Teen Camp 3

This past week was our 3rd and last teen camp. I think there ended up being 80-90 campers. The speakers preached more topical messages about TV and things like that than other weeks, which was nice. Sadly, as a whole, the campers were unresponsive. A few got saved and several made decisions, but after some messages when we were sure there would be a big response, few to none would make a move. I think there was a lot of apathy or inward rebellion in these teens. Throughout the week during cabin cheers in the dining hall, there was just much less enthusiasm than the past teen weeks, and the cheering during games and participation during skit time was less as well. There was much more interaction and problems between the guys and girls, though, as well as craziness in the hallways, etc. It was a different group of teens than before, all right. :) The Lord has continued to work in my heart this week- the first morning service that I was able to go to (see below) was exactly what I needed! It was about thankfulness and how anything besides hell is better than what we deserve. During another service, one of the speakers went through all that Jesus had to endure when on the cross. It was such an eye-opener and challenge that He went through so much for me. I have nothing to complain about... a much needed reminder. :)

As for what I did this week... long story... :) Julie, Charity, and I weren't counseling this week, so on Sunday afternoon, the "dean of girl counselors", Ms. Case, asked us to paint the lake bath houses this week. We started this project back during the first family camp! During the family camp, me, a few counselor girls, and several housekeeping girls all cleaned the place and started putting primer on the walls. But that only lasted about halfway through the week because we all got busy with camp stuff. Ms. Case told us Sunday that the walls didn't actually need primer, so we could just start with the painting. So Monday morning, away we went. :) Now... we had to paint the girls' side and the boy's side, but the guys' only bathroom during the day (unless they go all the way back to their cabins) is the bath house. So we could only work in there during girls' lakefront, when they guys aren't allowed to be down there. Monday morning, we didn't go the the morning service and we started painting. We actually got a fair amount done! Then in the afternoon, I worked lakefront, and Charity and Julie did some painting in the guys' bath house. That night, one of the op staff guys told us that the walls were dripping, there was paint on the floor on the guys' side, and we needed to clean it up. Well, we were in for a big shock! The floors were covered in paint because we had accidentally flipped the drop cloths so that the wet side was on the floor. Then, the guys had taken showers before we painted, so the room was so humid that the paint just ran and the walls were drying with drips. FIASCO!! We cleaned it up. Tuesday morning, we were continuing to paint the girls' side when Mr. Scott came in and told us that a professional painter was coming Friday, and that we should stop painting and deep clean both sides. Ok? :) So until Friday, during every morning service, lakefront, and pretty much any other free time we had, we were cleaning the bath house... which included sanding the walls and benches, scrubbing the floors, cleaning under the sinks, getting spiders off the walls (and believe me, there were a lot of them-alive!), cleaning the toilets, sinks, and showers, and...last but certainly not the least of all our jobs...getting the tape from like 5 WEEKS AGO off the floor. This was not painting tape. It was masking tape! We spent literally like 2 days getting all the tape off the floor. And the tape near the bathroom stalls and showers was moldy because it had gotten wet so much. It was disgusting! We had gloves on for sure! If I ever see masking tape on the floor again, I will probably pass out. Or scream and run away. :) On Thursday morning, Ms. Case told us that we could go to the morning service, which is the one I was talking about above. By Friday afternoon, we had finally finished cleaning, so Julie and I were able to go into town for a few hours. It was lovely. :)
Needless to say, it's been an adventure-some week. I must say... I'll forever have memories of cleaning the bath house. :)

I managed to take a ton of videos this week, along with a fair amount of pictures :), but I can't put videos on here... :( You can see all the pictures, though!

Clara and Bethany: toilet paper brides :)

Ashley and me

Me and Margaret- who is sort of squatting in this picture!

Ashley, me, and Margaret

Margaret at her full 6 feet and me at my full 5 feet, 3 3/4 inches. :) 

Ashley and Allison...the crazy two-some. :)

Andrea and I (Andrea works in the kitchen)

Bethany making fun of how short I am! She's like 5'10"... all the girls here are so tall! :(

She's slightly squatting and I'm on my tiptoes. (I shouldn't have said anything and you guys would think I'd grown! :))

Oh Hiawatha... :) This is the skit I play piano for. 

During the facebook skit

And this is the infamous moldy tape that we had to scrape up. Ewwww!!!

Just one of the instruments I used to scrape it up with. It was stuck on! I also used some other knives throughout the week. :)

Wow, Abby! :)

Ashley and I matched unintentionally! I didn't even notice until we stood beside each other when the choir was getting ready to sing! 

(Bad lighting) Julie and I- so happy that we were finally done! 

Had to get pictures after the fact. :) The toilet is clean, just so you know. :)

Julie with the orbital sander

Check out the tapeless floor! Fiiiiinally.

All the counselor girls... 2 of them are leaving tomorrow! :( 

(Ms. Case is the lady in the back) 

Mark's cabin got messiest cabin from surprise cabin inspection and had to sing "Old McDonald had a pig" 

And today- 3 men/guys got pies in their faces! Mr. Scott (above) said that whichever guy's cabin said the most verses could throw a pie in his face. Dan got him.

I don't know what the challenges were behind the other guys, but this is Micheal. Nathan also got a pie in his face, but he pretty much ran away as soon as it happened. :) Ashley was also supposed to get one, but she lucked out and the kitchen ran out of whipped cream! 

It's been a fun week! I'm so ready to come home, but I'm sad that we only have a week left... mixed emotions. :( Next week is our final week, and it will be Juniors and Primaries. I am going to be on the red team again, counseling primaries, who will be 6-8 years old. Please pray for me! :) If given the choice, I would've chosen to counsel juniors, which is probably why the Lord decided I should counsel primaries. :) I'm sure it'll be a trying week, but God can provide the strength and wisdom. I'm learning more and more that I can do nothing by myself! Please pray for me, the other counselors, and the campers. I think the campers are supposed to be a little "better" this week, but I'm sure there will be many needs in their lives, as well as many who need to be saved. I'm excited to see what God will do!