I sit here this Friday night, pretty
worn out from this entire week but happy I'm here. This was one of
the craziest, toughest, and most memorable weeks of camp I've had.
Similar to last week, we had very few
Pathfinders. Carla and I combined to have 9 girls, and the guys had
11 teens. Also similar to last week, Kyle and I were paired up as
small group leaders. But unlike last week, nearly every camper was
returning to camp and some were even returning for their 2nd
year of Pathfinders. Looking at that list at the beginning of the
week, it seemed that fact might make it a little easier. Well not
exactly.
We quickly realized our biggest
struggle for the week would be focus and respect while others talked.
This went for both groups. I'll admit I fell into some certain
teacher habits (“you're only wasting your own time”) when trying
to gain back control. They sort of worked, but this is going to need
to be an area I work on before becoming a teacher – gaining back
the focus of my students. However, we had the advantage that we knew
some kids had been here before and could be influencing these groups
for the better if they stepped up and implemented leadership. This
worked with some individuals, and that made it easier.
We got through the first two days
without too many major
hitches. Then Wednesday came. The most interesting day that was so
full of roller coaster moments as I hadn't personally experienced
before.
As I
believe I mentioned previously, part of the Pathfinders curriculum is
teaching about the five major worldviews. This week, each of the
counselors took one of the four worldviews (the four beside Christian
theism) to teach each morning. I began this morning teaching
spiritism. It went all right, and I even got kids interested in
watching the 1990 movie, Ghost, because
I showed a clip from it. Anyway, after lunch, during free time, one
of my highlights of the day came along. Tubing was open, so Kyle and
I went with a couple campers. When that ride was over, not many
campers were lined up to go tubing. Kyle and I were already in the
water, Carla was standing on the shore debating tubing, and Josh was
just near the point. Carla jumped into our group, but we needed a
fourth. Guess who we asked; Josh. The 3 people I've been working
with, growing close to, and connecting with in a way different than
any other staff, all participating in one of my favorite camp
activities. I couldn't help but grin. Kyle and I ended up in the
water while Carla and Josh both stayed dry, but that's besides the
point.
I
couldn't have guessed then just how quickly this day would turn, and
be one of the most jam-packed, longest days ever. Near the end of
free time, I see coming towards me a Pathfinder camper being escorted
quickly by a staff member, and something red all over his chin. Yup,
that's blood. The news traveled before he even reached me that he'd
bit through his lip while tubing. A counselor has to attend him to
the hospital, so Kyle rushes off and my heart is racing for no other
reason than we are one counselor down and a kid in our care is headed
to the hospital. I'm able to settle down, but I already know that my
hour off is not going to happen at the scheduled time; we'll be in
small groups, and I'm the only half of my team currently on campus.
Not a big deal in light of the situation.
Our
next activity was talking about change, which was one of the
favorites of the campers last week. Josh is leading this, and is
using a “mission” (activity accompanying the lesson to enhance
the teaching) that we used in staff training in 2012. In this
mission, the kids are asked to untie knots in a rope but while they
work on this task, the rules are constantly changing and new
obstacles to completing the task arise. My team is doing pretty good,
going faster than expected, so we escalate to one of the harder
obstacles, which is completing the task blindfolded. This is where
the group stalled, and they entered a major “storming” stage,
meaning there was conflict among the members that if resolved well
could really bring them together. It also includes a lot of
frustration in the group. “Frustrated” was a bit of an
understatement at this time; there was some yelling, some absolute
refusal, and a lot of complaints about the task. After the mission is
complete, and we're talking through it and what could be learned,
there's still a lot of tension between each other and some between
some of the group and me. They sort of started to see my point by the
end – change will occur, obstacles will arise, and new actions need
to be taken – but the frustration didn't disappear. This makes me a
little concerned knowing what's coming after dinner... the infamous
geocaching hike. Maybe they'll do well on this, and not get lost?
Good
news – we never left Grace property this time. Bad news – we
found one item and ended up at the Ranch, about 2 miles away from
where the coordinates actually were leading. This time I wasn't upset
or scared, because a) the adventure core was with me (Kyle had
returned, but had nearly passed out in the hospital so wasn't in any
condition to hike) and b) I knew where we were, and that they weren't
doing it right. So I'm covering my grin. The team, on the other hand,
wasn't so thrilled. Actually, they were pretty ticked off. Many of
them didn't want to hike, were mad that they had walked so far, upset
they didn't find the items, and overall shut down in their attitude
towards me since I had led them through two “stupid” tasks in a
matter of hours. Not exactly the greatest thing for me as a counselor
to have my campers not willing to really listen. Thankfully, we got
back and I didn't have to lead anything in the small group setting.
Some
conversations that day also became heavier, and more challenging,
which didn't exactly help my day. We did finish the night with
healthy relationships, one of my favorite sessions, but by the time
11:00 lights out rolled around I couldn't believe it was all
happening in one day. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and
even still my mind wouldn't shut off very easily. After finally just
unwinding a little through some reading, I fell into bed.
I'm happy to say that this day wasn't
typical of the week as a whole, but definitely a defining day of the
week. Thursday got better, was much more relaxing, and overall the
end of the week was enjoyable. Even so, fighting for attention,
fighting against some inappropriate behaviors, and handling all this
week threw at me wasn't easy. But I came out of it, and I had a good
Friday night, and hopefully a rejuvenating weekend.
So it's official. I made it through 2
weeks of camp. The rest of the summer is flip flopping between
working with these kids again during service weeks and working with
“normal” camps. I switch to Explorer Camp for this next week,
9-11 year-olds. It'll be an interesting transition, but I have done
this camp before and have very fond memories of it. So what I need
prayers for right now is a) a calming weekend and b) a smooth
transition and a good week. I would pray that my week with the
Explorers is “easy,” but that's selfish of me and sometimes
seeing God work in the hardest weeks is the most impactful. We shall
see what he decides to bring me for the next session.
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