see the teams in each game work together and get to know each other better as the week went on. 
They had many different knightly duties that every good knight must complete. They particpated in a javelin throw (throwing pool noodles through colored hoops), jousting (who could get the most whipped cream pie on their opponent), and chicken launching across the moat (throwing rubber chickens to a bucket using a dishtowel). We split our campers into four teams which then got to name their team and make a flag which we later used for an exciting game of capture the flag. Everyone got so excited about their own team and always wanted to help lead to a victory. However, every game helped us remember that there really is a battle between kingdoms all the time. Those kingdoms are simply found in our minds. We constantly have to be on our guard and choose truth!
Group games would not be complete without the daily installment of Sir Uncle Steve's game. Every game we play has a purpose...and it seems that Sir Uncle Steve's games are just to make Uncle Steve laugh! These games are actually often a way of silly punishment for being late to a meal or forgetting supplies. As a first year counselor, I got the privledge of competing in the first game and would like to say that Croatian eggs are much larger than the ones I have in America. I got two nice ones dropped on my head. Other campers had to go bobbing for candy...in a bowl of whipped cream. They
 even jousted with whipped cream pies while riding on the back of their "horse" (another camper)...and there were many more silly things. And no one is immune! Crew members, campers, staff, and even uncle Steve himself eventually finds their way into a game. But what is a camp game  if you don't get a little messy! 

The games are great ways to get some energy out and bond as a team. I look forward to seeing our next week and the new teams that form. Lady Gavina's games seem to be a hit!"

So yes, I got eggs dropped on my head and pied in the face for the first time ever. I even got a bloody lip from the plastic plate breaking on me. As funny as it was, I still give my program director a really hard time for that one. 

BIBLE STUDY
Each morning I got to lead my seven girls through the book of Ephesians which is pretty cool because my mom wrote a Bible study on it! But each day we went through a different part to encourage the girls to eat into their Bibles daily. It was a blessing to hear their thoughts on the scripture and these kids know some pretty cool stuff about the Bible. I got to use two of my dolls (Trudy and Florence Avril) to teach us about what life is like in Christ.
I even got them to draw pictures of the coolest place they've ever seen and explained that God can make something EVEN MORE beautiful and can create things SO MUCH GREATER than we could ever imagine. It was amazing to hear what they learned and how they experienced life as missionary kids. God used me in their lives despite my lack of MK background because He unifies.